Virendra Yadav’s struggles in the ‘progressive’ camp
Virendra Yadav’s heart was riddled with barbs hurled by his ‘own’ people. But he kept fighting for secular-progressive ideas. He could have easily immersed himself in writing, ensconced in his living room. But he relentlessly took on fascist ideology – right from the streets to social media to the columns of newspapers and magazines,...
Subhash Chandra Kushwaha’s lecture on Kabir’s relevance today
‘From Jogis, Gorakhnath and Kabir learnt how love is essential for humanity; how the Hindu-Muslim divide can be healed and why Hindustan needs the...
Jharkhand: Attempts to ‘delist’ Christian Adivasis
This exercise is said to be sponsored by the BJP. Most of the BJP leaders – whether Babulal Marandi or Arjun Munda – have...
Maoists may surrender but Adivasi struggle will continue
There are many communities in the country that are more neglected than the Adivasis. They include several Dalit and OBC castes. But why did...
Why upper castes and BJP malign Yadavs in UP and Bihar and SP and RJD
The upper castes and their party and organization – the BJP and the RSS – have been building an anti-Yadav narrative in Uttar Pradesh...
Uttar Pradesh: SIR’s ground reality that EC wants to hide
The BLO said, ‘They took away all forms from us and handed them over to contractual or other employees for feeding. The result was...
Gadia Lohars: Still on the move, diminishing returns and no place to call home
The market for the products of Gadia Lohars is shrinking. Mechanization of farming has caused the demand for their hand-made implements to plummet. Savage...
Behold, the Light of the world!
This Christmas season, may we look beyond the twinkling lights and decorations, to the Light of the world who has entered our dark world...
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...
Virendra Yadav’s struggles in the ‘progressive’ camp
Virendra Yadav’s heart was riddled with barbs hurled by his ‘own’ people. But he kept fighting for secular-progressive ideas. He could have easily immersed...
Virendra Yadav was an incisive intellectual with a vision for social justice
Virendra Yadav’s biggest contribution is the inculcation of a sense of moral-social accountability in Hindi criticism. Through his writings, he tried to establish that...
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,...
Discovering young Ambedkar’s Indo-US trade petition
‘We, the representatives of India and members of the Indian Society for the Promotion of Commerce, request to the high-intelligence of the officers of...
Beyond Sacrifice: Reflections on the multifaceted life of Ramai
Was Ramabai just a dutiful housewife of Babasaheb, or was she an active co-emancipator who, like Babasaheb, envisioned a society free from man-made divisions...
Dr Ambedkar’s interactions with Indian scientists of his era
In my limited research, I found documented evidence of at least four leading Indian scientists who had interactions with Dr B.R. Ambedkar. They were...
‘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...