For An Informed Ambedkar Age
(This Rediff Interview with Thol. Thirumavalavan was first published in Rediff.com in February 2001) It was during the 1999 Lok Sabha election that the Dalit Panthers of India, under R Thirumavalavan, became a force in Tamil Nadu. It was then part of the Third Front led by the Tamil Maanila Congress. That forum fared …
Anoop Kumar Gujarat assembly elections are here, and Round Table India takes this as an opportunity to post an interview of French Scholar Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot that was first published by the Dalit students’ magazine ‘Insight Young Voices’ (Feb-March, 2008). This interview was taken by Anoop Kumar for the magazine on the eve of …
Bhalchandra Mungekar A war of words has erupted between the chief ministers of Bihar and Gujarat. Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar has slammed Narendra Modi for taking potshots at the state’s slow socio-economic growth. The altercation began with Modi saying that caste politics has ruined states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Hitting back, Nitish has …
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 …
[An excerpt from the chapter ‘The Pattern of Abuse: Rural Violence in Bihar and the State’s Response’ from the report ‘Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s Untouchables’ published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 1999.] The extent of political patronage extended to the Ranvir Sena can be gauged by the fact that while a large …
(Report first published in November 2003) Continued from here. Violence against Dalits in Marathwada A Report by the Fact Finding Team comprising Dr. Anand Teltumbde, Akram Siddiqui, Subodh More, Hashim Mohamma November 2003 Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), Mumbai 2. Murti incident Murti is a relatively bigger village with a population of about …
Dr. Udit Raj (First published in September 2006) The Sangh Parivar is not able to resolve the dangers looming large on the caste-based Hindu religion on its own. There is a saying that you should first try to resolve your differences on your own, and then consult your neighbours. But instead of taking recourse to …
[A fact-finding team of the Forum for Democratic Initiatives* visited Gohana on 4th September 2005 to enquire into the gruesome torching of houses belonging to the Balmiki community on the day of 1st September 2005. The team met the victims and their relatives; local college lecturers and primary school teachers who were conducting a survey …
Khalid Anis Ansari Continued from here. [III] 4.5% Sub-Quota for OBCs within Minorities: The ‘policy’ and ‘technical’ dimensions Let me state right at the outset that the recent 4.5% sub-quota was not a demand raised by the pasmanda movement but rather is informed by the second recommendation of the Ranganath Mishra Report which is as …