Thought

NCERT book blanks out Ambedkar’s role as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee

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Chandra Bhan Prasad Are Dalits turning intolerant? Are they emotional and scornful to reason? These are some of the questions the mainstream media asked, following the controversy over publication of an Ambedkar cartoon in an NCERT book. In the process, a new stereotype on Dalits may have been created. The authors of the NCERT book, …

Features

Ambedkar Cartoon, Dalit Objections and Indian Left Liberals – II

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    Continued from here. This is the second, concluding part of the transcript of the interview Ravi Chandran, of the video news journal ‘Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes‘, conducted with Dr K. Satyanarayana, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U) on the recent Ambedkar cartoon controversy. Dr K. Satyanarayana: …

Features

Ambedkar Cartoon, Dalit Objections and Indian Left Liberals – I

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    Ravi Chandran, of the video news journal ‘Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes‘, interviewed Dr K. Satyanarayana, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U) on the recent Ambedkar cartoon controversy. Here’s the first part of the transcript of the interview: Ravi Chandran: Sir, how do you see the division …

Features

Thol.Thirumaavalavan writes to Kapil Sibal and Sukhadeo Thorat

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  Memoranda submitted by Thol. Thirumaavalavan of the Viduthalai Ciruthaikal Katchi (VCK) to Prof S.K.Thorat, Chairman, NCERT Review Committee and Mr Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Govt.of India, on 29.05.2012 and 30.05.2012 respectively, in New Delhi. ~~~   To Mr Kapil Sibal Honourable Minister of Human Resources Development Government of India New …

Atrocities

Dalit rights activists enraged at the failure of Indian delegations

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Dalit rights activists enraged at the failure of Indian delegations to address questions raised at the UN today – NCDHR Geneva, May 24, 2012 – Dalit rights activists gathered in Geneva are disappointed at the Indian delegation’s immediate response to the real challenges that Dalits face, when India was reviewed at the UN Universal Periodic Review of India …

Thought

Not about intolerance

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Chandra Bhan Prasad Wrong history real issue, not cartoon A couple of weeks back, almost all television channels and newspaper carried the controversy that arose over a National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) book that had a caricature of Dr BR Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru. The newspapers, news channels and columnists were aggrieved …

Features

The caste-neutral whip and other jokes

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Kuffir It is a clear visual representation of ‘secular violence’, which has its roots in the presentation of the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist movement as an unproblematic social organization and process, through which India gained freedom for the betterment and advance of all its ‘citizens.’ – Savari, in ‘Whipping up ‘critical pedagogy’: Uncritical …

Features

Two Lessons from Ashoka and Ambedkar

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Shiva Shankar (Talk presented at the conference on ‘Dr.Ambedkar and the Modern Buddhist World’, Nagaloka, Nagpur, October, 2006) Dear Friends, We all learn early that in 250 BC the Mauryan king Ashoka waged and won a cruel war with the neighbouring kingdom of Kalinga, yet when he went to inspect his spoils, it was not triumphant glory …