Sitting at the Eco Park in Lucknow since November 26 2022, the JE applicants are now tired and approaching the final stage of their protest. After protesting for nearly 200 days, the protesters are now sending letters to the governor, CM Office, and different departments responsible for filling these posts, stating, “Either give us our results and complete our recruitment or take responsibility for our suicide.”

The candidates believe that their posts are lower in number compared to other positions under the UPSSSC, leading the government to neglect them. They feel that the other positions have a larger number, making it more convenient for the government to showcase their achievements in employment. However, since their post count is lower, they feel neglected.

A Brief Background

The protests began on Constitution Day, with a total of around 500 applicants gathering to register their protest. However, the numbers gradually decreased as everyone had their own problems. According to Mayur Verma, the leader of the protests, at least 30 applicants have remained constant at the protest site since November.

The Junior Engineer (JE) position was specifically introduced for diploma holders who specialised in technical fields like agriculture and civil. The eligibility criteria included completing high school followed by a three-year diploma course. Since the fee for the diploma course was much lower compared to pursuing a bachelor’s or BTech degree, many students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds opted to complete this course and still be recognised as engineers.

The history of this vacancy tells a different story. The first vacancy, released in February 2016, was completed by 2017. In the same year, another vacancy for 385 posts was declared, and the recruitment process began. However, this time, there was a much longer delay, and the final document verification took place between February and April 2022. Since then, applicants for the 2016 vacancy have been awaiting a joining date and a final merit list after document verification.

While the recruitment process for the 2016 vacancy was ongoing, the government released another vacancy for the same JE post in 2018, with the number of vacant positions increasing to 1,477. Applicants saw this as a good opportunity to improve their situation — especially those who had not been able to fill a post under the 2016 vacancy or were uncertain about the later one released in the same year. Little did they know that the fate of this vacancy would be as blurry as the vision of a myopic eye. After a long wait of over four years, recruitment exams were finally conducted in April 2022. However, since then, students have been waiting for the results, as for many of them, this is their last chance.

‘Left Private Jobs, Stranded Now’

As mentioned earlier, most of these students do not come from very affluent families and are therefore compelled to take up other jobs while they prepare for exams or wait for their results. One such student is Ankit, who has been a part of the protest at Eco Park consistently.

Ankit’s financial condition has not been very good, and his family has been pressurising him to leave Lucknow and come back home “so that they could marry him off”. But Ankit has stayed at the protest site, hoping that this time he would get the job. “It has been six months now, and the situation is grimmer than ever,” says Ankit.

Similar is the case for others. Mayur Verma has been leading the protest and spoke with NewsClick regarding what he has observed throughout his own journey. “You know, one thing that has remained constant is that none of the authorities has ever responded well or even tried to take cognisance of this matter. Every time we have filed a complaint, the response has been the same. The authorities have said that our matter has been taken into consideration and they will look into it. But the matter never proceeds from there. We write another letter and yet again, receive the same reply,” claimed Verma.

Verma himself has been preparing from Prayagraj since 2013. In the recruitment drive for the 2016 vacancy, he was disqualified at the interview stage, and the 2018 vacancy was “his last chance” to fulfil his dream. “It is not like I have not worked elsewhere; I have worked across Uttar Pradesh with several private companies as a site engineer and built several powerhouses.” When asked about his preference for a government job despite his experience, he pointed to the prestige that accompanies government jobs — as opposed to the taboo associated with private jobs.

“We come from a very orthodox background. In our family and social circle, anyone in a private job is worth nothing. I was earning well in the private job and had moved up to earning a salary of Rs 35,000. But still, if I have a government job with a lesser salary, I will be more satisfied because of the importance it brings,” he said. Such a taboo exists in smaller towns and tier two and three cities, compelling the applicants to pursue government jobs only and wait for them for years, even if they remain without a job, said the applicants.

Talking about the support their protest has received in the past couple of months, Verma said, “In this difficult time, many have helped us too. Independent organisations, youth movements, and opposition party leaders like Akhilesh Yadav have stood with us. But we have always looked up to the central government and the state government to bring a solution to us, which they have failed to do.”

One of the people to reach out to these students was Yuva Halla Bol’s working president, Govind Mishra. In a conversation with NewsClick, he said, “I believe that not just their matter, but every individual’s story is tragic. Some students travel 100 km to reach the protest site every week, some are in a terrible financial state, and others have their own problems.” Govind demanded that the government take conduct exams as per the Model Exam Code and fill the vacancies in nine months’ time so that the students do not face such problems for no fault of theirs.

Women applicants who have been waiting for the results narrate their stories that are also shaped by the weight of social pressures, some of which are worse due to their gender.

Rinku Shrivastava, who applied for the exam in the year 2018, could not sustain the pressure from her family and eventually got married. Even though she awaits the results still, she will not be able to take the job since she just had her second child and will have to take care of the family. In other cases as well, women were called back home.

In this context, however, Nidhi Singh’s case is remarkable. Coming from a farmer’s family with limited land, she had to settle for a diploma due to financial constraints, despite aspiring to study B Tech or obtain a bachelor’s degree. Nidhi’s journey was challenging, as she faced discrimination while seeking technical jobs, being denied opportunities based on her gender. Instead, she had to work as a receptionist, feeling the impact of societal biases. Despite her determination, Nidhi faced pressure from her family to get married, and eventually, her younger sibling was married off.

She says that she has not spoken with her family since she has refused to give in to their demand. “My father was really hopeful about my job and was proud of me, but ultimately, even he gave in to the societal pressure,” said Nidhi. At the age of 32, she awaits the results of her current job application, with no opportunity to apply for the next vacancy.

According to the applicants, they are currently in the final stages of their protest. They say they are sending letters to all the authorities, stating that this will be their last letter. On June 6, candidates plan to meet with officials and submit letters to them in several districts. On June 13, they plan to hold a massive protest at Eco Park in Lucknow.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post 5 Years Since Application and Still No Results: Frustrated Junior Engineers’ Protest Completes 6 Months in UP appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Five days later, 60 people were dead, 231 injured, 1,700 burned down and 35,000 displaced, chief minister N Biren Singh said at a press conference in Imphal.

As hundreds of houses were burned down and looted, most members of the Kuki community in Hebron Veng and neighbouring colonies fled to their relatives’ places in different districts or states.

This house is allegedly of an ex-minister who is a part of the Kuki community

Liza, who was part of the Churachandpur rally, narrated the events to Newsclick. “Everybody dispersed to their villages after the rally was over. In the evening, a social media post showing three burnt tyres in front of an Anglo Centenary Kuki gate was circulated. Soon, several rally participants reached the spot,” she said.

Liza, whose house was hardly a kilometre from the spot, was sure the situation would be under control. “But when the police ordered the crowd to disperse, Meiteis started beating up the tribals protesting the ‘vandalism’ of the Kuki gate. As the news spread like wildfire, Kukis and Meiteis burned down each other’s shops and houses. Eventually, the police stopped the violence,” she added.

However, according to Liza, the violence escalated after the police left. Initially, Kangvai, a neighboring village between Kuki-dominated Churchandpur and Meitei-majority Bishnupur, was targeted, say eyewitnesses.

Topai, employed at the local post office, was returning home around 6 pm that day. After dinner, he heard the “special Meitei noise used for mobilisation”. “The Meiteis beat electric poles with heavy objects to mobilise their community.”

Topai knew he had to protect his family of five, including his 70-year-old mother, an arthritis patient. The family locked the gates, shut the windows, switched off the lights, and huddled silently. They could hear people shouting slogans and gunshots.

Around 10.30 pm, the family realised that the mob was close as the frightening sounds became louder. “I heard them shout slogans, like “Kukis are not Manipuris” and “Kill them all”,” he said.

The family decided to flee when the building opposite their house was torched. As the family ran towards the back door, they saw other houses being vandalised. “We knew our house would be vandalised or burned down as well. Topai and his family, like other Kukis from the Hebron Veng colony, spent the night on their paddy fields.

The families took shelter in the nearest CRPF camp of Battalion 86 in the morning. “The mob looted houses and burned them down for the whole night. Our calls to the fire department and the police went unanswered despite the nearest police station being only five minutes away,” Topai said.

Bret, a wedding photographer, and his family, including his five-month-pregnant sister, were also inside their houses when the violence started.

“They were pelting my house with stones while we ran from the back gate and through the paddy fields to reach the Spring Valley colony, where a former Kuki commander sheltered us for the night. I could see houses being torched and the armed mob from a distance,” Bret told Newsclick.

The next day, May 4, was more frightening and painful for the resident of Hebron Veng and neighbouring residential areas like Vaiphei Enclave and Spring Valley. Churches were vandalised and houses looted and torched as the police allegedly remained mute, eyewitnesses said. Shockingly, the mob also consisted of people whom the Kukis met daily.

Bret and his family arranged an escort and left for the CRPF camp. On their way, Bret saw blockades put up to stop families from escaping. “Hundreds of people were already there in the camp. I got a bed inside a tent for my pregnant sister.”

He realised that one of his distant sisters-in-law who was seven-month pregnant was in the camp. “She was rescued from RIMS Hospital during the mob attack,” said a choked-up Bret. “She died the next day when we learned our house had been torched. I received a video of the incident.”

Mentioning the “pathetic situation in the camp, Topai said, “There was no food in the morning. Later, only a fistful of half-cooked rice and dal was served in used polythene bags.

The food that Topai and his family just like others in the camp were consuming on used polythene bags

We slept in the open since with mosquitoes biting us.” Several families requesting anonymity alleged unhygienic conditions and fear of life despite the presence of CRPF personnel.

Topai and his family are in Mizoram while Bret and his sister are with their parents in Bangalore. Describing how they had to shell out money on exorbitant flight tickets from Imphal to Guwahati, Topai said, “The usual price of five tickets was Rs 15,000. But we had to pay Rs 54,000 with the help of some of our generous relatives and friends. The underprivileged can’t afford such flights?”

The Meiteis and Kukis have co-existed for years. Almost all the violence-affected people told Newsclick that politics caused the differences. According to the Kukis, their “Meitei friends helped them” and “most community members are not bad”. The Kukis blamed the state for ignoring their community.

For example, a Meitei friend who is a doctor at the RIMS Hospital offered biscuits and water to Topai’s at the camp. Similarly, when Bret struggled to help his pregnant sister and was trying to get information about his locality, his Meitei and Naga friends helped him.

The Nagas, whose churches were also burnt, fear they will be the next target. Robin, a resident of the most affected area of Hebron Veng, said, “They have destroyed almost all the Kuki houses. There is a pattern—they get their pick-up trucks, loot the houses and then torch them. After destroying all the Kuki houses, they might target us soon. There are around 100 Naga families in the area, and we will escape soon.”

Newsclick also spoke with the Meiteis of Churchandpur. Bobby, a native of Torbung village, said, “Both the communities co-exist peacefully. We participate in each other’s festivals. The violence was caused by poor governance and the government giving a free hand to troublemakers.”

A senior citizen who is also a cancer patient somehow rescued from the locality

Bobby and his friends are trying to persuade young Meiteis who were part of the mob not to get involved in such activities, which “would affect peace”.

Singh promised compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh to the seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those who sustained minor injuries. The government has also promised houses and Rs 2 lakh compensation for people who lost homes in the violence.

But a traumatised Topai feels helpless. “I do not think we will go back. If we do, it will be to sell our land and house.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post No Compensation Enough for Traumatised Kukis Fleeing Manipur appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dhanera, Gujarat: A temple with two entrances opens up to a broad hallway that leads up to two fire pits in front of two doors marking separate entries to different temples. One temple remains open while the other is closed—members of the local Scheduled Caste (SC) Gohil community identify the closed one as theirs.

As this reporter goes towards the closed side of the temple, the priest enters from the other side. “It’s an age-old custom. The temple is 100 years old; some things cannot be changed,” he answers when questioned about caste discrimination.

Untraceable custom

The 68-year-old priest continues to support the discriminatory custom. “We do not do any injustice but temples should be different,” he says adding that “there were differences, as taught to them, that is part of the culture”. 

The temple is located in Dhanera Taluka’s Sankad village, in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat. Newlywed couples come to seek blessings at the temple, which is shared by 30 villages.

“Is God different? Are our offerings different? Is the cause of the visit (marriage) different? Then why can’t we share the same space?” questions Sankad native Dinesh (35).

Temples in the villages of Saral, Thawar and others in Banaskantha also have similar tales of discrimination to narrate.

A teenager from an SC community peeks into the temple in Sankad.

When women from the Gohil and Solanki communities went to attend a Navratri function in Saral, they were asked to leave. “We were not allowed to dance, sing or participate in the puja and asked to leave,” says Meeta, who firmly believes in the principles of BR Ambedkar.

Women of Saral village believe only in the principles of BR Ambedkar.

At the Shiva temple in the same village, women from these two communities who fast for 16 Mondays during the holy month of Shravan are barred. “We are asked to stay away and maintain the difference,” says Meeta. 

Even dead bodies of members of SC communities are discriminated against because of their castes. In all the 94 villages of Dhanera Vidhan Sabha, there are different crematoriums for different castes.

The discrimination does not end here. There are pending court cases over ownership of crematorium land in Vasan and Malotra villages. The SC community of Vasan alleges that the land, allocated by the collector to it for 40 years, was hijacked by the sarpanch and other upper-castes. A similar incident allegedly happened in Malotra, where the land is demarcated by a fence. 

Ostracisation from public spaces to settlements

An unmetalled road along an open crematorium leads to a settlement in the woods in Sankad. The settlement, which bears all the marks of ostracisation due to its far-off location, has mud houses with hay boundary walls. They belong to the Valmikis, the last in the caste system, who are oppressed even by the SCs of the village. 

Caste discrimination in these villages does not start with the Brahmins. The Other Backward Classes oppress the SCs (Gohils and Solanki), who, in turn, discriminate against the Valmikis.

Geeta, making millet chapatis for lunch at one of the houses, is the youngest and the most educated among the three sisters-in-law in the family. She had studied up till the 8th grade. “We are not allowed to raise our voices. If we do, we are abused,” says the 19-year-old, who could study only till class eight.

In 2017 and before, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Assembly election manifestos consistently promised to eradicate caste discrimination in Gujarat. However, these villages tell a different tale. 

“During the last campaign, candidates promised to construct metalled roads and permanent houses. But you can see the condition of the road you took to reach our house,” Geeta says sarcastically when asked about the election campaigns of political parties adding that “they visit us once in five years only to ask for votes”.

From weddings to other public events, the Valmikis use their utensils and sometimes even carry their own food to marriages. For the comparatively less underprivileged SC communities of Solankis and Galchars, the situation is slightly better due to their vote bank. “They have separate utensils for us in their houses,” says Dinesh, a member of the Gohil community in Sankad.

The temple used by the Valmiki community.

“The difference is evident. Our newlywed couples cannot enter temples and are supposed to worship from outside. We carry our utensils and sometimes food too to their weddings. They mostly don’t attend our weddings—and even if they do, they give cash and leave,” Shilpa, another member of the Valmiki community says describing the deep-rooted discrimination.

Even election candidates visiting the Valmiki settlement “do not enter the houses or touch the community members. They give verbal assurances and leave”, adds Shilpa. Some of the candidates enter the houses of other less underprivileged communities and have tea during campaigns.

Shilpa’s husband Bhangi Pagwan Bhai Virchand tried several times to apply for the position of Safai Kamgaar. Finally, he gave up and expected their son Shivam, who has a master’s degree, to improve the family’s financial condition. But he too failed to land a job and now assists his father and uncles in farming.

Shilpa’s husband Bhangi Pagwan Bhai Virchand shows the forms which he filled to get a house under the PM Awaas Yojana.

Caste discrimination stretches to government schemes as well. Shilpa’s family applied for a house under the PM Awas Yojana thrice but their forms either failed to reach the concerned officials or were ignored. “Once an officer from Palanpur even visited our house for inquiry. He said that since we already have a roof, we do not need a house,” says Shilpa, who stays with the six family members in a one-room house with no washroom or a permanent roof. 

Oppression: From land to representation

Dhanera is one of the biggest constituencies containing SCs, who total 28,000. Besides, it has a tribal population of approximately 9%. But neither SCs or Scheduled Tribes (STs) have any representatives.

“No one from the SC or ST community can contest even in Panchayat elections without a reserved seat. An analysis of the unreserved seats in Panchayat election shows a clear picture of the situation here,” says Pankaj, a local reporter and son of a former sarpanch. 

Gujarat was among the top five BJP-ruled states with the highest number of crimes against Dalits in 2018, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

As per the rules, the underprivileged have been granted some government land for farming. Masra Hamira Galchar (62), a native of Malotra, lost his land in 2019 and son in the first wave of the pandemic. He now works as a daily wager in the lands of other farmers for Rs 200 a day. 

In 2002, Galchar was granted six bighas. When the water crisis hit the village, he could not afford to spend lakhs on a borewell. With no option left, he approached the village Patel, who arranged for irrigation on the condition that he would have a “75% share in the produce”.

“I was left with only one-fourth share despite slogging on my land,” adds Galchar. In 2018, he finally asked the Patel for another share. When he refused, Galchar stopped working for him. 

Galchar collected his crops in one place to sell some of them and use the rest for as cattle feed. The same night, the “Patel and a few other men burnt his crops”. When Galchar and his family rushed to extinguish the fire, they were “beaten up”.

When he registered an FIR at the Dhanera Police Station, the Patel claimed that the land belonged to him and Galchar had instead burnt “his” crops. The police believe his version and the case has been pending in a Palanpur court for the last four years. Since the matter is sub judice, Galchar can’t use the land.

Masra Hamira Galchar, of Malotra village, shows his land papers.

“Being of the same caste matters more than being fair,” Galchar says with fading hope and a hunger for justice in his eyes while showing documents and a copy of the FIR in support of his claim to the land.

Galchar, who has a debt running in lakhs, has already spent, at least, Rs 3 lakh on the court case. When asked about how will he pay the loans or whether he is sure about getting his land back, he replied with only a pitiful smile. 

Meanwhile, the Patel has his own house and lands, and continues his ‘one-fourth share’ business with other farmers of the village. 

Caste-based atrocities against Dalits and tribals in Gujarat spiked by, at least 70%, between 2003 and 2018. Despite the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) pledge to eliminate caste discrimination, the situation hasn’t changed. 

“It is this way to keep honour intact,” asks Shilpa pointing out

the separate entries to the Sankad temple.

Saral is also known as Ambedkar Nagar. However, fasting Dalit women are not allowed inside temples. Caste discrimination in villages of north Gujarat is part of the culture and the social fabric.

The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist reporting on issues of unemployment, education and human rights.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Gujarat Elections: Temple With 2 Doors Leads to Different Realities appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Davol, Dahisana, Varetha: The lack of irrigation water in North Gujarat has led to consistent depletion in farming patterns in the area, and with the absence of any government aid, most farmers are now resorting to animal husbandry. The younger lot has migrated to urban areas of the state. Frustrated with indifference to their problems, three villages, with a total of around 10,000 votes, say they have been boycotting elections for three years now.

Approximately 50 kilometres away from the urban centre of Mehsana, lies a dry and barren rural belt, usually known for water scarcity as in case of other districts in North Gujarat. However, the nature of problems in the past five years has evolved, and the farmers now have much more to deal with.

“There was a time when farming in our village used to be done in all three seasons. We would earn well and never needed to look into alternatives. Things have changed now, the economy might have improved, but we are going down,” Jaswant, 30, from Davol told NewsClick. Most of the farmers in the belt of Davol, Dahisana, and Varetha are either landless or own very little land, two bighas or less.

Premji Prajapati, a 52-year-old frail farmer, owns half bigha land in the village of Dahisana. Since he cannot farm in the small space he has owing to the prevailing water uncertainty, he grows cattle fodder there.

Premji Prajapati owns just half a bigha of land, earns 2500 Rs a month via daily wage, the sole source to run his family of three.

“I do not even sell the fodder that I grow, I feed it to neighbouring cows and buffaloes. It is not much and will not make any difference to my economic condition. I rely on my daily wages for that,” said Prajapati.

The amount that Prajapati is paid for working in Mehsana or in a more well-to-do farmer’s field is Rs 250 a day. However, when asked how many days he actually gets work, he laughed and said, “that is the uncertain part. The maximum work that I get in a month is for 10 days only.”

As per the villagers, over 50% of farmers in Dahisana own less than two bighas. When farming conditions were better, their economic condition was good, too. Slowly, as the farmers had to dig as deep as 800ft to find groundwater, they were forced to resort to animal husbandry for their earnings. With this shift, rose their cost of investment. Cattle fodder became expensive, and due to lack of water,the farmers were forced to make a choice.

“We could either grow seasonal vegetables and other crops like groundnut or grow cattle fodder. Since the other crops were an expensive investment with uncertain outcomes, we had to resort to growing cattle fodder where the loss was comparatively less, and it could be used even in adverse conditions,” said Krishna, another farmer from Dahisana. Krishna’s economic condition is slightly better than most other farmers in his village. He owns three bighas and has some livestock.

Most of the villagers in Dahisana own less than 2 bighas of land, some of the citizens of Dahisana.

NewsClick travelled to three villages to understand the current conditions of farmers. With every new villager we encountered, the situation seemed to be getting worse. We encountered more and more farmers with little land and ones who were only growing cattle fodder. With the era of Internet boom in the country and rapid rise in the urban economy, the condition of farmers in this belt of North Gujarat have only worsened.

Valji Choudhary,m 52, virtually broke into tears while talking about his condition. Only a part of his three-bigha land was in use now. “I would have left this hell long back had it not been for my ancestral land. Now, I am so immersed into loans that I cannot afford to go any other place before repaying everything,” he said. Valji has two buffaloes, one cow, and a family of four to cater to, all via the dairy products that he sells.

Valji working on his ancestral land feeding water to his livestock.

“Government policies and subsidies could make our situation better, only if they were applicable to us,” said Valji. The Centre has a subsidy plan of 55% for drip and irrigation farming for small and marginal farmers across the country. However, all that Valji is able to use on the small land he has is the same water supply that he has for drinking at home. Therefore, hundreds like him are laid off from this scheme.

Approximately five years ago, the situation got worse for farmers here. Most now had either resorted completely to animal husbandry or were doing daily wage jobs. The hopes of growing any other crop on their land except fodder and groundnut were slowly fading out. The farmers started knocking on the doors of every minister they could reach in Gandhinagar. A delegation even met the state irrigation minister and other government representatives. But all in vain.

Seeing no results, and a drop in their income level with each passing year, the farmers three years ago, decided to boycott elections.

“If the so-called representatives cannot do anything to bring us out of the crisis we are in, why should we vote for them?” said a villager from Varetha. One fine day in 2019, people from all three villages gathered in the nearby ‘Varahi Maata Mandir’, a shared temple between the three villages. A decision was made, and the collective answer was to boycott elections.

The ‘Varahi temple’ at Dahisana where villagers of Davol, Dahisana, and Varetha pledged to not vote until their plights were listened to.

“Since that day, we do not pay any heed to politicians of any party. They are all thieves,” he added. NewsClick found that in all these three villages, there is no ‘sarpanch’ as of now. The villagers said when the time for the sarpanch election came, none of them filed nominations.

Not just in the sarpanch elections, even when it came elect delegates for the tehsil, which is done for the three villages collectively, none of the leaders from the three villages filed a nomination. “We are going to refrain from voting in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha as well. ‘Pehle samadhan, do fir vote lo’(first give us solutions then come asking for votes) is our motto now,” said the villagers in unison.

Urban Shift of ‘New Age’ Farmers

In the age of high inflation rate and lack of land and farming conditions in their village, the young village boys are now compelled to move to urban areas like Surat, Ahmedabad, and Gandhinagar. “With complete negligence of our issues one year after another, there has been a compelling urban shift here,” said Jaswant.

Jaswant, 30, is still in the village unlike his peers and is in constant search of a government job. “I will leave the village as soon as I land a government job. In 20% of the houses, at least one person has now migrated to a city,” he said. He has completed his Masters, and has also cleared the Teachers Entrance Test exam. He has been a
part of the recent protests against the government about filling up vacant jobs of ‘vidyasahayaks’ as well. He is duly qualified and is confident of getting a job if pending vacancies since 2017 are filled. However, he currently works in his ancestral land.

Naresh and Sahil from Dahisana work in Surat and Ahmedabad, respectively. They left their villages as soon as they turned 18. They say they saw no future in farming. The stories they used to hear about their grandfathers from their parents painted an entirely different picture from what was in front of their eyes. Cattle fodder and groundnut, currently the only crops grown in their villages, will not help them support their families. “With no help from the government, our survival will be in question if we stay here for long,” said Naresh does diamond rubbing work in Surat.

A considerable number of daily wage workers and small-scale farmers do not even own a house in their village. Shankar, 50, narrates the plight of marginalised farmers, being one of them. Riding his Luna moped, he stopped when he saw a couple of villagers speaking with NewsClick.

Among five brothers, two bigha land is supposed to be divided. Shankar’s share boils down to less than a bigha. “My biggest dilemma is to whether make a house for myself there or to rear a cow and buffalo. I chose the latter long back. But a huge chunk of the money that I earn via that, goes towards house rent. Hence, in order to meet monthly expenses, I travel from village to village selling shoes and slippers,” he said. Mother nature has not been very kind to us, he said, adding that they do not see much rainfall. Government aid is the only plausible solution.

The angry and disenchanted villagers, however, are adamant about not voting even in the upcoming Assembly elections. While the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Castes (OBC)- dominated belt in the Mehsana district continues to revolt, their plight has failed to reach the ruling party’s (BJP) manifesto with each election. The youth of the village, on the other side, see an end of farming culture in their villages and hope to find economic revival, mingling with the crowd that migrates to the big cities.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Delhi and is travelling to Gujarat to report on the Assembly elections.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Gujarat Elections: Farmers of 3 North Gujarat Villages Have Been Boycotting Polls for 3 Years appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Ahmedabad: There’s a pile of debris on the site of a primary school building in the Musllim-dominated Rakhiyal area of Ahmedabad, which was brought down in November 2020. As a testimony to its existence, a slide where children would have played, stands on one corner of the ground.

“Who will believe there was a school in this place earlier? All that is left is a slide in the extreme corner of the ground where, in 2020, there used to be a four-storeyed school. Hundreds of students lost access to education once the school was brought down,” says Rahil, a government school teacher in a Hindi-medium school of Rakhiyal. He happened to be in demolished school to meet the principal just two days before it was to be vacated.

A bike ride with a local teacher in Ahmedabad’s Rakhiyal unfolded several untold stories of primary schools that now either lie vacant because the government appointed engineer happened to find the condition of the building not fit due to old infrastructure, or the school had less than the number of required students, as per rules to run it. However, local teachers in Rakhiyal deny both these reasons and have a different story to narrate.

Right beside the Kalandari Masjid of Rakhiyal lies a two-storey building with a school on the first floor and shops on the ground floor. The school was shut down in November 2020 after the engineer said it needed renovation.

“The shops are in the same building. Look at the irony, it was inappropriate for education, but perfectly fit to run businesses?” Rahil pointed out to Newsclick.

Pandemic changed lives of hundreds of kids

As property rates in the Rakhiyal area are low, many migrant workers send their kids to these corporation schools. But, with the pandemic came troubles for them and their children. Workers had to leave the town and head back home. Two years later, as the schools started in June this year, very few workers had returned, while several others eventually returned within a month.

After a halt of  over2 years, students are now finally showing up at school

Romila, who has been teaching in an Urdu-medium for the past 17 years, said she had been trying to encourage children from her community to study so that they end up in a better place and improve the economic conditions of their families. “The children who come to us are not the usual ones. We have to keep pushing them as well as their parents,” she told NewsClick. Romila also made some shocking revelations indicating “intentional” deprivation of already economically weak students from a basic right — the Right to Education.

A student’s name can be cancelled from school but only after a lengthy process. For the first two days, if the child does not show up at school, a neighbouring student is asked to check up on him/her and let the administration know. If that does not work and the student still does not show up for a week, the class teacher visits his/her house to bring them back.

Only after a month of absence, a committee involving the local supervisor, teachers of the school, and a government supervisor collectively decide on striking off the student’s name from the school.

“None of these required procedures were followed after the reopening of schools after a gap of two years (during the pandemic). The supervisor in charge showed up a month after the school reopened, and as soon as I would try to explain to them about a particular child and the nature of his/her absence, they would ask me to strike the name off,” she said.

Romila claimed that names of 300 students were cancelled out this way, some of whose parents said over phone that they were labourers and would show up only once they had a job surety.

As per a recent news report, as many as 62 primary schools in the last 25 years have been shut down in Ahmedabad. At least 23 have been either shut down or merged with another, in the last two years alone.

The primary school in Rakhiyal does not much seating capacity, and the roof is not a pucca one.

Several teachers and principals of primary schools in the Muslim settlement alleged that this was not the only rule that was flouted by government representatives. There is another law on the merger of schools. As per the rules, schools can be merged only if the number of students in each school is less than one hundred. However, the teaching staff of different schools alleged that schools with over 200-300 students were also shut down. Moreover, the ones under renovation for the past two years had yet not been started.

Spike in Dropout Rates

In Juhapura, the largest slum, with a population of two and a half to three lakh, there is only one senior secondary government aided school. With little choice left between the daily bread and their children’s education in a private school, parents are often compelled to pull their children out of school.

Yushra, Saniya and Nazia, three girls who recently got back to studies after a 6 year long drop out.(left to right)

Yushra, Nazia, and Saniya are three girls in their 20s who are pursuing their 10th grade after dropping out for nearly six years. Yushra, in particular, the most academically bright among the three, said she wanted to study “with all her heart” to make a good career. Her father is in jail, and she works during the day with her mother, who sews clothes so that she can run the house and also continue to fund her daughter’s education. Yushra very recently got the opportunity to get back to studying after six years of dropping out of school with the help of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works with dropouts in the area.

The other two have also had similar encounters. The students who dropped out were not ready to speak under pressure from their families, but the ones getting back to school had tales of misery. “Once we drop out, it seems like there is no going back. It always starts with our parents being unable to bear the school fee for a private one, and later extends to a permanent dropout label as we are girls,” Nazia told NewsClick.

Hajra Aapa, popularly known as Munni Ben who works on getting the dropped out students back on track

“Had there been a government-aided school in the area, people would not have worried. There would not have been so many dropouts,” said Hajra, an old lady working for these students.

Access to Right to Education

The Reform Educational and Social Trust (REST) is a body that surveys Muslim settlements of the city and appeals to the government for educational reforms and creating opportunities for minority students where needed.

The barren land which once used to be a 4-storey school, now the only visible things are a slide and a JCB

In 2017, the organisation conducted a survey and found barren lands in several places that could be used to build schools. Additionally, the organisation even did a door-to-door survey and came out with a report that suggested that over 1,000 kids were awaiting education in those designated areas. However, all the efforts were in vain as their proposal was never considered by the authorities.

One of the biggest restrictions that the teachers feel, is the shutting down of primary Urdu medium schools. The minorities in the area see that as a direct attack on their religion and accuse the government of imposing such decisions on the community. REST also made a list of the Urdu schools that had either been shut down or merged in the city.

Rakhiyal Urdu Shala No-1,2, Rajpur Urdu Shala No 7,1, Gomtipur Urdu Shala No 2,1,3,4, Jamalpur Urdu Shala No 6 have allegedly been shut. A different list by REST shows that nearly 16 schools have allegedly been merged with other schools. 

“The mergers and shutdowns do not help. We do not have a problem with our students learning in English medium schools. But are we giving them the right teachers? The teachers who were teaching in Urdu medium, ones who have been trained to do so, are now teaching in English and Hindi mediums,” claimed a teacher from Rakhiyal.

Within this school now run 3 schools in different shifts, as the other two were merged with this.

The biggest allegation by some teachers is that the government is contradicting itself in doing so, as this is being done even as the government is saying that it is trying to apply the National Education Policy (NEP) in the entire country. “We feel upset when we hear the government saying in the NEP 2020 that for primary education, a child should be studying in their mother tongue, while this treatment is being meted out to Urdu medium schools here,” a teacher said on the condition of anonymity.

Limited Interaction with Hindu Community

Narrating an incident, Rahim, the principal, said he was speechless when “one fine day, a student came up to me and asked if the Muslim community had betrayed the country?”

On the first floor was a primary school, and the ground floor occupied by shops. Schools shut down while shops continue to run smoothly.

Geographical segregation in the city has resulted in a complete black hole in the interaction of two communities, the teachers say. Observing the children over the years, the teachers say that students only knew Diwali via pictures and crackers, Holi for its colours, and Janmashtami for Lord Krishna. The opaque wall dividing the two communities had restricted their mindsets, too.

One of the Hindu teachers also agreed to speak to NewsClick over the phone on the condition of anonymity. “I do sense the attack on the community here. There are schools in the Hindu settlements that have fewer students but are not being shut. We see our suggestions being taken, and theirs completely ignored. And most of all, there seems to be a targeted shutdown of Urdu medium schools,” the teacher told NewsClick.

The constant battle with the State for rights is not limited to students or teachers from one community. As per the government data, approximately 19,000 posts are vacant for positions of primary teachers across Gujarat. The teachers had been visiting ministers every week, until the government, right before the Assembly elections were announced, released a notification for 2,600 posts. However, the process for that will begin only after elections.

The writer is an independent journalist based out of Delhi. He is in Gujarat to report on the elections.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Gujarat Elections: RTE Rules Being Flouted in Muslim Areas, Allege Teachers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The streets become narrower and the tall buildings are replaced by small houses as the entrance to the country’s largest Muslim ghetto leads towards settlements of the minority community. Finally, a 20-feet high wall with fencing separates the Hindu settlement and the Muslim slums.

The narrow lanes inside the slums of Rakhiyal

Welcome to Juhapura, a Muslim neighbourhood in the west of Gujarat’s largest city Ahmedabad that has been segregated under the Disturbed Areas Act, 1991, which was introduced in 1986 as an ordinance by the then-Congress government after the 1985 communal riots.

The Act, which aimed to usher in peace in the communally charged-up city back then, meant nothing more than preventing one community from buying property in another’s area. However, much has changed since then. 

With the Assembly election right around the corner, minorities stuck in areas where the Act is applicable narrate their plight and what the polls mean for them. 

“Have you ever seen such a wall of separation in any other city?” asks Haji (55) as he walks through these lanes showing the difference between the Hindu and Muslim settlements.

The contrast is glaring with tall buildings in the Hindu area and waterlogged lanes, crumbling small houses and the poor economic condition of residents in the Muslim settlement. “Most of the residents here are either autorickshaw drivers or daily wagers,” adds Haji.

Water-logged streets of Juhapura in October

The wall has reduced Hindu-Muslim interaction to a bare minimum. “We do not bother them and they don’t bother us. There is no interaction even during festivals,” says Haji pointing to the segregation.

Rahim, a local corporation school principal, recalls his childhood before the wall was constructed. “Festivals used to be so beautiful back then with Hindus and Muslims visiting each other’s houses. We would play together and I spent more time with my Hindu friends than at home. My kids, on the other hand, do not even about Diwali,” a sad Rahim says. 

Difficult life without basic necessities

Life in Juhapura is difficult. “Every year, the area gets waterlogged till the knees for, at least, 8-10 days. Water enters our houses and children find it difficult to attend school,” says Amina narrating one of the several problems plaguing the slums. 

Amina, who lives with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren in the slums of Juhapura. Her house faces severe water-logging every year.

Poor drainage is another problem not just in Juhapura but other Muslim settlements in Rakhiyal, Bapu Nagar and Vatva and other areas in the far east and west sides of Ahmedabad, causing drinking water issues.

Iqbal Shaikh, a former corporator from Rakhiyal, narrates his experience with drainage during his five-year tenure. “I wrote letters to the authorities regarding the poor drainage but didn’t receive any response. Even I could not get safe drinking water.”

A chawl at Rakhiyal

Even the dead have no space post-pandemic. The only burial ground in Juhapura isn’t adequate enough to accommodate more bodies following the deaths caused by COVID-19. Local corporator Haji Kalandar has written several letters to the local MLA and the MP requesting space for another burial ground but all in vain.

Haji Kalandar, corporator from Juhapura, who went up to the High Court to get his people clean drinking water

As a vehicle collecting garbage approaches, the Muslim residents say it only plies in the Hindu settlement. Muslims dump their garbage on a nearby barren land. 

“Narendra Modi claims to have done a lot for Gujarat. But why are we being ostracised and deprived of development?” questions Anita, one of the few Dalit residents who reside on the Muslim side of Juhapura. 

Houses in Rakhiyal slums that need urgent attention

For example, the slums are deprived of the Centre’s Har Ghar Nal Yojana 2022, aimed at supplying drinking water to every household in the country. Activists have even approached the Gujarat High Court (HC) demanding the start of the scheme in the area but to no avail.

Sale and purchase of property not possible  

Vijay owns a small grocery shop in Bapu Nagar, which has a mixed population with Muslims in the majority. He sold his house, located right opposite to the dargah, in 2021 to fellow resident Saleem, who was supposed to shift there in a few days. “When the Hindus in the area became aware of the sale, local goons threatened to boycott me from the community. I was ultimately forced to return the money to Saleem and scrapped the sale,” he says.

Right at the centre of Juhapura is a building named Jhalak, which is owned by Dalits. While the community has no problem staying in a Muslim-dominated area, the trauma of the 2002 riots is still fresh.

Women in the area narrate their problems. “It is impossible to sell the houses here due to the image of our building. We have tried several times but nobody is ready to buy a house here,” says Shamita (50). Despite improving their living conditions in the past decade, they are unable to move out of Juhapura. “Who would want to live in a dump yard like this?”

Women residents of Jhalak Flat in Juhapura 

Lawyers requesting anonymity say they have approached the court several times to ameliorate the pathetic situation of the slums. The Act was challenged in August on the ground that it does not give the residents a scope to register objections against an area being demarcated as communally disturbed. Last month, the HC sent a notice to the state government challenging a notification imposing the Act in 28 areas under the Gandhigram Police Station of Rajkot.

The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist reporting on issues of unemployment, education and human rights.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Gujarat’s Disturbed Areas Act: Largest Muslim Ghetto Glaring Contrast to Hindu Settlement appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A recent notice from the Karnataka government on the reduction of fellowship amount from Rs 25,000 a month to Rs 10,000 a month has triggered a lot of research scholars residing in the southern state.

In 2017, the then Congress-led regime in Karnataka had implemented a fellowship scheme for scholars coming from minority groups, suggesting that each of them would be entitled to an amount of Rs 25,000/month for the research contribution that they make. However, ever since, the implementation of this scheme has seen endless hurdles.

Karnataka is known to be producing some of the best research scholars in the country. Every year, the second most number of PhD scholars to get their degree in the country are from Karnataka.

District minority welfare offices have been established in all the 30 districts and the district officers have been implementing minority welfare schemes with coordination and supervision of the deputy commissioners and chief executive officers of the zilla panchayat of each district. This fellowship is granted to any student from the minority community whose age is less than 32 years and whose family income is less than Rs 6 lakh.

There is no specific designated number for how many fellowships are to be given every year but since 2017, the number ranges somewhere between 40-50 fellowships every year. This fellowship prevents a candidate from taking any other state/Central scholarship. Anyone who meets the above criteria is eligible and there is no restriction on the number of fellows.

In September this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka government abruptly cut the maintenance and fellowship amount granted to the minority scholars (Sikh, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Christians) by a high percentage, citing the pandemic and the economic crisis that followed as reason.

Not just this, the state government also said that the scholars coming from SC and ST backgrounds also receive the same Rs 10,000/month. Therefore, it would only be fair to grant the same amount to minorities as well. However, students belonging to minority groups and a number of professors have a different story to tell.

“This is not the first time that the state has taken such action. In 2019 as well, the amount was trimmed down. When the students protested, the old amount was reinstated,” says Sukhjot Singh, a student leader. The students complain that it will not be possible for them to sustain themselves. Not many scholars have financial backing from their families.

One such student is Nizam who when enrolled this year, who told this writer that he thought he would not be able to help his family while pursuing education, but all that seems unlikely now.

A resident of Mangalore, freshly enrolled 27-year-old PhD student, Nizam says he has somewhere lost all the expectations that he had. Coming from a financially marginalised background, the scholar narrated the plight of his family. “My father is an auto-driver, that too in a small place like Mangalore where his monthly income is much less as compared to any other place in the country. He is the only one who runs a family of five. His monthly income is only Rs 20,000.”

Hoping to get an additional Rs 25,000, Nizam wanted to help his family as well as study. When he finally got admission, he thought that the problems of his family would ease, little did he know lay in store for him. After the truncated fellowship, he said he would not be able to help his family, rather, he might have to seek financial help from his father, who is already in dire straits.

Nizam explains how a PhD student can’t freelance or do any other work apart from research. “Ours is a stream that requires complete focus and dedication to academics. Not doing that will leave us with nothing but a bleak future. Like my Masters, I cannot work along with my studies,” he adds.

Not just the students, several activists from the minority communities are also angry with the government for this sudden step that had affected a large number of students who planned on pursuing the doctorate. Some activists even alleged that this step by the BJP government was aimed at “stopping the growth of minorities economically”.

PhD and MPhil fellowships have always been under scrutiny by the Central and state governments. The state Director of Minority Welfare Department had earlier submitted a proposal to the Deputy Secretary of Finance Department asking for an additional Rs 9.19 crore for the fellowship of scholars, which the Finance Department rejected on August 5.

In 2017, the number of PhD students under each supervisor was also brought down. Most of the professors this reporter spoke to refused to speak in favour of the student, saying they had to keep a neutral perspective.

This reporter spoke with a professor who has spent the past 25 years at a university to understand the scrutiny in the research wing for minority students. And who wished to remain anonymous.

“The minority students need a big push from the state to continue their education and uplift the conditions of their community. The number of students who used to enroll before this fellowship came in 2017 was quite low than what it is now,” the he said, adding that he feared that with the fellowship amount being reduced again, minority students may drift away from higher education.

In a comment to The Hindu, Raghavendara T, Director, Minority Welfare Department, said: “Year after year, the number of aspirants and applicants have increased for M.Phil and Ph.D from minority communities. The government is eager to accommodate every applicant and has decided to reduce the cost of fellowship.”

The state government also made its stand clear saying that the amount that was being given to SC and ST students would now be the same as what the minority students would get, saying that it saw this move as an “equaliser” among the marginalised groups.

When NewsClick spoke to the professor about the same, who said: “It is very correct that the amount given to the minorities and the marginalised groups based on caste should be the same. But there are other factors to consider here too. The students coming from SC and ST communities have other scholarships, such as the Rajiv Gandhi scholarship along with the state fellowship. They get a concession in terms of the mess bills and hostel fees as well. It is not the same for minorities.” He added that if the state government was so concerned about an equaliser, why did it not increase the amount for all and keep it at Rs 25,000? That is the bare minimum required to survive, he added.

Fahad, a final year PhD Student, although not affected by this decision as he will be entitled to the same Rs 25,000, feels that many marginalised students may not enroll into the doctorate programme. “I am privileged enough to come from a family that takes care of me. I have two kids, and despite that, I am able to pursue my PhD. It will not be the same for most of the students who come from the Muslim community,” he added.

The professor said most of his colleagues see this move as something that will restrict education for minorities. However, since they are in a government job, there are constraints on them from speaking upfront on the issue.

The author is a freelance journalist based in Delhi reporting on issues of unemployment, education, and human rights.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Karnataka: Minority PhD Scholars Stare at Bleak Future as Govt Slashes Fellowship Amount appeared first on SabrangIndia.