For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Sumit Samos Introduction: When we hear the word Dom, it is very often the seminal ethnography “Death in Banaras” by Jonathan Parry (1994) and Niraj Ghaywan’s popular film Masaan that come to our mind. And both of them have dealt with the theme of Doms being the corpse burners in the ghats of Banaras (a …
Vaibhav Kharat Recently, Rahul Gandhi’s visit to a Dalit kitchen and his interaction with the Dalit family was broadcast on his YouTube channel, which has millions of subscribers. It was framed as an act of inclusion, meant to bring attention to the everyday lives of Dalits, particularly their food culture. The visit showcased his conversations …
Ibin Nayakam On August 15, I watched the Tamil movie Thangalaan, directed by Pa Ranjith, and for the first time in a long while, I felt a sense of relief in my ideological struggle against societal injustices. Beyond its social commentary, the film offers extravagant visuals and employs magical realism to communicate its story. This …
Sree Govind Bharatvaraj From Non-Brahmin Politics to Ambedkarite Buddhism: Reading Blue Star Jayakumar’s Blue Star makes a critique of the non-Brahmin politics and insists Ambedkarite Buddhism as a notion to unite Dalits and intermediate castes in the Tamil state. Neelam Production (film Company of Pa. Ranjith) has released its recent film, Blue Star (2024), directed …
Casteist Nature of the Democratic State: Does Congress Really Care About the Constitution? Case of Telangana! Ashok Danavath On July 20, Mr. Revanth Reddy, the Chief Minister of Telangana and Head of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), attended the inaugural Kamma Global Summit at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre. The summit was organized by …
Ajinkya Sanjay Khandizod Urbanization and Slum Growth Urbanization has exploded in Indian metropolises over the last few decades. The urbanization degree worldwide is around 57%, whereas in India, it is 34%. According to the U.N. report on World Urbanization Prospects 2018, cities’ population will double by 2050. Between 2014-2018, the slum percentage increased from 23% …
Anjali Shreshth In April 2010, the Dalit members of Banka, a remote village in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in northern India, inaugurated a unique temple. The temple was symbolic not because of a mythical history attached to it but rather because it was symbolic of the reclaiming of agency—social and political—by the …
Neeraj Bunkar In a previous article for Round Table India, I analysed the depiction of caste dynamics in Season 2 of the web series ‘Panchayat’. The series portrayed a village dominated by ‘upper caste’(Brahmins), while Dalits are depicted as struggling to secure basic amenities, such as toilets. This is exemplified through the character of Vinod, …
Sankalp Gaikwad It has been approximately 2,563 years since the Buddha attained enlightenment and 66 years since Bodhisattva Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar set the Dhamma Chakra in motion. Yet, within our society, a distinct phenomenon has emerged—a species. This species manifests primarily during Brahmanical festivals and remains conspicuously absent during Islamic or Christian celebrations. It exhibits …