Chandrakant Kamble Famous Hindi writer Munshi Premchand’s (1881-1936) story Sadgati (‘deliverance’ in the religious sense of the term) was picturized by legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) in a 1981 movie with the same name. India is celebrating Ray’s 100th birth anniversary in 2021. In academia and curriculum, Ray’s many films are considered masterpieces and …
Outlook magazine’s duplicity
JS Vinay Recently, there was a controversy when the Outlook magazine released an issue with a cover story on “50 Dalits remaking India”. [1] Many anti-caste activists raised questions about the issue. Some were talking about the usage of the word “Dalit” since a court had ruled against the usage of the term in previous …
End Casteism in IITs
The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), IIT Bombay It is amidst desolate cries and the numbing daily reports of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic raging across the nation, that we all have witnessed a video recording of an online class for the Prep English Course (IITs Preparatory Course for SC/ST and …
Let’s move on from this simplistic debate of nepotism in Bollywood
Anurag Minus Verma For the last few weeks, nepotism and insider/outsider has become the trending topic. As an outsider who is working in the Mumbai industry for more than 5 years, I would like to add that the debate of nepotism is a simplistic debate. There are much deeper issues which are plaguing the industry …
Do ideas of Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar matter anymore?
Shailesh Narwade Jayanti, for many, is merely a celebration of the birth anniversaries of socio-political thinkers who were instrumental in bringing social change of which our generation is a beneficiary. Some people see it as an occasion to eulogize and recollect the contributions of these great leaders. Though these modes of celebrating and remembering …
The twice born parasite
Dhamma Darshan Nigam The COVID-19 pandemic has made clearly visible the deep chasm of inequality in the Indian society: it is our Bahujan folks who are suffering the most. However, for the Brahminical media and academia (BMA), their suffering is just a “poverty” issue, they portray that people are suffering just because they are poor. …
A reply to Mr Katju
Archana Sigh & Arvind Mr Markandey Katju in an article for FirstPost worried about the cause of Scheduled Castes, saying reservations are psychological crutches for them and the caste system is perpetuated by reservations. He wrote this article in reply to the article of Kailash Jeengar, Asst Professor of Law, Campus Law Centre, Delhi …
Poverty of Philosophy within Liberals in Understanding Anti-Caste Politics
Omprakash Mahato There are social scientists who develop their views on caste through textual means, attending conferences and seminars, observing society from a distance etc. While reading textbooks is the conventional way, some scholars tend to develop their ‘theories’ from watching Bollywood movies, reading newspapers,viewing newsroom studios debates, discussing and debating with research scholars …
Necessity of representation: a Tribal woman vice chancellor in India
Swapnil Dhanraj When was the last time India celebrated a success story of a woman coming from a Tribal community in Indian academia? If we think about the manner in which Indian education system has dealt with the issues of Dalits, Tribals and other marginalised communities, it appears that those issues have been represented and …