The Washington Post - USA (2022-02-22)

A8 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 , 2022

The World

AUSTRALIA

International borders

are fully reopened

Australia on Monday fully
reopened its international
borders to travelers vaccinated
against the coronavirus after
nearly two years of pandemic-
related closings as tourists
returned and hundreds of people
were reunited with family and
friends.
More than 50 international
flights will reach the country
through the day, including 27
touching down in Sydney, its
largest city, as the tourism and
hospitality sectors look to
rebuild after getting hammered
by covid-19 restrictions.
Tourism is one of Australia’s
biggest industries, worth more
than $43 billion and employing
about 5 percent of the country’s
workforce.

But the sector was crippled

after the country shut its borders

in March 2020.

S killed migrants,

international students and

backpackers have been allowed

to fly into Australia since

November in a staggered

reopening exercise.

— Reuters

EUROPE

Death toll from major

storms increases

Northern Europe has been

battered by its third major storm

in five days, with heavy rains and

high winds killing at least two

more people, disrupting travel

and prompting hundreds of

flood alerts across a region still

recovering from last week’s

hurricane-force winds.

Storm Franklin pushed in

from the North Atlantic on

Sunday afternoon even as crews

worked to clear fallen trees and

restore power to thousands of

customers hit by storms Dudley

and Eunice last week.

Heavy rains and high winds

swept across Northern Ireland

and northern England on

Monday before moving on to

France.

England’s environment

agency issued more than 300

flood warnings and alerts and

train operators urged people not

to travel.

In France, a couple in their 70s

died Sunday after their car was

swept into the English Channel

near a small town in Normandy.

The couple had called for help,

but it did not reach them in time.

At least 14 people have died

across Europe during a week of

wild weather that meteorologists

say is being fueled by an

unusually strong jet stream over

the North Atlantic.

The storms have left hundreds

of thousands of people without

power and triggered local

flooding and evacuations as high

winds ripped the roofs off

buildings.

— Associated Press

Politicians, journalists slam

Pakistan’s cybercrimes law:

Pakistan’s political opposition

and journalist community

Monday rejected a tough new

cybercrimes law approved by the

country’s president that

enhances jail terms for social

media users convicted of

disseminating “fake news.” The

development came a day after

President Arif Alvi approved the

Prevention of Electronic Crimes

(Amendment) Ordinance,

enhancing jail terms from three

to five years for people convicted

of spreading “fake news” on

social media. Suspects arrested

under the law will not be entitled

to bail during trial. The

legislation takes effect

immediately.

Mount Etna erupts in Italy:

Mount Etna has roared back to

spectacular action after a few

months of relative quiet, sending

up a 7.5-mile high volcanic ash

cloud over eastern Sicily. The

lava flow from Etna, one of

Europe’s most active volcanoes,

was centered on the crater on the

mountain’s southeast slope,

Italy’s National Institute of

Geophysics and Vulcanology said

Monday. There were no

immediate reports of injuries or

property damage on the

inhabited towns ringing the

slopes of the volcano, which is

popular with hikers, skiers and

other tourists.

Slovakia honors slain

journalist, fiancee: Slovakia

marked on Monday the

anniversary of the 2018 slayings

of an investigative journalist and

his fiancee by unveiling a

monument to honor them at a

central square in the capital of

Bratislava. Jan Kuciak and

Martina Kusnirova, both 27, were

shot dead at their home in the

town of Velka Maca, east of

Bratislava, on Feb. 21, 2018.

Kuciak had been investigating

possible government corruption

when he was killed. The killings

prompted major street protests

and a political crisis that led to

the government’s collapse.

Search expanded in Greek ferry

fire: Fire service rescuers

expanded a search Monday

inside a burning ferry anchored

off the Greek island of Corfu

where 10 people remain missing.

The fire on the Italian-flagged

Euroferry Olympia is burning for

a fourth day. The body of a Greek

man was discovered inside the

ship Sunday. A total of 281

people were rescued.

— From news reports

DIGEST

BY NIHA MASIH

neem ka kheda, india — On a
hot February afternoon, as
Manoj Bairwa hoisted himself on
a horse for a wedding ritual with
people cheering, a creeping fear
gripped his heart.
In 1990, when his uncle rode a
horse similarly for his wedding
— an important rite for Indian
grooms — he was pulled from the
horse and beaten mercilessly by
men from higher castes. His
headgear was snatched and
clothes torn. For the next 32
years, no man from the village’s
small Dalit community dared to
ride a horse at his wedding.
“I had never even entertained
such a wish,” said Bairwa, a
24-year-old laborer with a wispy
mustache. “This was one of the
things that we were not allowed
to do.”
In India, grooms traditionally
ride a horse for pre-wedding
rituals and the wedding proces-
sion. But for men like Bairwa,
who belong to the Dalit commu-
nity, formerly untouchables, the
act can lead to violent reprisals:
Dalits are routinely attacked for
what upper caste groups see as
acts of assertion and equality,
including entering temples,
sporting mustaches and riding a
decorated wedding horse.
Now, local officials in Bundi, a
small district in the state of
Rajasthan in northwestern In-
dia, are trying to change that.
Last month, they began a pro-
gram to encourage members of
the Dalit community to use hors-
es for wedding processions by
providing them security and edu-
cating the villagers on caste dis-
crimination. Bairwa was one of
them.
Acts of violence against lower
caste groups are an “indictment
of the Indian society” that shows
that the dream of equality is still
out of reach, said Dhrubo Jyoti, a
Dalit commentator who writes
about caste. “The economic and
social prosperity in the country
has not brought about [the] erad-
ication of caste,” he said.
Dalits, who constitute nearly
17 percent of the country’s popu-
lation, are relegated to the bot-
tom rung of the caste system, a
discriminatory system of birth in
Hinduism. As a newly independ-
ent nation, India adopted a con-
stitution in 1950 abolishing un-
touchability, but caste discrimi-
nation remained entrenched in
society. The problem is not limit-
ed to rural areas, persisting in
cities as well, studies show.
In 2020, a crime was commit-
ted against Dalits every 10 min-
utes, according to the country’s
most recent crime statistics.
“Laws are not enough,” said Jai
Yadav, the district police official
in Bundi who launched the ini-
tiative. “We have to change the
mind-set.”
Yadav’s team created what it
calls equality committees in doz-
ens of villages in the district,
composed of members of differ-

ent castes and village-level offi-

cials. He said experience showed

that providing security during

the wedding was not enough.

The families could face harass-

ment later. “Now, by including

the community, we have made it

a collective effort,” Yadav said.

Since the project launched in

late January, it has helped 15

Dalit grooms ride a horse as part

of their wedding celebrations.

The state government has taken

note of the program, and Yadav is

hopeful that it will be replicated

across the state.

“This is one step towards

equality,” one groom declared in

an interview with the Indian

Express. Another man sent Yadav

a photo of himself atop a horse

with a crown emoji on his head

and captioned it “King.”

The same week Bairwa got

married, the home of a Dalit

groom 200 miles away in the

neighboring state of Madhya

Pradesh was pelted with stones

by upper caste groups. The tent

erected outside the home was

destroyed, and the food prepared

for guests was ruined. Six people

were injured in the attack.

Rajesh Ahirwar, the groom,

said he and his family members

hid inside the house for half an

hour during the attack. The up-

per-caste men had warned Ahir-

war against riding a horse and

hiring a DJ, but he had refused to

back down.

“It’s our right. Why should we

not?” Ahirwar asked. “Someone

has to step forward and make a

start.”

Jyoti, the Dalit commentator,

said Dalits asserting themselves

and claiming their rights trigger

pushback from upper castes.

“It is important for upper

castes to hold on to social domi-

nance at a time when the eco-

nomic and social mobility of

Dalit people is threatening the

caste order,” he said. The most

visible aspects, Jyoti said, of this

social dominance are in matters

of religion, customs and marriag-

es.

Besides abolishing untouch-

ability, successive governments

have introduced legislation to

curb caste-based violence and to

provide lower caste groups op-

portunities they were denied for

centuries. Still, the national

crime bureau recorded a 17.5 per-

cent uptick in caste crimes be-

tween 2018 and 2020.

In Neem Ka Kheda, a village in

India’s hinterland, signs of prog-

ress and prosperity are visible.

Dirt tracks have given way to

paved lanes. There is round-the-

clock electricity. A large govern-

ment school looms at the en-

trance of the village. Most homes

are made of brick and mortar.

Modernity has also meant that

young men now wear jeans and

watch Marvel movies on You-

Tube. While clothes and smart-

phones have been easier to adapt

to, beliefs have not. The lives of

many Dalits are still marked by

things they cannot do.

Leeladhar, Bairwa’s younger

brother, and Hemant Singh have

been friends for years. The two

sat next to each other in school

and now study at a local college.

The young men have the same

haircut — a neat comb-over in

the front, a close crop at the back.

They play cricket in the evenings

with men of all castes.

But neither has ever eaten

meals at the other’s home. “We

aren’t supposed to do that,” said

Leeladhar, 20. “He is from a

higher caste.”

Inequality persists even in

death. At burial grounds, sepa-

rate enclosures are marked for

the lower caste groups, locals

said. Bairwa’s sister-in-law, Kavi-

ta, a young woman dressed in a

veiled red dress for the wedding,

said that many people wash the

hand pump used to draw water

after Dalits use it.

The village equality commit-

tee set up by the administration

held four meetings to educate

and create awareness on the

issue among villagers before

Bairwa’s wedding. One of the

members, Ram Prasad, a former

village headman from an upper

caste, said the initiative would

break the taboo associated with

the act.

For the pre-wedding ritual, a

small van fitted with a DJ kit

blared popular hits as Bairwa’s

friends and family danced with

abandon. Dressed in slim-fit

pants and a waistcoat, Bairwa sat

on a horse fitted with a red

saddlecloth and neon pompoms

to mark the occasion.

For two hours, under the

watch of a few plainclothes po-

licemen, the wedding party criss-

crossed the village, including

passing the road where Bairwa’s

uncle was beaten decades ago.

Members of higher castes walked

alongside to show their support.

On the way, Prasad invited

Bairwa inside his home for a cup

of tea as villagers watched. Bair-

wa also stopped at a temple that

Dalits have traditionally not

been allowed to enter.

At the end of the ceremony,

Bairwa was relieved and thrilled

at the many firsts. “It felt great!”

he said. “I felt respected. What

else do we ask for?”

The family plans to rent a

horse again for an upcoming

wedding. Next time, Bairwa said,

with a wry smile, “I will dance.”

A ritual

in India,

claimed

for all

Effort challenges notion

that s ome traditions are

only for higher castes

PHOTOS BY NINA MASIH/THE WASHINGTON POST

T OP: A cousin takes a

photo with Manoj

Bairwa during a pre-

wedding procession this

month in Bundi, India.

Riding a horse is

tradition for Indian

grooms, but Dalits have

long faced caste

violence when they have

tried to take part in the

ritual. Now, local

officials in Bundi are

trying to change that.

ABOVE: Bairwa with

family members before

the wedding.