Scholarship scheme benefits elude poor SC students

 S. Divyabharati, who was thrilled two weeks ago, when she got admission to ECE branch in a leading engineering college near here, is no longer excited. She is clueless after coming to know that she should pay Rs. 88,500 as fee upfront.

Ms. Divyabharati, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste and resides near Red Hills, knows she cannot mobilise the amount. Her father is watchman in a private firm, earning Rs. 4,000 a month.

She knows there is a scheme for first generation graduates, under which the government takes care of tuition fee, which is now Rs. 45,000. What she does not know is that there is another scheme, a Post-Matric Scholarship, offering more benefits for SC students than others.

As part of the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme devised by the Centre and implemented through States, the compulsory non-refundable fee — what is charged towards registration/enrolment, tuition, games, union and library membership, medical examination and any other fee compulsorily payable — is covered, apart from a host of other fees.

A senior official in the Adi Dravidar Welfare (ADW) Commissioner’s office clarifies that transport charges are not covered. In Divyabharati’s case this comes to Rs. 19,000 a year.

Ashok Kumar, the son of a daily-wage labourer in Tiruvallur hailing from the Arunthatiyar community (part of SCs), is also in the same state of unpreparedness as Ms. Divyabharati is. He has been allotted civil engineering and asked by another private college to pay Rs. 72,000 in 10 days. “I don’t even have enough money to travel by bus. I do not know how I am going to remit the fees,” he laments.

At present, the students have to apply through their colleges for the Post-Matric Scholarship scheme.

More than their level of awareness regarding this scheme or that, the serious problem being faced by students such as Ashok Kumar and Divyabharati is that they are in no condition to remit the fees on their own at the time of admission. The managements of private colleges, to which several students interviewed byThe Hindu have gained admission, are not ready to admit them without collecting the fees, even if they know that they will be able to get the fees reimbursed by the government as such students are eligible for coverage under one scholarship scheme or the other.

This year, most private self-financing engineering colleges have asked students to pay the fees latest by August 14.

“How can they pay so much money when their families struggle for daily sustenance? Many of them find paying Rs. 5,000 itself very difficult,” says D. Sherin, founder, Velicham, an NGO that works to facilitate higher education of underprivileged students.

The principal of a self-financing college says generally, colleges spare first generation graduates of the tuition fee. In respect of other schemes, the funds transfer from the government invariably comes late.

“Last year, many colleges reimbursed students many months after admission and students had to pay almost two years’ fees.”

To a question why the State government should not make arrangements for direct payment of fees for SC students, the official in the ADW Commissionerate replies that the administration is contemplating various steps. More students will be encouraged to open savings bank accounts so that their scholarship money can be credited through ECS. Already, SB accounts have been opened for about 24,000 students covered under the scholarship scheme.

On Monday, the Commissionerate will hold a meeting with bankers and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to discuss online transfer of money. Though the official points out that his office has set up a stall on the Anna University campus, the venue of engineering counselling, to disseminate information on the scholarship scheme, he agrees that much more requires to be done to increase the level of awareness. The process for getting the scholarship should also be simplified.

A senior government official says funds are very much available with the implementing departments, which have to do some more coordination involving college managements, higher education officials and district authorities.

source: The Hindu Dt 05.08.2012

To    TheEditor,                                                                                                  Dt:05.08.12

        The Hindu,

        Chennai-600 002.

        letters@thehindu.co.in

        Sub: - Scholarship scheme for SC/ST students-Reg.

       Ref: - News item appeared in The Hindu Dt 5.8.12 under the heading

               “Scholarship scheme benefits elude poor SC students.”

Sir,

           I appreciating your esteemed daily for bringing out the plight of SC/ST students in joining professional courses due to heavy fees demanded by colleges and availability of scholarships for reimbursement of fees paid by the poor students.

                The successive government continuously neglecting the interest of the SC/ST students. Tamil Nadu Government has not taken any concrete action for formulating any schemes for payment of fees in advance for deserving students from SC/ST communities.  Government of tamil Nadu leading in many fields and set an examples for various welfare activities of the poor people but it is continuously not giving much attention on  SC/ST students.

                There were always delay in implementing various welfare scheme towards SC/ST.  Previously the Adi-dravida department of Government of Tamil Nadu had issued eligibility card (E-Card) to those SC/ST student for joining in Government Colleges, the students submitting the e card need not pay any fees at the time of admission, and such fees will be adjusted in the scholarships.  This system can be introduced now for making payment to the colleges admitting SC/ST students.

                When Anna university and Directorate  of medical service conducting counseling for admission for  Engineering and medical colleges, why the Adi-Dravida Department in consultation with both these organizations has not  put up a camp of their office and issue eligibility card to those student getting admission in the  colleges.  If it is not found feasible they can work out a scheme in which the eligible students can get their eligibility card from respective district administration and the Adi-dravida welfare department can make payment to the colleges submitting eligibility card of the student along with scholarship application with in a stipulated time.

                To avoid delay in issuing e card and making payment to the private colleges the Adi-dravida department should think of  creating  a fund for this purpose and make payment to the colleges at the beginning of the year.  When the district administration issuing community certificate at the school for plus two students a similar action can also be taken by camping by the Adi-dravida department’s employee in the counseling centre and issue eligibility card to SC/ST, in this way the problem faced by SC/ST students can be avoided and ensure maximum enrolment of these students in professional colleges.

                The state government which is misusing funds earmarked for SC/ST welfare always choose to hiding  the allotment of funds for scholarship to SC/ST students by central government on the plea the credit for scholarships will go to the  party ruling central government ,which is the  main reasons they are not making such scheme so popular among SC/ST students, unfortunately the Central Govt is also failing on this account, it is never bothered  the amount allotted towards scholarships were utilized or not.

                It is high time the Government of Tamilnadu and Adi-dravida department to work out a scheme to make payment to the private colleges and facilitate hassle free admission of SC/ST students.

                I request your esteemed daily to publish the expert opinion on how best the scheme of scholarship should reach the poor SC/ST students especially to professional courses and the practice made by other states in admitting SC/ST students in self financing colleges.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Copy to:  1.The Secretary

                 Adi-Dravida department

                 Secretariate,Chennai-600 009

                 adisec@tn.gov.in      

                2.  The Director,

                  Adi-dravida welfare Dept

                  Ezhilagam,Chennai-600 005. 

                 3. The Chairman

                 National SC commission and National ST commission

                 New Delhi-110005

                 jointsecretary-ncsc@nic.in

                 chairperson@ncst.nic.in

                4.The Hon Minister for Social justice and empowerment

                    New Delhi-110001

  

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For further information please log on to http://www.trpscheme.com/trp/index.jsp http://www.trpscheme.com/trp/index_home.jsp ********************************************************************************************** Monthly Meeting Dr.Ambedkar Academy and The People’s Eductional Trust Dr.A.Padmanabhan Mansion L-73,Kavery Colony,24 Th Street,Annanagar East,Chennai-600 102. Cordially invite you with your spouse for the monthly meeting on Thursday the 2nd of August 2012 at 6.30 PM at the above Premises Sub: Social Justice and Education in the presence Of Dr.A.Padmanabhan IAS(Rtd) Former Chief Secretary,Govt of Tamil Nadu Former Governor of Mizoram Chief Patron and Advisor of Dr.Ambedkar Academy Chief Guest Thiru K.Aludiapillai I.A.S(Rtd) Former  Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University Prsident:Mr.C.Chellappan IAS(Rtd) Former Member SC/ST Commission Managing Trustee,People’s Eduction Trust Welcome: Mr.J.Ramalingam Former FAO/UN Expert General Secretary,Dr.Ambedkar Academy Vote of Thanks: Mr.A.Gandhi President, Forum for National Integration of India Mr.C.ChellappanIAS (Rtd)   Mr.M.Viswanathan IAS (Rtd)            Mr.J.Ramalingam Managing Trustee                    Joint Managing Trustee                   General Secretary Mr.A.Kuppusamy                                                                           Mr.P.Rathinavelu    Joint Managing Trustee                                                                  Addl.Gen Secretary. All are Welcome

‘Deprived’ of their lands, dalits narrate tales of harassment


A year ago, when Chellammal questioned a nondalit for executing a lease deed on her paddy field at Narasinganallur in Tirunelveli district after getting a thumb impression from her alcoholic husband, she had to face the wrath of the upper caste members. She was attacked by a gang and one of her eyeballs came out in the assault. The 50-year-old died the next day.

Chandra, another dalit, faced astiff opposition from non-dalits when she arranged the marriage of her son V Ayyanar, an MPhilholder. They even tore the interview cards being sent to Ayyanar from various companies. The non-dalits, who grabbed the paddy land of Chandra at Vellalakudi in Vazhapadi, wanted the only Arundathiyar family in the village to leave. So, when the deceased Chellammal’s son Lakshmanan and Chandra along with 27 other dalits raised their issues before the People’s Tribunal for Legal Redressal — an informal jury comprising activists, professors and writers — what they all wanted was their land back.

Apparently, the main focus was the grabbing of panchami land (land given to dalits by the government) by the non-dalits. At least 28 cases of land rights violation were heard at the tribunal, conducted by Evidence, an NGO, based in Madurai on Saturday. Among the 300 dalits, taken for study from across Tamil Nadu, almost all were subjected to violations related to land rights, the NGO said.

About 3.2 lakh acres of panchami lands were distributed to dalits in 1892, thanks to the initiative by J H A Tremem Heere, then district collector of Chengalpet. A study conducted by Evidence claims there are only 1,26,113 acres of panchami lands in Tamil Nadu now. “Only 3,000 acres of lands are in the hands of dalits. The remaining were grabbed from the dalits over the time,” says the study.

The jury, however, advised the victims to be more practical in taking their decisions. “You should realise the potential of the panchami lands and the role played by them in our lives. So you have to unite. If you don’t, you will not be able to reclaim your lands,” said P Sivakami, founder-president of Samuga Samathuva Padai.

Talking about an episode from her own life, the Tamil writer said it was the decision of her father not to sell his paddy field which helped her get through the IAS examination. “My father didn’t sell the paddy land. He was aware of grabbing. So I could complete my study from income we got from the land,” she said. At least 300 dalits from various parts of the state participated in the event. Grabbing of panchami land and other lands of dalits is on the rise, according to Prof Palaniduari of Gandhigram University, a jury member.

“Many dalits were murdered over land. Houses were burnt for lands. When a case is filed, the main crime will get the importance. The motive behind grabbing the land will not be taken into account. It’s unfortunate,” said A Kathir, director of Evidence. The people’s tribunal was set up for the victims to declare their statements before the jury. The final decision of the jury will be sent to the government and the human rights commissions.

Source: The Times of India dt 01-07-2012

Land and caste

Jatav residents of Ramgarh in U.P. resist attempts by members of a powerful community to grab their land by violent means.

Jatav victims of an attack by some members of the Gujjar community in their village on March 14.

IN what could be considered one of the worst incidents of vendetta against Dalits in the National Capital Region (NCR), members of the Dalit Jatav community were beaten up brutally by some members of the dominant Gujjar community in Ramgarh village in the Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh on March 14. The assailants, backed by the gram pradhan who belongs to the same caste, went to the Dalit colony on the margins of the village armed with sticks, countrymade pistols and axes, and beat up its residents in broad daylight, severely injuring many of them. During the rampage, which lasted more than three hours, the Gujjars did not spare even women and children. According to the Jatavs, the police did not arrive in time despite several phone calls to them.

The incident has only strengthened an ongoing struggle by the Jatavs in the village for the right to live peacefully and with dignity. The Jatavs have once again organised themselves to fight the age-old oppression, while the Gujjars are waiting for an opportune moment to strike again. Nearly two months after the incident, there is an eerie calm in the village as the various caste groups have polarised.

The main reason for the attack is 4.75 bighas (one bigha equals 0.25 hectare) of panchayat land allocated to the 60 Jatav families by the State government. The land has been allegedly occupied by the gram pradhan, Kuldeep Bhati.

The Constitution mandates the allocation of a fixed share of panchayat land in every village to Dalit families so that they can build houses or cattle sheds on them. The government had even issued pattas (title deeds) for the land in 1982. But the Gujjars, who are financially stronger, built a seven-foot-high wall around the land last December, restricting the movement of the Jatavs into their own land.

DALIT ASSERTION

This led to a conflict in the village. The March 14 incident was the culmination of the violence perpetrated systematically against the Jatavs, who for the first time showed tremendous courage in resisting the land encroachment. The resistance surprised the Gujjars, who had not anticipated any form of protest by the traditionally exploited Jatavs. Soon after the encroachment, the Jatavs approached the gram pradhan and warned that if the compound wall was not demolished they would register a complaint with the authorities in Dadri tehsil, under which Ramgarh comes, in Gautam Buddha Nagar district.

Brahma Jatav, a 25-year-old leader of the Jatav community, took the lead in asserting the community's right after the Gujjars did not pay heed to the warning. He gave a written complaint about the encroachment to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate on January 24. The Gujjars felt offended and took on the Jatavs, subjecting them to abuses and threats. On February 1, when a Gujjar leader beat up a Jatav for refusing to carry the carcass of a buffalo calf on his shoulders, Brahma filed a first information report at the local police station. After a few stray incidents of individual abuses, the Gujjars accosted Brahma when he was proceeding to attend a family function in a neighbouring village.

“Four Gujjar boys shot at me with a countrymade pistol. A friend came and rescued me and I fled,” Brahma said. This was on March 14. The same afternoon, the Gujjars organised themselves and went on the rampage.

When this correspondent visited Ramgarh, he saw one in three Jatav residents injured: some of them had their arms or legs broken or had suffered minor skull injuries. Shakuntala Devi, a 60-year-old woman, said: “They dragged me out of my house and hit me on my stomach and arms with iron rods.” Doctors have implanted a steel rod to support her left limb. A 30-year-old construction worker was attacked with axes when he was returning home. He was rushed to a local hospital with a broken skull and fractured leg. Although he has been discharged from the hospital, he is bedridden and hardly speaks. He may take almost a year to recover.

Women, who are easy targets in every act of violence and suppression, gave an account of the brutal treatment meted out to them that day. Even today the Jatav women suffer verbal abuse with sexual connotations every day. With safety in view, the Jatavs move around in groups. After the March 14 incident, the administration deployed a police contingent in the village to prevent further violence. However, the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist-Liberation) party members, who visited the place, have mentioned in their fact-finding report that the police are monitoring the Jatavs more closely than they are the Gujjars. The claim may not be off the mark because the police have failed to make any arrests so far. A few people whom the Jatavs had named in their complaint have obtained anticipatory bail. The report also states that the police charged the accused under minor sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and as a result, they got bail immediately.

A district official told Frontline on condition of anonymity that the Gujjars, who constitute not more than 20 families, were politically powerful and that his department had been trying to keep a check on their activities. “This is not the first case of encroachment by the Gujjars in Ramgarh. The shops that they own along the village street are constructed on panchayat lands. We have been planning to take some action in this regard too,” he said. The gram pradhan refused to talk to Frontline despite repeated requests.

REAL ESTATE

Ramgarh, like many other villages of western Uttar Pradesh, is surrounded by lush agricultural fields and irrigation canals. Scores of cattle sheds managed by the villagers mark its territory. Like most villages in the vicinity, it is shaped by innumerable asymmetrical bylanes running through a number of big and small semi-plastered houses. However, what makes the village crucial in terms of its location is its proximity to Greater Noida, which has become one of the biggest destinations in the NCR for real estate businesses. One may recall that last year farmers of the villages around Greater Noida had organised themselves to protest against the indiscriminate land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway and a hi-tech city that was proposed along the highway. But Ramgarh, where farmers have already sold most of their lands, is witnessing an internal conflict that might contribute another dimension to the understanding of the problems fuelled by land acquisitions across the country.

Around Ramgarh, a private construction company has acquired most of the lands to build a mega city consisting of housing societies, shopping malls, private schools and hospitals and large sports facilities. It has named the proposed town Sushant Megapolis. Like in most other western Uttar Pradesh villages, agricultural lands in Ramgarh are owned by Jats. Most of the Jats of the village have already sold their land to the company. The other dominant caste, Gujjar, is a backward community, but the Gujjars have traditionally been powerful in the region owing to their money and muscle power. Their wealth comes primarily from moneylending.

As is the case with most of rural India, the traditional moneylenders charge exorbitant rates of interest. Dalits, the most vulnerable community in Ramgarh, have been historically exploited through this process and they continue to be caught in a debt trap. This is also the reason that the land allotted to them is their only property. Most of the Jatavs are landless and work as farmhands in the fields of the Jats. As the Jats have sold their lands, the Jatavs have been forced to take up menial jobs in Delhi or Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

The conflict over land is inevitable in the context of the booming real estate business in the NCR. The mad rush to buy land has made land prices go up sharply. The 4.75 bighas of encroached land can fetch at least Rs.5 crore at the current market value.

In most of the land acquisition cases in India, construction companies operate through middlemen from the village from where they intend to acquire land. Middlemen generally try to land a deal at the minimum possible price for a fixed commission. They first spread rumours that the government plans to acquire all available lands for a particular project, and this would make a farmer hastily sell his land at a low price.

LARGE-SCALE LAND acquisition by big construction companies has led to a severe land crunch in Ramgarh, which is in the National Capital Region. In the backdrop, high-rise buildings under construction.

If this trick does not work, the middlemen would employ musclemen to threaten the farmers. In this, the middlemen are helped by the gram pradhan, the patwari (village's official clerk) and other village officials, often leading to a complicated builder-official-middleman nexus. In Ramgarh, it is alleged that some members of the Gujjar community have become the middlemen for construction companies.

The Bhatta-Parsaul or Tappal struggles over land acquisition last year saw organised resistance from the landowning Jats, but Ramgarh did not see much protest as the farmers there were offered better prices because of the village's proximity to Delhi. The Jats were heard by the media and politicians as the community is socially and politically powerful. However, the Ramgarh case indicates that a severe land crunch in the region has assumed multiple dimensions and has become one of the primary reasons for the exploitation of Dalits. The land crunch has pitted the Gujjars and the Jatavs against each other. However, despite an exploitative relationship between the two communities, organised violence, such as the one witnessed in March, was unheard of.


The Jatavs complained that the Gujjars were selling part of their land to outsiders who they suspect would eventually sell the land to builders. The power to convert the panchayat land into freehold land rests with the gram pradhan, that is, if he gets the approval of the Dalits. Brahma Jatav told Frontline that the pradhan had been trying to get their signatures so that the land could become freehold and he could sell it.


In western Uttar Pradesh, Dalits are forced to live on the margins of villages. Ramgarh is no exception. In fact, the village has a history of forcible eviction of members of the Valmiki community (extremely backward Dalits who work mostly as manual scavengers in northern India) from their lands, which made them leave the village. However, after the March 14 incident, the Jatavs organised a convention for the first time to pledge that they would continue to fight against such injustices. The Jatavs are planning to appeal to all the high offices until they get their lands back.


One of the biggest results of such rapid urbanisation driven by private companies is the escalation of conflicts in rural India, among communities and with external forces. These conflicts can take a vicious form in villages already plagued by an exploitative caste system, as in Ramgarh. The incidents in Ramgarh, which is less than 40 kilometres from New Delhi, prove that urbanisation alone cannot be the solution to end the power-driven caste system, as some Dalit activists have been proposing. It is also interesting to note that the Ramgarh violence occurred around the same time as the State Assembly elections.

SOME DALIT WOMEN who were injured in the attack.

The incident was projected in the regional dailies as the Samajwadi Party's (which had just come to power) retaliation against Bahujan Samaj Party workers. However, the sequence of events proves that the violence had its roots in the age-old exploitation of Dalits, who have undoubtedly become assertive.


A poem by the revolutionary Hindi poet Gorakh Pandey and eloquently narrated by Kavita Krishnan of the CPI(ML) at the Jatav convention sums up the resistance in Ramgarh: Hazaar saal purana hai unka gussa/Hazaar saal purani hai unki nafrat/Main toh unke bikhrey hue shabdon ko/ Tukh aur Laya ke saath lauta raha hoon/Tumhe darr hai ki aag bhadka raha hoon. (Their anger is a thousand years old/ Their hatred is a thousand years old/ I am just returning their scattered words/With rhyme and reason/And you fear that I am inciting rage.)
Source:Front Line may-19-June1

NHRC to hear grievances of Scheduled Castes

      The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will hold a three-day public hearing in Chennai on August 7 to deal with grievances of Schedules Castes.

Those belonging to SC category who have a complaint of atrocity committed by a public servant or of negligence by a public servant in prevention of atrocity can send their complaints to the commission by June 25. The complaints deemed fit for enquiry shall be taken up at the public hearing, the commission said. AGENCIES
Source: The Times of India dt 6-6-12