Shiuli Vanaja 5th April, 2014 One of the chief leaders of the Niyamgiri struggle is Lingraj Azad who is a Dalit from Kalahandi district. Lingraj Azad is 50 years old. He has been active for about 30 years as a full time activist of Samata Sanghatana and Samajvadi Jan Parishad. During the Niyamgiri agitation …
Congress, AAP and the Common Man
Ratnesh Katulkar The sudden rise of Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal is the most prominent political event that emerged in the recent assembly polls. This is certainly a big blow to the established political parties and is particularly a strong setback to the Congress which found its tally reduced to merely eight …
The politics of “our” failure
Sudha K. F. Walter Benjamin, the famous Marxist critic, in an essay on Franz Kafka wrote that there is “plenty of hope, an infinite amount of hope—but not for us”. Benjamin, a Jew, took his own life fleeing from the Nazis, when he lost all hope of survival, by swallowing a handful of morphine …
Riddle No. 2: The Origin of the Vedas – The Brahminic Explanation Or an Exercise in the Art of Circumlocution
(From ‘Religious Riddles’ in Part I of the book ‘Riddles in Hinduism’ by Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar) There is hardly any Hindu who does not regard the Vedas as the most sacred Book of his religion. And yet ask any Hindu what is the origin of the Vedas and it would be difficult …
Riddle No. 1: The difficulty of knowing why one is a Hindu
(From ‘Religious Riddles‘ in Part I of the book ‘Riddles in Hinduism‘ by Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar) India is a congeries of communities. There are in it Parsis, Christians, Mohammedans and Hindus. The basis of these communities is not racial. It is of course religious. This is a superficial view. What is interesting to …
Warped in caste conundrum
Surendra Kumar In early 1960s, at my college, Syed Mubarak Ali, the Art teacher, and Devi Singh, physical training teacher, used to be served food in white porcelain plates at teachers’ lunches while others ate in brass thalis. I thought it must be a reward for their meritorious services; they were two of the …
Letter to the Prime Minister: Include Pali in Constitution of India
Please sign (inserting your name etc in the brackets) this appeal to the Prime Minister of India to include Pali, the ancient language, in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution by going to this site. ~ Letter to Hon. Prime Minister of India For Inclusion of Pali, ancient Indian language, in Constitution of India …
V.T. Rajshekar on Jati Identity
~ Understanding the significance of Jati identity in selected prose writings of V.T. Rajshekar ~ Grishma Manikrao Khobragade Abstract Dalit-Bahujan-Ambedkarite writers have come to the fore of literary studies and culture studies in the recent years. These writers reveal in their writings various factors that propel actions like caste hegemony, caste discrimination and caste …
Exactly whose sentiments are hurt by beef and pork? Part 2
Continued from here. Ravi Chandran As we saw earlier, beef was made an issue associated with only Muslims. Read the constituent assembly debate on banning cow slaughter– Seth Govind Das in his speech he says: …The Muslims should come forward to make it clear that their religion does not compulsorily enjoin on them the …