Inspirational book "Give Us Credit" (Microfinancing)

http://www.indiatogether.org/reviews/counts.htm

Access to credit is a fundamental human right
Ashwin Mahesh reviews Give Us Credit, by Alex Counts.
 
March 1999: Imagine you're a moneylender of some sorts. A banker, perhaps, in a respectable institution, with millions, possibly billions, at your command to support new ventures. One fine morning, an unkempt, illiterate man walks in your front door, with a simple request. I have no money, no collateral of any sort, and to all appearances, I have very little means of sustaining myself even at my current economic level. I have never before managed my own business, and have never owned anything more substantial than a few pots and pans. However, I've got an idea, and if I had a few bucks to get it going, I would not only raise myself out of poverty, but would also repay your money.

Would you lend him the money?

Mohammed Yunus would, and think nothing of the risk. Banking institutions are tailored to a world that the poor do not inhabit, and even developmental banks have never exhibited an understanding of this basic truth. To get around their failures is a life's work, even for the most committed. And so sometimes, the details of our efforts are the inspiration, not the grand acclaim they might get. That is the message in Alex Counts' book, Give Us Credit. This is the extraordinary story of Grameen Bank's microlending success, along with a parallel story of a similar project in Chicago's South Side. It is a story of individual lives, a story that revels in the endurance of the human spirit. For the thousands of us who recognize the names "Grameen Bank" or "Yunus", it is an eye-opener, a manual for preparedness, in some sense.

For all the noble intentions we might bring to developmental work, we must nevertheless pass frustrating hurdles, sometimes ones placed before us by those we seek to empower, and sometimes by others. The impoverished are prone to the same failings as anyone else; of morality, financial indiscretion, or of simply being lazy every once in a while. Within every society there are those who benefit from the status quo, like the drug peddler in inner-city areas, the village elder who has a stake in preserving patriarchy. Combined with the machinations of outsiders, such as the petty urban businessman who would cheat a villager out of a few measly bucks, or the aid-agency consultant who lives high off grant money while the alleged beneficiaries continue to suffer, there are powerful obstacles to social change.

And yet positive change can be wrought. The drug peddler can be intimidated, politicians can be shamed, women can be empowered despite the resistance of their male relatives, and discipline can be fostered to ensure successes. Counts has written a remarkable book, chronicling his own involvement with Grameen Bank, yes, but presenting from his observations a story of measured and incremental progress towards betterment, often beset with setbacks along the way. If you're a policy wonk who's really inspired by the macroscopic details of radical change, and are inspired by simple and powerful observations, read the first fifty pages. On the difficult days when your efforts to improve a small part of your world seem a shade defeated, flip to any other page.

The full story is also a necessary part of creating positive change. Poverty and illiteracy don't exist in a vacuum; there is a history that has engendered them, and recognizing this is crucial. Racism in Chicago, and religious mores in rural Bangladesh are both storied matters. The largely white working class neighborhoods turned violent and black-dominated through many years of social change, and the pride that was Bengal fell from its grace through decades of alteration. Alex Counts' telling of change in these worlds far removed from each other suggests two important things. One, that without looking back at a past that angers us, we must be able to seek a future that seems bright. And two, that even those in the most deprived of environs have the ingenuity and and wherewithal to create better lives for themselves.

These messages transcend the cultural environs where they are learned, too, and surprisingly at that. Who would have believed that an economics professor working with the poor in Bangladesh would have much to teach American social policy experts on how to empower those in the inner cities? As Counts himself notes, not many, and yet the evidence suggests that Yunus has tapped into an understanding of human enterprise that suffers few boundaries. Combined with the integrity of the successful microcredit lending institutions profiled in the book, and the powerful personalities fighting difficult odds to better themselves, the book is an inspiring read. Additionally, though, it gives pause to ponder how challenging positive change can be, and that is a lesson well learned.

Ashwin Mahesh
March 1999

Give Us Credit may be available from Amazon.com, and if not in stock, can still be ordered through Amazon's network. Place your order for this book using this link and ASHA will receive 15% through the Amazon Affiliates program.

 Voices of awakening (Hindi Dalit Literature)

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/08/03/stories/2008080350220500.htm

Voices of awakening

SHEORAJ SINGH 'BECHAIN'

From the pioneering Swami Achhutanand, Hindi has a long tradition of
writers articulating the Dalit consciousness though they are yet to
find space in mainstream publications.

Dalit writers in Hindi enabled the creation of an appropriate climate
for the mobilisation of a Dalit movement in the 1960s by the
Republican Party of India.

The history of Dalit Sahitya in Hindi stretches back to times before
Kabir and Raidas. An exploration of its foundations that emerged after
the attainment of our Independence in 1947 would, however, require the
researcher to investigate the period immediately preceding that of Dr.
Ambedkar during which Swami Achhutanand 'Harihar', the founder of the
Adi Hindu Mahasabha (an organisation of the Depressed Classes) and of
the newspaper Adi Hindu, and poet, dramatist, historian and
propagandist of a distinct Dalit religious faith, articulated through
his literary production a community consciousness of the Dalit people.
On the issue of a separate culture of the Dalit people, there was an
unanimity of opinions between Swami Achhutanand and Dr. Ambedkar. The
two engaged in a cooperative partnership in associations and
agitations that took up the causes of the Dalits.

Proud identity

The book entitled Adi-vansh ka Danka (The Manifesto of the Adivasis),
authored by Swamiji, was first published in 1940 by the Adi Hindu
Propaganda Bureau, Lucknow. Its central argument was that the
untouchables were embodiments of racial purity, that they were indeed
the earliest inhabitants of Bharatvarsha and that they did not
discriminate amongst themselves on the basis of birth, skin-colour or
gender. They were not given to mutual aversion or acrimony, nor did
they engage in exploitative practices. They earned their livelihood by
the sweat of their brows. Thus they hardly deserved to be looked down
upon. Swamiji advised the adivasis to emancipate themselves from the
sentiments of sub-caste inter-rivalry.

Hindi Dalit poetry of this era was inaugurated with Swamiji's
composition "Manusmriti Hamko Jala Rahi Hai" ("Manusmriti is Burning
Us"):

Day in and day out, this Manusmriti is burning us, burning us,

Not letting us climb up, it is degrading us, degrading us,

While Brahmins and Kshatriyas are allowed to rise and rise,

"Wear your old clothes," for us in the advice.

In 1946, Mahatma Gyandas 'Vivek Bhusan', published a book of poems
under the title Bharat Ke Achhut (India's Untouchables). Dalit
interventions in debates on social equality in India in the context of
India's approaching political independence came from intellectuals
such as Devidas Jatav, Chandrika Prasad 'Jigyasu', Swami Bodhanand,
Swami Sudhanand and Hari Prasad Tamta, the editor of the newspaper
Samta, all of whom raised their voices in support of the struggle for
social equality. On Swami Achhutanand's death, the poet Jagat Ram
Jatiya penned the poem "Char Aansu" ("Four Drops of Tears"). The book
of poems by Bihari Lal 'Harit', Azadi Ki Larai (The War of
Independence), was published in 1947. It contained some of his most
significant creations.

The grandson toiled very hard to pay the grandfather's debt,

The three rupees he had loaned became for the zamindar a seventy year asset.

After editor Shantibai lost her eyesight, Kalu Ram Jatia had taken
over as the third editor of Adi Hindu. But Kalu Ram Jatia was first
and foremost a poet. A sample of his poetry:

As long as indignities without count

Are visited on the untouchables' account,

Surely their tormentors too must pay

For the crimes they commit in every way.

Poetry with a purpose

The purpose of his poetry was to ensure that the benefits of India's
independence accrued to the Dalits as well. As the aboriginal
population of India, the Dalits must be accorded due pride of position
within the nation. They must be freed from the shackles of varna and
jati, the hierarchies of the caste system.

A leading Dalit poet of this era was Durgawati, the wife of Swami
Achhutanand, who was a teacher in a school in Sirsa Ganj. One of her
most poems, "Have You Really Slept Off On Us, O Swami?" was written by
her on her husband's death.

You who have awakened the world, O Swami ours,

Will you really be able to sleep on for hours?

My companion, who, like the sun, stirred up a benighted

community

And battled for its freedom beyond religion and nationality,

Before our aspiration for an identity could be realised,

You have left us, and I, with shock, am dry-eyed.

Not only the father of three daughters whom you have sired,

You were also the Swami of crores of others by you inspired.

It needs to be stated that before Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Panthers
appeared on the scene to fight for the rights of the untouchables,
Swami Achhutanand had made the terms 'outcaste' and 'Dalit' current in
Hindi vocabulary. To protest the use of the word "Harijan",
Achhutanand had already written the poem "Hey! Gandhi, Bhagwan." Dalit
writers in Hindi thus enabled the creation of an appropriate climate
for the mobilisation of a Dalit movement in the 1960s by the
Republican Party of India. In course of time the Bahujan Samaj Party
has reaped the harvest of a Dalit literary consciousness.
Unfortunately, however, Dalit writers have rarely received the
recognition they deserve from the political leaders of the Dalits.

From 1947 to 1990, the voice of the Dalit poet has dominated literary
expression by Dalits. A work on "The Influence of Dr. Ambedkar on
Hindi Dalit Poetry of the 1990s," submitted to Jawaharlal Nehru
University as an M. Phil. thesis, was the first on this subject to
receive the award of M.Phil. Presently almost every university in the
country has scholars specialising in the study of Dalit literature.
Dalit literature has entered the syllabi of courses taught at the
Lucknow University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indira Gandhi
National Open University and Delhi University. In this regard, the
Hindi departments in the universities in the provinces are a few steps
ahead of the centrally-funded universities. The pioneering Ph.D.
dissertation on Hindi Journalism, awarded the doctoral degree by
Rohilkhand University in 1995, was based on my own work on 'The
Influence of Dr. Ambedkar on Dalit Journalism in Hindi." Pehla Khat
(The Initial Letter), Manav Ki Parakh (The Test of the Human Species),
Bandhan-Mukt (Unshackled), Aman-Jyoti (The Flame of Peace), Mukti-Parv
(The Phase of Liberation) and Rukega Nahin Vidroh (The Revolt Will Not
Stop) are examples of novels published in Hindi by Dalit writers in
recent years even as Hiraman (The Golden Parrot) and Kraunch Hun Main
(I Am Kraunch) are instances of contemporary poetry anthologies
compiled by Dalit writers publishing in Hindi. As far as Hindi Dalit
autobiographies are concerned, my own autobiography Mere Bachpan Mere
Kandhon Par (My Childhood On My Shoulders) has been just released by
Vani Prakashan. The autobiographical impulse in Dalit writers from the
Hindi heartland, in fact, manifested itself quite early. Around
1952-1954, the autobiography of Hazari had appeared. Serialised in
Hindustan under the caption, Ek Harijan Ki Ram Kahani (The Grand
Narrative of a Harijan's Life), it was subsequently brought out in
English translation from England under the heading An Outcaste Indian.
Jhootan (Left-Overs), the self- narrativisation of his life by Om
Prakash Valmiki has also attracted international and national
attention after it was translated into English a few years ago. This
book has been the topic of an essay "Jhootan Ka Lekhak Kaun Hai?"
("Who is the Author of Jhootan"?) by Dr. Dharamvir, the noted Dalit
critic. This essay lives up to the finest traditions of dialectic
among the Dalit intelligentsia introduced by Swami Achhutanand. Dr.
Dharamvir has an excellent study too of the writings of Kabir. Mere
Patni Aur Bheriya (My Wife and the Wolves) will be his latest book.

Still largely invisible

Dalit writers are, from time to time, provided the opportunity to
represent themselves on the pages of non-Dalit publications, but there
is obviously no clear-cut or conscious policy adopted by editors of
non-Dalit periodicals to regularly solicit for their issues writings
by Dalit writers. On the whole, the exercise of including Dalit
writings in issues of mainstream magazines/journals remains arbitrary
and dependent upon the whims and fancies of the editors concerned.
Only if and when these journals/magazines appoint "guest editors" who
are Dalits to edit "special Dalit issues" do Dalit writers feature in
them. It is a pity that even Hans, a periodical in Hindi with a
pronounced liberal orientation, whose editorial chair has been
occupied by persons of the ilk of Premchand and Rajendra Yadav, waited
till August 2004 to inaugurate its "special Dalit Issue" with me as
"guest editor", featuring contributions by at least two dozen Dalit
writers, including, for the very first time, a few poems of Swami
Achhutanand. The theme of this special issue was "Satta Bimarsh Aur
Dalit" ("Dalits and the Discourse of Power").

Among the works of Dalit women writers writing in Hindi, after Rajat
Rani Meenu's short story "Sunita" and Uth Chal Mere Saath, as
part-autobiography by her, the novels of Kaveri (Miss Ramia), Sushila
Takbhore, Raj Bharati and Tara Parmar show significant literary
promise.

(Edited and translated by Tapan Basu.)

Exclusive excerpts from Vanmam (fear of violence during processions)

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/08/03/stories/2008080350120300.htm

You can get the book from

http://www.easternbookcorporation.com/moreinfo.php?txt_searchstring=16151

Author: Bama Faustina (Tr. Malini Seshadri)

Exclusive excerpts from Vanmam

The youngsters got together and decided on a secret plan. 'We young
people must each carry a knife in our waistbands. We mustn't be the
first to start anything. But if they cause any trouble, we must
retaliate.'

'When the procession moves, the women and children must walk in the
front row. We will walk at the outer sides. The men will bring up the
rear. Especially when we are going through the Pallar street, we must
be extra careful.'

Meanwhile, the youngsters of the Pallar street were making plans of
their own. 'We young men must carry weapons. As soon as their
procession reaches the bazaar, we must start some disturbance. Then,
when it enters our street, we must target a few of their fellows and
finish them off. We can wait in hiding in the side-lanes. We must send
away our women folk to the nearby colony on the previous day itself.'

'But there'll be police protection. How can we kill those fellows?'
'What great police, da? That's why we're going to hide in the
side-lanes and watch. The moment we've finished the killing, we must
run away. We mustn't get caught by the policemen. We mustn't get into
the clutches of those Parayar fellows either. If we run westwards from
here, we can get away.'

And so, according to plan, the youngsters of both streets were armed
and ready. When Mass was over, the procession set off, with the
chapparam of the Risen Christ in front and the second chapparam of the
Holy Mother following behind. The youngest children went first,
followed by the older children and the women. Then came both
chapparams, and behind those walked the men. The young men walked in
two lines along the edges of the procession, keeping guard. Only three
policemen were there as protection, and they were walking along slowly
right at the end of the procession. Along the way, the people recited
prayers and sang hymns. There was a lurking fear in their minds. O
Risen Christ, please watch over us and take us safely back to our
street, was the prayer in all their hearts.

 ‘I am part of a collective awareness’

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/08/03/stories/2008080350110300.htm

NEW VOICES

'I am part of a collective awareness'

R. AZHAGARASAN

Dalit writer Bama talks about how caste informs and runs through all
aspects of life, including religion and how education is the key to
emancipation. Excerpts from an interview featured in her forthcoming
book, Vanmam.

Coming to your representation of "caste in Christianity", I see a
contradiction. Unlike your strong critique of Indian Christianity in
Karukku, in Vanmam you see Christianity as empowering, especially for
Parayars.

I wrote Vanmam in 2000. Karukku was written in 1992. During that time,
Dalit movements grew. A lot of Dalit writing has also been published.
Vanmam certainly shows the effect of these developments. The impact of
these changes can be seen in the Church also. Nowadays, it gets
involved in Dalit-related issues. The Jesuits especially… they give
priority to Dalits. Now the Church is doing something for the
development of us Dalits… not just financial. In fact, they named the
1990s as the "Dalit Decade" and came out with an action plan. For
instance, Dalits were given preference in jobs. You know, earlier,
this kind of thing was not there. In fact, Dalit girls were actively
discouraged from joining the sisterhood. Do you know that way back in
the 1950s, there were some French missionaries who even offered legal
aid to Dalits? The Dalits had a feeling that somebody was there to
guide them. In fact, there were lots of people in my own village who
were serving as bonded labourers. What the priest did was… he asked
them not to go to work. The landlords hired coolies from the next
village. If they didn't go for work, they would have to starve. But do
you know what the Dalits did? In order to make the landlords think
that they were living happily, these people carried sand in gunny bags
from the river as though they were carrying paddy. And they
deliberately walked through the streets of those landlords carrying
the sacks!

But in the way you look at caste in Christianity, I find a major shift
in Vanmam. You equate Parayars with Christians and Pallars with
Hindus. Doesn't this contradict what you yourself said in Karukku
about Christianity?

It could seem that way. But remember, the events I narrated in Vanmam
are limited to a particular village. So you cannot take it as a
generalised statement. This is the state of affairs in Kandampatti
village. Among Parayars there are a good number of Christians, and it
is not so among Pallars.

But you seem to be saying that after Parayars converted to
Christianity they left the Hindu mentality behind ... became social
revolutionaries.

To some extent this is true in Kandampatti village.

What about 'Pallar Christians'? Are you saying that even among Dalit
Christians, Pallars preserve their caste identity?

Very often it is caste, not religion, that is the basis of all things.
There are Nadar Christians and Udayar Christians...we label them as
"upper-caste" Christians. We are Pallar Christians and Parayar
Christians...we don't change. We don't even come together under one
umbrella as "Dalit Christians". Not only this, let us not forget that
even among Parayars, the Hindu Parayars and Christian Parayars play a
cat-and-mouse game. Here, even caste isn't a unifying factor. Anyhow,
Dalits get the benefit of education through the missionaries and
Christian institutions. Ultimately, as Ambedkar said, education plays
a key role in Dalit emancipation. The next important thing is to move
out of one's own place. Pallars are in the list of Scheduled Castes,
so they get educational opportunities and come up in life. Parayars
don't have such opportunities. This is because many of them converted
to Christianity and so became "Backward Castes". Of the Dalits who
converted, Parayars form the largest number, more than the Pallars.
So, these Parayars have to rely mostly on Christian institutions for
education. From this point of view, I think Christianity has done a
lot.

But I wonder whether one can generalise. We need to distinguish
Christianity from the work of individual missionaries. Because, it is
individual missionaries who have done a lot.

I think your question itself is irrelevant today. Because you cannot
compare those missionaries with the present-day missionaries. They are
miles apart. Those missionaries worked on various aspects like
literature, society, the economy, and even legal aspects. They had
respect for people. They really wanted to uplift them. Today, most of
the missionaries do not have that attitude. They are interested only
in uplifting their own kith and kin. Some are interested in
accumulating wealth. Today, the charisma of the Church itself is gone.
Of course, there may be some exceptions.

In the case of Karukku, I think, the context of Dr Ambedkar's birth
centenary celebrations plays a major role. Do you think Karukku would
have got the same kind of response if it had been published in the
1980s?

No, I don't think so. My brother always told me, "Nobody would have
bothered to look at your book, if it had been published ten years
before." That's true. There was a context for it.

 Wealth of wisdom

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/08/03/stories/2008080350360700.htm

Wealth of wisdom

G.N. DEVY

Tribal literature, in spite of its rich traditions, has been subjected
to gross cultural neglect just because it is oral.

Vibrant heritage: Surviving neglect and invisibility.

If the visibility of tribal languages has remained somewhat poor,
those languages need not be blamed for want of creativity. The
responsibility rests with the received idea that literature, in order
to be literature, has to be written and printed as well. Tribal
literary traditions have been oral in nature. After the print
technology started impacting Indian languages during the 19th century,
the fate of the oral became precarious. A gross cultural neglect had
to be faced by the languages which remained outside the print
technology.

The reorganisation of Indian States after Independence was along
linguistic lines. The languages that had scripts came to be counted
for. The ones that had not acquired scripts, and therefore did not
have printed literature, did not get their own States. Schools and
colleges were established only for the official languages. The ones
without scripts, even if they had stock of wisdom carried forward
orally, were not fortunate enough to get educational institutions for
themselves. It is in this context of gross neglect that one has to
understand the creativity in India's tribal languages.

Story of perseverance

The history of tribals during the last 60 years is filled with stories
of forced displacement, land alienation and increasing
marginalisation, eruption of violence and the counter-violence by the
State. Going by any parameters of development, the tribals always
figure at the tail end. The situation of the communities that have
been pastoral or nomadic has been even worse. Considering the immense
odds against which tribals have been fighting, it is nothing short of
a miracle that they have preserved their languages and continue to
contribute to the amazing linguistic diversity of India.

The number of languages in which Indian tribal communities have been
expressing themselves is amazingly large. Though there are usual
problems associated with marking the mother tongue in a multilingual
society, the successive Census figures indicate that there exist
nearly 90 languages with speech communities of ten thousand or more.
When one speaks of Indian tribal literature, one is necessarily
speaking of all these.

Humbling experience

Some 20 years ago, I decided to approach the languages such as Kukna,
Bhili, Gondi, Mizo, Garo, Santhali, Kinnauri, Garhwali, Dehwali,
Warli, Pawri and so on, expecting to find at the most a few hundred
songs and stories in them. Having documented over a ten thousand
printed pages of these, publishing a dozen magazines and 50-odd books
containing tribal imaginative expression, I am a much humbled man. If
a systematic publication programme were created to document tribal
literature in India, easily several hundred titles can be launched
just containing the oral traditions in them. The story does not end
there.

Tribals have taken to writing. Many tribal languages have now their
own scripts or have taken recourse to the State scripts. Some four
decades ago, when Dalit literature started drawing the nation's
attention, it was usual to think of even the tribal writers among them
as part of the Dalit movement. In Marathi, for instance, Atmaram
Rathod, Laxman Mane, Laxman Gaikwad, all from nomadic tribal
communities, were hailed as Dalit writers. At that time, the northeast
was no more than a rumour for the rest of India. One was perhaps aware
of the monumental collections presented by Verrier Elwin, but there
was no inkling of the tribal creativity. It is only during the last 20
years that the various tribal voices and works have started making
their presence felt. Thus, Kochereti from Kerala and Alma Kabutri from
the north surprised the readers almost the same time when L.
Khiangte's anthology of Mizo Literature and Govind Chatak's anthology
of Garhwali literature appeared in English and Hindi translation,
respectively, making it possible for me to bring out Painted Words, a
national anthology of tribal literature.

The last two decades have demonstrated that tribal literature is no
longer nearly the folk songs and folk tales. It now encompasses other
complex genres such as the novel and drama. Daxin Bajarange's Budhan
Theatre in Ahmedabad has been producing stunningly refreshing plays,
modern in form and contemporary in content. Little magazines such as
Chattisgarhi Lokakshar and Dhol have started appearing which provide
space for tribal poets and writers. Literary conferences providing a
platform for tribal writers are being frequently held at Ranchi in
Jharkhand and Dandi in Gujarat. In January this year, a global
conference under the title 'Chotro', devoted to tribal literature and
culture, was held at Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts at Delhi.

There is now a greater understanding among tribal activists all over
the country that tribal identity and culture cannot be preserved
unless the tribal languages and literature are fore-grounded. Over the
last four decades, a mainstream writer like Mahasweta Devi has been
writing on behalf of the tribals. That situation has changed now. The
voice of the tribals themselves is now beginning to be heard.

RESERVED!: How Parliment Debated Reservations 1995-2007

http://www.rupapublications.co.in/client/BookLanding.aspx?bookid=2198

RESERVED!: How Parliment Debated Reservations 1995-2007

by Rajeev Dhavan

Category: Reference
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Number of pages: 342
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Published in: 06/01/2008
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ISBN_HB: 9788129113696
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Affrmattive action through exclusive quotas for india's disadvantage
in public services and education has caused strikes, protests and
riots in India. Parliament and the Supreme Court echoed divergent
solutions resulting in dramatic clashes between Parliament and the
courts. Earlier, bitter controversies between courts and Parliament in
the Nehru era were over land reform (1950-67), and Mrs. Gandhi's era,
it was over parlimentary sovereignty(1967-77). This book is about the
third major crisis (1995-2008) over 'quota reservations' in the civil
services and education.

About Author

Rajeev Dhavan No. of books available: 1

Rajeev Dhavan, a former academic, and author of various books and
articles on law, censorship and public affairs, is a Senior Advocate
of the Supreme Court of India. He has argued the cases on
'reservations' discussedin this book.

An author who makes that difference (Ilaiah)

http://swblogs.blogspot.com/2008/07/author-who-makes-that-difference.html

Friday, 4 July 2008
An author who makes that difference

A title that we have carried for a while now, Why I am not a Hindu by
Kancha Ilaiah has been chosen for the Annual London Institute of South
Asia Award 2008. Published by Samya, Kolkata, this is one of several
Ilaiah titles that we list at SwB.

The citation of the award is illuminating. "Ever since this book was
first published in 1996, it did not only become the bestseller of the
year, it has been declared one of the Five Great Millennium Books in
Dalitbahujan stream of thought by the Indian National Daily, PIONEER.
It has influenced a whole range of new discourse on understanding of
India and South Asia. It has been translated not only into several
Indian languages but also European languages – French and German. It
has been adopted as the common core text of New Reading on South Asia
by several American and European Universities. Most Indian
Universities include it in the curriculum of courses in Sociology and
Anthropology.

The native peoples of India (erstwhile untouchables) called
Dalitbahujan by Prof. Ilaiah have been denied a separate identity by
denying them education; they were not even allowed to be lettered.
Under British rule, they were given an identity; they were grouped
into Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward
Castes (OBCs). They also got two things they never had before –
reserved seats in education and right to vote. That caused a slow
change in the beginning but a veritable revolution in the new
millennium.

The caste Hindus are at best 15 % of the population of India today.
The Dalitbahujan may be as many as 65% of the population depending on
who is included. Realising the power of the vote, Mahatma Gandhi
condescendingly called them Harijan (children of Hindu god Hari) and
insisted they were Hindus. In 1932, under the Communal Award, the
British Government offered them 'Separate Electorate' alongside the
faith groups – the Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. The leader of the
Dalitbahujan, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, accepted the Award. But Mahatma
Gandhi went on 'fast unto death' to persuade him to reject it. The
pressure worked; Dalitbahujan agreed to 'Joint Electorate' under which
they were put on electoral rolls of the Hindus. That is how the myth
of India being a Hindu majority country was born.

Universal adult franchise makes Dalitbahujan the majority in India.
Dalit parties, by themselves or in coalition, rule several states. The
voice of Dalitbahujan is heard loud and clear all over India; more and
more of them are seen in high office of state; yet alienation is so
acute as to be almost unbearable. The repression of Dalitbahujan is
not so overt but it is still vicious and highly effective as the
Brahmin priest caste is adept at evolving covert methods. Complaining
about discrimination and securing more places in education and in
government jobs has run its course; it still leaves Dalitbahujan at
the bottom of the social pile.

The book "Why I am not a Hindu" is chosen because it has 'made a
difference' since it was first published in 1996. The Constitution of
India describes a Hindu as one who is 'not a Muslim, Christian or a
Parsi'; the Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and all the animal/ancestor
worshipping faiths, are thus denied their separate identity. This
definition portrays India as overwhelmingly Hindu and puts a tight lid
on the repression on the basis of faith and castes. Perhaps taking a
cue from the Constitution, Prof. Ilaiah defines Dalitbahujan as all
except the 'twice born'. Thus, he also defines the Indian nation as a
'coalition' but of different elements. The elements he excludes are
those who preach, uphold or practise 'apartheid'.

Language, race, faith and culture define nations. Prof. Ilaiah has
described at length in his book that Dalibahujan are different, indeed
better, on every score. He urges his compatriots to stop complaining
and begging. Dalibahujan should define their own identity; everything
else would follows."

Ilaiah (pronounced Eye-lye-ah, as I only recently learned) has a
number of books. Some are- given the nature of his concerns- bordering
on the polemic, but he is a passionate writer with a message. In quite
a different category from Why I am not a Hindu or God as a Political
Philosopher or Buffalo Nationalism (also from Samya) is the delightful
Turning the pot, Tilling the land from Navayana (from where we got the
accompanying caricature), another of his books to have been
internationally recognised.

Our warmest congratulations! To the author, and also to the publishers
who have brought us his books. It takes both conviction and courage,
and Samya and Navayana have these qualities in plenty.

• AYYAN-KALI
• Ambedkar On Muslims
• Annihilation of Caste: One More Look
• Dimensions of Ambedkarism
• Book On Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
• Dimensions of Ambedkarism - Capitalism
• DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM-TOC
• DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM-THE BOOK
• Dalit Poems
• Kambalapalli Carnage
• Untouchable politics and politicians since 1956

Untouchable Citizens - Dalit Movements and Democratisation in Tamil Nadu by Hugo Gorringe, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2005; pages 397, Rs. 750.

Refer Dalit saga in Tamil Nadu