Dr. Ravichandran Bathran Introduction After India’s independence, the central government introduced different policies to increase the production of agriculture and goods, invested in industries and later opened the market for global capital. The government’s policy in improving agriculture had a major impact on the agrarian society, particularly the village structures. Caste hindus controlled the …
A critique of Assa Doron and Robin Jeffrey’s approach to waste in India
Dr. Ravichandran Bathran An article written by Assa Doron and Robin Jeffrey appeared in thewire.in on 24th May 2018 under the title “Let’s Talk about Clean India’s Unspeakable Secret”. Both have been writing on India’s waste/garbage seen in public places. To put it differently, they are critics of India’s unclean public spaces and the …
Uproot the Wall of Untouchability Erected by Paraiyars in Sandaiyur
Dr B. Ravichandran In Sandaiyur village of Madurai District, Chakkiliyars, one of the Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu are protesting for the 13th day since 30th January against an untouchability wall. They are demanding demolition of the wall. In protest. 70 families have left their houses and are staying under a banyan tree at …
What Bihar means for Dalit parties and their narrow vision
Ravi Chandran The Bihar election is a blow to the ruling BJP and the Hindutva parties associated with it. It should further upset those who came with the exit poll results, including the CSDS. The media, especially the English press and electronic media should be ashamed of talking against the alliance of RJD, JD …
Remembering Martyr Neelaventhan
Ravi Chandran and James Michael (For Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes) “Dont call me a victim, I am an immortal…if you have guts bury my body in the middle of the city” – Kalekuri Prasad. The self-immolation of Arunthathiyar leader Neelaventhan and the brooding silence over it cannot be reduced to an issue of …
Statement in support of the struggle for justice for Mudasir Kamran
[Via Ravi Chandran] March 11, 2013. We express our solidarity with the ongoing struggle of the students of the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad following the unfortunate suicide of Mudasir Kamran, a PhD student at the University, on March 02, 2013. We are dismayed at the insensitivity with which the University administration has handled the situations that …
The murder of a Dalit girl and the silence over it
Ravi Chandran (This article talks about the alleged murder of a Paraiyar girl, Gogila, by her family because of her love marriage with an Arunthathiyar boy, Karthikeyan, in a village in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu. Apart from a small report in Junior Vikatan, the Tamil magazine, there has been absolute silence in the media …
Duddu Prabhakar: Dalit movement at a crossroads
Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes [In this interview Duddu Prabhakar, veteran Dalit rights activist and President of the ‘Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samithi’ (‘Struggle Committee for Eradication of Caste’, roughly), traces the history of the Dalit movement in Andhra Pradesh from Karamchedu in 1985 to Lakshimpeta in 2012, and says the movement now has to decide …
‘Khaps should be named as terrorists’
Ravi Chandran Continued from here. (This is the second part of the excerpts of the interview with Paul Divakar, conducted by Ravi Chandran of Dalit Camera: Through Un-touchable Eyes) {youtube}ZCNMTY_3s9w{/youtube} Paul Divakar: The one thing that stands out among the northern states is the lack of Dalit social movements and their assertion. If …