Namantar Andolan

Namantar Andolan was started by Dalit Panthers. Namanter Andolan is a movement to change Marathwada University's name^[1] to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University.

History

Marathwada is made up of five districts — Aurangabad, Parbhani, Beed, Nanded and Usmanabad — out of 28 districts that were part of the earlier Hyderabad state ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Marathwada part of the state was merged with Maharashtra after its trifurcation in 1956. As per the 1971 census,the population of this region was 8,058,347. This consisted of 80% Hindus; 9.52% belonged to Scheduled Castes; 11.8% Muslims, 7.2% Buddhists, and the rest were of other communities.

Marathwada is an economically backward region of the state. 82% of the people are occupied in farming, as against the figure of 65% for the whole state. At that time (1971 census), industrial activity was almost nil, with only two persons out of 1,000 engaged in industry compared to 100 industrial workers out of every 1,000 in Mumbai. Further, Dalits comprised about 17% (9.5% of Scheduled Castes and 7.2% of the population compared to about 12% for the whole of Maharashtra. About 75% of the Dalit population consisted of farm labourers, and 90% of the Dalit lived below the poverty line. The literacy rate among the Dalits in Marathwada was about 19% as compared to the general literacy rate of 35%. Among the Dalits, the Mahar community was supposed to be relatively better off and socially more conscious and with a higher rate of literacy.

Unemployment was a severe problem in Marathwada. For example, on 23 March 1974, 2,000 youths who came to Parbhani town looking for jobs were told that only 40 posts were to be filled up. There was no scope for the youths in farming or in industry. Thus education was the only field where there was a concentration of Dalit youths.

Dalit Panther Days

After one united march with Panthers there was a split in the students' advisory committee, allegedly provoked by Panthers. The differences of opinion among the leaders of the committee were also caused by the meeting they had with Vasantrao Patil. Those opposing the renaming move organized themselves under the banner of 'Marathwada Vidyarthi Kriti Samiti'. This Samiti gave a call of colleges in Marathwada remained closed from 12 to 26 September 1977. The Samiti also organized a total Marathwada bandh on 19 September.

References

1. ^ Das, K. C. (2004). Indian dalits: voices, visions and politics. Global Vision Publishing Ho. pp. 19. ISBN 9788182200463. http://books.google.com/books?id=GM1vywevuPEC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=%22Namantar+Andolan%22&source=bl&ots=91VrXD5gtL&sig=hwwgerqsjoxJfi_PfmiEA_7dTXY&hl=en&ei=rOtIS4v7IYn-tAPG1KH1Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Namantar%20Andolan%22&f=false. Retrieved January 9, 2010.