Features

“I am not a slave and don’t make me a slave”- Annan Pasupathi Pandian, a tribute

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  Ravi Chandran (With editorial suggestions from Kuffir) This article is an attempt to bring together information about the Dalit revolutionary leader Pasupathi Pandian, who was brutally murdered a couple of days ago (January 10, 2012). Since only bits and pieces of news material is available on him, I tried to gather some information from the …

Features

Buddhism and Politics in Uttar Pradesh: Recent Developments

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  Shiv Shankar Das Abstract: The present research note highlights the relationship and the reasons behind the association between the lower caste politics and Buddhism in Uttar Pradesh, the most populated state in India next only to China, United States, Brazil and Russia. There are three reasons behind this association. First, the currently ruling Bahujan Samaj Party’s founder …

Features

Of Laws, Cows and People’s Mutinies: Will the beef ban in BJP-ruled states fuel a new Mutiny?

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  Cynthia Stephen The Gau-Vansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sanshodhan) Vidheyak (Prohibition of slaughter of cow-progeny Bill) just passed in Madhya Pradesh empowers the government to prosecute any person found slaughtering a cow or even transporting the calf for the purpose of slaughter. Anyone found guilty of this act would face seven years of imprisonment and a …

Features

4.5 Percent OBC Religious Minority Sub-quota: A Disservice To Secular Nationalism

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  Ashok Yadav 01. Overwhelming majority of population who have been discriminated against and oppressed on the basis of their caste identity since time immemorial and the history of bloody religious conflicts before, during and after independence in 1947 make social justice and secularism the two pillars on which the entire democratic structure of our …

Thought

The ‘Precariat’ Strikes

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Anand Teltumbde The occupation of the Indu Mills near Chaityabhoomi in Mumbai by dalit youth demanding that an Ambedkar memorial should come up there is a heartening development. In neo-liberal India, dalits are a significant part of the “precariat” – a section of the people with no job security, indeed, with no prospect of employment, …

Atrocities

Authorities must ensure justice for victims of Kalinganagar shootings six years ago

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Amnesty International Public Statement [AI Index: ASA 20/001/2012 1 January 2012 (embargoed for release at 0001 GMT on 1 January 2012)] Authorities in Orissa should no longer delay justice for the victims and survivors of the Kalinganagar police shootings six years ago when 12 adivasis (Indigenous people) were killed and 37 others injured, Amnesty International said today. …