Vicky Nanjappa A report of the National People’s Tribunal on the 2008 riots in Kandhamal, Orissa, is out. The report that runs into 197 pages points out that the brutality of the violence falls within the definition of ‘torture’ under international law, particularly the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. According to the tribunal, …
Scripting change
‘As a writer I can’t help being objective about myself or the workings of caste’ P.Sivakami. ( This interview was published in The Hindu in August 2009) Subash Jeyan She stands at the confluence of many personal interests and currents in contemporary public life. One of the pioneers of Dalit writing in Tamil, she published …
Politics of representation
Gopal Guru (Published in Seminar magazine in December 2001) THE UN conference on Race, Xenophobia and Other Related Forms of Discrimination was recently held at Durban in South Africa. A central issue that assumed ‘flaming’ importance both before and during the conference was whether caste should be included in the formal agenda of the conference. …
Caste through Democracy part-I
Prabin Dhangada Majhi We must begin with an education in democracy. Without assuming democracy can be of just one form and can be summed up only thus, let’s define it as a process where all citizens participate in decision making and are influenced, equally. Because, most large democracies are representative democracies following an aggregation of …
The private sector’s turn to deliver
Sukhadeo Thorat The government’s decision to set aside a 20 per cent quota for SC/ST vendors in its purchases, if accepted by every sector on a wider scale, has the potential to make growth pro-poor and inclusive. The Central government has finally announced a policy reserving 20 per cent of its purchases for micro and …
Jotirao Phule: Shetkaryaca Asud (Part 8)
Translated by Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar Chapter 4 We begin this chapter not by discussing at first the ruined and pitiable state of the toiling ignorant farmers who labour night and day on the land, but rather will give on the occasion an idea of the true condition of those arrogant parading, indebted ignorant Kunbis who, because …
Dalit woman leader not allowed to lead
Translation by Lavanya Raj Bharathi An atrocity such as this continues unstopped, only in Tamilnadu. This atrocity is yet another example for how caste inequalities run strong and deep in the state’s soil, like the roots of the Banyan. On Wednesday, the Kayaththar panchayat (near Kovilpatti) committee meeting took place in the panchayat committee office. …
Ms Bedi, how dare you?
Kancha Ilaiah Team Anna has been arrogant and self-righteous ever since it launched the Jan Lokpal movement. Its Jantar Mantar hungerstrike yielded quick results, as the Congress government itself gave the team a boost by constituting a committee to draft a bill and by including five members from the team in it. Among them was …
Rich Heritage of Punjabi Dalit Literature and its Exclusion from Histories
Prof. Raj Kumar Hans Exploring histories of Dalit literature in different languages of India is to encounter the deserts of neglects, silences and exclusions. The ‘Progressive Punjab’ is no exception to this sub-continental reality despite claims that Brahmanical ideology and its resultant social structures had considerably weakened in the Punjab due to the impact …