Only Who.res Choose Their Partners

[Archived_Member16]

THIS IS OUR INDIA :

source: 'Only *****s choose their partners' - India - NEWS - The Times of India

'Only *****s choose their partners'

Sameer Arshad, TNN - TIMES OF INDIA - 8 September 2009

SISAULI(Western UP): Squatting on his haunches, dhoti-clad and bare-chested, Mahendra Singh Tikait declares: “We live by a moral code where honour has to be protected at any cost.’’

As the chaudhary of the Baliyan khap, the 79-year-old farmer’s views matter. He presides over a system of justice that is almost medieval and disdains the laws of the Indian state.

Tikait’s moral code is simple. In his own words: Same-gotra marriages are incestuous, “No society would accept it. Why do you expect us to do so? Incest violates maryada (honour) and villagers would kill or be killed to protect their maryada.” “Love marriages are dirty, I don’t even want to repeat the word...Only *****s can choose their partners.”

Education has contributed to “this dirt”. “Recently an educated couple married against the samaj’s (community’s) wishes in Jhajjar. We hail the panchayat’s decision to execute them...The government cannot protect this atyachar (immoral behaviour).”

Those who dare to cross the line must suffer the consequences. Like Radha of Muzaffarnagar’s Fugana village. Three years ago, she was stripped, burnt and hung from a tree. Her crime was to fall in love. Anecdotal accounts say she is one of many.

There is no reliable data on honour killings because the National Crime Records Bureau records them under ‘murder’ and many cases aren’t even reported. But there is growing acknowledgement that the problem is serious. Just weeks ago, home minister P Chidambaram told Parliament, “Villagers give precedence to caste panchayat judgments rather than that of the courts’’ and that some panchayats approve of honour killings. “I recoil with shame when I read about them,’’ Chidambaram lamented.

Few here in Sisauli would agree with him. There is broad social acceptance of the khap’s diktats. The chaudhary has so much clout over his people that the police are forced to stay away. “How will they know if parents kill and dump their daughter’s body?’’ asks Kamlesh Devi of Alipur village. “And what’s the harm if we solve our problems amongst ourselves?’’

Tikait claims panchayats are infallible because they have divine sanction. “Panch means parmatma and ayath means court.’’ He also says panchayats have tradition on their side: they existed during Mughal and British rule and the rulers “never interfered’’. He scoffs at the laws of the Indian state, calling them “the root of all problems’’. “That’s your Constitution, ours is different.’’

Daryal Singh, one of Tikait’s retainers, adds that “shameless people (lovers) deserve to die.’’ He gives graphic accounts of lovers being “hanged, tortured or nailed to death”. But Singh stands alone in providing the only real explanation for what sustains this medieval system: bad governance. “The government has failed to provide basic necessities. It’s impossible for people to survive without the samaj. They can’t challenge it,’’ he says.

Raju, a Dalit, agrees. “Paani mein rehna hai toh magarmach se bair nahi le saktay (you can’t fight society if you are living in it).’’ He says social boycotts are a common punitive measure. “People are also regularly paraded and beaten with shoes.” Another villager says theft is punished by cutting off a hand or foot. “I’ve seen a couple being hacked to death after they were caught together.’’

The local police is dismissive. Additional SSP Raja Babu Singh says Jats like to brag. “Panchayats settle minor disputes. We’ve never come across any case of honour killing,’’ he claims. “If khaps violate the law, action is taken.’’ But a journalist who covered Tikait’s arrest last year for abusing Mayawati is sceptical.

“A heavy police contingent laid siege to Sisauli for 12 hours but didn’t dare enter the village to arrest Tikait.’’ If they couldn’t implement the CM’s orders then, how can they stand up to the simple, stark, sinister moral code of the chaudhary and khap now?

 

[kds1980]

Re: 'Only *****s choose their partners'

THIS IS OUR INDIA :

In India there is great diversity.You can find extremely liberal people in metro's who could beat American's in partying,changing partners etc.and you can find extremely backwards who can even beat Saudi Arabians

 

[Hardip Singh]

Re: 'Only *****s choose their partners'

In my great India, still the jungle rules prevails. This is nothing but to take the power in the ir hands and to do away medivial justice to the innocents. I can confirm one thing seeing the coming elections in Haryana, they can make this a law to get their votes.

 

[AusDesi]

I saw this on another forum. Khaps are ****** stupid. They make decisions which would make Aurangzeb proud. If you go against them you rick an all out riot.

We saw this when the gotra thing happened in Jhajjar i think. The amazing this was that according to the normal hindu wedding preferences the girl and the boy were fine. they were from different gotras so not related anywhere in their lineage but because the girl happened to be from the gotra of the villagers they guy ended up paying with his life.

Thank the fathers of the nation. In a land of Panchayati Raj this is what will happen.

 

[Sagefrakrobatik]

Thats pretty disturbing. And I thought the Taliban was bad. It just dont see the logic behind this.

 

[harbansj24]

Only one person had the guts to take the bull by its horns. However much you may hate her loud, brash and temperamental ways, you must admire her gumption. That is Mayawati, Chief Minister of UP.

A few months back MS Tikait called her casteist names. Calling a Dalit casteist names is a criminal offence in India. She immediately demanded an unconditional public apology from Tikait. Tikait drunk with power of Jat support refused and dared Mayawati to do whatever she wanted. Mayawati then despathed a force of 5000 policemen and they laid siege to his village. The orders were not to actually arrest him but to threaten arrest only.

She succeeded. Tikait offerred unconditional public apology and the force was withdrawn. Tikait was not heard off since then until the latest incident

 

[spnadmin]

Thats pretty disturbing. And I thought the Taliban was bad. It just dont see the logic behind this.

I would not be so quick to equate the events described below with the Taliban. Local governent, in the case of India the panchayat system, is always heavily influenced by local values and norms anywhere in the world. The panchayat system is a legitimate part of the Indian political system -- although somewhat troubled by political crosscurrents from the time of its inception. If the values and actions of the panchayat as described in the article disturb you, consider how many generations of culture influence what you have read. A decision was made to vest local government with certain powers, the result of an orderly political process. Taliban are a far cry from that. Fixing this will require, among other things, more orderly political change.

In harbhajan ji's post he is describing how state level intervention was imposed, and that is completely consistent with the constitutional relationship between state and local government. "Only one person had the guts to take the bull by its horns. However much you may hate her loud, brash and temperamental ways, you must admire her gumption. That is Mayawati, Chief Minister of UP. "

The article below should help you understand the "logic behind this."

 

[spnadmin]

Panchayats system in India

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India - Local Government

Panchayat /s In India : The district is the principal subdivision within the state (union territories are not subdivided). There are 476 districts in India; the districts vary in size and population. The average size of a district is approximately 4,300 square kilometers, and the average population numbered nearly 1.8 million in the early 1990s. The district collector, a member of the Indian Administrative Service, is the preeminent official in the district (see The Civil Service, this ch.). During the colonial period, the collector was responsible for collecting revenue and maintaining law and order. In the 1990s, the collector's role in most states is confined to heading the district revenue department and coordinating the efforts of the other departments, such as agriculture, irrigation, public works, forestry, and public health, that are responsible for promoting economic development and social welfare.


Districts in India are subdivided into taluqs or tehsils , areas that contain from 200 to 600 villages. The taluqdar or tehsildar , who serves in much the same capacity as the collector, is the chief member of the taluq revenue department and is the preeminent official at this level. Economic development and social welfare departments are also likely to have offices at the taluq level. Although the revenue department may have village representatives, generally known as patwaris (village record-keepers), to maintain land records, the development and welfare departments generally do not have offices below the taluq level.


Article 40 of the constitution directs the government to establish panchayats to serve as institutions of local self-government. Most states began implementing this Directive Principle along the lines of the recommendations of the government's Balwantrai Mehta Commission report. According to these recommendations, the popularly elected village council (gram panchayat ) is the basic unit. Village council chairs, elected by the members of the village council, serve as members of the block council (panchayat samiti ). A block is a large subunit of a district. In some states, blocks are coterminous with taluqs or tehsils . In other states, taluqs or tehsils are divided into blocks. The district council (zilla parishad ) is the top level of the system. Its jurisdiction includes all village and block councils within a district. Its membership includes the block council chairs.

Deficient in funds and authority, the panchayats in most states were largely inactive until the late 1970s. However, efforts were then initiated to reinvigorate the panchayats . West Bengal led the way by transferring substantial funds and authority over rural development projects to the panchayats and then holding popular elections for panchayat representatives at all three levels in which political parties were allowed to field candidates for the first time. In the mid-1980s, the state of Karnataka also made important efforts to revive the panchayats .


In 1989 Rajiv Gandhi's government took two major initiatives designed to enhance the panchayats' role in local government and economic development. It initiated the Jawahar Employment Plan (Jawahar Rozgar Yojana), which provided funding directly to village councils to create jobs for the unemployed through public works projects. Rajiv Gandhi's government also proposed the Sixty-fourth Amendment Bill to make it mandatory for all states to establish a three-tiered (village, block, and district) system of panchayats in which representatives would be directly elected for five-year terms. Panchayats were to be given expanded authority and funding over local development efforts. Despite the popular appeal of transferring power to panchayats , the Sixty-fourth Amendment Bill was rejected by the Rajya Sabha. Its hasty introduction in an election year made it appear to be a popular gimmick. Opposition to the bill also arose from those who feared that the transfer of authority from state governments to panchayats was designed to reduce the power of state legislatures under opposition control and promote "greater centralization through decentralization" by enabling the central government to establish direct relations with panchayats .


On December 22, 1992, the Congress (I) government passed the Seventy-third Amendment, which gave panchayats constitutional status (previously panchayat matters were considered a state subject). The amendment also institutionalized a three-tiered system of panchayats (except for states with a population of less than 2 million), with panchayats at the village, block, and district levels. The amendment also stipulated that all panchayat members be elected for five-year terms in elections supervised by state election commissions.


The 26 percent of the Indias population living in urban areas are governed by municipal corporations and municipal councils. The municipal corporations governing the larger cities are composed of elected councils and a president or mayor elected from within the council. The state governor appoints a commissioner who acts as the chief executive of the municipal corporation. The municipal councils administering the smaller cities have elected committees or boards. The municipal government is responsible for education, health, sanitation, safety, and maintaining roads and other public facilities. The country's municipal governments have long been troubled, in part because of their limited authority and lack of funds. The frequent intervention of state governments to suspend the activities of municipal administrations has also undermined them. For instance, state or union territory governments suspended the elected bodies of forty-four out of sixty-six municipal corporations in 1986. The Seventy-fourth Amendment was passed in December 1992 in order to revive municipal governments. Among other things, it mandates that elections for municipal bodies must be held within six months of the date of their dissolution. The amendment also provides for financial review of the municipalities in order to enable recommendations concerning the distribution of proceeds from taxes, duties, tolls, and fees.


1995 data : Panchayat system India