Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Keonjhar district is the central integrated tribal district of Odisha. The tribal families in the Keonjhar district, particularly women, were concerned about financial security. In 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme was initiated in the district during its first implementation stage across the country. The effective investment of the tribal people, particularly tribal women in the Keonjhar district. In the tribal area of Keonjhar district, the scheme has become a vital source of income. The system allowed women to earn money independently and find a good livelihood. It has achieved more significant financial freedom for tribal women. On the whole economic situation of the household has enhanced due to the participation in the programme.As a woman, she began to earn money and she was able to gain respect for tribal women and establish a new identity within the family. As a result, the scheme improved the livelihood opportunities for tribal women in the Keonjhar district of Odisha.
Social Determinants of Health of Ashram School Girls in Maharashtra, India
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The concept of ashram school has an ancient origin where the disciples take refuge with the teacher (Gurukul) to learn his/her life lessons. Modern-time ashram schools evolved with this very idea where the tribal children are offered a conducive environment at the residential schools for education and overall development. The basic needs like food, clothing, shelter and education are meant to be taken care of in the ashram schools. The study focussed on factors such as living conditions, food and working conditions (carrying educational activities in school) influencing the health of adolescent girls. It used a mixed method and multistage sampling to select 800 girls from 17 ashram schools of selected four tribal districts (administrative unit) in Maharashtra, India. Adolescent girls of ashram schools reported the poor living and working environment, inadequate services of food and nutrition, clothing and shelter determining their health outcomes. The adolescent girls were found with low Hb count, delayed menses and health morbidities.
The concept of ashram school has an ancient origin where the disciples take refuge with the teacher (Gurukul) to learn his/her life lessons. Modern-time ashram schools evolved with this very idea where the tribal children are offered a conducive environment at the residential schools for education and overall development. The basic needs like food, clothing, shelter and education are meant to be taken care of in the ashram schools. The study focussed on factors such as living conditions, food and working conditions (carrying educational activities in school) influencing the health of adolescent girls. It used a mixed method and multistage sampling to select 800 girls from 17 ashram schools of selected four tribal districts (administrative unit) in Maharashtra, India. Adolescent girls of ashram schools reported the poor living and working environment, inadequate services of food and nutrition, clothing and shelter determining their health outcomes. The adolescent girls were found with low Hb count, delayed menses and health morbidities.
Parental Migration and Education: Lived Experiences of Dalit and Adivasi Children in a Village of Madhya Pradesh
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The article grapples with the tacit interplay of poverty, caste, and gender and its effects on the education of children in a village. It explores how pandemic-induced school closure impacted the life chances of marginalised children during and after the pandemic in the ‘deprived geography’ of rural Madhya Pradesh. The article offers accounts of rural SC/ST children, which subverts the narratives of affordability, flexibility, and ‘freedom’ online education presented during the pandemic-induced school closure for middle and upper-caste/class city dwellers. The experiences of Dalit and Adivasi children reflect on the disruptions brought in their lives and educational pathways due to pandemic-induced school closure since 2020. The article’s findings suggest that social and educational inequalities are exacerbated due to the pandemic. For SC/ST children, humiliation and stigma are part of daily school life. There is no change in the hidden curriculum which tends to reinforce caste-based hierarchy in pedagogy and the social activity of eating mid-day meals. Children’s welfare is compromised in several ways. Boys and girls have to prioritize the family’s demands. They suffer in multiple ways besides learning loss and socio-emotional stress. Girls are pushed into early marriages while boys are in exploitative labour, which is a clear violation of constitutional laws.
The article grapples with the tacit interplay of poverty, caste, and gender and its effects on the education of children in a village. It explores how pandemic-induced school closure impacted the life chances of marginalised children during and after the pandemic in the ‘deprived geography’ of rural Madhya Pradesh. The article offers accounts of rural SC/ST children, which subverts the narratives of affordability, flexibility, and ‘freedom’ online education presented during the pandemic-induced school closure for middle and upper-caste/class city dwellers. The experiences of Dalit and Adivasi children reflect on the disruptions brought in their lives and educational pathways due to pandemic-induced school closure since 2020. The article’s findings suggest that social and educational inequalities are exacerbated due to the pandemic. For SC/ST children, humiliation and stigma are part of daily school life. There is no change in the hidden curriculum which tends to reinforce caste-based hierarchy in pedagogy and the social activity of eating mid-day meals. Children’s welfare is compromised in several ways. Boys and girls have to prioritize the family’s demands. They suffer in multiple ways besides learning loss and socio-emotional stress. Girls are pushed into early marriages while boys are in exploitative labour, which is a clear violation of constitutional laws.
Towards a Theoretical and Legal Framework for Dalit Massacre
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Massacre studies have long been overshadowed by other disciplines, especially genocide studies (the Holocaust being a prominent one). The absence of an accepted definition of the term ‘massacre’ legally and theoretically makes it more difficult to differentiate and establish the field of massacre studies from other disciplines. The lack of consensus among scholars about the classifications and causalities of massacres in turn make understanding the phenomenon arduous. In this article, we attempt a literature review of the field of massacre studies by looking at the existing theoretical and legal frameworks internationally and nationally in India, to understand the gaps in the same. The findings are utilized to develop a working definition of massacre, especially Dalit massacres in India and to propose a legal and theoretical framework for the same. The latter is achieved by building upon the works and thoughts of the stalwarts in Dalit studies as well as the existing laws related to massacres.
Massacre studies have long been overshadowed by other disciplines, especially genocide studies (the Holocaust being a prominent one). The absence of an accepted definition of the term ‘massacre’ legally and theoretically makes it more difficult to differentiate and establish the field of massacre studies from other disciplines. The lack of consensus among scholars about the classifications and causalities of massacres in turn make understanding the phenomenon arduous. In this article, we attempt a literature review of the field of massacre studies by looking at the existing theoretical and legal frameworks internationally and nationally in India, to understand the gaps in the same. The findings are utilized to develop a working definition of massacre, especially Dalit massacres in India and to propose a legal and theoretical framework for the same. The latter is achieved by building upon the works and thoughts of the stalwarts in Dalit studies as well as the existing laws related to massacres.
Field Narratives on ‘Caste’, ‘Casteism’ and Violence: A Study of Everydayness and Gender in Heterogeneous Society of a Rural Uttar Pradesh
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
‘Casteism’ and ‘violence’ against women are the two different social evils that are quite evident in Indian society. If we make an ontological inquiry into the aspects of caste and violence, we come to know about certain tensions exists in the structural relationship gender in society and its relationship with caste. Women have been made and push towards becoming the soft target of the violence in any area of society. This article has tried to make a distinction between violence at private places and public place across the geographies of social, political and cultural nature in conceptualizing the larger relationship of the society beyond family relation focusing on ‘casteism’. So, in this article it has been tried to explore the processes of ‘casteism’ leading to cultivate sexual violence against ‘women’, how the ‘casteism’ plays role to victimized women and how do the victimization of women creates a ‘social violence’ has been attempted to answer in this article. Interview method, purposive sampling and focused group discussion have been the important elements of methodology in this article. Also, both the primary and secondary resources have been used to check empirical findings and the claims made by author on the very issue of ‘sexual violence’ against women.
‘Casteism’ and ‘violence’ against women are the two different social evils that are quite evident in Indian society. If we make an ontological inquiry into the aspects of caste and violence, we come to know about certain tensions exists in the structural relationship gender in society and its relationship with caste. Women have been made and push towards becoming the soft target of the violence in any area of society. This article has tried to make a distinction between violence at private places and public place across the geographies of social, political and cultural nature in conceptualizing the larger relationship of the society beyond family relation focusing on ‘casteism’. So, in this article it has been tried to explore the processes of ‘casteism’ leading to cultivate sexual violence against ‘women’, how the ‘casteism’ plays role to victimized women and how do the victimization of women creates a ‘social violence’ has been attempted to answer in this article. Interview method, purposive sampling and focused group discussion have been the important elements of methodology in this article. Also, both the primary and secondary resources have been used to check empirical findings and the claims made by author on the very issue of ‘sexual violence’ against women.
The ritual of parikramā, Hinduization of space and the case of Ayodhyā
Variegated Economies
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Mining the past: The case for historical narratives in global justice theorizing
Journal of International Political Theory, Ahead of Print.
Debates on global justice, it is claimed, can be enriched in important ways by more explicitly historicizing our approach and using historical narratives, stories and debates to expand our conceptual vocabulary and theoretical purview. The claim is illustrated through a specific analysis of Paul Robeson’s relationship with the Welsh Miners. It is argued such a historical turn, grounded in a wider interdisciplinary engagement with subjects such as cultural studies may see at least three key benefits accrue in terms of our understanding of the field. Firstly, it can uncover philosophical and theoretical ideas and alternatives so far unconsidered; secondly, it can generate a shift in the empirical frame that accounts for and seeks to identify means for “real world” political change; lastly, it should encourage us to question the in/out dichotomy at the heart of the western debate, which projects global injustice as being “out there.”
Debates on global justice, it is claimed, can be enriched in important ways by more explicitly historicizing our approach and using historical narratives, stories and debates to expand our conceptual vocabulary and theoretical purview. The claim is illustrated through a specific analysis of Paul Robeson’s relationship with the Welsh Miners. It is argued such a historical turn, grounded in a wider interdisciplinary engagement with subjects such as cultural studies may see at least three key benefits accrue in terms of our understanding of the field. Firstly, it can uncover philosophical and theoretical ideas and alternatives so far unconsidered; secondly, it can generate a shift in the empirical frame that accounts for and seeks to identify means for “real world” political change; lastly, it should encourage us to question the in/out dichotomy at the heart of the western debate, which projects global injustice as being “out there.”
Book Review: The 1922 Committee: Power Behind the Scenes
Party Politics, Volume 30, Issue 2, Page 392-393, March 2024.
Book review: Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi (eds.), Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present
China Report, Volume 59, Issue 4, Page 478-481, November 2023.
Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi (eds.), Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), pp. 394, $110. ISBN 9780197602461 (Hardcover).
Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi (eds.), Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), pp. 394, $110. ISBN 9780197602461 (Hardcover).