Contemporary Voice of Dalit

This article examines how Natchathiram Nagargiradhu (2022) reconfigures Dalit subjectivity by politicizing intimacy. I ask: How does the film mobilize love to contest caste and gender governance? Using qualitative film analysis with scene segmentation and thematic coding of dialogue, mise en scène, sound and metatheatrical address, I analyse moments of caste confrontation, romantic negotiation and collective performance. The analytic lens combines Crenshaw’s structural and political intersectionality with Sharmila Rege’s Dalit feminist standpoint; findings are triangulated with peer-reviewed scholarship. The analysis demonstrates that the film reframes love as a counter-public practice that challenges caste discipline, deploys metatheatre to expose the performative production of purity and stigma, and articulates Rene as an agentive Dalit feminist subject rather than a liberal victim figure. I analyse how a Dalit standpoint reorganizes cinematic form and address, contributing to debates in ethnic and racial studies on representation, intimacy and minoritized publics. The study advances methodized film analysis of caste and speaks to comparative conversations on caste, gender and media.

Maternal health constitutes a pivotal aspect of the healthcare system, bearing immense significance for the future of a nation. But in lower-middle income countries like India, maternal health has always been a matter of concern, especially among the tribal population. It has been observed that in numerous tribal regions, the effective utilization of maternal health services remains elusive, due to different determinants at both community and individual levels. This study aims to explore the maternal healthcare provisions among the Oraon community of Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, to provide a clear representation of the present scenario. The findings of this study disclose an increasing inclination towards modern healthcare facilities, coexisting with the age-old traditional healthcare practices. The choice of antenatal care providers and delivery place is considered as two essential health inputs to portray the community perspectives. Sociocultural and religious beliefs within the community also emerged as key influencers in shaping maternal healthcare practices.

Sabri is one of the most excluded Dalit myths. This article examines the reasons for her exclusion and why writers do not choose her as a theme. It also explores how writers have neglected the myth, while singers have made it one of the most frequently used myths. The myth becomes stronger in Santmata Sabri by Dayachand Mayna. The article analyses Sabri’s temple entry and Matang Rishi becoming her Guru, defining the master–disciple relationship. It concludes by showing how the salvation of the lower caste is presented as coming through the upper caste, as Sabri receives salvation from Rama.

The history of Christianity in South India has always been an interesting theme for scholars across disciplines. Due to the peculiarity of the society, especially the caste system, Christianity has been conceived differently by the populace. The higher castes considered it as the religion of the ‘outcastes’, while Christianity was ‘liberating’ for the Dalits. Accordingly, mass movements happened in the Telugu-speaking Madras Presidency (or colonial Andhra Pradesh), and the depressed classes embraced the religion wholeheartedly. However, being influenced by the spirit of nationalism and an urge to liberate the country, the Christian converts decided to add ‘Indianness’ to Christianity. This led to the indigenization of the church and the establishment of the ‘Indian Church’. However, this process failed to cut the mustard in terms of liberation, and the Dalit converts ended up being ‘doubly marginalized’. In this light, this article will try to show how indigenization had pros and cons, especially the continuation of caste discrimination that plagued the church administration and the Dalits.

The persistence of caste-related jobs in India, despite constitutional safeguards and modernization, underscores deep-rooted structural disparities. One such occupation is manual scavenging, and due to being ostracized even by other Dalit groups, manual scavengers face significant social exclusion. A task force chaired by S. K. Basu made its first recommendations for rehabilitation in 1991. The efforts for the liberation and rehabilitation of manual scavengers were formally started with the enactment of legislation in 1993, although many studies and reports have pointed out the inadequacies of these initiatives. Although numerous government initiatives have been introduced to assist in the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, there is a scarcity of empirical studies regarding their real impact and effectiveness in Rajasthan. This study explores the gaps in the implementation of rehabilitation schemes for manual scavengers with a mixed-method research design and an ethnographic field study of 85 respondents. The district is one of the case study sites where the largest number of manual scavengers were identified in the 2011 census in the state of Rajasthan. Yet there were no surveys conducted by the state administration. The main argument centres on the insufficient information within the entire sanitation workers’ community, which needs to be addressed. Recognizing these gaps can help develop more inclusive policy design and implementation strategies that align with our aim of fulfilling constitutional goals of social justice and living with dignity.

This study examines the occupational transformations of Dalit landless agricultural labourers in Kondaiahgaripalli village over the past three decades. It explores the dynamics driving these shifts and assesses their implications for the socio-economic well-being of Dalit landless agricultural labourers. The findings reveal a pronounced decline in traditional agricultural labour occupations, characterized by a sharp reduction in agricultural wage labour and a significant decrease in female participation. The disappearance of semi-attached labour arrangements highlights the erosion of long-standing agrarian labour structures. Concurrently, a notable transition towards non-agricultural employment and migration has been observed, with younger generations increasingly participating in salaried jobs and self-employment ventures. Key drivers of this occupational shift include improved access to education, skill acquisition and the expansion of non-farm employment opportunities. The emergence of digital platforms—such as e-commerce, freelancing portals and gig economy services—has further facilitated new income-generating avenues for rural youth to secure alternative livelihoods.

This article talks about how signs, icons and symbols have become an epitome in the Dalits’ fight for democracy. Dalits, who are often considered one of the most oppressed communities in the Indian system, unfortunately bear the stigma of negative connotations even today, in some parts of India. The term Dalit refers to those belonging to the lower castes in the traditional Hindu caste system. The primary objective of this study is to analyse the importance of symbolic expression in emancipating Dalit identity and the efforts Ambedkar made to bring radical and effective change to society. Without his constant efforts, the edifice of Dalit society would lose its identity, dignity and willpower. Key to his approach was the strategic use of signs, symbols, statues and iconography to challenge the powerful and dominant forces. This article also attempts to enter the human rights discourse, highlighting the crucial role of symbolic expression in facing caste discrimination. The Dalits’ creation of statues and monumental structures enabled them to assert their presence and effectively challenge the dominance of the public masses of that time. Furthermore, this article will also discuss how Ambedkar utilized religious symbols, language, rituals and ideas to resist the hegemonic forces of caste oppression. Moreover, Ambedkar’s adoption of Buddhism and the conversion ritual, which reshaped and redefined Dalit identity and facilitated collective emancipation, will also be discussed.

The politics of non-dominant OBC castes in Uttar Pradesh has the twin objectives of seeking a share in the state’s resources and reconfiguration of social identities. Politics is invoked for strengthening social identity. Jati, or caste-centric, parties have become political and social tools in their own right to negotiate with the state and compete with other social groups for better life chances. They have a strategic relationship with the politics of religion, yearn for a cultural space and invoke the social justice framework to access a state’s resources. Their aims are strategic, politics is opportunistic and impact is deterministic.

This article analyses the current discourse of ‘merit’ in India within the ever-present framework of caste hierarchy, specifically in the context of debates around the proposed UGC Guidelines 2026 on caste discrimination in higher education. It argues that the concerns of the dominant castes about the ‘misuse’ of anti-discrimination provisions mask the historical experiences of humiliation, exclusion and structural violence that require such protections. By examining the symbolic protest of 2018 against the Manu statue, the patterns of spatial and institutional segregation and the ongoing practice of caste-based labour, as evident in sanitation labour, this article illustrates how the power of caste adjusts to modern institutions while sustaining graded inequality. Engaging with Dalit philosophy, autobiographical accounts, sociological interpretations and cinematic depictions, this article critiques the ideological use of merit as a mask for inherited privilege and cultural capital. Informed by Ambedkar’s structural critique of caste, it proposes that accountability must be political rather than merely moral. Thus, the UGC Guidelines are interpreted not as separatist tools but as democratic instruments that aim to institutionalize constitutional morality, guarantee representation, safeguard dignity and convert educational spaces into sites of substantive equality instead of inherited advantage.

Bihar has made a significant move in the recently concluded Assembly election when female voter turnout exceeded that of male voters in more than 120 constituencies of the state. But at the same time, it was also noticeable that their representation in the legislature remained strikingly low, as only 29 female candidates won the election. This article discusses this contradiction between women’s electoral participation and their limited political representation by taking insights from the existing literature.

Ambedkar suggested that the process of reconstruction of a society should be seen beyond school classrooms, focusing on creating environments beyond formal education. He suggested that one can do this through various other dispositions, namely enhancing skills and the intelligence to challenge the attitudes that perpetuate caste oppression. Taking a cue from Ambedkar’s idea of education, this article attempts to explore the initiatives of Dr B. R. Ambedkar Educational Welfare Federation, a collective of a few educationists from the Dalit community which is working in Sangrur district of Punjab (India). The Federation conducted a multiple-choice competitive exam primarily for Dalit students from Grade 10 on 5 December 2021. It prepared a booklet consisting of life sketches of nine anti-caste reformers and distributed it among the candidates beforehand, from which one fourth of the exam questions were set. The rest were set from the syllabus of Term I. This article is an attempt to explore the reasons for and the motivation among the members to commence such a pedagogical initiative. It finds an urge in this collective to impart among poor Dalit students a sense of historical past and consciousness of one’s own values, envisioning to build a concrete understanding in them of the history of not only caste exploitation but also resistance built against it. This exercise may pave the way for it.

Dalit writings represent the struggles of the members of the community through a resistant poetic style of writing. However, the representation of Dalit women, through a male dominant lens, has either been distorted or obliterated from the prime picture of the struggle. They, on the contrary, through Dalit feminist narratives, engage in disruption of the pre-established image of themselves, presenting a narratable self, which stands ‘different’ from the pre-existing image. The study elucidates the politics of difference by formulating Dalit feminist écriture (French word meaning writing/script) analysing language, performance and style. Babytai Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke (2018), Bama’s Sangati (2005) and Viramma’s Viramma, Life of an Untouchable (1997) are critically analysed to negotiate Dalit feminist écriture as performance through Dalit female bodies, developing on the theoretical framework of Hélène Cixous’s écriture féminine and Gopal Guru’s ‘the politics of difference’. The study infers that Dalit feminist difference constitutes a history of becoming.