A Dalit feminist reflects on how different causes (from Dalit to Palestinian) are deeply intertwined due to resistance against targeted, systemic, & intergenerational oppression.
" Transformational solidarity is .. the quiet, consistent work of education, of unlearning centuries-old prejudices. Most critically, it is relearning history from the perspectives of those who systematically continue to be silenced and erased. "
Rahul Yatra: Congress’s political strategy faces too many constraints for a successful execution
Social justice for vulnerable groups is the ideological plank and a focus on tribal, OBC and Dalit voters is the electoral strategy underpinning the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Pulling it off for the 2024 Lok Sabha election looks a tall order. Asim Ali writes.
Challenging this agenda will mean condemning efforts to brand anti-Hindutva as discriminatory and compassion for Hindus who face religious marginalisation.
Chennai’s neighbourhoods during floods: Adrift together, divided by caste
Activists and residents of north Chennai say that they had to fight state apathy, along with a lot of disinformation, as it was deliberately portrayed that normalcy returned to Chennai when a part of the city was completely under water.
Tamil Nadu: 60 Dalits End Pre-Independence Era Practice, Walk Street Wearing Slippers
The community members walked the ‘Kambala Naicken Street’ in Rajavur village of Tiruppur district donning footwear for the first time in living memory, breaking an unwritten discriminatory practice imposed by upper castes.
Tamil Nadu: Study says caste pride reigns in schools, identifies casteist teachers
The Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front submitted a study highlighting the prevalence of caste violence and discrimination in schools to the state government, seeking action in one month’s time.
Floods in north Chennai through the lens of its youngsters
“For others, photos are for news. But for us, it is a documentation of life with all its struggles and no filters,” say Nandhini and Rasiya, two young women photographers who documented the floods as it unfolded in north Chennai.
55 years on, scars of the gruesome Keezhvenmani massacre run deep
In the village, then located in the composite Thanjavur district, agricultural labourers, including children, were locked in a hut and burnt alive on the night of December 25, 1968, by landlords for rallying under the red flag and demanding a hike in wages.
On all fours in ‘rat holes’, the heroes of Silkyara scrape by on the margins
Rat-hole mining is banned in India as a dangerous practice; showered by praise, a 12-member team of rat-hole miners ask for human dignity, a house, a road, fair wages, and an assurance that such a collapse will never be repeated.
UP: Dalit Boy 'Forced to Drink Urine', Then Named in Sexual Harassment Case
The Thakur men accused of assaulting the 14-year-old Dalit boy claim that the row started because the boy and his friends harassed a young woman from their family. They admitted to beating up the boy but claimed they had not made him drink urine.
Why Kamal Nath’s Hindutva lite might dent Congress in this Madhya Pradesh region
Even Congress leaders worry that his public religiosity is turning OBCs against the party in Chhatarpur district, home to the temple of Bageshwar Dham.
No nationwide caste census since independence, limited data available
An official nationwide caste census has not been conducted since Independence, numbers collected by private and government entities as part of other data collection exercises provide some insights.
Tamil Nadu: 46-year-old Dalit cook attacked by MBCs, hospitalised
People of both SC and MBC communities reside in Arunachalapuram village. Some months ago, the SC residents attempted to install a party flag and this irked the MBC residents.
DMK’s Chennai Mayor R Priya is spoken over, patronised in meetings by male councillors
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won a majority in Chennai’s local body elections in 2022, and was lauded for making Dalit member R Priya the GCC Mayor, a move many perceived as progressive. But at the council meetings, patriarchy continues.
Tamil Nadu: Sanitary staff attempts suicide after panchayat president hurls caste slur
Sources said Karupasamy and his wife Muniammal belong to the Scheduled Caste (Arunthathiyar), and are among 27 sanitary contract workers deployed by the Green Trust for Pudur Town panchayat.
‘Virtual lynching’: Scholars issue statement supporting Yashica Dutt in Made In Heaven row
Signed by over 400 people, the statement called for giving Yashica Dutt due credit for her likeness being used in one of the episodes in Made in Heaven, directed by Dalit filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan.
‘I will fight until I die’: Nepal’s celebrated Dalit activist on her lifelong battle for equality
Being denied water as a child set Sarswati Nepali on a path to end caste-based discrimination. She has since been honoured by the US government and become an inspiration to women.
Dalit boy in Tamil Nadu attacked by students in another caste atrocity incident
Hari Prasad, a student of Government High School in Kalugumalai, was subjected to casteist harassment at school when he tried to defuse a fight between two students and was later attacked by a gang in his hometown.
Dalit teen and sister hacked by dominant caste students in Tamil Nadu
The victim Chinnadurai (17) was hacked by six students from his school at 10:30 pm on August 9 at his house and when his younger sister came running, she was also attacked.
Online caste pride pages in Tamil Nadu and the influence they exert in real life
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, are home to multiple pages that profess caste pride. While most of these have thousands of followers, how much influence do they exert in real life?
TN Dalits denied access to burial ground protest on highway with dead body
More than 100 Dalits staged a dharna demanding a path to the burial ground. They also demanded patta for the burial ground, which has allegedly been partially encroached by the Vanniyar residents.