/india/ - India - When caste lines are drawn literally

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File: 1455940896566.jpg (87.24 KB, 923x565, 923:565, 14829247182940274.jpg)

India - When caste lines are drawn literally 02/20/16 (Sat) 04:01:36 54aef3 No.471

Beef is banned. Menstruation is taboo. If you think this is today's news, the same made headlines in 1873. That was the year Maharashtra's legendary social reformer Jyotirao Govindrao Phule wrote Gulamgiri (slavery), a blistering attack on the vedas and Brahmanism. More than a century later, writer Srividya Natarajan and illustrator Aparajita Ninan's put together the graphic novel, A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule's Fight for Liberty, drawing inspiration from his richly imaginative work.

"Phule wrote very visually, and we picked up his work to plant a seed via a graphic novel, where the youth can pick up a copy and understand what being a Dalit is all about," says Ninan of the book set to be published in regional languages.

A Gardener…is published by Navayana, India's first and only publishing house to focus exclusively on the issue of caste from an anti-caste perspective. When the book was released four years ago, it made a statement with its unconventional book launch —a kababchi from Jama Masjid served buff (a euphemism for beef) delicacies. There was also an installation of a "menstruating" Brahma handling sanitary napkins (Phule had wondered if Brahma, believed to have given birth to the Brahmins, had menstruated). The impact of these exhibits however was not long lasting. Caste is not discussed unless it is a matter of life and death, as proven by Rohith Vemula's suicide on January 17. A startling reminder of how the caste system continues to maim and kill, in modern India.

"It is not just in the villages. When a Dalit gets a government job in the city, via reservation, and does his work well he is still treated as an outcast. The peon will throw the file on his desk, instead of handing it to him, because he doesn't want physical contact with a Dalit. This kind of a story needs expression. And comics are the best way," says Sharma. At a recent workshop in Delhi University that focused on caste discrimination, Sharma located students who were against reservation and for SCs and STs and got them to illustrate the story of a poor Dalit child's journey to college. It made the subject easier to understand. "As they drew the panels, they realized that the issue was about real life versus a privileged life. It made them more aware of the world beyond what appears on their Facebook feed," says Sharma.

http://archive.is/ev9Kz

India's present diverse population arose from five types of ancient populations that freely mixed and interbred for thousands of years before the rigid caste system, with its principle of prohibition of marriage outside the caste, put an end to this mixing. This ancient history hinted at in various linguistic, archeological and genetic studies has been confirmed by a path-breaking genetic study recently published.

Researchers from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) at Kalyani, West Bengal, analysed DNA samples of 367 unrelated Indians belonging to 20 population groups. These covered castes from different parts of India, and most large tribal populations from central and Northeastern India. Also included were samples from two Andaman & Nicobar tribes.

"Genetic analysis shows mainland India's present population is a result of the intermixing of four main types of ancestral populations - North Indian, South Indian, Austro एशियाn and Tibeto-Burman," said Partha Majumder, director of NIBMG who led the study. The Andaman & Nicobar tribals have a completely different fifth ancestral origin that originated in Pacific Ocean populations.

The study compared genetic sequences from Indian samples with those from Central एशिया, West एशिया, चीन and adjacent regions to trace how humans first arrived in India.

What the study also unearthed was the deep imprint of a significant social cultural process in Indian society . It found that interbreeding between communities `abruptly' ended around 70 generations ago, which translates to about 1,575 years ago, sometime in the 6th century .

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02/20/16 (Sat) 04:02:45 54aef3 No.472

File: 1455940966000.jpg (Spoiler Image, 370.96 KB, 1600x1231, 1600:1231, 1445102016391.jpg)

>>471

"To understand this, we looked at the history of the time. It coincided with the period when the Gupta Empire ruled India," Majumder told TOI. This period had seen the consolidation and supremacy of the caste system, entrenched through the sanction of scriptures as well as enforcing mechanisms of the rulers.

"The genetic revelations corroborate India's history.The genetic mixing was contained by the prescription of a social construct," says Majumder.

David Reich of the Harvard Medical School, known for his extensive genetic analysis from samples of two main ancestral populations of India - North Indians and South Indians told TOI that the new study goes beyond his work by including smaller populations of Autro-एशियाns, Tibeto-Burmans and Andamanese and Nicobarese.

He cautioned, however, that Majumder and his team's calculation could have erred as they used certain statistical methods software, and also considered 22.5 years as the span of one generation. "Standard citation in genetics literature is 29 years based on studies in many diverse societies around the world. We usually use 29 years and that would give substantially older calendar dates than the authors cite," he told TOI.

Majumder explains his data saying these are estimates. There is scope for correction. "The caste system originated in Vedic times, perhaps 1500 BCE or earlier. It must have slowly spread and got entrenched over centuries. Its impact on genetic material becomes evident around 1600 years ago," he explained.

The new study also found some strange goings on even within the rigidity of endogamy . Ancient North Indian males appeared to continue interbreeding with other population groups but the converse process was not happening, probably due to "elite dominance and patriarchy" the study says.

Genetic analysis also revealed that in many parts interbreeding across caste rigidities continued for some time, as in Bengal and Maharashtra. The establishment of endogamy among tribal populations was less uniform.

The study called "Genomic reconstruction of the history of extant populations of India reveals five distinct ancestral components and a complex structure" has been authored by Analabha Basua, Neeta Sarkar-Roy, and Partha P. Majumder.

http://archive.is/qh9Wy

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02/20/16 (Sat) 04:26:37 54aef3 No.473

>>471

http://archive.is/5R8AF

Reservation for dalits is here to stay, Modi says

Seeking to woo dalits into the BJP fold, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out opposition parties which are bent upon driving a wedge between BJP and dalits.

Addressing a massive public meeting at Coimbatore on Monday, Modi, who was on his first visit to the industrial town after he became the Prime Minister, alleged that the opposition parties were spreading canards that the BJP government at the Centre would end quota for dalits.

"Certain elements are provoking dalits in an attempt to create trouble for the government saying Modi will end reservation. I would like to assure that reservation for dalits is here to stay,'' he said.

Recalling the efforts taken by the Centre to celebrate B R Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary, Modi said that the dalit icon's London house was acquired by India and turned into a memorial. Plans are afoot to build another memorial for him in Mumbai.

"So these people (opposition parties) are worried that dalits would align with BJP. So they are spreading canards in a desperate attempt to drive wedge between dalits and BJP,'' he alleged.

Modi equated India with a human body saying the whole body should grow for it to be deemed healthy. "Bharat can be healthy only if dalits, oppressed and marginalised grow,'' he said.

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02/20/16 (Sat) 04:30:03 54aef3 No.474

>>471

http://archive.is/gBtLX

The politics of upper caste quotas

After Marathas, Jats and Patidars, it is the Kapus.

A vast swathe of India across seven states has four dominant and resourceful communities seeking OBC status, showing that the race for "backwardism" is only intensifying with time.

That the latest to join the bandwagon, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh, form part of the southern state's political and financial fibre is generally agreed. The community makes up 12% of the state's population, and has moved up the social ladder with enterprise. It now wants to be put in the OBC list.

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02/20/16 (Sat) 04:34:59 54aef3 No.475

>>471

http://archive.is/zF62N

Digital India campaign will empower nation, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Digital India campaign is देसीgned to empower the country and bridge its digital divide, Union minister for communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday, stressing the role played by technology in bringing transparency to governance.

"The digital profile of India is changing," Prasad said in his key note address to the annual India Conference 2016 organized by Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School.

Citing some of the success stories where people are taking advantage of digital development, Prasad said digital India is देसीgned to empower India.

"It is meant to bridge the digital divide," he said at the start of the two-day conference.

Prasad said following the idea of smart cities, the government is coming up with the idea of a digital village concept, which would have wireless, virtual connection, a digital health centre, solar-powered LED lights, and a digital education centre.

"The whole campaign is देसीgned to empower India," he said. After coming to power, Prasad said his ministry has done away with middlemen.

"Come to my office, there are no middlemen. It has been done away with," he said.

"The first new idea of India emerging today is good governance. And for good governance today transparency is essential. We have done that," he said.

Prasad said as a result of fibre network connectivity in rural areas in particular, e-commerce is rising in the country in a very "amazing" way.

"The startup process is changing in India. It is truly extraordinary. A new India is emerging and we want to encourage that to create new opportunities," the minister said.

Later in an interaction with students, Prasad responded to a wide range of questions from reservation, to salary of research scholars in India, free basics and increasing presence of pornography on the internet.

Reiterating the government's position on caste-based reservation, Prasad said the regulator in India is looking at the free basics issue.

"It's a tariff issue. Let's wait for that," he said, adding the government would take a call considering India's best interest.

At the same time India being a democratic and free country, everyone, including Facebook, has the right to put forth its view publicly.

Prasad invited a Indian student doing PhD in nuclear science in Harvard to come and meet him, after he asked the minister that when people like him can make night vision goggle in his lab in four hours, why to buy from outside.

"India needs you. Come to India, meet me. I will take you to the defence minister and help you on night visit glasses. India needs you," Prasad said.

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