Human Rights
Backgrounders
Human Rights : Background & PerspectiveAs important as civil and political rights in the Indian context are the rights of the marginalised -- women, tribals, Dalits or lower-castes, and the poor whose survival depends on access to natural resources. It is the rights of the marginalised and of the minorities in the country today that are in peril. The challenge is to empower the poor and marginalised to demand their rights and participate in the public sphere |
Analysis
'Letter to death penalty lovers on Facebook'
|
|
Related Articles»Triple oppression of dalit women panchayat members By Subhash Gatade »Impunity under AFSPA By KS Subramnian |
The death penalty for some of those who raped and killed Jyoti Singh Pandey may bring a sense of satisfaction to some. But let’s not fool ourselves by calling it justice. It’s more like revenge, says Debolina Dutta
Features
Exile, through the lens
Most of the films screened at the Tibetan Film Festival and the Dharamsala International Film Festival had a strong political theme, reflecting the trauma of a people fenced in and outnumbered at ‘home’, silenced in exile It’s the last week of October, a busy week for Dharamsala, a small town unlike any other in the Himalayan foothills. |
|
Related Articles»The long shadow of dalit massacres By Subhash Gatade »February 27, Ahmedabad: The remains of the day ByMari Marcel Thekaekara »No reconciliation without remorse By Mari Marcel Thekaekara |
Books & Reports
Good governance + mass mobilisation = Social inclusionBy Subhash Gatade
|
|
Related Articles»Dalits: Such a long journey By Kalyani Chaudhuri »Ideas of justice By Lawrence Liang »Indian police: A law unto themselves By K S Subramanian |
Why is the health, education and nutritional status of SCs, STs and minorities in Tamil Nadu and Kerala so much better than their counterparts in states like UP and Bihar? The India Human Development Report 2011 suggests that this is the result of good governance and massive mobilisation of the lower castes in the southern states, writes Subhash Gatade Changemakers
Socialism after Gore and the old guard
There is no dearth of citizens’ movements for rights today. But do they have the ideological frame, the vision of society, economy and politics that Mrinal Gore and her generation of socialist leaders had, which could weave disparate struggles into a larger transformative force, asks Rajni Bakshi Read More |
|
Related Articles»Queer beauty By Abhijit Kondhalkar »In Vinoba's footsteps: Tribute to Eli Gadkar By Jyoti Punwani »"Being Indian, you have no right to be cynical" By Anosh Malekar |
No Man's Land
'Civilising the uncivilised'Around 40% of the children evacuated by the Salwa Judum to camps in Chhattisgarh are not in school. Some of them are being “adopted” by ashrams like the Chhattisgarh Jana Kalyan Sangh which aims to “civilise the uncivilised tribal children”. Eleven-year-old Naampodium Lacchu is now called Akash, and is well on the way to losing his tribal identity |
|
Related Articles»'What wrong have we done?' By Geetashree »Fire in the forest By Geetashree »Inside the camps: "We have been left to die here" By Geetashree |
The Body Politic
Understanding India's pub-going, loose and forward womenThe Pink Chaddi and Pub Bharo campaigns that followed the attacks on women in a Mangalore pub should be seen not just in terms of the right of women to access public spaces, but as a negotiation with what it means to be middle class, Indian, women, and consumers in a global modernity, says Padma Govindan |
|
Related Articles»Interrogating aravani activism in Tamil Nadu By Padma Govindan »Waiting in line: Queer women and the case against 377 By Padma Govindan
|
Stories of Change
Under an equal sky Classical dancer Alokananda Roy’s dance project for prisoners serving life sentences in West Bengal’s correctional institutions helps build self-esteem and gives the prisoners hope and purpose |
|
Related Articles»Ashvasan: The night is not here yet By Charumathi Supraja »Playing for peace »Sanganer's no-bars prison gives criminals a new lease of life |
News
Children burn guns for peace in ManipurChildren burn toy guns in Thoubal district of Manipur in a protest against the violent culture imposed on them by more than 40 years of insurgency and suppression With daily reports of violence in the troubled state of Manipur, parents, civil bodies, and like-minded organisations staged a demonstration in Thoubal district against the gun culture in the state and human rights violations. In a symbolic protest, around 100 children, aged 6-7, brought their toy guns to Tangjen Ningthou school and set them ablaze with parents and local residents joining in. |
|
Related Articles»SC holds administration accountable for caste atrocities »Supreme Court gives Binayak Sen bail, questions sedition charge »Amnesty calls on Indian govt to repeal draconian Kashmir law |
Rights and Resistance
Coffee shops, cricket and a pogrom
Kai Po Che cleverly supports the idea of the Indian nation as one that is secular in appearance, neoliberal in conduct and Hindu at the core, says Oishik Sircar Paisa wasool and relaxed redemption Much has been written about the recent Hindi feature film Kai Po Che (KPC). The 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat is not central to the film's story, yet it has become what the film has been most noticed for. |
|
Related Articles»Why the to-do over this particular rape? By Oishik Sircar »Homonationalism: Queer tales of queer prides |
Struggle for Human Dignity
Dirt and the Delhi Jal Board
Delhi’s dalit sewerage workers labour in the city’s sewers without bodysuits, oxygen cylinders and other protective gear ‘Dirt’, British anthropologist Mary Douglas famously explained, is ‘matter out of place’. Dirt, on its own, does not mean impurity, contamination or pollutants. Dirt is what we, as a society, designate as ‘unclean’, thereby giving birth to a social order and its boundaries. Outside the boundary is ‘dirt’ or ‘dirty’, marking the purity of what lies within the boundary. |
|
Related Articles»A death foretold By Agrima Bhasin »The Railways in denial By Agrima Bhasin
|
Crackdown on cultural activism
The subversive power of culture
A chronicle of the Republican Panther, a cultural organisation committed to anti-caste struggle in Maharashtra, dogged by a state that brands dissenting dalits Maoists and dissenting Muslims terrorists Thirty-five years is a long time for memories to fade – but not if the connection between the past and the present is organic. That is perhaps what explains the intensity in Sharad Gaikwad’s eyes as he narrates how he was propelled into cultural activism. |
|
Related Articles»Jung ki pukar: Avahan’s cultural revolution By Aritra Bhattacharya »Decline and fall By Aritra Bhattacharya
|
