Round Table India – For An Informed Ambedkar Age

How Political Agendas Distort Marginalized Histories?: Lessons from the Debate on Fatima Sheikh’s Legacy

by rti_adminon January 21, 2025January 21, 2025Leave a Comment0

Dr. Govind Dhaske History writing is an academic endeavor; however, in India, it is equally an active political field. Dilip Mandal’s recent confession-style posts have sparked intense debates regarding Fatima Sheikh’s association with Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule and her contributions to their educational work. These discussions have surfaced more fundamental questions about how histories are …

Features

Birth anniversary of Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia

by rti_adminon January 18, 2025January 18, 2025Leave a Comment1

Kuldip Chand Dobhetta Due to the social structure and the caste system, Indian society has been divided into different classes and some classes, especially the Shudras, the fourth class Shudras were suffering from slavery. To end this system and give equal status to all people many social reformers have launched movements from time to time, …

Uncategorized

The Trend of Slop and Nostalgia: How We Can Navigate the Horrors

by rti_adminon January 15, 2025January 17, 2025Leave a Comment20

Ruth Chawngthu 2024 was quite a year, to say the least! We witnessed multiple genocides and chaos fuelled by capitalistic demands being broadcast on social media. On our phones, we saw headless children in Palestine, mass graves in Congo due to the demand for “blood minerals,” brutality and deaths in Manipur, atrocities against minorities and …

Features

Ennore: Testament to Environmental Casteism in South India

by rti_adminon January 13, 2025January 13, 2025Leave a Comment13

Aishwarya Gajendran Ennore, a coastal town located in North Chennai, Tamil Nadu, stands as a testimony to environmental casteism and its catastrophic impact on the lives of marginalized communities. More than 90% of Ennore’s population belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. Environmental injustice across the world connects to the history of …

Features

Four Noble Truths: A Navayanist Perspective

by rti_adminon January 12, 2025January 12, 2025Leave a Comment5

Dr. Ratnesh Katulkar [An excerpt from the upcoming book, Navayāna Philosophy: Exploring Ancient Buddhist Teachings in Modern and Humanistic Perspective.] Buddhahood essentially involves uncovering the universal truth and applying it practically to life. The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the most profound teachings for achieving Buddhahood. Its significance is highlighted by the fact that …

Features

Tears in the Rain: `Reformist’ Islam and its Discontents in Kerala

by rti_adminon January 9, 2025January 10, 2025Leave a Comment0

Umar Nizar The progressive movement among the Muslims of Kerala had for long been cornered by non-mainstream organisations such as the Jamaat-e-Islami. The organization was one of the few Muslim formations to have aligned itself with the mainstream left in Kerala, till the time they parted ways. The local ramifications of global events such as …

Assertion

Why we need to stop referring to savarnas as “upper caste”: A note on the pitfalls of using language carelessly

by rti_adminon January 9, 2025January 9, 2025Leave a Comment1

Milind X There is a tiny essay authored by the French critical theorist Jacques Derrida, the title of which is, The Dangerous Supplement. Derrida proposed in the essay that words or signifiers do not lead to concrete things. Language is a slippery slope where words lead to more words, or more supplements, and the actual …

Assertion

Savarna Allyship: A Facade of Performative Progressivism in Online Spaces

by rti_adminon January 7, 2025January 7, 2025Leave a Comment14

Vaibhav Kharat An example of ‘Savarna allyship’ can be understood through the digital and virtual interactions with self-proclaimed liberal, secular, progressive friends/peers belonging to Savarna/Dominant caste groups. These interactions manifest in the form of messages, videos, or you tube or news links shared with their Scheduled Caste (SC)/Tribe (ST) acquaintances. For instance, various messages/videos/links are …

Assertion

Two Words that Rattled Academic Authority – Kumar-Spivak Fracas

by rti_adminon January 4, 2025January 5, 2025Leave a Comment4

Anshul Kumar “The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization” This is a popular quote which is attributed to Sigmund Freud but as per Freud Museum’s website, it is a quote by the neurologist Hughlings Jackson.1 But why am I writing about hurling abuse as the basis …