Despite the Constitution guaranteeing and legally assuring its citizens with equality, Caste-based discrimination continues to be a societal reality and educational institutions are not immune to it. Right from Rohit Vemula to the recent suicide of Darshan Solanki, several incidents of students committing suicide have been linked to caste discrimination and abuse over the years. …
The link between caste and mental health is powerful and tortuous. People of lower caste communities, such as Dalits and Adivasis, constantly wrestle with the dilemma of whether to own their identity and be outspoken about it. It isn’t primarily because they are ashamed of it; rather, they are scared they won’t be able to …
The gripping storyline of the legend of a mystical forest, set in the deeper roots of Karnataka, Kantara has sparked a controversial wave for its depiction of bootha kola, a subaltern culture of Tulu Nadu. The whole saga revolves around the ownership of land, focussing more on the demigods protecting the land. Bootha kola is …
“Dalit Student Hit With Metal Rod For Touching Teacher’s Bike In UP: Police” (Press Trust of India, 2022) These aren’t headlines from the 1900s but from very recent times. Caste atrocities aren’t new to our ears, and it has more significant impacts than we think. The increasing gap between the intent and our action becomes …
“Are you really an SC? I never knew!” “You don’t sound Dalit.” “You don’t look Dalit.” “You are not like those other reservation people.” “We never thought you were a Dalit man.” These are some of the phrases that I and many other Dalits have heard throughout their life, often but not always from savarnas. …
Student politics in the university campus can be seen existing in various forms in the campus. One such form is the shouting of Ambedkarite slogans by the people from oppressed communities during demonstrations and mobilization. These slogans, which are structured generally as a “two-liner” are emotionally and ideologically packed comments on the conditions of the …
