Kranthi Kumar Mungamuri Very recently, Telangana MLA Dharma Reddy (TRS), made a casteist statement over reservations by saying that “state is being ruined or destroyed due to lack of merit in government due to communities who had reservations” which led to a war of words between democratic, productive forces (SCs, STs and OBCs) and …
Asserting voices of marginalized youth in university space
Sudarshan Kasbe In 2017 two dalit students pursuing higher education committed suicides in premier institutes of India which really shook the nation. These suicides cannot be looked at as independent events but are subject to critical scrutiny by researchers in the wake of the hierarchical structure present in Indian education system. After 73 years of …
Storming Libraries, ‘Achhe Din’ and the New Education Policy
N Sukumar and Shailaja Menon The NEP 2020 has been rolled out amidst the Corona pandemic with the grandiose dreams of unleashing India’s potential as a world teacher (Vishwaguru). Ironically, a few months back police stormed the library of Jamia Millia Islamia, thrashed students and vandalized the reading space. No one knows when the culprits …
The incompatibility of RSS-BJP’s agenda with the idea of India: A Zero Hour prognosis
Salman Farissi In 2019, when BJP won with a bigger majority than ever before, the minorities of the country, especially religious minorities, were not only disappointed but deeply distressed. While they pondered their prospects, followers of the hardcore right-wing, sycophants of Hindutva ideology, were celebrating and contemplating making their idea of Hindu-Rashtra a reality. Before …
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 …
University as a Subject to Truth-process
Vishal Verma The word ‘university’ is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium,(Latin: universtas, ‘a whole’) which roughly means ‘community of teachers and scholars’. The term ‘university’ was first used in the 14th century. But, as we know from history, there existed well-established universities much before the 14th century, including Nalanda University. Certainly, …
The University Must Be Destroyed
Harshita Bathwal I write this as a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University who has been a witness to the students’ movements during the past two years and a participant of the anti-Lyngdoh campaign within the university. I associate myself very much with the independent left students on campus. And I am writing this from that …
Shrinking Space in JNU: A Study of Dalits
Jadumani Mahanand A University is supposed to be a centre of learning, which would allow critical thinking with experiments, innovations, discoveries, and an open space for debate, discussion, dialogue and criticism. University is not only a place to develop knowledge or to have intellectual persuasion but to revolutionize the conservative socio, economic and politics …
Dalit Student Life of Social Exclusion
Wesly Kumar Even though the Dalits form one fourth of India’s total population they are still in the lower strata in Indian society. The caste sentiments are still rising in the land where Ambedkar relentlessly strived for the abolition of the caste system. We now have instances of discrimination in higher educational institutions. Being …