http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb16/s9.htm

Buta accuses Gowda of being ‘anti-Dalit’

BANGALORE, Feb 15 (DHNS)

Congress leader and former Union minister Buta Singh today accused Mr H D Deve Gowda, who is contesting the Kanakapura Lok Sabha by-polls as consensus candidate of Janata Parivar, of showing anti-Dalit attitude. Speaking to reporters here, Mr Singh said during Mr Gowda’s tenure as Prime Minister, certain reservations for Scheduled Castes in promotions struck down by the Supreme Court went against the Constitutional provisions and the government had not taken any decision to restore these reservations.

He said the election situation in Uttar Pradesh was fluid and the Bharatiya Janata Party would not get back to power. BJP’s former chief minister Kalyan Singh who has floated a separate Party was likely to eat into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s votes, he said. Asked whether there would be a mid term poll to the Lok Sabha after the state assembly elections in North, he said it would be difficult to predict. However the BJP led NDA government would have a tough time ahead, he added.

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEK20020215104118&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&rLink=0

'Ban Vishwa Hindu Parishad'

UNI

BANGALORE: Republican Party of India (RPI) president Ramdas Attavale on Friday urged the Central Government to ban the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for violating the laws of the land.

Attavale told newsmen in Bangalore that the centre should ban the VHP as it had threatened to go ahead with the construction of the temple at the disputed site after March 12.

The RPI was not opposed to the temple construction, but it should not be at the disputed site.

Attawale is in Bangalore to support former Prime Minister H D Devegowda in the February 21 by-election to Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat.

He, along with Kerala Janata Dal (S) President and Former Union Minister Veerendra Kumar, said Devegowda's leadership at the centre was necessary to firm up the third front to provide a strong alternative to the BJP and the Congress.

Kumar, expressing concern over the prolonged government employees strike in his state, alleged that the Congress was hand in glove with the BJP with regard to globalisation efforts which would virtually put all sectors in the country under the control of multinationals.

Deccan Chronicle 16th Feb. 2002

11 Dalits hurt in attack by Yadavas

Sangareddy (Medak): Eleven Dalits were injured when they were allegedly caned by Yadavas in Hydlapur village under Mallikharjunapalli gram panchayat of Munipalli mandal on Wednesday night.

The victims alleged that they were attacked at the instigation of local Telugu Desam leaders as they had voted for the Congress during the previous election. While Kamal, a Dalit, went to a shop to buy beedis, Gaddam Mallesh assaulted him. When some Dalits, who were in a nearby church rushed to his rescue, supporters of Gaddam Mallesh, armed with sticks attacked the Dalits.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002021700720400.htm

Rehabilitation of bonded labourers not up to the mark'

By Our Staff Reporter

KARIMNAGAR FEB. 16. Expressing concern and unhappiness over the rehabilitation of the bonded labourers of the district, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member, Justice K. Ramaswamy, has said that there is a major gap between the identification of bonded labourers and their rehabilitation.

The NHRC member visited the district on Saturday and reviewed the rehabilitation of bonded labourers and child labourers with officials. He called upon officials to shoulder the responsibility of removing bonded labourers by constantly monitoring the rehabilitation programmes at the village level. He said 85 per cent of the bonded labourers belonged to the SC community and the rest to the STs and BCs. He instructed the officials to constitute a cooperative society with 5 or more bonded labourers who are rehabilitated and hand over various works for attaining self-sufficiency. Suggesting that the authorities distribute land to the rehabilitated bonded labourers in the name of women, he also directed agriculture officials to guide the bonded labourers about the agricultural pattern for better results. He also suggested involvement of sarpanch in the rehabilitation of bonded labourers. He appreciated the efforts of the district Collector, Sumita Dawra, and the Superintendent of Police, R.S. Praveen Kumar. The district administration has identified 249 bonded labourers in Bheemadevarapally, Kataram and Mahamutharam mandals and taken up rehabilitation by giving them milch cattle

http://www.hindustantimes.com/

BSP changes stand, will take help of any party to form

UP govt

PTI

(Jammu, February 16)

BSP President Kanshi Ram on Saturday said his options were open in the event of a hung Assmebly in Uttar Pradesh and that his party would forge an alliance with BJP or any other party to form a government. Kanshi Ram told reporters here that his party had changed its stand keeping in view the "double speak of various political parties and circumstances".

However, he was confident BSP would come into power in UP and also do well in Punjab.

He alleged his party was not doing well in Jammu and Kashmir because of dissensions engineered by the ruling National Conference.

The BSP President said he was going to overhaul the party structure in Jammu and Kashmir after the Lok Sabha bye-election from Jammu-Poonch constituency. His party is also contesting the by-poll.

His party was now inducting upper class people into its fold keeping in view the changing political scenario of the country, he said adding he has fielded 17 Brahmins as they constitute 15 per cent of the population.

http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1206374

Paswan points out BJP’s mistakes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2002 1:31:47 AM ]

UCKNOW: Union minister for coal Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said that the BJP by denying tickets to those MLAs who had supported the BJP-led government in the state had committed political impropriety.

Talking to reporters, Paswan said this attitude had sent a wrong message across the state and the Bahujan Samaj Party was getting political mileage out of it. If the BJP had not done this kind of thing he said, the prospect of the BJP and it’s allies coming to power would have increased.

When asked about the Lok Janshakti Party and BJP candidates friendly contests, he said:” There cannot be any friendly fights. Fights are held for supremacy.”

Paswan said that BJP had deviated from the path of coalition politics with this move.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020218/main7.htm

RLD men clash with Dalits

Meerut, February 17

Rashtriya Lok Dal workers and Dalits clashed in Soop village of the Chaprauli Assembly segment of Bagpat, the home constituency of Union Minister and RLD supremo Ajit Singh, when the Dalits were allegedly not allowed to cast their vote during the first phase of polling for the assembly elections in UP on February 14.

The police intervened and dispersed the clashing groups. No one was injured in the clash, Superintendent of Police U.N. Singh said.

He said the presiding officer of booth No 1167 in Soop village lodged a report with Baraut police station saying two Dalit brothers — Malkhan and Sardar — who came to the booth without proper documents for identification were not allowed to cast their vote, but they insisted on exercising their right to franchise.

Later, they were driven out of the booth by the police, he said, adding the polling concluded peacefully.

But the two brothers spread the rumour that they were denied the right to cast their vote and a group of Dalits gathered near the booth and clashed with RLD workers after the polling was over, the police said.

An FIR and counter FIR have been filed, he said. No one has so far been arrested in this connection.

Meanwhile, Dalits alleged that the RLD workers, who prevented them from casting their vote, assaulted them and ransacked their houses, injuring several people. Three Dalits were missing and one Onkar was admitted to a hospital in Delhi, they claimed.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002021803030100.htm

Rare Buddha idol stolen from museum

By Our Tamil Nadu Bureau

The wooden pedestal on which the missing Buddha idol was kept in the Government Museum, Chennai.

CHENNAI, FEB. 17. A rare second century A.D., Buddha sculpture has been stolen from the Amaravathi gallery at the Government Museum here. The 1850 year-old limestone piece featuring the head of the Buddha, which was kept glued to a small wooden pedestal on the first floor, has been missing since this morning. The police have sounded ``a red alert'' at key exit points in the city, particularly the customs offices at the airport and the harbour.

The historical significance of the nine-inch idol, sculpted during the Sathavahana rule in 150 A.D., lies in the fact that it is one of the two Buddha pieces recovered from the Amaravathi ruins at Vidhyadharapuram in Andhra Pradesh way back in the 1880s by the Archaeological Survey of India.

According to museum officials here, the idol was last seen on Thursday evening by the curator during a customary check at the gallery, where 300 pieces including 150 Buddha sculptures dating back to the period from second century B.C., to second century A.D., are on display.

As the museum located in arterial Egmore here remains closed on Fridays, the theft came to light only this morning.

Immediately, the city police and the idol wing of the CB-CID wing were informed. Fingerprint experts visited the museum but did not find any trace on the wooden shelf which housed the Buddha.

However, the other rare piece from Amaravathi, a huge headless Buddha, is safe. Museum staff suspect that a visitor could have walked away with the palm-sized Buddha piece, keeping it concealed in a bag. And, as the Amaravathi gallery staff do not maintain any registry of visitors, zeroing in on the culprit can be difficult, they claim.

As there is no sign of a break-in at the gallery or damage to the window close to which the Buddha piece was kept, the police feel that the theft could have occurred only when the museum was kept open to visitors.

But the police have interrogated a section of the museum staff and they do not rule out `insider' involvement. ``We have formed a special team to investigate the theft. It may be a long-drawn search,'' said the Deputy Commissioner, Egmore, Christopher Nelson.

After a pen pistol from the Anthropology department went missing a couple of years ago, this is the next major theft from the museum in recent times.

Heritage lovers feel the theft could have been averted had an electronic surveillance system been installed in the museum, which receives at least 3000 visitors daily. As of now, there is just one guard posted for each gallery.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb18/d3.htm

Marathas seek increase in quota for STs

DH News Service

MANGALORE, Feb 17

Demand to increase the reservation quota from three to five per cent for the scheduled tribe was put forward at the first state-level conference of Maratha Samaj. The proposal was placed before Chief Minister S M Krishna and other dignitaries at the conference held in Kadri on Saturday.

Even though the population of Maratha community was about three lakh, the number of them educated and those occupying higher posts could be counted. Therefore, the meet urged the chief minister to increase the quota as the community was facing difficulties in competing for opportunities within the three per cent reservation.

The conference urged the govt that measures should be taken to admit the scheduled caste and tribe students into educational institutions without any donation. It also requested the government to solve the problems faced while obtaining caste certificates.

The conference urged that people acquiring fake caste certificates should be punished and said power to take decisions concerning land holdings should be given to the deputy commissioner.

Request for a land grant was put forward by the conference to set up an educational institution in Bangalore for the development of the community.

Decision to nominate an individual to represent the community in the schedule caste and tribe commission formed by the state was also taken at the conference. The number of reserved seats for the schedule tribe in the legislative council shoulde be increased from two to seven in accordance with the growing population, said the conference. It also added that two of the seven seats sould be reserved for women candidates. Necessary steps with regard to scholarships and cash incentives to students, returning the acquired lands and to hold separate census for the Maratha community was demanded at the conference.

The proposal was put forward by Mr K Babunaik and President K Sundar Naik placed it before the chief minister.