Milind Thokal Anniversaries are occasions for remembrance and renewal: these are the stock taking moments, we must introspect our achievements and failures. On this day we must ask ourselves whether we are truly Independent? Does this Independence belong to all of us equally? Has this Independence unfolded its wings to the lower strata of our …
Conceiving a New Public: Ambedkar on Universities
Asha Singh & Nidhin Donald Dr. B.R. Ambedkar conceptualizes education as a ‘vital need’ which helps us fight notions of ‘inescapable fate’ or ‘ascriptions of caste or religion’. He counted education as a socially inherited value which defines one’s access to power. Education was always a keyword, an indicator which he applied on issues of …
Unfinished legacy of Dr Ambedkar and the Plight of the Oppressed in South Asia
Hemangi Kadlak [A Speech on the Occasion of 130th Birth Anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.] Jai Bhim, First of all, I would like to thank the Ambedkar Society for South Asia for inviting me as a speaker for this webinar to celebrate the 130th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar. Today’s webinar topic is the ‘Unfinished …
Asserting voices of marginalized youth in university space
Sudarshan Kasbe In 2017 two dalit students pursuing higher education committed suicides in premier institutes of India which really shook the nation. These suicides cannot be looked at as independent events but are subject to critical scrutiny by researchers in the wake of the hierarchical structure present in Indian education system. After 73 years of …
Assessment of Health and Economic Status of Adivasis during COVID-19 Crisis
John Kujur The pandemic COVID-19 has wreaked an unprecedented health crisis and subsequently led to socio-economic instability across the world. The impact of the pandemic is perceived to be pernicious for every person irrespective of caste, class, sex, religion, race etc. However, the burden of such crises is often shifted to the vulnerable sections of …
Save Nation! Save Constitution!!
On March 4, 2020, hundreds of Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim and Christian minority groups and leaders from different parts of India assembled in the country’s capital to condemn and peacefully protest the imposition of unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Act through the implementation of the NRC and NPR, countrywide. The BJP’s election manifesto in the general elections …
Mockery of Electoral System in Central University of Gujarat
Vinod Kumar & Hawaldar Bharti Student movements in general, and students’ union election system in particular, have systematically been made non-effective through various government rulings by several electoral reform committees, particularly Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. In most of the Universities either there is no system of student representatives who can raise their voice for the …
Diversity in Judiciary: Why is it Necessary?
Manoj Abhigyan Human beings are bound by the decisions of the judges. A judge’s decision has a tremendous impact on human life. If a judge makes important decisions over a person’s life then it is important that he is closely acquainted with every aspect of the matter. Diversity is very important in the judiciary …
Becoming Minority- An Unsettling Inquiry into a ‘Settled’ Concept
Bhakti Deodhar (Book review of Becoming minority: How Discourses and Policies Produce minorities in Europe and India, edited by Jyotirmay Tripathi and Sudarshan Padmanabhan, New Delhi, Sage Publications 2014.) At a time when its attitude towards internal and external religious minorities poses an intractable predicament for the Indian government in the gaze of the …