Mission & Justice

29/5/08

Thousands of protesters from one of India’s lowest castes have burned tyres and blocked roads leading to New Delhi, demanding greater welfare benefits and jobs. Protests by India’s Gujjars started in the north and west of the country two weeks ago, killing almost 40 people. The demonstrators have now headed to the capital creating huge traffic jams on major roads. Avatar Singh Bhadana, a senior Gujjar leader, said on Thursday: “The Rajasthan government must realise the mood of the people and not delay the implementation of quotas for Gujjars.”

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29/5/08

Aruna Singh never left her house until five years ago. Now, the upper-caste Hindu heads a local administrative body in Bihar state, eastern India. Similarly, Chanchalben Sanabhai Chavda was a timid, low-caste Hindu woman in Gujarat, a western Indian state, until seven years ago. Now, she heads a village where upper-caste Hindus predominate. Coming from different social backgrounds and regions, the two are among 1,041,000 women in local administrative councils across India. According to the federal panchayat ministry, these women account for 37.5 percent of panchayat (village council) members. The councils operate at the village, block and district levels. In the Indian administrative system, a state is subdivided into districts. Villages in a district are grouped into blocks. According to a ministry report published in April, about 80 percent of the women in these councils have no political background. Singh and Chavda credit their success to their association with Church-initiated self-help groups.

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24/5/08

Authorities in India have invited leaders of one of the lowest castes for talks as the death toll rose to 37 from three days of bloody demonstrations over caste classification. Police repeatedly opened fire on violent protests by the Gujjar community on Friday and Saturday in half a dozen villages and towns in western Rajasthan state. Gujjars began protesting on Friday in villages and towns across Rajasthan after the government refused to reclassify their caste at a lower social level. On Friday, 15 demonstrators were killed when police fired live ammunition and tear gas to halt rioting.

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