Winnowed argues for caste-based reservations:
In my opinion, purely caste-based reservations do perpetuate caste divisions in the short term. However, they also uplift untouchable and backward castes, to a large extent, though it is at the expense of the upper castes. If (social and economic) upliftment of the lower castes is the sole objective behind reservations, [...]
Archive for the 'Adivasi' Category
Justifying reservations
Published by October 15th, 2009 in Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Human Rights, India, Justice, Politics and Society. 1 CommentRemembering K.Balagopal
Published by October 14th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Capitalism, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Development, Feminism, Human Rights, Justice, Politics and Poverty. 4 CommentsA site dedicated to the memory of human rights activist Balagopal who passed away recently.
Anand Teltumbde recalls his association with his ‘dearest friend and comrade’:
I knew Balagopal since 1980s and admired him for his sharp intellect and deep commitment to human rights. Not many in the movement knew that he was a brilliant mathematician and [...]
‘Quality’ and Inclusion
Published by October 12th, 2009 in Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Education, Politics, Prejudice and Theory. 0 CommentsRama ponders on ‘Quality’ and its western / imperial / colonial, or Brahminical / Manuvadi biases. Very interesting post.
The sociologist, Andre Beteille, delivered a lecture in Calcutta in March which I attended.
He touched upon academic quality versus inclusion (e.g. through reservation or affirmative action), and said quality need not be compromised. At the end of [...]
R.I.P. Dr.Balagopal
Published by October 10th, 2009 in Adivasi, Capitalism, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Development, Government, Human Rights, India, Justice, Policy, Politics, Poverty and Violence. 0 CommentsAditya pays tributes:
A relentless crusader for human rights for three decades now, Andhra Pradesh HC lawyer Balagopal has fought cases from extra-judicial killings of political dissenters to atrocities against Dalits and women. And he has often suffered personal attacks for his efforts, by the police and others shamed by his exposes. But he has never [...]
Equal Opportunity Commission
Published by June 24th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Policy, Prejudice and Religion. 0 CommentsTarunabh, of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion, writes to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, to further the public debate on equality of opportunities.
Seems to me more like an attempt to start a private, exclusive debate among a select group of elites in the academia, lawmakers and the enforcers, among others.
Meira Kumar and Sukka Pagadaalu
Published by June 4th, 2009 in Adivasi, Dalit, Development, Politics, Poverty and Women. 0 CommentsKingshuk Nag would like to know: how’s Meira Kumar’s appointment going to help ameliorate the fate of millions of Dalit women across the country?
If the ruling party is so keen to uplift downtrodden women, it should first think of the likes of Sukka Pagadaalu (picture below), who at 64 is the same age as Meira [...]
‘Us’ and ‘Vais’ in the North East
Published by June 3rd, 2009 in Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, India, North East, Prejudice and Racism. 5 CommentsParitosh Chakma says ‘racial discrimination’ thrives within the North East too:
Outsiders (meaning of course long-nose plains people) are called “vais” in Mizoram. “Vai” is a Mizo word and the term is used in contempt towards the people who look “different” from “us” in Mizoram. The people of Mizoram may contest my claim but I have [...]
‘Paper saves lives’
Published by May 25th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Business, Development and Women. 0 CommentsAnuradha Parekh talks about TARA, an NGO that changed the lives of women in an Adivasi community in Madhya Pradesh:
Sahariya tribe is a nomadic tribe in Madhya Pradesh that deals with poverty of the magnitude that mothers buy saris and tear them in half so that their daughters have something to wear. These people have [...]
Yet another farce?
Published by May 24th, 2009 in Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Education, General Elections 2009, Health and Politics. 0 CommentsKarthik RM asks questions that weren’t raised in the recent polls:
For the poor, however, the polling booth is one place – in my opinion, the only place where democracy functions. This again, when you exclude cases of booth capturing or rigging. Democracy, otherwise, doesn’t exist for the underprivileged in India. The country’s healthcare sector is [...]
An interesting blog focussing on, as the name says, Indian Tribals.
The brown man’s burden
Published by May 13th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, General Elections 2009, Human Rights, India, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Secularism and Women. 0 CommentsAnother good post (after Adnan’s) that I found today: Jason Keith Fernandes looks critically at the dynamism of the ‘Friends of the BJP’:
It is because the BJP and the ‘Friends’ stresses this coded language of the club, that they appeal to the middle-class constituents of the ‘minority’ groups in India. ‘We are one of you’ [...]
The Nagas and the Japanese
Published by March 14th, 2009 in Adivasi, Geopolitics, History, North East and Prejudice. 0 CommentsFeonor digs into some scarcely remembered history to throw some light on the stellar role played by the Naga, Lushai and Chin peoples in overcoming the Japanese assault on the Northeast in World War 2:
The clash of cultures was most acute in the Northeast of India, where the Japanese rapidly advanced upon Nagaland. The British [...]
Patalkot – the bottom of the Earth
Published by December 27th, 2008 in Adivasi, Development, India and Travel. 0 CommentsP N S happened to visit Patalkot, and see what he has to say. Damn ! I did not even know such a place really existed !!
we came across a sign board on the right side of the road reading “Patalkot”. We were reminded of the people living in the bottom of the earth and [...]
Lighting up a village
Published by November 21st, 2008 in Activism, Adivasi, Development and Economy. 0 CommentsPrem P. Verma of the Jharkhand Alternative Development Forum writes:
Yesterday, November 15, 2008, the day Jharkhand was born, was the most satisfying and happy day of my life since on this day our organisation, Jharkhand Alternative Development Forum, with the active help and guidance of Dr. Mithilesh Dangi of Azadi Bachao Andolan, installed and put [...]
The meaninglessness of the IITs
Published by November 9th, 2008 in Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Education and Prejudice. 1 Comment Utsav Choudhury asks why should the common man support the IITs, IIMs etc., with his money?
IIT, AIIMS , JU, Shibpur, never produced anyone of highest intellect and wisdom. They might have produced CEO’s, but in other part of the world CEO’s are the best profession for the college drop outs. In terms or research [...]
Development and displacement
Published by October 27th, 2008 in Activism, Adivasi, Business, Dalit, Development and Government. 0 CommentsI recently spent three weeks gathering information about the anti-displacement movement in India. As a guest of Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (People’s Movement against Displacement and for Development), I traveled across five states in central and eastern India visiting the sites of proposed industrial and mining projects, Special Economic Zones and real estate developments. [...]
Mahadyuti Adhikary closely studies Mrinal Sen’s 1976 film ‘Mrigaya’:
To both Ghinua and the commissioner, a big ‘shikar’ is a game; this is probably why Ghinua reacts like a terrible ‘hunter’ when the Mahajan tries to steal his wife. He slays him; an avenged man, he brings his ‘trophy’, to the only man who will understand [...]
In Chengara, Vidya Bhushan Rawat finds Kerala’s hidden caste prejudices :
It is unfortunate that in this war against their Dalits and tribal the organized gang of the trade union is taking action irrespective of ideology. It is a rare combination of how the upper caste communists and the Hindutva people can come together to wipe [...]
Faith and the Village Pond
Published by October 20th, 2008 in Adivasi, Caste, Religion and Society. 1 CommentPeople criminally neglected by their community and forced to eke out an animal-like living at the fringes of society are threatened with death for betraying the religion whose social structure does not consider them worthy of human dignity. If Christ gives me a school, a community, a shelter why must I not love him? Children [...]
Strange approval
Published by September 21st, 2008 in Adivasi, Government and Human Rights. 0 CommentsWhile on Chhattisgarh, Supreme Court Reporter informs us that the National Human Rights Commission approved of the State Government’s rationale for setting up Salwa Judum:
Quoting parts of the report, the bench said there are areas in the state, where the police does not have easy access and the Maoists have set up the parallel government. [...]
Echoes of Gujarat?
Published by September 20th, 2008 in Adivasi, Dalit, Human Rights, Religion and Secularism. 0 CommentsFakeer analyses the Parivar’s hate campaign in Orissa:
The entire conflagration bears an eerie and frightening similarity to the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat. The forces indulging in violence in both cases are associated with the Sangh Parivar. As in Gujarat, the Orissa government has displayed an alarming lack of will to stop the violence. In [...]
The weakest link
Published by September 20th, 2008 in Adivasi, Dalit, Religion and Secularism. 0 CommentsAbraham Tharakan has some sober advice for those who mobilize movements against minorities:
A great service the Church provides is in uplifting the poor and the underprivileged that have been, in many cases, neglected by society and the elected authorities. It would be a great step forward if the energy and money spent on mobilizing movements [...]
Shabnam Hashmi posts a report on the situation in Kandhamal:
This account is based on the testimonies of:
8 priests and over 300 families who hid in thick forests without water and food, with small hungry children, with thousands of mosquitoes and other insects and who walked over 280 kilometers to reach Bhubaneshwar with just the set [...]
Rural Poor- Human Rights, Inhuman State?
Published by February 22nd, 2008 in Adivasi, Human Rights, India and Spotlight Series. 7 Comments[ This is Essay # 18 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
Rural Poor- Human Rights, Inhuman State?
Theory and Practice in a Liberal Democracy
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Rahul Banerjee
Over the past two years or so the normally un-newsworthy rural poor in India have time and again made the headlines with their vehement opposition to the forced acquisition [...]
Salwa Judum and the Outsourcing of State Violence
Published by September 8th, 2007 in Adivasi, Human Rights and India. 0 CommentsThe Social Blog points to the humanitarian crisis unleashed by Salwa Judum in Chattisgarh and the judiciary’s condoning of the State’s outsourced “counter violence”.
What was proposed by the State to be a Counter insurgency program has now resulted in a mass humanitarian situation. In Dec 2006, more than 80 % of the residents in Dante [...]
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