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The State’s focus on Dalits may have created the rift between the two potential social allies against Brahmanism. But political parties espousing social justice have failed in addressing the question of development among the backward and Dalit castes. This has left most of these castes desperately looking for growth opportunities, and the right wing has smelt opportunity to draw these castes to itself

The Bengali intellectual class was bound by the rigidity of the caste system, despite having received a Western education and having been taught liberal humanism, enlightenment and science. An early 20th century document underlines what the Brahmins and other upper castes thought about Chandals, the largest Hindu caste in East Bengal (now Bangladesh)

I would like to say that FP has lit a fire in the Bahujan community that will continue to rage. And this is the singular achievement of the magazine. It is revolutionary thoughts that have transformed the different communities and groups in the world. FP has brought Bahujans closer; it has helped establish a dialogue between them

Premkumar Mani’s articles and Dadu’s advice were a must-read for me. They were my favourite writers. FP not only awakened our society but also prepared the ground for new beliefs and thoughts

For me, FORWARD Press was a messenger of social revolution. FP gave a new vision to many a social movement and made people aware. Other magazines may have conceived building a united front of SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities but it was FP that persuaded many to start working towards it

FP did not take the path of aggression. It chose the path of maturity, of dialogue, of arguments or facts and of humanism. And the source of this was Mother of the Nation Savitribai Phule, Father of the Nation Jotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of modern India

Haribhau Rathod is one of the few leaders of Maharashtra who have been fighting for the rights of the Denotified and Nomadic tribes. These days, he is trying to forge a joint front of the Denotified and Nomadic tribes and the EBCs

People have woken up to the need for OBC discourse owing to the success of Dalit movements and literature. A new round of OBC discourse, inspired by Phule and Ambedkar, has begun

In Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, the police have filed a case against Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Satya Priya Biswal for allegedly making anti-Dalit remarks against a lady police Sub-Inspector (SI)

The ICCSR has launched a major project for research on the backward classes movement