Thought Garage

A researcher argues, Booming economy may change the dynamics of Caste and politics around Caste system. Most of us certainly hope so, but we do not believe that would happen. 

Look at different organizations and clubs in US, established by Indians working in US. Most of these organizations are polarized and implicitly all members belong to a certain caste. Grouping under a caste, only promote, caste system.  These are all very well educated, in a much better financial conditions. But Caste is something they consider almost equal to Nationalism and next to being patriotic.

And this is election season, you would see strategies, promises and every thing politicians do to win in the elections revolve around Castes.

The debate over caste in the New India is more than academic. India’s leaders are under growing pressure to alleviate poverty and inequality. Now, all kinds of groups are clamoring for what Dalits have had for 50 years — quotas in university seats, government jobs and elected office — making caste one of the country’s most divisive political issues. Moreover, there are growing demands for caste quotas in the private sector.

Mr. Prasad’s latest mission is sure to stir the debate. He is conducting a qualitative survey of nearly 20,000 households here in northern state of Uttar Pradesh to measure how everyday life has changed for Dalits since economic liberalization began in 1991. The preliminary findings, though far from generalizable, reveal subtle shifts.

Mr. Prasad credits the changes to a booming economy. “It has pulled them out of the acute poverty they were in and the day-to-day humiliation of working for a landlord,” he said.

Crusader Sees Wealth as Cure for Caste Bias – NYTimes.com

While quality of living will definitely improve for people from all castes when they are economically strong, it has nothing to do with the Caste itself.

Warangal police setup their own district level web site, WarangalPolice.org  to better reach out to people and provide statistics along with up-to-date information on various cases pending. Also attempting to use the website to promote safety and alert people about various scams.

There is a public grievance form, where people can submit their grievances to seek help from Warangal police.

The district police launched their own website warangalpolice.org extending their services and bringing more transparency in their operations.

District Collector B. Janardhan launched the website at a function here on Saturday. Superintendent of Police V. C. Sajjanar said they launched the dedicated website to make use of the latest technology and bring in more efficiency. He hoped the new facility will help reduce the number of pending cases and infuse confidence about the police among the people. The portal would contain all the details about each case, its stage and time needed for disposal.

The portal cautions the people about the illegal activities of realtors, private chit fund companies among others.

The site offers information on district police history, police martyrs, investigation of cases, helpline, police services, telephone numbers of police officials besides general information such as tourist attractions in the district and socio-political history of Warangal.

The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Warangal News : Warangal police launch website

Something that caught our attention is the Pay scale of police force. Compared to average earnings per person as of today including the high inflation rates, we thought these pay scales are quite low. Some argue, those low pay scales force, some officers to use other ways to make a decent livelihood.

The former TDP leader Devender Goud started his own political party and set a dead line for current Governments at both State and National level to make a resolution for Telangana. If they fail to make a resolution by Nov 1, Telangana will declare self-rule as Seperate state, Devender Goud threatened.

The newly founded Nava Telangana Praja Party (NTPP) will unilaterally “declare statehood to Telangana” on November 1 when it proposes to implement self-rule in the region.

The party will “change” the name of the State from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana on all the signboards. The number plates on all vehicles will also have the name of Telangana, the NTPP president T. Devender Goud told a public meeting to mark the launch of the party here on Wednesday.

Mr. Goud asked the Government to adopt a resolution either in the Assembly or Parliament “creating separate Telangana” by November, the State Formation Day. Otherwise, the NTPP would mobilise people of the region in seeking the State in a peaceful manner.

The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Devender Goud proposes ‘self-rule’

Prakriti team from Warangal reported some shocking news and opinions of people close to Devender Goud, that led to him leaving TDP and staring his own party.  More on this news little later.

This is election year, and more promotions on the way to lure voters. We have seen huge traction in the last two weeks in awarding Reservations to Kapu community by all political parties. Here is another, to waive loans given to SC/STs in the last 30 years.

The State government has decided to waive margin money loans sanctioned by Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Finance Corporation over the last 30 years.

It appears most of those loans did not reach expected beneficiaries at all.

The decision threatened to expose irregularities in the sanctioning of loans and nexus between bankers and brokers in denying the benefits to SC families and in defeating the objectives of welfare schemes.

The Scheduled Castes Corporation has sent letters to the ‘beneficiaries’ in Gudlur and Ulavapadu mandals that their margin money loans have been waived. The letters have caused more surprise than cheer among the addressees. They thronged the SC Corporation office here saying that they were never sanctioned any loans. Taken aback, the SC Corporation ordered inquiry to ascertain as what had happened 30 years ago.

Inquiries revealed that most of the loans sanctioned to SC families were misappropriated.

The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Ongole News : Data sought from bankers on loans

While Governments awards crores of rupees in loans and grants, nothing is being spent on educating beneficiaries on opportunities available and how best to leverage them, only to feed the middle men.

Note that Lok Satta is the only political party that recognize the need for education of the masses on various Government programs. It is also setting up Help centers through out AP, to help people understand, approach and take benefits of various government offerings.

More often, they get away with huge bundles of money. Once in a while, they get caught. Here is a story of a Deputy Collector that directly engaged in extortion and corruption  and get caught by ACB(anti corruption bureau). Click on the image to see full image

(via Andhra Jyothi News story)