For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Milind Thokal The process of learning and unlearning is inevitable and will continue forever but some basic concepts must always remain at the core where we must never have any confusion, keeping it more simple, straightforward, and to the point. Let’s start with the very basic word ‘Dalit’. Dalit is a Sanskrit word that means …
Tejaswini Tabhane I once wittily remarked that I am an economist till the time you do not ask me what will be the GDP projection for the next quarter. This remark does not merely come from my dislike of macroeconomics as a subject, but for the overemphasis, these few numbers get over the socio-political …
Prashant Ingole Soon after the death of B.R. Ambedkar, the Republican Party of India (RPI), the party which he had imagined as the symbol of Dalit unity in order to achieve the political power, collapsed and fractured into the multiple factions. Dividing the Dalit politicians, the dominant political forces like Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party …
Dr. Basharat Ahmed (Translation of Dr Ahmed’s Marathi article published in Loksatta) I have received many responses via email from readers of my article ‘Dharmiya Aarakshanache A (Vastav)’ (Reality of Religion based Reservations) published in Loksatta on 31st October 2013. Some of those while asking questions on certain aspects have also expressed the desire that …
Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar‘s speech in the Constituent Assembly on 25th November 1949 Sir, looking back on the work of the Constituent Assembly it will now be two years, eleven months and seventeen days since it first met on the 9th of December 1946. During this period the Constituent Assembly has altogether held …
Arvind Kumar The state of Maharashtra has issued a complete ban on cow slaughter. It is now a non-bailable offence to kill a cow. One can get a bail in the case of the murder of another human being but not for killing a cow. Those who have got this law to come into …
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon In an internal circular, leaked on the social media, The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, banned the consumption of non-vegetarian food in its canteen1. The circular precisely points out that “All are aware that non-veg food causes discomfort to the majority of the employees who are vegetarian.” Hence, the …
This is the second part of the interview with Gowthama Sannah, Propaganda Secretary of the VCK – Chennai, 26th September 2012 (Please read the first part here) [This interview was first published in Vol 2, No 1 (2013) issue of ‘The South Asianist‘] Hugo Gorringe: Just a quick question. Is it right that parties …
Dalits in Nepal: Politically Manufactured Karma The facts on the ground Suresh Singh (First published in Insight magazine in 2005) Dalits are groups of people considered as ritually impure and imagined as living apart from the “mainstream society”. This poorly understood community is called untouchables or Dalit, a term borrowed from India. The literal meaning …