Manoj Bag On April 14, people celebrated Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti across the country. Just three days before Ambedkar Jayanti, on April 11, many of those people celebrated Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jayanti in many of the villages in Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, etc. These two days were also celebrated by many students’ organisations in academic institutions …
Being Dalit, Being Christian: The dilemmas of carrying these identities
Sumeet Samos Growing up in a small village in South Odisha in a Christian family, there were regular prayer meetings in our house and Sunday services in a nearby church, and my parents would always emphasize the teachings of the Bible and ask us to remember the verses from the Bible for our everyday lives. …
Akhila Naik’s ‘Bheda’: A significant novel on Odisha’s caste-ridden society
Chanchal Kumar My presentation will be brief and touch upon the intellectual and philosophical core of the novel. The social and historical background of the work has been covered at length by Professor Raj Kumar in his introduction to the novel, as well as in his essay “Alienation, consciousness and assertion – an interpretation of …
Appeal to Human Rights and Ambedkarite Organizations
Appeal to Human Rights and Ambedkarite Organizations to participate in fact-finding on the atrocities on Scheduled Castes in Bargarh District of Odisha and support financially the campaign for justice On 14/04/2022, at a bike rally on the eve of Dr B. R. Ambedkar was attacked by Bajrang Dal activists with swords and knives. Scheduled …
Dalit Women in Higher Education in Odisha
Saraswati Suna “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” ~ Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Education is a path for equal opportunity and ensures possibilities for individual growth, social mobilities and economic empowerment to the oppressed, Dalit and marginalized communities. However, education throughout Indian history has only …
Odisha: Role model for the Upper Castes in fighting Corona
Roshan Padhan When they say everyone is equal before law, it is the biggest lie in India. If we look at some news reports in one Odia newspaper, Sambad, this is very evident. While the Odisha government is boasting about its strict and successful implementation of the so-called lockdown, its burden is being disproportionately …
We will eat what we want: Lado Sikaka
Lado Sikaka (Translation of his speech at the Gai Parab (beef festival) on 9th Dec, 2019) The Modi Govt. is persecuting people for eating beef and therefore for the last 3 years we have been observing ‘Gai Parab (beef festival)’ to tell the world we will not give in to the Brahminical hegemony. They can …
Request for public funding for a 5 day conference on ‘Education of Youth and Social Transformation’
Kalinga Mitra Trust (KMT) In 2006, graduates of Nagarjuna Training Institute and other Ambedkarite students began organizing around the issue of education in the western part of Odisha. In 2012, they formed the ‘Kalinga Mitra Trust (KMT)’, an organization that works with Ambedkarite Buddhist ideology to build a movement for bringing about social and educational …
Dalit Assertion through Conversion to Buddhism
Amiya Ranjan Jena On 13 May 2018, Krushna Chandra Sagaria, the Member of Legislative Assembly of Odisha from Koraput constituency embraced Buddhism along with 55 families in his ancestral village Burja under Laxmipur block of Koraput district. Around 3000 people across Koraput, Kalahandi and Bolangir district had attended the two day run Dhamma Kranti ceremony …