(This interview was published in OneWorld South Asia in February 2010) For inclusive growth, there is need for dual policy with share of benefit reaching to the poor and minorities, says Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi. Breaking hierarchy and establishing a common public educational system with effective policy against discrimination will …
Caste through Democracy part-I
Prabin Dhangada Majhi We must begin with an education in democracy. Without assuming democracy can be of just one form and can be summed up only thus, let’s define it as a process where all citizens participate in decision making and are influenced, equally. Because, most large democracies are representative democracies following an aggregation of …
The private sector’s turn to deliver
Sukhadeo Thorat The government’s decision to set aside a 20 per cent quota for SC/ST vendors in its purchases, if accepted by every sector on a wider scale, has the potential to make growth pro-poor and inclusive. The Central government has finally announced a policy reserving 20 per cent of its purchases for micro and …
Ms Bedi, how dare you?
Kancha Ilaiah Team Anna has been arrogant and self-righteous ever since it launched the Jan Lokpal movement. Its Jantar Mantar hungerstrike yielded quick results, as the Congress government itself gave the team a boost by constituting a committee to draft a bill and by including five members from the team in it. Among them was …
Campaign for Pasmanda Revolution
[This document elucidates the political programme of the Shoshit Samaj Dal, which is working chiefly to promote the cause of social justice, with specific emphasis on representation for the pasmanda sections, dalits and backward castes, among Muslims- Round Table India] Translation by Khalid Anis Ansari Shoshit Samaj Dal Campaign for Pasmanda Revolution Everyone …
Why reservation is necessary
Sukhadeo Thorat WITH a rapid scaling down of our tiny public sector due to privatisation and increasing withdrawal of the state under the impact of liberalisation, serious concern has been expressed about the fate of the present public sector reservation policy. Because of indirect and backdoor de-reservation, there is a growing demand for some sort …
Constitution for inclusive policies
by Abusaleh Shariff There is nothing in the Constitution which bars identification of beneficiaries of public programmes based on religion. Of late, there has been a debate on whether public programmes such as school education, scholarships, health-care delivery and access to microcredit can be targeted at beneficiaries based on religion; some consider this ‘unconstitutional’ and …
Accrued Social Capital over Individual Merit
R. Ravi Kumar The debate on merit has once again come to the forefront with the movie ‘Aarakshan’. From various press clippings and debates on the movie one can come to the conclusion that the ‘Aarakshan’ team is much worried about the victimization of merit due to reservations for the disadvantaged groups. Though there …
Don’t ban Aarakshan, it’s just upper caste
by Kancha Ilaiah The debate around Aarakshan, Prakash Jha’s movie on reservation, has several major implications for our civil society and state. The objections raised by several organisations, individuals and also the ban imposed by three state governments — Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab — because of their suspicion that the film is against …