Search

The article discusses the strategy of Indian National Congress (INC) to secure victory for the party in Madhya Pradesh despite its vote share gap with the ruling, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Topics covered include reason for the gap in vote share, according to leader of the opposition in the state assembly Ajay Singh, INC strategy to focus on the BJP seats reserved for scheduled castes/scheduled tribes (SCs/STs) and the move of the party to present new party nominees.

The article discusses how unchecked endorsement of toxic masculinity, upper caste hegemony and Islamophobia is dangerous for women standing at the various intersections of gender, caste and religion. Topics include gangrape in Jammu and Kashmir, India, rape laws in India, and protest of a group of lawyers in support of the perpetrators.

The article presents the five future political leaders of India who talk about the kind of politics they will practice. Topics covered include the preference of Hardik Patel of caste politics, the aim of KanhaiyaKumar of equality and justice for all, and the hope of Shehla Rashid of the end to caste identity politics.

The article offers insight on the concept of otherness used by the social media for the Karni Sena amidst violence in India. Topics discussed include an overview of the political condition of the country, the benefit of the Karni Dena to the Bharatiya Janata Party/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the consolidation of issues like caste conflicts and agricultural crisis.

The article focuses on Kanshi Ram, uniter of the economically exploited and socially oppressed. Topics discussed include his role in assembling a unionised network, BAMCEF (All India Backward And Minority Communities Employees Federation), linking scheduled caste employees across the county and his use of use caste in his political career.

The article reports on the controversial comments by senior Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Manmohan Vaidya opposing caste-based reservations.

The article explains why the protest and rallies in Maratha, India is filled with despair and desperation. Issues and concerns discussed are the representation of the success of a limited number of Marathas, reservation received by Marathas in education and in government jobs, animosity over the 1989 Atrocities Act or towards high-caste leaders, and potential effects of the Maratha agitation on Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The article focuses on the conditions of Dalits or lower caste people in India and influence them for political benefits. It also mentions that the government gave constitutional protection to them in the form of reservation. It also offers information on the vote share of Dalits for elections in India. It also mentions outrage in the country over suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

The article discusses the condition of lower caste people or Dalits in India. It mentions the efforts of Indian politician B.R. Ambedkar for human rights of Dalits. It also mentions several incidences of violence against Dalits, humiliation faced by them and discrimination in education. It also offers information on the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan by the Indian government to improve the conditions of Dalits.

The article reports on accusation by few groups that secularism in India is being speedily demolished by the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. It is said that these critics of the government rarely ever mention how the Indian National Congress (INC) party engineered caste wars, carried attacks on Muslims since the 1960s, the Shah Bano case and the subsequent Ramjanmabhoomi episode, etc.

The article discusses assembly elections 2015 in Bihar, India, casteism in Bihar, and future of the political party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad. Topics discussed include majority of Yadav community in Bihar who support Prasad; views of several Biharis including a student Sankesh Yadav on the assembly elections who will support the political party Bharatiya Janata Party; and Yadav's alliance with other political parties like Indian National Congress.

The article offers information on several miscellaneous topics. Topics discussed include statistics related to socio economic and caste census 2011 of India for several states ruled by chief ministers including Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, and Raman Singh, Punnathoor Kotta elephant sanctuary of Guruvayoor temple in Kerala in India, and Shrikhand Mahadev trek in Kullu valleys in Himanchal Pradesh.

The author reflects on the Indian Supreme Court's March 17, 2015 verdict on Jat people quota that emphasizes evidence-based assessment of backwardness. Topic discussed include the 2014 central government categorization of Jats as "backward," the community ineligibility for the other backward class (OBC) reservation in the country, and role of the Indian National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) in verifying the legitimacy of specific claims for inclusion into the central list of OBCs.

The article presents a reprint of the article on the agenda of caste reconversions of Hindus propagated by the organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which appeared in January 19, 2015 issue of "India Today". Topics discussed include controversies over reconversion to dominate discussions in parliament, differnces of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from RSS on reconversion and RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan's efforts in reconverting Sikhs from Christianity in Punjab.

The article reports that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has selected Jayapur village in Varanasi, India under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Scheme, rural development and cleanliness programme in India. Topics discussed include Jayapur village having backward caste population without any Muslim families, Samajwadi Party politician Mulayam Singh Yadav adopting Tamauli village in Azamgarh, India under the same scheme, and Tamauliu village having majority of Yadav, a backward caste, inhabitants.

The article focuses on the statement from sociology professor Ravinder Kaur regarding the factors that contribute to increase violence against women in India. Topics discussed include the aspirations of members of lower caste in the country, increase of economic insecurity, and sex ratio. Also mentioned are honour killings, sexual repression in the cultural environment, and misogyny.

The article reports on the results of an opinion poll conducted by India Today Group-Cicero Varanasi which explains how the constituency in Varanasi will vote in the May 2014 election. Topics discussed include the complexity of the voting population in the city and the upper-caste consolidation expected from the candidacy of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The electoral challenge posted by Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and consideration for the caste system are also mentioned.

The article examines the issues affecting the 2014 Indian national elections. Topics discussed include allegations of corruption aimed at political candidates by both the electorate and election rivals, and increased focus on the personality of candidates and not on their political platform. The involvement of Bollywood during the campaign period and the influence of the caste system and communism on regional politics are also mentioned.

The article focuses on issues related to Indian politician Rahul Gandhi. It discusses several of Gandhi's political moves and decisions including his campaign of empowering the poor and criticism towards caste, his launch of 10 yatras from the Ambedkar Nagar district on April 14, 2010 and his speech against the Samajwadi Party's (SP) during an election rally in 2012.

The article reveals that Parliamentary Member P. L. Punia became the first person to get a second term as chairman of the Indian National Commission for Scheduled Castes, along with the selection of Harsh Vardhan as chief ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The article discusses the sex trade and tradition in the lower caste community of Bedia in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, India. The community allows young girls to engage in prostitution. Bedia sex workers earn 10 to 20 times higher than the wage approved by the government. These sex workers often support their families, which include unemployed brothers and their wives and children. Young girls in the community are given the option to either marry or become a sex worker.

The article reports that Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, in an attempt to woo 36 castes in Haryana, India, plans a series of sleepovers spending at least one night each in homes of every known caste and kinship group in the state.

The article deals with the murder of Vokkaliga girl Suvarna in Karnataka, India by her relatives for falling in love with a Dalit. Her lover's mother and two sisters-in-law reported to the jurisdictional Mandya district police that they witnessed the killing on November 6, 2011. Govindaraju's mother says villagers belonging to the Vokkaliga caste and several Dalits watched the incident but no one intervened. Vokkaligas at their village claim that suicide was the cause of Suvarna's death.

The author comments on the lack of ideology in Indian political parties. According to the author, parties struggle to establish their political identity and relevance, with some groups using the caste demographics to garner votes after promoting a casteless society in the past. It was pointed out that while the government spend much on poverty alleviation, there are no mechanisms established to ensure outcome.

The article presents information on the 15th Census in India. Its first phase has initiated house listing in most of the states and is expected to be completed in 45 days. An estimated 70 billion Indian rupees will be used for the Census and additional cost for enumerating caste has not been identified. Persons are legally-bound to respond to Census questions and violations will lead to penalties of up to 1,000 rupees.

The article examines the implications of a caste census on education in India. According to Yogendra Yadav, senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, the census is aimed at identifying the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) similar to the enumeration of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs). Educational institutions such as the Centre reserve a percentage of the students to certain castes.

The article examines the issues surrounding the caste system in India. Marriage in the country is restricted by kinship rules that differ based on caste, region and religion. According to Surinder S. Sodhka, cultural conventions have started to deteriorate due to dissociation of caste and occupation, distancing of communities from their birthplace and cultural autonomy.

The article examines the state of the caste system in India. Further acceleration of these systems is expected with the introduction of the caste-based Census 2011, supported by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Despite modernization efforts in the country started by Jawaharlal Nehru, several parts of the country are still governed by the caste system.

The article reports on the renewed call from Indian political parties to revive the caste system for the 2011 census in order to put away the idea of divisiveness among the Indian people.

The article focuses on the emergence of regional caste-based political parties in India since 1990s. Some of the factors that contribute to their rise are decline in legitimacy of caste hierarchy, changes in caste authority and patronage, caste substantialisation and caste transformation into a quasiethnic group. It adds that education, jobs and land reforms had reduced the dominance of higher castes and allow marginalised castes to enter politics and create political competition. The parties gain support due to their social justice and democracy agenda.

The article focuses on the political uprising of Dalits in Kerala, India who are now considered the new revolutionaries. Homeless Dalits entered the estate Harrison Malayalam Plantations Ltd. near Chengara in Pathanamthitta on August 4, 2007 and threatened to commit mass suicide if they are forcibly evicted. It is said that the uprising of the Dalits depicts their separation from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and other communist parties. Dalit social reformer Ayyankali was said to have inspired the Kerala Dalits to seek land reforms.

The article features love birds from India who ignored issues of caste, culture and religion to be together. These couples embraced diversity and found everlasting love, according to the author. The couples include Tazeen and Jazmeet Walia of Mumbai, Daman and Aditya Goyal and Deepa and Vijay Sahu of Chandigarh.

The article focuses on Anita Kushwaha, a village girl in India who battled for the right to an education. Belonging to the lower section of the caste pyramid, Kushwaha overcomes caste barriers and becomes textbook example for many through her successful business. She manages a honey-trading business with annual turnover of 2.5 lakh Indian rupiahs.

The article ponders on the things that transpired in India from the time the journal "India Today" was launched on December 15, 1975 to the time it celebrates its anniversary on December 15, 2008. The impact of the Indian Emergency on "India Today" is described. The domination of the Gandhis, a family of politicians, in the country is mentioned and the expansion of the Indian media is also reported.