Features

Marital Crimes may have Something to do with the Caste Economy

Anitya Sanket Intimate partner violence (IPV) gained widespread attention during the COVID-19 lockdowns and has continued to feature prominently in public discourse. Mass layoffs, precarious and uncertain working conditions, and poor social security policies were shown to strongly correlate with increased instances of IPV during the pandemic and its aftermath. While the COVID-19 crisis should …

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Caste Consciousness and General-Category Youth in University Spaces

Buddhapal Dumane Caste is deeply ingrained in the social fabric of South Asian societies, has been a subject of scholarly inquiry, social activism, and policy debate for centuries. Rooted in historical inequalities and hierarchical structures, caste dynamics continue to shape individuals’ lives, communities, and opportunities in profound ways, despite efforts to address caste-based discrimination. Systemic …

Assertion

Contempt: The Quiet Engine of Caste’s Epistemic Machinery

Subham Malpani Growing up speaking Dakhni in Hyderabad, I often felt that the language did not reinforce the same moral hierarchies as the orthodox Telugu society. Dakhni carried playfulness, respect, and was deeply human in everyday exchanges. This is not to be confused with the sanitized Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. I rarely remember seeing people getting offended …

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India’s Silent Walls: Education, Caste, and the Cost of Inequality

Ashutosh Arke India’s silent walls stand not as mere metaphors but as fortified ramparts of the Brahmanical order—walls built on centuries of caste tyranny, gender subjugation, and class exploitation. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar taught us that “education is the only tool by which you can dismantle the prison-house of caste.” Yet in today’s India, our schools …

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Mahishya Caste Negotiations – A Personal Reflection

Debasmita Das “Your father’s family is Mahishya, which means those born of a Kshatriya father and a Vaishya mother.” My mother lowered her voice and continued, “But rumor is they are Shudras. They are agrarian essentially, that’s why many in the family aren’t that well-off.” This was an answer many years in the making – …

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 Love, Loss, and the Hidden Hierarchies Between Ganda and Ghasi Scheduled Caste Families in Odisha

Charan Mahananda Based on the author’s experience, this article describes what happens when caste discrimination occurs within Scheduled Caste families in the  Ganda and Ghasi communities. There are social ranks, and as a consequence, some people are shut out, and their burial is postponed; special purity ceremonies are held, and the community sometimes punishes intercaste …

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Debrahmanising the ‘progressive’ solidarities: Reflections from Mahabodhi movement

Jatin Mathur Since February 2025, Buddhist monks have been protesting, seeking to reclaim control of Mahabodhi. In 1892, an archaeological survey by Alexander Cunningham confirmed that Mahabodhi was originally a Buddhist site. Hence, this has led to a persistent demand through the Mahabodhi Liberation Movement that control of the site be handed over to Buddhists. …

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The experience of the aid workers in the era of populism

Balaka Chattaraj India has been the home for refugees from diverse communities from different parts of the world. In 2017, many Rohingya people fled the brutal oppression inflicted upon them by the extremist authority in Myanmar. Around 70,000 of them settled in Bangladesh, according to a UNHCR report, and an estimated 40,000 of the same …