Right to Food initiative of PVCHR

Friday, December 27, 2013

Fighting caste discrimination

http://www.informed-giving.org/story_details.php?id=Mjgz

Caste is one of India’s most enduring institutions and still retains its hold on Indian society. For those not fortunate to be born in the higher echelons of the caste hierarchy, life can be difficult indeed. Despite government efforts, caste discrimination is still rife, and low-caste Indians have to bear the brunt of poverty, illiteracy and violence. Lenin Raghuvanshi is in the forefront of the fight against caste discrimination, to ensure a just and equal society.

Raghuvanshi is the founder of the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), which fights for the rights of marginalized people in several North Indian states, especially in the area around Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

Raghuvanshi was born in an upper caste family, which he describes as “feudal”. He got a bachelor’s degree in ayurveda, modern medicine and surgery from the State Ayurvedic College in Haridwar. But the social inequities that faced India made him take up the cause of bonded labourers. This is when he noticed that not a single bonded labourer came from the upper caste, and realised that the problem was essentially caste.

In 1996, Raghuvanshi founded PVCHR to fight the caste system. He works to ensure basic rights to vulnerable groups like children, women, Dalits, tribes and minorities. Raghuvanshi and his team works at the grassroots level in Varanasi and around 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh and five other states. PVCHR works to eliminate situations that give rise to the exploitation of vulnerable and marginalized groups, and to start a movement for a people-friendly movement (Jan Mitra Samaj) through an inter-institutional approach.

Raghuvanshi has his task cut out for him since the lot of Dalits and other oppressed minorities continues to be dismal. “In the past, if anyone from the lower caste breached the unwritten law of caste hierarchy, the person would be beaten up in public. Now the person will be shot dead and the village burnt down and the women raped. A bridegroom riding a horse during his wedding, an enterprising peasant digging a well on his land, if a boy falls in love with a girl – do you kill them? Yet, if they belong to the Dalit caste they are killed. We still say that there is rule of law in India,” he said in his acceptance speech while receiving the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.

He is also concerned about the plight of women and children in this country. “India is still very much a patriarchal and caste-based society with gender discrimination. The destructive effects of gender discrimination, patriarchal oppression and the semi-feudal society so prevalent in 21st century India are manifest in our 55 million children, employed at times in subhuman conditions,” he says in a newspaper interview.

Raghuvanshi received the Gwangju Human Rights Award in 2007. He was made an Ashoka Fellow in 2001 and was presented the International Human Rights Prize of the City of Weimar (Germany) in 2010. Raghuvanshi once said to a newspaper that caste discrimination is so rife in Bundelkhand that a Dalit has to take off his chappal and hold it in his hand if a person belonging to the Thakur caste approaches. It’s not something that would make us proud.

How can you Help?

Caste approaches is not something that would make us proud

Contact details of the NGO/Institution

Name : Lenin Raghuvanshi

Email ID : lenin@pvchr.asia

Contact Number : 9935599333

Website : http://www.pvchr.asia

Address : PVCHR Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Malnutrition death of a girl in Varanasi,India

Documentary made by Rohit Kumar of PVCHR highlights the plight of weaver belong to Muslim community at Rahimpur, Lohta of Varanasi in India.

Friday, July 19, 2013

WEAVING DREAMS, LIVING IN NIGHTMARE: SITUATION OF BANARASI SAREE WEAVING SECTOR OF VARANASI

The present paper looks into the situational analysis of weavers of Banarasi saree, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The life of weavers is characterized by abject poverty, chronic malnutrition, varied health hazards and even hunger deaths and suicides. In-put cost is unbearable for many and profit is taken by middlemen. Globalization has severely affected economically vulnerable small weavers pushing them below poverty line. State machinery is apathetic and whatever schemes and programmes exist, fail to do any good to weavers who are battling hard to keep this one of the finest legacies of Indian culture alive. Situation of women and children is worse. Women are engaged in mundane work of thread-cutting, zari-filling and the like and are paid merely Rs.10-15 per day for 12-16 hours of work. Children are denied schooling to speed up saree-production. Suggestive interventions are highlighted in the paper.

http://www.practiceinparticipation.org/documents/947/130/weaving-dreams-living-in-nightmare-situation-of-banarasi-saree-weaving-sector-of-varanasi

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Fake case against Lenin and Shruti

Fake case against Lenin Raghuvanshi and Shruti Nagvanshi.

Please write letter to Prime Minister pmosb@pmo.nic.in, NHRC Chairperson chairnhrc@nic.in, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh cmup@nic.in and Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh uppcc@up.nic.in and Registrar of High Court Fax No. : +91- 522-2272328.

http://www.pvchr.net/2013/06/fake-case-against-lenin-raghuvanshi-and.html

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Live Working or Die Fighting

Lenin, despite his name, does not want to overthrow the capitalist system; he wants to bring it in. He wants to eliminate feudalism but preserve the art of weaving, using the internet to market hand crafted silk. For this he needs to unravel the free trade agreements made by Indian government under the WTO. This is not a Ghandhian type of thing, this is a capitalist thing: we want to create a weavers’ trust, joint company to cut out the middlemen and sell our product to world direct.

From the book of Paul Mason named “Live Working or Die Fighting, How the Working Class Went Global”

http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Live-Working-or-Die-Fighting

Friday, October 05, 2012

PVCHR: साम्प्रदायिक पुलिसिया अत्याचार के खिलाफ अलीगढ जन घ...

PVCHR: साम्प्रदायिक पुलिसिया अत्याचार के खिलाफ अलीगढ जन घ...: मानवाधिकार जननिगरानी समिति द्वारा यूरोपियन यूनियन के सहयोग से अलीगढ, मुरादाबाद, मेरठ और वाराणसी मे चल रहे परियोजना ‘ भारत में मानवाधिकार ...

Monday, August 13, 2012

Open Letter to the Government of South Asian Countries

PVCHR: Open Letter to the Government of South Asian Count...: To, Government of India, Government of Pakistan Government of Bangladesh Government of Bhutan Government of Sri Lanka Governme...

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The prevention of torture law is a much-needed step to embellish India’s credentials as country with a sound criminal justice system

PVCHR: The prevention of torture law is a much-needed ste...: http://www.mynews.in/News/the_prevention_of_torture_law_is_a_much_needed_step_to_embellish_indias_credentials_as_country_with_a_sound_cri...

Musahar: a life of torture by state with support of muscle power of Cast...

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Equality for Dalits: Does it exist? - Kashmir Times

Equality for Dalits: Does it exist?

Reviewed By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander

Book Review
Justice, Liberty, Equality: Dalits in Independent India
Author: Lenin Raghuvanshi
Publisher: Frontpage Publications, London, U.K
Year of Publication: 2012
Price: Not Mentioned Pages: 135
ISBN: 9789381043042
Dalits in India have been suffering since time immemorial in India. Hinduism which believed in Varna system of caste coupled with the Aryan supremacy structured the prejudice, bias and exploitation against dalits. It was deemed to be God ordained commandment on the higher castes to demean, exploit and kill them with impunity. They were destined by God to suffer immortally, thus placed outside the Varna system. The upper castes by trampling their rights and perpetuating atrocities against them were fulfilling the God’s plan. This situation should have changed after the Independence of India in 1947. Indian State adopted secularism and democracy as its foundational pillars of constitution which guaranteed equal rights to all irrespective of religion, caste, color, class, gender, region and community. These constitutional guarantees and rights should have been translated into action, but alas this is not the case.
The present book under review by the versatile activist Lenin Raghuvanshi is a testimonial documentation of atrocities, exploitation and abuse of rights of Dalits in “free India’. In the Introduction of the book, Lenin depicts the police violence against Dalits, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Crimes against their women and how the culture of impunity shields the guilty. This culture of impunity against the criminals is the biggest threat to the rule of law in India. Lenin woefully states about the Dalit women as, “Dalits are considered untouchables in Indian society yet rape of Dalit women is not considered a taboo by the upper castes. In fact, the latter uses rape as an instrument of continuous subjugation. Dalit women bear a triple burden: discrimination and exploitation based on caste, class and gender. Women are also victims of violence by security forces and armed opposition groups, traditional justice delivery system like ‘caste panchayat’ (illegal body of caste based system in villages) and cruel cultural practices like sati, honor killing and witch hunts. Discriminatory attitudes and lack of sensitization to the dynamics of crimes involving sexual or domestic violence leave victims without critical police aid or redress to which they are entitled”.
Talking about the state of impunity enjoyed by police and security forces Lenin states “In fact, almost every section of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc), 1973 provides some kind of impunity. For example, section 46 empowers the police to shoot to kill any accused charged with a crime punishable by death if that accused person attempts to escape from police custody. The police forces of Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have made extensive use of this section to cover up fake encounters, killing hundreds of hapless detainees”.
Lenin then goes on to describe south of every village as South Africa because it contains Dalits against whom invisible apartheid is still prevalent. The discrimination against Dalits is both intrinsic and external. The Dalits are illiterate hence they are not aware of their constitutional rights; hence fail to alleviate their status. Rest the caste system is embedded in the Indian society and it manifests itself in various forms. The state of impunity is reinforced by the caste considerations as police fails to bring the culprits of crimes against dalits to book either due to caste bias, influence or lure of money. Dalits many times are collectively punished by the upper castes for the crime or mistake of a single Dalit. These examples bring fore the sad fact that spread of literacy hasn’t helped people grow more empathic towards dalits. Also it unveils a gory reality that Indian State has failed to inculcate spirit and virtues of equality and harmony among its institutions.
Lenin then moves on to document the plight of Musahar community and their day to day woes. He laments at the post active attitude of the administration in curbing the starvation deaths in this community. The land that is allotted to the Dalits is taken away by upper caste people, and the upper caste Hindu money lenders keep them under perpetual bondage. In this age too there exist bonded laborers in the community. Lenin has worked for Musahars despite impediments by releasing many bonded laborers and establishing a community school, as previously most children were drop outs. He holds the public distribution system responsible for the starvation deaths, as it is corrupt. The medical facilities are lacking which add to the mortality rate. The police still operate on the colonial structure with a communal mindset. Lenin is of the firm opinion that Indian police learnt demoralization and community punishment from the practice of caste system. He then relates many stories of police torture victims. The role of police in fake encounters is also well known, and how they operate in communal riots reinforcing victimization of the minorities.
The police torture is widespread in India, and “The biggest problem in combating the State on the issues of torture in India has been the non availability of verifiable data” (P-48). In many cases false medical reports of torture victims are produced in league with medical doctors and sometimes reports are concocted by Police themselves. Lenin is aware of the Legal flaws, “The judiciary is hampered by lack of specific legislation to address cases of torture and human rights violations by the security forces as well due to delayed judicial processes. All these leave the poor victim lonelier, shattered and completely disintegrated, irrespective of economic status” (P-49). Lenin wants and desires, “India is yet to adopt any legislation recognizing the right to compensation for human rights violations. The government continues to maintain its reservation to Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that under the Indian legal system there is no enforceable right to compensation for persons claiming to be victims of unlawful arrest or detention against the State. The courts and National Human Rights institutions, however, have awarded compensation for human rights violations, including torture”. (P-49).
The chapter on Testimonial Therapy is the jewel of the book. It gives hope to the victims of torture to overcome the psychological trauma in post torture phase. But only a few pages are dedicated to explain the testimonial therapy. Lenin abruptly moves to the Shrinking Livelihood in India. He quotes as case studies, the decline in the production of world famous Benaras Silk, as a result of the rival Chinese silk. Lenin relates the diseases associated with the handlooms and the Tuberculosis being rampant among the handloom workers and weavers. Then he again states about the severe malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh, though it is not Somalia. Lenin continues with the child starvation deaths this time in Ghasias community, who are also victim of government apathy.
The last two chapters deal with Rule of Lords, Political Patronage & how caste, patriarchy and corruption help in perpetuation of the same. Lenin relates violence against women, in the form of infanticide, honor killings, domestic violence, child marriages, infant and maternal mortality rates. If certain women make it to the panchayats still their husbands control the affairs.
Lenin then goes on to track the record of victims of fake encounters, extra and custodial killings by the Police since 1960s, which rose to epidemic proportions in early 1990s when innocents were being targeted as Maoists, Sikh militants or Islamic Jihadi extremists. The incompetence of National Human Rights Commission to protect human rights of innocents has rendered it as a toothless tiger. The State also acts softly on Hindutva fascist cadres. To add insult to injury criminalization of politics is ruling roost.
Overall the book is a welcome read and must for everyone who wants to be aware of the underbelly of Indian State. But the scheme of chapters and selection of case studies at times betray the title of the book, the scope of the book is much wider than its title conveys. It covers a lot of ground, but thematically it appears to be jumbled in a hurry. Despite its flaws Lenin needs to be congratulated for his endeavor. This book is a testimony to the fact that there are serious problems and grave issues with the project of ‘Shining India’.
(The author is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com)

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Talk with Lenin Raghuvanshi

Friday, June 22, 2012

PVCHR: It is honor of Shraman culture(culture of inclusiv...

PVCHR: It is honor of Shraman culture(culture of inclusiv...: It is honor of Shraman culture(culture of inclusiveness). Teaching of Baba saheb and Budhha converted Lenin Raghuvanshi from upper c...

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

cast against caste system

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Vote for Lenin Raghuvanshi for Roland Berger Human Dignity Award: Please vote Lenin Raghuvanshi as reconciliation mo...

Vote for Lenin Raghuvanshi for Roland Berger Human Dignity Award: Please vote Lenin Raghuvanshi as reconciliation mo...: Please vote for Lenin Raghuvanshi /PVCHR, my organisation, for the Roland Berger Human Dignity Award. Process of Voting: Whe...

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Vote for Dr. Lenin

Please vote for Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi/PVCHR, my organisation, for the Human Dignity Award. http://www.human-dignity-forum.org/2012/05/lenin-raghuvanshi/

When you click the link, you can see the number of votes. Press on Thank you and you cast your vote. You can also post your comment below. Please mobilise your friends if you believe or support the cause of my organisation

Thursday, March 22, 2012

विभाजन के खिलाफ एकता के नारे के साथ नवदलित आंदोलन पर महिला सम्मेलन

http://neodalits.blogspot.in/2012/03/blog-post.html

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Lopsided growth

http://www.pvchr.net/2011/11/lopsided-growth.html

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Controversy on AHRC(Asian Human Rights Commission) report

Please refer to End note: 68, Page number: 132("The State of Human Rights in India in 2010": AHRC report). It goes like the following: "Starvation deaths of children in Uttar Pradesh were a campaign issue for Mayawati during the state assembly elections and at the same time for some NGOs in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati won the election and like any other politician soon forgot it. Then came Mr. Rahul Gandhi who opposed Mayawati during the Parliamentary elections. With the help of a local NGO, which the NGO plentifully and happily provided for cheap publicity, Rahul Gandhi made use of a couple of cases reported by the AHRC as a political campaign tool against Mayawati. After the elections, the Congress that Rahul Gandhi leads forgot that children continue to die in Uttar Pradesh. So did the local NGO. This NGO is now interested in providing psychological help to victims of torture to recover from trauma, since the funding money is in it. Project driven and short sighted human rights activism, undertaken merely for fame and/or sheer survival or employment is a curse of India's Human Rights movement."[i]

The above mentioned end note is manipulation of facts, interpreted according to individual perception to malign myself, my organization and the NGOs of this country sitting in a foreign country, far away from the scene of action. It is an attempt to undermine the credibility of the organizations and the activists but also to derail the struggle for human rights of the dalits, tribals and others marginalized sections of the society.

Let me rebut your findings in the following way;

Point 1

AHRC: Starvation deaths of children in Uttar Pradesh were a campaign issue for Mayawati during the state assembly elections

PVCHR: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Ms. Mayawati Bahan ji, who is presently the Chief Minister of the state did not published any manifesto during assembly election in 2007. The party under her leadership fought on the single issue to establish rule of law in the state. The issue of starvation death was nowhere in her agenda. In fact, the party never released its election manifesto in 2007.

Immediately after the election PVCHR and AHRC issued hunger alert on starvation of dalit boy Mukesh http://www.humanrights.asia/news/hunger-alerts/HA-014-2007. It followed by another hunger alert on starvation and malnutrition of Musahar (Rat eaters) dalit boy Jigar was released http://www.humanrights.asia/news/hunger-alerts/HA-015-2007.

Point 2

AHRC: …."and at the same time for some NGOs in Uttar Pradesh.

PVCHR: Since 2000, and not since 2007, our organization has been fighting against hunger, malnutrition, starvation and raising the issue of weavers and mushars. In 2003, PVCHR filed the case against hunger death of 18 children in Raup village of Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. Shockingly, AHRC published this case in its website in the name of other NGO without mentioning PVCHR's intervention. We in PVCHR decided not to protest at all. To mark the struggle against hunger, we built a monument in the same village, which was inaugurated by none other than Mr. Basil Fernando, Executive Director, AHRC and child poet Tumul.

Please read an article written on the struggle against hunger in Uttar Pradesh. http://sapf.blogspot.com/2005/10/breif-history-of-struggle-against.html).

Point 3

AHRC: "then came Mr. Rahul Gandhi who opposed Mayawati during the Parliamentary elections. With the help of a local NGO, which the NGO plentifully and happily provided for cheap publicity, Rahul Gandhi made use of a couple of cases reported by the AHRC as a political campaign tool against Mayawati. After the elections, the Congress that Rahul Gandhi leads forgot that children continue to die in Uttar Pradesh. So did the local NGO."

PVCHR:

Assembly election to the State Assembly was held in 2007 and the election to the Lok Sabha was held in 2009.

In 2007, when AHRC issued hunger alert on the case of a malnourished dalit boy Mukesh based on information from PVCHR, NDTV had already highlighted the case. The office of Mr. Rahul Gandhi inquired about the case over mobile phone. This happened primarily because during that election, PVCHR was running awareness campaign for voter about the criminal background of the candidates on the information provided in their affidavit. This initiative of PVCHR was happening under the guidance of UP Election Watch and Association for Democratic Right (ADR). The UP Election Watch office was running from the office of PVCHR. I had also received calls from other very important political leaders, media persons and International NGOs. All these were shared with the team members.

In fact, when Mr. Gandhi took steps to provide medical support to Mukesh, one of our activists passed it on to NDTV. Seeing this Mr. Gandhis' office called me and asked to ensure that no propaganda is made out of this help.

On this Mr. Bijo Francis, AHRC wrote an article in his publication "Ethics in Action". http://www.ethicsinaction.asia/archive/2008-ethics-in-action/vol.-2-no.-1-february-2008/can-human-rights-work-bring-change-the-story-of)

At the sametime, following AHRC Hunger alert on Jigar Mushar, Anei village, Varanasi District, Ms. Mayawati Bahan Ji, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh sent the Special Secretary, Revenue Dept to the Anei village. Seeing such a high level official the Mushars demand land from the state government. This angered the state administration and the Chief Minister herself addressed the press against anti – hunger initiative of PVCHR. Soon after, i.e., on 9^th December, 2007, Mr. Rajendra Tiwari, a local criminal with huge political clout, lodged an FIR under 505 (B) IPC against five activists of PVCHR. The administration was prompt enough to file the charge sheet. But fortunately Honb'le High Court awarded stay on arrest and then stays on court proceeding of the case.

AHRC released urgent appeal and its update. Please refer to http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/UP-163-2007/?searchterm=PVCHR and http://sshirinkhan.blogspot.com/2010/01/update-india-human-rights-organisation_11.html

At this point, AHRC preferred to go silent on this case and withdrew from all communications with PVCHR. However, considering the degree of threat from the state, with support from many other national and International we stood to the ground. This was recognized by the Irish organization Frontline and the European Union. The former provided financial support for fighting the case. While the later has highlighted the issues of human rights defenders at risk all over.

Today, the same Anei village is known as "child centric model village". The state distributed land to the Mushars. The pre-primary school run by PVCHR has been upgraded to Primary School, which is now taken over by the state. The Mushars became the barefoot worker of PVCHR and fighting for the rights of Mushars of other villages.

Point 4

AHRC: "This NGO is now interested in providing psychological help to victims of torture to recover from trauma, since the funding money is in it. Project driven and short sighted human rights activism, undertaken merely for fame and/or sheer survival or employment is a curse of India's Human Rights movement".

PVCHR: Since its establishment, in 1996, PVCHR is fighting against caste atrocities and torture. Between 2006-08, PVCHR was state partner of EU-FNF-PWTN initiated "National Project for Prevention of Torture" implemented in 47 districts across 9 states. In UP, the project covered 7 districts.

The collaboration with RCT is extension of EU project to provide psycho - legal support through testimonial therapy (TT). Is it wrong to work with the victim of torture? I think, AHRC also works on this subject with the RCT. Do you do it for the getting justice for the victims or for money and fame? Based on the outcome of TT, more than 50 organisations have come together to form National Alliance on Testimonial Therapy (NATT) for its promotion to strengthen rule of law in India.

On June 26, 2011 on the occasion of International Day against Torture the PVCHR and a network of over 70 organisations from 6 states organised a Regional Convention at Lucknow. More than 1200 victims and survivors of torture belonging to dalit and minorities joined the convention, which was also attended by the Chairperson, National Commission for scheduled caste and the focal point for the Human Rights defenders from National Human Rights Commission. In the convention Dynamic Action Group (DAG), Voice of People (VoP), National Alliance on Testimonial Therapy (NATT) and Right to Food and Work, Uttar Pradesh, Detention Watch played significant role. In which the issue of the food security came as main important issue in declaration. Please see the link: http://www.testimonialtherapy.org/2011/06/lucknow-declaration.html

PVCHR has been filling Public Interest litigations in Honorable High Court, Allahabad and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the case of hunger of weavers and suicide of farmer in Bundelkhand.

In 2010-11 an anti – malnutrition campaign, called Voice of people (VOP) was launched in 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh and PVCHR launched in 200 Villages of Varanasi, Sonbhadra and Ambedkar Nager districts. Executive Director of PVCHR as a member of executive council of VOP brought the issue of Malnutrition in agenda of VOP. Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi is presently the campaign coordinator of VOP.

PVCHR without any financial support filed hundreds of petitions against human rights violation from various states of India. Please see www.petition-nhrc.blogspot.com and in the two years hundreds of bonded labour were rescued and did intervention in many cases of malnutrition.

You can have an understanding of our legitimate claims of our work of 2010-11 against hunger, malnutrition and starvation in the following links.

http://www.pvchr.net/2011/08/blog-post_30.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/56129529/Intervention-petition-by-PVCHR-and-BDAM

http://www.pvchr.net/2010/06/fwd-92-malnutrition-children-of-weaver.html

http://farming.ashoka.org/content/dr-lenin-raghuvanshi-combats-hunger-weavers-india

http://www.testimonialtherapy.org/2011/05/death-threat-to-human-rights-defender.html

http://www.mynews.in/News/india_minority_human_right_defender_threatens_to_raise_the_issue_of_the_minority_weaver_N38078.html

http://petition-nhrc.blogspot.com/2011/06/save-farmers-of-bundelkhand.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Ghasia-tribe-live-in-acute-misery/iplarticleshow/5353506.cms

http://indiainteracts.in/members/2007/12/13/About-fake-FIR-against-Human-Rights-Defender-and-Death-Threat/

http://petition-nhrc.blogspot.com/2011/07/anganwadi-workers-helpers-get-peanuts.html

http://petition-nhrc.blogspot.com/2011/07/acknowledgement-letter-complaint_27.html