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…]
‘Out of gas:’ Multiple U.S. states declare emergency, drivers in the U.S. Southeast are scrambling for fuel 
Tel Aviv hit after Israel destroys Gaza buildings 
Limitations and Distortions of Profit-Based Health Systems 
Art Against Drones 
Muna is Palestine, Yakub is Israel: The Untold Story of Sheikh Jarrah 
The Horror that is India 
Election Commission And Its Role As Covid Superspreader 
Hany Babu Suffering From Acute Eye Infection 
Poisoning the Planet’s Web of Life 
Why the Pentagon Budget Never Goes Down 
Israel attacks Gaza after Jerusalem defeat 
WHO Declares Covid Mutation Found in India a ‘Variant of Concern’ for Global Health 
Mumbai is touted as model city for Covid treatment But it needs to do far better 
Change In Worldview Need Of Hour 
Covid-19 Vaccines: Politics And Economics Of The IPR Waiver Ploy 
Held to Ransom: Colonial Pipeline and the Vulnerabilities of Critical Infrastructure 
Czech charade and its masterminds 
Cherry – Picking Human Rights Policy 
Aligarh Muslim University: Havoc And Hope Amidst Pandemic 
Too Much Respect for Authority 
Commemorating 164th anniversary of India’s First War of Independence 1857 
Mexico’s Difficulties in Protecting Safety of Its Food System Should Be An Eye-Opener For Other Countries 
Five Great Film Songs That Challenge Communal Forces 
A Letter to Late Comrade Mahavir Narwal! 
U.S. issues emergency legislation over fuel pipeline cyber-attack by criminal gang 
Fish and France and UK, but it is not fish 
Migrant Labourers and Lockdowns 
An Open Letter To Metroman, E Sreedharan 
Male child sexual abuse: A feminist agenda for research and action 
Governance Lost! Finder will be rewarded Will the nation remember two lakh fifty thousand citizens who died due to Covid ? 
War Is Strictly Business in Twenty-First Century America 
Emergence of Editorial Eye as a Civic Value in this Era of Social Media 
American Muslim groups denounce night of terror at Al-Aqsa Mosque 
Monster Mosquito–Why the Technology of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes is Dangerous and Should Be Stopped Worldwide 
For Greater and Lasting Impact, the Farmers’ Movement Really Needs Some Higher Goals 
A national Covid Strategy, the Need of the Hour- Not Knee-jerk responses 
Strengthening our Struggles through Zero Tolerance to Patriarchal Violence 
We Need To Breathe! 
BBC, Free Media, and Julian Assange 
When I founded Countercurrents.org in 2002, Disha Ravi who was arrested for sedition yesterday was a two-year-old toddler. In 2002, the CO2 level in the atmosphere was 370 ppm. Now it is 415 ppm. In just 19 years CO2 levels increased by just over 2ppm/year. The level of cumulative greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including Methane, Nitrous Oxide etc is[Read More…]
