Does a man have right to put his wife on a bet? Shouldn’t he seek her consent before betting her? These questions had little meaning then; as both the law and the religion dictated that the Kauravas had every right to deal with Draupadi, whom they had won in the gamble. Attempt to protect Draupadi, hence was ‘Adharm’. The Kauravas could have humiliated Draupadi in loneliness but they had decided to drag her by holding her hair in full view of the assembly and disrobed her.

This story has been taught to all children to highlight the fact that Shri Krishna, with his miracle, lengthened the Saree so much that the Kauravas failed to disrobe Draupadi. It is never emphasized how mean, both the groups of men, the Kauravas and the Pandavas were.

It is but natural that women from both the Kauravas and Pandavas clans were present when this demeaning act happened. However, we have never heard about either the presence of women there or how they reacted to this episode. Thereafter the unequal and slave-like status of women was codified in the ‘Manu Smruti’. In Indian history, this became the glaring example of Uniform Civil Code for all women, irrespective of their caste status, that they were merely the slaves of men. To humiliate women, to batter women and to outrage modesty of women became privilege of men.

In modern and Independent India, the bearer of ‘Draupadi’ name is our most respected and honorable President of India. In the eyes of public her glorified appointment as the ‘First Tribal Woman President of India’ is a political move keeping in mind the general elections of 2024 to capture the Tribal vote.

Draupadi Murmu hails from Odisha and previously held the position of Governor of Jharkhand, the State with dominant tribal population, not a partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Though she is the first citizen of India and the Constitutional head, she was neither invited on the inaugural occasion of the new Parliament Building, nor her message was sought for to grace the occasion.

Though as the head of all the Armed forces of India, the President failed to enter the Sanctum Sanctorum of a temple in the capital. However, her image of sweeping the floor of a temple is popularized.

‘Draupadi’ of the past history was fortunate to have no other than Lord Sri Krishna by her side to protect her modesty. Today, in the State of Manipur, when three tribal women were forced to strip and paraded naked on the roads in the day light and in the public gaze by a frenzy mob who continued to molest them too before gang raping the youngest woman in an open field, there was no Lord Krishna, no the Prime Minister of India and not even the National Commission of Women was present there to help them.

Unfortunately, we did not hear a voice of protest from our honorable President of India too.
The mob had killed the father and brother of a woman who attempted to protect the woman. To add to the indignity of the nation, reportedly the police was helpless, mute spectator when the crowd took away the three women from their custody.

How has the situation of women changed between the era of historic ‘Draupadi’ and the ‘Draupadi’ of democratic nation governed by the law? Has the sexual violence on the women decreased irrespective of the best and multiple legislations?

Draupadi of  historic past was fortunate to have Lord Krishna to protect her modesty. Manipur women had none protect them

The segregated data on the atrocities on both the Dalits and the tribals in India have been available only from 1974 and 1989. As per reports between 1974 and 2021 a total of 58,606 incidents of rape on Dalit women have been registered, whereas between 1989 and 2021, a total of 21,318 incidents of rape have been registered on tribal women.
This is an incomplete picture, as in the initial years, not all the states reported such crimes; besides, during the two years period the Government did not publish such segregated data, and not all the rape cases are reported to the police.

In the backdrop of the most popularised term ‘development’ since 2014, a natural question follows: Would the incidents of sexual violence in the presence of development increase or decrease? India has reported a total of 31,967 incidents of rape on Dalit and tribal women between 2014 and 2021 in a period of only eight years under the rule of NDA, which amounts for 40 percent of the total cases as reported above in past 46 years.
Do we hear even a little protest in the country against the increasing sexual violence on Dalit and Tribal women compared to the mammoth protests against reservation?

The incident of Manipur is the height of barbarity. To protest this inhuman condition programme is being organized on 10th August 2023 in Gujarat with the following details. Name of the programme is द्रौपदी से द्रौपदी तक (From Draupadi to Draupadi).

Under this program, a women led convention will be held on 10th August 2023 at 11 AM at the Dalit Shakti Kendra, situated near Sanand town in Ahmedabad district. A saree will be displayed on the occasion in which the precarious condition of Dalit and tribal will be displayed through images and figures.

This saree will be sent to the President of India, three women governors of India, the chairperson of National Commission of women, women leaders of national political parties, the most vocal women journalists highlighting the conditions of women, women artists and sports persons who too have voiced their concerns with a request to wear this saree on the occasion of flag hoisting on 15th August 2023 on the occasion of 76th Independence Day of India.

After the convention, the participants will reach Nehru Bridge, Ahmedabad, and hold a peaceful demonstration for 30 minutes. At the end of the programme, a delegation will reach the Ahmedabad General Post Office and post the sarees to the listed women leaders.
All the people who condemn the incident of Manipur and the increasing sexual violence on Dalit and Tribal women are invited to join and participate the programme.

*Founder, Dalit Shakti Kendra

Courtesy: Counterview

The post Has situation of women changed from historic Draupadi to Draupadi of democratic India? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Historically, for Dalits to be on crossroads is a new phenomenon. They have, with their own labour and sweat, gradually progressed through a most difficult journey, unique in the world, from being treated and sanctioned as ‘untouchable’ to being equal citizens. And yet, the fact is, their enemies have been more powerful than the ten-headed imaginary demons.

They fought discriminatory laws during the colonial rule, the society at large which segregated them in all fields of life, and the religion, including its scriptures. Amidst all their weapons, including education, reservation and rejection of the enslaving faith, the most powerful of them has been the legal tools emerging from the Constitutional guarantees, post-Independence. The legal protection has been the latest crossroad in the epic journey.

A year ago, more than a dozen Dalits lost their lives when they descended on the streets to protest the Supreme Court directions on implementation of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) (Prevention of Atrocity) Act. The Apex Court’s concluding observation was that the Act has been misused in the absence of any credible research or data.

Karnataka BJP Dalit MP Narayanaswamy

 

Death of manual scavengers in sewer lines, ironically, is not considered an ‘atrocity’. What is equally troubling is complete absence of state action and political will to control caste violence with a firm hand. The situation signifies that Dalits are losing the value of their ‘vote’, which has never been ‘untouchable’ to any political party, and their negotiating ability to better their situation.

For India, the largest democracy thriving to be a major economy in the world, the presence of untouchability has been deeply embarrassing. The present government, following the footsteps of their predecessors, has been far from willing to accept the fact that, amidst tall claims of development, we as a society have failed to abolish untouchability, a root cause of atrocities. 

Martin Macwan at a Dalit gathering

The lawmaker in his reaction for being treated as powerless untouchable MP advocated for change of conscience of people as a remedy to the problem of untouchability. The underbelly of the reaction was perhaps a painful admission of the fact that the tools for social justice, the law, the political reservations for Dalits and the vote value of Dalits at 16.5%, have lost its cutting edge. 

The post ‘Political conspiracy’ to isolate Dalits amidst failure of campaign to annihilate caste appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Maldharis had taken over one side of the road with their buffaloes as self-possessed shelter. The relief truck before me was flinging bundles of used clothes at the local people that eagerly waited for such relief material carrying vehicles. I saw that the pillion riders on a motor cycle too could manage to fetch one such bundle of clothes and shoved the bundle in an empty travel bag. It was a common sight that the local people quickly selected if they found something interesting before throwing away the rest which lay spread on the roads.

The highway from Radhanpur to Byavar had a great deal of police presence as there were numerous politicians visiting area. We reached village Runi of Kankrej area. The village has presence of the Jain temple that has its property spread in 20 bighas of land with surrounding compound wall. Part of the wall had collapsed. Across the road, opposite the temple, is the Dalit area, having living quarters of leather workers and the scavengers. Most homes had one living room of barely eight feet by eight feet with an open extension with an overhead roof serving as the veranda. Some people had managed to empty their homes of the sludge and sand that had filled the living room up to the ceiling. The water levels had risen in this area at the level of about 13 feet from the ground. People had taken shelter on the top floor of the village co-operative society or over the small terraces, braving the rain and winds for about 30 hours before the army had reached them with some biscuits.

We could see on one room house with terrace that a young Dalit man had lost all his post graduate degree certificates along with two children in the primary school, whose books were drying on the terrace tarred with dirt and water.

It was in 1979, I had volunteered as a college student in Morbi after the Machhu dam had burst. We, as volunteers, helped the locals to clear their homes of the sludge. Here, I saw in the Runi village that there were no volunteers helping the local people. There were only visitors and relief distributors. The rich in the village had access to the JCB machines as Dalits waited to hire tractors to dump away the rotten grain, beddings and other soiled material from their quarters. The Government did not pay them the rents of these hired tractors.

The scavenger families were still stuck with their quarters filled with sludge as many of the old people were unable to clear it themselves in absence of their young children away as migrant labor force. An old woman had the assistance of her two sons-in-law who had come specially to help their mother-in-law to clear her one-room home, as there was no other place for her today. An old man was sitting in one corner. He had lost his buffalo. He earned his living by playing drum and making supda, the caste-based occupations.

Each Dalit family I visited had lost an average of 800 kilograms of grain that they had stored, part of the community system of storing one year of ration for the family. As the trucks distributing packed food occupied the narrow village road, the locals refused to take the food as they were tired of the same. They were worried about cleaning of their homes of the sludge fearing the epidemic. The stench of rotting grain was too strong and they barely had place to sleep leave alone the swamps of mosquitoes.
 

The rich in the village had access to the JCB machines as Dalits waited to hire tractors to dump away the rotten grain, beddings and other soiled material from their quarters. The Government did not pay them the rents of these hired tractors

At the centre of the village under a tree lay a heap of used garments, dumped by the relief workers as there were no takers. Some families of the Majirana community sat in the midst of some open land around the mud homes with bamboo roofs which had tumbled on the ground. People in the village had never ever in the history of their life met with such tragedy. They said they were battered by the main Narmada Canal. At a distance, the canal was visible, as a large portion of the canal unable to withstand the pressure had given away quickly raising the water levels in the village. As per people, the ganda baval trees have deep roots which have penetrated the base of the canal, weakening it.

Dalits were happy that they were able to bargain from the village panchayat and thus had got a pucca cement-brick wall was constructed around some of their dwellings. The wall constructed barely six months ago is no more as it did not have deep enough foundations required and mandated by law. All that had collapsed in the vicinity were the new government scheme constructions, as the many year old structures stood firmly on the ground.

Next, we visited village Khariya, the village which has found more than 22 dead bodies from beneath the sand. The road is washed away at the end of the village as several villages could be seen at a far distance, submerged in the flood waters and were accessible only by the boat. The police and the volunteers were guarding the queue of people, whose homes were on the other side and were awaiting their turn to the two boats that were ferrying people. No one has idea here about the human deaths. Most people live here scattered in their farms. Worse, the migrant labourers from other areas lived in these farms and no one has the actual number of these laborers.

Part of the population is at a safer distance from river Banas. Although their homes were flooded, now they were clean and had no sludge as we saw in the previous village. But all the relief teams have focused relief distribution here. We saw large stack of mattresses which were locked away in a room awaiting distribution. Relief teams had their flags on vehicles and the Khastriya-Thakor Sena and RSS were more visible. It was common sight that the local people were rejecting the relief material, as they did not require them anymore. The caste distinctions and prejudices are intact and have refused to be washed away with flood waters or be submerged under the sludge. Local people do ask for the ‘caste’ of the visitors and often the relief workers, too.

The damage has been to the homes of people. They have lost grain stored for their annual requirement. They have lost their savings as most people do not deposit them in the bank. Worst, those who have farm lands have lost the top soil. The farm boundaries have disappeared. My colleagues, who were with me Narendabhai, Mohanbhai, Kalpeshbhai, said, “For some there is blessing in disguise. If one class of people have smile on their faces, they are the sand mafia. The Banas has brought along with its flood water multi-million tons of sand which finds its way even to Ahmedabad construction sites.”

As the politicians are busy blaming each other, it is the army and the civil society that has performed, saving the lives of people and providing them the relief. Except for the police, there is little presence of the government in the area. The quick survey for the purpose of paying cash doles has been completed by the primary school teachers. Poor people’s helplessness is visibly disturbing.
—
*Founder, Navsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad. Pix: Tathya Macwan

This article was first published on counterview.org
 

The post In Banaskantha, caste distinctions and prejudices have refused to be washed away with flood waters appeared first on SabrangIndia.