CASTE vis-a-vis CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/caste-determines-spending-on-food-choice-of-work-nsso/article7008672.ece

Data show that while food takes up a larger share of the total expenditure of ST and SC households, compared with those of OBCs.

How much and what people eat and what work they do differs significantly by caste, new data from the National Sample Survey Office show. However, these differences are likely to be correlated, rather than caused by caste.

The NSSO released two new reports this week: one on household consumption expenditure by a social group and the other on employment and unemployment by a social group. The data show that while food takes up a larger share of the total expenditure of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) households, compared with those of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and “others,” the food items that the different social groups spend on, changes with caste. Higher castes spend significantly more on milk and milk products. But spending on cereals and eggs and meat does not change significantly by caste in absolute terms. Among non-food items, higher castes ramp up their spending on education and rent, the data show.

While in general SC and ST households spend substantially less than OBC and upper caste ones, substantial regional differences exist, the numbers show. The total consumption expenditure of a rural SC household in Tamil Nadu is more than that of an upper caste household in rural Bihar, while that of a rural SC household in Kerala is almost as much as that of an upper caste rural household in Gujarat.

SC households are most likely to be engaged in casual labour in rural areas, but in regular wage jobs in urban areas, the data show, while OBC and upper caste households are more likely to be self-employed or in salaried jobs.

While the new data do not have information on wages, earlier research by Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairperson of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, had shown that even among casual labour, SCs have lower wages. “This should be seen as correlation rather than causation,” a senior NSSO official explained of the new data, asking not to be named.

“SC and ST households are among India’s poorest, and both the occupational profile and consumption patterns should be seen as a function of poverty,” the official added.

Keywords: National Sample Survey Office, NSSO

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EBOLA & UNTOUCHABILITY - TIME TO RECONSIDER THE CRASS ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT & CONDEMNATION OF UNTOUCHABILITY

 

Prevention  of  (spread of) epidemics and  communicable diseases were built into  the social life in India . Communities are prone to certain diseases due to their customs and manners. eg food-habits. 'Knowledgeable Indians' in the upper echelons, allowed other castes and communities to pursue their own lives without restraint, but conforming to the general and accepted social customs. They had devised a brilliant template, in which all types of  communities could be accommodated. They did not butcher/exterminate those who did not conform to their own highly REFINED lifestyles.This is quite unlike the happenings in N.America, where White Colonists, assuming themselves to be superior, exterminated   the native Red-Indians there.  Contrasted to this, in India, it was a policy of live and let live. Despite such humanistic attitude, members of the so called 'upper-castes'  are subjected to negative portrayal in the name of CASTE & UNTOUCHABILITY.

Untouchability was essential in 'those' times to preserve self, family and community. Refer http://msradha.blogspot.in/2014/05/untouchability-fully-justified-was.html Or imagine a situation where the men wielding knowledge and power  forcing the  various 'non-refined' (non-Sanskritised) castes into 'REFORMATION' camps, and teaching them habits of cleanliness and hygiene   by the use of  FORCE. Since they were 'knowledgeable' and imbibed with wisdom, they did did not resort to such inhuman tactics.Further  fully realizing the impracticability of VIOLENT methods,  some made their own enclaves to live their refined lives unhindered and at times zealously guarding such spaces. (eg. Agrahara).

Ultimately, we have to take charge of our own lives.That is what the pandemic EBOLA reminds us. Neither the State nor SCIENCE can guarantee protection against such DEADLY  micro-organisms, the knowledge of which is NOT fully grasped by modern science. In the Atharva-Veda, there is awareness of disease causing organisms, seen & unseen (Drishtam & Adirshtam). That may be  one reason why the learned-men were careful & selective  in their social intercourse. 

N.B- Those who are freely willing, without any second thoughts to share their tooth-brush , with kith & kin may condemn this post.

 Ebola: the return of cordon sanitaire

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/ebola-the-return-of-cordon-sanitaire/article6314845.ece

Donald G. Mcneil Jr.

inShare

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is so out of control that governments there have revived a disease-fighting tactic not used in nearly a century: the “ cordon sanitaire ,” in which a line is drawn around the infected area, and no one is allowed out.

Cordons, common in the medieval era of the Black Death, have not been seen since the border between Poland and the Soviet Union was closed in 1918 to stop typhus from spreading west. They have the potential to become brutal and inhumane. Centuries ago, in their most extreme form, everyone within the boundaries was left to die or survive, until the outbreak ended.

Plans for the new cordon were announced August 1 at an emergency meeting in Conakry, Guinea, of the Mano River Union, a regional association of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries hardest hit by Ebola, according to Agence France-Presse. The plan was to isolate a triangular area where the three countries meet, separated only by porous borders, and where 70 per cent of the cases known at that time had been found.

Officials at the World Health Organisation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which have experts advising the countries, say the tactic could help contain the outbreak but want to see it used humanely. Experts said that any cordon must let food, water and medical care reach those inside, and that the trust of inhabitants must be won through communication with their leaders.

The phrase cordon sanitaire , or sanitary barrier, appears to date from 1821, when France sent 30,000 troops into the Pyrenees to stop a lethal fever raging in Spain from crossing the border.

In Sierra Leone, large sections of the Kailahun and Kenema districts, an area the size of Jamaica, have been cut off by military roadblocks.

Inside the cordoned area of Sierra Leone and Liberia, alarmed residents have told reporters that they fear starving because food prices are rising. It is not clear whether plans to deliver food, water and care are under way. — New York Times News Service
 

Cordons, common in the medieval era of the Black Death, have not been seen since 1918

ARUNDHATI ROY , GANDHIJI, LAWYERS OF T.NADU & THE GREAT CASTE SYSTEM !!!

ARUNDHATI, GANDHIJI, LAWYERS & THE GREAT CASTE SYSTEM !!!!

(1) Caste System IS about the MOST BRUTAL SOCIAL HIERARCHY.
(2) Mahatma Gandhi is accepted by almost all Indians as the Father of the Nation.
(3) Mahatma Gandhi is a follower of Caste System, Arundhati Roy said in public at Trivandrum. (primary charge against her)
(4) Therefore action(?) has to be taken against Arundhati Roy.

Refer to the following link  regarding the origin of  the above four statements.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lawyers-forum-demands-action-against-arundhati-roy/article6299713.ece
 

Whom are the Lawyers attacking, Arundhathi Roy or The Great Caste System ? Whom are they trying to defend Gandhiji or Anti-Caste Movements ? Should majority of Indians (84%) give up their Caste !?This issue is thus very complicated.

Supporters of Freedom of Expressions, says Arundhati has the freedom as well as right to her own opinions, that in the past there were vehement criticisms against Gandhiji, and this incident is nothing new. Recently a Dalit women poet from Chennai MEENA KANDASAMY had written poems in ENGLISH criticizing and TRYING to project Gandhiji in poor-light. The poem is filled with hatred against Gandhiji. http://meenakandasamy.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/mohandas-karamchand/. Now where were these Lawyers and their Associations, when such open sacrilege was committed. Godse, Arundhati, Meena all can be yoked together. Godse fares better than them, because he belonged to a more tumultuous period, just after the Partition riots.

The Lawyers knowledge of Indian past is very poor. The must be forcibly taught the Indian sociological /anthropological/ historical accounts authored by CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. Reading between the lines from these accounts -written solely to discredit Hindu society and its institutions, -one can can clearly discern the greatness of CASTE SYSTEM.

News Report

The writer has allegedly accused Mahatma Gandhi as a follower of the caste system.

The Federation of Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has urged the Kerala government to initiate criminal proceedings against the writer and social activist, Arundhati Roy for accusing Mahatma Gandhi as a follower of the caste system.

Talking to reporters here on Saturday, Federation president P. Paramasivam said the social activist while delivering a speech at Thiruvananthapuram in July this year had belittled the Father of the Nation by stating that his doctrine of non-violence was based on the acceptance of most brutal social hierarchy, the caste system.

She had even questioned whether it was really needed to name the universities after him, which glaringly exposed the antagonism she had against the great soul of the country, he added.

“We hereby urge the Kerala government to initiate criminal proceedings against Arundhati Roy for her comments on Mahatma Gandhi. If they hesitate to respond within a reasonable time, the Federation will take up the issue to the Courts of Law through proper channel,” he added.

Earlier, a resolution urging the Kerala government to initiate criminal proceedings against her was passed at the Federations’ general body meeting. Other resolutions that were passed at the meeting include a monthly stipend for new advocates for two years from the date of their registration, reserving one-third of High Court judge posts for advocates practicing in the districts and filling up of vacancies in judicial officer-level and as well as subordinate staff-level in various courts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Mohandas Karamchand by Meena Kandasamy

Posted on June 1, 2008 | 16 Comments

(written after reading Sylvia Plath’s Daddy)
“Generations to come will scarcely
believe that such a one as this walked
the earth in flesh and blood.”
   —Albert Einstein
Who? Who? Who?
Mahatma. Sorry no.
Truth. Non-violence.
Stop it. Enough taboo.
That trash is long overdue.
You need a thorough review.
Your tax-free salt stimulated our wounds
We gonna sue you, the Congress shoe.
Gone half-cuckoo, you called us names,
You dubbed us pariahs—“Harijans”
goody-goody guys of a bigot god
Ram Ram Hey Ram—boo.
Don’t ever act like a holy saint.
we can see through you, impure you.
Remember, how you dealt with your poor wife.
But, they wrote your books, they made your life.
They stuffed you up, the imposter true.
And sew you up—filled you with virtue
and gave you all that glossy deeds
enough reason we still lick you.
You knew, you bloody well knew,
Caste won’t go, they wouldn’t let it go.
It haunts us now, the way you do
with a spooky stick, a eerie laugh or two.
But they killed you, the naked you,
your blood with mud was gooey goo.
Sadist fool, you killed your body
many times before this too.
Bapu, bapu, you big fraud, we hate you.
(First published in The Little Magazine)