(This interview was published in OneWorld South Asia in February 2010) For inclusive growth, there is need for dual policy with share of benefit reaching to the poor and minorities, says Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi. Breaking hierarchy and establishing a common public educational system with effective policy against discrimination will …
Scripting change
‘As a writer I can’t help being objective about myself or the workings of caste’ P.Sivakami. ( This interview was published in The Hindu in August 2009) Subash Jeyan She stands at the confluence of many personal interests and currents in contemporary public life. One of the pioneers of Dalit writing in Tamil, she published …
Politics of representation
Gopal Guru (Published in Seminar magazine in December 2001) THE UN conference on Race, Xenophobia and Other Related Forms of Discrimination was recently held at Durban in South Africa. A central issue that assumed ‘flaming’ importance both before and during the conference was whether caste should be included in the formal agenda of the conference. …
The private sector’s turn to deliver
Sukhadeo Thorat The government’s decision to set aside a 20 per cent quota for SC/ST vendors in its purchases, if accepted by every sector on a wider scale, has the potential to make growth pro-poor and inclusive. The Central government has finally announced a policy reserving 20 per cent of its purchases for micro and …
Ms Bedi, how dare you?
Kancha Ilaiah Team Anna has been arrogant and self-righteous ever since it launched the Jan Lokpal movement. Its Jantar Mantar hungerstrike yielded quick results, as the Congress government itself gave the team a boost by constituting a committee to draft a bill and by including five members from the team in it. Among them was …
Why reservation is necessary
Sukhadeo Thorat WITH a rapid scaling down of our tiny public sector due to privatisation and increasing withdrawal of the state under the impact of liberalisation, serious concern has been expressed about the fate of the present public sector reservation policy. Because of indirect and backdoor de-reservation, there is a growing demand for some sort …
BJP’s small state theory
Kancha Ilaiah With the Telangana question reaching a climactic stage it is necessary to examine the implication of carving out small states for issues such as reservations in general and the OBC reservations in particular. Dr B.R. Ambedkar argued for small states and a strong Centre to put a check on feudal upper caste forces …
Dismantling ‘Dalit’ with a Poisonous PIL
Anand Teltumbde Will the removal of the “forward” scheduled castes from the list of SC reservations benefit the “backward” SCs? Recently a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court for excluding some five to 10 named castes and tribes from the list of the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) for the reason that they had …
Playing village card
Chandra Bhan Prasad How many Anna supporters are ready to live by his code? A leader’s actions or opinions are measured by his vision which he has acquired over a period of time. So, in a way the actions are context specific. We all know that same thing can have different meanings depending upon the …