Karnataka Dalit MP denied entry in Golla village, locals say he is untouchable

 In a bizarre incident in Karnataka, BJP MP from Chitradurga, A Narayanaswamy was turned away

from a village in his own constituency for hailing from a different caste. Narayanaswamy was visiting the area along with a group of doctors and officials of a pharma company.

The incident took place on Monday in Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district when Narayanaswamy took the group of doctors and Biocon officials for a tour of the area.

Narayanaswamy was humiliated by the Golla community when the group tried to enter the Gollarahatti (a place where people belonging to the Golla community lives) as he is "untouchable".

Some of the people asked Narayanaswamy to go back and not enter the village as no Dalit or lower caste members are allowed to enter the Gollarahatti. While Narayanaswamy is a Dalit, the Gollas belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC).

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discussions on EWS

In the study, published in the Economic and Political Weekly, Bheemeshwar Reddy and others show that general category EWS students are already well-represented in India’s top educational institutions. The authors analyze student data from 445 higher education institutions ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). They find that of all the 1.6 million students enrolled in these institutions in 2016-17, 28% (455,000) belonged to the economically backward class. 

This representation is nearly three times the proposed reservation of 10% - even after using a stricter definition of economic backwardness. The authors highlight that most institutions use a cut-off ranging from  ₹2 lakh to  ₹5.5 lakh household annual income to define economic backwardness. This is far lower than the government’s reservation cut-off of  ₹8 lakh.

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A Letter to Kangana Ranaut On Caste and Reservation

 Dear Kangana,

I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to write to you about your tweet.

On August 23, Shekhar Gupta, the founder of The Print, shared an article by journalist Dilip Mandal titled “Oprah Winfrey sent a book on caste to 100 US CEOs but Indians still won’t talk about it.’

                                                       Meena Kotwal

In a reply, you wrote: “Cast system has been rejected by modern Indians, in small towns every one knows it’s not acceptable anymore by law and order its nothing more than a sadistic pleasure for few, only our constitution is holding on to it in terms of reservations, Let Go Of It, Lets Talk About It (sic).”

You continued: “Especially in professions like Doctors engineers, pilots most deserving people suffer reservations, we as a nation suffer mediocrity and brilliance finds a reluctant escape to The United States.. Shame (sic).”

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Why Reservations are Necessary

Arguments for doing away with reservations after so many years of independence are based on two premises. One is that social inequalities have been bridged during this period. 

Data shows this is not the case. There still exist large gaps between various social groups in terms of educational status, especially in higher education. Scheduled castes are the most backward, followed by scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC), National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data show. A direct consequence of this gap is a small share of SC, ST and OBCs in the regular wage and salaried employment category in comparison with upper castes, as a Plainfacts piece pointed out last month.

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GULAMGIRI: PHULE

Jotirao Phule was a great anti-caste crusader. He dedicated this book GULAMGIRI to the American movement to free slaves. He saw many similarities between the conditions of the black slaves in America and lower castes in India. His hope was that one day, the caste slavery in India would also be abolished as it was in America.

Click HERE for the Preface to the book. The entire book is available HERE

ANNIHILATION OF CASTE: AMBEDKAR

Annihilation of Caste is an undelivered speech written in 1936 by B R AMBEDKAR. The speech was prepared as the presidential address for the annual conference of a Hindu reformist group Jat-Pat Todak Mandal, on the ill effects of caste in Hindu society. However, the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal people found the content too radical and too critical of Hinduism. They asked Ambedkar to edit out some of the direct references to Hinduism and t0 its scriptures. Ambedkar refused and turned down the invitation to speak. Instead, Ambedkar self-published 1,500 copies of the speech in May 1936 and distributed it among the people. Today this text is considered a kind of manifesto of both anti-caste and Dalit politics. 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE SPEECH WITH AMBEDKAR'S EXPLANATION OF HOW IT WENT UNDELIVERED AND GANDHI'S RESPONSE TO AMBEDKAR'S ARGUMENTS

CASTES IN INDIA: AMBEDKAR

CASTES IN INDIA:
Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development
by B. R. Ambedkar
Paper presented at an Anthropology Seminar
taught by Dr. A. A. Goldenweizer
Columbia University
9th May 1916
Text first printed in: Indian Antiquary Vol. XLI (May 1917)
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL PAPER

WAITING FOR A VISA : AMBEDKAR

It seems from internal evidence that this piece was written about eighteen years after Dr. Ambedkar's return from America and Europe, which would put it in 1935 or 1936. Click HERE to read the full piece 

INDIA UNTOUCHED

This film is perhaps the most comprehensive look at UNTOUCHABILITY ever undertaken on film

WHY SEGREGATED HOUSING IS THRIVING IN INDIA

In a deeply divided and hierarchical society like India, segregated living - and housing - has existed for centuries. Click HERE to read more

CASTE ON YOUR PLATE

are our cuisines still dominated by deplorable caste practices? What role does caste play in the way we celebrate culinary delights? Click HERE to read article. 

WHY WE NEED RESERVATIONS?

Excluding the affluent (or the so called “creamy layer”) from representation of socially disadvantaged races and castes in education and employment, or saying that only the poor can represent socially disadvantaged races and castes, is as ridiculous as saying Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Spike Lee, Barack Obama or for that matter artists and leaders who advocated the rights of those oppressed by the caste system such as Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, “Rettai malai” Srinivasan, M.C.Rajah, Ayothithasar, Thanthai Periyar, etc., cannot be leaders or representatives of their peoples because they had attained relative affluence!! So if one applies the “creamy layer” (affluence) concept in enabling representation of castes and races by restricting representation in government, jobs and education only to the poor amongst socially disadvantaged races and castes, there will be no one to lead or represent those socially disadvantaged castes and races in education, employment and governance.

Click HERE  to read full Article