Kant, Phule and Ambedkar, and the need for a collective struggle for the right to reason
In societies that are unequal not incidentally but structurally, the issue is not simply 'immaturity', as Kant poses, but being deprived of a social environment that allows maturity. This is where Kant’s imagination falls short and Jotirao Phule intervenes, writes Mihir
Social composition of the 18th Bihar Assembly
The Rajput have the highest representation among all the castes, while Kushwahas top Backward Classes, followed closely by Yadavs. Dhanuk and Ravidas have most...
25 years of Jharkhand – who gained, who lost?
Jharkhand is not what it was supposed to be. The beautiful civilization of Chhotanagpur and Santhal Parganas is threatened with destruction as powerful companies...
Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: BJP would only touch Pasmanda with JDU-LJP(R) barge pole
BJP Bihar state president Dilip Jaiswal stated that his party would guarantee Pasmanda Muslim involvement in state politics. However, when it came to giving...
Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: Bhumiharization of the NDA
The BJP is strengthening its position in Bihar. Savarna leaders like Lallan Singh and Sanjay Jha are being promoted to push Nitish into the...
Uttar Pradesh: Yet another ID – this time to end farmer queues for fertilizers
The state government has devised a new set of rules to deal with the shortage of fertilizers, curb black marketeering and ensure transparency. Now,...
Kant, Phule and Ambedkar, and the need for a collective struggle for the right to reason
In societies that are unequal not incidentally but structurally, the issue is not simply 'immaturity', as Kant poses, but being deprived of a social...
Sohrai: An Adivasi festival that celebrates oneness with nature and coexistence with cattle
‘Sohrai’ means ‘appreciating and caressing’. The festival is about caressing cattle, pampering them and expressing gratitude towards them; it is about the relationship between...
A day at Ekwari – the village of Rameshwar Ahir, Ram Naresh Ram and Jagdish Master
Rameshwar Ahir’s son Bihari Yadav said that even after his father’s martyrdom, violence continued in the village. Feudal elements killed Rajendra Chaudhari, who was...
Dasain festival: A dance performance to preserve a collective memory of grief is on the wane
Dasain is not merely a festival of the Santhals; it is a collective memory of the entire indigenous society. It encompasses history, culture and...
‘Homebound’: A rare attempt to zoom in on the suffering of the historically oppressed
Through this excellent adaptation of a real-life story by journalist Basharat Peer published in the New York Times, Neeraj Ghaywan and his team have...
Seminal role of Dalit-OBCs in development of language and literature
Scripts were invented by painters and sculptors, and not scholars. Not only in India but in civilizations the world over, paintings and sculptures predated...
‘Sahitya Akademi has brought itself honour by honouring Sanjeev’
In his more than a dozen novels, Sanjeev has depicted the reality of the post-Independence Indian society. The issues and topics that he has...
In his ‘Ambedkar: A Life’, Shashi Tharoor betrays his privileged-caste naivete
After coming out with ‘Why I Am A Hindu’, Tharoor has predictably set out to look for Ambedkar’s ‘flaws’ in his biography of Ambedkar,...
Phanishwar Nath Renu – who gave centrality to the toilers of ‘the provinces’
Renu took the genre of reportage to new heights in Hindi literature. No one has been able to match him to date. In his...
Rajesh Paswan: Criticism within Dalit Literature is still in its infancy
Our Dalit writers don’t take criticism well. They begin enquiring about the caste and ideology of the critic. They evaluate criticism on these parameters,...
‘Lo Bir Sendra’ reveals yet more facets of the multifaceted Jaipal Singh Munda
In his recently republished memoir, Jaipal Singh recalls founding labour unions in the Gorumasahini and Badampahar iron-ore mines (in then Orissa) of the Tatas....
How Ambedkar led deeksha ceremonies in Nagpur and Chandrapur despite ill health, and Bombay was to follow
Why did Babasaheb Ambedkar sacrifice his valuable health to write the books? Why did he take on a mission to embrace Buddhism through multiple...
How Jagdeo Prasad saw Jan Sangh’s animosity towards Muslims
The BJP has been fomenting hatred against the Muslims, leading to the community being gripped by a feeling of insecurity and helplessness. Against this...
How Jagjivan Ram was repeatedly denied prime ministership
Jayaprakash Narayan should have ensured a democratic election for the leader of the Janata Alliance’s parliamentary party. In his book ‘Ek Zindagi Kafi Nahi...
When Ambedkar urged workers of India to unite against Brahmanism and capitalism
Two years after he launched the Independent Labour Party, Ambedkar addressed a conference of Dalit workers employed by the railways in Manmad in which...