What happens when a Dalit seeks justice from the courts? Most times, the struggle may be just getting there, or charges are not framed years after a crime. This two-part story, done 20 years ago, continues to be relevant in 2020 #Dalits#HathrasCase 1/13 ruralindiaonline.org/articles/a-dal…
When Bhanwari Devi’s 13yo daughter was raped in the bajra fields by an upper caste youth, she picked up a lathi & went after the rapist herself. She had no faith in the police & courts. She was prevented from seeking any redress by the dominant castes of Ahiron ka Rampura. 2/13
It doesn’t mean much, though, in Rajasthan. On average in this state, one Dalit woman is raped every 60 hours. Data from reports of the National Commission show that nearly 900 cases of sexual assault of SC women were registered with the police between 1991 and 1996. 3/13
That’s round 150 cases a year – or one every 60 hours. The numbers don’t measure the reality. In this state, the extent of under-reporting of such crimes is perhaps the worst in the country. 4/13
In Naksoda of Dholpur district, the victim of one of the most dramatic atrocities has fled the village. In April 1998, Rameshwar Jatav, a Dalit, sought the return of Rs. 150 that he had loaned an upper caste Gujjar. That was asking for trouble. 5/13
Enraged by his arrogance, a band of Gujjars pierced his nose and put a ring of two threads of jute, a metre long and 2 mm thick, through his nostrils. Then they paraded him around the village, leading him by the ring. 6/13
The incident caused national outrage. It was widely reported overseas as well, both in print and on television. All that publicity, however, had no impact on ensuring justice. Terror within the village and a hostile bureaucracy at the ground level saw to that. 7/13
And with the sensational and spectacular out of the way, the press lost interest in the case. So, apparently, did the human rights groups. 8/13
The victims faced the post-media music on their own. Rameshwar completely changed his line in court. Yes, the atrocity had happened. However, it was not the six people named in his complaint who had done it. He could not identify the guilty. 9/13
The senior medical officer, who had recorded the injuries in detail, now pleaded forgetfulness. Yes, Rameshwar had approached him with those wounds. He could not remember, though, if the victim had told him how he had come by those unusual injuries. 10/13
Rameshwar’s father, Mangi Lal, has himself turned hostile as a witness. “What do you expect us to do? We live here in terror. The authorities were totally against us. The Gujjars can finish us any time. Various powerful people, and some in the police, forced this on us.” 11/13
Rameshwar has left the village. Mangi Lal has sold one of the just three bighas of land the family owns to meet the costs of the case thus far. 12/13
For the world, it was a barbaric act. In Rajasthan, it just falls into one of thousands of 'Other IPC' (Indian Penal Code) cases. Which means cases other than murder, rape, arson or grievous hurt. Between 1991-96, there was one such case registered every four hours. 13/13
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Lenindhasan, or Lenin– as he is called – and his friends, are trying to replace modern rice varieties and resist mono-cropping. Their plan is to restore lost diversity. And to germinate a rice revolution.
It's a different kind of revolution, led by another kind of Lenin.
Lenin cultivates 30 varieties of rice. He sells another 15 raised by fellow farmers. And he conserves 80 types of paddy seeds. All this, in his family’s six-acre farm in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvanamalai district.
It seems as if he’s been farming and selling paddy for decades. But it’s only been six years.
Before he became a farmer, Lenin was a corporate employee in Chennai, with two degrees and a good salary.
Life has only become harder in the last 10 years (A thread)
India's poorest homes continue to rely on minor forest produce like mahua and tendu leaves, along with the assured Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) programme.
As they prepare for voting today in the General Elections 2024, Adivasi villagers here in Arattondi village say their lives have only become harder in the last 10 years...
MP govt is punishing "rioters" who had engaged in stone-pelting by destroying private property.
But the idea of Wasim pelting stores is difficult to digest. He had lost both his arms in 2005.
Then why was his house shop razed down too?
[read ahead]
In Wasim’s shop, customers would tell him whatever they needed and help themselves. “They would place the money in my pocket or the drawer in the shop and leave,” he says. “I had put whatever money I had raised into my shop. It was my livelihood for 15 years.”
But on a warm April day in Khargone, Wasim Ahmed watched in horror as a bulldozer ordered by the state govt crushed and destroyed his shop and the valuable material inside. That day, bulldozers flattened 50 other shops and homes in this Muslim-dominated locality.
A student once asked us:
"Why is inequality bad? The kirana owner has a small store & Ambani has a big business because of how hard they work. People who work hard, succeed."
PARI is hoping to address these misconceptions by showing the lives of hardworking Indians [a 🧵]
Unpacking the idea of ‘success’ is possible with a PARI story on unequal access to education, healthcare and justice.
We draw on them in classrooms to share the lives of hardworking people – on farms, in forests and the underbelly of cities, and more.
Students like Chennai high schooler, Arnav admit, “we view them [people below their socio-economic group] as statistics rather than an actual person who goes through things we often go through.”
Every day is Rural Women's Day here at PARI. Don't take our word for it. Browse our website to find stories of some of the most incredible women from rural India!
A thread to get you started 👇
#InternationalDayOfRuralWomen
1/ Seaweed is an essential algae to a wide array of industries, including the pharma industry. But who goes down into the sea to get it? @MPalani17304893 introduces you to the fisherwomen who spend 7-10 hours in the sea every day to harvest it.
2/ Shanti Devi is possibly India's first woman mechanic who has been working at a depot just outside Delhi for over two decades. She changes tyres, fixes punctures, repairs engines and breaks stereotypes. ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/a-…
In the 160 years since the British established tea production, Assam has become the largest tea-producing state in India, the largest tea-producing region in the world and the world’s fourth largest tea exporter.
Still, for every kilogram of packaged Assam tea sold, less than 5% of the cut goes to the workers.
850 million Indians consume tea daily. But who produces it?