The conviction rate for rape cases by India’s “untouchable” women stands at 2 per cent, compared to 24 per cent for women in general. However, they are starting to fight back.
India on Tuesday changed the word caste to “social origin” in the draft Asian and Pacific ministerial declaration on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the conference under way here to review the goals of the Beijing platform for action 20 years later.
Members of Indian civil society participating in the United Nations-Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) conference in Bangkok have alleged that the official delegation from India insisted that the word ‘caste’ not be mentioned in the outcome document of the meet. The conference, centred around womens’ issues in Asia and the Pacific, was aimed at setting out a fresh agenda for the 20-year anniversary of the Beijing Conference (Beijing 20+) in 2015.
Bulbul: song of the Nightingale -
The economic reforms begun in India in 1991 were couched in the language of ‘modernisation’, yet they have done little to challenge the caste and gender discrimination faced by Dalit women - in some ways their situation is worse.
The Indian Government should end manual scavenging says Human Rights Watch in the report, Cleaning Human Waste: "Manual Scavenging," Caste, and Discrimination in India. The report was released together with a short video and received extensive media coverage, read key press clippings here.
Discrimination and rejection are rites of passage for any Dalit, anywhere in the world. One Dalit-American artist contemplates all she has learnt from being branded untouchable. "It requires great will to take on the gravity of who you are in the face of a society that believes you are not equal. Every Dalit I know has had a turning point where they have rejected the stereotype and forged their own way. Whether it was my grandfather who walked 10 km each way to the only grade school that would enrol him, or the Dalit women who fight every day for justice in the Dalit Women’s Self-Respect yatra – this raw strength is what defines us as a community and is what I lean on in the hard times of my work."
Quote: "A Dalit doesn't have a 'right' to say no to rape"
"Referring to India’s opening statement at CEDAW, senior advocate Vrinda Grover noted that “seriousness of engagement was lacking on many issues and basic understanding was lacking in responses”. By Sowmiya Ashok
The report was prepared by Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS), some survivors and kin of survivors. The report deals with the atrocities committed against the naive and innocent girls in the name of caste politics. It deals with their experiences and also suggests some demands to enable them to lead a dignified and meaningful life.
The rebellion by a group of young women over common land in Sangrur exemplifies a newly assertive Dalit youth. The author witnesses the clash of the castes in Punjab. by Aman Sethi
Conclusion of report: The sexual assault on the four girls is clearly a casteist attack that is often used to assert caste domination. It was intended to silence the people, who dared to question their authority or power.The incidents in Bhagana are a perfect example of the impunity that the powerful and dominant caste groups enjoy when they commit crimes on the oppressed and marginalised sections of society. Their confidence that they can get away with anything they do makes them repeat these crimes again and again.
Rape, abuse common for India’s Dalit: 260 million ‘untouchables’ seek EU help. As India, the world’s largest democracy heads to the polls, New Europe spoke with Henri Tiphange and Asha Kowtal, two leading activists for the Dalit, the untouchables.by Andy Carling
"I have watched Manjula Pradeep grow from a novice, an inexperienced young girl in the early 90's into a confident, assured, gutsy Dalit leader over the last 20 years. In this interview, Manjula traces the history of her struggle for Dalit rights from her early induction into Navsarjan Trust, as a raw, young recruit and her tumultuous journey to her present post as head of Navsarjan, often representing Dalits in the UN and other national and international fora"
The rape and murder of the two teenage girls in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district last Wednesday sent shockwaves across the country, and also threw into focus four rape survivors from Bhagana village in Hisar, Haryana, who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in the national capital since April 16.