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SC/ST commission for Karnataka
The Karnataka government has decided to set up a separate com mission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to improve their standards and check atrocities against them. While announcing his decision in this regard in December,chief minister SM Krishna expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that 3,789 cases of atrocities against SCs and STs were pending disposal. He suggested setting up of special and mobile courts for speedy disposal of these cases. Local vigilance committees have been formed in most districts of the state to monitor incidents of atrocities. The CM was also unhappy that Karnataka lagged behind neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in the utilisation of central funds for the welfare of SCs/ STs.
A few days later, on December 11, activists of the Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samithi led a protest march and staged a dharna in front of the residence of the state home minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge, to demand the setting up of special courts to deal with increasing incidents of atrocities against dalits in the state. Through a separate press release issued the same day, the state president of the DSS condemned the increasing assaults on Dalits and demanded that the district commissioners and superintendents of police be held responsible for the targeting of Dalits under their jurisdiction.

Dalit woman stripped, husband commits suicide
Ramesh Rohit, a Dalit from Sarasmund village of Vadodra district who felt humiliated by the stripping of his wife by upper caste men and frustrated by the refusal of the police and other authorities to heed his complaints, consumed pesticides and killed himself on the premises of the department of social justice in the first week of December. 
Dalits and other poor have been the worst hit by water scarcity in Gujarat in the last two years, where the upper caste believe they have the first claim on whatever water is available. When Rohit raised a dispute about the upper caste people monopolising the limited water supply, they cut off his water connection. Instead of registering his complaint, the local sub–inspector manhandled Rohit. Subsequently, his wife was sexually abused for, left with no choice, she ‘dared’ go to the village water works to fetch water for the family

Dalits assert right to temple entry
On December 11, Alagapuram village, some 25 kms from Jayamkondam in Tamil Nadu, was tension charged for hours as Dalits insisted on their right to enter the Alageeswarar temple while over 2,000 Vanniyars blocked their way. However, a strong contingent of police enabled the Dalits led by S Thirunavukkarasu, state general secretary of the CPI(M) affiliated Tamil Nadu Agricultural Workers Union  to press home their right. Later, peace talks were held between the Vanniyar and Dalit leaders in the presence of the district collector, K Phaneendra Reddy. Following the talks, PMK leader R Perunargili promised to impress upon the upper caste villagers that preventing  Dalits from entering the temple was illegal.

Where villagers can’t digest the cook’s caste 
A government centre for the welfare of small children and expectant mothers has remained closed for over three months in Raina village (Midnapore, West Bengal) for the villagers refuse to have their children eat food prepared by a cook from the “Hari” caste and considered untouchable. While the cook, Krishna, is distraught, as she is the sole bread–winner for her old parents and three younger sisters, some villagers have even demanded that she replace the utensils she handled at the centre as she has made them “impure”. The child centre was being run under the Integrated Child Development Scheme. “The situation proves that the ICDS has lost its relevance as it could not create the social awareness for which it was formulated”, said the helpless block development officer in the area. And the zilla parishad’s sabhadhipati, Pulin Behari Bhaske lamented: “It is unfortunate that despite so many years of Left rule in Bengal such a thing has happened. We are trying to persuade the villagers to rise above such petty considerations.”

SC/ST body rubbishes BSP, Jan Shakti
Kanshi Ram, Mayawati, Ram Vilas Paswan and other dalit leaders, beware! Ram Raj is watching and he finds that apart from playing politics with “non-issues” to gather dalit votes, there is little in your agenda to bring real benefits to the constituency you claim to represent. At an impressive rally in Delhi on December 11, Ram Raj argued that expanding the scope of reservations to cover the higher echelons of the judiciary and the private sector would bring real benefits to dalits. But neither Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party) nor Ram Vilas Paswan (recently formed Jan Shakti party) made any mention of this at the rallies separately organised by them in Delhi. A product of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and presently deputy commissioner income-tax, Delhi, Raj is the chairman of the All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes and Tribes Organisations formed in 1997. Raj also claimed that he would lead a mass conversion of one million dalits from Hinduism to Buddhism in October this year.