The recent demand of the Gujjars to be classified as SC from OBC raises dynamics of economic opportunities versus caste hierarchies. S. Mohammaed Irshad, a research scholar in economics writes.

Formation of Dalit Panchayats has helped organize and empower Dalit communities. Stories from Tumkur.

The politics of votebanks and reservations rears its ugly head in the Gujjar demand for reservations - it will have implications across India. An ACHR report.

To understand the efficacy of various social welfare policies, Arundhati Dhuru analyzes how these policies affect the lives of one of the most socially, politically and economically marginalized communities in UP - the musahars.

Chandrabhan Prasad is probably the only Dalit voice in mainstream English Press. His articles are also published at www.ambedkar.org.

Chengara speaks to India through the Chengara Pledge (given below), which thousands of people, in struggle for the last 120 days in Chengara Harrison Malayalam Estate, (also called as Laha Estate) seeking ownership of cultivable land to all 5,000 struggling families. Land struggle in Chengara, Pathnamtitta district, Kerala by landless Dalits and Adviasis (as well as scores of families from OBC communities, Muslims etc) from all parts of Kerala, started on 4 August 2007.

Shri Jugal Kishore Raybir, the National President of Samajwadi Jan Parishad and a leader of autonomy movement in North Bengal passed away in teh morning of 6 November at Jalpaiguri. A bachelor and full time political activist, he was 61 and was suffering from Lukemia for the last three months.

National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights argue that inspite of decades of planning and sizeable financial allocation since independence, very little of these programs reach Dalit communities.

Dr. Lenin Rahguvanshi, a human rights activist working for the Dalits and the backward class in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India has been receiving death threats from local political figures from the upper caste communities, asking him to stop his work with dalits or he and his family would be murdered.

On 15 November 2006, while visiting the trouble torn areas of Amravati city of Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Mr.R.R. Patil informed that the Maharashtra State Government was considering the proposal of arming the Dalits in villages where they are in minority to protect themselves from the attacks of the upper castes.

Neither the administration nor the media has taken steps that behooves an institution of a democratic civilized society as local women continue to agitate. Committee Against Violence on Women files this note.

With a public hearing for extension of UAIL planned in an atmosphere of intimidation, where dissent is impossible, human rights groups are writing to executive, judicial and legislative heads of the Indian governance for intervention.

The Southasian supports a request for support for a Dalit Sikh laborer who was beaten up for filing cases against landlords who raped his daughter. His limbs had to be amputated and now funds are being sought for artificial limbs.

The SouthAsian spoke with Ashoka Fellow Lenin Raghuvanshi about the problem and he speaks at length about the effect of WTO and the collapse of the weaving and handloom industry, the feudal system of contracting labor, of their efforts to build a democratic capitalist model and of preventing communalization. You can listen to the interview here.

Mr. Santhosh Patel, a staff member of People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), was illegally arrested on 7 June 2006 when he met with the District Magistrate Mr. Rajiv Agarwal along with other villagers from Belwa village to lodge complaints of corruption and other discriminatory practices of public officers responsible for Belwa village.

Ravishankar Arunachalam, a former faculty at IIT Madras and social activist follows up his first article (see below) with more evidence of its success.

Following our discussions on reservations , we forward an Dr. S. P. Udayakumar, the former director of Institute of Race and Poverty at University of Minnesota and the Managing Trustee of South Asian Community Centre for Education and Research Trust, Nagercoil, India, who writes that reservation policies require serious revision. His article appeared in the Indian National Daily – The Hindu.

People's Vigilance committee on Human Rights, a group based in Uttar Pradesh, has filed this report on land grabbing in the state.

The reservation issue in fashion again and many suggest that it is merely political manipulation, vote bank scheming before the elections. There are, perhaps, serious questions that we – as a nation – must think about. Questions that have impact beyond ourselves, our families but on the fabric of a democratic nation.

About a 1000 people from 20 panchayats came to Varanasi in carts, in tractors and in trucks � to publicly present their stories to the Food Commission set up by the Supreme Court and demand justice. They were stories of pain, of deception, of a callous corrupt oppressive system. But this was also a story of democracy.

The article on textbook edits received numerous comments – with different perspectives but all very thoughtful. And one thing they made clear – some form of editing of the current textbooks is needed and the edits have to be sensitive to our communities.

I am an atheist, a Hindu. I am not a Marxist, do not think that Marxism or Communism is the alternative to the crisis our world faces. I oppose the textbook edits being presented for the 6th grade in California as Hindu or South Asian history.

In an interesting twist in the California text books saga, it seems that interesting parties posing as Dalits have started imposter Dalit sites.

Chandar Kolhi alias Javed Shaikh was recently rescued from bonded labour by rights activists in district Thatta Sindh. He was bonded by a landlord named Luqman Palari for Rs. 200 (about 3 US $). He worked for two years without any payment.

People's Vigilance Committee for Human Rights, Uttar Pradesh, India & Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong, reports from a People's tribunal on starvation in eastern Uttar Pradesh

On 14th October, a (rally) dharna was organized by Bunkar Dastkar Adhikar Manch (weavers and artisans forum) before District Magistrate Varanasi to protest the policies of WTO, IMF and World Bank.

Dalit Mukti Morcha activist Goldy George presents cases of discrimination against Dalit children in Chattisgarh.

A Coastal Yatra to protest the lack of people’s voices and recognition of their concerns, as well as corruption during rehabilitation, is being organized starting from Vedaranyam on May 21,2005 and ending with a demonstration in Chennai on May 30,2005.

Government relief programs continue to be tied by corruption and lack of democracy while international agencies and governments are meeting to sneak in their selfish agenda. Meanwhile, the voices and concerns of those affected are do not inform the rehabilitation plans. This is a report from India.

It is quite simple to create slum dwellers. Governments and policy makers have known the recipe for quite a few centuries now.

This is the last of a series written by Dilip D’Souza on his blogsite and published here with his permission. In this series he describes the reality of people living in slums, slums being demolished.

This is the third of a series written by Dilip D’Souza on his blogsite and published here with his permission. In this series he describes the reality of people living in slums, slums being demolished.

This is a first of a series written by Dilip D’Souza on his blogsite and published here with his permission. In this series he describes the reality of people living in slums, slums being demolished.

This is a first of a series written by Dilip D’Souza on his blogsite and published here with his permission. In this series he describes the reality of people living in slums, slums being demolished.

A couple of weeks ago, we had sent out an invitation to our readers requesting them to write and tell the rest of us about who they are, what they do, what organizations they work with and what ideas they have.