Khairlanji:
A strange and bitter crop
By Anand Teltumbde
Navayana, 2008
On 29 September 2006, in a modest town in eastern Maharashtra called Khairlanji, a tragedy occurred. A gang of
Polls are a celebration of democracy, particularly so because they decide the fate of governments, which affect the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. National parliamentary elections are about
Moving beyond the colonial-era understanding of the history of the Subcontinent gives us a whole new way of looking at the Subcontinent´s past. This now includes not just the usual explorations of politics and economy, but also of social, cultural and religious issues - as well as the writing of his
Southasian governments as a whole are already espousing a forward-looking state policy on welfare. The challenge now is to transform policy into action, while addressing the peculiar regional problem of social exclusion.
Positive discrimination in government jobs and in education has helped the Dalit progress, despite continuing discrimination elsewhere. But when will leaders of Indian industry understand that the empowered Dalit means an economy that is vibrant?
In late January 2006, the sewer ran over. Our well-heeled street in Chennai pulsated with excreted lava. A work crew arrived to lift the manholes and break the pavement.
"We must learn how to be tribal. This is difficult for us, but very, very important," said Mr Mukhia in his lilting boarding-school English. Wearing thick horn-
The hierarchical and discriminatory caste system, legitimised by Hinduism, is so deeply entrenched in Southasian societies that it has even affected the adherents of theoretically egalitarian religions like Islam, Sikhism,
Abysmal, tragic, rotten, archaic, misgoverned - these are only some of the terms used to describe Bihar. And that's by those who live there. But the people of Bihar are slowly turning the politics of the region on its head.
