Books by Dr Karthik Navayan Battula
http://www.dalitweb.org/?p=4049, 2020
How can you call even that patriarchy…? | Savari www.dalitweb.org/?p=4049 1/3 Joopaka Subadra Thi... more How can you call even that patriarchy…? | Savari www.dalitweb.org/?p=4049 1/3 Joopaka Subadra This is the second excerpt from her recent online talk organised by Bharata Nastika Samajam and Scientific Students Federation. Read the earlier one here. The Savarna women say they clean their kids' shit, in their homes. Then what about these women who clean the shit of all public, outside homes? Why don't they talk about these women? If as you say all women are equal, you've to talk about all women, from the top to the bottom, to pataal, right? You've to climb down all the rungs of the caste system, talk about the problems of women at each rung-what are the problems of the Brahmin women at the Brahmin step, what are the problems of the Shudra women at the Shudra step, what are the problems of the Dalit women at the Dalit step, what are the problems of the Adivasi women at the Adivasi step? Why don't they talk about all these women? Why are they erasing all these problems? Their histories, their experiences, their languages, their voices-why don't you allow them to come out? Even if they do come out, (you decide) what they should talk.. they should talk only to the extent of patriarchy. They should talk only within the frame you directed, organized, built. We should only talk about patriarchy, as determined by your framework. But in our castes, patriarchy is limited to the home. They call power over structures, institutions as patriarchy, they call even power limited to the home as patriarchy. How unjust! No one pays attention to this. They talk of histories as men's histories. Which men's histories? Literature as men's literature. Which men's literature? They don't talk about that. They are Brahmin men's literature, histories. Kshatriya men's histories, dominant caste men's histories. What about the men and women of our castes? No, there would be nothing about them there. The knowledge gained from your experiences, your ways of looking at histories, your methodologies, and your literary norms, your political ideologies-all of it is within your purview of understanding, thinking. You've not gone beyond that, to the bottom of society. Our so-called patriarchies, if you take a village as a unit: our patriarchy provides chappals for everyone in the village. It washes the clothes for everyone-men, women, children-in the village. It shaves everyone's hair in the village. It washes their sores and pus-filled wounds. All this is patriarchy? All the tools and implements of agriculture-our patriarchies produce all of them. Tell us what your patriarchies do. Your patriarchies have taken control over society, societal institutions, men and women, including their own women, and institutionalized their power. Your patriarchy says if I die she has no right to live either. She should be burnt with me.
http://www.dalitweb.org/?p=4041, 2020
Joopaka Subadra
This is an excerpt from her recent online talk organised by Bharata Nastika Sama... more Joopaka Subadra
This is an excerpt from her recent online talk organised by Bharata Nastika Samajam and Scientific Students Federation.
The topic I’m going to talk about today is ‘Patriarchy, feminism and Bahujan women’. Feminism, according to feminists themselves, is for equality, about equality between women and men. They say, all women are the same, that there are no differences between us, there are no walls between us. That all of us face patriarchy. That patriarchy is the same for all. Bahujan women, MBC women, Adivasi women, Dalit women disagree with this. Because their problems are not the same. Patriarchy is not the same in these castes and tribes. It is of different kinds. Their patriarchies are different from ours. They exist outside labour, we live inside labour.
Savari, 2020
~ Another way to frame it is – can women become equal to men when men themselves are unequal? Mor... more ~ Another way to frame it is – can women become equal to men when men themselves are unequal? More specifically, will the Brahmin woman become equal to the Brahmin man or Khatri man or the Dalit man? If the goal of the women in feminism is to become equal to men, what is she going to become equal to? Will the white woman become equal to the black man and vice-versa? Is the Dalit woman going to become equal to the Dalit man or to the Khatri man or to the Brahmin man? In a closer situation, for me as an immigrant worker in the USA, I can ask this question as – if I am a feminist and I believe in feminism and my fight and battle and my goal are simply to become equal to the man, I am in a society where there are white men, brown men, and Asian men. So as an immigrant worker I am going to become equal to which group of these men and how do I become that? ~
thanks, Anu Ramdas; pushpendra johar
In Aakar Patel's article, the six things he learned about NGOs reflect the settled ideas and unde... more In Aakar Patel's article, the six things he learned about NGOs reflect the settled ideas and understandings, the readymade sensibilities of people with caste-class privileges.
https://t.co/i37UJL3BOt
On Wednesday (14 June), more than 80 Adivasis from different villages across the district filed m... more On Wednesday (14 June), more than 80 Adivasis from different villages across the district filed mass criminal complaints at the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Special Police Station in Raigarh. They alleged that they had been forced into selling their land.
In their complaints, they have named two companies namely:
– TRN Energy
– Mahavir Energy Coal Beneficiation Limited (MECBL)
In their complaints, they have used the newly added provisions in the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act which criminalises the wrongful dispossession or interference with the lands belonging to the SCs and STs.
Police must conduct investigation into allegations by over 80 Adivasi villagers that they were un... more Police must conduct investigation into allegations by over 80 Adivasi villagers that they were unlawfully dispossessed of their lands by people acting as agents of two private companies," said Karthik Navayan, programme manager (business and human rights), Amnesty International India.
On June 14, 81 villagers approached the Raigarh's special police station for scheduled castes and... more On June 14, 81 villagers approached the Raigarh's special police station for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes welfare and demanded the filing of First Information Report (FIR) against the agents of TRN Energy and Mahavir Energy Coal Beneficiation for allegedly taking away their land. Both the companies could not be contacted for their version.
The construction of an ash pond for a thermal power plant in Nawapara Tenda village, Raigarh, Chh... more The construction of an ash pond for a thermal power plant in Nawapara Tenda village, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh without informing or consulting local Adivasi villagers violates their right to free, prior and informed consent, said Amnesty International India today.
Local authorities in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, should respect and protect the right of Adivasi villa... more Local authorities in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, should respect and protect the right of Adivasi villagers opposing the activities of private companies to conduct peaceful protests on 15 and 16 January.
Residents of six villages in Gharghoda block, Raigarh are planning a protest against the unlawful construction of an ash pond by TRN Energy Limited in Nawapara Tenda village and the establishment of a coal washery by Mahavir Coal Washery Private Limited in Benghari village. The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board has scheduled a public hearing on 16 January as part of the environmental clearance process for the coal washery.
Karthik Navayan In India there is no escape from the Brahmanical caste structure, it is a story t... more Karthik Navayan In India there is no escape from the Brahmanical caste structure, it is a story that needs no retelling. It has been the case since ages, and, quite distressingly, it will be so for at least few generations to come. My 18-month tenure in ActionAid Hyderabad Regional Office and my subsequent year-long fight with ActionAid India and ActionAid International not only affirmed my conviction, but it enlightened me about another phenomena, too; that an international aid agency's "International Office", which committed themselves to the poor and unprivileged, can also become as casteist and discriminatory as Indian casteists. To put it more bluntly, individuals from India's dominant castes and the ones who believe in Brahmanical ideology rule those agencies. Please read my earlier article, for more background: Caste Discrimination in Modern Workspaces:
Karthik Navayan This paper attempts to highlight the covert caste practices and discriminatory be... more Karthik Navayan This paper attempts to highlight the covert caste practices and discriminatory behaviour of the dominant caste personnel in the top hierarchy of ActionAid bureaucracy in its Indian chapter, wherein the dominant caste members from both Northern and Southern India, with a deep sense of so-called ascriptive superiority endowed by the Hindu scriptures and propagated soical practices and cultural beliefs, join hands to keep their hegemony intact, while showing 'a dalit employee' his proper place in the social hierarchy. Moreover, this study aims to underline a pattern, the 'modus operandi' of the 'new forms of discrimination' within the confines of ActionAid that involves the systematic usage of bureaucratic and administrative rules, regulations and procedures to give it an air of fairness and credibility.
Without any prejudice, I feel that there was a problem with that title, "The Doctor and The Saint... more Without any prejudice, I feel that there was a problem with that title, "The Doctor and The Saint". Ambedkar is addressed as Doctor by Arundhati Roy simply because he is a PhD Doctorate, and certified to be a Doctor of Philosophy. So the word Philosopher is a more suitable term to address Dr Ambedkar in Telugu; but why was Gandhi addressed as a prophet, does he have any certificate to be called a prophet (in Andhra Jyothi translation)? No. The moral here is, anything that upgrades a dominant caste person will be justified, normalized and accepted. However, upgrading the position of a marginalized caste individual is unacceptable. Andhra Jyothi proved that.
On the sixth of March, 2014, Andhra Jyothi, the Telugu daily, published an excerpt from Arundhati Roy's introduction, "The Doctor and The Saint" which was translated as "Oka Vaidyudu Oka Pravaktha", which actually means "The Medical Doctor and the Prophet".
Karthik Navayan Gramsci uses the analogy of civil society as a system of trenches and redoubts su... more Karthik Navayan Gramsci uses the analogy of civil society as a system of trenches and redoubts surrounding the state 1. All political attempts by the underprivileged classes-castes in Indian context-to overcome the barriers are drowned by the development sector that claims for itself the status of the civil society. Does the civil society, popularly understood as NGO sector, act as the entry point of marginalized sections into better social positions? We need to think about this aspect seriously because those who were fed up by government and corporate sector are increasingly turning towards the development sector because it looks fancy, politically correct, without realising that in fact it can be equally hegemonic. The hegemony of the civil society is nowhere more visible than in its reinforcing the existing social norms of hierarchy in their day-today activities. It is starkly visible in their staffing practices, which prefer people of privileged backgrounds especially in important positions. This paper critically views the aid agencies' mainstream
Dr. Ambedkar had said, the villages in our country are full of illiteracy, foolishness, and facti... more Dr. Ambedkar had said, the villages in our country are full of illiteracy, foolishness, and factions. The atmosphere in village society hasn't been conducive for change right from Ambedkar's time. Some people in the villages are exploiting the beliefs of the common people in the notions of devils, mantras etc. The notion of god itself is the root of all superstition. So first of all, we have to strike at this root and only then will we be able to remove all such superstitions.
The ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has for three years now watered ... more The ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has for three years now watered down the requirement for various industrial projects to conduct public hearings with affected communities. And they don’t seem to be done yet.
Recently, the ministry announced a six-month period for industrial projects that have been operating in violation of environmental laws to effectively obtain post-facto clearances. What this means is that projects that have deliberately flouted the law, potentially causing environmental damage, can now pay a penalty and regularise their operations.
On 9 May, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) directed action to be taken under t... more On 9 May, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) directed action to be taken under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act – a special law to protect the rights of Dalit and Adivasi people – in cases where Adivasi land was transferred to other people through forgery. The order follows recent allegations that over 300 acres (121 hectares) of Adivasi land had been unlawfully transferred to non-Adivasis in Kunkuni village, Raigarh between 2009 and 2015. A farmer named Jailal Rathiya who had filed a petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court in relation to the transfer was found dead in March 2017.
"The dispossession of Adivasi land without their free, prior and informed consent is widespread in Chhattisgarh. The NCST's recognition that this amounts to a crime against Adivasi communities is a welcome development," said Karthik Navayan, Programmes Manager, Business and Human rights at Amnesty International India.
The Committee has brought together nearly 100 people's organizations and NGOs under its fold. The... more The Committee has brought together nearly 100 people's organizations and NGOs under its fold. The core committee constituted a drafting committee to draft the bill to provide statutory status to SCP and TSP. The drafting committee consisted of Sri K. Madhava Rao, Sri B.Danam, Sri V.Nanda Gopal, Mr. R.Ravi Kumar. The Drafting committee met several times to articulate the bill. The salient features of the Bill are:
The population equivalent share of the total plan in each year should be set apart before allotting funds to various departments and shall be voted along with the general budget of the state.
The funds thus set apart for SCP and TSP shall be kept at the disposal of a statutory authority meant for SCs and STs separately. The authority is all powerful to design and finalise the programs and schemes to be undertaken with the SCP and TSP funds. The authority is also empowered to monitor the best utilization of schemes and programs.
The funds under SC ST Special Component are non-lapsable and non-divertible.
Penal provisions: Any functionary of the Government who is responsible to prepare the Special Component plan for SCs & STs, as a part of the preparation of the Annual Budget of the State willfully fails to do so;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to approve and place annual Budget before the Legislative Assembly fails to earmark for the exclusive benefit of SCs and STs funds in proportion to the their population to the total population of the State;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to prepare and implement schemes under SCSP and STP fails to do so;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to release funds fails to do so in time;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible for diversion of SCSP and STP funds to other schemes; shall be deemed to have committed an offence under Section 4 of the SC/ST (PoA) Act.
The present paper is an attempt to understand the working of international aid agencies with the ... more The present paper is an attempt to understand the working of international aid agencies with the marginalized groups of India. I argue that the functioning of these agencies is not innocent and the same can be revealed by critical understanding of the internal dynamics of their operation, particularly in the broader field of empowerment of marginalized communities that they are engaged with. Despite the fact that the International aid agencies have their imprints in India for decades, there is no visible or substantial change in lives of the communities they seek to change. Those, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, other marginalized communities continue to be at the lower strata of the society devoid of socio-political, economic and welfare measures of the so-called egalitarian state. One reason that led to the failure of these agencies is their un(conscious) inability to understand the socio, political and cultural dynamics of Indian caste system. Without proper understanding of the caste system, one cannot comprehend the resultant systematic exclusion, which in fact led to the perennial poverty of these communities. Furthermore, the paper seeks to understand the institutional setup of these aid agencies in India and argues thereby that any developmental, reformist and empowerment agenda adopted by such agencies is inherently 'exclusive' and therefore bound to fail in the promises that they make. This paper critically views the aid agencies' mainstream perception of caste discourse, their lack of will to include the members of the marginalized communities into their policymaking bodies. Moreover, I argue that any developmental intervention without the active participation of marginalized communities will be a charade in the name of charity. The paper divided into 6 sections. In the first section, I look at the role of caste in modern context, synthesizing the views of scholars such as K Sathyanarayana, Susie Tharu, G Aloysius, Gopal Guru, Sundar Sarukai, N. Sukumar and AS Ajith Kumar and argue that caste is reconfigured and more rampant in modern times. In the second section, I argue that, with the formation of Brahmanical caste based organizations across the countries, caste has become a world problem; third section is about understanding of caste in international aid agencies. In the fourth section, I draw your attention on the caste diversity and staffing practices of international aid agencies in India, which disproportionately occupied and operated by privileged sections with Brahmanic cultural capital. In the fifth section, I argue for the need of challenging the caste in conscious level to symbolic boundaries. The sixth chapter is the conclusion and seventh one is the annexure, list out the Brahmanical caste based organizations formed in the countries across the world, eighth one is the table that indicates the No diversity and No accountability in the aid agencies in India
(This is a slightly revised version of an article written in 2006) The publicity that was given t... more (This is a slightly revised version of an article written in 2006) The publicity that was given to the incidents of burning of five railway bogies and vandalizing of a hundred bus windows was not extended to the massacre of four members of a single family. The upper caste media widely, and intentionally, publicized that an angered Dalit community had gone on a rampage as a result of the desecration of Ambedkar's statue in Kanpur. But, the gruesome incident in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district, Maharashtra, in which the family of Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, comprising his wife Surekha, daughter Priyanka and sons Roshan and Suresh were subjected to inhuman violence, remained unknown to the world outside the village for two whole months after it happened, thanks to a very 'vigilant' media. The family was paraded naked in front of all villagers who ordered Roshan and Suresh to rape their mother and sister publicly, and when they refused, mutilated their private parts. Later, they gang raped Surekha and her daughter Priyanka openly, inserted sticks in their vaginas, killed all the four members of the family and threw them on the outskirts of the village. The fact that this horrific incident was picked up by the upper caste media only two months later provides ample evidence of their hardcore, discriminatory attitude.
Caste is interpreted in different schools of thought in different ways; except Ambedkar and some ... more Caste is interpreted in different schools of thought in different ways; except Ambedkar and some other Dalit writings, many scholars have looked at caste from a traditional approach. But the recently published book 'No Alphabet in sight' is filling that gap in academic writings on caste.
The book 'No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing fom South India' is a compilation of Dalit writings from Tamil Nadu and Kerala; initially they were all published in their own regional languages in little magazines and newspapers. They were all gathered, translated and published as a dossier – I, by Penguin in 2011. K Satyanarayana and Susie Tharu edited and introduced 'No Alphabet in Sight'.
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Books by Dr Karthik Navayan Battula
This is an excerpt from her recent online talk organised by Bharata Nastika Samajam and Scientific Students Federation.
The topic I’m going to talk about today is ‘Patriarchy, feminism and Bahujan women’. Feminism, according to feminists themselves, is for equality, about equality between women and men. They say, all women are the same, that there are no differences between us, there are no walls between us. That all of us face patriarchy. That patriarchy is the same for all. Bahujan women, MBC women, Adivasi women, Dalit women disagree with this. Because their problems are not the same. Patriarchy is not the same in these castes and tribes. It is of different kinds. Their patriarchies are different from ours. They exist outside labour, we live inside labour.
thanks, Anu Ramdas; pushpendra johar
https://t.co/i37UJL3BOt
In their complaints, they have named two companies namely:
– TRN Energy
– Mahavir Energy Coal Beneficiation Limited (MECBL)
In their complaints, they have used the newly added provisions in the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act which criminalises the wrongful dispossession or interference with the lands belonging to the SCs and STs.
Residents of six villages in Gharghoda block, Raigarh are planning a protest against the unlawful construction of an ash pond by TRN Energy Limited in Nawapara Tenda village and the establishment of a coal washery by Mahavir Coal Washery Private Limited in Benghari village. The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board has scheduled a public hearing on 16 January as part of the environmental clearance process for the coal washery.
On the sixth of March, 2014, Andhra Jyothi, the Telugu daily, published an excerpt from Arundhati Roy's introduction, "The Doctor and The Saint" which was translated as "Oka Vaidyudu Oka Pravaktha", which actually means "The Medical Doctor and the Prophet".
Recently, the ministry announced a six-month period for industrial projects that have been operating in violation of environmental laws to effectively obtain post-facto clearances. What this means is that projects that have deliberately flouted the law, potentially causing environmental damage, can now pay a penalty and regularise their operations.
"The dispossession of Adivasi land without their free, prior and informed consent is widespread in Chhattisgarh. The NCST's recognition that this amounts to a crime against Adivasi communities is a welcome development," said Karthik Navayan, Programmes Manager, Business and Human rights at Amnesty International India.
The population equivalent share of the total plan in each year should be set apart before allotting funds to various departments and shall be voted along with the general budget of the state.
The funds thus set apart for SCP and TSP shall be kept at the disposal of a statutory authority meant for SCs and STs separately. The authority is all powerful to design and finalise the programs and schemes to be undertaken with the SCP and TSP funds. The authority is also empowered to monitor the best utilization of schemes and programs.
The funds under SC ST Special Component are non-lapsable and non-divertible.
Penal provisions: Any functionary of the Government who is responsible to prepare the Special Component plan for SCs & STs, as a part of the preparation of the Annual Budget of the State willfully fails to do so;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to approve and place annual Budget before the Legislative Assembly fails to earmark for the exclusive benefit of SCs and STs funds in proportion to the their population to the total population of the State;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to prepare and implement schemes under SCSP and STP fails to do so;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to release funds fails to do so in time;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible for diversion of SCSP and STP funds to other schemes; shall be deemed to have committed an offence under Section 4 of the SC/ST (PoA) Act.
The book 'No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing fom South India' is a compilation of Dalit writings from Tamil Nadu and Kerala; initially they were all published in their own regional languages in little magazines and newspapers. They were all gathered, translated and published as a dossier – I, by Penguin in 2011. K Satyanarayana and Susie Tharu edited and introduced 'No Alphabet in Sight'.
This is an excerpt from her recent online talk organised by Bharata Nastika Samajam and Scientific Students Federation.
The topic I’m going to talk about today is ‘Patriarchy, feminism and Bahujan women’. Feminism, according to feminists themselves, is for equality, about equality between women and men. They say, all women are the same, that there are no differences between us, there are no walls between us. That all of us face patriarchy. That patriarchy is the same for all. Bahujan women, MBC women, Adivasi women, Dalit women disagree with this. Because their problems are not the same. Patriarchy is not the same in these castes and tribes. It is of different kinds. Their patriarchies are different from ours. They exist outside labour, we live inside labour.
thanks, Anu Ramdas; pushpendra johar
https://t.co/i37UJL3BOt
In their complaints, they have named two companies namely:
– TRN Energy
– Mahavir Energy Coal Beneficiation Limited (MECBL)
In their complaints, they have used the newly added provisions in the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act which criminalises the wrongful dispossession or interference with the lands belonging to the SCs and STs.
Residents of six villages in Gharghoda block, Raigarh are planning a protest against the unlawful construction of an ash pond by TRN Energy Limited in Nawapara Tenda village and the establishment of a coal washery by Mahavir Coal Washery Private Limited in Benghari village. The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board has scheduled a public hearing on 16 January as part of the environmental clearance process for the coal washery.
On the sixth of March, 2014, Andhra Jyothi, the Telugu daily, published an excerpt from Arundhati Roy's introduction, "The Doctor and The Saint" which was translated as "Oka Vaidyudu Oka Pravaktha", which actually means "The Medical Doctor and the Prophet".
Recently, the ministry announced a six-month period for industrial projects that have been operating in violation of environmental laws to effectively obtain post-facto clearances. What this means is that projects that have deliberately flouted the law, potentially causing environmental damage, can now pay a penalty and regularise their operations.
"The dispossession of Adivasi land without their free, prior and informed consent is widespread in Chhattisgarh. The NCST's recognition that this amounts to a crime against Adivasi communities is a welcome development," said Karthik Navayan, Programmes Manager, Business and Human rights at Amnesty International India.
The population equivalent share of the total plan in each year should be set apart before allotting funds to various departments and shall be voted along with the general budget of the state.
The funds thus set apart for SCP and TSP shall be kept at the disposal of a statutory authority meant for SCs and STs separately. The authority is all powerful to design and finalise the programs and schemes to be undertaken with the SCP and TSP funds. The authority is also empowered to monitor the best utilization of schemes and programs.
The funds under SC ST Special Component are non-lapsable and non-divertible.
Penal provisions: Any functionary of the Government who is responsible to prepare the Special Component plan for SCs & STs, as a part of the preparation of the Annual Budget of the State willfully fails to do so;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to approve and place annual Budget before the Legislative Assembly fails to earmark for the exclusive benefit of SCs and STs funds in proportion to the their population to the total population of the State;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to prepare and implement schemes under SCSP and STP fails to do so;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible to release funds fails to do so in time;
And any functionary of the Government who is responsible for diversion of SCSP and STP funds to other schemes; shall be deemed to have committed an offence under Section 4 of the SC/ST (PoA) Act.
The book 'No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing fom South India' is a compilation of Dalit writings from Tamil Nadu and Kerala; initially they were all published in their own regional languages in little magazines and newspapers. They were all gathered, translated and published as a dossier – I, by Penguin in 2011. K Satyanarayana and Susie Tharu edited and introduced 'No Alphabet in Sight'.
Place: Hyderabad
To,
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court of India
Tilak Marg, New Delhi-110001
Email [email protected] , Copy to – [email protected]
Subject: Letter Petition (Public Interest Litigation) Seeking direction to the Union of India, Sates and Unions Territories to stop using the word “Social Distance” and start using “Physical Distancing” or “Individual Distancing” or “Disease Distancing” “Safe Distancing” or any other appropriate word in view of Covid19 because the stigma associated with the word “Social Distancing”
It may be pleased your lordship
I am Dr B. Karthik Navayan, a practicing Advocate in Hyderabad. I would like to submit this letter petition for your kind intervention on the subject cited above.
I pray this Hon’ble court may be pleased take this letter petition as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL)
This letter Petition is filed seeking a direction from Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and issue notice to the Union of India, all State Governments and Governments of Union Territories and direct them to stop using the word “Social Distancing” and start using “Physical Distancing” or “Individual Distancing” or “Safe Distancing” or “Disease Distancing” or any other appropriate word that was used to prevent the similar pandemics that happened earlier in the world, for the better interest of our country, society and to upheld the spirit of the constitution of India.
Further I pray this Hon’ble court may be pleased to direct the Central Government, State governments, and Governments of Union Territories to issue guideline to the print and electronic media on the stopping the usage of the word “Social Distancing” and to start using the other appropriate words as required in their local/ regional languages.
Thank you sir
Sincerely,
Dr. B. Karthik Navayan
Advocate, Hyderabad
Note: The copy of the letter petition is attached with this email
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/caste-list-bharat-ratna-715348.htmlA list of Bharat Ratna recipients which reveals that persons from upper caste communities have received the award the most number of times is gathering attention as it is going viral on Twitter. The list was tweeted by Dr. B Karthik Navayan, a lawye...
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/caste-list-bharat-ratna-715348.html
Keywords: Caste, India, Aid Agencies, Modernity, Globalisation, Discrimination, Diversity
marginalized groups of India. I argue that the functioning of these agencies is not innocent and the same
can be revealed by critical understanding of the internal dynamics of their operation, particularly in the
broader field of empowerment of marginal communities that they are engaged with. Despite the fact that the
International aid agencies have their imprints in India for decades, there is no visible or substantial change in
lives of the communities they seek to change. Those, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes, other marginalized communities continue to be at the lower strata of the society devoid of sociopolitical,
economic and welfare measures of the so-called egalitarian state. One reason that led to the failure
of these agencies is their un (conscious) inability to understand the socio, political and cultural dynamics of
Indian caste system. Without proper understanding of the caste system, one cannot comprehend the
resultant systematic exclusion, which in fact led to the perennial poverty of these communities. Furthermore,
the paper seeks to understand the institutional setup of these aid agencies in India and argues thereby that
any developmental, reformist and empowerment agenda adopted by such agencies is inherently „exclusive‟
and therefore bound to fail in the promises that they make. This paper critically views the aid agencies‟
mainstream perception of caste discourse, their lack of will to include the members of the marginalized
communities into their policymaking bodies. Moreover, I argue that any developmental intervention without
the active participation of marginalized communities will be a charade in the name of charity. The paper
divided into 6 sections. In the first section, I look at the role of caste in modern context, synthesizing the
views of scholars such as K Sathyanarayana, Susie Tharu, G Aloysius, Gopal Guru, Sundar Sarukai, N.
Sukumar and AS Ajith Kumar and argue that caste is reconfigured and more rampant in modern times. In the
second section, I argue that, with the formation of Brahmanical caste based organizations across the
countries, caste has become a world problem; third section is about understanding of caste in international
aid agencies. In the fourth section, I draw your attention on the caste diversity and staffing practices of
international aid agencies in India, which disproportionately occupied and operated by privileged sections
with Brahmanic cultural capital. In the fifth section, I argue for the need of challenging the caste in conscious
level to symbolic boundaries. The sixth chapter is the conclusion and seventh one is the annexure, list out
the Brahmanical caste based organizations formed in the countries across the world, eighth one is the table
that indicates the diversity and accountability in the aid agencies in India
Keywords: Caste, India, Aid Agencies, Modernity, Globalisation, Discrimination, Diversity
their lives. Those communities, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, continue to be the lower strata of the society. One reason that led to this failure was these
agencies’ inability to understand the socio, political and cultural dynamics of Indian caste system. Without proper understanding of the caste system, one cannot comprehend the resultant systematic exclusion, which in fact led to the perennial poverty of those communities. Aid agencies’ institutional setup itself is caste-blind because they peopled with dominant caste individuals. This paper critically views the aid agencies’ mainstream perception of caste discourse, their lack of will to include the members of the marginalised communities into policymaking bodies. Moreover, I argue that any developmental intervention without the active participation of those communities will be a charade in the name of charity.
We also thank you everyone those who supported and singed online petition calling upon Ratan Tata and Tata trust to remove the objectionable misinformed video on manual scavenging.
The video appears to be removed from twitter and Instagram. https://t.co/McXDmWY13S