Adv. Mahendra Jadhav Abstract Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is undisputedly one of the greatest economists of all time. But unfortunately, his economic thoughts have not been read, followed or propagated. Today in the epoch of Privatization, Globalization and Liberalization, it has become important to understand the economic thoughts of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who …
Onam for Adivasis: Celebration of exclusion, betrayal and exploitation?
Narayanan M Sankaran (Translated from Malayalam by Joseph Antony) ‘Onam is the National festival of Malayalis’. It is a sentence one learns or is rather made to learn to write and speak from school days onwards. During my childhood, and for many years after that, Onam stood for exciting times for the sole reason …
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 …
Temptation of a Poor Brahmin: The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra
Yogesh Maitreya In an idyllic Nagpur winter in 2011, a friend of mine who had spent a few years in England learning Buddhism and living like a Buddhist (now back in India), had recommended ‘The Romantics’, a novel by Pankaj Mishra, to me. The way he spoke about this novel, it was evident that …
Arippa Land Struggle: The Geography of Caste in Kerala
Ajith Kumar A S The people in the protest land in Arippa in Kollam district in Kerala, are celebrating the first anniversary of their land struggle in the last week of December. It was on December 31st, 2012, that over 150 landless families, under the leadership of ADMS, ‘occupied’ and set up temporary shelters …
(Un)Touchable in Durban
Martin Macwan (First published in the December 2001 issue of Seminar) The UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) held at Durban had three major agenda themes among others: identification of the sources and causes of discrimination, identification of victims of discrimination, and working out a programme of action …
Disturbing Aspects of Kerala Society
Gail Omvedt Arundhati Roy’s prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, focuses on the most socially explosive of all relationships in India, a love affair between a dalit man and a high-caste woman. It ends with the brutal murder of the man by the police, “history’s henchmen,” and the woman’s banishment — punishments for …
All the myths about Kerala
Chandrabhan Prasad Brahma Satyam, Jagat Mithya: This is one of the three slogans the Adi Guru Shankaracharya had offered while according “religious” cover to the Chaturvarna order in the early ninth century in India. Shankaracharya was born in Malayali land and was an accomplished myth maker. According to him, “The world is not real, …