The popularity of Bhojpuri music has grown to reach a wide audience, both in terms of listeners and watchers. Songs, in a sense, are a means through which cultural identities may be asserted. Bhojpuri songs promote certain prejudiced natures and settings in terms of gender, caste, class, and regions, among other categories. Some of the key aspects that are prevalent[Read More…]
The state is featured among the top five states having more number of atrocity cases against SCs and STs. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its annual report Crime in India 2021 captures the trends of crime in our country. The report contains crime against vulnerable sections such as women, children, senior citizens and SC’s and ST’s and others. As[Read More…]
Indra Meghwal a nine year old student of Sarswati Vidya Mandir, Jalore in Rajasthan was beaten by his teacher on 20th July 2022. The crime of this boy, was that he drank from the water pot reserved for his upper caste teacher. This is the version of Indra’s parents and classmates. Another version is being floated that the boy was[Read More…]
by Balmurli Natrajan and Raghav Kaushik Dr. Balmurli Natrajan is Professor of Anthropology at William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA. He works at the intersections of the material and the symbolic, of the biocultural and political economy, and of culture, cognition and practice. His key research and teaching foci fall into three domains: group formation & inequalities (caste, race);[Read More…]
Dr. Ambedkar is considered the father of Dalit politics. He raised the demand for political rights to the Dalits in the Round Table Conferences and despite Gandhiji’s strong opposition, the Dalits got the status of a minority class and political rights apart from the Hindus, which were announced in the form of Communal Award. In this, Dalits got the right[Read More…]
A screengrab from the video showing a dozen men lowering the dead body of N. Kuppan. Courtesy: India today, August 22, 2019. There are still cases “ where the dalits could not even carry the dead bodies across certain lands belonging to the people of the so-called higher castes,” lamented Justice R Mahadevan of the Madras High Court, reported last [Read More…]
But for the accidental reading of Shahu Maharaj’s letter to the retired Governor of Bombay presidency, Lord Sydenham, written in 1918, I would not have thought of writing this essay. In my life time experience of writing about the Brahmin-Bania power in contemporary times at the expense of life threats and cases in various levels of courts the Dwija pundits[Read More…]
Today I write to celebrate the full life of a Roman Catholic Dalit priest, Rev. Dr. P. Antonyraj SJ who passed away on 10th May. I was nineteen years old studying in St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli and staying in the hostel in Room No. 101, when I had several common mentors who moulded me in my college days like Fr. P.[Read More…]
Though IIT Kharagpur teacher Seema Singh has apologised for her abusive remarks against the students of SC-ST-OBCs in an online class, the matter does not end here. When the video of her abusive class went viral, I thought whether she was a teacher at the prestigious institution or an old caste prejudiced head master in some nondescript part of the[Read More…]
For Dalits now and backward castes then, from Phule to Periyar, while the education provided by the ancient natural philosophies like Budhism, modern egalitarian religions like Christianity, exploitative but ‘progressive’ British government and the independent India’s democratic government has been one of the prime factors in promoting consciousness of Dalits on their degraded social position, on their exclusion from knowledge,[Read More…]
“Inequality is the soul of Hinduism”. And that is why he finally came to conclusion that, “I was born a Hindu, but will not die a Hindu” (Dr. BR. Ambedkar) “Until 1990, Ambedkar was untouchable to all mainstream political parties’’ (Prof. Kancha Ilaiah) On the auspicious occasion of the 130th birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar (celebrated as the Ambedkar[Read More…]
This is part-1 of an article, being published to mark the Birth Anniversary on April 14, of Dr. BR Ambedkar (1891-1956). Referring to “a great deal of controversy” regarding the origin of caste, “as to whether it is due to the conscious command of a Supreme Authority, or is an unconscious growth in the life of a human society[Read More…]
I live next to a textile mill complex from an era long-passed. Today, the old stone buildings have been reduced to rubble and the trees that surrounded them, more than 100 in number have been felled. My tired senses don’t feel the same when I look out the window and see pale-grey, concrete walls. The sound of drilling, hammering, crushing[Read More…]
“I hear the lower castes are finding this lack of monsoons rather difficult for their crops,” droned Aashka’s father at their lavish supper (as usual), in the midst of her father’s normal dull conversing with the other Brahmins. The table was long and elegant and filled every night with rich Brahmins, such as Aashka’s family. Most of them were reserved[Read More…]
I kept watching the funerals of people killed by the brutal coronavirus in the global pandemic of Covid-19 on TV channels and read about them in newspapers. Those dead bodies who are described as Hindu are being quickly burnt without anybody around. The usual presence of the Brahmin priest to recite slokas are nowhere to be seen. Only the rich[Read More…]
On 25th May 2020, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man was murdered in police custody in Minneapolis, USA. A video showing a white police officer kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes while he was pinned to the floor went viral. Following this, large anti-racism protests took place with many white people also standing against racism and police brutality.[Read More…]
Caste plays a role at every stage of an Indian’s economic life: in school, university, the labor market, and into old age. The influence of caste extends beyond private economic activity into the public sphere, where caste politics determines access to public resources. Sure, there has been a convergence in education, occupations, income, and access to public resources across caste[Read More…]
Supreme Court’s order allowing the three accused of abetting murder of Dr Payal Tadavi namely Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal to complete their medical studies is deeply disturbing and indicating a trend where violence against Dalits and Adivasis seems to be happening with impunity. Dr Payal Tadvai belonged to adivasi community and worked harder to reach the stage[Read More…]
The recent Hathras incident of violence against a 19-year-old Dalit girl has boomeranged the relevance of caste question in academia and at least digital media. It has again illustrated the complex structure of violence against women, which places the Dalit woman at the absolute bottom. The unfolding of the debates, however, indicate an interesting trend of Savarna spokespersons from various[Read More…]
Recently Crime in India – 2019 report has been released by National Crime Records Bureau. In this report, in the year 2019, the statistics of crime of Dalit atrocities have been published for the whole country. It has emerged that Uttar Pradesh is far ahead in this. The Dalit population of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is the largest population in the[Read More…]
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted with a main objective to protect marginalised communities viz. schedule castes and tribes against discrimination and atrocities. Sec.3 of the said Act enunciates the nature of various acts committed against a schedule caste or a schedule tribe to constitute an offence punishable under the said Act. The said provision stipulates that any act which is[Read More…]
Introduction National Commission of Scheduled Castes and National Commission of Scheduled Tribes, both constitutional bodies constituted to protect and monitor implementation of safeguards to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been lying vacant at highest level for the past six months. Barring employees, there are no Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Members. The governing body is vacant. Both the constitutional bodies are[Read More…]
In early September, circles from the Bengali academia and Left political spectrum, strongly vocalized their seemingly disgruntled voices against the trolling of Professor Maroona Murmu, Assistant Professor from the Department of History at Jadavpur University. At the same time, many of them also claimed to be “astonished” at something of this nature happening in Bengal. Soon after my arrival in[Read More…]
ABSTRACT The recent incidents of Dalit oppression in Gujarat has got the attention of the entire country. Gujarat though known for its development and progress is still ruled by feudal laws, where sporting a moustache, wearing goggles, watching Garba, or even riding a bike offends the upper caste pride in this day and age. In nearly 50% of villages in[Read More…]
I was born a bania, a savarna or upper-caste, and that is why I was born a bad person. Let me explain. I am part of that minority for whom the benefits of the caste system far outweigh the costs (if there are any costs at all except for making me lazy, stupid, selfish, and arrogant by making everything in[Read More…]
In China there was a philosophical school called Agriculturism between 770 BCE and 221 BCE. The main philosopher, who represented this school with a sophisticated exposition of that philosophy, was Xu Xing (372-289 BCE). His main philosophy was that people’s propensity is based on farming than to any other thing. By the third and the fourth century BCE the Chinese[Read More…]
Does anybody still remember the Dalits of Chakwara, a village around 50km from Jaipur in Rajasthan, who had launched a struggle to gain access to the pond in their village? It is more than 18 years since the Dalits, supported by human rights organisations, won that fight for water. Their undertaking had echoes with the historic struggle launched by Dr[Read More…]
“Because of the ascendancy of lawlessness, Krishna, The family women are corrupted; When women are corrupted, O Krishna, The intermixture of caste is born. Intermixture brings to hell The family destroyers and the family, too; The ancestors of these indeed fall, Deprived of offerings of rice and water. By these wrongs of the family destroyers, Producing intermixture of caste, Caste[Read More…]
What happens to caste when Indians migrate to Western countries? Do their feelings of being born superior or inferior, their belief in the purity-pollution ethic, just melt away? The “model minority” has tried to avoid a conversation on this issue but it returns to haunt them time and again. Now the American state of California is at the centre of[Read More…]
In memory of Darshan Singh Canadian on martyrdom anniversary 
Europe’s Unquestioning Following of USA on Ukraine is as Harmful for its Own Interests as it is for World Peace 
Is the USA Scoring Self-Goals With Its Ukraine Policy? 
Should We Abolish Examinations? 
Rallies Across Africa Demand Global Action, Climate Justice Ahead of UN Summit 
A Peep into the spirit of China 
Breaching Human Rights: Australia, Climate Change and the Torres Strait Islands 
Leicester Spells “Communal” Tension For British Society? 
Ensuring Sri Lanka’s Compliance with UNHRC Resolutions 
Tribute to Justice O.Chinnappa Reddy on his birth Centenary 
Apologising to Bilkis Bano 
Who Scuttled the Ukraine Peace Process, and What Are the Future Prospects 
What can Unite India: ‘Hindu Spiritualism or ‘Unity in Diversity’? 
Messing Up the Bread Basket–Changes in Ukraine Farming Cause for Serious Concern 
Connecting the Dots Between Climate Devastation and Fossil Fuel Profits 
Understanding Libya’s Relentless Destabilization 
IMSD strongly condemns the repressive Iranian regime, questions the hypocrisy of the Muslim clergy in India 
Global People’s Assembly at the UN General Assembly: Over 1000 civil society groups propose bold steps to transform the world 
At least 31 Killed As Anti-government Protests Spread Across Iran 
Singing in the Shadows 
The Nightmare of Military Spending on an Overheating Planet 
Shoddy Consultations: Santos, Drilling and First Nations Peoples 
On the Subject of Book Banning, Can Burning be Far Behind? 
Will the United Nations Finally Deliver Justice for Palestine? 
The Arc of a Covenant 
Tribute to Ross Longhurst on 2nd death anniversary 
Nagarkovil Massacre of School Children 
Rural Workers Struggle for Proper Implementation of Jobs Scheme Ukraine War: Still a Cuban Missile Crisis in Slow Motion 
Is Mamata Banerjee a Poster Girl of RSS? 
Right to Food Campaign demands proper functioning of MGNREGA 
Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court 
Ukraine Crisis Escalates Sharply With More Aggressive Statements, Higher Mobilization 
Ukraine Update: Russia To Begin Partial Mobilization Paradigm for peace applied to Russia, Ukraine, and the US: Proposal for a peaceful pathway forward – Part 4S. Obtuse US and UK “experts” issue libelous statements re: Putin’s concept of unity 
Right to Bodily Autonomy v/s Right to Life: Is there a just half-way? 
Offence by Another Name: Suppressing Anti-Royal Protest in Britain 
Truth to the Powerless: Newly Released Critical Docuseries on Canada’s Foreign Policy 
Suppression of contrarian voices 
What Do Americans Care About? Not a Cold War With Russia and China 
Havoc and misery caused by recent floods in Bengaluru, Pakistan and Assam are not only natural disasters but are man made and due to climate change. Over exploitation of urban land and water resources by greedy private real estate developers perhaps the chief cause of floods. Media relentlessly focused on flooded upscale villas, their swanky automobiles of super rich in[Read More…]
Caste, Class and India’s Covid Catastrophe
Covid-19 patients dying on the streets gasping for oxygen. Hundreds of wailing, desperate folks searching for hospital beds to access treatment. Even the dead denied dignified funerals, their bodies dumped unceremoniously in the rivers of India. Much has been written about the reasons for the Indian government’s abysmal failure to prepare for the devastating surge in Covid-19 cases in India[Read More…]