29 August 2001
http://www.npr.org
In India’s crowded cities, where you can’t help but rub up against strangers, it’s possible to be an “untouchable,” and yet go largely unnoticed — and unhated. It’s a different story in the villages, however. There, where the majority of the population still lives, India’s ancient caste system still holds sway. Many villages are strictly segregated by caste, and the untouchables — or Dalits — are often forbidden to drink from upper-caste wells or to worship at their temples.

Gandhi called them the Harijan — or God’s children. More than 50 years ago, India outlawed discriminating against them. Nearly 20 percent of the seats of India’s parliament are reserved for them. Government jobs and places in India’s schools are also reserved for them. Despite all this, discrimination still persists.

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An Untouchable Subject? Indian Government Wants Caste System off U.N. AgendaRead More »

29 August 2001
National Public Radio
Anchors: Renee Montagne | Reporters: Michael Sullivan
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

Another potential for the Durban conference is the question of India’s untouchables. In a report released yesterday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said caste-based discrimination affects 250 million people. It said the World Conference Against Racism should discuss the issue. Untouchables are well represented among the non-governmental groups in Durban, but India’s government is lobbying to keep the issue off the table. Indian officials insist caste and race are not comparable and that caste discrimination is an internal issue. NPR’s Michael Sullivan reports from New Delhi.

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India’s Caste SystemRead More »

21 August 2001
South China Morning Post
By Maseeh Rahman
A suggestion by India’s hardline Home Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, that the Government might soon grant a general amnesty to army and police personnel accused of crimes in Kashmir and other troubled provinces has provoked a backlash from human rights organisations.

“The Government has already hobbled the prosecution of a large number of cases pending before courts in Kashmir, Punjab and the northeast,” Ravi Nair, of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre in New Delhi, said yesterday.

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Hardline Minister’s Proposal for Kashmir, Punjab Atrocities Spark Outcry From Justice Groups Anger at Pardon Plan for AbusesRead More »

19 August 2001
Scotland on Sunday
By David Orr
LAST Wednesday in a village in central India, a woman known by only a single name realised a cherished dream. Shantibai was allowed to raise the national flag to mark Independence Day.

What made an unexceptional ceremony so special was the fact that Shantibai is a tribal woman from a socially backward community. Objections from higher-caste members in her village in the state of Madhya Pradesh had at first prevented her from hoisting the flag.

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Shame of Hidden ApartheidRead More »

10 August 2001
Inter Press Service
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI: Far from creating detente on the 52-year-old Kashmir issue, the mid-July Indo-Pakistan summit may actually have triggered a new phase of intensified violence now unfolding over the divided territory.

A joke which did the rounds during the three-day summit, held in the historic former Mughal capital of Agra, put the Kashmir issue in a nutshell: Pakistan has the issue and India has Kashmir.

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South Asia: New Violence in Kashmir Has Roots in Failed SummitRead More »

7 August 2001
The New York Times
By Barry Bearak

Fire swiftly consumed a thatch-walled shelter for the mentally ill in southern India on Monday morning, killing at least 25 inmates who were shackled to poles, the police said.

Some witnesses reported that when they first heard screams they assumed it was the customary ranting. Then they saw the blaze lighting up the predawn sky. “Everyone inside was chained around their feet, and they didn’t have much chance of getting out of that shed,” said Mumtaj Begum, a woman at the scene.

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Blaze Kills 25 at Shelter For Mentally Ill in Southern IndiaRead More »