Topic: Dalit History Month

Reading Dalit literature, we encounter an India that the urban upper-caste readers choose to ignore, or a definition of India we would rather not learn.

To understand the life of Dalits, Indians need to be re-educated. The categories of Dalits as change-making rebels is the least apprehended terminology.

Ambedkar was optimistic about constitutional democracy working in India. However, by 1953, he had lost hope.

Dalit transgender people are at the intersection of caste and diverse notions of gender, and are always the last people who make it into the annals of history.

If you follow Phule and Ambedkar’s vision, it is clear that top-down approach of Indian leftists and liberals, who consider caste to be merely a part of culture and not a fundamental base, won’t work.

The newest revolution is the number of hospitals owned by Dalit doctors that are springing up everywhere in the country, posing a powerful counter to the centuries-old stigmas.

Besides amplifying Dalit protests, social media has lowered the barriers to entry into the political discourse for Dalits. ThePrint is publishing articles on Dalit issues as part of Dalit History Month.  Earlier this month, the nationwide Dalit protests against the dilution of the prevention of atrocities Act by the Supreme Court were coordinated in less than two weeks and without any central leadership, mostly thanks to Dalit networks on WhatsApp and Facebook. The digital world is opening new avenues for Dalit politics and connecting the youth of the community in new ways. Protests, which in the past remained restricted to a few urban pockets, can now swiftly reach multiple cities. Is social media a game changer for Dalit politics? I argue that its transformative effects notwithstanding, Dalit politics’ digital footprint remains limited. Digital Dalits On Dalit websites and discussion forums, members of the community from across India and abroad are building their own public...

The history of caste Hindus is a narrative of self-success which has been steeped in the very marrow of caste Hindu culture. 

Social justice political forces have kept the ideas of Ambedkar and Lohia as separate legacies. This imposes limitations on contemporary politics.

Ambedkar knew the importance of land in the emancipation of dalits, but he also knew it would not be easy to secure it for them, writes Anand Teltumbde in a new book titled ‘Republic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal Hindutva’.