Untouchability - the HYPOCRISY & the DICHOTOMY

In yesterday's newspaper (25.05.2017) there were reports that in a village in Tumukur district a three day traditional village festival which is being conducted since ages was stopped abruptly in the beginning itself because dalit families entered the temple to offer Pooja to the diety. What is wrong in it?

Untouchability is in practice in this village. Dalits should not enter the temple to offer Pooja. They have to offer Pooja from outside of the temple. The flowers brought by the Dalits are not accepted. They have to buy flowers from the temple to offer to Pooja. Fruits and the coconut brought by them is washed before offering for Pooja. They are not supposed to offer Aarati for the diety. Even though the procession of the diety passes through the dalit colony, it never stops there to enable them perform pooja. Incensed by this practice of untouchability a few educated dalits entered the temple defying the embargo. And the villagers thought the temple was desecreted by the entry of the dalits and they stopped the three day village festival in the beginning itself.

In another village in Karnataka a similar incident happened a few days ago. A marriage was fixed in a dalit family. On the day of marriage the entire village was closed down. What is the meaning of closed down? The entire villagers left the village for the day locking down their houses, closing even hotels and tea shops. Their grouse was lot of dalits enter the village for marriage and the village gets desecrated.

And Yeddiyurappa a few days back made big news by visiting the house of a dalit and do the drama of having food in the house in the company of Shobha Karandlaje under the glare of clicking cameras. The food was brought from outside is the subject for discussion is another matter. Even H. D. Kumaraswamy has resorted to this kind of cheap and low publicity gimmicks in the past. Even Rahul Gandhi for that matter is not far behind.

The irony is when these two incidents of practice of untouchability is being practiced in the state and has hit the headlines of newspapers and TV, the leaders who enacted the drama of having food in a dalit's house are conspicuous by their silence. They never made a statement condemning this obnoxious practice. They never uttered a word.

Is it not hypocrisy? Is it not dichotomy? Is it not deceit? According to me it is a fraud. It is a fraud on the psyche of the poor and the gullible dalit community. It is commodification of the community for vote bank purposes. They should realize that nobody's hearts are warmed up by these kind of cheap histrionics.

I appeal to all the saner people in the upper caste bracket to oppose, condemn and criticise the practice of untouchability. It is required to keep a harmonious and healthy society. Only peace can foster progress. Strife, ill will and mistrust will only vitiate the communal harmony. There is an urgent need for this because then only the movement against the practice of untouchability gets some meaning. The affected class (Dalits) fighting untouchability is age old and it is nobody
's problem and will never receive the attention and importance in this caste-ridden society.

And one word for dalits. You have forgotten Dr. Ambedkar and therefore this kind of misery.

K.N.Krishnan.     9449612446

Digitisation and The Digital India :

Digitisation and The Digital India :

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar propounded that we cannot change the past by remaining in the past. We have to break away from the shackles of the past to change the future. By remaining in the status quo we cannot aspire for a change for the better. Dr. Ambedkar also in his thoughts asked - don't hesitate to adopt change, adapt to the change. Change is inevitable he said.

On 30th December 2016, in the 125th birth anniversary year of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Government of India introduced an app called BHIM the pet name for all the diehard followers of Dr.Ambedkar. It's an important element of digitisation. Probably by naming it so Modi was nudging all of us more so people at the lower strata of society rather subtly than overtly to embrace this change.

Why we have to embrace this or rather participate in this abhiyan called digitisation? Digitisation is one of the ambitious projects that has the ability to cleanse the system which is rotten, stinking, corrupted and controlled by the vested interests. The people at the bottom of the pyramid are the worst hit by the system infested with cancer called corruption. The opponents of the project who are mainly the vested interests often shed crocodile tears for the downtrodden, projecting these gullible sections of the society as the victims to obfuscate their interests and to continue the status quo because it suits them to proliferate corruption. Let us not fall prey to these sham and false entreaties. So, I believe we as common men has more to do with digitisation.

Digitisation is a real game changer for the Indian economy. It encompasses the whole gamut of payments mechanism. It has the potential to revolutionize the way the businesses are conducted. It's a powerful tool to facilitate transactions smoothly and quickly. It is a great enabler of financial inclusion. It does not discriminate. It is not subjective. It can to a large extent avoid genesis of black money. It facilitates ease of doing business. Above all it is a low cost and easily accessible banking tool for the people who are at lower strata of society who otherwise many times don't have the access to the regular banking channels. Even if they do have, the bank charges are too prohibitive. It reduces cost and increases convenience. It's a low hanging fruit especially for the lower strata of society. Digital banking has the reach and ability to touch the lives of last person in the last mile. It also gives a push towards cashless or less cash economy. I am sure you will agree that greater the degree of movement towards cashless economy, lesser will be the possibility of occurrence of corruption and therefore the generation of black money. It is therefore all the more important for the people at the lower strata of society to embrace this innovative tool called digitalisation because we are the most benefitted lot because it is low cost and it is easily accessible.

Digitisation liberates an individual. Not only that it gives freedom in your palm and empowers you. If you have smartphone with Internet, you have the whole world in your fingertips. This is the most redeeming factor one should not lost sight of. Leverage this powerful tool to liberate yourselves.

We as citizens have a duty and responsibility to carry forward this abhiyan with all the sincerity zeal and commitment. The task of changing something and improving something cannot be solely left at the hands of the government. Whatever may be the sincere efforts of the government to improve the matters, it will not met with the desired success unless people, citizens who are the beneficiaries and stakeholders do not participate in the change process. It takes two to tango. Therefore let us all participate and involve fully in this exercise because at the end of the day it benefits us.

Let us go digital.

K.N.Krishnan,          94496 12446
Vice-president,
SEWA, Bangalore.