by Bobby Kunhu I have not watched Aarakshan. I am an unapologetic advocate of free speech. And I generally do not like writing about what I do not know. But then this piece is not about Aarakshan, but about dominant discussions about the movie from newsroom discussions to (English) newspaper headlines. And most of the …
Annihilating caste
by Bhalchandra Mungekar B.R. Ambedkar’s passion for the abolition of untouchability and the eradication of caste is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago. THE Jat Pat Todak Mandal, a social reformist organisation of Lahore, had, in 1936, invited Dr B.R. Ambedkar to deliver the presidential address of its annual conference on 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 …
‘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 …
The purpose of reservation
Gail Omvedt The wave of rioting at the time of the Mandal Commission showed that the goal of reservation had not simply been unfulfilled, but totally distorted. It revealed, among other things, the degree to which educated upper caste youth had gotten into the habit of considering the Government administration not as “public service” …
Women and political power
Gail Omvedt THE DRIVE for women’s political power had its beginnings in the rural areas. Even in 1975, when we had the first major feminist rally, a “Samyukta Stri-Mukti Sangarsh Parishad” in Pune, a group of rural women afterwards went back to their village and decided, with the help of some young male activists, to …
Sub-Castes within the SC/ST
Dr. K. Jamanadas (First published in Dalit Voice in March 2000) This has reference to the article on rivalry of subcastes Madigas and Malas among the SCs, and a frank debate welcomed by our editor (Dalit Voice, vol.15, no.21). Our editor has welcomed the rivalry among the subcastes in these words: “There is nothing …