R.Thirumalai, a dalit from Kilkodumalur panchayat in Ramanathapuram district is an unhappy man.Neither he nor other villagers were ‘allowed’ to file nomination papers for the posts of councillors in the recent local body elections. In a state where even panchayat president posts have remained vacant due to caste inequities this is not a surprise at all. While parties were celebrating their victories or sulking over their losses, several aspirants in rural and urban local bodies in the state got no chance to introspect.
In Kilkodumalur in Mudukulathur panchayat union which constitutes five villages dalits are predominant caste. In a far away hamlet in Ariyalur district K.Amirthalingam a former panchayat president is upset that his wife A.Pushpa could not file the papers for the post of president in the reserved Karkudi Panchayat. The couple, the lone Scheduled Tribe members in the village, were allegedly threatened by non-dalits(there are no brahmins there) not to enter the fray or face consequences. According to the 2011 census Karkudi panchayat had 299 ST members. However the electoral rolls prepared by the district administration for the assembly elections in 2011 listed only Amirthalingam and Pushpa as the only ST members among the 1573 members in the panchayat. Amirthalingam has faced land grab cases and other harassments. After the local body elections the election commission is gearing up for another round to fill up around 60 posts in rural and urban local bodies where no nominations were received. The majority of them were reserved wards.
என் இனிய பொன் நாடே நீ அழத்தான் வேண்டும் .
Source: The Times of India.
In Kilkodumalur in Mudukulathur panchayat union which constitutes five villages dalits are predominant caste. In a far away hamlet in Ariyalur district K.Amirthalingam a former panchayat president is upset that his wife A.Pushpa could not file the papers for the post of president in the reserved Karkudi Panchayat. The couple, the lone Scheduled Tribe members in the village, were allegedly threatened by non-dalits(there are no brahmins there) not to enter the fray or face consequences. According to the 2011 census Karkudi panchayat had 299 ST members. However the electoral rolls prepared by the district administration for the assembly elections in 2011 listed only Amirthalingam and Pushpa as the only ST members among the 1573 members in the panchayat. Amirthalingam has faced land grab cases and other harassments. After the local body elections the election commission is gearing up for another round to fill up around 60 posts in rural and urban local bodies where no nominations were received. The majority of them were reserved wards.
என் இனிய பொன் நாடே நீ அழத்தான் வேண்டும் .
Source: The Times of India.
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