The stepping stones: 2012 A year of campaigns and process initiations

National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights

8/1, 2nd Floor, South Patel Nagar, New Delhi-110008 Tel: 011 45668341, 45037897, Fax: 011 25842250 Website: www.ncdhr.org.in

END UNTOUCHABILITY!

NO MORE ATROCITIES AGAINST ADIVASIS AND DALITS!!

ANNIHILATE CASTE

Amend SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Urgently and Enforce

Effectively http://annihilatecaste.org/

In a massive uproar, thousands of Dalits and Adivasis congregated at the National Dalit Adivasi Sammelan in the capital

at Ramlila Grounds on 23 November 2012, to collectively decry the increasing discrimination and atrocities their folks continue to be subjected to in the country. They demanded decisive response against discrimination and atrocities. The rallying call of the Sammelan was “End Discrimination and Atrocities against Dalit and Adivasis and Amend the

SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act”. The National Coalition for Strengthening the PoA Act, which spearheaded and organized the Sammelan released the Dalit Adivasi Delhi Declaration 2012.

Participation of the Hon’ble Cabinet Ministers for Social Justice and Empowerment, Kr. Selja and her colleagues Ms. Krishna Teerath, Mr Mukul Vasnik and Mr Balram Naik in the Sammelan reflected positive alignment of the central

government with the issues raised by the Coalition. Speaking on the occasion, the cabinet minister reiterated her government’s commitment to bring amendments to the Act. A high point at the event was the presence of the veteran Dalit leader, Ramvilas Paswan, amidst other honorable members, Shri P.L. Punia, Chairman, SC/ST Commission, and

senior national leaders, Shri. Sitaram Yechuri, Sh J. D Seelam, Sh D. Raja and others.

Na

tio

na

l D

alit M

ove

me

nt fo

r Ju

stic

e (N

DM

J)

Series of actions across the country on that culminated into National Dalit and Adivasi Sammelan Across the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Delhi and Haryana, extensive people’s action was organized, stretching from July-November that eventually got culminated into the massive National Dalit and Adivasi Sammelan. Collective of several organizations across all the states, held state and divisional level consultations, signature campaigns, community level and panchayat level interactions, and rallies, thereby, submitting Memoranda to the District collectors. People were also mobilized in active observance of the Atrocity Act Day, 11 September. All community and state level public events saw participation of the Chairperson and members of State Commission for Scheduled Caste, Principal Secretary and Commissioner, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJ&E) together with other concerned authorities and activists. Specific state level Conference on Violence against Dalit Women vis-à-vis necessary Amendments to PoA Act were organized to highlight the marginalization and victimization of Dalit women in the context of the Act.

In Delhi, Delhi Forum took the active initiative of organizing dialogue on the proposed amendment to the PoA Act.

Why the campaign? It has been 23 years since the Act was promulgated as an affirmative measure to safeguard the rights and life of SCs and STs in the country. However, evidences clearly reveal the brazen extent of injustice meted out to Dalits and Adivasis, and the impunity enjoyed by the violators at the hands of enforcement machineries. Going only by the cases registered, a total of 5, 58, 103 cases of atrocities have been filed in the last 15 years.

Disturbed by this situation, a group of concerned organizations formed into a Working group consisting of experts and activists to prepare Amendments to the Act in the light of facts on poor implementation of the Act, over the last 20 year. Based on the coalition’s proposed amendments, the National Advisory Council organized a series of consultation and involved also the National Law School, Bangalore, to work out the rationale for the proposed Amendments. The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary studies supported the entire process. Reports cards were prepared on implementation of the Act on completion of its 20 years of existence, and release nationwide.

Interventions so far…

- Preparation of Amendments, finalized in December 2009

- Preparation of Report Card and translated into vernacular

- Consultations with CSOs, Judges, Police Officers and academia on draft amendments

- Advocacy with MPs, MLAs, Parliamentary Committees, Commissions

- Discussion with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

- Advocacy with Media - Public Actions

- Monitoring of implementation of the present

Act and Rules through RTIs and Public Interest Litigations and

prepared People’s report - Advocacy with National

Advisory Council (NAC)

For details visit the website

All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM)

Dalit Mahila Garima

Yatra

Disturbed over the series of sexual violence against Dalit

women in Haryana, and followed by the spate of media reports on the same, several dalit organizations came together to

express solidarity with the rape survivors and outrage against the institutionalized sexual violence on dalit women, by

holding a State level ‘Karwan’ in Haryana to build pressure on authorities to enforce the law and protect Dalit women. The

‘karwan’ covered nine districts across the state from 1st to 9th November. Village meetings, rally, candle vigils, cultural

programmes, press conference, survivors conference, pamphlet distribution were the few of the planned activities.

Petition was submitted to the District Collector in each district.

Read the Karwan report: Dalit Mahila Garima Yatra

The Fact finding mission was organized to probe into one

such particular case of rape of a 16 year old dalit girl, who was gang raped by high caste youth in Hissar, in Haryana, on 9th

September. The growing incidence of violence on dalit women and girls is irrefutable proof of the colossal failure of the state

to protect them report of the Fact-finding Committee. The fact finding report was released to the media in the capital on

5 October

NCDHR-AIDMAM, constituted a high level fact finding team for the purpose. The Fact-Finding team comprised Advocate

Seema Misra, Multiple Action Research Group (MARG); Advocate Ambalika; Dr. Ajitha, Women Against Sexual Harassment and State Repression (WSS); Ms. Pradnya

Deshpande, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL); Ms. Sunitha Thakore, Jagori; Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Delhi Forum; Ms. Asha Kowtal, General Secretary of AIDMAM; Ms. Sumati, JNU;

Ms. Abirami, NDMJ; Ms. Savitha, State Secretary, AIDMAM-Haryana; Mr. Rajesh, State Secretary, NDMJ-Haryana.

Read report- Fact Finding report-Gang rape of Dalit girl by

dominant caste youth, Hisar, Haryana, Oct 2012

Nari Ka Chaupal

AIDMAM in association with National Mission on Empowerment of Women (NMEW) organized a

series of events with a focus on Dalit women elected representatives (DWERs). The objective was to enable an interactive dialogue between the DWERs and the ministries responsible for facilitating their effective

participation in local governance. On 18th

November, a conclave of 40 dalit women representatives

converged from across India to discuss the issues faced by them for being DWERs or dalit woman Sarpanch.

Read the report: Dalit women elected representatives-

series of events

Submission on Violence Against Dalit women to UN Special

Rapporteur

The submission was made by AIDMAM in response to an official call for submissions sounded out by the UN

Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, in October 2012. It was during this time that AIDMAM was

involved in fact finding mission to Rape case of Dalit girl in Haryana, and had organised the Karwan to

mount pressure on the administration.

Read the submission: Violence Against Dalit (Scheduled Caste) Women in India-

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women

Sau Mein Pachees Haq Hamara!

A Struggle to reclaim the rightful share of Dalits and Adivasis

Dalits & Adivasis from all over India stormed the capital demanding their share, in a protest march “Chalo Parliament”, on May 9. The campaign call Sau Mein Pachess Haq Hamara, was given on April 24, with a mass protest at Jantar Mantar, in coordination with the re-opening day of the Parliament session. Parallel

protests in six states accompanied the protest in Delhi.

Aruna Roy, NAC member, acknowledging it to be a political battle, fiercely articulated the need to demand from all political parties the inclusion of the agenda of legislating the SCP /TSP into their respective party

manifestoes in order to win votes from Dalits and Adivasis. Shri Prakash Karat, expressed solidarity with the movement acknowledging violation of set guidelines for SCP and TSP, assuring support to the movement both

inside and outside the Parliament. Shri Mungekar, invoking the diversion of SCP / TSP funds by the Delhi government, which is on record of the parliament, exhorted the Union and state governments to be sincere and

honest to the welfare of Dalits and Adivasis. Among other members of Parliament addressing the gathering were Shri D Raja, Shri JD Seelam, Shri Arjun Meghwal, Shri Ashok Argal and Shri Ram Vilas Paswan.

Dalit activists mourned betrayal

Around 100 people along with leading Dalit activists, including Paul Divakar, Prasad Sirivella, Shri. Madhava Rao, Retd Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, and Shri Rajendra Gautam, national vice-president of Samata

Sainik Dal, shaved their heads in mourning to portray the bleak picture of the government and how it is ‘cheating’ and weaning the money belonging to SC /ST.

Sign the petition against misappropriation of funds meant for Dalits and Adivasis

Click to Like Sau Mein Pachees Haq Hamara Andolan

Da

lit A

rth

ik

A

dhik

ar A

ndo

la

n (D

AA

A)

Need and Demands

I. A Central legislation be designed for Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub Plan. This Central legislation should provide for: a. Clearly setting apart a proportion of the total

Plan outlays of Centre and States that is equivalent to the population proportion of SCs/STs at national and state level, for their development.

b. A well- designed, dedicated institutional set-up at the Central & State level, which shall allocate SCP/TSP funds to the Ministries/Departments, duly taking into consideration the developmental needs of SCs/STs. This will enable the Ministries/Departments to clearly show the schemes formulated for the development of SC/STs under a separate budget head.

c. Encouraging participation of community, CSOs and experts in planning as well as implementation and evaluations of schemes.

d. Publishing the performance/outcome budget every year, providing details about the beneficiaries and be made available to public access.

II. The shortfall including the notional amounts of

Rs. Cr. 33,756.74 of SCP and Rs. Cr. 13,275.95 of TSP in the current Union budget 2012-13 be returned, and reallocated to schemes with a clear objective of bridging socio-economic gap between SCs/STs and Non-SCs/STs with particular focus on health, education, housing, assignment/acquisition of land, employment, income generation, entrepreneurship and access to basic amenities.

Why the campaign? SCP and TSP were instituted in the year 1978-79. These are the two plans which form an integral part of the SC/ST welfare fund. The government had decided that out of every 100 rupees spent by the government, Rs.16/- will be spent for Dalits and Rs.8/- spent for Adivasis every year; and that the funds would be used for such schemes that will directly benefit SC/ST individuals/households or SC/ST bastis/tolas/localities. The government has instead, very conveniently, diverted a large share of this money to general schemes, hardly benefitting the Dalits and the Adivasis. One of the examples of siphoning off the money is the diversion and misappropriation of funds for building the stadia and other such infrastructure during the common wealth games in 2010, thus weaning the rights of the Dalits and Adivasis. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also remarked that SCP and TSP funds should be non-divertible and non- lapsable, with the clear objective of bridging the gap in socio-economic development of the SCs and STs within a period of 10 years. 33 years have lapsed and the government has failed to keep its promise even for once. With this background, a coalition of organizations across the country, committed to the realization of rightful claims of Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP), came together to form SC/ST Budget Adhikar Andolan.

*****

SC/ST Shiksha Vikas Adhikar (SVADHIK)

A new joint initiative of NCDHR and IIDS (Indian Institute of Dalit Studies), called Dalit Adivasi

Shiksha Vikas Adhikar is introduced in July 2012. SVADHIK aims to ensure Dalit and Adivasi student’s

access to educational entitlements through innovative schemes free from discrimination or

exclusion in all forms of school and higher education- elementary, higher secondary, university,

vocational, technical and professional. The programme advocates for a comprehensive

entitlement policy for educational development rights of Dalit and Adivasi students at the national

level as well as focused intervention in states of Bihar, Gujarat and Jharkhand in partnership with

Centre of Social Equity and Inclusion (CSEI), Behavioral Science Centre (BSC), and SAMVAD.

Indo-Japanese Side Event on: “Sharing Traditional Knowledge of Social Minorities on Biodiversity and Ecological Sustainability”, 11 October, Hyderabad

Organised on the margins of the side events, during the Conference of Parties (CoP) to UN Convention of Biodiversity, hosted by the Government of India, in October, NDW jointly with International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), Japan Civil Network for UNDB (JCNUNDB); and researchers and activists gathered around the Buraku Liberation Human Rights Center, hosted this consultation. The objective was to understand the current position of indigenous communities (Adivasis) in India, and (Ryuku and Ainu) Japan and socially excluded communities, Dalits and the people of Buraku in both countries (sharing similar history of discrimination, in the light of CoP Strategic Goal D: Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services, Target 1, and Strategic Goal E: Enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity, Target 18.

Key recommendations comprise:

- Including and declaring Dalits, Yanadis and people of Buraku communities in the Convention on Biological Diversity as 'local minority communities' (as opposed to ‘local communities), as the indigenous already have it declared through the UN Human Rights Council Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

- Revisiting the policies and legislations that are neglecting the livelihoods of biodiversity dependent communities.

Access detailed report at: “Sharing Traditional Knowledge of Social Minorities on Biodiversity and Ecological Sustainability: In Search of an equity-based eco-development”

“Ensuring inclusion of Biodiversity-dependent communities in all Preparedness, Adaptation and Mitigation measures”, on 15 Oct, Hyderabad Another side event, organised with the specific objective of understanding and deliberating on the current position of Dalits in India in accordance with the National Action Plan on Climate Change and Article 4, 1(g,h,i) and Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The consultation looked at the Dalit communities in the entire context of climate change adaptation, and the need to focus on building their adaptive capacity to combat adverse effects of climate change, particularly on biodiversity dependent livelihoods. The deliberations were motivated by the Govt. of India’s commitment under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to operate on the principle of ‘Protecting the poor and vulnerable sections of society through an inclusive and sustainable development strategy, sensitive to climate change’, among other principles. This was probably the first time in all these years that Dalit agenda was placed in the official discourse of the CoP. The consultation observed participation of international delegates from Nepal and Japan, namely, Nepal National Dalit Social Welfare Organization and Feminist Dalit Organization, and International Movement against all form of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), Japan, besides Indian delegates representing different sectors within the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)/Humanitarian sector.

Access detailed report at: “Ensuring inclusion of Biodiversity-dependent communities in all Preparedness, Adaptation and Mitigation measures”

Asserting Dalit space:

Conference of Parties to the

UN Convention on Biodiversity

For details on NDW initiatives visit:

www.nationaldalitwatch-ncdhr.blogspot.com

National Dalit Watch

(NDW)

Review of the Disaster Management Act 2005 NDW has been for long advocating for recognition and acknowledgment of Caste based discrimination in Disaster Management (DM) law and policies in India. This year, NDW actively participation and made submissions to the authority through UNDO led and facilitated process of review.

Submissions for inclusive Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), post 2015 Regional Consultations on achievements of HFA (2005-15) priorities and recommendations for Post 2015 Hyogo Framework was organised by the UNDP-India. NDW participated in the Northern regional consultation, on 30 October, at Chandigarh, and made submissions for acknowledgement of caste induced vulnerabilities into the Post HFA. The same was also circulated to the wider disaster management community, on solution exchange (online knowledge management) since, Caste based discrimination (CBD) is rampant across the globe.

The submission is backed with strong realisation that Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) frameworks globally and nationally should address CBD and offer a comprehensive approach in resilience-building. Also, the current Disaster management law of India being inspired by the HFA, and wider recognition would help in advocacy at national and international level. It is worth mentioning that the 2011 version of the Sphere Project Handbook has already significantly recognised caste as a factor causing and enhancing vulnerability. Together, all this is also aligned with the broader objectives of the MDGs, viz. social and economic justice, to which the HFA subscribes, and for MDGs also, the deadline is 2015.

Key highlights: From receiving entitlements to raising visibility and recognition of the CBD in

Humanitarian discourse

Continuous advocacy for 2009 floods victims has resulted in 2104 Dalit households (that were not

enumerated in Bijapur and Raichur districts) getting houses, other than an additional 2200 households

being compensated on other losses that occurred in floods.

With the inclusion monitoring and targeted

advocacy with district level officials during the Assam floods in 2012, 610 families have received

compensation against their losses.

Review of Existing Practices to Ensure Participation of Disaster-Affected Communities in Humanitarian Aid Operations- ECHO (Points on Dalit inclusions

on Pgs-31, 34, 38, 40, 41 (meeting held on 23 Feb 2012)

Document can be accessed on: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/evaluation/2012/Parti

cipation_Final-Rep.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/echo/evaluation/thematic_en.htm

Issued statement to the Government of Japan and

America, on behalf of Civil Society Organizations in India and Japan on: Removal of the U.S. military

base from Okinawa (Respecting the rights to security of the Ryukyu Indigenous people and the

preservation of their ecological and cultural heritage)