By Sukhdeo Thorat Following Dr. Ambedkar’s example, Team Anna should use constitutional methods and enhance people’s faith in them. Otherwise it will convey the message that only coercive and unconstitutional methods work. A group of people, with placards showing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, staged a demonstration in Delhi a few days ago against Anna Hazare’s proposals …
Aarakshan: Expression with Reservation
by Bobby Kunhu I have not watched Aarakshan. I am an unapologetic advocate of free speech. And I generally do not like writing about what I do not know. But then this piece is not about Aarakshan, but about dominant discussions about the movie from newsroom discussions to (English) newspaper headlines. And most of the …
Annihilating caste
by Bhalchandra Mungekar B.R. Ambedkar’s passion for the abolition of untouchability and the eradication of caste is as relevant today as it was 75 years ago. THE Jat Pat Todak Mandal, a social reformist organisation of Lahore, had, in 1936, invited Dr B.R. Ambedkar to deliver the presidential address of its annual conference on the …
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability: Social(Chapter V)
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability: Social(Chapter V) THE CURSE OF CASTE As I have said in the first Essay there cannot be a caste in the single number. Caste can exist only in the plural number. Caste to be real can exist only by disintegrating a group. The genius of caste is to divide and …
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability: Political, Chapter 1-From millions to fractions
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability: Political _________________________________________________ Contents Chapter 1 : From millions to fractions Chapter 2 : The revolt of the untouchables Chapter 3 : Held at bay Chapter 4 : Their wishes are laws unto us Chapter 5 : Under the providence of Mr. Gandhi Chapter 6 : Gandhi and his fast Chapter 7 : A warning to the untouchables
Does India deserve international curbs?
by Chandrabhan Prasad A novelist friend has just returned from Oxford. She was there to attend a Dalit-related talk where the UN-sponsored World Conference Against Racism, to be held in Durban this year, came up for discussion. She wondered why European scholars were not easily prepared to equate caste-based discrimination with that of race. Another …
The Dravidian movement
Gail Omvedt “So many movements have failed. In Tamil Nadu there was a movement in the name of anti-Brahmanism under the leadership of Periyar. It attracted Dalits, but after 30 years of power, the Dalits understand that they are as badly-off – or worse-off – as they were under the Brahmans. Under Dravidian rule, …
Manusmruti Dahan Din
BY Dr. K. Jamanadas. Today is Christmas, 25th of December. It is celebrated all over the Christian world as the birth of Jesus Christ. But for the whole world of Dalits, it is an important day as “Manu Smruti Dahan Din“, as it was on this day in 1927 that Manusmruti was publicly burned by …
Castes in India
Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development~Anthropology Seminar of Dr. A. A. Goldenweizer at The Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. on 9th May 1916~Source: Indian Antiquary, May 1917, Vol. XLI ~ Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Many of us, I dare say, have witnessed local, national or international expositions of material objects that make up the sum total …