How Punjab's Dalits fight over a piece of land for dignity, not profit

In Punjab, upper castes, mostly Jat Sikhs, dominate the farming landscape. Only 3.5% of private farm land belongs to Dalits who make up 32% of the population.

“Our struggle is not just about money. It’s about owning a farm where we can go without fear,” said Paramjit Kaur, standing at the door of her kitchen, rolling a dough ball to make chapatis.

“Now, our daughters can go alone to harvest fodder at any time.”

Paramjit Kaur was talking about the 15.5 acres of common land she is jointly tending with 200 other Dalit families of the village, earning 2.5 quintal wheat and Rs 1,200 annual profit per household.

At her home in Bhattiwal Kalan village of Sangrur district in Punjab, a green awning in the courtyard partly blocked the harsh summer sun. Around 50 metres away stood the family’s only reliable source of income--a cart full of cosmetics, small household items and plastic toys.

Paramjit Kaur’s husband, Major Singh, takes this mobile shop to neighbouring villages, earning around Rs 500 from daily sales. Her son recently joined a private firm in Sangrur as laboratory assistant, relieving her of a job as a farm labourer.

The family are among the several thousand Dalits participating in a land rights movement sweeping across 70 villages of southern Punjab, upsetting the deeply-entrenched power equations between upper-caste farmers and scheduled caste (SC) labourers.

The campaign also aims to protect village commons from encroachment, ensure food security and uphold women’s safety. This is why the likes of Paramjit Kaur are at the forefront of this movement.

Business Standard

Twitter CEO trolled for "hate mongering" against India's Brahmins

Several prominent Indians, including T.V. Mohandas Pai, a former finance chief of software exporter Infosys, accused Dorsey of "hate mongering" against Brahmins.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has kicked up a social media storm in India after a picture of him with a placard saying "smash Brahminical patriarchy", referring to the highest Hindu caste, went viral in one of the company's fastest-growing markets.

The picture, posted on Twitter on Sunday by a journalist who was part of a group of women journalists, activists, writers whom Dorsey met during a visit to India last week, had him clutching a poster of a woman holding up a banner with the line that has offended many Indians.

Several prominent Indians, including T.V. Mohandas Pai, a former finance chief of software exporter Infosys, accused Dorsey of "hate mongering" against Brahmins.

"Tomorrow if @jack is given a poster with anti-Semitic messages in a meeting, will his team allow him to hold it up?," Pai tweeted. "Why is that any different? Inciting hate against any community is wrong."

Twitter India said the poster was handed to Dorsey by a Dalit activist - Dalits are at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Hinduism - when it hosted a closed-door discussion with a group of women to know more about their experience using Twitter.

It added the poster was a "tangible reflection of our company's efforts to see, hear, and understand all sides of important public conversations that happen on our service around the world".

Late on Monday, Vijaya Gadde, legal, policy and trust and safety lead at Twitter who accompanied Dorsey to India, apologised.

"I'm very sorry for this. It's not reflective of our views.

We took a private photo with a gift just given to us - we should have been more thoughtful," she said in a tweet. "Twitter strives to be an impartial platform for all. We failed to do that here & we must do better to serve our customers in India." Twitter, whose monthly active users globally averaged 326 million in the July-September quarter, does not disclose the number of its users in India but its executives have said that the country was one of its fastest growing.

Its use is only expected to grow in India in the coming months as political parties in the country of 1.3 billion try to expand their reach to voters ahead of a general election due by May.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with 44.4 million followers, is one of its biggest supporters.

"I enjoy being on this medium, where I've made great friends and see every day the creativity of people," Modi tweeted last week after meeting Dorsey in New Delhi.

Business Standard

Maratha reservation: Sambhaji Brigade chief talks about genesis of demand

It looks like the Marathas, unconvinced about the assurances given by Devendra Fadnavis government, are upping the ante.

A bandh was recently observed in different parts of Maharashtra, as part of the series of protests in the ongoing agitation of the Maratha community which is demanding reservation in education and employment sectors. Over the last two years, almost 60 silent marches have been held, all of them peaceful, except for the last few when violence broke out in parts.

It looks like the Marathas, unconvinced about the assurances given by Devendra Fadnavis government, are upping the ante.

The demand itself goes back 34 years. A leader of Mathadis (headloaders) Annasaheb Patil had committed suicide in 1982 over demands for Maratha reservation. The community, which is said to form 33% of Maharashtra’s population is the largest group in the state, enjoys a sizable representation in politics and in the sugar co-operative sector. Even several chief ministers of Maharashtra have been Marathas.

At the same time, it is relatively backward when it comes to the education and employment fronts. Now, community leaders, under the banner of several groups, have been agitating across the state and have been demanding the Other Backward Class (OBC) status along with a 16% quota.

Among the many groups agitating is one of the oldest Maratha organisations, Sambhaji Brigade, known for its radical anti-Brahmanical stand. The organisation’s chief Pravin Gaikwad met The Wire at the office of his construction company on Pune’s MG road recently and discussed several issues including the genesis of the community members’ demands, its history and its apparent backwardness. He says political games are being played out in the name of reservations for the community.

Sukanya Shantha (SS): The agitation demanding reservation has intensified over the past month even after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has assured he would look into the community’s demand. Is there a sense of distrust among Marathas? If so, what are the reasons for it?

Pravin Gaikwad (PG): Two years ago, when we first started the Maratha Mukh Morcha (silent march), Fadnavis had appeared on a Marathi channel Sahyadri and claimed even if he were to lose chief ministership, he would stand by us and ensure we get what is due. He had agreed to 16% reservation for the community as recommended by the Narayan Rane Committee. But in these two years, he has given only assurances. Our movement is not political, but a socially motivated one. People are losing patience now.

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