A Tribute To Prof.Arun Kamble

It is a sad news learnt from internet that Mr. Arun Kamble is no more. His dead body was found in Hussein Sagar lake in Hydrabad on 21st Dec 2009 . He was undergoing depression during last phase of life. Prof. Arun Kamble , Raja Dhale, Arjun Dangle were the founders of Dalit Panthers, a youth movement of Dalit youths of Maharashtra. 1970 onwards Dalit Panthers had the capacity to fight Shiv Sena on the streets. Shiv Sena has grown from strength to strength but Dalit Panthers weakened year after year. The reasons are internal bickering & lack of financial support. Whereas Shiv Sena had better financial strength & clandestine support of successive govts for fighting against Dalit movement.

Prof. Kamble was on forefront in the movement of re christening the Marathwada University to Dr. Ambedkar Marathwada University. Prof. Kamble & his comrades have given new dimensions to Dalit literature which brought out Dalits from clutches of blind faiths & old illogical traditions. His marathi books Dharmantarachi Bhimgarjana & Chalwaliche Divas are worth mentioning. He was national General Secretary of Janata Dal & he was Ph.D. guide in Mumbai University.

His contributions to the movement of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar will be long remembered. Jai Bhim to Arun Kamble.

By-Bodhisattwa Shendre

Reservation in Private is a Dire Necessity

Only handful of Dalits & Tribals could do little economic progress due to Job reservation policy in govt. But hue & cry is made by higher echelons of a society against job reservation . Educated parents spread ante reservation venom among their children. Dalit & Tribal students are taunted & humiliated in the schools & colleges. Now full stop has been put to the reservation policy because of the privatization policy of the govt.

British realized the pathetic situations of the downtrodden of the society whose status was lesser than animals. Morley-Minto commission had given some benefits to the oppressed classes. Then due to efforts of Dr. Ambedkar, reservation in jobs were given to the SC/STs constitutionally. The policy of reservation was implemented half heartedly till 1990. Only handful of SC/STs could get benefits due to reservation till this time. Then came the Privatization policy during the time of Narsingh Rao & Manmohan Singh, the doors of recruitment were totally shut for Dalits. Earlier public sectors were recruiting about 10000 SC/ST engineering graduates every year. Now there is almost nil recruitment. Many of these engineering graduates practically came on the roads as they do not have any sources in private companies, their only source of reservation system was snatched from them. This has happened in all kinds of Jobs. The doors of economic progress of SCs/STs are totally shut due to privatization policy after 1990. They are being forced to old slavery system.

It is well known fact that jobs in the private sectors can be obtained through the insiders. Dalits & Tribals do not have access to this kind of system. Higher caste people get preferences in this system which is in existence since generations. Is this not a reservation system? Why no one speaks about this system? Only questions are raised about reservation of SC/STs. The proponents of merit do not understand that the reservation for Dalits helps them to compensate discriminations which they are facing in every walk of life. It is not wise to ask Dalits & Tribals to compete in the unfair competition. The present society full of discriminations cannot offer level playing field to dalits & tribals. They are the victims of exclusions.

The private sector is fully engrossed in profit earnings. On their own they will not come forward for affirmative action which is in existence in USA. Govt has to make law for job reservation in private in order bring economic upliftment of weaker sections. Already considerable delay has taken place since 1990, govt must wake up & act for job reservation weaker sections in private.

- Bodhisattwa Shendre

LONG LIVE UDIT RAJ!!

It is pleasant coincidence that the Birthday of Dr. Udit Raj falls on 26th Jan on the Republic day . He is the lone battler fighting for the rights of Dalits which is the most exploited strata of Indian society. Udit Raj is struggling for Dalits through welfare organization like Lord Buddha club & confederation of SC/ST organization.

History of India replete with atrocities on lower castes by higher castes. Earlier stalling the progress of lower castes was done through methods scripted in Manusmriti. Now it is done by challenging reservation in courts & making bureaucratic rules etc. Taking shelter of Supreme court verdict, 5 GRs were made by bureaucracy which stalled complete functioning of job reservation system. At that juncture you have brought pressure on govt by organizing SC/ST MPs & organizing huge rallies at Delhi. As a result , govt repealed 3 GRs. You have led the movement by leaving the lucrative job of commissioner of Taxes. People struggle to get this kind of high profile job of govt of India. It requires great courage & inner strengths to sacrifice such jobs before completion of 20 years of service. This is the greatest sacrifice , I have seen in contemporary dalit movement. There are many dalit leaders mushroomed in Gallis & Mohallas of India but they have motivation of money. They read one or two books of Dr. Ambedkar & consider themselves as the most learned creatures on the earth & their ego goes to seventh heaven. Dalit movement is hampered due to these kind of leaders.

At the moment , I feel you can only show the light in the darkness especially at this point of time when there is a upsurge from reactionary forces of high castes against the Dalits. You are the leader having base of pure Ambedkarism. There may be few followers with you at this juncture but numbers will go up & up in futures as the struggle has the base of honesty & sacrifice.

On this day of 26th of Jan, may the hearty wishes of your admirers & followers give you strengths to fight for the exploited. Let the others built their castles on Moon, you remain attached to the ground on earth fighting for the cause of dalits.

Gadkari -another feather in Nagpur Cap

It is good to see wide & smooth roads in Nagpur. One can thoroughly enjoy driving a car in Nagpur. You don’t have to face mind boggling traffic jams of big cities. There is a sea change in infrastructure of Nagpur. Thanks to Mr. Chandrashekhar, Ex commissioner of Nagpur. Many pvt engg colleges & good restaurants are available in Nagpur city now. But I have only lament that it is lagging behind in speed in industrial progress as compared to cities like Mumbai & Pune. Very few job opportunities are available in software & other industries. State govt. has to give tax concessions for development of industries in Vidarbha region. Vidarbha could not get benefits from central govt meant for backward state as Vidharbha falls in progressive state of Maharashtra. Secondly state govt do not give any tax concessions for industrial development. Nagpur could not get any IIT or IIM as Central govt has adopted the policy of one institute for one state.

After a long gap , I heard the good news about Nagpur that a Nagpurian , Mr. Nitin Gadkari has become the BJP president. I think before him, Mr. Vasant Sathe & Mr. A.B. Bardhan are the only Nagpurians who have made marks in National politics.

Nagpur is famous for many things like oranges, RSS center & kind hearted people. Last but not least Nagpur is a important place for me because Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar has embraced Buddhism along with his followers in Nagpur.

Bodhisattwa Shendre, Mumbai

English Press – Pro-rich

There are many English national Dailies which are managed by rich people. One article, I read in TOI regarding inconvenience caused to local people highlighting the dirtiness of the people who gather at Chatyabhumi on 6 th December. It is unfortunate that the Newspaper given publicity to the inconveniences of the people but noting written about the such big event where 10 lakh people gather every year to pay homage to Dr. Ambedkar. This shows the pro rich stance of English Press. Mostly these young English journalists hails from rich & higher middle classes. They have access to top 20 English schools of Mumbai & Delhi. Any Tom, Dick & Harry can develop proficiency in English language if one gets opprtunity to learn in top english medium school. These people surpassed Britons & Americans on command over English language. But they don’t have concerns for the problems of the downtrodden. We are missing the journalists of previous generations who had concerns for lower strata of society. It is very unfortunate that our top ministers & bureaucrats read these newspapers & give weight age to them. In short , English media represents Classes & not the masses.

Bodhisattwa Shendre

Criticism on Chaityabhoomi event unwelcome

This refers to the article “Shivaji Park locals hunker down for Chaityabhoomi” written by Bella Jaisinghani/TNN on 6/12/09. The article is totally biased against the sentiments of Dalits of India. The followers of Dr. Ambedkar gather at Chaityabhoomi to express their love, respect and devotion to their messiah Dr. Ambedkar. The people don’t come here as tourists to see Mumbai but to pay homage to their savior. The predominant gathering consists of people from rural background, the original inhabitants of Maharashtra. Highlighting the dirtiness of these people just shows the mentality of the rich for the poor people. In the area only bookstalls and food stalls are seen and not any kind of dances or dramas organized which would cause more disturbances to the people in the locality. The inconvenience caused to the people in the locality is bound to happen. This can be seen as the failures of the government who have not developed this area as a site of heritage. Instead, the government has allowed mushrooming of the residential and commercial complexes around the locality. It is alleged by the author that politicians behoove the people to come to Chaityabhoomi. But, the fact is that they come to pay tribute their savior and not to obey any politician. Otherwise, many of these politicians would have won the elections. Such a huge gathering conducted in a peaceful manner is indeed laudable. Heartiest thanks to Municipal Corporation which provides support and carries out cleaning on the very next day.

BUDDHA IS SMILING IN DARJEELING & GANGTOK

The fascinating mountains of Himalayas always attract the attention of people all over the world. The range of Himalayas is spread from Kashmir to Assam. The glaciers, the ice-peaks are the subject of curiosity to me. I chose Sikkim and Darjeeling to have the glimpses of Himalayan Mountains.My actual tour to this region starts from Bagdogra where the airport is situated. When the taxi enters from foothills to mountains, it is different world altogether. My taxi traveled through the spiral and narrow roads of the mountains. The first halt was a Buddhist temple. As we go up through the hills, the beauty of the nature also goes up. After completing a journey of four hours, we could have glimpses of Darjeeling town. A beautiful town settled on the hills. The lighting of the town gives beautiful view of the town from the outskirts. At last, we reached the town in the evening, where you feel cold air piercing the body. In the month of March, one will have feeling of severe winter in Darjeeling. We closed ourselves in the hotel room immediately. A heater in the room is very essential requirement.

Next day’s plan was to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and go to tiger hill to view the sunrise. As per our plan, we woke up early in the morning. A Gorkha driver with his taxi was already waiting for us. A man having sharp and piercing eyes, he was very expert in driving. Driving through ups & downs of the hills requires a very very special skill. Our driver always had a smile on his face and his continuous talk was giving us full entertainment.

But severe cold breeze coming from the icy mountains of Himalayas was unbearable. There were already fifty tourist taxis waiting at the tiger hill for viewing sunrise. The severe cold was unbearable & it was so foggy that it was difficult to see the next mountain, leave alone the sunrise and Kanchenjunga. Not getting a chance to view the sunrise, we were disappointed. But anyhow we saw various Buddhist monasteries, Batasia loop, mountaineering institute and tea gardens. These all places were worth seeing. A folk dance in the Gangamaya Park gave us idea about dancing culture prevailing in Darjeeling. It appears that rhythm in dance & sweet music is inherited by the common folk.

Because of the fog, we could not have the darshan of the mighty Kanchenjunga Mountain. Our driver hinted that you have to pray to god for a clear sky. In the night, we were praying for a clear sky. Next morning I woke up early in morning and sat in front of the hotel room & kept searching for the peak of the Kanchenjunga. I saw some white lining appearing in the horizon. I thought it may be Kanchenjunga. Gradually the view became clearer and there was a view of the Kanchenjunga, the beautiful mountains in front of our eyes. After watching this beautiful white range, I thanked god that I accomplished the mission of my visit to Darjeeling. What a beautiful view it was! I was feeling as if I had seen paradise on earth. It was difficult to take away the eyes from these mountains. This view was visible for 1 or 2 hours, but when the sun came up & the fog rose, all the mountains disappeared. In short, the darshan of Kanchenjunga was available for 1or 2 hours only. We had seen Mirik Lake and Nepal border too. We were feeling pretty excited on seeing our soldiers guarding our border, throughout in worst weather conditions

Then the next task was to go to Gangtok- Sikkim. We were going through Nepal-Sikkim border on the road. The view from the taxi was beautiful- the tea garden, the hills and the pine trees, all were satisfying our eyes.

On the way, we saw the Teesta River. It was appearing as though it was piercing through the mountains. We enjoyed rafting, which was another thrilling experience. At last we reached Gangtok. It was noticed that the same gorkha culture is there, but only difference was sparse population & neat and clean roads. Here , we chose a hotel, from where we could get a view of the Kanchenjunga fro m the hotel room. One novel thing we noticed was that there was a main road, namely M.G.Road. Here vehicles are not allowed. The tourists and the local people do the marketing there by simply walking.

For one whole day, we had done local sightseeing, which included Buddhist monasteries, flower show and local viewpoints on the hills. For some time, it rained and it again became clear. Our hotel people informed us that the weather in Sikkim is unpredictable.For the next day, we had planned for the ultimate place of our tour i. e. the Tsongo Lake, Baba mandir & china border. We started early in the morning. Our taxi was climbing the hills and the road was very narrow. If your vehicle loses balance, nobody can save you.The cold was very severe. We were at the height of 13,000feet above the sea level. We had covered every part of our body. We saw sparse patches of ice surrounding us. Gradually, we began to see ice everywhere. We were going more upwards when our taxi reached 6 kms before the lake a heavy snowfall started. It was a lifetime’s experience. All the tourists were enjoying, shouting and taking photo snaps. There was a joy on every face as they have feeling of winning a war. Due to heavy snowfall, we were prohibited from going further for Tsongo Lake and Baba mandir. It was difficult to go further because our vehicles were skidding and it was very difficult to drive too. But we had enjoyed the snowfall. It was told that only lucky tourist get a chance to experience that kind of snowfall.

The land of Himalayas is really peaceful. It seems the cold breeze brings peace to the Buddhist monasteries who spread culture of peace & tranquility in the society. We can say that the icy Himalayas give inspiration to spread Buddhist culture of peace.There are few places left in India, the birth place of Buddha where Buddhist culture is found. After seeing these monasteries I thought that Buddha is smiling in this part of India. I really will carry the memories of the Himalayas-the king of all mountain ranges-in my mind throughout my life. The culture of the people Gorkhas, Lepchas, Bhutanese is really special & praiseworthy.