India Hit by Another Wave of Violence Due to the Neglect of the Poor Under Globalization

May 30, 2007 (LPAC)--Angry protestors belonging to a major sub-caste among the Hindus have virtually shut down a part of western part of India. The spark that set the fire started off when the protesting sub-caste members in Rajasthan demanded shifting of their community from Other Backward Caste (OBC) category to Scheduled Caste list. The benefits from such a shift would mean more reserved jobs for that particular sub-caste. The state government, headed by the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), bereft of concerns, tried to break off the demonstrators by engaging police. Police shot at the demonstrators and the violence resulted in the death of at least 13 people, including that of a policeman.

The violence in Rajasthan, which may spread all over northern India,since the sub-caste exist in large numbers in northern India, followed a series of violence in Punjab two weeks ago, while India's northeast and a large swath of land where the Maoists operate have remained violent as well.

The splurge of violence now appearing all over India is the poisonous outcome of an economic policy of a weak Indian leadership who neglected the hundreds of millions of poor and farmland workers at the behest of a handful of skilled and educated people to show a rapid GDP growth.