Dr. Sylvia Karpagam A series of articles have appeared recently in several media outlets about the lack of representation from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) in the Indian Institutes of Management. This is surely not an isolated occurrence and is highly likely to be the case in most national institutions. While numerous …
From Breast Tax to Brahminical Stripping in Comics: Orijit Sen and Brahmin Sadomasochism
Pinak Banik “Only dead dalits make excellent dalits.Only dead dalits become excellent sites where revolutionary fantasies blossom!” ~ Anoop Kumar The context for this article centers around the selective fetishising of Dalit Bahujan whose deaths were ‘spectacles’ and hence “become excellent sites where revolutionary fantasies blossom”. This comes served with obscene explicitism via White …
A Thread between Dangal and the Establishment
Chandra Sen Girls are supposed to be in the custody of their father when they are children, women under the custody of their husband when married and under the custody of her son as widows. In no circumstances is she allowed to assert herself independently. (Manusmriti) Bollywood has projected fathers, their roles, disciplines, ideals …
Towards a Post-minority Condition
Towards a post-minority Condition1 – this is the concluding part of the three-part series ‘Dialogue with BAPSA’. Read Part 1 here and Part 11 here. Khalid Anis Ansari Historically, while the category ‘majority’ has been by default occupied by the most dominant cultural collectivity within the national territory, the notion of ‘minority’ has carried …
The Manufacturing of Artificial Guilt and the Need to Reject It
Suresh RV [This article is written to clear the confusion in the minds of the young dalit-bahujan students and job aspirants, whether we should avail reservations or not? Or whether we truly deserve reservations or not? Because, I too have had this confusion, guilt and insecurity at one point of time in my life. …
Presenting Angela Davis, the Savarna Style
Sukanya Shantha On Friday, a friend and I walked into a movie hall to watch an American romantic musical, La La Land. Enticed by the cinematic beauty and the dreamy two hours spent in the cinema hall, I walked out feeling empathetic towards actor Ryan Gosling’s character Sebastian, a white American, who among several …
Miller Committee Report 1919 (Adequate Representation of Communities in Public Service)
[An anti-caste movement led by the backward communities under the banner Praja Mitra Mandali launched a focused movement to bring pressure on the king of Mysore for reservation in recruitment and education. The Miller Committee was constituted by Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore in the year 1919. This committee’s findings provided a …
Are Reservations Caste Based?
Hariram A Indian history is a history of bigotry, it is filled with the loads of lies and misinterpretations. These lies have become the base for the exploitation of millions of indigenous communities in this country. But, many great souls fought against the system which was created by these bigotries, and were successful in …
Why are Folks So Inclined to Speak for and Erase Dalit People’s Wisdom?
Noel Didla There has been a recent spate of speculative publications on Dalit women by anyone and everyone to validate themselves as academics, journalists, editorial writers, policy experts, global anti caste consultants, subaltern studies space makers and global solidarity town criers etc. Majority of these folk creep on the walls of Dalit women, breeze through Savari, RTI …