(Fact finding report first published in April 2003 by PUCL) Team members 1. Sheelu, President, Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective 2. T.S.S. Mani PUCL, Chennai – Chengai District Committee. 3. Ponnuthai, Women’s Forum Against Violence on Women, South Tamil Nadu. 4. W.G.Latha – Tamil Nadu Resource Team. 5. Jessy , Kanchi People’s Forum 6. Mahesh, Kanchi …
The warriors who slayed babies and other tales
Rahi Gaikwad The name Ranvir is usually given to a boy. It means brave warrior or battle hero. This is the name a section of landed castes in Bihar, chiefly the Bhumihar landlords, adopted to christen themselves as an army of warriors, the Ranvir Sena In Hindu mythology, the idea of the warrior king who wages …
Cartoons, Caste and Epistemic Violence
Nilesh Kumar ‘These upper-caste authors who are forever miles away from reality and who can only make ceremonial and meaningless speeches in big meetings, can never understand what we the shudras and atishudras have to suffer and what calamities we have to undergo. All this is not entirely unknown to the high-caste …
‘The very right of living in this country has been snatched from me’
Linga Ram Kodopi, a trained journalist and Soni Sori’s nephew, who is accused of having Naxal connections has been in prison since 10 September 2011. He writes an open letter to fellow Indians. ~~~ Respected intellectuals, I am writing this letter in the hope that you all will do justice to the torture and injustices …
Critical Reading of NCERT text ‘Indian Constitution at Work’
Lalit Khandare The National Curriculum Framework 2005 for social sciences states: “In the social sciences, the approach proposed in the NCF recognises disciplinary markers while emphasising integration on significant themes, such as water. A paradigm shift is recommended, proposing the study of the social sciences from the perspective of marginalised groups. Gender justice and a …
NHRC seeks report on extra-judicial killings in Manipur
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the secretary, ministry of home affairs of the government of India, district magistrate and district superintendent of police of Ukhrul district of North East Indian state Manipur asking for a report on the alleged torture and the extrajudicial killing of three indigenous Meitei people in a …
The Cartoon Controversy: Inside the Mind of one ‘fanatic’ Dalit -II
Continued from here. Anoop Kumar When I saw the cartoon – and at the time I googled, there were only 3 images available – I spontaneously recoiled at the violence in the cartoon. I had to check again and again to confirm if it was indeed the controversial one because the cartoon was …
Ambedkar’s Cartoon and the Caste question
Raj Kumar A harrowing monologue is in vogue in the popular media and academic forums apropos a cartoon of Dr. Ambedkar in a Political Science textbook prepared by NCERT for its Class XI students. Apparently, in the cartoon, Ambedkar is depicted being whipped by Jawaharlal Nehru for delaying the framing of the constitution. The …
Amartya Sen’s Imagined India
Braj Ranjan Mani Intellectual compromise of the best gives rise to the worst. Amartya Sen’s sanitised, caste-blind perspective on social unfairness, Hinduism and Indian culture, despite the show of reason, eclecticism and inclusive sensibility, is a gross distortion of historical reality, and a classic example of the limitation—and danger—of elitist liberalism. Amartya Sen is India’s …