Dr D.R. Jatav Sahitya awards given away
ALIGARH: Dr D.R. Jatav Sahitya Samman Samaroh was organized in Aligarh on 13 September under the aegis of Anand Sahitya Sadan. On the occasion, Pramod Ranjan, consulting editor of FORWARD Press, and Anand Swaroop Rakesh were felicitated. A number of well-known Bahujan thinkers and activists attended the function held in the Siddharth Banquet Hall. -FP Desk
Chamars demand allowance, loans
LUCKNOW: On 6 September, Chamar Samaj Jagriti Sammelan was held at the auditorium of Gandhi Bhawan in Kesar Bagh. Dr P.N. Punia, chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes, was the chief guest. Former MPs Sheeshram Ravi, Anand Prakash Gautam, Isham Singh and Medhavi Kirti, who is the granddaughter of Babu Jagjivanram, were present as special guests. The convention demanded that the bill providing for reservations in promotions be cleared and that the unemployed youth of the Chamar community be given a monthly allowance of Rs7,000. It was also demanded that Chamar youths who have received the requisite technical training be given loans of Rs25-50 lakhs so that they can start their own enterprises. -FP Desk
Satyashodhaks meet in Kalyan
KALYAN: On 4-5 October 2015, the round table conference of Satyashodhak Samaj was held in Kalyan. Chhagan Bhujbal, former Maharashtra deputy chief minister, inaugurated the event. Professor Shrawan Deore was the chair. The conveners included Gyaneshwar Gobre, Dr Prakash Dhokne and D.K. Bapu Mali.
Dangwal, Rai remembered
LUCKNOW: On 10 October, Ramnika Foundation and Bharatiya Dalit Lekhak Sangh organized their monthly recitation programme in which Jyoti Krishna Verma, Wajda Khan, Avneesh Gautam, Rohit Prakash and Hemlata Yadav recited their poems. The event was dedicated to the memory of poet Virendra Dangwal and senior critic Professor Gopal Rai. Pankaj Chaudhary, the working editor of Yuddhrat Aam Aadmi, recalled their contribution to literature and paid tribute to them. While Chaudhary spoke on the behalf of the Ramnika Foundation, B.S. Anand of Dalit Lekhak Sangh was the chair. The programme was conducted by Suman Kumari. -FP Desk
Dalit women show their might
SONEPAT (Haryana): On 1 October, Haryana, adjoining the capital, Delhi, virtually came to a halt. This is a state where women are admonished if they venture out of homes without covering their faces, where women cannot step out of their homes after dark, where girls are forced to drop out if their schools are far from home, where the sex ratio is one of the lowest in the country, where female foeticide is common, where patriarchy is the norm and caste atrocities are the rule, and where women are supposed to bear everything in silence. But on October 1, when thousands of women marched on the streets of Sonepat, it was as if they were announcing the inauguration of a new era. They took out the march under the aegis of Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan and National Confederation of Dalit Organizations (NACDOR). They were here to participate in the Mahila Samman Aur Adhikar Sammelan (Women Dignity and Rights convention) held to mark the conclusion of the Dalit Mahila Samman Yatra. The women declared in no unambiguous terms that they were not going to settle for anything less than the respect, dignity and rights that have been the monopoly of the men for centuries. The battle for women’s rights, respect and dignity has miles to go before it reaches its goal. This is just the beginning, and this battle will be fought not only by the small team which undertook the Mahila Samman Yatra but by the thousands who joined the Mahila Samman Aur Adhikar Sammelan. -Rajni Tilak
Wrestler Divya Sen wins Asian gold
BHOPAL: Sixteen-year-old Divya Sen, who hails from the Nai (barber) OBC caste, won a gold medal in the Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship held in New Delhi in mid-June, and brought laurels for India, which has been lagging behind in wrestling for some time. India won the gold on 14 June, the last day of championship. Divya emerged winner in the women’s freestyle wrestling, defeating Mongolian Byambadorj Tsetsegbayar 3-2 in the women’s 70kg competition. Freestyle wrestler Monu won bronze in the 46kg competition. Deepak and Sumit won bronze in two Graeco-Roman style categories (85kg and 100kg respectively). India came second in freestyle. Divya Sen has won more than 40 medals till now. Besides winning 14 gold medals in Delhi state-level contests, she holds the record of winning eight golds in the National Wrestling Championship. She has been participating in the World Wrestling Championship since 2013. On 15 June, Divya’s victory was celebrated in the Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, about 500 km from Delhi. -Hussain Tabish
Village lad becomes ‘lord saheb’
BHOPAL: Nothing can deter a committed person from reaching his goal. Pradumna Meena, who comes from a small village called Penchi (Chachoda tehsil, Guna district) in Madhya Pradesh, has proved that the odds do not matter, conviction and hard work do. Pradyumna has cracked the most prestigious UPSC Civil Services Examination. Pradumna comes from a lower-middle-class OBC peasant family. His parents were educated only up to Class 8. Despite this, Pradumna, who was ranked 745th in the exam, says, his father Rameshwar Meena and mother Vidhya Bai Meena always encouraged him and his brother to acquire higher education. Pradumna’s younger brother works in MP Police. -Hussain Tabish