Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The grassroots government’s top priority is to offer basic amenities to its citizens for their life and livelihood, resulting in the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized populations who are still denied socioeconomic benefits. Involvement of local people in the planning, execution and monitoring of many rural development programmes is also essential. The presence of staffing shortages in some Gram Panchayats (GPs) has created a problematic scenario for the correct implementation and effective monitoring mechanism to be carried out in the GPs since the workload has much exceeded expectations. As a result, welfare activities in rural areas are hampered by a lack of social capital and the capabilities of designated staff. An in-depth examination of this essential topic reveals the rationale for introspection to refocus on Decentralization, Governance and Public Service Systems in tribal areas of Odisha.
Category Archives: Contemporary Voice of Dalit: Table of Contents. SAGE Publications India: Contemporary Voice of Dalit: Table of Contents Feed Posts Authors Categories
Bama’s Vanmam: The Mob Mentality of the Dalits
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The Dalits in India are still considered as ‘Other’ and treated unjustly by the upper caste. This dominant behaviour ideology of the upper caste makes them execute their power over the powerless. The purpose of this study is to identify the psychological conflicts faced by the Dalits through Bama’s Vanmam. This novel had recognized the internal politics and the dominant behaviour of the upper caste which resulted in executing communal violence among the Dalits themselves. The study uses a method of textual analysis to understand the internal conflicts of the Dalits and also to identify the external political affairs of the upper castes. The study also focuses on the mob psychology of the Dalits as mentioned by the author in the novel. The study aims to bring out the structural hierarchy and social inequality among the Dalits themselves in the novel Vanmam. The study also urges the Dalit community to forget the difference between them and unite as one strong community. It also strongly asserts Ambedkar’s ideology ‘Educate! Organize! and Agitate!’ Bama in this novel echoed the inter-caste rivalry among the Dalit communities in India in general and specifically in Kandampatti village. Further, this article also aims to project the attitude of young, educated Dalits who significantly restore harmony and bring decorum and dignity to the lives of other Dalits in the village. The main objective of the study is to identify the internal psychological differences among the Dalits. It further explores the animosity between two Dalit communities provoked by the upper-caste landlords. It also discusses the pangs of oppression, untouchability, communal violence, negation and marginalization the Dalits experienced under the caste system.
The Dalits in India are still considered as ‘Other’ and treated unjustly by the upper caste. This dominant behaviour ideology of the upper caste makes them execute their power over the powerless. The purpose of this study is to identify the psychological conflicts faced by the Dalits through Bama’s Vanmam. This novel had recognized the internal politics and the dominant behaviour of the upper caste which resulted in executing communal violence among the Dalits themselves. The study uses a method of textual analysis to understand the internal conflicts of the Dalits and also to identify the external political affairs of the upper castes. The study also focuses on the mob psychology of the Dalits as mentioned by the author in the novel. The study aims to bring out the structural hierarchy and social inequality among the Dalits themselves in the novel Vanmam. The study also urges the Dalit community to forget the difference between them and unite as one strong community. It also strongly asserts Ambedkar’s ideology ‘Educate! Organize! and Agitate!’ Bama in this novel echoed the inter-caste rivalry among the Dalit communities in India in general and specifically in Kandampatti village. Further, this article also aims to project the attitude of young, educated Dalits who significantly restore harmony and bring decorum and dignity to the lives of other Dalits in the village. The main objective of the study is to identify the internal psychological differences among the Dalits. It further explores the animosity between two Dalit communities provoked by the upper-caste landlords. It also discusses the pangs of oppression, untouchability, communal violence, negation and marginalization the Dalits experienced under the caste system.
Editorial
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Volume 15, Issue 1_suppl, Page S7-S7, August 2023.
Is MGNREGA Inclusive of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe and Women? A Case Study of Haryana, India
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a plausible policy instrument to provide casual employment to the rural population in India, especially women, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) groups. This study aimed to analyse the recent trends in the financial and physical progress of the MGNREG scheme in Haryana, India. It also explored how much the benefits of the MGNREG scheme have reached SCs, STs and women. The study was based on secondary data from the MGNREGA official website for 2016–2017 to 2020–2021. The results indicated that the performance of the Haryana state was not satisfactory at all in achieving the objective of providing a minimum of 100 days of employment because only a small fraction of households could complete 100 days of work from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021. Further, the participation of SC/ST households in the MGNREG scheme reduced over the years. It also found a year-on-year increase in women person-days during the first four years between 2016–2017 and 2019–2020 and slightly declined to 48.80% in 2020–2021. However, it was more than the statutory limit of 33% stipulated by the MGNREGA each year.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a plausible policy instrument to provide casual employment to the rural population in India, especially women, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) groups. This study aimed to analyse the recent trends in the financial and physical progress of the MGNREG scheme in Haryana, India. It also explored how much the benefits of the MGNREG scheme have reached SCs, STs and women. The study was based on secondary data from the MGNREGA official website for 2016–2017 to 2020–2021. The results indicated that the performance of the Haryana state was not satisfactory at all in achieving the objective of providing a minimum of 100 days of employment because only a small fraction of households could complete 100 days of work from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021. Further, the participation of SC/ST households in the MGNREG scheme reduced over the years. It also found a year-on-year increase in women person-days during the first four years between 2016–2017 and 2019–2020 and slightly declined to 48.80% in 2020–2021. However, it was more than the statutory limit of 33% stipulated by the MGNREGA each year.
Debating with the Reservation Policy for Muslims in Higher Education
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
This article attempts to understand and analyse the nature of the state’s affirmative action policy to include Muslims in higher education in India. In analysing so, it tries to shed light on the Scheduled Castes’ status for Arzal or Dalit Muslims to ensure their representation in higher education. It also strives to map the reservation policy for the backward Muslims and argues that various castes among Muslims are not included in the OBC list. This article also seeks to highlight the debate regarding the minority status of Muslim higher educational institutions. This article argues that although the Indian constitution does not provide reservation based on religion, Muslims, in general, and Pasmanda Muslims, in particular, are at the periphery as far as their representation in higher education. In other words, the state uses differential treatment as far as providing Scheduled Castes Status for Arzal Muslims; the state and its apparatus use the thin and narrower meaning of Article 30 of the Indian constitution while addressing the minority status of Muslim higher educational institutions and the article also aims to elucidate the allocation of seats for Pasmanda Muslims in Muslim minority higher educational institutions.
This article attempts to understand and analyse the nature of the state’s affirmative action policy to include Muslims in higher education in India. In analysing so, it tries to shed light on the Scheduled Castes’ status for Arzal or Dalit Muslims to ensure their representation in higher education. It also strives to map the reservation policy for the backward Muslims and argues that various castes among Muslims are not included in the OBC list. This article also seeks to highlight the debate regarding the minority status of Muslim higher educational institutions. This article argues that although the Indian constitution does not provide reservation based on religion, Muslims, in general, and Pasmanda Muslims, in particular, are at the periphery as far as their representation in higher education. In other words, the state uses differential treatment as far as providing Scheduled Castes Status for Arzal Muslims; the state and its apparatus use the thin and narrower meaning of Article 30 of the Indian constitution while addressing the minority status of Muslim higher educational institutions and the article also aims to elucidate the allocation of seats for Pasmanda Muslims in Muslim minority higher educational institutions.
Book review: Yogesh Maitreya, Water in a Broken Pot: A Memoir
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Yogesh Maitreya, Water in a Broken Pot: A Memoir (Haryana: Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd, 2023), 312 pp. ₹499, ISBN: 9780670095186 (Hardcover).
Yogesh Maitreya, Water in a Broken Pot: A Memoir (Haryana: Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd, 2023), 312 pp. ₹499, ISBN: 9780670095186 (Hardcover).
Dalit Consciousness Movements in Uttar Pradesh: A Literary Survey
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
This article examines the Dalit movements and transition in the way of protest of Dalits for their economic, political, social and legal rights. India’s deprived sections are known as Dalits and are the most marginalized groups in India. They had always raised their voices and protested movements in one or another way against the inequality and discrimination they have faced. This article is a literary survey and narrates the history of the Dalit movement in Uttar Pradesh till the contemporary period. The article is divided into three parts in three different eras, that is, their emancipation in medieval history and before the post-colonial period, then the Dalit movement in the post-colonial period, and after independence and rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the last Dalit movement in the contemporary period.
This article examines the Dalit movements and transition in the way of protest of Dalits for their economic, political, social and legal rights. India’s deprived sections are known as Dalits and are the most marginalized groups in India. They had always raised their voices and protested movements in one or another way against the inequality and discrimination they have faced. This article is a literary survey and narrates the history of the Dalit movement in Uttar Pradesh till the contemporary period. The article is divided into three parts in three different eras, that is, their emancipation in medieval history and before the post-colonial period, then the Dalit movement in the post-colonial period, and after independence and rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the last Dalit movement in the contemporary period.
‘Sick Guardians of Public Health’: A Qualitative Inquiry into Caste, Occupation and Health among Sanitation Workers of Solid Waste Management, Mumbai Municipal Corporation, India, from a Social Epidemiology Lens
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Research studies conducted worldwide reveal the disadvantaged health conditions among sanitation workers. Higher disease burden is prominent among Mumbai municipal corporation sanitation workers who mainly belong to Scheduled Castes, the lowest point in the hierarchical social structure. Sanitary work is affixed to these caste groups. This study deciphered the mechanisms and pathways where caste, occupation and social environment affect and modulate workers’ health, imbibing the eco-social approach to health. We analysed in-depth interviews of 15 sanitation workers from three sanitation posts, one from three wards. Five volunteers with a contract-based non-governmental organisation and two supervisors as key informants were included in the sample (N = 22). The findings explain mechanisms and pathways to embodiment through eco-social approach where the biology of workers is shaped by historical life trajectories of their castes and decent-based occupation, the ecology and the susceptibilities, cumulating and impacting their health and overall well-being.
Research studies conducted worldwide reveal the disadvantaged health conditions among sanitation workers. Higher disease burden is prominent among Mumbai municipal corporation sanitation workers who mainly belong to Scheduled Castes, the lowest point in the hierarchical social structure. Sanitary work is affixed to these caste groups. This study deciphered the mechanisms and pathways where caste, occupation and social environment affect and modulate workers’ health, imbibing the eco-social approach to health. We analysed in-depth interviews of 15 sanitation workers from three sanitation posts, one from three wards. Five volunteers with a contract-based non-governmental organisation and two supervisors as key informants were included in the sample (N = 22). The findings explain mechanisms and pathways to embodiment through eco-social approach where the biology of workers is shaped by historical life trajectories of their castes and decent-based occupation, the ecology and the susceptibilities, cumulating and impacting their health and overall well-being.
Whose Valmiki?
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The roots of sacred spiritual knowledge of Indian traditions lead one back to the Vedas, Puranas, Shrutis, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other mythical works that were transmitted orally by the Aryan scholars. Such scholars invented countless stories related to the birth, caste and death of a classical character but such narratives are challenged by modern scholars when examined from comparative methods, logical reasoning, rational angle and scientific perspective. One of such stories is the birth and caste of Valmiki, the creator of Ramayana. As per Puranas and Shrutis, Valmiki was a Brahmin but Sikh and Oriental scholars oppose the view by declaring him a Dalit who later became the guru of sweepers. The question of Valmiki’s caste evolved into one of the most fiercely disputed subjects in the twentieth century, and the controversy at the turn of the new century led to numerous lawsuits, court cases and litigations. Having orientation towards the controversy, this article aims to solve the puzzle by scrutinizing the aforementioned texts and scholars’ views from four different languages: Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi and English. The hypothesis will decode the enigma of Valmiki Jayanti and different propagandas related to the caste of poet Valmiki and Valmiki, the community. The conclusion will emphasize the difference between written texts and myths of the Indian knowledge system.
The roots of sacred spiritual knowledge of Indian traditions lead one back to the Vedas, Puranas, Shrutis, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other mythical works that were transmitted orally by the Aryan scholars. Such scholars invented countless stories related to the birth, caste and death of a classical character but such narratives are challenged by modern scholars when examined from comparative methods, logical reasoning, rational angle and scientific perspective. One of such stories is the birth and caste of Valmiki, the creator of Ramayana. As per Puranas and Shrutis, Valmiki was a Brahmin but Sikh and Oriental scholars oppose the view by declaring him a Dalit who later became the guru of sweepers. The question of Valmiki’s caste evolved into one of the most fiercely disputed subjects in the twentieth century, and the controversy at the turn of the new century led to numerous lawsuits, court cases and litigations. Having orientation towards the controversy, this article aims to solve the puzzle by scrutinizing the aforementioned texts and scholars’ views from four different languages: Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi and English. The hypothesis will decode the enigma of Valmiki Jayanti and different propagandas related to the caste of poet Valmiki and Valmiki, the community. The conclusion will emphasize the difference between written texts and myths of the Indian knowledge system.
Representation of Humiliation in Bengali Dalit Literature: A Comparative Study
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
This article proposes to develop a comparatist framework of pan-Indian Dalit writings on one hand and the representative Bengali Dalit writings on the other in the context of the experience of humiliation. The chief objective of this comparison would be a close reading of the treatment of the experience of humiliation, along with its claims and contexts, in both literary traditions. Cutting across the literary genres, the main argument of this article will be to show the qualitative difference in the perception of humiliation in Dalit literary expressions and a resultant realization that Bengali Dalit experience somehow falls short of depicting the intensity of insult abundantly manifest in Marathi and other Dalit writings. Throughout the scope of this article, various factors responsible for such low decibel representation of humiliation will be taken up for detailed study with frequent references to past and present Dalit authors and their most representative studies. Another abiding engagement with the issue of humiliation, vis-a-vis the tragic demise of Chuni Kotal, will lead to questions about the muted presence of the community experience of humiliation by the erstwhile Criminal Tribe, Lodha Savar, in contemporary Bengali Dalit writings.
This article proposes to develop a comparatist framework of pan-Indian Dalit writings on one hand and the representative Bengali Dalit writings on the other in the context of the experience of humiliation. The chief objective of this comparison would be a close reading of the treatment of the experience of humiliation, along with its claims and contexts, in both literary traditions. Cutting across the literary genres, the main argument of this article will be to show the qualitative difference in the perception of humiliation in Dalit literary expressions and a resultant realization that Bengali Dalit experience somehow falls short of depicting the intensity of insult abundantly manifest in Marathi and other Dalit writings. Throughout the scope of this article, various factors responsible for such low decibel representation of humiliation will be taken up for detailed study with frequent references to past and present Dalit authors and their most representative studies. Another abiding engagement with the issue of humiliation, vis-a-vis the tragic demise of Chuni Kotal, will lead to questions about the muted presence of the community experience of humiliation by the erstwhile Criminal Tribe, Lodha Savar, in contemporary Bengali Dalit writings.