For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Sukhadeo Thorat (First published in June 2004) Given the range of economic discrimination against marginalised groups like SCs, STs and OBCs the reservation policy for the private sector ought to cover not only employment, but also markets, agricultural land, capital, consumer goods, education, housing, government contracts, etc. Faced with caste related discrimination against and deprivation of marginalised …
Pardeep Attri (Pardeep had penned down this inspiring dream for the new year, but it is equally appropriate for the Republic Day– Round Table India) There is no nation of Indians in the real sense of the world; it is yet to be created. In believing we are a nation, we are cherishing a great …
Gail Omvedt [Written in the year 2008] (A Reply to the Hindu Council of UK essay on “The Caste System”) * I owe thanks to Michael Witzel for his note citing Vedic references on caste and his careful reading of an earlier version of this essay. Introduction The essay submitted by the Hindu Council of …
Kancha Ilaiah In my childhood, way back in the early Sixties, there was a Gandhi statue in my village. His clean shaved head and semi-naked body with a tucked-in dhoti, in a walking posture, resembled my illiterate shepherd father in every respect except for the classic stick in the right hand, a book in the left …
by Gail Omvedt ( An excerpt from the chapter ‘Colonial Challenges, Indian Responses and Buddhist Revival‘ from the book ‘Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste‘) The response of the Brahmanic elite to colonial challenges was to emphasise the question of foreign rule and regain independence. The challenge of industrialisation and India’s material backwardness was …
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 _________________________________________________ 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
Waiting for a Visa : by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar In the year 1934, some of my co-workers in the movement of the depressed classes expressed a desire to go on a sight-seeing tour, if I agreed to join them. I agreed. It was decided that our plan should at all events include a visit …
CATHNEWS A dalit woman has thanked a Catholic nun for helping her to overcome the prejudice and corruption that could have cost her livelihood.Upper caste parents voiced opposition to Teju Bai’s job as a school cook in Madhya Pradesh, asserting that her former “untouchable” caste status would render the food impure and inedible.“But I did …