THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE DALITS IN BIHAR

I am still not in India and by lack of own material I would like to copy an article of todays BBC online which is so touching that I could not resist to infringe the copyright. May BBC online forgive me





Hundreds of thousands of people are still homeless after floods hit the Indian state of Bihar last month.
Some of the victims face the additional hardships that come from being members of the low caste dalit community. Rajan Khosla of the charity Christian Aid has been meeting some of them in the village of Mirzawaa, where 500 families live in temporary shelters."Let me be born again as an animal rather than as a harijan (dalit). We face more humiliation than they," says Tetar Rishidev, a dalit from Mirzawaa village, in the district of Supaul.
After the floods in Bihar millions of people lost their homes, belongings and even family members. But for the dalits of Bihar there is further misery: the caste system.
In Mirzawaa village, Sakal Sadah is a dalit.

Today - unusually - he is happy. There is a food distribution and his family will get food. His children have been surviving on some leftover rice once in a day.
Sakal Sadah is a landless agriculture labourer and earns about 40 rupees (80 cents) for a 12-hour day.
Sakal Sadah works hard for little food
Now he's worried: "Where will I get work now? Everywhere is water. No one is going to employ me, I am a harijan."
Hundreds of dalit families are in the same situation as Sakal: they have been hardest hit by the Bihar floods.
In this emergency, when everyone should be provided with food, certain groups are denied access.
The plight of these communities in remote, rural areas is very serious - especially in the feudal state of Bihar.
They cling to the little they have. Many families have left behind one male member to keep an eye on their house and belongings.
Segregated society
Asdev Sadah, an elderly dalit, stayed behind to guard the house of his upper caste employer.
"I used to work in their fields," he said.
"They wanted me to watch their house and belongings. I have to listen to them. They will provide my family food and work once they come back.
Many have been left with nothing after the floods
"I have nothing left in my house - because it was made of mud it has already collapsed. My malik's (employer's) house is strong and they have stuff kept inside."
It seems a strange sort of society where an old man stays back, without food or shelter, taking numerous risks to guard the house of his feudal lord.
But Asdev no doubt knows full well that in this segregated society, there is no other support system for him and his family.
The relief camp in Sabela School in Madhepura is run by one of Christian Aid's partner organisations who are doing all they can to help.
It was set up because organisers knew there were many dalit villages in the area.
I met Jamuna Devi and Puliya Musamaar here.
For many it has become a question of survival
They told me that they were not allowed to use the hand pump to get water as it belonged to upper caste people.
The same upper caste people also asked the camp organizers to move displaced people away because as Dalits they would contaminate the entire place. Their request was refused.
"When will people understand we are also human beings?" Puliya asked. "We need food and water, our children also feel hungry."
I asked one of the aid agencies running another relief camp whether they would have a dalit cook.
Their response was negative. They felt that not everyone would eat food cooked by dalits.
Christian Aid and its partner organisations are including two dalits in the cooking teams in the relief camps they run - thus ensuring that they are not excluded.
Everyone needs food in this crisis situation, so why should people like Sakal Sadah, Jamuna Devi and Puliya Musamaar be so discriminated against?
And if Asdev Sadah can work in the fields and loyally guard the house of his higher-caste employee, then why people should refuse to eat food cooked by them?
We have to challenge the system. I know the problem is gigantic. But efforts need to be made. Each one of us has to make a step forward.
Another aid agency working in this area assured me that they tried to treat displaced people equally.
The critical point is that while equality may be an accepted philosophy it can only happen once people also agree in practice to be equals.
Equality means that all people should get food and their rights and dignity are respected.
But flooding and discrimination seem to have taken those rights away

ARE INDIAN RACIST ?

The caste system is without any dought the most racist invention of all times. But this would be understandable, since all countries have had some kind of hierachical structure,having leaders and slaves once in their history but in INDIA IT STILL EXIST. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said at a conference: “Dalits have faced a unique discrimination in our society…. The only parallel to the practice of untouchability was apartheid.” The verbal form "have faced" is simply not true Dalits still are completely underprivilized and in some areas can not drink from the same water source as upper caste people.
Now in another area India has shown his ugly racist face:
Two cheerleaders from London were asked to leave the ground at Mohali “because of the colour of their skin” by the Preity Zinta event management company, Wizcraft International Entertainment, which handles her team, Kings XI Punjab.
One of the girls, Ellesha Newton, told The Telegraph: “It was okay when we reached the stadium. It was when we were going to take our positions that some of Wizcraft’s employees asked us to leave. We were surprised and asked them why and they told us it was because of the colour of our skin.”
Aldana said he found Ellesha and Sherinne Anderson, whom he had recruited as part of a team of 12, in tears when he reached the ground.“Sherinne and Ellesha were in a state of shock and crying outside the ground. I called them and asked them what was the matter and they told me that a guy from Wizcraft had forbidden them from entering the ground,” Aldana said.Aldana, who has supplied cheerleaders for Shah Rukh Khan’s Calcutta team, too, said when he confronted the Wizcraft people with the allegation they tried to pass it off as a casual comment. “They said people don’t like dark girls here. But if they wanted all blondes, they should have told me so. I would have arranged it.”On Aldana’s insistence, the girls were allowed back on the ground. But they were so upset that they didn’t want to take their positions on the stage.
“Sherinne and I talked it out amongst ourselves and we really didn’t want to go, but that’s why we were here and so we went,” said Ellesha, 22.
Sherinne, 25, burst out: “This kind of thing has never happened to us before, not in Europe, not here, nowhere.”

PREGNANT WOMAN DELIVERS IN TRAIN

Because of being Dalit and not being able to deposit 500 rupee as admission fee to a governemental hospital a pregnant woman, was sent away and had to deliver in a train.The woman's husband Vijay Kumar rushed on Thursday his wife to a community health centre, where nurses asked for 500 rupee for getting admitted. As he was unable to pay the couple was bluntly told to leave and the delivery had to take place in the train of Jhijak area of Kanpur

INDIAN ROMANCE III

What is rape ?
Citations of Times of India :
On the basis of testimonies and witnesses, a trial court has let off a man charged with rape of his colleague 10 years ago by claiming he was a bachelor when he had actually been married earlier. The court acquitted the accused after coming to the conclusion that the woman was well aware of the acused man's martial status and still consented to the relationship.

What do we learn about that (for tourist)
1) Never promise marriage before sexual intercourse with an Indian lady
2) If you had already intercourse marry as soon as possible. Do not hope dowry laws will also apply to you. Western have no caste. Is still better than dalit.... but not really a big fish, so maybe you will have to pay a "fat Indian marriage"
3) You had intercourse and nobody claimed marriage, go to HIV (AIDS) test asap.
4a) If you had intercourse and do not marry and you are accused, please be prepared to stay up to 10 years in India before the trial court set you free (eventually)
4b) If you had intercourse and you cannot marry her please be prepaired for 7 years in Indian jail (is not so bad, I was told if you have the right connections and willing to spent some money to the right persons)