Dr. G.

Rudraiah Choudhary Memorial Lecture - ~

"POLITICS - SOCIAL JUSTICE"

By

Prof. P.l. VISHWESHWER RAO

. Dean,

Faculty of Arts & Professor of Journalism, Oemania University, Hyderabad - 500 007

25, Febraury, 2009 Ramachandrapuram East Godavari District

I am extremely grateful to Dr. G. Rudraiah Choudhary Endowment Trust & History Department, inviting me to deliver the lecture. Our struggle for freedom was long drawn and

. tortuous. It entailed supreme sacrifices on the part of millions of young men and women. And when it came, it was with a divided India. We opted for parliamen~ democracy, incorporating basic tends of human rights in our Constitution. It provided for different tiers of legislatures to facilitate and ensure responsive and accountable administration at centre, and in the state. Unfortunately, we ended up with a political leadership that betrayed the very: spirit of democracy and reminds us of the institution of monarchy. Perhaps, worse than that.

Over one-third of our fellow countrymen are toiling under extreme poverty and are deprived of their fundamental rights. About 80 million of our young men and women are groaning under the yoke of unemployment. On the other hand, the political dispensation, particularly, our elected representatives are getting richer and richer. This brings democracy, we swear by, to disrepute and shame.

The very purpose of Democracy will be defeated if its people

. do not get their share in political power, positions and opportunities. Social justice is what we share in political power, positions and opportunities. Social justice is what we are seeking for the people of India. A democracy that is not committed to social justice is not worth having.

Democracy and social justice linked because of the huge disparity between people and the ruling classes. The country got freedom from colonial rulers 60 years ago but the people of the India continue to be oppressed by neo-feudalism which is driven caste dominance. The ushering of the modern era and

democratic system of governance made no difference to concentration of power among a few forward castes. These castes which comprise a mere 20 per cent of population have dominated over 80 per cent of the people. The feudals donned the garb of democracy and continued to monopolise political and economic power in the post-colonial era. Their hold was legitimized by elections which they manipulated with the help of their immense economic power. Political power fuelled their economic power and vice versa, generation after generation.

One example is sufficient to demonstrate the prevailing injustice caused by caste hegemony. Out of 109 seats in Telangana in the present AP Assembly, forward castes who constitute a mere 10 per cent, occupy 72 per cent of seats while 90 per cent of the people have to be content With 28 per cent of seats. While SCs and STs (comprising 15 % and 9 % respectively) are fairly represented thanks to the reservation policy, theBes and minorities are worst affected. BCs who comprise 52 per cent of population have a mere 16 per cent of the seats and minorities with 14 per cent population have only 5 per cent. Among the BCs, while the numerically larger castes like Munnuru Kapu, Goud, Yadava, Mudiraj, Padmashali have managed to get some representation, the smaller Castes like Waddera, Rajaka, Boya, Gondu, etc so far have had no representation in the Assembly.

Political representation is only one aspect of social justice.

The other aspects include socio-economic well-being, opportunities for growth, emancipation and empowerment. Social justice means liberation from illiteracy, gender disparity, poverty and dependency. Social justice means that the last person in society lives with self-respect and in s~lf- sufficiency. The state should direct all its resources and energies towards empowerment of the deprived. This means that the government

shoul~ distribute surplus land to the landless. Those depending on agncu1ture should be given cultivable land. If necessary, the government should buy it and distribute it. It should enact laws to ensure the poorest get an equitable share of community resources. The artisan class should get access to technology and markets. The rich talent and creativity of these people, is getting destroyed as their occupations no longer sustain them. Along with their occupations, a rich culture and traditions related to the occupation are being destroyed.

Half of the population, namely women, remain steeped in illiteracy, poverty and are victims of all kinds of violence. They are among the most oppressed and therefore, they should be a top priority of the state. Girls should get free education up to college. The marriage age should be strictly implemented and child marriages should be ended with an iron hand. Bonded labour and child labour are a blot on any civilized society and they are rampant in India. The rights of tribals over their forest land and forest produce should be restored. The Constitution enjoins the state to take care of the weak and ~e deprived. Therefore, budgetary allocations for welfare should be proportionate to their population.

Importantly, the self-esteem of the deprived groups needs to be developed by promoting role models from among their own. The life and achievements of personalities like B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayan Guru, Turrebaz Khan should be taught in schools and colleges.

Crucially, the Constitution should be used as an instrument of change. It should be implemented in letter and spirit to benefit those for whom it was written. Social justic~ m~ans making the weak strong, giving them control over their lives

and livelihood, liberating them from an existence of dependency.

DEMOCRACY OR 'FEUDO-CRACY'?

We as a proud nation, dreaming of becoming a super power in the near future, don't tire of proclaiming our achievement as a successful democracy. Our collective chest bursts with pride when foreign scholars acclaim India's steady economic growth in a democratic set up. We pat ourselves on the back, in secret glee, when these scholars run down the continuing hold of feudalism in our neighbourhood, particularly Pakistan, and hold up India as an example of all that went right in a country that opted for democracy, despite overwhelming poverty, that has nourished' a free and vibrant press despite widespread illiteracy, and one that has given rise to a middle class whose prosperity is being eyed by every industry as a potential market despite two-thirds of its population being mired in poverty.

While the pride is totally misplaced, the contradictions are rooted in what I like to call"feudo-cracy" which I believe is a phenomenon that is typical to India. Because the type of democracy we practise in India is a veneer, a thin shroud that hides the deeply-rooted feudalism which has afflicted the people of thesub-continent for centuries. The common people, especially the poor and the disenfranchised, have been at the receiving end of this feudo-cracy that pervades all sectors including political and administration. Feudal thinking, values and system is at the heart of our politics, economics and administration which is why today, after 60 years of independence, a majority of the people remain disempowered and a small minority, beneficiaries of this I feudo-cratic' system have prospered beyond imagination.

What is the democracy and what is it supposed to achieve?

We understand democracy as a system where people participate in determining the course the country or community takes.

Democracy is striving for common good and in public interest. In a democracy people are at the centre of all decisions. Democracy is, in sum, the manifestation of the will of the people. This will

. however is manifested only during elections. Even this is sought to be manipulated through money and booze and other favours that ultimately results in more benefit to the giver than to the taker.

Let's take the example" of political parties in India whose multiplicity is seen as a bane of a healthy democracy by some while others argue-thatit typifies an evolving democratic polity. But are these parties, is any single party, national or regional, democratic in its functioning? Is debate encouraged within the party? Is dissension allowed?

Political parties are the new 'jagirs' of a few personalities, especially of the founders of these parties. These 'jagirs' are inherited by the founder's family members. A political party has become the fiefdom of the founder, that is controlled, managed, run and passed on to the family members. While Congress may not have been founded by the Nehru-Gandhi family but it is the fiefdom of the Gandhi family. Ditto with every major party. Of late, the emergency of the Karat couple as the only voice and image of CPI(M) makes the party look like every. other party.

The supremacy of the family is a characteristic of an average Indian political party. The family is the party and the party is the family. Let's start listing from the south. Karnataka's H D Deve Gowda and sons, s. Bangarappa and sons, Ramakrishna Hegde and daughter; Tamil Nadu's M. Karunanidhi and son and daughter; Andhra Pradesh's N T Rama Rao and his son-in-law N. Chandrababu, Majilis-e-IttehaduI's Salauddin Owaisi and two sons, Telangana Rashtra Samiti's K Chandrashekhar Rao and son

and nephew; Kerala's Karunakaran and son, Maharashtra's Sharad Pawar and daughter, Shiv Sena' sBal Thackeray and son and nephew, Orissa's Biju Patnaik and son; Uttar Pradesh's Mulayam Singh Yadav and son; Bihar's Lalu Prasad and wife; . Kashmir's Sheikh Abdullah, son and grandson; Uttar Pradesh' s Char an Singh and son. Political parties have tumed into dynasties, ruled, controlled and perpetuated by the kith and kin. People do not figure in this scheme of things other than as voting machines. These modem-day dynasties have become so powerful and developed such deep vested interests that "wars of succession" have broken among "heirs," taking us back to days of Rajas and Maharajas of yore. A democratic system which is supposed to promote public interest has degenerated into family

fiefdom.

No party holds internal elections. Nominations at the whims of the party II supremo" is the order of the day. Innerparty democracy is not even talked about nowadays because the norm is to bow to the diktats of the "patriarch" or "matriarch" in the instance of Congress. The "high command" is supreme. This blatantly, feudal mechanism naturally has give rise to sycophancy, unquestioning acquiescence to "orders," and a remarkable culture of liking and courtiers". Perhaps this culture never went away because feudalism merely took on a modem look with the exit of the colonial rulers 61 years ago.

With the dawn of independence, the feu daIs of yore, turned democratic, fighting elections and winning them, forming governments and setting up institutions reflecting and practicing feudalism. These feudals are those castes who consider themselves superior and who have been ruling for generations. They ruled then and they rule now. A small minority of upper

castes have been at the helm of the country and successfully managed to subvert democracy, preventing the spirit of democracy to prevail. In our country, democracy has served the interests of a few, very few. Rather than public good, democracy has promoted the good of a few castes and communities.

. It is time we brought about reforms where they are most needed, that is in our politics, beginning with political parties. For a healthy democratic system, political parties should take the .lead in practicing democracy. Like it is said, good people constitute good parties and good parties make for good politics which in turn forms the basis for good governance. This makes for a good society and hence a nation. Will our political parties rise to the occasion and shake off feudal practices traditions, mindsets and behaviours? This means that 80 per cent of the unempowered people of this country need to be involved as equals.

Democracy and Social Justice: Status of Women

Among the down-trodden, are women. Woman, I believe, has been the first slave of mankind. She remains so today. Not just in India but across the world. In India, Dalit women are at the bottom of the heap. I will deal with them separately.

Women constitute half of India's population (48.3%).

According to 2001 census, female population was 496.4 million and male population 532.1 million.

Gender equality is an idea that even in the 215t century is embodied more in laws in India than in reality. Equality is a fundamental right of every Indian citizen, yet for women, inequality is inbuilt in almost every aspect such as property ownership, literacy, employment, wages, salaries, access to medicare and to food and access to political power. Despite the Constitution and the law of the land, women's rights are limited.

Sex ratio is an important social indicator to measure the extent of prevailing equity between males and females in a society at a given point in time. Progressively, sex ratio in India has been declining over the last 100 years. There are less number of females to males in spite of greater number of females born. The sex ratio was 972:1000 in 1901; it stood at 946:1000 in 1951; in 1991 it was 927:1000 and in 2001 it was 933:1000. The skewed sex ratio is largely due to higher female mortality rates.

Discrimination against women starts even before birth. As a result of sex determination and sex pre-selection tests, abortion of female fetuses has become widespread. Child sex ratio has declined 988:1000 in 1961 to 927:1000. According to an estimate, sixty lakh female infants and girls are missing due to abuse of sex-selection techniques. The decline is so widespread that it can be seen in 27 out of 28 Union States and in five out of seven Union Territories.

Male children are given preferential treatment in matters

. of food, medical care and education. As a result, more female infants than male infants die. The nutritional status of females is poorer than that of males. Field studies carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research have found that girls are predominant among children afflicted by Kwashiorkor caused by extreme malnutrition. And yet, boys hospitalized for this disease greatly outnumber girls.

Literacy rate for women is far below than that for males.

While literacy rate for women 53.67% it is 75.26% for men (2001). It is even more dismal among rural women (13.7%). In as many as 45 districts of India, female literacy is less than 30 per cent There are 15 districts in India, mainly in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh where literacy rate among Oalit women is. less than five per cent.

Fewer girls attend school than boys. Two-thirds of the total non-enrolled children (197~0) are girls. There is a greater dropout rate among girl students at every level of schooling, namely, primary, middle and high school.

Women constitute one-third of the total labour force but they are paid only 60 per cent of men's wage. Women are concentrated in low, ill-paid, labour-intensive jobs; 94 per cent of women workers are engaged in unorganized sector. Of them, are 81.4 per cent are in agricultural and 12.6 per cent in other sectors. In the organized sector, a microscopic number of women are in senior positions involving decision-making. In times of economic crisis, women workers are the first to lose their j

A recent sample survey of rural widows in seven Indian states by development sociologist Martha Chen, found that at the all-India level only 13 per cent of those with landowing fathers inherited any land as daughters, and only 15 per cent of those with landowning husbands inherited any as widows. This meant that 87 per cent of the sampled women with claims as daughters, and 49 per cent with claims as widows, did not inherit. Also, widows who inherit, typically hold the land jointly with sons, and can usually exercise little independent control over it. A similar patterns of women' s disinheritance is to be found among city dwellers.

Full economic and political empowerment remains a distant dream for millions of women in not just in developing countries but in developed countries as well. The report a survey of 58 countries by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum report of 2004 says, IINo country has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap" but the Nordic states of Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland, have II succeeded best" in narrowing it. Other

"female-friendly" countries include Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and several East European countries where women still benefit from the support system built during the Communist era.

The most glaring gender inequality in Britain relates to wages where women still earn far less than men for the same work-and this despite an Equal Pay Act passed 30 years ago. This is confirmed by official figures which show that the average income of women in Britain is almost half that of men.

Status of Dalits

Let us take a look at the socio-economic situation in which the 200 millions of Dalits are placed today. 86 per cent of Dalits are landless; 80 per cent of Dalits live in rural areas. 60 per cent of Dalits are dependent on daily wage labour for their sustenance. Barely 37 per cent Dalits are literate. About one million Dalits do manual scavenging for a living. Almost every day, an atrocity is committed against the Dalits in some part of the country and almost daily they are subjected to mental and verbal abuse. Although untouchability was outlawed legally in 1950, in practice, the Dalits continue to face social and economic exclusion. They are denied access to common property like land and water and are not given equal opportunity in education and employment. When they try to assert their rights as citizens, they face severe repression from the so-called higher castes. The Dalits are massacred, their homes are burnt and their women raped. They face social boycott or even driven out of their village.

Status of Dalit Women

In this dark scenario, the position of Dalit women is worse considering we live in a patriarchal world. A Dalit woman faces the triple disadvantages of caste, class and gender. They are the

most marginalized and the most disempowered. They are truly the bottom-most in our social hierarchy. They are the most vulnerable of all the vulnerable people of India.

.

Dalit women comprise half of the about 200 million Dalit

population in India. They are 16.3 per cent of the total female population of India. With 9O'per cent of the Dalit women involved in economic production, they form an important and integral part of the labour force. Yet she is paid a pittance, she is overworked, she gets a lesser wage than a man for the same work and is not eligible for maternity or any other social security benefits. She faces continuous and extreme deprivation. She is a victim of gender and caste violence; she is a victim. of sociopolitical-sexual exploitation. A report on atrocities against Dalits in AP shows that the number has doubled in the last five years. The atrocities against Dalit women are the second largest of crimes against Dalits after violence over employment and wages. Three Dalit women are raped daily in India, according to some estimates. Does this wronged woman get justice? Almost none. Less than one per cent of perpetrators of crime against Dalit women are punished, according to reports.

The Dalit woman is thus poor, illiterate, oppressed and victimized. Not just by so-called higher castes but within her own community, by her own men. She is conspicuously absent in the Dalit movement and in leadership positions.

Status of marginalized sections

It is ironic that even after 61 years of independent governance and 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Dalits were still struggling for freedom, dignity and justice. Virtually every day, there are reports of Dalits being discriminated against, humiliated or killed, Dalit women paraded

naked or raped, or the basic human rights of Dalits violated in myriad ways.

It is a sad reflection on our democracy that between 1990- 2008, abo·ut five lakh cases were registered with the police nationwide as cognizable crimes against the Dalits. The actual figures could higher as not all cases are reported or if reported fail to be registered due to the inherent caste prejudice against the Dalits in the police and administration.

In 1950, the Indian Constitution abolished untouchability which meant that caste Hindus should not longer segregate Dalits or force them to perform "polluting" occupations. The reality, however, is the caste bias continues to run deep in all arms of the State and not even the so-called keepers of law, the police and judiciary are not immune to it. They let caste atrocities go off lightly and unpunished.

A high caste judge in Uttar Pradesh got his chamber washed with the holy water from the river Ganges to purify it since the earlier occupant of the judges chair happened to be a Dalit!

When the killing of a Dalit boy was being heard in the Gujarat High Court, the police prosecutor spiritedly defended the police action (the thrashing that led to death) saying "My Lord, the law differs from person to person." Subsequently the public prosecutor was promoted to the Bench and he is today a sitting judge of the Bombay High Court.

A sessions judge in Maharashtra charged with the murder ~f a Dalit youth still enjoys his position even though the Investigating officer is on record stating that the accused is interfering with the evidence in the case.

DaIits are at the lowest rung of social and economic ladder, lagging behind all sections of the people in all the indicators. Literacy rate among the Dalits is a bare 37 per cent. The State has not fulfilled its promise to ensure education to all the people especially the disprivileged. The drop out rate for Dalits is 36 per cent in primary schools, 59.6 per cent in the middle schools and 80.1 per cent in high school.

The latest figures show that 81 per cent of the Dalit population lives in rural areas and only 19 per cent in urban areas. 46.5 per cent of the Dalits in rural areas are below poverty line whereas in urban areas the figure is 23.5 per cent.

A fact that reflects of the impoverishment of the Dalits is that 81 per cent of the Dalit population owns less than half acre of land.

The less said the better of the daily humiliation that is heaped on Dalit men and women. There are instances of Dalits

•

forced to eat human excreta in Kamataka and Tamilnadu. In

Thinniyam village in Tiruchi district of Tamilnadu was forced to eat shit while in a village of Dindigul another Dalit was forced to drink human urine.

Dalits were subjected to inhuman punishment and humiliation for committing such' sins' as differing with a caste. person, accidentally touching a tap, or trying to shelter themselves from rain in front of a temple or even on rumour of Dalits slaughtering a cow as it happened in [hajjar in Haryana when five Dalits were butchered by caste Hindus.

Dalit youth are punished with death for daring to love or marry a girl from other castes. A 17-year-old Dalit youth was lynched in Bhilai for having an "affair" with a Muslim girl. His body was found hanging from the ceiling of a cattle shed which

was locked from outside. The girl's father and two brothers were allegedly involved in the crime.

In Tamilnadu a Dalit labourer was beaten up and paraded naked when he suggested that machine be used instead of human labour to desilt a tank in Satharasankottai village. The caste Hindus thought the Dalit was being cheeky and so punished him.

When a Dalityouth eloped with a [at girl Sushila in Talaav village in Haryana the entire village vandalized the boy's house, drove away his family from the village. Two Dalit friends of the boy who helped him committed suicide out of terror. The boy was arrested and Sushila was returned to her family after which she died in her home in mysterious conditions.

Allocation of jobs, ~n the basis of caste is one of the fundamentals of the caste system. While within the caste system, the division of labour for the four varnas is not the most rigid, for the Dalits who occupy the "lowest' caste category, it is caste and caste alone, which is the determinant factor for the attainment of social, political and economic rights.

A lack of access to education and training, combined with rank discrimination while seeking other forms of employment, has relegated Dalits to jobs likeleather workers, disposers of dead animals and manual Scavenger - all jobs that are basic become < dehumanizing when relegated to one section, forcibly. There are

8,00,000 manual scavengers in India despite abolishment of the practice in law (Employment of Mnaual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993). Offenders which include those who employ manual scavengers and those who construct dry latrines are liable to punishment of a year in prison and fine in addition prosecution under the Schedules

Tribals (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989). But the Act has been rendered toothless by the judiciary itself.

In the Tenth Five Year Plan, over 1000 crore was allocated for the construction of flush latrines in place of dry latrines and the rehabilitation of scavengers; the money is completely underutilised. A job as a manual scavenger is soul destroying. Most scavengers live segregated colonies and of toilet there can be as many as four hundred seats that have to be manually cleaned. In Gujarat alone, reported deaths of manual scavengers due to inhaling of carbon monoxide while inside a manhole was a staggering 20 over a year. In Mumbai, even today children are lowered into manholes and there have been deaths.

In 1995, the Commission on Bonded Labour appointed by the Supreme Court estimated as many as 225 million bonded labourers in Gujarat. This despite the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1989. Around 80 -90 per cent of _the bonded labourers are from the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes.

Of the Dalit population, 85 per cent live in rural areas.

Presently almost half (49 per centO of the rural Dalit population are agricultural labourers while only 25 per cent are cultivators. In stark and shocking contract, in 1961, 38 per cent of rural Dalit were cultivators and 34 per cent were agricultural labourers.

Only 31 per cent of Dalits households have electricity as compared to 61 per cent non Dalit households. Only 10 per cent of SC households have sanitation while 27 per cent of non-SC households enjoy this facility. The state and socially dominant groups play an active role in denial of basic Amenities to the Dalits. Electricity, sanitation and safe drinking water are provided in the dominant caste colonies but not in the Dalit colony. Dalits in most rural areas have separate sources of drinking water.

Since the early 1990s, violence against Dalits has escalated dramatically in response to greater demands and awareness of rights violations. Between 1995-2008 as many as 1,~,925 c~es were registered all over India as crimes and atrocities agamst scheduled castes. Of these, 2617 were for murder, 12,951 for hurt, 3,824 for rape and 51,376 for other offences listed under the Prevention of Atrocities Act.

> ._ The abysmal failure of successive governments to provide

free and compulsory education is a failure that has affected all sections, much more the Dalits proportionately. Two-thirds of the Dalit population is illiterate as compared to half of the rest. The literacy gap between Dalits and the rest of the population reduced by a large 0.39 per cent between 1961 and 2008. Dalit enrolment in the year 2008 at the primary level was a low 16.2 per cent while among non-Dalits, it was 83.8 per cent, according to the annual report of the Union Human Resources Development Ministry of 2006-2008.

According to the annual reports of the 8JC/ST Commission of 2006-2007 and 2007-08 the drop out rate for Dalit students was a high 49.3 per cent at the primary level, 67.7 per cent for middle school and 77.6 per cent for high school. The factors behind drop out rates include the compulsion to work. Increasingly abusive treatment and discrimination of Dalit children in schools is seen as a factor in the dropout of Dalit children from schools. Agenda for Action for, effective democracy and social justice

1. Ensure that each marginalized communities will own enough cultivable land for socio-economic well-Obeing. The government should pursue all possible measures including the distribution of surplus land, government revenue lands and temple lands within a specific timeframe. H the need be, the government should purchase cultivable land and distribute it among the poor.

2. Enact legislation and enforce it stringently to enable poor have an equitable share in the appropriation and use of the rural and urban common property resources. The law must be amended to ensure that lengthy litigation, with the ulterior motive of denying poor of legal redressal, is not resorted to.

3. Enact legislation and enforce the right of poor agricultural labourers to living wages, to gender parity in wages, to job security, to better working conditions and welfare measures, and ensure punitive measures against offenders.

4. Appoint Statutory Committees at the national and state level to identify within specified time-frame all the poor lands occupied by landlords, to assess the quantum of compensation to be paid by landlords, for their illegal utilization of lands, to identify the original owners and their nearest kith and kin for resorting these lands back to them, to expedite legal proceedings in courts specially appointed for this purpose against the illegal occupants and to ensure punitive measures against them.

5. Ensure the restoration of the alienated lands to the tribals, restore their rights over forest and forest-produce, provide them with compensation and rehabilitation measures, extend resources and capacity buildings measures for gainful utilization of their lands and forests and make those dalits displaced due to construction of dams/ developmental projects and mining as shareholders of such enterprises.

6. Democratize Capital so as to ensure proportionate share for marginalized communities and poor. Make budgetary allocation for SCs and STs to enable them enter the market economy with adequate investment resources, and develop their capacities and skills for such market enterprises.

7. Enforce with stringent measures the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and abolish forthwith child labour to ensure freedom with dignity for .all, and accordingly make suitable amendments in the appropriate legislations.

8. Amend Article 21 of the Constitution of India so as to include the following rights for all citizens, with special emphasis on SCs and STs, and on the basis of two criteria: namely, loweconomic income and without religious discrimination: the rights to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of women and men equally, including food, safe drinking water, clothing, housing, public health and medical care, social security and social services; the right to living-wage and the right to own 5 acres of cultivable land or to gainful employment.

9. Implement compulsory, free and high quality education for all immediately, make allocation of funds proportionate to the number and level of the illiterates, ensure compensation to those families which forfeit their income from child-labour increase the number and amount of scholarships, and provide better infrastructural facilities in SC and ST schools and offer market-oriented vocational and technical education.

10. Make the reservation quota applicable in all the public and private educational institutions from primary to technical and professional levels. Every child with low income-base must be given quality free-education at the State's expense. And every English medium school must implement Diversity in Admissions.

11. Recognize SC and ST women as a distinct category among women, and accordingly make segregated data on women available in census reports, action taken reports and progress reports, evolve national -and state-level perspective plans for mainstreaming marginalized communities in

developmental programmes, market enterprises, financial allocation, reservation facilities in education, employment and health facilities, and mandate the National and State COmmissions for marginalized communities and for Women to study and report specifically the status of women in their annual reports.

12. Implement eff ctively in letter and spirit the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrociti s) Act, 1989 & Rules, 1995, especially with regard to atrocities against women, and according~y prosecute the dominant caste leaders and their minions who stoke the fire of caste clashes and the police officials acting in connivance with them. In cases of atrocities against marginalized communities. A system of collective punishment has to be evolved as oppressors enjoy community's support and protection and escape the law.

13. Ensure diversity due representation in all public institutions of India, whether universities or academic or autonomous or registered bodies. Those institutions, which do not abide by the principle of Affirmative Action, must lose recognition and state funding. All private industry corporate houses must accept and implement Diversity in workforce immediately.

14. Ensure that in all state and national budgets allocations are made as per the proportion of population and penal action taken against unutilisation or diversion of funds meant for these sections.

15. Every government and private organization must implement Supplier Diversity from socially disadvantaged business and Dealership Diversity in all goods and services.

16. The State must assume sole responsibility in protecting the marginalized communities. The State must identify those atrocity-prone areas and deploy forces. In addition, provide arms licences to the marginalized communities as stipulated in the

Atrocities Act for self-defence purposes, make the setting up of self-defence groups from village onwards mandatory, and specially train women to handle weapons in self Defence against the perpetrators of crimes and atrocities.

17. Eliminate the humiliating practice of manual scavenging on the urgent footing through effective rehabilitation alternative and sustainable employment measures and developmental programmes, and prosecute violators of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, especially the gross violators-railways, defence, urbal local bodies and others.

18. Make it statutory for Parliament and state assemblies to debate on the annual reports of the nationat-and state-level Commissions for marginalized communities and Safai Karamcharis within the following year, and ensure that these annual reports and the action-taken reports are made public. And ensure that the action is taken under clear statutory stipulations.

19. Make affirmative action mandatory in all private institutions, including industries and corporate sector, which receive state patronage in any form - from land at concession rate to tax benefits etc. and also develop the capacities and skifls of all to help them meet the demands of these different sectors.

20. Implement the policy of reservation to at all levels of Judiciary and defence forces. And make transpar~nt appointment process in Judiciary by doing away with the nomination system.

21. Bring out a Truth Paper in two years on the status of reservation during the past 25 years and place it before Parliament and state assemblies for debate, and on a war-footing fill immediately all the backlog posts meant for marginalized communities and that, too, only with marginalized community candidates.

CURRICULUM VITAE by

fProf. rP.L. reJisnwesnwer lRJw

Prof. P.L. Vishweshwer Rao has been an academic for three decades. He has a rich and varied experience, both as a teacher and administrator, in two universities he has been associated with, namely, Osmania University and the Central University of Hyderabad. Prof. Rao has been professor of Communication and Journalism since 15 years. He is the Dean, University College of Arts & Social Sciences, Osmania University. He is also the coordinator of the Special Assistance Programme of UGC in the Department of Communication and Journalism, Osmania University.

Prof Rao writes and comments regularly on education, media and current political developments in newspapers and TV programmes. His articles have appeared in leading newspapers. He has edited two books on developmental issues. He has written book chapters on media and has contributed to journals.

Prof Rao was a Fulbright Fellow at Boston University.

He has also been the President of the Osmania University Teachers Association. Having 15 years of administrative experience, he was the Principal, University College of Arts & Social Sciences, Osmania University. He was the Director of Educational Multimedia and Research Centre, Osmania University. He was the Director of Osmania University UGC-Academic Staff College. He was Dean of the Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication in the Central University of Hyderabad. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Communication in the University. He was also the Head of Department of Communication and Journalism, Osmania University. He was the Coordinator ofUGC Special Assistance Programme In the

Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Communication in the Central University of Hyderabad.

Prof Rao has guided six students of Ph.D. who have beeD awarded their degrees. He has also guided more than 10 students of M.Phii.

Email: plvrao®rediUmail.com