Such articles are meant to make the people of my country realize how lucky we are to have a free homeland where we can do and say as we want. Yes we can improve but lets be thankfulL for what we have achieved ,and work hard instead of complaining and waiting for a messiah.
We have to know what we are dealing with,not just what they want us to know.
India is painted as a rosy flowering peaceful place by the world media and we are told that there is not much comparison but please know the facts to be armed with knowledge.
(courtesy of Aharon Daniel , http://www.gbgm-umc.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Today, many lower-caste people--especially in rural villages--are still marginalized, with little access to education, limited resources, and unskilled or menial jobs as their only option. At present, Indian society is characterized by an obsession with the kinds of development that would lead to a free-market economy. The growing economic success of some in India has created a chasm separating the rich from the poor, who make up about 56 percent of the population. Economists describe "two Indias"--one rich and one poor. India's caste system can no longer fully contain the socioeconomic change that the country is undergoing.
Rural India still presents a dismal picture of life for its low-caste people, though. A friend of mine, Dharamnath of Jagdalpur, a member of the Methodist Church and an excellent vocalist, says that the typical low-caste village family may have only one sari (a draped dress using several yards of cloth) for all its women. So, while one woman comes out the hut draped in the sari, four other women must wait inside for their turn to wear the same dress. They can only come out one by one.
Faustina explains that, even though she teaches in a mixed school run by the Roman Catholic Church in Ongur, Dalits are still separated in the village. "Normally, Dalits are put on the east side of the village," she reports, "because the wind blows from west to east, and non-Dalits don't want to be contaminated by wind that has touched Dalits. All the institutions are in the non- Dalit area of the village. We are resisting these things," she adds.
Dr. James Massey, a minister of the Church of North India and a Dalit, is a member of the government-sponsored National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in India. This commission is responsible for investigating incidents of religious violence in India. Massey says that religious violence in India is fueled by hatred and fear, not outside influences. The NCM investigated the highly publicized murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two young sons, Philip (age 9) and Timothy (age 6), who were burned alive in their jeep on January 22, 1999, while they were sleeping. Staines was in Orissa working among patients with leprosy. The NCM team concluded that the incident was part of a definite plan on the part of militant Hindus to create insecurity among Christians.
The idea that India's Dalits might be united "creates the greatest fear in the minds of the upper classes," observed Professor N.G. Meshram, a Buddhist who is national treasurer of DSP. But he said that DSP is not seeking revenge. "All we want is to be able to identify ourselves." he said. "Enough misery has been suffered for all the ages."
May I add that from another site I gathered some facts and when put together I was amazed to find out that 72.5 % of the indian population comprises of Scheduled caste,Scheduled Tribal castes and OB castes and all these are lower castes. For me this is worse than apparthied.Because the world sympathises with aparthied victims but who sympathises with these people who belong to one religion.
We have to know what we are dealing with,not just what they want us to know.
India is painted as a rosy flowering peaceful place by the world media and we are told that there is not much comparison but please know the facts to be armed with knowledge.
(courtesy of Aharon Daniel , http://www.gbgm-umc.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
Today, many lower-caste people--especially in rural villages--are still marginalized, with little access to education, limited resources, and unskilled or menial jobs as their only option. At present, Indian society is characterized by an obsession with the kinds of development that would lead to a free-market economy. The growing economic success of some in India has created a chasm separating the rich from the poor, who make up about 56 percent of the population. Economists describe "two Indias"--one rich and one poor. India's caste system can no longer fully contain the socioeconomic change that the country is undergoing.
Rural India still presents a dismal picture of life for its low-caste people, though. A friend of mine, Dharamnath of Jagdalpur, a member of the Methodist Church and an excellent vocalist, says that the typical low-caste village family may have only one sari (a draped dress using several yards of cloth) for all its women. So, while one woman comes out the hut draped in the sari, four other women must wait inside for their turn to wear the same dress. They can only come out one by one.
Faustina explains that, even though she teaches in a mixed school run by the Roman Catholic Church in Ongur, Dalits are still separated in the village. "Normally, Dalits are put on the east side of the village," she reports, "because the wind blows from west to east, and non-Dalits don't want to be contaminated by wind that has touched Dalits. All the institutions are in the non- Dalit area of the village. We are resisting these things," she adds.
Dr. James Massey, a minister of the Church of North India and a Dalit, is a member of the government-sponsored National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in India. This commission is responsible for investigating incidents of religious violence in India. Massey says that religious violence in India is fueled by hatred and fear, not outside influences. The NCM investigated the highly publicized murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two young sons, Philip (age 9) and Timothy (age 6), who were burned alive in their jeep on January 22, 1999, while they were sleeping. Staines was in Orissa working among patients with leprosy. The NCM team concluded that the incident was part of a definite plan on the part of militant Hindus to create insecurity among Christians.
The idea that India's Dalits might be united "creates the greatest fear in the minds of the upper classes," observed Professor N.G. Meshram, a Buddhist who is national treasurer of DSP. But he said that DSP is not seeking revenge. "All we want is to be able to identify ourselves." he said. "Enough misery has been suffered for all the ages."
May I add that from another site I gathered some facts and when put together I was amazed to find out that 72.5 % of the indian population comprises of Scheduled caste,Scheduled Tribal castes and OB castes and all these are lower castes. For me this is worse than apparthied.Because the world sympathises with aparthied victims but who sympathises with these people who belong to one religion.
