The Ekta Club comes of age

"...Thirty two per cent of Punjab's population is Dalit, the highest proportion in the country, and inter-caste friction is often sparked by rival claims to village resources. Yet, activists say, most violence slips beneath the radar until the conflict spirals out of control; in part, because the police are reluctant to register complaints under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. In 2009, for instance, 1,300 mostly Dalit landless labourers were arrested when the administration cracked down on an agitation for homestead plots for poor families evicted from panchayat land. In 2003, two clashes broke out - one over the control of the finances of a shrine in Talhan, Jalandhar and the other over the right to till common land in Hasanpur in Sangrur. In Matoi, a routine exercise in rubberstamping has turned into a public confrontation between dominant castes entrenched in Punjab's bureaucracy and the Ekta Club, a group of 10 young Dalit women, all aged between 18 and 24, who assemble each week at Sandeep's beauty parlour. On the streets, a crowd of Jat men hums with quiet menace; at the auction, the Jat sarpanch of Matoi sits alongside Jat officials and Jat policemen. The two Dalits present say they are here to make bids with their own money..."