For An Informed Ambedkar Age
— Prabin Dhangada Majhi [ Prabin’s article is a response to senior journalist and editor Prem Shankar Jha’s comments in a 2007 CNBC discussion on reservations. The comments resurfaced again in online discussions over suicides of Dalit students in India’s elite educational institutions, recently. You’ll find some of Jha’s comments reproduced here . And you’ll …
by Ashok Yadav & Khalid Anis Ansari The police firing and subsequent killing of five OBC Muslims in Bhajanpur village in Forbesganj of Araria district in Bihar on June 3, 2011 has been analyzed in most reports in the public sphere through the frame of ‘communalism’ and there has been little effort to grapple with …
Anoop Kumar [Thanks to Taha for his comment on Gujarat riots and the role of Dalits which reminded me of this particular incident. I wanted to write about this since long but keep on postponing it as I didn’t have much material except what I heard at the seminar held in Pune University] Almost …
by Nilesh Kumar Ideology of Bahujan Samaj Party is “Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation” of the “Bahujan Samaj” which comprises of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the Religious Minorities such as Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists. Reason for including all these classes is because they all were, …
Chandra Bhan Prasad (First published in The Pioneer in October 2001) I do not wish to refer to Ms Mayawati, the pride of the Dalit movement today, who has single-handedly redefined the grammar of cowbelt politics. Yes, Kanshi Ram did “introduce” her but don’t male politicians require mentors, too? I am talking about other …
by Chandrabhan Prasad The decision was deliberate. I wore a starched kurta churidar pajama because it had given me a distinct identity. Plus, with the “end caste” discrimination badge in place at the second button, anxious mediapersons could easily approach me to learn about India’s caste system. The party had just begun.
by Chandrabhan Prasad It can happen only in India. In the US or South Africa, it will be beyond anybody’s imagination to indulge in any race-related discourse without involving Blacks. Last Sunday, Star News organised a debate on caste in We The People, hosted by Barkha Dutt, otherwise a fairly “secular” person by persuasion …
by Chandrabhan Prasad Ever since Varna editors were caught postulating before Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at his free breakfast ceremony in Agra, they have discovered a time tested refuge of “Press freedom” to justify their shameful intellectual conduct. They are into their old habit of “defining” freedom, where the Press has the spine to confront …
by Chandrabhan Prasad Politicians, usually, lack a sense of shame or remorse. When they were made to wait outside, while the general negotiated with Hurriyat leaders, Indian politicians didn’t seem to mind and instead, argued that a head of state has “schedule constraints” to keep in mind. But what about the Varna-media? When our editors …