02.10.24.Untouchables News.....अछूत समाचार.தீண்ட தகாதவர் செய்திகள்.by Team Sivaji.
Lucknow News: Interest is also being seen in Buddhist and Dalit literature
Lucknow. The aim of creating a humane and egalitarian society with which Dalit literature is being written was also seen in the 21st National Book Fair being held at Balrampur Garden. Buddhist and Dalit literature is available in abundance at many stalls of the fair.
At the stall of Bahujan Literature, there is a new edition of Jyotiba Phule’s Gulamgiri book published in 1873, while under the Har Ghar Abhiyan, books like Har Ghar Samvidhan, Har Ghar Gautam Buddha and Har Ghar Ambedkar by Dr. ML Parihar are being sold at low prices. Here, the book Dhammapada is being given as a gift along with the book Constitution of India.
From the stall of Gautam Prakashan, book lover Balkrishna Rawat bought books including what Congress and Gandhi did for the untouchables. At this stall, books like Mahanayak of Samajik Kranti, Mahapurushon Ke Anmol Vachan, Bahujan Sahitya Kosh, Father of Indian Music and Art, Dalit Pichhde and Satya Asatya by Shyam Bihari Verma are also attracting the attention of readers.
Samyak Prakashan’s stall also has books like Maharaj Bijli Pasi’s Historiography, Jannayak Karpoori Thakur, Bahujan Veeranganas, India’s Ancient Geography, Phoolan Devi, Truth of Caste Census, True History of Emperor Ashoka, Concept of Human Liberation in Hindi Dalit Literature.
Long queue of book releases on the stage
On the literary stage of the fair, writer Ashutosh Singh released Amit Tiwari’s book Banku and Shweta Upadhyay’s book Kavita Si Ladki and Nibandh Sa Ladka on behalf of Bodhras Prakashan. Saraswat Samman Samaroh was organized by Manjusha Parishad under the chairmanship of Dr. Amita Dubey and conducted by Kumar Taral. In the ceremony, Prof. Harishankar Mishra was awarded the Dr. Sarla Shukla Smriti Samman and Alka Pramod were honoured with Manas Manjusha Samman.
On this occasion, Dr. Manju Shukla’s book ‘Janme Hain Raghubar Avadh Maa’ was released in the presence of Vijay Kumar Tripathi and Apoorva Awasthi. The joint story collection of writers, Amrit Manthan, published this year by Abhivyakti Sanstha, was also released. A seminar on the topic of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, two pioneers of India, was organised by Vasundhara Foundation in collaboration with Rakesh Srivastava, under the chairmanship of Padma Shri Dr. Vidya Bindu Singh. Akhilesh Srivastava Chaman, Anandvardhan Singh, poet Naresh Saxena and journalist Sudhir Mishra expressed their views.
Children ran a cleanliness drive
On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, 32 children of Gadhdhar Abhyudaya Project Ramakrishna Math gave the message of cleanliness by running a cleanliness drive in the fair premises on behalf of the Publication Department. In collaboration with Jyoti Kiran, Aastha, Mahi, Meenakshi, Shikha, Payal, Moni Mishra and Nitin of MDA Dance Academy performed dance on songs like Naino Wale Ne…. In the evening, a seminar was organized by Vision Care on the topic of entrepreneurship opportunities.
With ally’s needling & eye on northern TN, Stalin cabinet makes history with highest-ever Dalit quorum
With the induction of Dr. Govi Chezhiaan Sunday, there are now 4 Dalit ministers in the TN Cabinet. DMK denies external pressure, says a deserving candidate was given the post.
Prabhakar Tamilarasu, (Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Chennai: With the induction of Dr. Govi Chezhiaan into the M.K. Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government, the state now has the highest-ever number of Dalit ministers in the cabinet.
Political watchers said this is a direct impact of the constant push by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), an Ambedkarite party, for greater power sharing. However, on the record, both parties denied any links between Chezhiaan’s induction and the alliance conversation.
On Sunday, Chezhiaan, from the Adi Dravidar community, became the fourth Dalit minister in CM Stalin’s cabinet, joining M. Mathiventhan from the Arunthathiyar community, N. Kayalvizhi Selvaraj of the Devendra Kula Vellalar community, and C.V. Ganesan, also of the Adi Dravidar community. Chezhiaan was appointed the minister for higher education.
Political commentator Stalin Rajangam said it was the outcome of Dalit assertion and the growing strength of VCK in the state.
“There is no history of any welfare being undertaken for the Dalits without pressure from outside. If you look at a series of Dalit issues in the state, there has been a perception in the state that DMK is not lending its ears to Dalit issues. They are trying to rectify past mistakes,” said Rajangam, adding that VCK’s discussions on power-sharing also played a role.
DMK Kancheepuram MLA and students wing state secretary C.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan denied external pressure. He said it was an expansion of the DMK’s model of social justice governance.
VCK general secretary and MLA Sinthanai Chelvan said this should be seen as a case of someone being given the post as a deserving candidate, not because of caste or party pressure.
“Caste was not a hindrance for the deserving candidate is what it means. Had the government wanted to increase the number of SC (Scheduled Caste) ministers, they would have done it at the time of forming the cabinet itself. There is no need now to increase the numbers when all is well within the government,” he said.
Politics of inducting Dalits in cabinet
Rumours around the VCK’s involvement in Chezhiaan’s induction into the cabinet followed fortnight-long debates and discussions between the two parties over power-sharing in the government.
Although VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said the alliance with DMK was intact, speculations over the discussions refused to die down. Thirumavalavan went on to explain that the alliance with the DMK was not over power-sharing or the number of seats but to oppose Sanatana Dharma ideology propagated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Political commentator and author of the book The DMK Years: Ascent, Descent, Survival, R. Kannan said the development was long overdue and was taking place because of societal pressure.
“The rise of the Ambedkarite parties and Dalit assertion cannot be separated. It happened after the death of former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran. The recent developments could be seen that DMK wanted to emphasise that it is inclusive of Dalits to gain their support and not lose them to the Ambedkarite parties,” Kannan said.
Chezhiaan’s induction into the Cabinet could also be a political strategy to give greater representation to the Adi Dravidars, dominant in the northern region of Tamil Nadu—where VCK is also more powerful. This is particularly important with the assembly elections scheduled for 2026.
Dravidian writer and former head of Tamil department at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, A. Ramasamy, said it was a move to appease the Adi Dravidar community who largely support the VCK.
“The societal pressure is also one of the reasons to add Govi Chezhiaan as minister,” he added.
However, the DMK denied any pressure in the society to induct more Dalits into the cabinet.
“We don’t differentiate anybody by their birth. There are only two kinds of people—those who were given opportunities and those who were denied opportunities. Those who were denied opportunities are Dalits, irrespective of the caste they were born into. Our CM has chosen a person who had been denied opportunity for years,” said Ezhilarasan, quoted earlier.
Portfolios of significance
Chezhiaan and Kayalvizhi Selvaraj have also been given portfolios of significance that were usually reserved for senior party members.
“When it comes to higher education, senior minister K. Anbazhagan kept it for a long time and after him, it was given to K. Ponmudi,” said Ramasamy.
Similarly, ever since the DMK came to power in 2021, it has been facing criticism for giving the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare and not a more prominent portfolio to Selvaraj, a Dalit woman MLA.
Now, she has been allocated the Human Resources Department, while the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare has been reassigned to Mathiventhan.
Tamil Puligal Katchi, an Ambedkarite party largely backed by the Arunthathiyar community, responded positively over the allocation of the department to an MLA from the Arunthathiyar community.
The Arunthathiyar community is the most socially, politically, and economically deprived among the sub-castes in the Scheduled Caste, according to activists in the state.
Chezhiaan’s induction is also being seen as a sign that the third generation of the DMK is up for revival and to take the social justice way forward.
Talking about the elevation of Udhayanidhi Stalin to the post of deputy chief minister in addition to the Cabinet reshuffle, Rajangam said that it signals the Dravidian party’s intention to do something for Tamil Nadu’s Dalit community.
A government source at the State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes told ThePrint that the government was keen to address issues of the two communities.
“The state vigilance and monitoring committee that was supposed to convene once in six months had happened only twice during the 10 years of AIADMK government. However, in the past three years, the committee, headed by the Chief Minister, has convened nine times,” the source said.
The state government will also announce a monitoring committee within a week to monitor the funds spent and distributed through the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP). “They are coming up with a way to carry forward the unused fund from a particular year to the next and the announcement is likely in a week,” the source said.
The SCSP is a Centre-backed initiative to ensure a targeted flow of financial and physical benefits to the Scheduled Caste communities. Under the scheme, the state government can choose the schemes it wants to implement from a Special Central Assistance.
History of Dalits in Tamil Nadu cabinet
From the time Omandur Ramasami Reddiar took charge as the premier of the Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu, parts of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh) on 24 March 1947 till a few days ago, the state has only had a maximum of three Dalit Cabinet ministers.
The Madras Presidency got its first Dalit Minister, B. Parameswaran, the grandson of Rettaimalai Srinivasan, a Dalit icon in the state, only in 1949 when Kumaraswamy Raja took charge as the premier.
However, even then, Parameswaran was not given a prominent portfolio. He was only allocated fisheries, cottage industries, khadi, and firka (revenue block) development, along with Harijan upliftment portfolios.
However, after K. Kamaraj came to power in 1954, he brought in P Kakkan—raising the number of Dalit ministers to two. “He was given prominent portfolios including Home Affairs, Public Works and Agriculture Department over a period of time,” said writer Kannan.
With the rise of the Dravidian movement in the state, the DMK came to power in 1967 but inducted only one minister from the Scheduled Caste—Satyavani Muthu, who was only given the Harijan Welfare and Information department.
Later, during a Cabinet reshuffle, after the death of the former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai, former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi also brought in O.P. Ramana into the Cabinet. Ramana was also in the Cabinet when DMK came to power for the second time in 1972.
“To the credit of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, it was he who changed the name of the department from Harijan Welfare Department to Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department,” Kannan said.
The arithmetic of restricting ministers from the Scheduled Caste to one or two remained the same even during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) rule under former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.
According to Kannan, it was after the death of Ramachandran that the caste-based parties in the state started to mushroom leading to the rise of Dalit assertion.
“It was during the 1990s that Devendra Kula Vellalars led by Dr Krishnaswamy organised under one umbrella and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi led by Thirumavalavan entered into the foray, giving an opportunity to assert the identity of Dalits,” said Kannan.
In the 2000s, the state saw a sudden shift in the Dalit representation in the government and parties. As a result, the AIADMK government under former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa (2001-2006), assigned P. Dhanabal—who at first was given the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department—the prominent portfolio of the Food and Co-operation Department.
In 2006, after DMK came to power, it introduced a 3 percent internal reservation for Dalits in 2009. “It forced the next AIADMK government that came in power in 2011 to keep Dhanabal in the light to protect its image,” Kannan said. Dhanabal was the Deputy Speaker in the first year and was later made the Speaker of the Assembly.
However, during the last AIADMK government between 2016 and 2021, even with the inclusion of the Assembly Speaker, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet had only three people from the Dalit community—two ministers and one speaker.
The DMK, when it came to power in 2021, inducted three ministers from the SC community. Now, with the addition of Chezhiaan, the highest number of Dalits in the Cabinet in the history of the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Courtesy : The Print
Four get double life for killing Dalit over pending wage dues in Tamil Nadu
Based on a complaint by Mani’s wife, the Padalur police registered a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and arrested Dhanapal, Prabhu, Palanivel and Shankar.
PERAMBALUR: The special court for trial of cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act here on Monday sentenced four people to double life imprisonment for murdering a Dalit man when he demanded wages for milking their cows.
According to sources, S Mani (58) of Therani in Alathur taluk was engaged by villagers J Dhanapal (47), J Prabhu (a) Kundu Prabhu (44), K Palanivel (a) Kumar (48) and P Shankar (38) to milk their cows. When Mani, who hailed from an SC community, approached them seeking payment of pending wages, an angry Dhanapal on May 29, 2020, took him to his field, hurled abuses, including caste-based slurs, and attacked him with the help of Prabhu, Palanivel and Shankar. Mani’s wife and their son rescued him and admitted him to the Perambalur government hospital. While Mani was shifted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) for further treatment, he succumbed to his injuries, sources said.
Based on a complaint by Mani’s wife, the Padalur police registered a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and arrested Dhanapal, Prabhu, Palanivel and Shankar. The four subsequently came out on bail. The case trial was under way at the special court in Perambalur.
During the hearing on Monday, Judge P Indirani pronounced the four accused guilty and sentenced each of them to double life imprisonment. The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 5.51 lakh on them. They were subsequently lodged at the Central Prison, Tiruchy.
The court also as part of the judgment recommended the Tamil Nadu government to provide a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Mani’s family.
Courtesy : TNIE
UP News: Bullies wreaked havoc on Dalit children, dragged them out of the car while going to school and beat them; fled after making them bleed
Bullies wreaked havoc on Dalit children in Agra. Dragged them out of the car while going to school and beat them. Casteist slurs were used. When they were covered in blood, the accused fled.
Published by: Bhupendra Singh
In Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Dalit children going to school were dragged out of the car and brutally beaten by bullies. Casteist slurs were also used. After beating them, the accused fled. It is alleged that the victim’s family called the police officials to inform them, but the calls were not received.
The incident is from Undera village of Fatehpur Sikri police station area. Six children of the same family of the village were going to study in a school in Fatehpur Sikri by van. It is alleged that Raghuveer, Bhullu, Sindhi of the village together used casteist slurs on the children on the way.
Akhilesh, a child sitting in the car, protested. After this, the bullies pulled Akhilesh and hit him hard on his head, leaving him bleeding. The bullies also brutally beat Toshi, Khushboo, Trisha, Anshul, Ashish, Vineet. After this, they ran away threatening them.
The children, injured and scared due to the beating, reached the police station with their family. It is alleged that they had to face trouble here too. They were made to sit at the police station for hours. Under the pressure of a public representative, even the medical examination of their child was not done. They were pressurized to compromise. They were also threatened to be booked under the breach of peace and sent to jail if they did not compromise.
ACP and police station in-charge’s phone was not received
Despite continuous efforts to get a reaction in this matter, ACP Kiravali and police station in-charge Achhnera could not be contacted on their phones. The phone of both the officers was not received.
Courtesy : Hindi News
77% of manual scavengers are Dalit, says report despite Union govt’s denial
The Indian government, however, not only denies that it is a caste-based occupation but also claims that there is no manual scavenging in India.
Even as the Union government claims that manual scavenging is not a caste-based occupation, it has been reported that close to 92% of the Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs) profiled by the Social Justice Ministry belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), or Other Backward Class (OBC) communities. The Ministry has been profiling SSWs as part of its National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) programme, formulated “to stop SSW deaths and to promote mechanisation of cleaning operations with a vision to reduce hazardous cleaning and ensure the safety of sanitation workers.” An exclusive report published by The Hindu says that an analysis of this yet-to-be-published profiling data points towards a high consolidation of Dalit workers in the profession.
One of the components of NAMASTE is the profiling of sewer entry professionals/septic tank workers. In its report published on September 29, The Hindu stated that of the 38,000 workers profiled so far, 68.9% belong to the SC community, 14.7% to the OBC community, 8.3% to the ST community. 8% are from the general category. Put together, this indicates that 77.2% of the workers are from Dalit communities.
The Indian government, however, not only denies that it is a caste-based occupation but also claims that there is no manual scavenging in India. This was the government’s stand in 2023 as well. TNM had earlier reported on this, highlighting that the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA)— a movement working towards the eradication of manual scavenging in the country—recorded 339 deaths of manual scavengers in 2022-23.
Bezwada Wilson, the national convener of the SKA asks how the government can make such a claim. “Our groundwork clearly shows that the majority of manual scavenging workers are Dalits and it is a caste-based occupation. How can the government say it is not?” he told TNM.
The government has not deviated from its stand this year as well. In his two responses about manual scavenging in the Parliament, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Ramdas Athawale said on July 24, 2024, that there was no report of the existence of manual scavenging in India.
However, there are discrepancies between the government’s stands on the issue that were tabled in Parliament.
Union govt says no manual scavenging deaths in 2023, activists slam misleading data
Inconsistent stands on the issue
In its first reply to Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale, the government said that there is “no report of the practice of manual scavenging in the country in the last five years.” In the second reply to Rajya Sabha MP Anil Kumar Yadav Mandadi, the ministry says there is “no report of the practice of manual scavenging in any districts.”
He also added that the Social Justice Ministry had launched a mobile app called “Swachhata Abhiyaan” in December 2020 to capture existing data on insanitary latrines and manual scavengers associated with them. While stating that a total of 6,256 cases were uploaded on the mobile application from 114 districts, the Ministry claimed that all of them were verified and none were “found to be credible.”
However, a couple of weeks later, on August 6, 2024, in its reply to Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, the Ministry stated that as of July 31, 2024, only 732 out of 766 districts in India have reported themselves as manual scavenging-free.
On the same day, in its reply to Lok Sabha MP Hibi Eden, the Ministry claimed that the reports sent by States/UTs do not mention the caste details of workers in the sanitation and cleaning sectors. On August 7, in its reply to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, the Ministry stated that manual scavengers are an occupation-based identification rather than a caste-based identification.
We don’t just report on manual scavenging when a tragedy strikes—we cover it relentlessly to expose the systemic injustice behind it. Support our in-depth, consistent journalism by becoming a paid subscriber today.
Manual scavenging vs hazardous cleaning
The Union government has maintained that 377 deaths have occurred in the last five years (2019-2023) due to hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. It is to be noted that though cleaning sewers and septic tanks technically falls under the category of manual scavenging, the narrow definition of the practice in The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 prevents it from being officially identified as such.
When MP Shashi Tharoor asked to differentiate between manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning, the Ministry pointed to its definition in the Act. Section 2(d) of the Act defines ‘hazardous cleaning’ of a sewer or septic tank as “manual cleaning” by a worker without the employer providing them with protective gear, other cleaning devices, and without following safety precautions. Section 2(g) of the Act defines “manual scavenger” as a person who manually cleans, carries, disposes of, or handles human excreta in any manner in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or a pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or other such spaces or premises. This does not include a sewer or a septic tank.
The Supreme Court, in a 2023 judgement, considered this point and said that hazardous cleaning is permitted if protective gear and cleaning devices are provided. “Even though both a hazardous cleaner and a manual scavenger deal with human excreta, the statute only penalises hazardous cleaning and does not provide subsequent steps for rehabilitation of hazardous cleaners,” the court observed.
While the Ministry for Social Justice claimed that there is no manual scavenging in India currently, two surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018 identified 58,098 ‘erstwhile manual scavengers’. According to the data on the southern states, Karnataka had the highest number of erstwhile scavengers – 2,927; followed by Andhra Pradesh – 1,793; Kerala – 518 and Tamil Nadu – 398.
Courtesy: The News Minute.
Congress is anti-Dalit and OBC, Rahul should declare Selja as CM candidate: Smriti
Rohtak. Former Union Minister Smriti Irani said that Congress is anti-Dalit and OBC. If Rahul Gandhi has the courage, then declare Kumari Selja as the CM candidate. Bhupendra Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja’s hands were shaken, but did their hearts meet? This is all a meeting out of compulsion. Irani was talking to journalists at BJP’s state media center in Rohtak on Monday.
In response to a question, Irani said, if Congress is pro-Dalit, then why doesn’t it declare Kumari Selja as the CM candidate? On being asked about Rahul Gandhi’s handshake between Selja and Hooda, she said, shaking hands for a photo cannot unite their hearts. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s Quit India tour, she said, he says that the result of his tour was good, but as a result of the same tour, today he is sitting in the opposition. Irani said that wherever there is a Congress government, many promises were made, but the promises were not fulfilled, the public’s treasury definitely became empty.
If Gautam Adani is so corrupt, then why is Robert Vadra seen with him?
The former Union Minister said that Robert Vadra is seen with the Congress in Haryana, who has an unbreakable relationship with Gautam Adani. If Adani is so corrupt, then why are the members of the Gandhi family roaming with him? Countering the statement of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Irani said that she does not expect good values ??from the Congress. When the Prime Minister asked about the health of the Congress President, she was not surprised at all by Kharge’s comment. The Congress party is anti-Dalit, so it does not respect Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who comes from the backward society. On this occasion, national spokesperson KK Sharma, Haryana state media in-charge Arvind Saini and many others were also present.
Courtesy: Hindi News
MP SHOCKER: Missing Minor Dalit Girl Taken To Aurangabad, Beaten & Raped.
The policemen raided different places to search for the girl, but there was no clue about her.
Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh): A minor dalit girl who was reported missing from her house since August 21in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh was tied to a post, beaten up, and raped for several days in Aurangabad district in Maharashtra.
The girl’s parents are daily wagers. When the girl did not return home on August 21, her parents went to the Vindhyanagar police station to file a missing person’s report. But the police, instead of lodging a complaint, advised them to search for her in nearby areas. When the family members of the girl reached the police station the next, the cops swung into action.
The policemen raided different places to search for the girl, but there was no clue about her. Nearly 30 days after her disappearance, the Singrauli police received a call from their Aurangabad counterparts that they had come across a girl from MP.
Afterwards, the police went to Aurangabad and brought her back to Singrauli along with a boy who had abducted her. According to the girl, her abductor had come to her on August 21 saying that her brother was calling her to a fair. She went to the spot sitting on a bike. Then the girl was forced to sit in a car.
Despite her refusal to do so, the boy did not listen to her. They boy told her if she did not act according to his wishes, her father and brother would be killed, the girl said. The girl further said that she had been tied to a post and regularly raped in Aurangabad. Whenever she protested against rape, she was battered.
Courtesy: Free Press Journal
This new MacArthur “genius” says she defied caste prejudice thanks to Dad and Mom
Shailaja Paik is one of the 2024 MacArthur '"genius grant" recipients. She is a historian of modern India who writes about caste and gender, shedding light on the unseen lives of women from the Dalit caste — referred to as "untouchables."
Shailaja Paik was born into India’s Dalit community — one of the millions who belong to historically marginalized and oppressed castes due to their professions. They’re so scorned that they were for centuries known as “untouchables.” And even though modern India is changing, caste discrimination refuses to go away.
Paik faced prejudice both as a Dalit and a woman. She credits her parents, especially her father, for helping her (and her three sisters) defy the prejudices they faced as Dalits and as women. He made sure they got an education.
For Paik, schooling was a path to teaching history in the U.S., writing books about the untold plight of the Dalits — and now being dubbed a genius.
She’s one of 22 recipients of the 2024 MacArthur fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards for creative and intellectual achievement — informally known as “the genius grant.”
MacArthur fellows receive $800,000 over five years to spend however they want -- one of the few no-strings attached grants. The fellows do not apply nor are they officially interviewed for it. The call informing them of the fellowship comes out of the blue.
A research professor of history at the University of Cincinnati, Paik is not a public figure as some recipients are. She has documented the deep social inequity rising from India’s repressive caste system that she is a part of. Her focus is the plight of Dalit women like herself.
In a video interview with NPR, Paik, age 50, shares key findings from her years of research — and why this achievement is such a milestone. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When you received the news that you'd won the MacArthur grant, what was that moment like?
The call came around 5 p.m. I was resting after a full day of classes. I was tired and couldn’t really believe what I was hearing. The Foundation congratulated me, explained the details of the award and how it related to my work. It was such an exhilarating, ecstatic moment.
How does it feel to be called a genius? Growing up, did you ever think that this kind of recognition would be yours?
I’ve worked very hard all my life against odds, and while every success I’ve had has been appreciated and celebrated by parents, friends, and extended family, I’ve never been called a “genius” before. It’s overwhelming, but when I think of how I got here — an often rocky journey — I’m going to embrace it with gratitude.
Tell us about those early years.
Growing up, I had to fight hard to survive. I was born in Pohegaon, a small village in [the western Indian state of] Maharashtra.
My family moved to Pune, the nearest city [four hours away by road] in the 1960s, where I grew up. We lived in a one-room house in a slum area in Yerawada, on the Ahmednagar highway, which made it easier for my father to make trips to our native village so he could keep in touch with his family. Our house was about 20 by 20 feet, and we didn’t have access to toilets.
The neighborhood where we lived in was a densely populated, underserved area, full of underprivileged people, some labeled disruptive or dangerous. I have three sisters and if it weren’t for our father, who was determined to give us an education, these opportunities wouldn’t have been ours. My mother, educated until grade 6, introduced me to the English alphabet. She worked very hard at domestic drudgery to enable me and my sisters to devote ourselves to our education. She protected us and taught us to protect ourselves. She has been a model of fortitude, standing by me, teaching me to pursue my interests singlemindedly and believing in my endeavors.
My father struggled for an education himself. He attended what we call night school and worked during the day, waiting tables and cleaning at restaurants. He put up pandals [temporary scaffolding, used for weddings or religious events] and learnt to play [pre-recorded] music during events. In this way, somehow, he educated himself — and got a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences, the first Dalit man from his village to do so.
Did his emphasis on education encourage you to pursue a career in academia?
Dalits have been excluded from education and seeking out knowledge for centuries. I mention this in my first book, Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India, Double Discrimination. Women faced double discrimination — for being Dalits and because of their gender.
So that became an important motivation for me too. To escape the slum, I had to get education and employment — it was key to living a better life.
It became especially important after my father’s death in 1996, because I had to support my family — my mother and sisters .
Soon after, in the same year, I got my masters’ degree from the Savitribai Phule university in Pune. I started out as a lecturer teaching history in Mumbai. The Ford Foundation fellowship provided me support to pursue a doctoral degree in Warwick University in the U.K. I arrived in the U.S. in 2005 after securing a fellowship from Emory University.
For people encountering your work in South Asian history for the first time, what can they expect?
My work explores the role of power and identity. It shines a light on the fundamental inequalities in our lives that make some people more equal than others.
Broadly speaking, it documents the inequalities that we inherit. My teaching and research focuses on systemic mechanisms of stigmatization and exploitation.
Those who are privileged elites have pushed the burden of [making amends for prejudices like] caste onto Dalits, of race to Black people and of gender to women, thus holding the oppressed responsible for fighting for their rights and addressing their difficulties on their own. My work shows that everyone — the oppressed and oppressors — need to work together to fight for liberation.
Through the course of your career, you've championed the cause of Tamasha women, dancing artists from the Western Indian state of Maharashtra — some of whom are Dalits. What drew you to their stories?
Tamasha brings together drama, dance, mime, song, and it is considered a traditional art performed predominantly by women from the Dalit community. However, it was often branded ashleel or vulgar by the larger society. The performance and the performers were regarded as loud, pretentious, showy and considered indecent, rude, dishonest.
So growing up, I’ve watched these performances in both my village and the city and I understood how intensely these women performers were stigmatized. I found literary evidence that dates back to the 10th century calling the art vulgar and saying that no one should be engaging in it or watching it.
When I began the fieldwork for my Ph.D. dissertation in 2002 and 2003, I interviewed about 180 women from different social backgrounds — from middle-class apartments and slums, from different castes and different Dalit castes. Among these interviewees were many Tamasha women.
Little was known about the caste prejudice and violence that Tamasha girls face.
It amazed me how their voice was so completely erased after being branded as vulgar, and so I set about creating an archive, filled with newspaper clips, magazines, pamphlets, films, music and fieldwork that centered on the experiences of Tamasha women.
So this topic has been on my mind for the last 20 years and became the subject of my second book, The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality and Humanity in Modern India.
In your book, you discuss the vicious cycle that Tamasha women must endure. Many despise their own line of work because of the bawdry, sensual nature of the dance. They know others don't respect them for it and worse, it leaves them vulnerable to sexual assault — seen by society as sex workers even though that is not the case. Yet they cannot stop performing, because discrimination against them will not allow them to take on other jobs or switch careers. You call this the sex, gender and caste complex. Could you elaborate?
In the caste system, women are rigidly regulated in terms of their sexuality — it is used as a means of controlling and branding them. Gender and sexuality are used to deny Dalit women dignity.
For instance, the sex-gender-caste complex very cunningly labels a range of dancers, singers and Tamasha women as prostitutes [as a result of their low caste status].
In my book, Mangalatai Bansode, a well-known Tamasha artist who continues to dance to this day, has discussed the ways the sex-gender-caste complex created so many difficulties for her. She recalled an incident that happened to her as a 16-year-old. She was forced to dance in an ox cart by the people in her village. She was the lead dancer, and she and other women were crammed into an ox cart and had to dance as it made its way around her village. A wild crowd gathered, and men danced and cheered around the ox cart, trying to grab at her and pull at her saree. You can imagine how frightening this experience would have been for a 16-year-old, and yet she could not refuse because she would have to face violence if she did.
In recent years, have things changed? Have modern Tamasha girls found a way out of this cycle of suppression and violence?
As I show in my book the sex-gender-caste complex exploited Dalit Tamasha women, but some women like Bansode have made it work. She created business opportunities and propelled social mobility for herself, her family members and her troupe. Her granddaughter is now a medical doctor.
Tamasha women have also pursued different opportunities in terms of recording CDs, uploading YouTube videos, reels, entering films — but still these numbers are very small.
Many Tamasha women continue to live in poverty, do not get the pensions promised by the government, do not get support from local authorities and continue to struggle. COVID was particularly challenging for many.
Though it isn’t easy, is there any way to build a more equitable society for people who still endure caste prejudice?
It’s a centuries-old discrimination so certainly not easy. There are a number of ways we can work on fighting this discrimination and the system. But primarily, we need to acknowledge that caste divisions and prejudice exist.
This is something that especially high-caste elite liberals do not want to talk about. Some [Indians] are quick to talk about the racial discrimination that they face but do not want to talk about the caste discrimination that they perpetuate.
So we should talk about it and stop pretending that there is no caste, in India and elsewhere. There are very intense conversations taking place in the U.S. today, especially [around] caste and race.
The MacArthur grant comes with $800,000 disbursed over five years. Is there a beach chair with your name on it? How does it factor in your future plans?
(Laughs). To be honest, it’s going to take some time to sink in.
But I do know that it will help me conduct my research and write on historical inequities and social barriers with greater ease and to expose my students to these different perspectives.
You know -- history isn’t a dead subject. Our attitude to the past shapes how we think about the present and how we build our future.
What do you think the fellowship means to other Dalits?
This fellowship is a celebration of the enormous contributions of Dalits -- their ideas, actions, history and fight for human rights — as much as it is of me as a Dalit woman scholar. I am indebted to the Dalit women who shared their lives with me and I hope this achievement will strengthen the fight of both Dalits and non-Dalits against caste discrimination, in and beyond South Asia.
Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, Southern India. She reports on global health, science and development and has been published in The New York Times, The British Medical Journal, the BBC, The Guardian and other outlets. You can find her on X @kamal_t
TAR PRADESH2 Mins ReadTension in U.P. village after demolition of Dalit’s housePublished / Updated- October 01, 2024 23:08 ISTMAYANK KUMARListen to articlePolice book case against eight persons, including the husband of local nagar panchayat president and 20 unnamed peopleSundar Nagar Tangiya village under the Bheera police station limits in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh remained tense on Tuesday after some people hailing from the dominant caste group allegedly demolished the house of a Dalit.Police registered a case under relevant Sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), against eight persons, including the husband of local nagar panchayat president Sanjay Shukla and 20 unnamed people.The victim, Aklu Prasad, claimed that he did not encroach upon the village road while building his house on his farmland. However, some locals claimed a portion of the house was constructed by encroaching upon the village road.On September 29 night, more than 25 persons with lethal weapons attacked the newly built house and demolished it, leading to an uproar.ADVERTISEMENT“We have registered a case against eight persons and 20 others. An investigation is going on and action will be taken accordingly. There is no law-and-order problem in the area,” Pushpraj Kushwaha, Station House Officer (SHO), Bheera police station, told The Hindu.MLA’s standPalia MLA Harvindra Kumar Sahani said he would visit the area. “I am aware of the issue. Those alleging that the house was built on encroached land should have objected at the time of construction or should have complained to the administration. No one has the right to take the law into their own hands.”“The incident is a red flag and impact of continuous bulldozer action by the Uttar Pradesh government, with now private individuals close to the ruling party feeling that they can get away with demolishing houses of poor and marginalised people. Strict action must be taken against such anti-social elements who demolish houses of Dalits,” said Shahnawaz Alam, National Secretary, Congress.
UTTAR PRADESH.
Tension in U.P. village after demolition of Dalit’s housePublished / Updated- October 01, 2024 23:08 ISTMAYANK KUMARListen to articlePolice book case against eight persons, including the husband of local nagar panchayat president and 20 unnamed peopleSundar Nagar Tangiya village under the Bheera police station limits in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh remained tense on Tuesday after some people hailing from the dominant caste group allegedly demolished the house of a Dalit.Police registered a case under relevant Sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), against eight persons, including the husband of local nagar panchayat president Sanjay Shukla and 20 unnamed people.The victim, Aklu Prasad, claimed that he did not encroach upon the village road while building his house on his farmland. However, some locals claimed a portion of the house was constructed by encroaching upon the village road.On September 29 night, more than 25 persons with lethal weapons attacked the newly built house and demolished it, leading to an uproar.ADVERTISEMENT“We have registered a case against eight persons and 20 others. An investigation is going on and action will be taken accordingly. There is no law-and-order problem in the area,” Pushpraj Kushwaha, Station House Officer (SHO), Bheera police station, told The Hindu.MLA’s standPalia MLA Harvindra Kumar Sahani said he would visit the area. “I am aware of the issue. Those alleging that the house was built on encroached land should have objected at the time of construction or should have complained to the administration. No one has the right to take the law into their own hands.”“The incident is a red flag and impact of continuous bulldozer action by the Uttar Pradesh government, with now private individuals close to the ruling party feeling that they can get away with demolishing houses of poor and marginalised people. Strict action must be taken against such anti-social elements who demolish houses of Dalits,” said Shahnawaz Alam, National Secretary, Congress.
TAMIL NADU2 Mins ReadCaste Hindus object to Dalits using main road for funeral procession in TiruvannamalaiPublished / Updated- October 02, 2024 00:25 IST THE HINDU BUREAUA police team was deployed in Mothakkal village near Tiruvannamalai to prevent untoward incidents. | Photo Credit: Listen to articleThe police said the Dalits had decided to carry out the funeral procession through the main stretch of the village around 4 p.m. but the caste Hindus objected to it:A section of caste Hindus on Monday reportedly objected to the funeral procession of a Dalit woman in Mothakkal village, around 45 km from Tiruvannamalai, after members of the Dalit community decided to take the body of a deceased via the village main road due to the poor condition of their traditional route.Sources said that S. Kiliambal, 70, died of age-related illness at her daughter’s house in the Dalit colony on Sunday evening. Traditionally, caste Hindus and Dalits have been using their own routes for funeral procession. The burial ground of the Dalits is located on the village outskirts. They have to struggle through a muddy pathway to reach the burial ground.“The stretch that is generally used by the Dalits to reach the burial ground was made worse with wild growth of bushes and uneven pathways. It had not been repaired by the authorities for many years. So, we decided to undertake the funeral procession on the route used by caste Hindus,” a Dalit agricultural worker said.ADVERTISEMENTMothakkal is a border village that connects Tiruvannamalai with Dharmapuri district. It falls under the Thandrampattu panchayat union in Tiruvannamalai. Most of the caste Hindus in the village are landlords with the Dalits employed as agricultural workers on their lands for years. “Caste discrimination is common in this village. Earlier, Dalits were not allowed to get haircuts done in salons visited by caste Hindus. The village has also reported two tumbler systems,” said R. Annamalai, a CPIM functionary in the region.The police said the Dalits had decided to carry out the funeral procession through the main stretch of the village around 4 p.m. but the caste Hindus objected to it. Based on an alert by panchayat officials, a police team rushed to the village to prevent untoward incidents.A revenue team led by R. Mandakini, Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Tiruvannamalai, organised peace talks between caste Hindus and Dalits in the village. After nearly five hours of negotiations, Dalits agreed to use the traditional route. The pathway used by the Dalits was levelled. They buried the deceased woman on Monday night.District officials will hold a series of peace talks between the communities to end caste discrimination in the village. Residents said that Dalits were not even allowed to wait under the shade of trees beside petty shops run by caste Hindus to board government buses. They were asked to wait in the sun to board buses.Collector D.
haskara Pandian said the issue of caste discrimination in the village would be rectified.
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