Veewon Thokchom As a boy who grew up in Manipur in the 1990s, living in gruesomeness had become a way of life. When I tell stories about those days I feel that telling stories constitutes an act of resistance, an act that reaffirms our existence. Why it is essential to tell these stories is because …
Confessions of a Privileged Dalit
Anand Silodia “What happened to you?” Vishal asked me. “What did you experience that set you on the path that brought you here?” I had met him only a few hours ago, at Nalanda Academy in Wardha, an initiative for preparing underprivileged bahujan students for higher education. He was curious how a privileged dalit from …
Delhi University’s Reading list and Empirical data
Ram Dayal Ahirwar The topic sounds like a fight between two parts of a research framework methodology under social science research. In the previous meeting of the Academic Council (AC) of the University of Delhi, Department of Political Science, the head of Department and associates have decided to strike down three books written by Kancha …
B. R. Ambedkar Now and Then – A Documentary Film
Jyoti Nisha My name is Jyoti Nisha. I am a 36-year-old Bahujan woman from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, making a feature-length documentary film about Babasaheb Ambedkar since the last two and a half years. The film is titled as, ‘B. R. Ambedkar Now and Then’ and is in the post-production stage right now. For …
Pasmanda-Bahujan against Sir Syed’s casteism
Round Table India For the last few days, Pasmanda collective and Bahujan students have been protesting against the written accounts of Sir Syed on the social media. As per allegations made by these activists and students, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had referred to an Indian Muslim caste as Badzat (low born) Julaha (weaver community) …
Kerala Flood Relief & Syrian Christian Caste Arrogance (Part 3)
Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes This is a transcript of the third video in the series of interviews Dalit Camera had documented in Kerala on the flood relief operations. The video was taken by Dr. Ravichandran Bathran; the translation was done by Shahal B. {youtube}NRTkP9N_hPk{/youtube} My name is Tinu. My home is nearby, Pallippad. …
Modern Historiography fits Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Indian Nationalistic Perspective
Jaspal Singh Sidhu “That history always has a purpose. That history is always about power. That history is never innocent but always ideological.” ~ Keith Jenkins, ‘Rethinking of History’, Routledge Classics. Of late, a majority of historians including those subscribing to the Left ideology have attempted to portray Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a 19th century …
Reading Chandramohan Sathyanathan’s poetry
Chanchal Kumar Chandramohan Sathyanathan’s poems are “plus-sized”, his poetry comes “without introduction or foreword from veterans”. By thus asserting their uniqueness and difference from the writing of his peers, he claims the historical tradition that harks back to the culture of writing of which Namdeo Dhasal is a major name, and for him personally, …
Machines will clean manholes, not the stigma attached to manual scavengers
Dhamma Darshan Nigam In human society, it is dignified living that provides people a respectful place among fellow citizens. It is the sense of being respected by fellow human beings that keeps people mentally alive. It is the sense of being positively recognized by fellow human beings that provide one with a sense of …