Thu24May2012
As important as civil and political rights in the Indian context are the rights of the marginalised -- women, tribals, Dalits or lower-castes, and the poor whose survival depends on access to natural resources. It is the rights of the marginalised and of the minorities in the country to...
Burhan Majid points out why a truth and reconciliation commission is appropriate for Gujarat 10 years after the Godhra riots but makes absolutely no sense in Jammu & Kashmir
The Patna High Court’s acquittal of the 23 Ranvir Sena members accused of the massacre of dalits and Muslims in Bathani Tola in 1996 underscores the continuing atrocities against dalits and other oppressed communities. How much has changed since the Keezhvenmani massacre in 1969?
Why is the health, education and nutritional status of SCs, STs and minorities in Tamil Nadu and Kerala so much better than their counterparts in states like UP and Bihar? The India Human Development Report 2011 suggests that this is the result of good governance and massive mobilisation of the lowe...
Pahal, a beauty parlour for gay and trans people run by young transgender Simmy since 2009, is also a drop-in centre providing counselling, comfort and warmth to a community in desperate need of acceptance
Around 40% of the children evacuated by the Salwa Judum to camps in Chhattisgarh are not in school. Some of them are being “adopted” by ashrams like the Chhattisgarh Jana Kalyan Sangh which aims to “civilise the uncivilised tribal children”. Eleven-year-old Naamp...
The Pink Chaddi and Pub Bharo campaigns that followed the attacks on women in a Mangalore pub should be seen not just in terms of the right of women to access public spaces, but as a negotiation with what it means to be middle class, Indian, women, and consumers in a global modernity, says Padma Govi...
Classical dancer Alokananda Roy’s dance project for prisoners serving life sentences in West Bengal’s correctional institutions helps build self-esteem and gives the prisoners hope and purpose
Children burn toy guns in Thoubal district of Manipur in a protest against the violent culture imposed on them by more than 40 years of insurgency and suppression