Fwd: Include Madigas in BC list

[Abhijit K]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ZEST...@yahoogroups.com < ZEST...@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 17 Aug 2007 11:54:31 -0000
Subject: [ZESTCaste] Digest Number 1324
To: ZEST...@yahoogroups.com

There are 4 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Re: Dig 1323 -- PANCHAYAT RAJ
    From: Dr. K. Jamanadas

2. Re: Digest Number 1322
    From: Dr. K. Jamanadas

3. Backlog of cases causing concern: CJI -Probe ordered
    From: Jagatheesan Chandrasekharan

4. 'Include Madigas in BC list' (News)
    From: Tarun Udwala


Messages
________________________________________________________________________

1. Re: Dig 1323 -- PANCHAYAT RAJ
    Posted by: "Dr. K. Jamanadas" kjmnd...@sancharnet.in jamanadask
    Date: Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:18 am ((PDT))

Dear Friends,

"Is rising India a just society? If not, what must be done?", asks Mani
Shankar Aiyar and suggests remedy of strengthening Panchayat Raj.

I feel his cure is worse than the disease.

It makes a sad reading to know that responsible ministers think that
Panchayat Raj can alleviate problems of India, and they plan to give more
economic powers to panchayats and curb the powers of State government,
ostensibly because it works through beaurocracy . I beg to differ from them.

Panchayat Raj implementation was one of the three greatest blunders of
Rajiv Gandhi Raj, the others being lowering the voting age and opening lock
of Babari Masjid..

Panchyat System, a relic of ancient Brahminic India, is based on
Chaturvarna System of governance is one of the reasons of backwardness of
India, the other reasons being Joint family laws of Mitakshara -- condemned
by Dr. Ambedkar and village structure, which may gradually disappear if
mechanical farming is adopted..

Gandhi wanted village panchayats and asked for 'gram swaraj' and cow
culture. Whereas Babasaheb gave a call to leave villages and adopt modern
technology.

We have seen the atrocities committed by Village Panchayats, which is
nothing but another name for caste-panchayats.

It is pity that some moves are afoot to give these atrocious bodies even
some more judicial powers. If that happens, that would be a dooms day for
Dalits.



Thanks!
Dr. K. Jamanadas
August 16, 2007
.


================================

At 11:23 AM 8/16/2007 +0000, you wrote:
>ZEST 1323
>5. Is rising India a just society? If not, what must be done? (Mani Sha
>     Posted by: "Tarun Udwala" tarun....@gmail.com tarunudgir
>     Date: Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:13 am ((PDT))
>
>http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/15/stories/2007081554611300.htm
>
>
>Opinion - News Analysis
>
>Is rising India a just society? If not, what must be done?
>
>
>Mani Shankar Aiyar
>
>
>To make ours a truly just society, we should ally economic reforms to
>governance reforms through the panchayats so as to translate
>accelerated growth into 'inclusive growth.'
>
>The Arjun Sengupta Committee on the Unorganised Sector has just
>informed us that 83.6 crore (836 million) Indians live on less than
>Rs.20 a day, that is less than 50 cents a day, which is half way below
>the somewhat arbitrary 'poverty line' of a dollar a day drawn by the
>World Bank and other international institutions. Yet, as P. Sainath,
>The Hindu's Magsaysay Award-winning Rural Affairs Editor, has informed
>us in his brilliant articles and outstanding speeches, this is the
>same India which has the world's fourth largest number of dollar
>billionaires, whose combined wealth makes the India of today (forget
>tomorrow!) the second major economic superpower in the global economy
>of billionaires. According to Sainath, we fare rather worse when it
>comes to dollar millionaires, our global ranking falling to eighth.
>But when we drop below arabpatis, crorepatis and lakhpatis to the aam
>admi, Sainath finds that the phenomenal spurt in GDP growth rates in
>recent years, which will see us breaking the magic 10 per cent barrier
>this year, has raised the aam admi on the UN Human Development Index
>from 127th position all the way to the 126th position. So, around 20
>crore (200 million) Indians go to bed hungry every night. This is
>injustice indeed.
>
>More disturbing still, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, in his May 2007 lecture
>to the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies, pointed out that over the
>period of the first six Five-Year Plans — a stretch of about 35 years,
>given Plan holidays (as they were somewhat archly called) — the rate
>of growth of agricultural production consistently exceeded the rate of
>growth of GDP. Of course, we are talking here of the 'Hindu rate of
>growth.' Indeed, when during the 1980s the country first jumped from
>the 'Hindu' rate of growth to the new trajectory of 5.6 per cent
>annual average, agriculture still beat GDP by growing at 5.7 per cent.
>Thus, in the first 45 years or so of Independence, the first
>beneficiary of growth — high and low — was the kisan and the khet
>mazdoor. How significant this was for them might be gauged from the
>fact that they constituted between two-thirds and four-fifths of our
>population. The iconic status of Jawaharlal Nehru, now sneered at by
>our middle class and their spokespersons in the media, is
>fundamentally explained by the aam admi in Nehru's era having shot up
>from near stagnation to at least the 'Hindu' rate of growth. (For
>remember, the annual average rate of growth of India under the British
>in the first half of the 20th century was a mere 0.72 per cent). And
>the major governance reforms of the Nehru era — the integration of the
>princely states, land reforms (however halting and partial), tenurial
>reforms, the A.D. Gorwalla Committee on reforms in the cooperative
>sector, and S.K. Dey's Community Development, but, above all, the
>Balwantrai Mehta Study Group on Panchayati Raj — all were aimed
>directly at the poorest and most needy. In consequence, the growth of
>that abstraction called 'the economy' might have been sluggish but the
>exponential rise in the welfare of the poor was spectacular.
>
>State, the only hope
>
>The other spectacular consequence of Nehruvian socialism was the
>burgeoning of the middle class. The middle class has now outstripped
>its requirement of socialism (hence the vulgar kicking of the ladder
>up which it rose). But for those 836 million Indians surviving on
>under Rs.20 a day even six decades after Independence, the only hope
>of survival is the state. But not — above all, NOT — the state
>intervening through an indifferent bureaucracy but a state reaching
>the people through the intermediation of elected panchayats. Rajiv
>Gandhi's constitutional amendments have given us 2.5 lakh elected
>institutions of local government at the grassroots in both rural and
>urban India. To these, We the People of India (the rural people, not
>the beautiful people managing the Commonwealth Games) have elected 32
>lakh democratic representatives, responsive and responsible to those
>underprivileged 836 million Indians in their gram sabhas. Meanwhile,
>accelerated growth through economic reforms has given the Finance
>Ministry the wherewithal to channel the stupendous sum of Rs.81,000
>crore to rural development and rural welfare. But if even that
>gigantic sum of money has raised us only from 127th to 126th position
>on the U.N. Human Development Index, it is because the state still
>relies too heavily on the bureaucracy and, almost everywhere, is yet
>to genuinely empower the panchayats and nagarpalikas through the
>effective devolution of functions, finances, and functionaries. The
>2000-page, three-volume report on The State of the Panchayats — A
>Midterm Review and Appraisal which I tabled in Parliament last
>November is proof of both the enormous strides we have made in the
>last three years towards meaningful Panchayati Raj and of the long
>road we are yet to traverse.
>
>Therefore, to make ours a truly just society, my plea is that we ally
>economic reforms to governance reforms through the panchayats so as to
>translate accelerated growth into 'inclusive growth' — the overarching
>objective of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Let us, therefore, dedicate
>ourselves, at this commencement of the seventh decade of our
>Independence, to the greatest dream of the greatest Indian — the
>Mahatma's dream of Panchayati Raj — for that would be the true symbol
>of our having accepted his talisman of summoning to our minds when in
>doubt the poorest man we know and asking ourselves whether the step we
>propose to take will be of benefit to him for then, as Gandhiji said,
>our doubts will vanish and we will know the right path to take.
>
>(The writer is Union Minister of Panchayati Raj.)
>
>
>Messages in this topic (1)

Messages in this topic (1)
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2. Re: Digest Number 1322
    Posted by: "Dr. K. Jamanadas" kjmnd...@sancharnet.in jamanadask
    Date: Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:36 am ((PDT))



Dear friends,

It is an encouraging news of YSR welcoming Mayawati's Quota System.

Best part of scheme is that it is voluntary. So the business castes can
evaluate the relative costs of so called "inefficiency" caused by 'quota'
and balance that against the benefits that could be obtained by accepting
the quota.

As a matter of fact, when first time discussions were in progress last
year, a TV anchor had asked a business caste tycoon whether he would
consider the quota if financial sops were made available, and his reply was
that he would consider that.

I am pretty sure all business caste people would welcome it because, they
are naturally money oriented. Therefore, I had suggested that the Corporate
Income Tax must be increased to 55% (as it previously was for many years)
from the present 30%. And deduction allowed for the implementation of quota.

In the mean time, their annual reports must contain a mandatory column on
category like SC, ST, VJNT, OBC, Minority (Muslim, Christian and Buddhists)
and Others.

Andhra Pradesh welcomes Mayawati formula, today. Tomorrow  other States
would approve of it. But the Center with Chdambaram, Monteksingh and
Manmohan Singh would be the last people accepting it.

Let us congratulate YSR.

Thanks!
Dr. K. Jamanadas
August 16, 2007









===================================
At 12:28 PM 8/15/2007 +0000, you wrote:
>3. YSR welcomes Mayawati`s quota policy (News)
>     Posted by: "Tarun Udwala" tarun....@gmail.com tarunudgir
>     Date: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:54 am ((PDT))
>
>http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu2&subLeft=1&autono=294397&tab=r
>
>
>YSR welcomes Mayawati`s quota policy
>
>Bs Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad August 14, 2007
>
>
>
>Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on Monday said his
>government would study the policy of reservations in the private
>sector announced by the Uttar Pradesh government for possible
>implementation of a similar initiative in the state.
>
>"I welcome the initiative of 30 per cent reservations in those private
>enterprises that would receive government incentives as announced by
>Ms Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. We are welcoming it because there seems
>no possibility of becoming reservations a reality in the private
>sector in the normal course," he told the media.
>
>The chief minister said his government was collecting details
>regarding the Uttar Pradesh move and would look at the possibility of
>announcing a similar initiative in Andhra in the future.
>
>The Uttar Pradesh cabinet a couple of days back had announced the
>reservation policy for the private sector with 10 per cent quota each
>for scheduled castes, Other Backward Classes and economically backward
>in forward castes in the state.
>
>
>Messages in this topic (1)
>________________________________________________________________________

Messages in this topic (1)
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. Backlog of cases causing concern: CJI -Probe ordered
    Posted by: "Jagatheesan Chandrasekharan" sarva...@yahoo.co.in sarvajanow
    Date: Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:38 am ((PDT))

Backlog of cases causing concern: CJI -Probe ordered
  Filed under: General
Posted by: @ 12:38 am

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 16, 2007
  Backlog of cases causing concern: CJI
  Legal Correspondent
          "Judiciary has protected freedom and constitutional values"

K.G. Balakrishnan

    New Delhi: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on Wednesday voiced his concern over the mounting number of cases in various courts and consequent delay in dispensation of justice.
  Speaking on the lawns of the Supreme Court after hoisting the national flag, Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said, "In the past 60 years, the judiciary has played an invaluable part in safeguarding and protecting our freedom and constitutional values. It is the duty of both the Bench and the Bar to uphold India's constitutional values and I am proud to say that they have performed this duty with great diligence and assiduousness and would continue to do so." He said: "Enlarging the ambit of fundamental rights and encouraging public interest litigation have been the hallmarks of the Indian judicial system. This would not have been possible had the court not been aided and assisted by proficient and committed Bar, whose sensitive attitude towards the needs of the common man, the underprivileged and the destitute is laudable."
  He said that even as the courts in India, hearing the largest number of cases in the world, zealously guard the rights and liberties of the people, the arrears in cases continued to be on the rise. "This causes a great delay in deciding cases and results in justice being rendered inaccessible. Consequently, the people's faith in the judicial system begins to wane, because justice that is delayed is forgotten, excluded and finally discarded."
  Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said "it is imperative, therefore, to introduce innovative and creative solutions to tackle this hindrance." He said various High Courts had introduced 'evening courts,' 'mobile courts' and 'e-courts' to make justice accessible to the remotest areas. Introduction of a nationwide case management system might be initiated so as to reduce cost of litigation, reduction in arrears and efficacious justice delivery system.
  He said "the inadequate strength of the judiciary is another pressing concern and needs to be looked into at the earliest. This issue was examined by the Law Commission in its 120th report, yet the judicial system craves for more judges at all levels, especially at the level of the lower judiciary."
  He said the lower judiciary was hindered by inadequate infrastructure as well as poor working conditions in certain areas. "This is a pressing concern since most cases do not go beyond the lower judiciary. It is thus imperative to modernise the lowest rungs of the judicial system and introduce high quality and modernised training academies for the judges and lawyers."
  Solicitor-General G. E. Vahanvati said India was the only country in Asia which ensured that the Rule of Law prevailed and the fundamental rights of the citizens were guarded, the credit for which should go to the judiciary. Despite inadequate infrastructure such as court rooms, the judiciary had remarkably risen on every occasion to protect the fundamental rights.
  President of the Supreme Court Bar Association P. H. Parekh traced the role of the judiciary in protecting the Constitution and the rights of the citizens.
  Probe ordered




  Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered an inquiry into the footage aired by a TV news channel purportedly showing an alleged fake encounter in which the police shot dead a criminal even though he was about to surrender. Chief Minister Mayawati has directed the Crime Branch CID to complete the inquiry within a month.PTI
  comments (0)
  True Teachings of Ther Awakened One in His Own Words-6. Right Effort
  Filed under: General
Posted by: @ 12:29 am
    True Teachings of Ther Awakened One in His Own Words  6. Right Effort  NARRATOR TWO: These last three factors, right speech, action, and livelihood, constitute (the group of path factors) "virtue" (sila). They are known as the preliminary stage of the path. Now comes the sixth factor, right effort.

        FIRST VOICE:
"What is right effort? Here a bhikkhu awakens desire for the non-arising of unarisen evil unwholesome states, for which he makes efforts, arouses energy, exerts his mind, and endeavours. He awakens desire for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome states, for which he makes efforts … He awakens desire for the arising of unarisen wholesome states, for which he makes efforts … He awakens desire for the continuance, non-corruption, strengthening, maintenance in being, and perfecting, of arisen wholesome states, for which he makes efforts, arouses energy, exerts his mind, and endeavours: this is called right effort."
  SN 45:8; DN 22


  comments (0)
  08/15/07
  True Teachings of The Awakened One-To Prince Abhaya-(On Right Speech)- Fearless- The Awakened One explains to Janussonin four ways to overcome the fear of death.
  Filed under: The True Teachings of The Awakened One
Posted by: @ 11:48 pm
  True Teachings of The Awakened One

  To Prince Abhaya
  (On Right Speech)
   Fearless
   The Awakened One explains to Janussonin four ways to overcome the fear of death.
     Translator's Introduction  In this discourse, the Awakened One shows the factors that go into deciding what is and is not worth saying. The main factors are three: whether or not a statement is true, whether or not it is beneficial, and whether or not it is pleasing to others. The Awakened One  himself would state only those things that are true and beneficial, and would have a sense of time for when pleasing and unpleasing things should be said. Notice that the possibility that a statement might be untrue yet beneficial is not even entertained.
  This discourse also shows, in action, the Awakened One 's teaching on the four categories of questions and how they should be answered (see AN 4.42). The prince asks him two questions, and in both cases he responds first with a counter-question, before going on to give an analytical answer to the first question and a categorical answer to the second. Each counter-question serves a double function: to give the prince a familiar reference point for understanding the answer about to come, and also to give him a chance to speak of his own intelligence and good motives. This provides him with the opportunity to save face after being stymied in his desire to best the Awakened One  in argument. The Commentary notes that the prince had placed his infant son on his lap as a cheap debater's trick: if the Awakened One  had put him in an uncomfortable spot in the debate, the prince would have pinched his son, causing him to cry and thus effectively bringing the debate to a halt.
TheAwakened One  , however, uses the infant's presence to remove any sense of a debate and also to make an effective point. Taking Nigantha Nataputta's image of a dangerous object stuck in the throat, he applies it to the infant, and then goes on to make the point that, unlike the Niganthas — who were content to leave someone with a potentially lethal object in the throat — the Awakened One 's desire is to remove such objects, out of sympathy and compassion. In this way, he brings the prince over to his side, converting a potential opponent into a disciple.
  Thus this discourse is not only about right speech, but also shows right speech in action.


---------------------------------


  I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary.
  Then Prince Abhaya went to Nigantha Nataputta and on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Nigantha Nataputta said to him, "Come, now, prince. Refute the words of the contemplative Gotama, and this admirable report about you will spread afar: 'The words of the contemplative Gotama — so mighty, so powerful — were refuted by Prince Abhaya!'"
  "But how, venerable sir, will I refute the words of the contemplative Gotama — so mighty, so powerful?"
  "Come now, prince. Go to the contemplative Gotama and on arrival say this: 'Lord, would the Tathagata say words that are unendearing & disagreeable to others?' If the contemplative Gotama, thus asked, answers, 'The Tathagata would say words that are unendearing & disagreeable to others,' then you should say, 'Then how is there any difference between you, lord, and run-of-the-mill people? For even run-of-the-mill people say words that are unendearing & disagreeable to others.' But if the contemplative Gotama, thus asked, answers, 'The Tathagata would not say words that are unendearing & disagreeable to others,' then you should say, 'Then how, lord, did you say of Devadatta that "Devadatta is headed for destitution, Devadatta is headed for hell, Devadatta will boil for an eon, Devadatta is incurable"? For Devadatta was upset & disgruntled at those words of yours.' When the contemplative Gotama is asked this two-pronged question by you, he won't be able to swallow it down or
spit it up. Just as if a two-horned chestnut1 were stuck in a man's throat: he would not be able to swallow it down or spit it up. In the same way, when the contemplative Gotama is asked this two-pronged question by you, he won't be able to swallow it down or spit it up."
  Responding, "As you say, venerable sir," Prince Abhaya got up from his seat, bowed down to Nigantha Nataputta, circumambulated him, and then went to the Blessed One. On arrival, he bowed down to the Blessed One and sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he glanced up at the sun and thought, "Today is not the time to refute the Blessed One's words. Tomorrow in my own home I will overturn the Blessed One's words." So he said to the Blessed One, "May the Blessed One, together with three others, acquiesce to my offer of tomorrow's meal."
  The Blessed One acquiesced with silence.
  Then Prince Abhaya, understanding the Blessed One's acquiescence, got up from his seat, bowed down to the Blessed One, circumambulated him, and left.
  Then, after the night had passed, the Blessed One early in the morning put on his robes and, carrying his bowl and outer robe, went to Prince Abhaya's home. On arrival, he sat down on a seat made ready. Prince Abhaya, with his own hand, served & satisfied the Blessed One with fine staple & non-staple foods. Then, when the Blessed One had eaten and had removed his hand from his bowl, Prince Abhaya took a lower seat and sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "Lord, would the Tathagata say words that are unendearing & disagreeable to others?"
  "Prince, there is no categorical yes-or-no answer to that."
  "Then right here, lord, the Niganthas are destroyed."
  "But prince, why do you say, 'Then right here, lord, the Niganthas are destroyed'?"
  "Just yesterday, lord, I went to Nigantha Nataputta and… he said to me…'Come now, prince. Go to the contemplative Gotama and on arrival say this: "Lord, would the Tathagata say words that are unendearing & disagreeable to others?"… Just as if a two-horned chestnut were stuck in a man's throat: he would not be able to swallow it down or spit it up. In the same way, when the contemplative Gotama is asked this two-pronged question by you, he won't be able to swallow it down or spit it up.'"
  Now at that time a baby boy was lying face-up on the prince's lap. So the Blessed One said to the prince, "What do you think, prince: If this young boy, through your own negligence or that of the nurse, were to take a stick or a piece of gravel into its mouth, what would you do?"
  "I would take it out, lord. If I couldn't get it out right away, then holding its head in my left hand and crooking a finger of my right, I would take it out, even if it meant drawing blood. Why is that? Because I have sympathy for the young boy."
  "In the same way, prince:
  [1] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial (or: not connected with the goal), unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.
  [2] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.
  [3] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, but unendearing & disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them.
  [4] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.
  [5] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.
  [6] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, and endearing & agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them. Why is that? Because the Tathagata has sympathy for living beings."
  "Lord, when wise nobles or priests, householders or contemplatives, having formulated questions, come to the Tathagata and ask him, does this line of reasoning appear to his awareness beforehand — 'If those who approach me ask this, I — thus asked — will answer in this way' — or does the Tathagata come up with the answer on the spot?"
  "In that case, prince, I will ask you a counter-question. Answer as you see fit. What do you think: are you skilled in the parts of a chariot?"
  "Yes, lord. I am skilled in the parts of a chariot."
  "And what do you think: When people come & ask you, 'What is the name of this part of the chariot?' does this line of reasoning appear to your awareness beforehand — 'If those who approach me ask this, I — thus asked — will answer in this way' — or do you come up with the answer on the spot?"
  "Lord, I am renowned for being skilled in the parts of a chariot. All the parts of a chariot are well-known to me. I come up with the answer on the spot."
  "In the same way, prince, when wise nobles or priests, householders or contemplatives, having formulated questions, come to the Tathagata and ask him, he comes up with the answer on the spot. Why is that? Because the property of the Dhamma is thoroughly penetrated by the Tathagata. From his thorough penetration of the property of the Dhamma, he comes up with the answer on the spot." 2
  When this was said, Prince Abhaya said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the Sangha of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."


---------------------------------


  Notes
  1. A two-horned chestnut is the nut of a tree (Trapa bicornis) growing in south and southeast Asia. Its shell looks like the head of a water buffalo, with two nasty, curved "horns" sticking out of either side.
  2. This statement is apparently related to the more abstract statement in AN 4.24, that what the Tathagata knows is not "established" in him. In other words, he does not define himself or the awakened mind in terms of knowledge or views, even concerning the True Teachings of The Awakened One, although the knowledge that led to his awakening is fully available for him to draw on at any time.
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  True Followers of the Path shown by The Awakened One-Bhikkhu Bodhi on the role of the Community in todays's society
  Filed under: The True Followers of The True Path Shown by Awakened O
Posted by: @ 6:49 pm

  'Community'. And I hope that, in time, this is exactly what we shall have here. We are (I hope) a non-sectarian, non-denominational True Followers of the Path shown by The Awakened One.
  Tripitaka

  Bhikkhu Bodhi on the role of the Community in todays's society
  If you like to know what kind of monastic sangha I wish to live in, you find much of my thinking represented in the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi's arcticle given below. Bhikkhu Bodhi is one of the most respected living masters of the Pali Buddhist tradition. His teachings and translations are spreading widely due to the his integrity and profound understanding. Enjoy his writing! You might be surprised how actively engaged he is in society as a Theravadin monk: a great example to us want-to-be bodhisattvas! And he is not alone to take this stand in his tradition. (To download the file click here.) —
  The Community — the order of fully ordained monks and nuns — is the visible representation of the Awakened One in the world; for twenty-five centuries, it has sustained the continuity of the Dharma among humankind; by its procedures of ordination and transmission it ensures that the Awakened One's legacy remains alive. The presence of the Triple Gem thus depends upon the  community , which symbolizes the Third Gem, the  community of noble sages who have realized the ultimate, world-transcending truth. The  community  has survived for some 2500 years: that's longer than the Roman Empire, longer than all the dynasties of the Chinese emperors, longer than the British Empire. And it has survived without weapons, without financial resources, without armies, merely through the power of wisdom and virtue. However, there is no guarantee that it will continue to survive or that it will continue to make vital and important contributions to human life. This is a task that depends on
the members of the Sangha themselves, on each new generation of True Followers of the Path shown by The Awakened One, and this is an extremely important task, because the future of Buddhism depends on the future of the  community .
  As we know, the Community has always existed in close interaction with the lay community. The relationship between the two is one of interdependence and collaboration. In traditional , the laity provides the members of the Community with their material requisites — robes, food, dwellings, medicines, and other material supports — while the Community provides the lay community with teachings and with examples of those who lead lives fully dedicated to the True Teachimgs of The Awakened One. For the Community to continue, this relationship must be maintained in some form, but the changes taking place in society may well place this relationship on a new footing. The most weighty factor affecting the Community-laity relationship has been the transition, first, from a traditional social order to a modern social order, and then to a technological social order. Now the distinctive mark of this change is the shift from an emphasis on industrial production to the acquisition and
distribution of information. This shift has already taken place throughout the West and in the most advanced social strata in all countries around the world. It is sometimes characterized by saying that we are moving from the Industrial Era to the Information Era, from a production-based civilization to a knowledge-based civilization. The transition to an "information-intensive" society will alter the nature of the Community-laity relationship in radical ways, and these will challenge the Community to come forth with novel solutions to preserve the relevance of the Dharma. I make no claim to be a prophet, and I can't foretell the future in detail, but judging from present trends, I will try to sketch some of the more important challenges facing the Community as I see them.


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4. 'Include Madigas in BC list' (News)
    Posted by: "Tarun Udwala" tarun....@gmail.com tarunudgir
    Date: Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:43 am ((PDT))

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/16/stories/2007081653790400.htm


Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

'Include Madigas in BC list'

HYDERABAD: Mala Mahanadu State president Karem Sivaji urged the State
Government to remove the Madiga community from the list of Scheduled
Casts and consider them as Backward Classes, based on the traditional
occupation.

Mr. Sivaji in a memorandum faxed to the Chief Minister Y. S.
Rajasekhara Reddy on Wednesday said that successive Government's have
provided necessary funds for LIDCAP, which was started to help those
SCs, who eked out their livelihood by manufacturing footwear.

He said funds were allocated for the LIDCAP and leather parks for the
benefit of the Madigas but the Malas, who did not have any traditional
occupation continued to suffer. He also urged the Government to
provide assistance to the family of founder president of Mala Mahanadu
P.V.Rao and install a statue of the late leader in Amalapuram, where
he was cremated.


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Abhijit Meenakshi
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