For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Surendar Valasai Probably the first comprehensive political statement for Dalit rights in Pakistan framed in the vocabulary of Dalitism was given in 2007 by Surendar Valasai, who is now the Media Cell Incharge, Bilawal House of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Although Dalit activists have been agitating and struggling in Pakistan since last 30 years, …
Mangesh Dahiwale Gopal Guru is an erudite scholar and a political scientist of high reputation. His command over political theories is a sign of his scholarship. However the above-mentioned essay lacks erudition and academic neutrality. His language is full of clichés and oftentimes meanders to become illegible and confusing. The essay in question is …
Deepak Kumar In Gujarat, on the 25th of June 2016, an NGO called ‘Human Development and Research Centre’ (HDRC) attempted to problematize and eradicate the social stigma on the untouchables who work as sweepers. But this initiative was welcomed with stone-throwing by the so-called upper castes1. This is the real face of Hinduism and …
Nagaraj Hettur I have been searching for a house to rent in the Santinagar and Hemavati Nagar area of Hassan for the last 15 days. I liked a house that I saw, which was near my daughter’s school. When I called I was asked to come the next day. I informed Manjegowda, Hassan Branch …
Essay 3. ‘What Babasaheb Ambedkar Means to Me’ Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy If I was a tree The bird wouldn’t ask me Before it built its nest What caste I am. ~ Anti-caste literature from members of the outcastes and lower castes in Karnataka has a very long history. The phrase Dalit literature is often …
Jadumani Mahanand Being born in an untouchable family, my life begins with multiple layers of discrimination – the degree of imposition in terms of discrimination, humiliation, oppression and exploitation make me an outsider within. All the worth of my individuality disappears or is abjected, and I continue to remain ‘undeserving’ to the world – …
Abul Kalam Azad “Caste is not just a division of labour, it is a division of labourers” ~ B. R. Ambedkar Recently, a big revelation penetrated the national media with considerable sensationalism – according to the results of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS-2), the largest pan-Indian non-government household survey, which involved surveyors asking …
James Michael and Akshay Pathak “His statues—dressed in garish blue, holding a copy of the Constitution—have been put up in city after city” ~ Arun Shourie, Worshipping False Gods “All the same, Ambedkar’s followers have kept his legacy alive in creative ways. One of those ways is to turn him into a million mass-produced …
Yogesh Maitreya After watching Fandry, I remembered my grandfather who died a few years ago. The movie suddenly brought back his memories alive, in front of my eyes. An ‘untouchable’, his name was Gariba (poor). He used to break stones, all his life, to earn a few rupees with which he raised a large …