Madurai: A study undertaken in 114 reserved panchayats by dalits’ rights organization Evidence has found that panchayat presidents undergo caste-based oppression ranging from verbal abuse by dominant castes to assault. One panchayat leader was killed as well.
Evidence executive director A Kathir told reporters on Thursday that they deployed 17 researchers in March for a field study in 19 districts. There are 12,525 panchayats in the state, of which 2,352 are reserved for scheduled castes. Almost all of the 114 presidents acknowledged they faced oppression which could be categorised into 30 types including sexual harassment of women panchayat leaders. The president of Tharavendiram panchayat in Krishnagiri district, Narasimhamoorthy, was murdered in August 2022. Relatives of presidents have been assaulted in many reserved panchayats, Kathir said.
In all, 87 panchayat presidents said they are discriminated based on caste, 60 felt being not respected while 78 complained of interference in resolutions. Besides, 79 presidents complained they were not allowed to exercise their duties. More than 11 complained they are not allowed inside offices, and 23 said they are forced to sign on panchayat documents. Twelve panchayat presidents said they are not allowed to hoist national flag and 30 said they are denied information about panchayat schemes.
Most of the time, vice-presidents and members from dominant castes are the oppressors, Kathir said. Women panchayat leaders face caste and patriarchal discrimination. Most of the panchayat leaders acknowledged that they are not able to carry out their works, and live in constant fear of assault. Kathir demanded a white paper from the government on caste discrimination on dalit panchayat presidents. Government should pay the panchayat presidents a monthly salary of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 as pension. There should be state nodal officer to take care of reserved panchayats and the district collector and SP should be intimated about the amendment in SC/ST act that empowers them to take action on anyone preventing the Dalit panchayat presidents from taking out their duties.
MADURAI: As many as 16 SC panchayat presidents in the Theni district have faced caste-based discrimination, according to research conducted by a Madurai-based NGO, Evidence. The NGO spoke to 114 panchayat presidents from SC/ST communities in 19 districts about social status, education, training, atrocities faced, etc., and ranked Theni first in regard to atrocities against SC panchayat presidents.
Theni was followed by Madurai and Ramanathapuram. Talking to reporters on Thursday, executive director of Evidence, A Kathir said, people should be aware of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015 section 3 (1) (m), which will help them in seeking justice against atrocities committed on SC/ST panchayat presidents.
Chief Minister MK Stalin should issue a circular on the Act in the media, which would create more awareness among people.
The Act offers protection to members of an SC/ST community who are members or chairpersons or holders of any other office of a panchayat under Part IX of the Constitution or a municipality under Part IXA of the Constitution while discharging their duties.
“The district-level monitoring committee led by the collector should be more vibrant in hearing violence cases against SC/ST panchayat presidents. It must be convened once in three months. A state-level monitoring committee must also be created and a nodal officer appointed to monitor its functioning. SC/ST MPs, MLAs and NGO representatives must be part of the committee,” Kathir said.
From denial of chairs and permission to hoist national flags to being disallowed from participation in temple festivals and unwanted interference in work, Dalit panchayat presidents in Tamil Nadu face 30 different kinds of discrimination as they officiate the administration of local bodies in the state, says a study report. While the discrimination was bad enough for men, women presidents had to face physical assaults at the hands of dominant caste men, said the report released on April 20. Four of them also faced sexual harassment.
The report by Evidence, a Madurai-based Non-Government Organisation focused on the rights of Dalits and Tribal communities in Tamil Nadu, records the experiences of 114 Dalit panchayat presidents in the state. The study was carried out by a team of 17 members in 19 districts across the state in March 2023 to ascertain the ground reality of caste discrimination against Dalit panchayat presidents in the wake of several such complaints.
Out of the 114 panchayat presidents surveyed, 51 are from the Paraiyar community, 31 are from the Pallar community, 24 are from the Arundhathiyar community while eight belong to other Dalit communities. Nearly 70% of the respondents of the study were women (79) while the rest (35) men.
The report found that a Dalit panchayat leader was killed and seven others were assaulted while four are survivors of sexual harassment. Forty of them reported being yelled at with casteist slurs. For this study, the Evidence team spoke to 113 presidents and the family members of one Panchayat leader who got killed in 2022. The study also listed the kind of harassment that the presidents have faced since they were elected to the chair.
A survey undertaken by the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) in 2022 too had found several kinds of discrimination against panchayat presidents belonging to Scheduled Caste communities. In Tamil Nadu, there are 12,609 panchayats, out of which 2,250 are reserved for Dalits.
Violence against Dalit panchayat presidents
The report highlights several incidents, since 2019, in which the Dalit panchayat presidents faced severe forms of discrimination, threats, and physical assaults. In one such incident, Narasimmamoorthy, a Dalit Panchayat president of Dharavendram Panchayat in Krishnagiri district, was killed in 2022. The report said, Narasimmamoorthy tried to eliminate corruption in panchayat-related works, which was not liked by other officials, who are non-Dalits. The police had maintained that he was killed over an alleged financial dispute but it was his attempts to weed out corruption that resulted in his murder, the report said.
Atrocities against Dalit women presidents
The 20-page report lists several incidents which show how the work of Dalit women panchayat presidents are hindered by men belonging to dominant castes. The atrocities range from physical attacks on them and their family members. They also face interference from others while doing their duties. The report also points towards instances when the police were inactive and failed to protect the victims of caste discrimination.
The Saptur police station in Madurai failed to register a case when Pazhaiyur Panchayat president Vidya tried to lodge a complaint against unidentified persons who allegedly contaminated a water tank with human excreta near Pazhaiyur ration shop in 2021. Vidya, a graduate, became the president of the panchayat in 2019. She faced threats from dominant-caste people when she tried to conduct a Gram Sabha in a Dalit colony. Other officials belonging to non-Dalit communities in the panchayat locked the office door to stop Vidya from getting to the office to work, the report said
This year, on February 10, cow dung was thrown at the panchayat board which had Vidya’s name. Saptur police registered a case only after a direction from the district administration. Later, she sent complaint letters to the Tamil Nadu state Chief Secretary, Adi Dravidar Welfare Department and the Director General of Police in this regard.
The report also narrates the story of Valarmathi, a Dalit woman panchayat leader who was targeted continuously after she won the local body election in 2019. On the night after the election results were announced, Valarmathi, who won from Oothumalai Panchayat in Tirunelveli district, was threatened by a dominant-caste man. The person who threatened her was Malaiyarasan, a relative of former panchayat president Karuppasamy. On several occasions, Valarmathi and her husband Ayyanar faced caste discrimination and were beaten by the dominant caste men. All the atrocities happened after the president’s post in Oothumalai panchayat was reserved for Dalit women in 2019.
In another incident in Arakkonam, a Dalit Panchayat leader’s husband was beaten by dominant caste men. Moorthy, husband of Vedal panchayat leader Geetha, had to be admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital after dominant caste men barged into their house and pelted him with stones. The assault happened as Geetha had refused to grant permission for poultry farming for a dominant-caste man named Rajagopal.
Panchayat leader Annapoornam from Muthukulathur in Ramanathapuram district lost her son Ponnivalavan after men belonging to the dominant caste thought he had informed the police about their involvement in illegal sand mining.
Interference in office work
While 58 elected representatives reported facing interference from caste-Hindus while passing resolutions in the Grama Sabha, 79 of them alleged facing obstructive acts by caste Hindus while they were engaged in daily office work. The report said 11 persons were denied entry to the offices while six found their offices being locked by others. The study also revealed the plight of 11 panchayat presidents who were not allowed to sit in chairs.
They also faced issues like office ledgers being kept away (23 instances), non-cooperation by other officials in projects or schemes meant for the welfare of Dalits (52 instances) and caste-based ostracism in panchayat offices (41 instances). Nearly 30 of them said they were denied participation in public events. In addition to this, 41 of them reported destruction of properties related to projects they had initiated in the panchayat. The report states that in spite of damage to the public properties, police booked none under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
Barred from hoisting national flags
In 12 Panchayats, namely Deviyagaram, Udayanandhal, Kanjapalli, Aathukaraipatti, Thottikuppam, Ka Elamangalam, Dhalavaipuram, Melakkal, Pazhaiyur, Kalloorani, Pillaiyarkulam, and Aathupatti, panchayat presidents are not allowed to hoist the national flags during days of national importance. Some presidents were able to hoist the flags after intervention from senior government officials, the study observed.
Denial of right to participate in temple festivals
Out of the 114 panchayat heads, 45 persons said they are not allowed to attend temple festivals. It is painful that 39 percent of the presidents are affected by such discrimination, the report noted.
No common crematorium
Out of the 114 panchayats, 94 did not have a common crematorium. When asked whether they received permission to set up separate burial grounds for Dalits, 80 of them answered yes. However, permissions for separate crematorium for Dalits were denied in 34 panchayats.
Co-operation by officials
The survey revealed that the Dalit panchayat presidents had cooperation from officials in the majority of local bodies (77). Only 37 of them said they faced issues due to non-cooperation
Despite such challenges, the report said many Dalit panchayat presidents successfully implemented creative action plans and brought improvements in their panchayats. Nadiya, president of Nedungulam panchayat in Sivaganga district, brought 11 roads to her village. Nadiya also recovered land from encroachers and converted it into a park. She also constructed an Anganwadi for the kids in her village and sanctioned money to construct toilets in two schools located in her panchayat.
Recommendations
The evidence report also suggests several remedial measures to prevent discrimination against Dalit Panchayat presidents. It listed 16 recommendations to the state government of Tamil Nadu, including a youth volunteer who should be appointed in every village by paying Rs 5000 per month as an incentive to monitor whether the programs and schemes that are going well to the people and report back to the government. These volunteers should be answerable to a high commission instead of government authorities. Only then government schemes can reach people with full potential. It also suggests the monthly salary to the Panchayat presidents and pension. It recommended a Rs 10,000 salary to each Dalit Panchayat leader and Rs 5,000 pension.
Executive Director of Evidence A. Kathir at a press meet in Madurai on Thursday. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY G
“I was prevented from hoisting the national flag….” was what a first-time woman panchayat president in Athukaraipatti panchayat in Tamil Nadu said, noted A. Kathir, executive director Evidence, an NGO, which works for the upliftment of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, here on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, he said that for the first-time, a study was conducted comprising 17 enumerators across the State interviewing 114 elected Panchayat presidents from the SC community.
Clarifying that the interviews were not aimed at accusing any government and that it was carried out with broad objectives, he said the eight-page questionnaire were answered by the respondents and their signatures were obtained. Some of the respondents had filed their response in separate sheets as well, he said and added that the average age of the panchayat presidents were from 28 to 77 years.
The study comprised 114 Dalit panchayat presidents. The enumeration suggested that all the panchayat presidents, who were interviewed, claimed that in some way or the other, they experienced untouchability. The most shocking was that 12 among the 114 panchayat presidents said that they were told not to unfurl the tri-colour flag during the R-Day and I-Day celebrations.
Sharing a few of the response, Mr Kathir said, across 19 districts in the State, one panchayat president Narasimha Murthy (46) in Krishnagiri district was murdered by an armed gang in August 2022, seven panchayat presidents responded that they were subjected to sexual abuses., in Madurai district’s Pazhayur panchayat, president Geetha had alleged that miscreants had mixed faecal matter and cow dung in the panchayat overhead tank and at her office, in Oothumalai of Tenkasi district, panchayat president Valarmathi said that she was harassed by a gang for the simple reason that she had emerged victorious defeating a candidate from a dominant community.
Despite threats and ill-treatment meted out, many of the elected panchayat presidents in districts like Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, Dindigul, Madurai and others have performed well by providing infrastructural facilities to the people, the study showed.
Recommendations
From the response of the 114 panchayat presidents, the enumerators were of the opinion that even after a change in the government, the elected SCs representatives in rural panchayat administration had not got the due respect accorded to the post. On the contrary, threats and verbal abuses continued.
The State government should identify 10 best performing panchayats and hand over ₹25 lakh each as reward. The panchayat presidents should be imparted regular training from the first year onwards on a rotational basis as such training would give them exposure to administration, finance management, eradication of untouchability and crimes against women, the study observed.
In fact, some of the panchayat presidents, who faced threats from the villagers and others should be given protection by the State with a gunman, Mr. Kathir pointed out.
மதுரை: ‘தமிழ்நாட்டில் பட்டியலின ஊராட்சித் தலைவர்களுக்கு எதிராக தீண்டாமை, வன்கொடுமை நடக்கிறது. இதைத் தடுக்க அரசு நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கவேண்டும்’ என, எவிடன்ஸ் அமைப்பின் செயல் இயக்குநர் கதிர் (எ) வின்சென்ட்ராஜ் வலியுறுத்தியுள்ளார்.
பட்டியலின ஊராட்சித் தலைவர்கள் மீது தொடர்ந்து சாதிய ரீதியான தீண்டாமைகளும், வன்கொடுமைகளும் நடப்பது குறித்து புகார்கள் எழுந்தன. இவற்றை முன்வைத்து எவிடென்ஸ் அமைப்பு மாநிலம் முழுவதும் 19 மாவட்டங்களில் 114 பட்டியலின ஊராட்சி தலைவர்களிடம் 40 நாட்கள் ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டது. ஆய்வின் முடிவு அறிக்கையை எவிடென்ஸ் அமைப்பின் செயல் இயக்குநர் கதிர் (எ) வின்சென்ட்ராஜ் இன்று வெளியிட்டார்.
இது தொடர்பாக செய்தியாளர்களிடம் அவர் பேசியது: ”தமிழகத்தில் 114 பட்டியலின (பட்டியல் சமூக) ஊராட்சித் தலைவர்கள் மீது சாதியப் பாகுபாடு கடைபிடிக்கப்படுகிறது – 12 ஊராட்சிகளில் தேசிய கொடி ஏற்றவிடாத அவலம், பட்டியலின பெண் தலைவர்களுக்கு பாலியல் துன்புறுத்தலும் அரங்கேறியுள்ளது. ஆய்விற்கு அதிகமான பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர்கள் எடுக்கப்பட்ட முதல் மாவட்டம் தேனி (16 தலைவர்கள்) 2-வது மதுரை (14பேர்) சிவகங்கை (3 பேர் ), மூன்றாவது கள்ளக்குறிச்சி (10 பேர்), விருதுநகர் (10 பேர்), நான்காவது கோவை, கடலூரில் 8 பேரிடமும் ஆய்வு செய்தோம்.
நேர்மையாக பணி செய்த ஊராட்சி தலைவர் கிருஷ்ணகிரி மாவட்டம் தேன்கனிக்கோட்டை அருகிலுள்ள தாரவேந்திரம் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர் நரசிம்ம மூர்த்தி என்பவர் அடித்து கொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளார். கடந்த உள்ளாட்சி தேர்தலுக்கு பிறகு 30 வகையான தீண்டாமை கொடுமை நடந்துள்ளது. ஓராண்டில் மட்டுமே தேசிய கொடியை ஏற்றவிடாமல் 12 ஊராட்சித் தலைவர்களை தடுத்துள்ளனர். 11 தலைவர்களை இருக்கையில் அமர விடாமல் செய்துள்ளனர். தலைவருக்கான தேர்தலில் பட்டியலின பட்டதாரிகளை போட்டியிடவிடாமல் 5ம் வகுப்பு வரை படித்தவர்களை போட்டியிட வைத்துள்ளனர். கோயில் திருவிழாக்களில் 45 ஊராட்சித் தலைவர்களை கோயிலுக்குள் அனுமதிக்கவில்லை.
மதுரை பேரையூர் அருகே பழையூர் ஊராட்சி தலைவரான வித்யாவை சாதி ரீதியாக இழிவுப் படுத்தப்பட்டிருக்கிறார். இது குறித்து சாப்டூர் காவல் நிலையத்தில் புகார் அளித்தும் நடவடிக்கை இல்லை. தற்போது, பட்டியலின ஊராட்சி தலைவர்கள் பலர் கூலி வேலைக்கு செல்கின்றனர். அவர்களுக்கு மாதம் ரூ.10 ஆயிரம் சம்பளம் அரசு வழங்கவேண்டும். பட்டியலினத் தலைவர்களுக்கு எதிரான சாதிய பாடுபாடு, நிர்வாகத்தில் குறுக்கீடு, பொது நிகழ்ச்சி களில் பங்கேற்க மறுப்பது, வன்கொடுமைகளும் நடக்கின்றன. இவை தடுக்கப்படவேண்டும். தேசிய கொடி ஏற்றவிடாமல் தடுத்தவர்கள் மீது நடவடிக்கை தேவை. சமூக நீதி குறித்து திமுக அரசு பேசுகிறது. பிராமண எதிர்ப்பு மட்டுமே சமூக நீதி அல்ல.
பட்டியல் இன சமூக மக்களை மேம்படுத்துவதுதே சமூக நீதி. 94 பட்டியலின தலைவர்கள் பதவி வகிக்கும் கிராமங்களில் சமத்துவ மயானங்கள் இல்லை. சாதிய ரீதியாக பேசும் வழக்குகளில் ஒரு சதவிதம் கூட தீர்ப்பு கிடைப்பதில்லை. 32 மாவட்டத்தில் எஸ்சிஎஸ்டி ஆணைய கூட்டங்கள் முறையாக நடப்பது இல்லை. இக்கூட்டங்களில் மாவட்ட ஆட்சியர்களே பங்கேற்பதில்லை. தமிழக முழுவதும் பட்டியலின தலைவர்கள் பதவி வகிக்கும் ஊராட்சிகளில் சிசிடிவி கேமராக்கள் அமைக்க வேண்டும், பட்டியலினத் தலைவர்கள் பாகுபாடு குறித்து தமிழக அரசு ஆய்வு செய்து வெள்ளை அறிக்கை வெளியிட வேண்டும். ஆய்வின் அறிக்கை அரசுக்கு அனுப்பி வைப்போம். நடவடிக்கை இல்லையெனில் பொது நல வழக்கு தொடருவோம். ஏப்.29-ல் பட்டியலின ஊராட்சி தலைவர்கள் பங்கேற்கும் கூட்டம் ஒன்றை நடத்த திட்டமிட்டுள்ளோம்” என்று அவர் கூறினார்.
MADURAI: The Madras High Court of the Madurai Bench advocates Lakshmi Gopinath and Karuppuswamy Pandian said that the Hathras rape case verdict was full of conspiracies. Speaking at a review conference organised by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties in Madurai on Saturday, they expressed their belief that the court’s decision, in this case, represented a failure of the legal system.
While advocate Karuppuswamy Pandian explained the timeline of the case, advocate Lakshmi Gopinath, accusing the police of delaying action, claimed that there is a conspiracy theory in the case, in which only convicted one out of the four accused people in the case.
“Why did the Hathras district court not give the benefit of the doubt to the victim? A woman would either get justice through the High Court or the Supreme Court but not through lower courts, including the Mahila Court,” she added.
“The latest case verdict was hardly announced with the intention of serving justice, but only to help the accused people escape. Hathras and Bilkis Bano’s cases are classic examples of how the minorities are being treated,” he added.