Skip to main content

Video reveals caste is still powerful means to suppress North India's neglected groups

 
Releasing a fresh video on the plight of two individuals belonging to highly neglected communities of Indo-Gangetic plains, Vidya Bhushan Rawat, a human rights defender, describes the plight of the family of Banarasi Mushahar, who was found dead on a road side about 200 meters from his house in the morning of May 24, 2020, and of his injured friend Rampreet Nat, lying unconscious across the road.
While the village Pradhan Keshav Yadav called the police and got the panchnama done and the body of Banarasi was sent for postmortem, and Rampreet was sent to Gorakhpur medical college as he had severe head injuries, the police later made Rampreet as the main accused, and he is currently lodged in Deoria jail, says the video. Rampreet's wife is ailing and suffers from kidney ailment.
Rawat’s video reveals, the family of Rampreet has no source of income. His children suffer from malnutrition as they have nobody to lean on. His father is a 'madariwallah' and earns through begging. The family is completely landless. Both the families are suffering, but they still are good friends. Nobody believes the story of the police which claimed that the two drank tadi and fought with each other.
“I wrote about it last month when I returned from Kushinagar. I visited the village again and met villagers and family persons of both Rampreet and Banarasi Mushahar. I am sharing this documentaryin the hope that this will give one a better idea of how things are manipulated in our villages, how caste is still a powerful instrument to suppress certain communities”, says Rawat. The conversation is in simple Bhojpuri, repeated in simple Hindi.

Comments

TRENDING

DigiLocker's 'mismatch' problem: When technology defies government policy

  DigiLocker has been functioning in rather strange ways, at least in my experience over the past year. For quite some time now, I have been trying to retrieve various documents from the Government of India's official app, but every attempt ends with an inexplicable "mismatch" error. I even lodged a complaint through its official email ID, explaining that I was unable to retrieve or download essential documents such as my PAN card , driving licence, and the registration certificates of my car and scooter. The response has remained the same: the system refuses access on the grounds of a so-called mismatch.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

'Rethink' Kalpasar, 'end civil engineering mindset' in Gujarat's water strategy

Prof. Vidyut Joshi, a prominent sociologist and one of the leading protagonists of the mega Narmada dam project, has raised critical questions regarding the viability of Gujarat’s ambitious Kalpasar project. Writing in the Gujarati daily Sandesh under the headline "Let us consider alternatives scientifically for the Kalpasar project," Joshi argues that rather than remaining trapped in a "civil engineering mindset" focused solely on constructing massive dams, the state must pivot to modern, sustainable, and technologically viable alternatives to quench the thirst of the arid Saurashtra region.