Nikhil SanjayRekha Adsule There has been a great hustle and bustle owing to the technique of “Vipassana” which is in full vigour since 1972 in India. One Satyanarayan Goenka is proclaimed to have reintroduced it again in the land where Buddhism originated and thus unveiling a new revolution. The prevalence of Vipassana is garnering a …
Misinterpretation of Marxism by Milind Kamble: Reflections of a Dalit proletarian on Dalit bourgeoisie
S Karthikeyan Mr. Milind Kamble, Chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), said in an interview given to the Indian Express, “I feel that market and money will defeat Marx and Manu because both are against capital. Manu says Dalits should not hoard capital and the Marx theory is anti-capital. But the …
Caste among Malabar Muslims
Bobby Kunhu “The saints have never, according to my study, carried on a campaign against caste and untouchability. They were not concerned with the struggle between men. They were concerned with the relation between man and god. They did not preach that all men were equal. They preached that all men were equal in …
10% EWS: Conceived by Courts and Delivered by Cong-RSS and BJP
Ayaz Ahmad Abhishek: How did the 124th amendment bill and 103rd CA Act come about? Ayaz: The constitutional debate in courts around reservation from 1950 onwards focused on reducing reservation to an exceptional policy instrument. Towards this end, the principle of formal equality as enshrined under Articles 15(1) and 29(2) were given primacy over the principle …
The Cost of a Poor Brahmin: Notes from History
Nidhin Donald E.A.H Blunt in his book The Caste System of Northern India spends an entire chapter on how castes governed themselves in everyday lives. Based on the U.P. Census Report of 1911, he describes the functions and forms of punishments instituted by jaati panchayats. Blunt points out that feeding the brahmin or paying …
The Republic of Reservations
Dr. N. Sukumar The principle of merit is largely undefined. However, the social and economic worth of individuals and institutions are valued on this amorphous principle. Any standard definition of merit will again feed the myth of the “family farm” comprising of parental background, educational alma mater, economic occupations, physicality and geographical location. Needless …
Risks of Dalit writing: Experiential Notes of a Cursed Writer
KK Baburaj Noted Afro-American feminist, Bell Hooks has written an essay titled ‘The Censorship from left and right’. She points out that in American media, dominated by racist Whites, the creative expressions and protests of Blacks face direct and indirect – overt and covert – censorship. Meanwhile, a section among Blacks reproduces the general …
Beyond Conventional Political Binaries
Omprakash Mahato Yashwant Sinha, in the ‘United India Opposition Rally’ held in West Bengal on 19 january 2019, stated that the coming together of opposition parties is not to defeat ‘one person’. It is a fight between two ideologies. The ideologies that will uphold the constitutional ethos; that will protect secularism from the religious …
Temple entry struggles and some missing contexts
Mayur Kudupale & K Swathi Sivadas The culture of debating on social issues has always paved the way for acquiring new learnings. The recent verdict on Sabarimala row was an inevitable topic among us, students. Our friends from Kerala, especially girls, debated enthusiastically that women’s entry to the temple should be allowed. Dissenting against …