Copies of Manusmriti burnt on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar in Canada
On the eve of the birthday of the towering Indian scholar and undisputed Dalit leader, South Asian activists gathered in Surrey to light the pyre of a racist text that…
Annihilate Caste
Ambedkarites need to be content creators
On 14th April 2023, I had an opportunity to meet and listen to Prof Scott R. Stroud at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar Mumbai. He has recently authored an…
Visual Politics of Hindi Cinema and the movie ‘Gangaajal’
The decade of 1990s has marked by the growth of Mandal and Kamandal politics. It was also the period when global effects of popular culture had spurred the Indian…
Dr Ambedkar and Hindu nation
The nation concept is an 18th century phenomenon. The ‘state’ and ‘nation’ are not synonymous terms. According to one definition, “the state is a political and geopolitical entity, while the…
Dalit Scholar of Wardha University faces institutional discrimination
Rajneesh Kumar Ambedkar, a PhD scholar at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi VishwaVidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra, India, has been sitting on a satyagraha at the university campus. He was forced to go…
Some thoughts on the ongoing debate around the tragic demise of Darshan Solanki
The recent death of the first year dalit undergraduate student, Darshan Solanki, has once again raised the question of the caste discrimination and related biases on the IITB campus. The…
Re-organising the Bahujan Movement
[Sunil Kashyap, a staff writer at The Caravan, spoke with Dr Indu Chowdhary, an assistant professor in Banaras Hindu University’s English Department, founder of Bahujan Shakti Mission, regarding Bahujan Movement.…
Omnipresent Caste
by Sanjana Sree Manusanipalli and Sandeep Pandey The city is supposed to be the place where anyone can be anything they want to be. They say in a city like…
Anti-Caste Laws in America: Thwarting Aryan Hatred Against Jesus As Dalit?
Lot of discussion and writing is happening in India about anti-caste laws and rules getting framed in America, the dream land of Dwijas of India. Several Hindutva intellectuals are telling…
Radical Desi declares Kshama Sawant as Person of the Year 2023
Recognizing the historic move of banning caste-based discrimination by a Seattle City Councillor, Vancouver-based online magazine has decided to pick her as person of the year. Kshama Sawant, the lone…
Seattle’s ban on caste discrimination has created history in America: Indian American Coalition
Seattle, WA (February 21, 2023) – A coalition of Indian-American civil rights organizations today commended the Seattle City Council for its leadership in passing the historic legislation to ban…
Persistence of Caste as the axial principle of stratification
Based on his twenty-one-year fieldwork, Jonathan P Parry authored ‘Classes of Labour: Work and Life in a Central Indian Steel Town’, in which he argued the weakening of the caste…
Hindutva, 22 oaths and Ambedkar’s legacy
Dr. Ambedkar is considered as a symbol of resistance of Dalits against caste system and who stood for annihilation of caste. On 14th October 1956, he along with 6 lakhs…
Why are the twenty-two vows necessary for neo-Buddhists?
Dr. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar renounced Hinduism and embraced Buddhism on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur (Deekshabhoomi) along with five lakh followers. On the same day first he himself had received…
Bhojpuri Songs and Branding of Caste Pride
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…
Reservations on reservation policy
Few recall these days the furore on the Mandal Commission report.At that time I found to my dismay even some progressive academics at the Delhi University campus wavering on the…
Atrocities against SCs and STs in Odisha shows an increasing trend – NCRB report 2021
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…
AKSC urges companies in the USA to include caste discrimination in the policy documents
Ambedkar King Study Circle’s 3rd annual conference urged the companies in the USA to include caste discrimination in the policy documents Anti-caste activists gathered in Cupertino on Aug 27th under…
From Ambedkars’ Chavdar Talab to Indra Meghwal
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…
The Culturalization of Caste in India: An Interview with Balmurli Natrajan
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…
No inclusive Odisha with Bias towards Dalits
The recent death case of a 9 year old Dalit student, Indra Meghewal, in Rajasthan on the ground of untouchability practice in school must be seen as a national shame.…
St. Devasahayam’s Caste, Crucifixion And His Resurrection As A Global Shudra Saint
The canonization of the first ever layman of India, Devasahayam, or Lazarus (1712--1752) as saint, on the lines of Mother Theresa or on the lines of St.Peter, by the Vatican…
Why Self-Employment Schemes for Those Leaving Manual Scavenging Have Not Progressed
If the poorest of the poor people must get the topmost priority in terms of welfare programs, then surely those households who have been employed in manual scavenging (MS) work…
50th Anniversary of Dalit Panther party
On May29th we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dalit Panther Party .Its formation was a landmark event in the post-1947 era of India defining a new epoch in the…
Bahujan politics needs a new radical alternative
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…
Caste doesn’t just exist in India or in Hinduism – it is pervasive across many religions in South Asia and the diaspora
by Aseem Hasnain and Abhilasha Srivastava The California State University system, America’s largest public higher education system, recently added caste, a birth-based social hierarchy system, to its anti-discrimination policy, allowing students,…
Incineration of Nathapur Dalits’ Hutment a barbaric act
Barhampur or Mahisha-Barhampur is an island-village nestled into Chilika lake, located in Krishnaprasad Tehsil of Puri District of Odisha. A news concerning some Dalit families leaving this village under compulsion…
Dalit panchayat presidents face brazen discrimination in Tamilnadu, after a century of Periyarist politics
Melavalavu massacre, on June 30, 1997, is a landmark case that haunts Tamilnadu polity for over two decades, and hence merits a relook. Panchayat president Murugesan, vice president Mookan, along…
Caste and Constitution: Revisiting Ambedkar
Although elaborate arrangements have been provided for eliminating iniquitous customs, practices and institutional arrangements, we need more than just laws to combat a problem as deep-rooted and multi-dimensional as casteism,…
Right to Access Public Space
On 18 Feb 2022, Sunil Kumar Dhanwanta, an IPS officer, took help from the Police in Jaipur, Rajasthan, to take his wedding procession. Sunil’s bureaucrat’s position becomes redundant in the…
Why is Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi unable to develop an emotional chord with the Dalit
Rahul Gandhi’s speech on the occasion of the release of book ‘Dalit Truth’ edited by Dr K.Raju, and published by Penguin India, has gone viral as Darbari media has again…
Tamilnadu’s Political Casteism and DSP Vishnupriya’s Suicide
Vishnupriya (in the photo), aged 27, a woman police officer of DSP rank, dalit by birth, was found hanging at her official residence in Tiruchengode (Tamilnadu) on 18th September 2015.…
BC proclaims Dalit History Month
In a historic move, the NDP government in Victoria has recognized April as Dalit History Month. Responding to an application moved by Radical Desi, an online magazine that covers alternative…
Tamilnadu’s Caste mafia has deep roots and thrives by patronage of ruling parties
Yuvaraj, at the Madurai district court, was recently, on 5th March, 2022, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder (in June, 2015) of Gokulraj , for being friends with a…
My Birth is My Fatal Accident: The story of many marginalised like Rohith Vemula
It’s been six years since the Rohith Vemula has left us, but the nation has hardly learnt from his death. There were many well-wishers of Rohith Vemula who mourned on…
Dalits in 21st Century’s India
Dawn of 21st century, for Dalits, should have been better because of the long war they waged on superstructures of discrimination, the price they have paid with their lives, agony,…
Social Justice in words, Brazen Casteism And Slavery in Practice , in Tamil Nadu
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 …
The Shudra/OBC Delhi Declaration
On 21 December, 2021 a majorNational Shudra/OBC conclave took place in Delhi Talkatora stadium with hundreds of Shudra/OBC activists, intellectuals and political leaders across the parties, different universities and civil…
Supreme Court Judge Gives Voice to Agony of Millions Belonging to Denotified and Nomadic Tribes
Supreme Court Judge Justice D.Y.Chandrachud recently gave voice to the suppressed agony of millions of members of denotified tribes when he clearly stated that injustice and discrimination was still…
“Despite 74 years of Independence, the sewer worker is still a slave and caught in the shackles of Casteism”
New Delhi, November 27th: A “Roundtable with Sewer Workers" was organized on 27th November, Saturday, 2021 in New Delhi from 2:00 pm- 5:00 pm in which sewer workers from Delhi…
The Shudras in Hindtva – Living Without a Soul
Introduction: The Hindutva school has been in power since 2014. It wants to rule India forever. Actually it was never out of power in another sense of the concept, power.…
Future of Dalits in India
(Note: Although Bhagwan Das wrote this article in 2001, but in this he had identified the shortcomings and weaknesses of Dalits and predicted a bleak future of Dalits, it is…
Kanshiram and the idea of Counter-public Sphere
The counter-public sphere is contrary to power, domination, and hierarchical structure. It has emerged with a task to develop a different mode of public discourse in a complex society. The…
Conversation with Dr Manisha Bangar Part I
Phule-Ambedkarite ideology is the only alternative for Bahujans, says Dr Manisha Bangar, National Vice President, People’s Party of India, former National Vice President, BAMCEF in conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat…
The Shudra Kings And Brahmins: A mirror image of history
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.…
SCs still the most neglected in Odisha -Institutional mechanism is not effective
The social groups whose development is more linked to radical social change are the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Odisha. The Government of India Scheduled Castes Order 1936 had identified 54…
Need to come out of victim mindset and create an Ambedkarite vision: Ish Kumar Gangania
Ish Kumar Gangania is an eminent Ambedkarite thinker, writer and poet who started writing nearly 20 years ago and has till date authored over 22 books of poems, essays, analysis…
Plight of migrant workers in Gujarat during April-June, 2021 lockdown
To Shri Apurva Chandra Union Labour Secretary Dear Shri Apurva Chandra, The preamble to the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 defines its…
Dalit politics should learn from Dr. Ambedkar
Dr. Ambedkar had said, “Political power is the key to all problems and Dalits can get their emancipation by uniting and seizing power. Political power should be used for the…
BJP-RSS Politics and Economic Plight of Dalits in India
India’s caste system is the major obstacle for betterment of the socio-economic condition of the downtrodden. The lowest in the rung of caste hierarchy, the victims of caste oppression are…
Core Constituency of Dalit Vote is the New Political Determiner
Dalits in West Bengal have opened the eyes of all political parties to the core constituency of Dalit vote as a political determiner in the Indian electoral game. It has…
Proportional Representation is the only way to resolve our reservation crisis
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…
Privatisation as a Counter to Dalit Assertion
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’…
Dr.Ambedkar: Current Political and Economic Scenario
April 14 is celebrated as Dr. Ambedkar's Jayanti, that is, Dr. Ambedkar's birth anniversary, not only in the country but also abroad. On this day, while he is officially paid…
Educate, Agitate, Organize: Self-reflections
It is a matter of pride for the Indians that the United Nations including the University of British Columbia declared 14th April as “International Equality Day”. All over the world,…
Without ‘Annihilation of Caste’, It is Not Possible to Establish an Egalitarian Society in India
“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)…
Ambedkar on Castes In India And Among Muslims
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 dalit teacher – facing a 360-degree discrimination
Who is a teacher? In a loose sense a teacher would be anybody including Mahatma Gandhi who was not a teacher in any school or college and Ambedkar who was…
The Shudra Predicament
With the recent book "The Shudras : vision for a new path" (edited by Karthika Raja Karuppasamy and Kancha Ilaiah) and the Shudra farmers protesting on…
Shudras And The Central Universities
A well-known Dalit scholar Gopal Guru, presently editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, once wrote that “Indian Social Science represents a pernicious divide between theoretical Brahmins and empirical…
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