Dr Santhosh J & Benish Ali Dalits, tribals, and people from other backward classes form the majority of the Indian population. However, their presence in government educational institutions and top government posts is extremely scarce. This has become rather a longtime trend in India. However, the successive governments claim otherwise, their own data proves the …
The University as the Battleground of Social Justice
Soma Mandal What happens when the university becomes the contested site for domination, discrimination and privilege on the one hand and escapes from them on the other? In any nation, the idea of the university evokes a place learning, knowledge and unlearning prejudices. It is the space which echoes Tagore’s words, “Where the mind is without …
Viva Voce discrimination and the need to document anecdotal experiences of Caste
Neha Whenever an issue of discrimination against marginalized students in higher educational institutions comes in to light, there are always narratives that are projected in mainstream space to deny casteism. Narratives that are thrown towards marginalized communities demanding answers from them rather than institutions taking accountability. Recently majority marginalized students applying for JNU’s PhD …
Why am I afraid of English?
Durga Hole Recently, I was reading an academic paper ‘The Culture Industry Enlightenment as a Mass Deception’ by Adorno Theodor Horkheimer. The words were familiar to me but I was not able to understand the meaning of the sentences. I could not follow the flow of the language because I was stuck on individual words. …
‘Great boast, little roast’: DSE and Bahujan students
Preeti Koli and Ritika Koli Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said: “Turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform; you cannot have economic reform unless you kill this monster.” (Ambedkar, 1936) Caste-based microaggressions are not new to any of the Bahujan students who manage to enter …
The Realities of Higher Educational Institutions for Dalit Students
Sagar Kumbhare “May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from …
Rainbow casteism and racism in the queer community is alienating us
Sophia I entered the Delhi queer movement in my early 20s, as a complete outsider in terms of language, origin, race, class, and caste identity. I wanted to bring change to the status quo and challenge the existing caste and class hierarchy that pervaded the movement. I started my initiative and became a vocal …
Conceiving a New Public: Ambedkar on Universities
Asha Singh & Nidhin Donald Dr. B.R. Ambedkar conceptualizes education as a ‘vital need’ which helps us fight notions of ‘inescapable fate’ or ‘ascriptions of caste or religion’. He counted education as a socially inherited value which defines one’s access to power. Education was always a keyword, an indicator which he applied on issues of …
Upper Caste Anxiety Over Reservations
Kranthi Kumar Mungamuri Very recently, Telangana MLA Dharma Reddy (TRS), made a casteist statement over reservations by saying that “state is being ruined or destroyed due to lack of merit in government due to communities who had reservations” which led to a war of words between democratic, productive forces (SCs, STs and OBCs) and …