Posted by gargi on 01 May 2008 | Tagged as: Caste, Culture, India, Society
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar in the Annihilation of Caste, 1935
The effect of caste on the ethics of the Hindus is simply deplorable. Caste has killed public spirit. Caste has destroyed the sense of public charity. Caste has made public opinion impossible. A Hindu's public is his caste. His responsibility is only to his caste. His loyalty is [...]
Posted by gargi on 30 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Caste, India, Society
Dr.Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste:
It is a pity that Caste even today has its defenders. The defences are many. It is defended on the ground that the Caste System is but another name for division of labour and if division of labour is a necessary feature of every civilized society then it is argued that [...]
Posted by gargi on 27 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Gender Issues, India, Society
Two stories on further education.
One is about a 12th standard topper who quits formal education.
…Urvi Pithadia, 17, has been forced to discontinue her studies just a week after joining junior college. Nobody there volunteered to help the wheelchair-bound girl in and out of classrooms and elevators.
Urvi is suffering from muscular dystrophia, a genetic disorder which [...]
Posted by gargi on 07 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Caste, Culture, Gender Issues, India, Politics, Society
On the eve of Maha Shivratri a great victory was won. Devotees, backed by the state and other institutions, ensured that the right to pray the way you want to, in the language that you understand, in the manner that you choose , was upheld.
In the face of a growing demand for their dismissal as [...]
Posted by gargi on 06 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: India, Media, Print
This, a headline from the ET - India's most widely circulated business broadsheet : Some SC/STs too made it on merit replace the word SC/ST with any other ethnic/religious/gender grouping and tell me what is right/ wrong with this headline. media bias anyone or am I being oversensitive?
addthis_url [...]
Posted by gargi on 30 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: India
This year I began teaching culture studies to my students. Culture studies is not the study of culture perse - but the study of cultures - their power structures internally and in relation to other cultures - their internal & external dynamics and their overall relationship in the power pyramid. One of the more difficult [...]
Posted by gargi on 20 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: India, Print
the ToI - the world’s largest selling English paper - puts out a supplement where a South Indian - to be precise superstar Rajnikant - is referred to as a Southie. What next? a Muslim referred to as a Mossie, a North Indian as a bhaaiya, a Gujarati as a Gujju, [...]
Posted by gargi on 17 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: India
This from today’s DNA:
A 24-year-old undertrial in Orissa has married a teenage girl whom he allegedly raped and got pregnant a few years ago. The traditional tribal wedding between Padmini Murmu, 16, and Khaira Hansda was solemnised at the Circle Jail at Baripada, the district headquarters of Mayurbhanj, 250 km from the state capital [...]
Posted by gargi on 18 Jan 2007 | Tagged as: India, Media, Print, TV
Anyone who participates in a show like Big Brother or Survivor knows that it is not a civilized tea party. It is visceral, viscious and violent (emotionally). The show is about being ‘ugly’ and letting it all hang out. Can you imagine how boring it would be if 13 people - whom you don’t know [...]
Posted by gargi on 17 Dec 2006 | Tagged as: Books
Finished reading Vrinda Nabar’s excellent "Caste as Woman".
It looks at women in India not from the point of western feminist theories, but more in terms of looking at India’s own unique socio-cultural systems, which essentially serve to keep the woman as an uncomplaining victim to many ills. As she puts it:
"… in India, the discrimination [...]
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