For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Gail Omvedt Diwali, or the “Festival of Lights,” comes in the period after the harvest, as days begin to get shorter. The first day is for honoring cows and buffalos. The second day, in Brahmanic culture, commemorates the killing of Mahisasura: this symbolizes the struggle between “devas” and “asuras.” In the legends, both are …
Kancha Ilaiah Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come to power, issues related to Muslims in India are zooming into focus. Though during the election campaign Narendra Modi indirectly talked about “appeasement”, “votebank” politics and the preferential treatment meted out to Muslims by the Congress Party, he did not make their identity …
D. Shyam Babu & Chandra Bhan Prasad The central policy challenge for the new government is how to sustain social gains while ensuring that Dalits can participate more meaningfully in the economy, by sharing in the fruits of economic growth while contributing as well In his address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister …
Gail Omvedt Gail OmvedtBook: The Annihilation of CasteAuthor: BR AmbedkarPublisher: NavayanaPages: 415 pagesPrice: Rs 525 The annotated edition of Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste is prefaced by an article by Arundhati Roy entitled ‘The Doctor and the Saint,’ which takes up one aspect of Ambedkar’s theoretical and philosophical work. Roy’s essay is listed as an …
Priyashri Mani On the 3rd of May, a young adivasi girl (Madi*) from the Bettakurumba tribe was sexually assaulted by a guard working in the Forest Department. Madi lives in a village inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. In the past, the Forest Department has been the single …
Kancha Ilaiah When a religion treats the labouring castes as impure, naturally the indignity of labour becomes the essence of the nation. Does not this situation need to change? The Modi government seems to believe that a change should be brought in school curriculum by re-working the text books that NCERT brings out. To …
Pradnya Jadhav Years ago, she had a dream of attending school, completing graduation, getting a job and settling down. But yes, it was just a dream. The reality was all different, her parents arranged her marriage, and she lived with her husband for almost three years, by now she had two babies. So she …
Rupali Bansode During my field work for research on female Tamasha artistes, I was fascinated by a few interesting links I found between the two communities: Bedias and Kolhatis. In a recent conference, where I presented my paper on Tamasha dancers, I pointed out the link between these communities and was questioned on its …
Shaheen Ahmed “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true” ~ Baudrillard1 No truth about television can be truer than this quote – television is a reality, a reality which is nothing but simulacra. As Jean Baudrillard explains …