A Review on Interlinking Poverty, Social Inequity and Exclusion as a Social Discrimination Among Scheduled Castes

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The present article aims to look at several elements of caste-based exclusion among the Scheduled Castes (SCs) community in India. It looks at denying SCs their social, cultural, civil, political and economic rights, which leads to social exclusion and poverty. The work is expressive and analytical, based on secondary data sources. The research is based on a survey of the existing literature on these connected institutional phenomena that have had a significant impact on the lives of SCs. Different literature reviews have also been conducted from various journals, government reports, websites and working papers to present this research article.

Hundred Years of Chargola Exodus: Changes and Continuity in the Tea Plantations in Eastern India

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The introduction of tea plantations was a colonial capitalist venture in eastern India. The tea plantations turned into social enclaves and hotspots of labour migration. The tribal labourers had to work in a bondage labour system with low wages, strict surveillance and harsh working conditions. The Chargola Exodus of 1921 was one of the first organized and articulated labour protests against colonial oppression and the bondage labour system in tea plantations. The plantation labourers revolted against the colonial oppression and decided to return to their homeland to quit from bondage system in the tea plantations. This article examines the changes and continuity in the tea plantations in the last hundred years since the Chargola Exodus. It argues the bondage labour system can still be sensed as the colonial structure in the plantations remained unchanged. However, the forms of labour bondage have been changed, and it has become ‘unannounced’. Therefore, the servitude of the labourers in the tea plantations has continued since the colonial period, even after the independence of the country. At present, the tribal communities in the tea plantations are living in extreme poverty, chronic hunger, low literacy, unsanitary living conditions and poor health status. The tea plantations have turned into a hotspot of human trafficking, forced out-migration and hunger deaths.

Setting up institutions in multilevel states: Assemblies, parties, and the selection of candidates

Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
Institutional configurations in multilevel states create tensions in political decision-making processes resulting from constitutional decisions. Often, these decisions affect party competition, e.g., a member of the parliament (MP) may be legally bound to represent they constituency or the entire territory yet be elected regionally. In these settings parties place their members in additional positions thereby gaining advantage. Does former experience as a regional MP increase the probability of becoming a national MP? We expect that MP candidates from regional constituencies are more likely to have legislative experience in the regional assembly. We test our expectations with novel data from Portugal and demonstrate that candidates who were regional MPs are more likely to be in eligible positions and to take office. Conversely, former regional government members (elected officials) have a negative likelihood of becoming a national MP.