B. R. Bhaskar Prasad was interviewed by Palani Samy and Nidhin Sowjanya for Dalit Camera before the Chalo Udupi rally. The text was translated from Kannada by Savitha Rajamani, Vinod Pushparaj, Chinnamma and Anusha Suresh. The interview was videographed by Karthik Ranganathan. B. R. Bhaskar Prasad is a Dalit writer and activist from Nelamangala taluk, Bengaluru, and one …
Caste can be destroyed only through caste war: V. T. Rajshekar
V.T. Rajshekar (Dalit Voice) In the past 68 years that India has been independent, we have spent all our time quarreling. Something is seriously going wrong with country’s uppercaste rulers. They are in terrible confusion. They are afraid of their own shadows. This ruling class or caste may be small in numbers (less than …
The representation gap
Christophe Jaffrelot, Gilles Verniers Decline in number of OBC MPs shows that the classic tropes of backward class politics — quotas and simple descriptive representation — no longer work. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections produced an assembly where many voices can hardly be heard. The representation of Muslims, for instance, is at a historical …
The Importance of the SECC’s Caste Data, And Why the Government is Choosing To Sit On It
Surabhi Agarwal The Indian government recently released data from the socio-economic and caste census (SECC), 2011. The data mostly relates to incomes, standards of living and land-ownership patterns in rural India. However, this data is incomplete, and the most crucial aspects of the SECC, which relate to the caste composition of the Indian population, …
The Gita and OBCs
Kancha Ilaiah No Shudra-OBC can be a priest either in a Ram temple, a Krishna temple, or a Shiva temple. But he can be the Prime Minister of this country. Today, when a Shudra-OBC is PM, it’s not because of the Gita, but because of Ambedkar’s Constitution. The Other Backward Classes are a historically …
Stop The Undermining Of Reservations
An Open Letter on the recent recruitment at Goa University [Via Amita Kanekar] This open letter is intended to express our concern at the improper implementation of the national policy of reservations at Goa University (GU). In June 2014 it was reported that there had been serious violations of the system of reservations in …
Oppose the modalities of reservation adopted by Delhi University
Balancing Interests: Two reasons to oppose the current modalities of reservation adopted by Delhi University Hany Babu M.T. Delhi University teachers are witnessing a peculiar phase. On the one hand, a large number of teachers who have been relegated to the status of “adhoc teachers” for years on end see some glimmer of hope …
Asur Utsav, not Durga Puja
“It is an Utsav, Not Puja”: Asur Utsav, Mulnibasi Culture and Challenges to Brahminical Hegemony Georgy Kuruvilla Roy and Samata Biswas (For Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes) The social media is rife with allegations and counter allegations regarding the casteist, brahminical, Hindu and/or secular nature of Durga Puja. Mainstream Bengali media have chosen to …
First Day at the ‘National Tribunal – Violence Against Dalit Women in India’
The National Tribunal – Violence against Dalit Women in India (on 30th September and 1st October, 2013, at the Constitution Club in New Delhi) was conceived in the hope that it would be ‘one small step in the long and arduous journey of Dalit women for reclaiming their rights‘. Asha Kowtal very succinctly expressed the …