Budget and Manual Scavengers
The Union Budget for the year 2024-2025, placed by the Finance Minister in Parliament on July 23, has completely deceived Safai Karma-chari community. There is no mention of persons engaged in manual scavenging, in the entire Budget. Even the scheme meant for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers (SRMS) has been outrageously scrapped. This disappointing budget has once again demonstrated the clear apathy of the union government towards Safai Karmacharis, especially the manual scavengers.

It is a fact that manual scavenging is still blatantly and illegally practiced in many parts of the country, specifically in states like UP, MP, Bihar, and J&K. Providing no budget for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers simply means that this government has no intention to eradicate manual scavenging, and it has even refused to recognise manual scavengers as human beings. This government has no respect for human life and human dignity.

Turning a blind eye, Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, has been giving false statements about the non-existence of manual scavenging.

The Safai Karmachari community demands that the Prime Minister should come out with a white paper on work done by government for manual scavengers in last 10 years. He should also announce a special package for the liberation and rehabilitation of manual scavengers.
Bezwada Wilson
National Convener,
Safai Karmachari Andolan

Stop Hunting
In days, Tanzania’s President could condemn Africa’s most magnificent elephants to death–by issuing new licences allowing rich trophy hunters to kill them for sport.

These male elephants are called "super tuskers" for their enormous tusks. They’re members of a population that’s been studied for over 50 years, and who were recently found to have names for one another, the first non-human animals known to do so without imitation!

Crossing freely between Kenya (which bans trophy hunting) and Tanzania, the Amboseli elephants were protected from trophy hunting, until Tanzania allowed the shooting of five mature males last hunting season–at least two of them were extremely rare super tuskers.

Scientists, conservationists, and Indigenous people have called on Tanzania’s President to stop the killing and protect these elephants before it’s too late. This month, the Tanzanian government will decide whether to issue more hunting permits for the coming season.

These elephants are central to the complex social structures of bull groups, often serving as leaders and mentors, and preferred mates of the females. They are part of the last gene pools of elephants carrying exceptionally large tusks, and experts believe their loss would be unsustainable.

Conservationists are shouting their warning call from the rooftops.
AVAZZ

Armstrong Murder
The brutal murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu chief K Armstrong on July 5 outside his residence in Chennai has shocked and angered the Dalit community. The viciousness of the attack–he was hacked with sickles; and the place of attack–within metres of a police station–was particularly concerning, exposing the law and order situation in the state. Though Armstrong belonged to a party with a minuscule presence in the state (0.31% vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls), he enjoyed enormous clout in the Ambedkarite Dalit community–with his networking skills, benevolence, and the efforts he took to spread Buddhism in the region with an emphasis on education. Dalits thronged the streets to protest the gruesome murder and demand justice.

While it was the most brutal killing of a Dalit politician in recent times, more shocking was the reaction–or the lack of it–of Dalit leaders, in particular those from the INDIA bloc. Prominent Dalit leaders across the alliance chose to remain silent, to avoid irking the MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government.

Considered the progressive home of Dravidian rationalism, Tamil Nadu ironically has been pretty hostile towards Dalits historically. Recent data revealed by the Ministry of Home Affairs showed that 37 out of the state’s 38 districts have been identified as ‘atrocity prone’ for crimes against the oppressed SC and ST communities. Imagine the state of affairs when last year Dalit members in Tiruppur’s Rajavur village walked down the Kambala Naicken Street donning footwear for the first time since independence.
Ravikiran Shinde

Gauri Lankesh Case
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, July 16, granted bail to three accused in the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead in September 2017. The bail was granted to Amit Digvekar, KT Naveen Kumar, and HL Suresh by a bench headed by Justice S Vishwajith Shetty of the Kalaburagi bench.

At the same time, a key witness in the murder case–46-year-old Madetira Thimmaiah–turned hostile and told the court that he was forced to make a confession by the police that he was in contact with some of the accused in the case.

In his confession statement in 2018, Thimmaiah had said that he had given his office space in Madikeri to Amit Digvekar and three other accused to meet and discuss various matters.

In November 2018, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case had filed a 10,000-page page charge-sheet naming 18 persons, including the three who got bail. The men belonged to different outfits such as the Sanatan Sanstha, HJS, and smaller Hindutva outfits like Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan.

Although the charge-sheet in the case was filed in 2018, the trial in the case began only in 2022, citing reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic and because of a series of petitions that were being filed by the defence.
Korah Abraham

No to Eviction
In the last week of June, an administrative review meeting by the Chief Minister of West Bengal mentioned the issues of Urban Development and ‘beautification’, encroachments throughout the city landscape, especially in Kolkata and in the adjacent suburbs. The day after the announcements, the police, administration and local authorities began organised crackdown on the street vendors and hawkers in different parts of the state. In Kolkata, places like Esplanade, Hathi Bagan and Gariahat which are conventional marketplaces for the commoners and are constituted mostly by street vendors and small businesses, incurred the most damage. Eventually, after protests and resistance erupted in many parts of Bengal against the eviction drive, the Chief Minister publicly announced a period of one month to review the situation and take action accordingly.

In this time of distress, the left parties and trade unions are standing tall against the bulldozer's policies that are wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of the poor. Be it in Kolkata or in other places, AICCTU and its affiliated Hawkers’ federations are vehemently opposing this eviction drive. Calcutta Street Hawker's Federation (an affiliated body of AICCTU) initiated a city-wide campaign and organised marches and protest demonstrations and submitted deputations to the local Police stations in many parts of the city, condemning forced eviction by police and local authority. Trade unions affiliated to AICCTU like Birsulhat Leather Hawker's Union are in the forefront of this struggle.

On 11th July, a joint platform of TUs and Hawker Federations ‘Hawker Joutho Mancha’ organised a march to Kolkata Corporation Headquarters and submitted a deputation to the Mayor demanding immediate implementation of the central Street Vendors Act, 2014 and an end to illegal evictions drives without proper rehabilitation.
Dibakar Bhattacharya
AICCTU State Secretary

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 7, Aug 11 - 17, 2024