Dalit girl alleges assault by DMK MLA’s family in Chennai
Anu* was employed as a domestic worker by Pallavaram DMK MLA I Karunanithi’s son Anto and daughter-in-law Merlina when she was 17 years old. On January 16, she was admitted to the hospital with multiple injuries.
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.
India needs a caste census – and Southasia does too
Demands for a caste census are shaking up politics and prompting a fresh reckoning with historical injustices in India. Everywhere that caste is endemic, overdue caste counts have the power to do the same. Anil Verghese and Naval Kishore Kumar write.
Challenging this agenda will mean condemning efforts to brand anti-Hindutva as discriminatory and compassion for Hindus who face religious marginalisation.
Two elderly Dalit farmers fighting case against TN BJP leader, summoned by ED
The ED is alleged to be pursuing the Dalit farmers – who subsist on a Rs 1,000 monthly pension – as they are engaged in a land dispute case, where they have accused a local BJP leader of trying to illegally grab their land.
‘Abolish reservations after 10 years’: The illusion of merit and what BR Ambedkar never said
The writer of India’s Constitution never favoured a time-bound framework for quotas. Misquoting him ducks questions on what has really changed for lower castes. Rajesh Chavda writes.
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.
Court Orders FIR Against MLA Bal Mukundacharya in Assault Case: Accused of Spitting and Kicking Dalit's Chest
Mukundacharya had won the Hawa Mahal seat by defeating Congress candidate RR Tiwari by a thin margin of 974 votes. He went around his constituency shutting down shops selling non-vegetarian food a day after being elected and later apologised for his actions after people complained about him to the National Human Rights Commission.
Over 13,000 SC, ST, OBC students dropped out of central varsities, IITs, IIMs in 5 years: Minister
The government has taken various steps like fee reduction, establishment of more institutes, scholarship, priority access to national level scholarships to aid the students with poor financial backgrounds to pursue their education.
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.
Dalit youth in TN’s Tiruppur abducted, beaten up for ‘disrespecting’ caste Hindu man
Pratap, the Dalit youth, who was assaulted by caste Hindu men, said he has been receiving threatening calls on his mobile ever since he filed a police complaint against his attackers.
Bhima Koregaon: Supreme Court Adjourns Hearing of bail plea by Shoma Sen again
Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing on behalf of Shoma Sen, emphasised that Sen has been lodged in jail for five and a half years without trial and the bail hearing before the Supreme Court has been pending for five and a half months.