NHRC moved against segregation of Dalit
students in Gujarat schools

NEW DELHI, Feb 8: The National Human Rights Commission has been approached to intervene and stop the segregation of Dalit students during mid-day meals in schools in Gujarat and the transfer of Dalit teachers for protesting against it.

The NHRC has been asked to direct the State Government to immediately re-admit those Dalit students, who had been forced to leave school because of this discrimination and to permit the transferred teachers to return to their original postings.

The Government should be asked to enact a legislation to make such caste discrimination punishable, said advocate Ashok Agarwal and law student Gautam, who moved the Commission.

They had filed the petition after a national daily reported the humiliation faced by Dalit students in primary schools in Bhojpara and Bhojpari villages of Surendranagar district of Gujarat, who were made to sit separate from students of upper caste during mid-day meals.

Some Dalit teachers, who protested against this inequity, were first threatened with social boycott by members of the upper caste and later transferred to other schools, the petitioners said.

The teachers were too scared to talk about the incident, fearing attacks on Dalits similar to the one in which some people in Bhojpari village were beaten up in September last year, they said.

An FIR had been lodged on October 2 and 41 persons were arrested for the attacks. But they were released on bail and later they sat on dharna outside the primary education officers office demanding that teachers be transferred or they would not send their children to school.

Succumbing to these threats, the District Adminstration transferred Girishbhai Wadhar, a Dalit headmaster, alongwith two others Laljibhai Anjaria and Chaturbhai Chauhan who had protested against this practice. Earlier four other Dalit teachers had also been transferred on the same grounds.

Education department officials justified the transfers saying "we cannot afford to have 200 students not attending school because of such a problem." But they were unable to explain why caste-based segregation was taking place, while the social justice and empowerment department showed ignorance of the incident, the petitioners alleged.

"It is submitted that though this incident has again brought to the fore the ugly face of class division in our society, the incident is more pertinent from the angle of child rights as it is a clear and gross violation of Constitutional and Human Rights of these Dalit children," they said.

The petitioners said that the incident was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution which gives a person equality before law and Article 15 which says that the state would not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

It incident was also violative of Article 17 which abolished and forbade untouchablity and the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, they added. (UNI)

High cholesterol, obesity put Indian women’s
hearts at risk

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Feb 8: High cholesterol levels and obesity are making Indian women of all socio-economic strata prone to coronary heart diseases, says a leading cardiac surgeon here.

"As in the other fields, women seem to be fast catching up with men in developing coronary heart diseases also. Almost 40 per cent of the patients turning up for treatment for cardiac problems are women," Dr Shanthala K Prabhu, consultant cardiac surgeon with the Sree Uthradom Thirunal (SUT) hospital, told UNI.

A study done at the SUT hospital recently showed that the possibility of coronary heart disease starts increasing in women after 40 years and it surpasses men after 50 years of age.

A major cause of this was higher cholesterol levels among older women. The same study revealed that 73 per cent of women above 50 years had more than 200 Mg of cholesterol in their blood as against 45 per cent men.

The study, covering 1,895 men and women who had no previous records of heart disease, also showed that on an average, cholesterol level of men was 202 Mg compared to 208 Mg in women.

Indicating a direct co-relation between age and cholesterol in women, the study found the average level of cholesterol to be 194 Mg among men in the 20 to 40 years age group compared to 187 Mg among women. In the 40-50 year group, there was a minimal difference among men and women at 205 Mg and 207 Mg respectively.

However, in the 50 plus age group, while the cholesterol level in men declined to 195 Mg, among the women it shot up to 227 Mg.

According to Dr Prabhu, the main reason for this was that as women reached menopause, the "protective shield" provided to them by hormones grows weaker, leading to increased cholesterol levels.

Obesity was another worrying factor, especially as most Indian women consider it to be a natural part of growing old. "Women think it is normal to put on weight as they grow older. This is not true," Dr Prabhu said.

Also, fat is seen as the only culprit in causing obesity and high cholesterol and the role of carbohydrates in this is disregarded, Dr Prabhu said.

"Overweight people have higher levels of insulin in blood. One of the important actions of insulin is to promote fat formation and storage. To lose fat, insulin levels have to be brought down. Consuming carbohydrates will only serve towards increasing insulin levels, and therefore in promoting obesity."

With Indians of all socio-economic strata, including the poorer sections, consuming a carbohydrate-rich diet, obesity cuts across all sections. "For instance in Kerala, Tapioca, the staple diet of the poorer people, is rich in carbohydrates. When this is not offset by adequate intake of fat and proteins, obesity sets in,"she added.

Talking about the genetic predisposition of Indians to developing heart ailments, Dr Prabhu explained that this was mainly because Indians suffer from abdominal obesity unlike the caucasians who put on fat all over their bodies.

As abdominal obesity increases, symptoms of the "metabolic syndrome", including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and blood triglycerides, surface. As a consequence of these changes, coronary artery diseases begin to develop, leading to angina and heart attacks.

Noting that changing lifestyles had made women’s lives more sedentary, she said this had resulted in them getting lesser exercise. Also, there was greater dependence on "junk food" and eating out, especially among working women. Increased stress levels also contribute to rising heart ailments among women.

Dr Prabhu, who has carried out more than 450 heart surgeries since joining the sut hospital five years ago, said surgery and medication could provide only palliative care. "While surgical or medical intervention does save lives, the problem can recur if lifestyles are not modified. And Indian women, conditioned to take care of themselves last and least, need to wake up to the menace stalking their hearts. A balanced diet and adequate exercise need to be given top priority," she added. (UNI)

Cross-border infiltration is still on: DyCM

JALANDHAR, Feb 8: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma today claimed that cross-border infiltration in the Valley was still on and even the terrorists training camps in the Pakistani occupied Kashmir (PoK) were still operation in inspite of attempts of both the Indian and Pakistan Governments to improve bilateral relations.

Although, cease-fire is being observed by both the countries alolng the Line of Actual Control (LoC), but infiltration is still going on in the Valley and even terrorists training camps in PoK are operational Sharma told reporters here claiming that the terrorist outfits were still enjoying the support of Pakistani Government.

Supporting the "healing touch" policy of the State Government, Sharma said that although there was decline in the terrorist activities in the Valley but it would take some time to completely curb the menace of terrorism from J and K for which the joint efforts of State and Union Governments were on.

On the forthcoming Parliamentary elections, he revealed that the state unit of the party has staked claim to contest four seats.

"The final decision will be taken by party president Sonia Gandhi in consultation with J and K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed", he said.

Asked about steps taken to ensure proper rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to live under miserable conditions after migration from Valley under threat from terrorist groups, Sharma said that a comprehensive rehabilitation plan with an outlay of Rs 35,000 crore has been sent to Union Government last year even as the response for the same was still awaited.

He said that the Government has already initiated the construction of a colony for the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits where all basic amenities would be made available.

Sharma was in Jalandhar to attend the 24th death anniversary of Master Gurbanta Singh, father of Local Bodies Minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh. (PTI)

Salt found with bodies of Bilkis case victims

NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a new twist to Bilkis Yakub rape and murder case, CBI has claimed to have found several packets of salt with the bodies of seven victims, who were killed in the post-Godhra violence, for their quick decomposition.

During investigations, the CBI, which is probing this case, found that several packets of salt were buried with the bodies of the victims whose post-mortem was conducted by the Gujarat police, CBI sources said.

The sources claimed to have a witness who told the investigators that he had been directed by the local police to get 60 Kg of salt that would be buried along with the bodies to ensure early decomposition.

The skeletons were recovered by the CFSL, CBI and forensic department of the AIIMS near a rivulet in village Panivela.

However, salt acted as a preservant for the remains of the deceased due to moisture caused by the river water, the sources said.

The CBI registered the first case in the Gujarat riots and named Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai and Naresh Moriya under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including rape and murder. The CBI has arrested 12 people including these three.

The agency also questioned Bilkis Yakub who identified Nais and Moriya as the persons who allegedly raped her, the sources said.

Bilkis, who was pregnant when she was raped, told CBI that she even told her rapists that she was the age of their daughter.

She said that she had been seeing them since her childhood as all of the three used to come to her residence for buying milk.

According to the FIR, Bilkis Yakub alleged that when she, along with her relatives, was moving around village Panivela after the burning of the train at Godhra, they were chased by a mob which beat them and raped her and her sisters.

During the investigations, the CBI has also detected several lapses on the part of the Gujarat Police while conducting the investigation into the case which included failure to act on her complaint despite the Ghodra Medical College confirming that Bilkis had been raped and not taking proper steps before the burial of the bodies of the people allegedly killed by rioters.

The CBI, which began fresh investigation into the entire case, has found photgraphs of nine of the 15 people killed in the riots and has begun scientific examination of skeltons recovered from the Rivulet area near Ahmedabad, they said. The agency has the photographs of nine bodies while the Gujarat Police had filed those of only seven declaring the other eight as "missing".

Bilkis Yakub was among three persons who survived the mob ire. The other two were Saddam (seven) and Hussain (five).

A bone-marrow test was to be conducted by the CFSL and forensic department of AIIMS. (PTI)

Tribals not to lose ST status merely because
of conversion: SC

NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a major judgement, the Supreme Court has ruled that a tribal, even after converting into another religion, would not lose his "scheduled tribe" status unless it is shown that he has given up his tribal customs and observing only those practised in the adopted religion.

"A member of a tribe despite his change in religion may remain a member of the tribe if he continues to follow the tribal traits and customs," a bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice S H Kapadia said in a recent judgement.

This judgement came in an unusual case where a person accused of outraging the modesty of a scheduled tribe girl questioned the police decision to charge him with SC and ST (prevention of atrocities), Act. The accused contended that the family of the girl had converted into Christianity around 200 years back and were not following the tribal customs. Hence, they could not be classified as tribals, he alleged.

While remitting the matter to the trial Court to take into account evidence in this regard, the bench said "we are of the opinion that although as a broad proposition of law it cannot be accepted that merely by change of religion, a person ceases to be a member of Scheduled Tribe, but the question as to whether he ceases to be a member, thereof, or not, must be determined by the appropriate Court as such a question would depend upon the fact of each case."

The Apex Court referred to Article 342 of the Constitution dealing with Scheduled Tribes and said its object was to provide a right for the purpose of grant of protection to the STs having regard to their economic and educational backwardness.

The bench referred to an earlier decision of the Supreme Court where it had decided a question whether a Ceylonese lady marrying a member of the Scheduled Tribe would become a member of that tribe by marriage?

The Court had said that only by reason of marriage a woman does not become a member of the tribe, but only in the event, she was accepted as such by the other members of the tribe and approved by the Panchayat that she could be considered as a member of that tribe.

"The question as to whether a person is a member of the tribe or has been accepted as such, despite his conversion to another religion, is essentially a question of fact," the bench observed.

After looking into various authorities on tribes and Court cases, the bench said "upon conversion, a person may be governed by a different law than the law governing the community to which he originally belonged but that would not mean that notwithstanding such conversion, he may continue to be a member of the tribe." (PTI)

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