Thought

Modernity and Its Margins: A Critique

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CREST National Lecture in Memory of Shri. K.R. Narayanan, former President of India delivered by Gopal Guru The above title contains four fairly loaded terms. These terms also look as if they are standing alone in isolation without making any coherent meaning. Still worse, they might look vague if we fail to forge connectivity between them. They need to …

Educate, Agitate, Organize

Popular Culture and Ideology: The Phenomenon of Gaddar

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  P Kesava Kumar (First published in February 2010) The cultural sphere has its own advantage over politics in terms of pulling people into its fold. Through his songs and cultural performances, Gummadi Vittal Rao, popularly known as “Gaddar”, the Telugu poet singer, maintains the historical continuity of people’s lives and their struggles. He brings politics into everyday life situations and …

Features

‘We will do a Chunduru on you!’

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Desecration of Ambedkar statues: Truth is the first casualty (Part II) Continued from here.  In this concluding part on the issue of desecration of Dr Ambedkar’s statues in Andhra Pradesh, G Jhansi, of Dalit Sthree Sakthi,  maps for us the morphing forms of atrocities on dalit assertions. In her analytical narrative of the complex caste …

Thought

Hindutva and ethnicity

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Gail Omvedt (First published in February 2003) The antagonism to conversion rests on an ideological foundation which takes ethnicity, that is a presumed community of blood and heritage, as central. IN 1996, during a six-month employment in Bhubaneshwar, fascinated by the beauty and antiquity of the area, I travelled with friends to Konarak and to …

Atrocities

Killing of Rohit Prajapati by the Jharkhand Police in an alleged fake encounter

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Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM) writes to the National Human Rights Commission on Killing of Mr. Rohit Prajapati by the Police in an alleged fake encounter  To, Mr. Satyabrata Pal, Hon’ble Member, The National Human Rights Commission, Faridcourt House, Copernicus Marge, New Delhi-1 Sub: For investigation and necessary action on a case of killing of …

Features

Reconstructing Silenced Histories

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Cynthia Stephen (Book Review) [Debrahmanising History : Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society By Braj Ranjan Mani, Manohar, New Delhi, 2005, pp.456, Rs 895 (Hb), Rs 395 (Pb), ISBN 81-7304-640-9 (Hb) ISBN 81-7304-648-4 (Pb)] In recent years, Indian Historiography has had its share of controversies. The ‘saffron’ rewriting of the history textbooks and the stoppage of the publication …