Karthik Navayan In India there is no escape from the Brahmanical caste structure, it is a story that needs no retelling. It has been the case since ages, and, quite distressingly, it will be so for at least few generations to come. My 18-month tenure in ActionAid Hyderabad Regional Office and my subsequent year-long …
Ban on cow slaughter: a social conspiracy
Arvind Kumar The state of Maharashtra has issued a complete ban on cow slaughter. It is now a non-bailable offence to kill a cow. One can get a bail in the case of the murder of another human being but not for killing a cow. Those who have got this law to come into …
Real Daughters of India
Daisy Katta An interview with Dr. Sujata Vishwasrao Athawale, Professor and Dalit Activist, Amravati, Vidarbha, Maharashtra. Dr. Sujata Vishwasrao Athawale is a Dalit women’s rights activist who has been working with rural Vidarbha’s Dalit, Adivasi, Nomadic and Denotified Tribal and Muslim women for the last two decades. On the occasion of International Woman’s Day, …
Ambedkar’s Long Neglected Thoughts on Land Reforms and Agriculture
Utkarsh Mohod Agriculture’s contribution to the Indian economy plays a vital role in economic development and in keeping hunger of rural India at bay. Though secondary (Industry) sector is dominant in contemporary economic development of the country, around 65 per cent of people’s lives still depends on the primary sector (Agriculture). Agriculture’s share in …
The dalit woman is a threat to the caste system: Chithralekha
Rupesh Kumar Chithralekha has been on strike for the last 100 days seeking justice for the attacks on her by CPM goons. The government and district authorities remain silent on Chithralekha’s vociferous questioning and demand for justice. From October 25th, 2014, Chithralekha and her husband Sreeshkant are sitting in protest in front of the …
Rise of Modi and Anti-Muslim Politics: A Critical Reading of the Left
K K Baburaj After hearing the news of BJP securing individual majority in parliament, I visited a friend of mine. His father, a retired teacher and a well-known leftist locally being an ex-leader of a left wing teachers’ association, started talking to me enthusiastically about the election results. “This result is a reply to the …
Why single out BSP for BJP’s success?
Vivek Kumar This is with reference to ‘When the Elephant disappears’ (The Hindu, 5 January, 2015). A very general principle in research methodology is that generalizations are not possible if the sampling in a research is purposive. In this context to argue that, ‘one party which could benefit the most from the decline of …
Universal rights and universal violations
K. G. Balakrishnan As we mark the 66th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, disclosures of mass human rights violations have highlighted the need for greater accountability In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which stands as a beacon for the …
Roy-Navayana on Savarkar’s path
Dhruwa R Introduction Gandhi is just an episode in Indian history and not an epoch maker…..it is the efforts taken on the part of the Congress party to keep celebrating Gandhi through various days, the artificial respirations given to keep Gandhi’s memory alive for the nation, otherwise Gandhi if left to the people would …