Ignacio Sanchez Perez, Badajoz, Spain: I am currently taking a MSc on “Poverty reduction and development management” taught by International Development Department at the University of Birmingham. I would like to do the dissertation about Dalits in India. I have read the programmes that you are carrying out in India with Dalit’s, and I am very interested in doing a fieldwork with you. I want to study the failure of the Indian state to acknowledge Dalit human rights which has directly led to a rise of Dalit resistance.
Usman Khalid, 3 – Blacklands Drive, Hayes, MDDX, UB4 8EU, UK: In his landmark book on Sikhs & Indian Secularism, Sardar Gurtej Singh, Professor of Sikhism, writes:
” In the Brahminic principles of foreign policy, pride of place has always been given to establishment of hegemony over neighbours. This has been so throughout Indian history but has become more pronounced since 1947…. In August 1995, the Los Angeles Times published an article by Henry Kissinger in which he stated that in the future India’s foreign policy is likely to be overbearing, primarily governed by hegemonic aspirations…. India will be aggressive and seek an influential, if not a dominant role in area from Aden to Singapore.”
The Muslims of South Asia were fortunate in having M.A. Jinnah as a leader during their struggle for freedom from British and Brahmin Imperialism. He understood the Hindu well. Among the post partition leaders of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the only one who understood India well. Remember, he spelled out his foreign policy that was founded on the principle of ‘bilateralism’. He was followed by political pygmies, and we know the result. General Zia took us into multilateral SAARC on the request of General Ershard. Gen. Musharraf sponsored the membership of Afghanistan. India gained on us every time, as Benazir, Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf lost respect in eyes of the people being so eager to please India. Gen. Musharraf, being a soldier, was expected to restore a modicum of honour in Indo-Pakistan relations. But he has been infinitely worse than his two civilian predecessors. The nation is aghast that he had the temerity of declaring that Pakistan never had a claim on Jammu and Kashmir. What is even more shocking is that there was no outcry from any of the political parties. Whatever little protest that was voiced came from those decried daily by no less than the ‘Army Chief for life’ himself as extremists and obscurantist. There is no other word for it; the foreign policy of Musharraf can only be described as ‘treachery’. He made Pakistan the door mat for India and America. Our stock was not so low even in the aftermath of the defeat in East Pakistan in 1971. Lord Wavell, describing the negotiating technique of M.K. Gandhi wrote in Viceroy’s Journal:
“He was always the lawyer and the Bania who would drive a hard bargain and then find some legal quibble to deprive his opponent of what he seemed to gain.”
Pakistan’s experience of negotiating with India has been the same. India agreed to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir when it was close to losing the war and thought that Sheikh Abdullah would deliver a vote in favour of India. When the situation ceased to be dire, India readily found a ‘legal quibble’ (since Pakistan did not withdraw its forces) to go back on its agreement to hold the plebiscite. Late Bhutto also knew India well. He knew that imperialism can be pursued only on ‘multi-lateral’ forums. India is very active at the UN and in WTO, but it is SAARC that is its principal instrument for hegemony in South Asia; it is the largest member country and bilateral issues are barred from consideration. But what does India gain from hegemony? What is often ignored is that caste-based Indian society is much more viciously exploitative internally. India must keep winning triumphs and trophies, often at the cost of its neighbours, to keep its very disparate population united in ‘pride’ for its victories and achievements. Defeat of Pakistan in 1971 underpinned India’s unity for two decades. Musharraf has given three trophies in a row to India during his eight years in power. Afghanistan, friendly to India and hostile to Pakistan, is one trophy. His pleading guilty to ‘cross border terrorism’ is another. Giving up on Kashmir is the third. All its successes in foreign policy have been earned at the cost of Pakistan; only one at the cost of America. The nuclear deal with America that provided the basis for its purchase of seven nuclear power plants from Russia, was indeed a triumph that showed India has changed little since the remarks of Lord Wavell on Gandhian negotiating techniques. Gen. Musharraf is not shy of employing Gandhian techniques. The MMA thought that for all the concessions it made to let the LFO become law, it got a promise from Musharraf to retire as COAS within a year. But he found more than a quibble to deny them the satisfaction of a gain. Sharfuddin Pirzada and Sher Afghan have discovered a legal loophole by which a General can be President as long 45 he wishes. In Hindu (or Hindustani) statecraft surely, promises are made to be broken. But what is the objective of all this jiggery pokery and deceit? The aim is to tell the slaves — the Untouchables and ‘ religious minorities in India, and non-Urdu-speaking and Non Qadiani in Pakistan — that they have no way of breaking the chains that shackle them. Lest the point not be driven home poignantly enough, the slaves are killed wantonly from time to time and then given generous compensation. The Hindus are partial to using fire rather than firearms to kill. The Sikhs in Delhi and other cities of India in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, the Muslims in Bombay and other cities of India in the wake of the destruction of Babri Masjid, the genocide of Muslims in Gujrat, the victims were burnt alive rather than shot or stabbed. The burning of the Samjhota Express at Panipat on Feb. 18 makes the point very effective. After India having been defeated four times at Panipat by Muslim armies, in this fifth battle, the Muslims — whether from India or Pakistan — alone were the target and fire was the weapon. History of India has gone full circle; the period of the Ramayan and Mahabharat is back. There is no fight; there is only fire. The enemies of Brahma are not defeated; the merciless gods unleash miracles and forces of treachery to consume their enemies by fear and fire. If Musharraf revels in power, Pakistanis are condemned to life in fear of calamitous tragedies.
Dr. Awatar Singh Sekhon, Box-60246, University of Alberta Postal Outlet, Edmonton, AB T6G 2S5, Canada: Please note the kesri or saffron colour belongs to the “national flag” of the Brahmins. The Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS), the mother of all evils, uses this flag shouting Kesaria zulayenge, Hindutva Falayenge. This statement about kesaria was discussed by the Darbara Sahib’s granthi and International Sikh Missionary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee, the Darbar Sahib, Amritsar while briefing the news media. The Sikh missionary, Jagtar Singh Jachak, expressed his concerns that it is the time that the “supreme seat of Sikh polity, the Akal takht Sahib and its administration make an announcement on the Sikh flag.
(Sikh colours by Jagtar Singh Jachak (www.rozana spokesman.com)
Sarat Chandra Panda, 1/2-HIG, BDA Colony, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar – 751 016: I have a few questions regarding your beliefs and ideology.
Political: –
- Are you a nationalist or internationalist? (2) Why do you support Osama bin Laden – an acknowledged terrorist? (3) Do you subscribe to the wellbeing of India’s present geographical entity? In other words, do you want it to be swamped by Islamists, missionary and maoist-instigated terrorism and get disintegrated. More explicitly do you want Kashmir, Punjab and North-East to secede?
Human rights: –
(4) You are a champion of even the minutest minorities in the world, But I did not find your sympathy for the Kashmiri Hindus rendered refugees in their own country. Why? (5) I did not find your sympathy for the non-Muslim minorities of East Pakistan/Bangladesh. Its percentage came down from 29 in 1947 to about 8 now. In Pakistan the corresponding figures are 22 and 3 respectively. Why the trials and tribulations of minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh are not published in DV? (6) I did not find your sympathy for the peace- loving Tibetans whose country the Chinese overran about 50 years ago. Similarly, any comment on separate existence of Taiwan (ROC) without interference from China (PRC).
Religion: –
(7) You call yourself an atheist. You are very hard on Hinduism, but such attitude is not shown in case of Christianity and Islam. Why?
Cast: –
(8) I have been reading DV for almost three years. It is replete with Hindu bashing in general and Brahminism (if not Brahmins) bashing. This kind of bashing becomes stale and counterproductive after a point. Do you agree?
You brand Brahmins as nazis and terrorists and conspirators. May I know how many Brahmin terrorists got caught or killed by security forces or how many of them killed others and got themselves killed? Are they real or imaginary? According to DV. Brahmins constitute about 3% of the Indian population. Do you mean the rest are fools?
(1) The first question is put from an upper caste (ruling class) point of view, being a Brahmin, Osama and Islamists might have troubled you but we Dalits, the original inhabitants of India. are not. (4.5.6) Again reflects the fear of the same class who are our oppressors. (7) We are victims of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism liberated our people. (8) There is no difference between Hinduism and Brahminism which is hiding under the new name of Hindu to deceive our people. We write for our people who never said our criticisms are becoming stale. Since the indian state itself is Brahminical and media is their monopoly how can truth come out? The upper castes live in a fool’s paradise and make a mess of India. Though a Brahmin, we like you because you had the honesty to open your heart. Others hide their ugly face – EDITOR.
Gopinath Meppayil, Meppayil PO, Vatakara, Kerala – 673 109: I appreciate your apology for having hitherto used the combined term “Hindu nazis” all these years in the light of new facts (of which I am not fully clear) provided by the veteran German historians (DV March 1, 2007, p.23. It displays your moral courage, presence of mind and above all your intellectual honesty – unique and unparalleled in modern India where all sorts of intellectual corruption and prostitution are rampant without a bit of prick of conscience especially in respect of marxian ideology: On reading about Manmohan Singh and the playboy minister (DV March 1, 2007) I am at a loss to know these fickle-minded persons becoming ministers. I want you to write about your 30-year-old struggle as an autobiographical sketch. It will be an asset to our people.
M. Ali (yesteryear Dalit), Varanasi, UP: I read with interest your article, “Ugly display of female flesh. ” (DV Nov.16, 2006 p.10) and the reaction by Sister Nazneen O Sheherwala (DV Jan.16, 2007 p.20). How much burga or hijab commands respect and empowers women can be gauged by an incident that happened before me. A decade ago, I was occupying a bed in dormitory at the Kanpur (UP) railway station when a mid-aged woman came to meet the attendant who offered her a seat. It was about 2 a.m. in the night and the attendant was a bearded elderly Muslim with whom the woman confided that she was searching for her husband whom she expected to be in some hotel as he had left the home in anger over some family feud. She pleaded she would sit there for a few hours and leave after dawn. The woman wore a black burqa. Being a Muslim, I also joined them in discussion. She took off her burga, wrapped it and kept it in her brief. I asked her, “Are you a Muslim”? She said “no”. Then why the burqa and now removed it? She said:
There are a lot of bad elements on the way and a lone woman is never safe. So, I asked a Muslim friend to give her burqa.
The burqa protects a woman from bad elements and all people respect a woman in burga and give her way in crowds, so it helps me when 1 travel alone particularly in the night”.
In Dubai, I have seen women car drivers with hijab are given preference by all motorists. A woman with hijab in Germany is given great respect and allowed better and first preference in crowd or in a Q. You must see and experience it yourself how much empowerment the woman gets because of hijab. 1 have met many people saying hijab is a hurdle in discharging duties. But I testify, I have seen burqa- clad women in New York working in post offices, on computer, and playing volleyball. Similarly in Bombay, burqa-clad women drive scooters, take children to school and do practically all things they are expected to do. Recently it has become a fashion to criticise anything Muslim. Like I narrated the story in the beginning, many women Muslim and non- Muslim who do not observe purdah take refuge in purdah, hijab or burqa when they want to do things which otherwise they can’t do and when they need ‘protection and empowerment.
Kuldip, 1269, Urban Estate-II, Hissar, Haryana – 125 005: I am a law graduate (50) from Punjab University, Chandigarh, served in a bank as an officer for 19 years then thrown out for assisting Dalit borrowers. My father was fortunate to meet Babasaheb in the 40s. He then adopted Ambedkarism. So, Ambedkarism is in our blood. When I was 14, I got Babasaheb’s book, Who Were the Shudras (Hindi). Since then, I read all available books on our mission. Today, we (I and my younger brother) have a “Dr. Ambedkar Mission Library” with about a thousand books including Arun Shouri’s nonsense book, Worshipping False Gods. 1 wrote many articles in the Punjabi Daily, Jantak Lehar, in the late 80s. Some of my articles were on Guru Ravidas. As I was thrown out of the Bank I had to work as a taxi driver. Today with the grace of Babasaheb, my son is an HCS officer. I did my graduation with philosophy and my brother did his PG in philosophy. We fought against all principles and systems of Hinduism. Hinduism is hollow and baseless — rather nonsense and immoral. No Brahminic scripture says be moral or do good. Then how could it be called a dharma or even a religion? We found only filth in it and wrote a book, Thoo Brahmanvad (spit on Brahminism). We wish to meet you in person. We have a brain-load of research material with us. I wish to open it before you. Why do we say Mahatma Ravana was great? Our research says:
He was the first historical person who reigned over India from Lanka to Himalayas and Afghanistan to Burma. No king had such a vast territory under his control. He started the system of marriage i.e. marital relationship of one woman with one man. Aryans would either put the bride on stake, lift the bow and take Sita, hit the fisheye and take Draupadi or simply they would get their sisters abducted like Krishna did to his sister Subhadra. There is not a single example where an Aryan solemnized marriage. Open and unrestricted sex was the dharma of Aryans. Right from Brahma or Krishna every god, every rishi had illicit relationship. Most Aryans were begotten through illicit relationships. Even Hanuman’s mother (wife of Kesari) had adulterous sex with a stranger, Pavan. She got pregnant due to this and gave birth to Hanuman. Mahatma Ravana forcibly stopped all such illicit relationships. That Aryan yagna had three things: (I) open, illicit sex, (ii) butchering of animals, roasting them in yag’s fire, and (iii) eating their meat with wine called soma. Mahatma Ravana banned such yags in his kingdom. He ordered the killing of rishis then and there, who used to do such things with innocent animals. Every Aryan yag was performed by at least 16 Brahman ritviks (rishi who does a yag). Mahatma Ravana instead laid down a rule that only one person (of any caste or varna) could and would perform a havan. He replaced the system of yag with havan.
No other person has contributed this much to Indian society. In fact, today’s Indian society is one made by Mahatma Ravana. I have done a lot of research work like this. I wish to meet you to discuss my research work. I have met Dalit scholars. Some say only Ambedkarism can save us. But most of them say Ambedkarism alone cannot solve all problems. Some believe also in Gandhi, Dayanand, Vivekanand and Ramakrishna or Gita etc. All sorts of confusion. But we are strict Ambedkarites. I read your Editorials; articles and I was convinced that you are like us or vice versa. So, I just want to have a meeting with you.
S. Madhava Rao, 10-2-8/218, Metro Classique Apts., A.C. Guards, Hyderabad – 500 004: I visited America and participated in a seminar organised by Dalit Feedom Network (DFN) on Oct.6, 2005 at Washington DC. The subject was “racism and caste- based discrimination”. In the afternoon, a public hearing was convened by the US Congress Subcommittee on International Relations in Raybon building. The details were covered in DV Nov.2005. I attended this public hearing. The report was also published in the Financial Express (North American edition) dated 21.10.05.
Nazneen O. Saherwala, 8B, Sangam Apts., Somnath Mahadev Road, Umra, Surat – 395 007: I have been hearing about Devadasis for years, but the evil system of prostitution sanctioned by the Hindu religion continues despite all the laws of the land. Why don’t we fight for Devadasis? Why don’t we teach a lesson to these pimp-priests. They never touch their own “Dalit Hindus”, yet they don’t mind having sex with Devadasis who are Dalits, Foreigners do not know about Devadasis. It is a social system that existed right from the vedic period. It is part of Hindu temple rituals. Devadasis must sing and dance for gods — meaning the godmen. Dalit families are induced to gift their girl child to the temple. They were used for sex by the temple priests and its feudal controllers. Instead of having sex with their wives, these “holy men” have devised a social system of holy prostitution called Devadasis, meaning maid servants of God. The child born to Devadasi is called Harijan meaning children of God Hari. Devadasi system is nothing but sex slavery of Hindu religious class.
Ravikaant (ravikaantgg@yahoo.co.in ): Here is a forceful defence of the caste system. Just read a blog:
The metropolitan elite and rootless experts have concluded that caste is bad. They have made it so that every Indian is expected to feel guilty at the mention of caste. …. The caste system is undeniably a valuable social capital, which provides a cushion for individuals and families to deal with society and the state. The Western model of atomising every individual to a single element in a right-based system and forcing the individual to have a direct link with the state has destroyed families and erased communities. Every person stands alone, stark naked, with only rights as his imaginary clothes to deal directly with the state. “
This is an excerpt from one IIM Bangalore Faculty. Please log on to the link:
http://indiareacts.com/columns/full_column22.htm
Sudhanshu Sekhar Sethy, Qr. No. E-L/70/A, Railway Colony, PO/dt: Puri – 752 002: I have read so many articles of different people in DV. But I am extremely impressed by the article by Brother M.Ali of Varanasi. He always gives the history of Hindu religion. In the Feb 1, 2007, DV, he writes on Sanatan Dharma meaning a never-changing faith. This statement is absolutely correct. Caste discrimination exists as it was thousands of years back from panchayat to parliament, from lower judiciary to Supreme Court. The basic principle of Hindu religion is intact everywhere. Hindu terrorist organisaitons like BJP, RSS, VHP shed crocodile tears for Dalit. That doesn’t mean they have started loving us. The fast growing Islam has compelled them to behave like this. They are not sleeping at night in peace for fear of Islamic conversion of Dalits. If Dalits accept Islam, manuvadis will. surrender before Dalits within 24 hrs./ then the Manuwadis will ask for reservation for their survival in India.
Palash Chandra Biswas, C/o Ms. Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Calcutta – 700 110: Your books and Dalit Voice enhance my references as well as vision to fight Brahminism, zionism and imperialism which enslaved us. We have no option but to mobilise all constituents of that 85% enslaved underclasses (Bahujan Samaj) to launch a global movement to end the rule of terror and exploitation. DV sets the guidelines very well.
Sanjay Kumar Choudhary (sanjay_llb@yahoo.com ): T was at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi, as part of my academic course.
- I met Udit Raj. He is critical of your “caste identity” thesis. This is because he has been a victim of “caste identity”. He is very critical of Mayawati and other Dalit politicians like Ram Vilas Paswan. But I know you have always supported him in his social and cultural activities.
- I came to know from Dr. Satinath Chaudhary about the victims of the Nithari massacre. I met and talked to many of them. Most of the victims were Dalits. Even CBI is not listening to them. Most of the families didn’t get the compensation announced by the UP Government. The Nithari killings have a caste character. It needs a deeper study.
- I also met some Dalit and Bahujan students of AIIMS, New Delhi. They said the upper caste faculty and students were hostile to Dalit students. Even Dalit teachers and doctors did not support their cause. One Dalit student was mentally tortured by an upper caste professor that he took medicine to write his paper. He secured 70% in the first year but failed in all five papers and thus lost one year. Most of the Dalit students face acute discrimination at the AIIMS but helpless to launch a strong resistance. I tried my best to organize a meeting of AITIMS and JNU students but could not because of the internal contradictions. Educated Dalits are very much divided on various issues and thus causing harm to poor and village Dalit. If they are not united history will not forgive us.
- Some girl students of DU are making a documentary film on Dalit students and their discrimination. They shot in JNU, AIIMS and Jamia and took interviews of many of Dalit students.
- Dalit students of Patna and Gaya told me they were working to strengthen “caste identity”. Students of BHU said that birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas was celebrated and over 1,000 students and teachers attended the meeting.
- An international NGO, “the International Movement Against all forms of Discrimination and Racism” has invited me to attend a meeting at Madras on March 13, 2007.
Paul Divakar, NCDHR, New Delhi: It was both frustrating and elating to see the Indian delegation, especially Dipankar Gupta ranting on the “castelessness” of the Indian body politic and on the other hand all the CERD committee members with one voice challenging the stale position and half truths and untruths of Gupta. We need to raise the campaign in Delhi challenging the position of the Indian Govt which is refusing tooth and nail to allow the Dalit issue to be debated and addressed in the UN and all international fora. We need to strategise this and it will be good to raise the level of the campaign on this to an intense level.
Ms. Thummapudi Bharathi, Ph.D., Associate Professor in English & Coordinator, Centre for Ambedkar Studies; S.P. Mahila University, Tirupati- 517 502: India as a nation had gained nothing worthwhile in the past including its nationhood. Nationhood itself had to be imposed on the Indian subcontinent as a political gift of colonialism, orientalism and imperialism. The main political reason for this unenviable condition was the lack of unity between the Maharajas of the Samasthanas. But a major contributing factor to this condition, according to Dr. Ambedkar, was also sociological — caste factor sanctified by the Brahminical scriptures. Our whole social fabric was infected with the cancer of casteism, which was the foundation of Hindu religion. Under the name of caste most India’s people were castigated and prevented from contributing to the growth of their country. We have alienated our own people. Let us rehabilitate them, empower them and confer full citizenship on them. India never had a participatory sociology, which could lead to sociological collaboration in the uplifting of our community. The Varnashrama system was not lateral but vertical and hierarchic. Many India’s citizens did not enjoy dignified citizenship, and they were like the slaves in the United States and in Greece. None of the social responsibilities were shared with them and they were not allowed to enjoy any of the rights of the respected citizens of our country. This pathetic condition was not only imposed on them: but more pathetic, these oppressed people even submitted, and submitted voluntarily because of the fear, which had socio– religious dimensions. Now, like Marx, Dr. Ambedkar had to change the common currency of understanding of society. It was not sufficient to simply understand and interpret what mattered was to change it. When all the shastras are ‘caste- discourses’ and all the scriptures are cast in the mould of the caste system, a new discovery had to be made. Our social science must make that discovery: and the first social scientist who made the discovery was Dr. Ambedkar. But what was discovered had to be implemented: politics and law had to be brought under its service. Luckily the social scientist was also a legal luminary. And he was able to win political recognition as a member of the Constituent Assembly, and this gave him the vantage position of changing the currency of our social understanding. Our country, which had no chance of undergoing the experience of Renaissance, Industrial and Agrarian Revolutions and had very little experience of the Enlightenment and Exploration of even imperialistic expansion worth the name had to be taught all these only through the colonial experience. Unifying concepts like humanism in the Western style, and universal concepts like sex-transcendent, caste- transcendent consciousness was unreachable and unavailable to the Indian mind. Our oriental mind that could penetrate seven oceans and seven yugas and seven worlds could not penetrate the religion- locked social structure. Unremunerated work of the shudra became the foundation of our economy. Arthashastra had to win the struggle for survival in \the conspiracy of the upper castes. The domination of Brahminical fake “spirituality” had to be broken by Western secularism and recognition of the respectability of materialism. The economic base of the society had to be newly laid in the place of empty spirituality. Secular education, secular employment and secular empowerment of the Dalits had to be done against stiff opposition and/or sly alarmism from upper castes. Colonialist and imperialistic burden became necessary in the generation of the dialectic of sociology. Under the guise of liberating the country from the clutches of the British the empire had to strike even local caste imperialism of the upper castes and liberate the Dalits from our own oppressors. Dr. Ambedkar skillfully steered the course of this subterfuge and submerged war and successtully concluded it through enshrining it in our constitution. Has Dr. Ambedkar succeeded in achieving his objectives? Has he failed somewhere? Who were his enemies? How did they work? How to defeat them? It is time for every Dalit intellectual to think and decide to convert our Indian sociological scenario, so that our future can be better than our past. We have alienated a huge section of our people; let us rehabilitate them, empower them and confer tull citizenship rights and status on them so that our future can be better than our past. I am very much pleased and impressed by the Editor’s statement that “Dalit woman had the pain of the woman plus the fire of the Dalit”. We will try to do justice in your hope in Dalit women’s active and committed participation. Thanks for inviting us to the DV silver jubilee in Delhi. Certainly, you are the source of inspiration in all our activities. Hope you will guide us in our future activities.
C.R. Marawi, M.M. Wing, Bacheli, Dantewada Bastar dt. – 494 553: I have been your family members for nine years. Your journal is indeed revolutionary. I and my colleagues are also sharing and discussing the thoughts generated by Dalit Voice. The local Adivasis are badly suffering at the hands of the naxals as well as the govt. machinery. The Chhattisgarh Govt. has launched Salwa Judum to create social revolution and weaken the naxal movement. The govt. is using too many forces (Mizos, Nagas, CRF and local police etc.) but nothing could be done till now. So much so, this place has become the battlefield between govt. forces and naxals. Due to dense forest and geographical situations, the local Adivasis are being killed unnecessarily and targeted from both sides. In sensitive areas, Adivasis have been placed in front as shield so that they alone are killed by naxals as well as by the police. One or two or even more Adivasis are killed daily. Due to this, the Adivasis are migrating to “shelter camps” areas being run by the govt. The condition of the local Adivasis is pathetic. The conditions of their women are miserable. The children do not go to school. Salwa Zudum has been going on for the last three years. Over 60 schools are closed. I belong to a Dalit caste hailing from a very backward, remote area of Bilaspur District (CG). I studied in Hindi medium and worked in the National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd., Bailadila Iron Ore Project Deposit No.5,10/11A Project, Bacheli, Dantewada dt. (C6:) (schedule A company) I do not have expertise in English.
