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The Double Stage: Caste’s Schizophrenic Modernity between Spectacle and Shadow
Caste from the pre-modern, colonial to the post-Republican; this analysis draws from, among others, works by Nicholas Dirks (2001), Anand Teltumbde (2014) and Gopal Guru (2016) to map this transition showing that contemporary caste should be best understood as a sort of social schizophrenia driven by imaginative acts whereby power perpetuates itself through a convoluted hermetic legitimising act in India.
The interplay of caste and faith
While faith often overshadows special marriages, experts talk about how caste and religion both influence this social institution
Hyderabad: Interfaith couple attacked, man stabbed to death!
The couple had gotten married, against the woman's family's wishes, on January 22 this year
UP’s Dy CM’s “Brahmin a superior way of living life” a sign of poll panic?
Dinesh Sharma says proud to be Brahmin, at the same time ‘slams’ opposition for being ‘casteist’
Segregated burial grounds, a violation of the Constitution: Madras High Court
The court observed that allowing a separate burial ground based on caste promotes segregation, that is the opposite of the idea of Equality envisaged by the Constitution
Conversion will not change caste of a person: Madras HC
Judgment addresses matter of issuance of certificates in case of inter-caste marriage, and makes observations about impact on caste-based reservations
Gujarat: Dalit family attacked for entering Kutch temple
Six members of the family were attacked, their farmlands ravaged; 20 accused, five detained so far
Punjab: Newly-weds, hacked to death, allegedly by woman’s family
Both families are from the OBC community, but were from different economic backgrounds; 16 including woman’s kin booked
Karnataka: Dalit family fined Rs 25,000 for ‘purification ritual’ after toddler runs into temple
Days later, police register case under the SC/ST prevention of atrocities Act, arrest five
Assam Tea Tribes served another set of vague promises
Despite five-hour long meeting, no commitment on granting tea tribes ST status or increasing daily wages in line with demands of tea estate workers
Chorus grows for Caste-based Census
In the rup-up to the long overdue Census 2021, many leaders among the ruling government itself are making such demands now. Will the government give in?
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ALL STORIES
ALL STORIES
Communalism
Censorship and the Drumbeats of Hate: Mapping the state of free speech ahead of the 2026 polls
A new report by Free Speech Collective traces five years of censorship, criminalisation of dissent, and the rise of hate-driven political discourse across Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry—raising urgent questions about the conditions for free and fair elections
Politics
AERO dies by suicide in Kolkata, family alleges extreme election duty pressure and humiliation
A 48-year-old Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) died by suicide in South Kolkata’s Bansdroni area after consuming pesticide, the tragic death of Malabika Roy Bhattacharyya has sparked serious concerns regarding the immense pressure placed on government officials tasked with SIR/Election duties, with her family explicitly blaming the ECI for the extreme workload
Communal Organisations
UP’s syncretic warrior cults facing Hindutva challenge
Be it the attack on the Gogamedi shrine in the Hanumangarh district of northern Rajasthan or the Neja Mela in the Sambhal district of western Uttar Pradesh, Hindutva’s systemic attack on India’s syncretic traditions, past and present, reveals its rigid and Brahmanical ideological orientation: imposition of a strictly hierarchical, exclusionary and structured notion of faith and practice
Minorities
No Hearing, No Notice, Just Deletion: How Bengal’s SIR Erased a Decorated IAF Officer
The removal of Wing Commander Md Shamim Akhtar, who served the nation for 17 years, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) highlights a systemic lack of due process that threatens the voting rights of even the most distinguished citizens
Dalit Bahujan Adivasi
An Adivasi woman once in bonded labour now serves her village as a Sarpanch
As India marks 50 years of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, cases of bonded labour still surface in states like Telangana where many workers in sectors such as agriculture, brick kilns, fishing and construction remain trapped in debt and coercion; here the author reflects on a transformative journey of an Adivasi woman who serves as a Sarpanch.
Rights
Abdul Sheikh Citizenship Case: Deportation stayed as Gauhati High Court Hears challenge to ex parte foreigner declaration, state to raise maintainability issue
Court allows preliminary objection while continuing stay on deportation; petitioner explains delay to challenge FT order through prolonged detention, lack of access to the detenue, financial constraints, and absence of legal aid
History
Bhagat Singh sent to gallows once again!
Repeated attempts by present day academics to whittle down the tradition followed and forged by young revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh are bound to fail; as history endures with the traditions laid by these very men