Equal opportunity must be ensured

Equal opportunity must be ensured

Raja Sekhar Vundru

ECONOMIC TIMES, NEW DELHI, MONDAY, JULY 28, 2003

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/98108.cms

The origin of reservation of government jobs in India can be traced to the anti-Brahmin movement of 1873-1949 in southern and western India.


The apathy to the domination of Tamil Brahmins in government jobs (90%) in the erstwhile Mysore state prompted the then Maharaja in 1918 to allow Brahmins to compete for only three out of every 10 government jobs. The 3rd Communal G.O. of Madras in 1928 restricted them to two out of every 12 posts. This was reverse discrimination at its best. Thus, job reservation was a consequence of the quest by non-Brahmins for fair representation and equal opportunity. The Constituent Assembly incorporated the equal opportunity clause in 1949.


In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of the United States made it unlawful for an employer to discriminate in employment over race, sex, colour, religion and national origin. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was founded to enforce these statutes in the private sector. Mr Aiyar (ET, July 23) felt that providing equal opportunity in private sector jobs “would abrogate the right to carry on business”. But, this right under Article 19 (g) is not absolute. As for the good old ‘merit’ argument, the American corporate sector despite policies to include blacks and Hispanics is light years ahead of the Indian private sector.


The demand for private sector job quotas is nothing new in a polity that has been exploring ways and methods to ensure equal opportunity in the private sector. The impact of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation on employment have only hastened the demand. The private sector must be answerable to the country about how it would practice non-discrimination and ensure equal opportunity to all.


Under the Indian Constitution, the state practices mandatory equal opportunity, but not the private sector. But in the US both ensure equal opportunity. If equal opportunity in the private sector is to be ensured, given the sector’s track record in tax compliance, this can only be achieved through law.
(Views are personal and not those of the government)


©Bennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

On their way to the information highway

On their way to the information highway

Raja Sekhar Vundru

19 June,2001 Pioneer, New Delhi

J Chandrasekharan, an expert with computers and integrated product development, had once casually walked into the computer room of Hindustan Aeronauticals Ltd, Bangalore - only to be denied permission. That was the attitude of boses to one of the sharpest brains in Information Technology! This happened when computers were found only in the exclusive domain of research labs. Chandrasekharan was a Dalit and was not given permission for the next five years. Caste bias in the electronic world?

A few decades later, Chandrasekharan's son, Sashikanth Chandrasekharan, launched "Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and his People" on the Internet. The website, called www.ambedkar.org, is a living example of just what a third-generation Dalit living in the US, and given access to modern education, can achieve.

The website was launched from Cleveland, USA, on a rented server. Within a year, the site itself became news and started pulling in popular awards like the Echo Web Award for excellence, creativity and originality and the Golden Web Award for the year 2000-01. The website has more than 4,000 unique visitors each month. Launched on April 15, 2000, the site has already had more than 50,000 visitors by now.

The site is a browser's paradise. It gives out one of the highest numbers of news links on a single theme. The home page downloads quickly and gives to a visitor more than a 100 categorised links. The website is on its way to become a major portal, in its own genre.

Sashikanth, 29, followed in his father's footsteps as a Dalit activist and also went on to become an expert in the field of Information Technology. He did his BE in IT from the BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore and married his college friend Shifalika. Both of them work in Cleveland and help run the site. The web-couple call it a pay-back-to-society exercise. Sashikanth's mother Navaneetham Chandrasekharan has been an inspiring figure, helping them fight against the many odds.

www.ambedkar.org comes with audio and video links, online books, a photo gallery and anthologies of articles written by major Dalit writers. The site also gives one free e-mail, along with an ID. The site is actually an offshoot of a discussion forum called Dalit e-Forum, which was founded by Sashikanth and a few others and now has 350 members from all over the world.

The website's layout, conceived at Metro Land Park, Cleveland, by Sashikanth and Santhos Bhawar, was initially launched on a free URL provider, Tripod.com, before shifting to an independent URL and www.ambedkar.org. The layout's left index menu has links to Dr BR Ambedkar, Buddhism, News flash, Other social reformers, Culture and civilisation, Research and Resources, Debate and discussion, in the United Nations, World Wide Dalits, Entertainment, Events calendar, Matrimonial, Dalit MPs, Links, India news, Feedback and e-mail log in. It also has a link to the immortal voice of Dr Ambedkar.

The central bit of the website's layout carries constantly updated news flashes about Dalits who appear in newspapers and magazines all over the world. An amazing 500 news items are placed on the first page itself. The news items run up to 2,100. The news content ranges from atrocities committed on Dalits, issues relating to Dalit-Bahujans, reservations, Buddhism and contemporary politics. No wonder, Sashikanth and Shifalika sit at the server for at least four hours a day.

The right index menu links up to more than 15 online books, including Phule's Slavery, Buddha and his Dhamma and Patana. Poona Pact, The 22 vows of Ambedkar and others can be found in the document section. An e-magazine called D-Mag and published by Sashikant can also be found on the site. Celebrated writers, such as Chandrabhan Prasad, Dr Jamnadas and Ms Gail Omvedt are featured in the commentary section.

Sashikanth dreams of a strong, alternative Dalit media. The medium he chose, however, was one to which millions of Dalits have very little access. But even then, bridging the digital divide in India is a task every educated Dalit must try to accomplish. Dalits must become computer-literate. They must have access to the Internet. Let us now hope that 250 million Dalits will be able to cross the dusty lanes of the digital divide and reach the information super highway!

The www.ambedkar.org e-mail ID is: dalits@ambedkar.org. Sashikanth's e-mail address is: skanth @parker.com.

(The author is director, Information Technology, Haryana, vundru@msn.com)

Indian Media must answer the charges of anti-Dalit/Buddhist bias

Sunday, October 15, 2006
Indian Media must answer the charges of anti-Dalit/Buddhist bias


On October 2, an estimated 20 lakh Dalit Buddhists came to the Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur to have a glimpse of the casket containing Dr BR Ambedkar's ashes kept in the Stupa here.

Buddhist scholars, followers of Buddhism from Japan and other Eastern countries, the British and other White Buddhists all congregated in Nagpur for the 50th year of Dhamma revolution.

'Sadly enough, Indian television, which scours for stories to pack each minute of air time, lost the golden opportunity to bring this unique event into the public domain. It did not report a minute of it. Is it a case of marked indifference?', asks Raja Sekhar Vundru on the Editorial Page of Times of India on October 14.

Very genuine question. Every year Deeksha Bhoomi witnesses lakhs, but this event is not covered. Is Indian media casteist, anti-Dalit and treats Buddha as untouchable, as the writer puts up. Media does show stories of little journalistic value but turning a blind eye towards such major events is clearly something, it needs to answer.

Posted by editindia at 1:27 PM

Truth about Wadgaon

Truth about Wadgaon
4 Apr 2003, 2033 hrs IST
by
S B Majumdar, via e-mail

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/42386789.cms


Raja Sekhar Vundru (Q&A, Mar 31) must be congratulated for highlighting the martial tradition of the Mahars. However, Mr Vundru does not appear to be aware that the Mahars played a major role on the Indian side in the Battle of Wadgaon in 1779.

Had it not been for the daredevil surveillance of the enemy formation and movement of the Mahars, Indian forces led by Mahadji Shinde would not have succeeded.

The British deliberately obscured this golden page of Indian history. Another not so well-known fact is that a large section of the victorious Indian forces comprised Muslim soldiers. If Roland Joffe is looking for a representative character for the hero of his film, the soldier could well be a Muslim.

Yet another little known facet of the battle is that the Indian gunners were led by a Goan Catholic. It was a truly national army that fought the British at Wadgaon.

— S B Majumdar, via e-mail