For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Dr. Udit Raj (First published in January 2006) The doctors clamouring against reservations for OBCs have demanded that merit be the sole criteria for admission to medical and engineering colleges. Then, how is it that they haven’t objected either to the NRI quota or candidates who procure admission on the basis of capitation fee? Does …
Braj Ranjan Mani (First published in 2009) The image of India is that of a democratic, multicultural, inclusive society. But more often than not, appearances are not reality. India is a republic—a secular, socialist, democratic republic—where millions of children, women and men remain demoralised, enslaved to the powerful, crying out for fundamentals of life. Fragmented …
Khalid Anis Ansari Continued from here. [IV] 4.5% Sub-Quota for OBCs within Minorities: The ‘Political’ Dimension The approach that merely concentrates on government jobs and seats in higher educational institutions is indeed a very savarna (upper caste) view of reservation policy. From the perspective of upper caste discourse, which has little appreciation for dignity of …
Khalid Anis Ansari Continued from here. [III] 4.5% Sub-Quota for OBCs within Minorities: The ‘policy’ and ‘technical’ dimensions Let me state right at the outset that the recent 4.5% sub-quota was not a demand raised by the pasmanda movement but rather is informed by the second recommendation of the Ranganath Mishra Report which is as …
Khalid Anis Ansari Continued from here. [II] The Muslim Quota Debate The recent lower caste movements within the non-Hindu religions like Islam, Christianity and Sikhism have foregrounded the presence of caste-based differentiation and discrimination within these communities in the public sphere. As far as the Muslims are concerned the caste cleavages within them were duly …
Khalid Anis Ansari [I] The recent announcement of a 4.5% sub-quota for backward sections within minorities in the overall Central OBC quota by the UPA government on 22nd December, 2011 in the wake of elections in five states, including the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, has drawn in a number of reactions, some valid …
Ravi Chandran (With editorial suggestions from Kuffir) This article is an attempt to bring together information about the Dalit revolutionary leader Pasupathi Pandian, who was brutally murdered a couple of days ago (January 10, 2012). Since only bits and pieces of news material is available on him, I tried to gather some information from the …
‘The myth of Durga and the saga of Bahujan resistance’ Bahujan Films This short documentary (posted at the end of this note) named ‘Durga ka Mithak aur Bahujan Sangharsh ki Yatra‘ has its genesis in the OBC students of the country’s premier university, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, asserting their right to redefine the brahminical …
Kancha Ilaiah With the Telangana question reaching a climactic stage it is necessary to examine the implication of carving out small states for issues such as reservations in general and the OBC reservations in particular. Dr B.R. Ambedkar argued for small states and a strong Centre to put a check on feudal upper caste forces …