Archive for the 'Dalit' Category

The United Front of Left and Right

The Varkala Murder case (in Kerala State) and the Police relating it to a Dalit organization have once again exposed the mindset of mainstream media, mainstream Left and extreme Right. The interesting thing is that the Left and Right (CPM and Shiv Sena) allegedly join hands along with Police to hunt down the Dalits in [...]

Justifying reservations

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, [...]

The Dalits of Europe

Jai Bhim Network is a group that is working among the Romas (derogatorily referred as Gypsies) in Hungary. In their effort of creating linkages with the Dalit movement of India and draw inspiration the network has been in constant interaction with many of the young Dalit activists in India. The network is also instrumental in [...]

Remembering K.Balagopal

A 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

Rama 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

Aditya 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 [...]

Who owns India?

Justice for Dalits looks at caste bias in the judiciary:
Nowadays too much people claim their right in India.Without ever recognizing that this country never was theirs.
How can Dalits ask their right if India is the sole property of upper castes.How did they believe that the apex court, though legally it was out of their juridiction, [...]

Academic dishonesty

Anoop Kumarat Insight Young Voices Blog, my new favourite blog, rips into Ramachandra Guha.

He writes, “India has some of the oldest universities outside of the Western world. There were no Chinese or African universities when the universities of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras were established in 1857. Where, for much of their history, European universities were [...]

Back to Mayawati’s statues

Garga Chatterjee understands the rationale behind the act but does not approve it.
Having said this, one also has to note the deep hypocrisy in the propriety argument. Both Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Panditain Indira Gandhi were made the Bharat Ratna when they were prime ministers. I am not judging these acts but can only say [...]

Mayawati statues

While Ranjeet ‘praises’ Mayawati for installing statues in UP and has some more suggestions for her,
1) You also remove existing statues of un-important people like Gandhiji etc and install your own huge ones (I mean statues) there.
2) Why not also introduce an entire chapter in the history books of school children dedicated to you?
Aditi Phadnis [...]

Proud of the Statues

Prabin tells you why he is proud of Mayawati’s statues:
So I believe, what is disconcerting to the political parties about the statues that Mayawati unveiling and the Memorials she is constructing is not the wastage of precious resource – there are a lot many instances of govt. squandering revenues and tax payers money- but the [...]

Post Khairlanji

Shivam is critical in his review of  “Khairlanji: A strange and bitter crop”

All Teltumbde wants to talk about is Shudra oppressors, neoliberalism, Naxalism and the State—Khairlanji being a mere symbolic peg on which to hang all these ‘larger’ issues. Which is why you are surprised to read, on the second-last page:

Khairlanji soon got transformed into [...]

Silence and resistance

Anu explains that silence doesn’t mean the absence of resistance:
This on the face of it seems like pretty sound explanation, so with a magic wand if we push the upper caste down the ladder, upper caste men lose their ‘manhood’ when their women are appropriated and humiliated, right? Any caste that finds itself at the [...]

Equal Opportunity Commission

Tarunabh, 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.

Insight

Insight Young Voices is a bimonthly Dalit magazine.
The latest issue carries an interesting article, by Anoop Kumar, on the evolution of Dalit student politics in JNU:
The reasons may be varied – the predominance of students from a particular segment of the society or the ‘party line’ with which the student activists are ideologically committed, or [...]

Under the table

Rahul Pandita explains:
Sunil and Arvind Parmar, owners of a tea stall in Surendranagar, Gujarat, break for lunch while their servant Mangal, an 11-year-old Dalit boy is made to sit under the table.
[via Amitava Kumar].

More MPs from St.Stephens?

From social point of view, from the view of representativeness this is the worst parliament in the last few decades (it is a painful realization. There are 20 odd MPs who have passed out from St Stephen, delhi!. Surely we are back to 1960s). Frankly this blogger saw it coming, when they were making hullabaloo [...]

Different perspectives on the quota

Abantika Ghosh on the proposed quota for women: Let’s at least have the good sense to feel ashamed of it.
Because in the end the need for women’s reservation arises in the mindset and after all the promises of universal education and compulsory primary education, somehow women, as young girls, always seem to miss out on [...]

Meira Kumar and Sukka Pagadaalu

Kingshuk 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

Paritosh 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 [...]

Why the Green Revolution wasn’t such a blessing

Vidya Bhushan Rawat looks at the roots of the current conflict in Punjab:
Problem is in our perception about Punjab as a casteless society where Sikhism grew. The fact is that inspite of great preaching in the Guru Granth Saheb and their own sacrifices, the leadership that emerged in Punjab is upper caste dominated feudal Sikhs. [...]

Violence in Vienna

Amardeep Singh reflects on the violence in Vienna and tries to ‘imagine a narrative that led to these events’:
Then, when a new temple opens, many of the heterodox members of the congregation jump at the chance for a different kind of experience. The new temple is run by heterodox Ravidasias, who do things slightly differently [...]

Yet another farce?

Karthik 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 [...]

Have Dalits rejected Mayawati’s sarvajan formula?

SR Darapuri analyses why Dalits ‘have slammed Mayawati’s sarvajan formula’:
This alliance with BJP not only confused the dalits but Muslims also moved away from BSP as they consider BJP as their bitterest enemy. During the first tenure of BSP rule in 1995 some land was distributed to empower the dalits because till then the party [...]

Statism or the Market?

Sauvik Chakraverti suggests the only hope for the Dalits lies in the market:
Yet, if you search the archives of the Dalit website dedicated to Dr. BR Ambedkar, you will find my old article “Caste and the Market Economy” that argues urbanization and globalization are in the best interests of the lower castes. That is, the [...]




Indian Blog Directory

After the meticulous tagging of each post we link to from Blogbharti under many categories, we have been able to come up with a sizeable cross-linked and independently tagged blog directory. Read more here: the meta-directory of Indian blogs.

 

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