Showing 184 Result(s)
Thought

Questions of name

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Gail Omvedt “Dalit”, “Scheduled Caste”, “Ex-Untouchable” and “Harijan”. These are only some of the many words used to refer to the most oppressed sections of Indian society, “untouchable” in the traditional caste order, performers of the most degrading task, and still today caught in the throes of poverty, discrimination and the remnants of untouchability. “Dalit” …

Thought

Learning from a controversy

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Sukhadeo Thorat The insights in the NCERT cartoon report can help to make the curriculum and the classroom more inclusive While the NCERT textbooks report has generated much heat, it has also shed positive light on the issue. It is time to reflect on this side of the debate and deal with the questions it …

Thought

Name of God, wealth of Brahmins

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Dr. K. Jamanadas Dr. Ambedkar asked to use temple money for public good In a special editorial in Mahanayak of 14th July 2012, titled, ‘Name of God, wealth of Brahmins’, the author has given interesting statistics. The following is the gist of it. Mr. Sharad Yadav has recently demanded that the money collected in the …

Thought

Nothing but academic immorality

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Kancha Ilaiah Educational issues are best left with Parliament and not with ‘intellectual’ experts Ever since the Thorat committee submitted its report on the political science text books of the NCERT of class IX to XII recommending deletion of some cartoons, changing of some words a gnat war has started against Thorat personally. M S …

Thought

The Cartoon Conundrum

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      A counterpoint: Conundrum of a cartoon and the proselytization of professors ~~ Bojja Tharakam A considerable bunch of professors are up in arms against those who condemned the cartoon republished in the text book in political science for class XI (published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training), depicting Jawaharlal …

Thought

Dr. Ambedkar, Neo-liberal Market-Economy and Social Democracy in India (Part II)

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Ronki Ram Continued from here. [This paper was originally published in Human Rights Global Focus, Vol. 5, Nos. 3&4, July-December 2010, pp 12-38 (late issue)] Moreover, atrocities against Dalits (social boycott, kidnapping, murder, abduction, bonded labour, intimidation, rape, honour killings and residential segregation) have also increased many folds during the economic reforms measures. Tapan Basu …

Thought

Identity politics and the annihilation of castes

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Anand Teltumbde Identity, one’s sense of self and its persistence, as shaped through ascriptive and subjective processes, is natural to humans as social beings. Identity politics, however, is not natural. It is articulated through a persistent sense of discrimination and oppression, either innate or induced, along the axis of ‘defining’ one identity from among many. …