18 June, 2008
“Only
Ash Knows The Experience Of Burning”
By Dr. Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal & Dr. Jai Prakash Kardam
An Interview with Dalit Writer Jai Prakash Kardam
06 June, 2008
Gujjars
Of Rajasthan And S.T. Status
By Dr Javaid Rahi
This article examines whether the
ST demands of Gujjars of Rajasthan is a genuine one and is it falling
within the criteria of ST status as provided by Schedule Tribes Act
19 April, 2008
Dalits In
U.P. Face Hunger Deaths And Suicides
By S.R.Darapuri
When George Bush is admonishing India for eating
too much, Dalits in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh face hunger deaths
and suicides
18 April, 2008
The
Tikait Treatment
By Ravikiran Shinde
Jat leader Mahendra Singh Tikait
finally surrendered meekly before the court after resisting arrest by
UP Police. The dust has finally settled two weeks after his castiest
remarks but it has raised a serious question. How 'normal' is the casteist
abuse in day to day life of Dalits? If a chief minister can be abused
publicly, what does it speak of common Dalits?
04 April, 2008
Mayawati's
Burgeoning Wealth: Who Gains?
By S.R.Darapuri
In April, 2007 while filing her
nomination papers for Assembly elections Mayawati had declared her assets
to be worth Rs. 52 crores. While filing her income tax return for the
assessment year 2008-09 she estimated her income to be Rs. 60 crores
and had deposited Rs. 15 crores as advance tax. The actual income is
likely to exceed this estimate at the end of this financial year. Now
the question arises as to what are the sources of her income and what
are the consequences of this amassing of wealth by her. It is also pertinent
to discuss as to apart from Mayawati who else are the beneficiaries
of this money game. What is the loss and gain of Dalits in this game
of exchange of money?
26 Februay, 2008
What
Reservation Implies?
By Amit Chamaria
"Caste reveals work or work
reveals Caste"-these seem to be different in writings but are still
carrying a similar message for the prevailing complex realities in a
country like India. This fact is clearly reflected when the Central
government and the Haryana state government associate the caste identity
closely with work or vice- versa. It means - if some one belongs to
a lower caste, he/she is bound to work as Safai Karamchari or very similar
to this avocation
11 Februay, 2008
Stuck In A Hole
By Ashok Bharti
Despite committees, schemes and five-year plans,
manual scavenging thrives in India. Ashok Bharti tells the story of
failed reforms
21 Januay, 2008
Norwegian
Medicine For Vedanta
By Kavaljit Singh
At the face of protest from the
Dongria Kondh tribals of the Niyamgiri hilly region of Orissa Norwegian
sovereign fund sells off its stake in Vedanta Resources which was preparing
to build the upcoming $850 million aluminium refinery and bauxite mining
project at Lanjigarh
18 December, 2007
Manual
Scavenging: Nations Shame
By Sunil Kuksal
Despite laws abolishing the inhuman
practice of manual scavenging, over a million dalits in ‘superpower
India’ are caught in a vortex of severe social and economic exploitation.
Cleaning and carrying headloads of human excreta, these ‘night
soil’
17 December, 2007
The
Adivasi Question In Assam
By Moirangthem Prakash
Recent violence involving Assam's
adivasis highlights the region's uniquely complex realities
05 December, 2007
Ambedkar
As A Human Rights Defender
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Ambedkar championed the cause of
the down trodden. But to confine him to mere as a leader of Dalits will
do him great injustice. He was the most accompalished political leader
and philosopher among his contemporaries.No human rights discourse in
India could be complete with out detailed discussion on the outstanding
work of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar
05 November, 2007
Equal Rights
And Opportunities
By Nishikant Waghmare
Why the upper castes are not interested in giving
up caste? Because caste (jati) helps him to exploit his fellowmen better
— as it has a theological sanction under the Hindu religion. In
the jungle of Hinduism this law has the blessings of its sacred scriptures.
That is why in India wealth is getting accumulated in the bands of top
10% to 15% of the upper castes and the rest are getting pauperised.
And yet there is no public debate on the merits of caste anywhere, not
even among our university eggheads
25 October, 2007
Is It Emancipation
Or Elimination Of
The Scavengers In Laar Town (Deoria)
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
In the eastern Uttar-Pradesh, they do not use the
term Balmikis/Valmiks for the sweeper. Instead there are people from
the communities of Rawats, Bansfors, Helas, Mehtars who are engaged
in scavenging work. Many of the women narrated their plight and how
they wish to get out of the scavenging hell
12 October, 2007
Hated, Humiliated,
Butchered
By Mahasweta Devi
The mob murder of Nats in Bihar was no accidental
atrocity, writes an outraged Mahasweta Devi. It was the consequence
of preserved brutalities
07 October, 2007
Dalit Theology
By Sathianathan Clarke & Yoginder Sikand
Sathianathan Clarke talks about what Dalit Theology
means to him in an interview with Yoginder Sikand
02 October, 2007
In Conversation
With Mr Bhagwan Das
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
'It is good to break and bad to continue with a
tradition that has subjugated the Dalits'
27 September, 2007
Land After Thirty
Years Of 'Entitlement'
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Story of Land Reclamation of Dalits in village
Rupchandrapur
13 August, 2007
Tsundur : A
New Milestone In
The Movement For Dalit Emancipation
By Subhash Gatade
As rightly noted by an analyst the victory ( albeit
a partial one) at Tsundur has come as breath of fresh air in the already
smouldering world of dalit oppression. And it is high time that its
fragrance is spread far and wide, so that people are told that oppressed
people united would always be victorious
25 July, 2007
Hungry World
Of Dalits In Poorvanchal
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Four districts of Poorvanchal (Eastern Uttar-Pradesh)
namely Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria and Gorakhpur witness the dance
of death every year. Two of these district Kushinagar and Gorakhpur
were selected for the NREGA programme while Maharajganj has also been
selected for the same from this year. All these districts saw a large
number of deaths due to hunger and malnutrition despite all these programmes
16 July, 2007
Will Dalit
Christians Get Justice?
By M. Madhu Chandra
After constitutional denial of Scheduled Caste
origins converted to Christianity and Muslims after the Presidential
Order 1950, a million dollar question remains in the minds of Indian
Dalit Christians "Will the Judicial system of India give justice
to Indian Dalit Christians now after 57 years of injustice done to them?"
03 June, 2007
India's Lower
Castes
By Nishikant Waghmare
An empowered India bereft of the respect for women,
values of civilised existence and morality will collapse in the face
of the disaffection and discontent of those who have suffered for centuries.
Day in and day out we take pride in claiming that India has a 5000-year-old
civilization. But the way the Dalits and those suppressed are being
treated by the people who wield power and authority speaks volumes for
the degradation of our moral structure and civilized standards
01 June, 2007
The Only
Solution To Reservation Imbroglio
By Satinath Choudhary
100% reservation for all segments of the society
(as far as practicable) is the best way for amicable and peaceful coexistence.
Otherwise a segment that has bigger control over power will succeed
in appointing larger and larger percentage of its members to positions
of power leading to what we currently see in the judiciary, armed forces
and the media
20 May, 2007
India's Political
Quake- Mayawati
By Ravikiran Shinde
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is the
winner. After handsomely winning the assembly elections in the biggest
state in India, she has declared that she is on her way to capture "Delhi"
and that plans to give UP the best government and Sarvasamaj (all sections
of the society) the power to share with her
12 May, 2007
Defining Moment
Of Dalit Empowerment
In Uttar-Pradesh
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Dalits defeats Hindutva with the help of Brahmins:
Will it work?
09 May, 2007
Dalits, Panchayat
Raj And Power Equations
By Goldy M. George
It is evident that the upper castes controlled
the affairs of the village cannot tolerate the changes being brought
about by the decentralized democratic institutions. In the backdrop
of such incidences an array of question raises with reference to Panchayat
Raj vis-à-vis Dalits. The initial prediction of decentralization
envisioned through Panchayat Raj hasn’t become a reality. It also
tells us how Panchayat Raj is utilised as a tool of disempowerment of
Dalits and consolidation of caste system
02 May, 2007
Mandal II:
The Struggle For
An Egalitarian Society
By Feroze H. Mithiborwala
India is again in the midst of an OBC upsurge and
this "MANDAL II" has been instigated and provoked by the Supreme
Court Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and Lokeshwar Singh Panta.
This two bench judgement has issued an interim order staying the Reservations
of OBC's in higher educational institutions and this has sent convulsions
across the political and social landscape
24 April, 2007
Get Under Society’s
Skin
By Gail Omvedt
The Supreme Court’s recent decision and reiteration
to stay the order regarding OBC admissions until accurate data is available
has brought forth the expected reactions. Defenders of ‘equality’
won by ignoring caste are hailing it; proponents of reservations are
trying to put on a brave face. But in one way, the decision is helpful:
the Supreme Court has given cogent arguments for the need for information
to underlay policy. However, what many of the opponents of reservations
may not appreciate is that this brings up squarely, once again, the
argument for a caste-based census
19 April, 2007
Status Of Manual
Scavengers In Laar, Deoria
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Time has come for all of us to scrutinize government's
programmes and action to eliminate manual scavenging and take the officials
of the department to task. India's 9% growth rate or shining India is
absolutely farcical if this large community remains outside the ambit
of global change
13 April, 2007
Valmiki's Illustrious
Son Challenges The Hegemony Of
Knowledge And Merit In India
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Profile: Dr Bachchu Lal Valmiki
31 March, 2007
Mandal
Will Have The Last Laugh
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Shockingly, the judgments in the past few years
reflect of the growing trend to keep the middle classes happy. We have
judges who speak for Hindutva terming it as a way of life. We have a
former Supreme Court Judge who did not implicate a single politician
in the anti Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984 and later became a Member of
Parliament against all the ethics of impartiality of an institution.
Right to Strike was also banned by the Kerala Highcourt, which was appreciated
by the media and industries
27 March, 2007
Touch Me
Not
By Chandi Sinnathurai
Nazism was based on racial purity and superiority.
The system of Casteism determines a human’s destiny purely on
the basis of caste. If Nazism and slavery were abolished, why then Casteism
cannot be demolished and its evils uprooted?
24 March, 2007
The Case
Of Academic Complicity In The Violence
Against Dalit And Dalit Women In India
By Abhinaya Ramesh
I wish to suggest to the UN related researches
that unless sufficient scrutiny is not done by the respective authorities
such reports should not be published because they are intentionally
crammed with deceived information to create the confusion and further
delay in the justice to the relevant communities
25 February, 2007
Status
Of Manual Scavengers
In Gorakhpur, Uttar-Pradesh
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Ram Bhuvan & Kirti Singh
Scavenger community has all along been living in
the urban areas serving the middle classes, upper elites, feudal lords,
Hindus and Muslims every one alike, yet none of them ever bothered whether
they have cared and bothered about those who clean their shit, enter
deep into the sewage pit to continue the sewage line. In the coming
days, we are going to cover a large part of Uttar-Pradesh and bring
reports on this aspect
16 February, 2007
Dr.
B.R.Ambedkar’s Contribution
To Buddhist Education In India
By Nishikant Waghmare
Buddhism makes enlightenment the sole aim of life.
This was the philosophy that Ambedkar accepted and tried to revive.
Besides this there was another reason. Buddha, whose life and movement
Ambedkar had studied, was a believer of the educatability and the creativity
of the people. Under the influence of those teachings, the most rejected
peoples of India has once risen and uplifted their life as well as that
of the whole society. If that was once possible in India, it must be
possible again. He had a solid historical basis to trust India’s
ordinary folk as India’s future democrats
07 February, 2007
Debating
Discrimination, Differences
And Dissent In Our Part Of The World
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The issue of racial discrimination has been in
the news for quite some time. Some Indian pretended that they have been
discriminated against in Britain while rarely speaking that India does
not have its own house in order. Despite 60 years of independence India
has not been able to transform itself into a modern state
03 February, 2007
A Tribute
To M A Khan
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Remembering a man who committed his life for the
tribals of Sonbhadra
30 December, 2006
P.K. Mahanandia:
Salute To A Living Legend
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
A Dalit as India's cultural Ambassador in Europe
Democracy
And Reinforced Building
By Amit Chamaria
Almost 90% of decision- makers in the English language
print media and 79% in television are of the upper caste, although the
upper castes are about 16% of the country population; Brahmin alone
constitute 49% of this segment, and 71% of the total are upper caste
men
23 December, 2006
Shame, Not In
Doha But In India
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
I hope that India will grow simultaneously with
diversity and dissent in the coming years. How can a nation and a society
grow with such scandalous officials and reporters who criminalise the
sexual deformity of a person and whose fight for people's right confine
to the cases of certain high profile cases of page three parties, and
who continue to ignore the bigger issues of dissent and disgust in India
and whose ignorant reporters can simply call these dissenters as terrorists
or Naxalites, both clearly meant for Muslims and Dalits respectively
in the unofficial code of the officials too
20 December, 2006
Is Death Better
Than Life For
Mushahars Of Kushingar
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
While politicians in Uttar-Pradesh are preparing
for polls, the Mushahars, Bansfors and other such marginalized communities
think of meal next day
06 December, 2006
Khairlanji:
Conspiracy Of Silence
Government agency report agency report indicts
officials in Khairlanji massacre
04 December, 2006
Hindutva
Strategies And Dalit Movement
By Ram Puniyani
Book review of Vidya Bhushan Rawat's book "Ambedkar,
Ayodhya aur Dalit Andolan"
02 December, 2006
A New Dalit
Movement Emerging From Maharastra ?
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The uprising in Maharastra has a signal for the
self styled mainstream Dalit political leaders and parties. Mend your
ways or get lost as the young Dynamic Dalit leadership would emerge
out of a crisis from Maharastra. It is certain that incidents like Khairlanji
and Gohana would fuel the Dalit anger and turn them to streets. Out
of this anger and frustration would emerge a leadership which would
not compromise like their leaders
Why Are
Maharashtra's Dalits So Angry?
By Kalpana Sharma
Instead of looking at whether the protests by Dalits
against the Khairlanji incident and against the desecration of Ambedkar's
statue were "spontaneous" or part of an organised plan, we
need to understand the basis of this fury
01 December, 2006
Khairlanji’s
Strange And Bitter Crop
By Satya Sagar
The latest incidence of this ‘strange and
bitter crop’ was in Khairlanji, a small village in Bhandara distict
near Nagpur in the western Indian province of Maharashtra and a horrific
‘harvest’ it was too
18 November, 2006
Khairlanji
: All Nero's Brethren
By Subhash Gatade
Looking at the fact that a militant mass movement
has arisen to protest the killings, one can surmise that the legal wranglings
in the Kherlanji massacre would not lead us to a blind alley and the
perpetrators of the massacre would receive exemplary punishment. But
there is no guarantee that it would be the case
14 November, 2006
Khairlanji's
Dalit Victims Want
Justice With Dignity
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The fire of Khairlanji in Bhandara district of
Maharastra refuse to recede and has now entered in Delhi also
10 November, 2006
N.G.Uke:
Remembering A True Humanist
By V.B. Rawat & N.G.Uke
N.G.Uke, a great Ambedkarite, a friend and guide
died on November 4th, 2006 at his Vasant Kunj residence at the age of
82. Uke Saheb, as I would fondly call him was among the rare breed of
Ambedkarite who saw Baba Saheb and was selected by him as a scholar
though he had already got the same
31 October, 2006
An Open
Letter To Rajdeep Sardesai
By Ravikiran Shinde
If you feel you have been at fault, then better
be late than never. Cover the Kherlanji case and its legal proceedings.
Awake the people on the gruesome caste realities in India. Telecast
a half and hour program dedicated specially to Dalit atrocities every
week
19 October, 2006
Buddha
As Untouchable
By Raja Sekhar Vundru
Buddhism in India has a predominantly Dalit following,
as a result of the revival by Ambedkar. For this reason, it appears
that our society prefers to treat Buddha as an untouchable. In 2005,
this event, which attracted an estimated 10 lakh people to Nagpur, escaped
the national media attention
10 October, 2006
A Tribute
To Kanshiramji
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
If India's politics has grown through a radical
change with Dalit becoming the mainstream political force, the one man
who made is possible was Kanshi Ram. He worked diligently and religiously
to develop a cadre who could bring the party to National mainstream
and ultimately to the power in Uttar-Pradesh
30 September, 2006
Building
Up A New Movement Against Scavenging:
Tirunalveli's Dalits Show The Way
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Gram Udhayam is a great reflection of the power
and vision of Dalits all over India. Their achievement would definitely
help the communities living in other parts of the country to think about
their self and work for a socio cultural revolution that would free
from the bondage of the caste based discrimination
28 September, 2006
India’s
Shame: Some Unanswered Questions
From The Frontline Reports
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Those who create a fascinating world of ‘great’
social cohesion outside West Bengal should try to sneak into the den
and report independently on the conditions of Dalit in West Bengal.
Hiding the pathetic condition of Dalits in West Bengal and particularly
that of the scavengers is the bigger shame for India
27 Sepember, 2006
Mayawati:
"No Promises,
No Manifesto, Only Performance"
By Vidya Subrahmaniam & Mayawati
Mayawati: "The BSP is more a social revolution,
a political movement than a political party." - An Interview
24 September, 2006
Past As
Living Present: Calamity And Discrimination
By Subhash Gatade
Water is said to be a great leveler. But even the
ravaging flood waters which have created a havoc like situation in the
districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan just failed to crack
an age old structure - the walls between caste
21 July, 2006
Indian
Dalits: Law As Paper Tiger!
By Subhash Gatade
Thus India, a country of billion plus people, which
is itching to get a superpower status, which takes pride in its ancient
tradition and culture and whose elite goes gaga over the booming sensex,
rather presents a strange spectacle of a nation. But a close look at
the goings on within the society makes it clear that there is a disjunction
between the world of economics and the lifeworlds of its people. The
core of the society bears its encounter with barbarism in abundance
11 July, 2006
Ghettos
Of A New Kind-Autonomy And Discrimination
By Subhash Gatade
The heated debate revolving around ‘autonomy’ of AIIMS (
All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and its alleged ‘intrusion’
has papered over the quantum jump in the discrimination faced by the
reserved category students there. ‘Parts of AIIMS hostels are
turning into SC/ST ghettos. Reserved category students said they were
being “hunted out of the remaining rooms” by upper-caste
students and driven to two floors of the hostels.’
10 July, 2006
Racism
And Castiesm
By Jai Birdi & Indira Prahst
“Racism and Castiesm discussed at the World Peace Forum”
By Jai Birdi Chair, Ending Racism Casteism Working Group for World Peace
Forum and Indira Prahst, Race and Ethnic Relations Instructor, Department
of Sociology, Langara College
08 May, 2006
Reservation
Debate: A Great Opportunity
To Restrengthen Dalit Bahujan Alliance
By V.B.Rawat
It is time the Dalits, backwards, Adivasis come
together and give a fitting reply. Organise debates and debunk the upper
caste merit
22 April, 2006
War Against
Naxals In Chhatishgarh:
Will Brahmanical Alternative Work
By V.B.Rawat
If the government wants to tackle the Naxal threat
it has to introspect on its own position. It cannot deny tribals and
Dalit their legitimate right over their resources. If the state apparatus
continue to become more brahmanical by giving huge, palatial land to
the corrupt Babas while the marginalized languish of hunger and malnutrition,
nothing will move
18 April, 2006
Why Reservation
For OBC Is A Must
By V.B.Rawat
Let Reform mean breaking age old Brahmanical hegemony
31 March, 2006
Fake Dalits,
Bogus Tribals?
Whither Affirmative Action
By Subhash Gatade
While one is aware of the non filling of seats
meant for scheduled castes and scheduled tirbes in various institutions
of education and other employement opportunities, the filling of such
seats with fake dalits or bogus tribals is a phenomenon which has rarely
received the attention it deserves
20 March, 2006
Why
Do India's Dalits Hate Gandhi?
By Thomas C. Mountain
As Dalits organize themselves and begin to challenge
caste based rule in India, it behooves all people of good conscience
to start to find out what the Dalits and their leadership are fighting
for. A good place to start is with M.K. Gandhi and why he is so hated
by Dalits in India
02 March, 2006
Re-reading Periyar
By Ravikumar
There are many appelations attached to Periyar, the main one being the saviour of the Untouchables. But instead of debating whether we should accept ‘their god’ as ‘our god’, the question is whether Periyar deserves to be regarded as the saviour of the untouchables?
15 February, 2006
Exposing An Abhorrent Practice
By S Viswanathan
Review of "India Stinking: Manual Scavengers in Andhra Pradesh and their work" By Gita Ramaswamy published by Navayana
30 January, 2006
Dawn Of Dalit?
By Ashok K Singh
A three-day seminar held recently to debate and deliberate on introducing Dalit Studies in universities provided fascinating insights into the space this emerging but exciting area of research could occupy in higher education
08 December, 2005
Salam Bhimrao!
By Goldy M. George
The only way to salute Bhimrao is by truly standing against oppressive structure, for equality and justice
31 October, 2005
Stranger In Their Own Land
By V.B.Rawat
150 kilometer away from Vishakapattanam towards Orissa in the Akru Valley and Anantgiri Mandal areas, Malaria has emerged as a major epidemic killing about 2000 people in two months
25 October, 2005
Untouchability In A Flat World
By Kancha Ilaiah
My visit to the famous Wheaton College in Chicago to deliver two lectures on caste and untouchability was an eye-opening experience. It struck me how students remained ignorant of the world around them even in a globalised world. It is an alarming thought that these are the future citizens of the world
05 October, 2005
Ali Anwar's
Struggle
By Ali Anwar &Yoginder Sikand
Ali Anwar is the founder of the Pasmanda Muslim
Mahaz ('Marginalised Muslim Front'), Patna, Bihar, a union of several
Dalit Muslim and Backward Caste Muslim organisations. In this interview
with Yoginder Sikand, he talks about his involvement in the struggle
for the rights of the Backward Caste/Dalit Muslims
30 September, 2005
Ilayaperumal:
A Dalit In The Congress
By Ravikumar
An important Dalit leader L Elayaperumal died at
the age of 82 on September 9 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. What BP Mandal
did for the OBC-shudras, Elayaperumal did for the Dalits way back in
1969. However, given that Elayaperumal was a Dalit in the Congress,
his report was never implemented
28 September, 2005
Iyothee
Thass & The Politics Of Naming
By Ravikumar
Today, even uttering the name of Iyothee Thass
in the Tamil public sphere has become an act of a rebellion. The Dravidian
parties, communists and Tamil nationalists - nobody has any regard for
Thass. No wonder his name has been dropped from the National Center
for Siddha Research. This is an insult not just to Dalits but Tamils
as such
27 September, 2005
A New Order
For Today
By Chandrabhan Prasad
Strange as this might sound, several constituents
of Indian society are turning abnormal. Unnoticed by sociologists, this
exceptional phenomenon is taking place on a mass scale
23 September, 2005
Dalits In Pakistan
Book Review By Yoginder Sikand
Caste, the scourge of Hinduism, is so deeply entrenched
in Indian society that it has not left the adherents of Islam, Sikhism,
Christianity and Buddhism-theoretically egalitarian religions-unaffected.
So firmly rooted is the cancer of caste in the region that it survives
and thrives in neighbouring Pakistan, where over 95% of the population
are Muslims
10 September, 2005
Guilty Of Gohana-
In Search Of The Real Perpetrators
By Subhash Gatade
On 31 st August the town of Gohana witnessed burning
of 50-60 houses belonging to Valmiki community in broad daylight. As
it has been reported in the media a 1,500-2,000 strong of mob of upper
caste people mainly belonging to the Jat community attacked their houses
in a systematic manner
04 September, 2005
The Brahmanic
Conspiracy
By Revd. Barnabas Alexander & Dr. Kristoffson Somanader
Cultural/spiritual corruption came via the Brahmins
as they conspired to enslave the Tamils, inter alios, politically, intellectually,
and spiritually
Buddha, The
Feminist
By Chandrabhan Prasad
According to a UNICEF study conducted in 1984 in
Mumbai, out of 8,000 sex determination cases, where fetuses were terminated,
7,999 were of females. According to another study, in Jaipur alone,
about 3,500 female fetuses are terminated annually
23 August, 2005
Dalit Situation
In Tamil Nadu
By K. Nagaraj
Painstaking chronicle of the deprivations, discriminations
and atrocities faced by the Dalits in Tamil Nadu
17 August, 2005
Let's Talk Representation
If Reservation Is Against Merit
By V.B.Rawat
The supreme court verdict on the issue of unaided
minority institution gives a freehand to the people who have always
wanted the education to be the domain a few people and communities.
Unfortunately, these institutions serving in the name of minorities
will end up creating more brahmins for our country. The very purpose
of educating poor andminorities gets defeated
11 August, 2005
Reservations
In Private Sector:Not A Charity,
But A Social Necessity
By Dr. K. Vidyasagar Reddy
This concept of private reservation cannot be considered
as charity, but a right from a government that exposed its hollowness.
Further, it is a necessity as the government failed to create jobs to
its qualified aspirants
09 August, 2005
Dalit movement
At The Cross Road
By V.B.Rawat
It is time for us to provide our own democratic
secular progressive vision and rather then just work on an agitation
mode forever. We need to introspect and bring the last man into our
mainstream, otherwise these contradiction are powerful enough to destroy
the legacy of a powerful man, named as Ambedkar
23 July, 2005
Reservations-
By Merit or birth?
By Vimlaksh Gautam
The caste Hindus have to realise that reservation
is a direct result of our unkind past and it will take some adjustment
and understanding on their behalf when the SC/ST's feel confident enough
to pursue their progress without any state help
03 June, 2005
Cultural History
And Emergent Dalit Alternatives
By Goldy M. George
Dalits search for alternative media is in
fact the search for a counter-culture, that will stand as a paradigm
to protect human existence; re-write history and evolve a new culture
of love and caring
02 June, 2005
Education For
Wealth Creation
By Chandrabhan Prasad
Around 30 million Dalit and Adivasi children are
enrolled in thousands of primary schools. Out of them, 49.35 per cent
drop out before joining junior high school
22 May, 2005
Muslim-Dalit
Relations
By Gail Omvedt
A solid Dalit-Muslim alliance for the future should
be directed to building a prosperous, equalitarian, caste- and patriarchy-freeIndia
27 April, 2005
The Question
Of Dalit Human Rights
By Goldy M. George
The question of Dalit Human Right is not just a
matter of addressing the atrocities, but at large it corroborates to
the affirmation of land rights of Dalits, resisting the forces of globalisation,
communalism, casteism, patriarchy and so on. This paves the way for
collective action
23 April, 2005
A President
To Be Proud Of
By Mari Marcel Thekaekara
Interviewing the former President of India, K.R.
Narayanan, was an experience. One wanted his personal story to be incorporated
into the school syllabus, for Dalit children to have a role model. So
that they would be able to dream dreams beyond buckets and brooms...
19 April, 2005
Display Dalit
Power
By Chandrabhan Prasad
Compared to the American Blacks, the Dalits have
nothing but small grocery shops or manufacturing units here and there
which don't find any mention even in the community's media
12 April, 2005
Growing Discontent
Of Adivasis In Assam
By Kirti Mishra
Across Assam, the Adivasis face multiple deprivations
which have their root in the historic exclusion and denial of tribal
status to the community
22 March, 2005
No Land Even
For Burial
By C.K Janu ,Jaison Chacko & Subhash Gatade
"Adivasis are the real owners of land. Our
lands were snatched away from us. None of the governments came into
power in the state took any serious initiative to provide this land
back to these real owners." An interview with C.K. Janu, leader
of the indigenous people of Kerala
10 March, 2005
Sustaining
The Mutuality Of Life
By Goldy M George
An enquiry into the sustainable life style practices
of the dalit and tribal population in the Indian state of Chattisgarh
06 March, 2005
From Manu To
Manav
By Chandrabhan Prasad
There is a conflict brewing between the OBCs and
the Dalit in North India. But will it lead it to a historic alliance
between Brahmins and Dalits, asks Chandrabhan Prasad