-The Hindu Pit emptying must become central to India’s efforts to eliminate open defecation Both Ambedkar and Gandhi protested the practice of Untouchability by encouraging upper castes to deal with their own waste. Last weekend, the Secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Parameswaran Iyer, took up their call for action by emptying the decomposed waste from a twin-pit latrine in Warangal district, Telangana. Mr. Iyer deserves praise for calling...
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Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister, interviewed by Nistula Hebbar & Krishnadas Rajagopal (The Hindu)
-The Hindu Framers of the Constitution were clear that we must move to a common personal law, the Union Law Minister says. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the Centre’s affidavit on the triple talaq issue, which is being heard in the Supreme Court, was based on the principles of assuring gender justice, gender equality and dignity. The Minister stressed that the right to freedom of religion did not enjoin...
More »Not So Clean -Sangita Vyas
-The Indian Express Swachh Bharat completes two years, but eliminating open defecation is a distant goal. October 2 marks the second anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Announcing a goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019 was a great idea, but now that we are 40 per cent through India’s flagship sanitation campaign, it is a good time to assess how much progress the SBM has made. Unfortunately, it is impossible...
More »Pushback against civil liberties -Satish Deshpande
-The Hindu The sense of impunity that drives discrimination against Dalits is at the heart of recent demands for the dilution, or even repeal, of the Act for prevention of atrocities against SCs and STs It is the sense of impunity nurtured by caste hierarchy that prepares the social ground for the “shockingly cruel and inhumane” crimes against Dalits called atrocities. It is this impunity that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled...
More »New Untouchability? Biometric attendance only for Dalits in Punjab colleges -Shailaja Neelakantan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: If true, this is the 21st century avatar of the unspeakable practice of Untouchability. If true, this will point out who Dalit students are, to the rest of the student community, furthering discrimination. Dalit students at the Lajpat Rai DAV College in Jagraon have alleged that authorities have instituted a separate biometric attendance system just for them, ANI reported on Tuesday. "A separate biometric for SC (Scheduled...
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