— Jason Keith Fernandes A couple of days ago, an interview, of the part-time Goa resident author Amitav Ghosh, with Lila Azam Zanganeh for the magazine Guernica created something of a storm of outrage. Ghosh had suggested in the course of conversation, that ‘one of the wonderfully liberating things about India; [is that] it lets …
On Jha’s Suicide Quote
— Prabin Dhangada Majhi [ Prabin’s article is a response to senior journalist and editor Prem Shankar Jha’s comments in a 2007 CNBC discussion on reservations. The comments resurfaced again in online discussions over suicides of Dalit students in India’s elite educational institutions, recently. You’ll find some of Jha’s comments reproduced here . And you’ll …
Notes and beats of misrepresentation in Malayalam films
by Rupesh Kumar Indian films mass mediate stereotypical images of marginalized communities like dalits and adivasis; something that is rarely challenged by anyone. The producers are almost invariably savarna/dominant caste males. The candid display of the film makers’ enormous illiteracy about the history, culture and politics of adivasi and dalits cannot be countered with the …
Notes on Forbesganj Violence
by Ashok Yadav & Khalid Anis Ansari The police firing and subsequent killing of five OBC Muslims in Bhajanpur village in Forbesganj of Araria district in Bihar on June 3, 2011 has been analyzed in most reports in the public sphere through the frame of ‘communalism’ and there has been little effort to grapple with …
Jotiba Phule and Tilak and the question of education for Women and non-Brahmins
—Anoop Kumar I am posting a few extracts from a paper written by Parimala V. Rao (“Educating Women and Non-Brahmins as ‘Loss of Nationality’: Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the Nationalist Agenda in Maharashtra“). This was published as an ocassional paper by the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi. She is also the author of …
Maintained by the State (VII: 133)
Anu Ramdas This extract is from the book Dharmatheertha, No Freedom with Caste, The Menace of Hindu Imperialism, edited by G. Aloysius: It is clear therefore that the motive of the priests in forming an exclusive caste was not any consideration of a religious or spiritual or racial nature but one of sheer greed for …
On Gujarat Riots, Tehelka and Role of Dalits and Tribals
Anoop Kumar [Thanks to Taha for his comment on Gujarat riots and the role of Dalits which reminded me of this particular incident. I wanted to write about this since long but keep on postponing it as I didn’t have much material except what I heard at the seminar held in Pune University] Almost …
‘Without BSP-like working culture, political power for the Dalitbahujans would be a dream! An illusion!’ – Karthik Navayan
Karthik Navayan, young lawyer, human rights activist, Dalit writer and poet, shares his insights on how Dalitbahujans can work towards attaining political power in an interview with Telugu News channel TV 1. Interviewer: Karthik Navayan, who tried to raise Dalitbahujans consciousness through his poetry and writing, is now with us. We’ll discuss what needs to …
From Limca Books to Forbes Magazine
by Nilesh Kumar Ideology of Bahujan Samaj Party is “Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation” of the “Bahujan Samaj” which comprises of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the Religious Minorities such as Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists. Reason for including all these classes is because they all were, …