Dr Jas Simran Singh Kehal ‘Epidemiology is like a bikini; what is revealed is interesting; what is concealed is critical’. This statement by Peter Duesberg, a cancer epidemiologist, at the time of corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic carries significance if we take into account gender, social, economic and demographic inequities in India. With about 500,000 …
Open Letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Date: 27th March 2020 The Honorable Chief Minister,Government of Maharashtra Subject: Regarding the safety of nomadic tribal communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. In light of the scenario resulting from the current global pandemic, Honorable Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi have taken decisions which have been welcomed and followed by …
Chithralekha: An Icon of Resistance
Carmel Christy K J The road gets narrower as you go to Chithralekha’s grandmother’s house where she used to live at the rear end of the village in Edat, Kannur in Kerala. The road ends at her house and there is no way to go further. Dalit houses at the end of the village is …
Palasa 1978: A Bahujan resistance against caste supremacy
Shiva Thrishul The film speaks about Bahujan resistance against the dominance of caste feudal lords across generations in a town in Andhra Pradesh. The enslavement of the Bahujan bodies for the political gains of privileged castes, upper-caste exploitation of the Bahujan labour force, the abuse of Bahujan muscle power, deceptive and treacherous nature of the …
Learnings from Assam in the context of NPR/NRC/CAA
Naaz Khair The Council of Europe reports that there are more than 680,000 stateless people in Europe today, a large number of them being ethnic Roma with no basic documents to prove their identity, legal status and citizenship. They are all individual stories of deprivation of rights, with their statelessness caused by, “discrimination in …
Palasa 1978 – A must watch movie for Dalit-Bahujans
Dr. SPVA Sairam The movie Palasa 1978 is set in a village called Palasa in Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh state. Like every village in India, Palasa too is divided into two quarters. One quarter is composed of Touchables and the other of Untouchables. Touchables live inside the village, where as Untouchables live outside …
The Elitist Turn in Cultural Studies
What do they know of Kathakali, Who they only Kathakali knows? Mistaken Modernities in Kerala Umar Nizar The cultural ecosystem in southern India, has been at the forefront of heralding an Indic future, from APJ Abdul Kalam on the Veena to TM Krishna performing live at the beaches of Kerala and TN, the southern …
Who does Rohith belong to?
Ravikant Kisana On 28th January 2020, standup comedian Kunal Kamra walked up to BJP-ally & news anchor Arnab Goswami on the Mumbai-Lucknow Indigo flight and heckled him for a minute on camera. For many a sufferer of Goswami’s bombastic bullying on prime time, this was a moment of apt retribution and karmic justice. For …
Beauty, Femininity and the Politics of ‘Desire’
Noel Mariam George The recent crowning of a biracial black woman as Miss World made news as it made full circle with four other wins by biracial black and black women in the biggest beauty pageant. Not many understand beauty pageants as political; however what can be more political than a contest in which nations …