Chanchal Kumar In this technological age, we have to ask the question, Is it worth moving towards an Ambedkarism that is more rooted in our time, and embodies all the changes that the year 2023 has brought? There has been multiple covid waves, apart from a bunch of other international maladies, that have broken the …
Trading pearls for sand: BJP and the Panchamasali reservation struggle
Trading pearls for sand[i]: BJP and the Panchamasali reservation struggle ಛಲಬೇಕುಶರಣಂಗೆ, ಪರಧನವನೊಲ್ಲೆನೆಂಬ;ಛಲಬೇಕುಶರಣಂಗೆ, ಪರಸತಿಯನೊಲ್ಲೆನೆಂಬ;ಛಲಬೇಕುಶರಣಂಗೆ, ಪರದೈವವನೊಲ್ಲೆನೆಂಬ;ಛಲಬೇಕುಶರಣಂಗೆ, ಲಿಂಗಜಂಗಮಒಂದೇಎಂಬ;ಛಲಬೇಕುಶರಣಂಗೆ, ಪ್ರಸಾದದಿಟವೆಂಬ;ಛಲವಿಲ್ಲದವರಮೆಚ್ಚನಮ್ಮಕೂಡಲಸಂಗಮದೇವ. Fortitude is needed for the Sharana (devotee) to declare: “I don’t want another’s wealth” Fortitude is needed for the Sharana to declare: “I don’t desire another’s wife” Fortitude is needed for the Sharana to declare: “I will not believe …
‘Matto Ki Saikil’: How there’s no hope for Dalits in upper caste cinema
Neeraj Bunkar Cinema is being refined in many ways due to the rapid technological advancements and emergence of other platforms for disseminating film messages. However, in the visual cultural space, this approach of modernism, liberalism, and assigning assertive agency to characters is only limited to ‘upper caste’ characters but not to Dalit characters. Aside from …
What is it like to be a young Dalit, Swaero, first-generation learner?
Madhuri Kamtam Key words: SWAEROES, TSWREIS SWAEROES: The term SWAEROES was coined by Dr. R.S. Praveen Kumar, IPS, who served as the secretary for the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) from 2013 to 2021. Students who attend these institutions are referred to as SWAEROES. SW stands for Social Welfare, while Aeroes is …
Playing the Savior: Hindutva and Muslim Women’s Rights
Bobby Kunhu “Patriarchy is a kind of shirk (or idolatry)… stemming from the Satanic notion of istikbar (thinking of oneself as better than another)….” – Amina Wadud, Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam Muslim communities, like every other theistic or atheistic social system, are hegemonic and patriarchal. But, in a virulently Muslimophobic world, …
History of reservation and the present situation: A View from Chennai
(Speech made by G Karunanidhi translated from Tamil by Radhika Sudhakar) I would like to go into how Social Justice was in operation in the past. We do not have to search for information elsewhere but can have it from the sections of the Constitution that was given by Dr Ambedkar. Under the Directive Principles of …
Entitlement and the Global Art Bourgeois
Umar Nizar (DEUS ABSCONDITUS AT THE KOCHI-MUZIRIS BIENNALE) `I am not your data’ -Abhay Xaxa Saddam Hussein, the erstwhile dictator of Iraq, was executed on a local holy day. The imperial revenants always make it a point to make their emergence on such occasions. Such was the case of a hatchet job perpetrated by the …
Bring Life Back To Literature — Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
Akshay Gujar Babasaheb Ambedkar was a voracious reader, and his writings have always been empowering for the downtrodden and enlightening for the country. In my opinion, literature has immense power. It can be oppressive in nature and also be liberating. In a country like India, knowledge production rights were confined to Brahmins and not to …
Social and Environmental Injustice in Common Land Distribution
Sidhodhan Umare Abstract The majority of village population is either small or marginal landholders, or landless. If we think from a social justice point of view, we would agree that those common lands should be distributed first among landless people, but upper caste landlords are at the forefront in grabbing common lands. They are grabbing …