~ This is the transcript of an interview of Dr. Ratnesh Katulkar by Suresh Ahirwar ~ The recent Supreme Court decision regarding the classification of reservations for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, along with the emphasis on adding a creamy layer to it has sparked both support and opposition. This issue primarily concerns the castes among …
Caste and Indian Villages
Ankush Uttam Helode Despite 76 years of independence, India is still facing caste-based problems and discrimination, In rural areas especially small villages, untouchability is still in practice. The mode of caste based discrimination in the urban spaces is changing, however villages are the cesspools in which caste grows in many dimensions. Public places like drinking …
Which came first? Caste or Reservation?
Rahul Kumar Gautam The Past life of Dalits Since the time of Vedas, the people of India have been divided into a hierarchical caste system based on their occupation. According to Hindu scriptures, Brahmins are at the top. Dalits were separated from the four caste hierarchy classes (Varnas) and were referred to as Avarna. According …
Caste-based Violence And The Elixir Of Freedom
Dr. Sheetal Dinkar Asha Kamble I am very upset today. Amrit Mahostav is going on in the country. It has been 75 years since the country became independent. But is the caste system over? This task is still incomplete. A Dalit student was killed after drinking water from a pot in Rajasthan’s Jalore district on …
‘Mahad Satyagraha was not for water but to establish human rights’
Milind Thokal Mahad, situated in Raigad district of Maharashtra, is historically significant as an ancient port city. The place achieved further importance after Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s revolutionary act of defiance following the upper caste Hindus refusal to implement the resolution passed in Bombay Legislative Council. On 4th August 1923, Rao Bahadur S.K. Bole, a …
Personal, Social, Political – A Few Memories
Rajesh Chavda When I graduated from Columbia Law School with an LLM degree, immediately after the graduation ceremony, still wearing the graduation robe and hat, I was walking with one of my classmates to his room to change, as his hostel was closer to the law school than mine. As we were walking, we met …
Analyzing a Brahmin historian’s views on the origins of untouchability
Shubhi Often the theory of varnasankara or mixed castes and untouchability are discussed together in Indian academia mainly to rationalize the link between low occupational status of lower castes and untouchability. There is no obvious link between the two; for Ambedkar argued beef eating by the Buddhist broken men had resulted in the imposition …
Navayana Buddhism – Context, Debates and Theories
The Shared Mirror PRE RELEASE COPY Navayāna Buddhism Context, Debates and Theories shaileshkumar darokar subodh n.w bodhi s.r Published by Dedicated to all members of the Navayāna Buddhist Sangha The Shared Mirror Publishing House The Shared Mirror Publishing House shall endeavour to promote Dalit Bahujan literature and writers. It …
Chhatrapati Shahu’s Crusade against Untouchability – 2
B. D. Khane Maharaja was a champion of social justice and equal opportunities for all. He believed in protecting the weak against the strong. The aim of his measures was to raise the lower castes from their abject position in society by employing them and fitting them for hitherto closed avenues of life. For …