ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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The Tyranny of 'Hurt' Feelings

Kancha Ilaiah, the director of the Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in the Maulana Azad University in Hyderabad, has been igniting minds by raising important questions on culture, caste and spirituality for years.

Caste Discrimination and UN

The United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, concluding its discussion on descent-based discrimination, strongly condemned caste practice in south Asia. This describes a new framework for moving towards the elimination of caste-based, descent-based discrimination.

Karnataka University Act 2000

The recently-passed new legislation tightens the hold of the government on universities, drastically reducing their autonomy and leaving no role for either teachers or other intellectuals in the management of universities. The irony is that most of the teachers' bodies in the state have failed to recognise how critically the new legislation affects the future of higher education and have been concerned only with their narrow professional interests.

UN Conference against Racism

While strongly opposing the move by certain dalit activists and groups to raise the issue of caste discrimination in the WCAR scheduled later this year, the Indian government insists that caste and race are two dissimilar and anomalous entities. But successive constitutional insertions, legislative amendments and even judicial pronouncements show the case to be otherwise - in several instances, caste discrimination is indeed seen at par with race.

Hindutva vs Ambedkarism

Both the hindutva forces and the dalit leaders understand the liberating effects of the work of Christian missionaries, including conversions. For Ambedkar and his followers, conversion was a device of protest to gain social acceptance. Hindutva forces see missionary work as subversive - one that would provide equality to those marginalised in Hinduism.

Andhra Pradesh : Politics of Opportunism

What does the regional politics of the Telugu Desam of Chandrababu Naidu mean to the people in the forthcoming elections? A critical essay on the emergence of Telugu Desam, the changing leadership of the party and its programmes.

End of Dravidian Era in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu politics was for long dominated by the Dravida movement which emphasised Tamil identity, language and culture in opposition to north Indian attempts at integration. This was replaced by M G Ramachandran, a popular matinee idol and a populist in politics. Today the politics in the state has accepted BJP's hindutva and also globalisation, making a complete break from the Dravida movement.

Fillip to Land transfers Land Acquisition Bill, 1988

maternal mortality in the index but cite lack of accurate data as the reason for not using the same. The exclusion of maternal well-being from the calculus of reproductive well-being reduces the utility of the RHI. With all the inherent limitations it would have been advisable to consider these other indicators of reproductive health like maternal mortality, proportion of women remaining childless at ages 45-49 to construct the RHI INDEX CONSTRUCTION An analysis of the computed RHI reveals that the variability among the seven variables is not uniform.

Should Caste Be Included in the Census

the Census? Ambrose Pinto IS casteism the bane of Indian society? The general impression is that there is too much of casteism in India. Whether it is a question of politics, education, urban or rural development allocation of resources for various sectors, caste comes to play a major role. That is why several social scientists and politicians have suggested that the only way of getting rid of caste in Indian society is by rejecting caste outright. Many others hold that instead of making caste the criterion, we should adapt the class or economic factor. Therefore caste should not be included in the census

Should Caste Be Included in the Census

the Census?
Ambrose Pinto IS casteism the bane of Indian society? The general impression is that there is too much of casteism in India. Whether it is a question of politics, education, urban or rural development allocation of resources for various sectors, caste comes to play a major role. That is why several social scientists and politicians have suggested that the only way of getting rid of caste in Indian society is by rejecting caste outright. Many others hold that instead of making caste the criterion, we should adapt the class or economic factor. Therefore caste should not be included in the census

Karnataka Pre-Election Scenario

Ambrose Pinto A CONGRESS state till 1989 as far as Lok Sabha was concerned, where the party had swept practically all the seats, the 1991 and 1996 elections in Karnataka were a departure. In 1991 the party won 22 seats out of the 26 it contested, the lowest ever since the first general elections. In 1996 the party's presence was still feeble when it won only five seats. The political scenario has considerably changed ever since. The state gave to the country a ruralite prime minister from the agricultural community of vokkaligas, the prominent Janata Dal (JD) leader, Harnahalli Dodda Gowda Deve Gowda, His clout in Delhi further added to the consolidation of JD in the state. Though prime minister of India, the saying that did the round was PM of Karnataka and CM of India. Knowing fully well that his tenure in the capital may not last long, the man kept a complete hold on the party and its leaders in the state. His arch rival Ramakrishna Hegde who wielded influence on the upper middle classes and the upper castes was expelled from JD as soon as Deve Gowda reached the Delhi darbar. Prepared to stand up to his tormentor, Ramakrishna Hegde, the ex-chief minister of Karnataka who had built up the JD party in the state, founded Lok Sakti recently, a political party of his own with his followers and admirers.

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