Gaurav Somwanshi (Round Table India and SAVARI have been hosting a series of online talks by activists and thinkers on issues of importance to the Bahujan. This is the transcript of Gaurav Somwanshi’s talk on June 21st, 2020) Whatever I’m going to talk about today is primarily built upon the articles that I wrote, …
Statement of Solidarity for Dr. Maroona Murmu from the Faculty of Presidency University
We, the undersigned teachers of Presidency University, Kolkata, are shocked to know about the recent attacks on Dr. Maroona Murmu, Associate Professor of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Dr. Murmu is an accomplished scholar, an activist, and an intellectual. She is an important voice of our time insofar as she regularly writes and speaks about the …
Reality of sanitation workers in India: Caste, Stigma and historical injustice
Dhamma Darshan Nigam The reality about the life of sanitation workers is not just about unsafe working and living conditions, irregular and minimum wages, and their health conditions and exploitation by their contractors. The reality is deep down more about the caste system and acceptance by the society that one group of people is …
Deconstructing the greatness of Indian Gurus
Prof Vivek Kumar September 5th, the birth anniversary of Sarvaplli Radhakrishnan, is celebrated as teacher’s day in India. Students wish their teachers ‘Wish you happy Teacher’s day’. Many others quote the greatness of the ‘Guru’ from Guru Strotam dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya. However, if we analyze the autobiographies of Dalits then this ideal type …
Comprehending Honour Killings in India
Aniruddha Mahajan Honour killing is an ugly reality in India. In fact, the nation where the societal structure is based on caste system, such incidents will not astonish much but will surely hamper the esteem of the nation. In the 21st century, the prevalence of caste based violence and systematic cum indirect operation of …
Distinct Identity of Sikhs and Rights of Scheduled Castes among Sikhs: Article 25 (2) (b)
Gursimran Singh It has been the popular demand of Sikhs since long that there is a need to amend Article 25 (2) (b) of the Constitution as it denies to them a separate distinct religious identity. The controversy is primarily around Explanation II to this article which states that “…..the reference to the word …
Annihilation of caste: Can an anarchist perspective work?
Pranav Jeevan P We have been debating tirelessly on different ways to abolish caste and other social evils which permeate the society that we have today. Raising voices against oppression, forming political parties and contesting in elections and also trying to force the government to form and implement policies which will give the Bahujans …
Politics of Hope in the Age of Pessimism
Shah Nawaz Afaque “For a revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights.” B.R. Ambedkar Is it just me or is there a lot of negativity in the air? Ideological clashes at the …
Dalit Commodity or Identity?
Gaurav Somwanshi Whatever I’m going to say is primarily built upon the articles that I wrote back in 2016, September 2016, especially. Of course, I’ve built upon many other things, but the core has remained more or less the same. In fact, I’ll be quoting most of them directly. So those articles were written …