‘No matter how powerful…’: Rahul cracks whip on Punjab Cong rifts
Barnala: Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday warned senior leaders of the faction-ridden Punjab Congress that even the most powerful among them would be sidelined if they failed to unite and work as a team. Gandhi, who was at the Barnala grain market as part of the Congress’s MGNREGA Bachao Sangram, also urged senior leaders to respect party workers, describing them as the real strength of the organisation. “Whatever is achieved can only be done through teamwork. No single person can ensure victory. We have a complete team, become a team player or you will be put among the reserve players and be benched. No matter how senior a leader is, he cannot be bigger than the party. If you do not mend your ways, Kharge ji and I will set you right. Our workers are our real strength, and decisions should be taken with their consent and by keeping them in the loop,” Gandhi said to loud applause from party workers at the fag end of his address. The Lok Sabha leader of opposition’s remarks come amid rising complaints of factionalism in the Congress. Even expelled Congress functionary Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, had taken a dig at the rifts within the unit late last year, claiming the party had “five to six CM faces”. In Barnala, Gandhi also hailed the people of Punjab. “Punjab is our strength, the protector and foundation of India. We love Punjab. Politics is fine, but I love the people of Punjab. The Congress wants to safeguard the future of Punjab, its farmers and youth, who need to succeed,” he said, appearing to show more concern for the audience than for the leaders sharing the dais. The state unit has struggled to present a united face, which has reflected in the bypolls held since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the Congress won seven of the state’s 13 Lok Sabha seats, it has managed to win only one of the six assembly bypolls held thereafter, Barnala in 2024. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Telangana Education Policy suggests law against caste, gender discrimination of students
The Telangana Education Commission has recommended major reforms from pre-primary to higher education, including scrapping college entrance tests, merging intermediate with school education, and increasing the minimum pass percentages. The Telangana Education Commission has recommended some major reforms to the state government, including a three-language policy from Class 1, a push for cancelling NEET, scrapping EAPCET, merging intermediate education (class 11 and 12) with school education, gender education in secondary schools, and a legislation to prevent discrimination against students from marginalised communities and minority groups. In its proposed Telangana Education Policy, submitted to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on February 26, the Commission also recommends allocating at least 18% of the state budget to the education sector, of which 5% should be allocated to higher education. It also proposes increasing the pass percentage for intermediate (Classes 11 and 12) students from 35% to 40% to improve academic standards. The policy suggests increasing the minimum pass percentage to 50% across all undergraduate programmes “on the lines of international practice.” School reforms The Commission has proposed that Telangana Public Schools (TPS) offer high-quality, integrated education from pre-primary through Class 12 at a single institution. The TPS model is proposed as a flagship structural reform to provide high-quality, credible education in government schools. Members of the Commission, including chairperson Akunuri Murali, briefed CM Revanth about the policy at their meeting. At the meeting, CM Revanth also announced that Telangana Public Schools of this model would be opened as a pilot project in 100 constituencies across the state, outside Hyderabad, from the coming academic year. These schools will be equipped with sports grounds, transport facilities, and other high-quality infrastructure. He also announced that from the coming academic year, students in all government schools will be provided breakfast along with milk, from Classes 1 to 12. The Commission recommended English as the medium of instruction across all levels of education from nursery to postgraduate studies. It proposed a three-language policy, with English and Telugu taught from nursery to Class 10, and either Hindi or Urdu as an option from Class 1. The policy said that Sanskrit is usually encouraged by private schools as students can score more marks. “There is no use of Sanskrit in the society as it is spoken by less than 20000 people in the whole country. Hence Sanskrit should be discouraged in general,” it said. The Commission has suggested stricter regulation of private schools, particularly with regard to fees, noting that some schools were charging as much as Rs 16 lakh in annual fees. During the meeting on February 26, the Telangana Private Schools Fee Regulatory Monitoring Commission submitted its report to CM Revanth, who instructed district collectors and district education officers to conduct a visit at the district level and submit a report on fees. At the state level, a committee with a retired judge or retired chief secretary would take final decisions on fee structure, the Chief Minister’s Office announced. The CM also suggested that the draft should be kept in the public domain to seek the opinions of students’ parents, intellectuals and social workers on the fee structure. The policy also suggests merging the different government-run residential schools for SCs, STs, BCs and minorities under a single administration. “The existing fragmented landscape…has evidently led to the hardening of caste lines and unnecessary politicisation of educational resources. By integrating these separate entities into a singular Telangana State Residential Education Society, the state will foster a truly inclusive and equitable learning ecosystem,” the policy says. Intermediate education The policy proposes bringing pre-primary schools into primary schools. It also suggests merging the SSC Board, which governs education up to Class 10, and the Board of Intermediate Education, which oversees the equivalent of Classes 11 and 12 taught in junior colleges. These are currently considered separate from the school education system. “A common board for Classes 10 and 12 will also eliminate the duplicity in terms of parallel administrative, academic, examination and data systems. Most education systems globally also have Classes 11 and 12 as part of the schooling system,” the policy says. It also recommends scrapping the EAPCET, the state-level common entrance test for admission into undergraduate colleges in the streams of engineering, agriculture and pharmacy. Instead, the Commission recommends admissions to colleges on the basis of Intermediate Public Examinations (IPE), the present equivalent of Class 12 board exams in the state. For this, IPE exams will have to be strengthened and designed to test foundational aspects and in-depth understanding of concepts covered in the curriculum, the policy says. It also recommends discontinuing public exams for intermediate first year or the equivalent of Class 11, as they cause “significant stress” to students. The policy says that instead of exam preparation, during the first year, teachers must be allowed to focus on learning gaps. Along with scrapping EAPCET, the policy says that even admissions for medical courses should be based on the Class 12 marks. “The Telangana government should strongly advocate with the Government of India for the cancellation of NEET,” it says. It also recommends a new law to regulate private coaching centres for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, CLAT etc., allowing oversight on fees, infrastructure, timings, faculty, curriculum, student mental health, and misleading advertisements. “The government must regulate the fees charged for intermediate education, including fees charged for entrance exam coaching to ensure there is no profiteering,” the policy says. Teacher education The policy also proposes a separate cadre of teachers for teaching students of Classes 9 to 12. Junior lecturers already working in the government system for intermediate education may be considered. It also proposes restructuring B Ed programmes into stage-specific degrees (primary and secondary). The policy says automatic promotions for teachers and headmasters must be discontinued. Instead, it suggests promotion policies aligned with outcomes and performance, and clearing departmental exams. At the meeting on February 26, CM Revanth also announced short-term training for teachers and lecturers on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Further, the CM asked officials to take
Karnataka opens government-run barber shop after Dalits denied haircuts
A government-run barber shop was opened in Gadag’s Singatalur village after local barbers repeatedly refused haircuts to Dalits, citing a religious tradition. In Karnataka’s Gadag district, officials on Thursday, February 26, inaugurated a barber shop for Dalit residents of Singatalur village after local barbers repeatedly denied them haircuts. The facility, opened by the Social Welfare Department, is believed to be the state’s first government-run barber shop. Local residents said tensions began a few weeks ago when a village barber refused to cut a Dalit youth’s hair. Officials said the barbers justified the discrimination on religious grounds. “Every year, the deity visits the homes of the Hadapada community, and the barbers claimed they could not serve Dalits during this period,” a Taluk official told Indian Express. As the situation escalated, local administration officials held peace meetings with barbers and community members. Despite repeated warnings and meetings with the tehsildar, the barbers continued to refuse service to Dalit residents, prompting the administration to issue a notice to the shop and order its closure. Following this, many barbers closed their shops. After barbers continued to refuse service, the administration worked with the Social Welfare Department, Taluk Administration, Taluk Panchayat, Police Department, Dalit Pro-Sangha Tane Kooka and Shivsharan Hadapada Appana Samaj to establish the new shop that Dalits and other residents can freely access. A barber from the Hadapada Appana Samaj agreed to operate it, with authorities arranging the equipment. Courtesy : TNM Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewsminute.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Man gets 20-years rigorous imprisonment for raping Dalit girl in UP’s Sonbhadra in 2018
Sonbhadra (UP), A court here on Friday sentenced a man to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment after he was convicted of raping a Dalit girl seven years ago, the prosecution said. Government Advocate Dinesh Prasad Agrahari said on October 25, 2018, a woman submitted a written complaint at Robertsganj police station stating that her 16-year-old daughter was lured by her former acquaintance, Raj Mishra, into a forest near Churk and raped. The plaintiff told the police that after the rape, the accused assaulted her daughter and abused her with casteist slurs. Based on the complaint, police registered a case under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the accused — Raj Mishra, a resident of Rajdhan under Chopan police station area — was arrested. Following investigation and collection of sufficient evidence against the accused, a chargesheet was filed in court. Agrahari said Additional District Judge (POCSO Act) Amit Veer Singh held Raj Mishra guilty on Friday and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, also imposing a fine of Rs 56,000. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional two months’ imprisonment. The court ordered that Rs 40,000 from the fine amount be given to the survivor. PTI COR NAV ARB ARB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content. Courtesy : The Print Note: This news is originally published on https:/theprint.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Black history month and Dalit history month: Memory, resistance and recognition
While Black History Month has decades of institutional recognition, Dalit History Month is a grassroots initiative—yet its theoretical and political importance is equally profound… The observance of Black History Month is not merely ceremonial. It is a recognition, it is epistemic. It is an intervention in memory. The observance of Black History Month is not merely ceremonial. It is a recognition, it is epistemic. It is an intervention in memory. Photo | AP Every February, the United States observes Black History Month, a commemoration dedicated to remembering the struggles, contributions, and intellectual traditions of African Americans. What began in 1926 as “Negro History Week” under the initiative of Carter G Woodson and the Association for the Study Negro life and History and later expanded into a month-long observance and was formally recognised by the US federal government in 1986. Since then, presidential proclamations have reaffirmed its significance, acknowledging that Black history is not peripheral to the American story, it is foundational to it. The observance of Black History Month is not merely ceremonial. It is a recognition, it is epistemic. It is an intervention in memory. It challenges the structure of historical narration itself by insisting that a people long excluded from official archives must be placed at the centre of national consciousness. Across the globe, another community continues a parallel struggle for historical recognition—Dalits in South Asia. Activists initiated Dalit History Month in 2015, marking April as a month to document, celebrate, and assert Dalit histories, intellectual traditions, resistance movements, and cultural contributions. While Black History Month has decades of institutional recognition, Dalit History Month is a grassroots initiative—yet its theoretical and political importance is equally profound. History as a site of power History is never neutral. It is shaped by those who hold power, political, economic, and cultural. For centuries, dominant groups controlled the archive, the curriculum, and the narrative. In the United States, slavery and segregation were not only economic systems but epistemic regimes: they denied Black people authorship over their own history. Similarly, in the caste-based social order of South Asia, Dalits were excluded not only from land and literacy but from the production of knowledge itself. To be denied history is to be denied humanity. The sociological insight of WEB Du Bois remains relevant here. Du Bois wrote about “double consciousness”, the experience of seeing oneself through the eyes of a society structured by racial prejudice. This tension arises when dominant narratives attempt to fix identity within limiting definitions. Yet double consciousness is not simply a fractured state; it is a heightened awareness, an ability to perceive both the imposed gaze and one’s own autonomous self-understanding. In caste-structured contexts, a comparable dynamic has operated. Social hierarchies have historically sought to define worth and status in inherited terms, but communities positioned at the margins have not passively absorbed these definitions. Instead, they have cultivated counter-traditions of dignity, intellectual critique, and collective assertion. Through movements of self-respect, constitutional struggle, and cultural production, they have transformed imposed categories into platforms for democratic re-articulation. What emerges, therefore, is not internalised hierarchy, but an evolving political consciousness that refuses to let inherited structures determine selfhood. Black History Month and Dalit History Month disrupt this imposed gaze. They assert that oppressed communities are not subjects of oppression but producers of thought, culture, and transformation. Structural racism and structural casteism: Parallel logics Though racism and casteism arise from different historical trajectories, their structural logic is comparable. Both systems institutionalise graded inequality. Both naturalise hierarchy. Both regulate access to education, labour, dignity, and spatial belonging. In the United States, the history of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and racial segregation created enduring socio-economic disparities. The civil rights movement challenged these systems, but their legacies remain embedded in institutions. In South Asia, caste operates as a deeply entrenched system of social stratification, historically justifying untouchability, exclusion from temples and wells, segregation in housing, and violent enforcement of occupational roles. Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, caste-based discrimination persists in subtle and overt forms. The intellectual interventions of Dr BR Ambedkar are crucial in this context. Dr Ambedkar not only fought for the abolition of untouchability but analysed caste as a system of “graded inequality” where oppression is normalised and internalised through religious and social codes. His insistence on education, agitation, and organisation echoes the emancipatory tradition of Black intellectual resistance. Both Black and Dalit struggles reveal that oppression operates not only through overt violence but through the management of memory and meaning. Black History Month’s institutionalisation in 1986 signalled an acknowledgment by the US state that historical omission itself is a form of injustice. Presidential proclamations do not erase centuries of suffering, but they symbolically affirm the legitimacy of Black historical experience. Dalit History Month seeks a similar recognition—though it has yet to achieve equivalent global institutional status. April holds symbolic weight because it includes the birth anniversaries of icons Jyotiba Phule and Dr Ambedkar, whose life represents intellectual rebellion against caste oppression. The month becomes a pedagogical space where Dalit literature, art, scholarship, and activism are highlighted. Recognition is not merely symbolic; it redistributes dignity. Philosopher Charles Taylor argued that misrecognition can inflict harm by imprisoning someone in a false, distorted image. In caste and racial systems, this distortion is structural. Therefore, commemorative months function as corrective narratives, rewriting distorted histories with truth and pride. Memory as resistance Memory, when consciously reclaimed, becomes an act of resistance. It refuses erasure, challenges selective histories, and asserts dignity in the face of structural silencing. Black History Month and Dalit History Month are not merely commemorative observances; they are intellectual and political interventions that reposition marginalised histories at the centre of democratic imagination. Black History Month foregrounds the narratives of civil rights mobilisations, cultural renaissance, and institutional transformation. From the philosophical interventions of Du Bois to the moral leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., and from the literary brilliance of Toni Morrison to the scientific excellence of Katherine Johnson, the month celebrates creativity and achievement that flourished
Shops shut during soldier’s funeral; untouchability suspected
Pic: Hanamantappa Harijan, 55, an ex-serviceman Bagalkot: It seems the practice of untouchability affected the funeral of a soldier from Dalit community — who served the country for 20 years — at Chinnapur village of Ilkal taluk in Bagalkot district. The incident reportedly happened on Thursday. Sources in the Ilkal taluk administration told TOI that Hanamantappa Harijan, 55, died due to health issues. “Expecting that his relatives, belonging to the Dalit community, would attend his funeral, hotels and shops belonging to certain communities were shut down. As soon as the information was received, tahsildar Amaresh Pammar, officials from police, social welfare, and other departments visited the village and convened a peace meeting of all communities. Upper caste people said that they went to their fields and they normally shut their eateries in the afternoon. After officials’ warning, they opened their shops,” they added. Deceased Hanamantappa’s relatives, who had come from other villages, said that they observed all shops were shut and only one was open. “We drank some juice there but the shopkeeper insisted on paying via mobile apps saying they will not touch cash from Dalits as a Dalit man had died in the village. He also told us that all shops are shut just because of the death of Dalit. Forgetting that he was a soldier, villagers were practising untouchability. Hence we called the police on 112,” they added. Tahsildar Amaresh neither answered calls nor responded to messages. According to videos doing the rounds on social media, a group of ex-servicemen offered their last respects to the departed soul. Police sources said that another peace meeting will be held on March 2. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
IndiaActivists push for better counting of transgender Indians in 2026 Census
2011 count noted 488,000 trans people in country India is preparing to conduct a nationwide Census in April, the first since 2011. Interim projections based on the previous Census placed India ahead of China as the world’s most populous country. A Technical Group on Population Projections projection in July 2020, chaired by the Registrar General of India, estimated the country’s population in 2023 was 1.388 billion. Transgender Indians are now raising concerns about the data collectors and their sensitization. Activists have raised concerns about whether data collectors are adequately sensitive to the community ahead of the Census. Government training material emphasizes household engagement, data privacy and sensitivity while asking personal questions, but publicly available flyers do not outline specific guidance or training related to recording trans identity during enumeration. Concerns around the counting of trans people in India are not new. The 2011 Census recorded around 488,000 trans people, a figure activists and researchers have described as a likely undercount due to stigma, misclassification, and a reluctance to self-identify. Subsequent surveys and field reports have pointed to inconsistencies in how gender identity is recorded and the absence of uniform sensitivity among Census data collectors. Rights groups and policy researchers have also warned that gaps in official data affect access to welfare schemes, legal recognition, and targeted public policy, making accurate counting central to future Census exercises. A decade after the 2011 Census formally recorded trans people as a distinct category, multiple studies have continued to document entrenched socio-economic disparities. Research has pointed to lower literacy rates, limited workforce participation and barriers to healthcare access within the community. A National Human Rights Commission-supported study cited in subsequent reporting found a significant proportion of trans respondents reported employment discrimination, underscoring the gap between formal recognition and lived economic inclusion. Educational exclusion has remained a persistent concern within the trans community. Studies have documented higher dropout rates, lower literacy levels and barriers to continuing education, often linked to stigma, discrimination and limited institutional support. Policy researchers note that despite formal recognition in official data after 2011, targeted interventions addressing school retention and access for trans people have remained uneven. Access to housing schemes has reflected similar gaps. The Washington Blade in December reported only a small number of trans people have benefited from India’s flagship low-income housing program, despite its nationwide rollout and eligibility provisions. The findings underscored continuing barriers to inclusion in welfare delivery systems. The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry and the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner did not respond to the Blade’s multiple requests for comment regarding sensitization measures for Census data collectors and the recording of trans identity in the upcoming Census. Karnataka state in southern India last September conducted its first statewide baseline survey of gender minorities. The Department of Women and Child Development, in collaboration with the Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation, launched the initiative to document the lives of trans people across 31 administrative districts. When the results were released, the survey identified 10,365 trans people. The country’s 2011 Census, by comparison, recorded 20,266 trans people in Karnataka, nearly double the 2025 figure. The discrepancy raised questions about how the state’s recorded trans population appeared to decline over 14 years. The discrepancy in Karnataka’s survey has intensified scrutiny over how gender minorities are counted. Reports questioned the methodology used in the 2025 exercise, which was conducted over 45 days beginning in mid-September. Instead of door-to-door enumeration, trans people were required to report to designated registration sites — primarily district-level public hospitals and sub-district government health facilities. The approach presented barriers for potential participants, particularly those in rural areas, those without reliable transportation, those wary of institutional settings due to prior discrimination, or those who did not know about the count, raising the possibility of exclusion. Bihar state in eastern India in January 2023 conducted a caste-based survey that included trans respondents. The final report identified 825 trans people in the state, compared with 40,827 recorded in the 2011 Census. Activists disputed the figure, calling it inaccurate and pointing to community estimates that suggested higher numbers, including in Patna, the state capital, raising concerns about significant undercounting. The 2011 Census marked the first attempt to enumerate trans people at the national level, but researchers and activists have described the exercise as limited in scope. It recorded 487,803 people under the “other” category, a classification used for respondents who did not identify as male or female. Analysts have argued that the figure likely underestimated the community’s size. The Census questionnaire provided three sex categories — “male,” “female,” and “other” — a framework that critics said did not fully capture the diversity of gender identity and may have affected how some respondents chose to identify. During the 2011 Census, enumeration practices varied across regions. In states such as Tamil Nadu, local reporting indicated estimates were at times derived from existing administrative records, including state-issued trans identity cards, rather than solely through door-to-door identification. Such approaches risked excluding individuals who did not possess identity documentation or were not registered with welfare boards, raising concerns about gaps in coverage. Official data from the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry shows only a few hundred trans people as of early 2025 have been issued identity cards through the national portal, despite nearly 2,000 applications being submitted. Many are still pending or have been rejected. Critics of the 2011 Census said many Census data collectors were not adequately trained or sensitized to engage with gender identity beyond traditional binary classifications. Similar, detailed guidelines specific to trans sensitization have not been publicly made available for the 2026 Census, according to an examination of training materials and official circulars. Akkai Padmashali, a trans rights activist, told the Blade that Census data collectors in earlier exercises were often not sensitized and lacked awareness of intersex people and gender-diverse communities. She said trans people and other gender and sexual minorities continue to face social exclusion and require careful handling during door-to-door data collection. Padmashali
‘Did Robert Vadra, Rahul Gandhi go to jail?’ Kejriwal hits back as Congress questions relief in liquor policy case
NEW DELHI: The political tremors from the Delhi excise policy verdict rippled beyond the courtroom on Friday as the Congress lashed out at the ruling BJP, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal’s discharge was timed against the backdrop of the Gujarat and Punjab elections. Kejriwal, who had briefly allied with the Congress ahead of the 2024 general elections, hit back at his former ally, accusing it of having “no shame” and drawing a contrast between AAP leaders going to jail and the Congress high command remaining out of legal clutch. Soon after a Delhi court granted relief to Kejriwal in the alleged liquor scam case, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera attacked the BJP, likening it to an “Icchadhari Naag” (shape-shifting serpent). In a post on X, he alleged that the BJP was deploying central agencies as “campaign tools” with key state elections approaching, calling it “vendetta as governance.” Khera argued that the BJP’s ideological positions were secondary to its “obsessive goal”: the realisation of a “Congress-Mukt Bharat.” He cited what he described as the party’s “fluctuating relationship” with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as evidence of political opportunism. “The BJP is not a political party. It is a shape-shifter, a wishful serpent – Icchadhari Naag. It will stoop to any level for one obsessive goal: defeat Congress – Congress Mukt Bharat. For 12 years they spewed venom at the TMC. And now? Narendra Modi himself is showering it with praise – not out of respect, but to land a cheap blow at Congress,” Khera’s post read. Khera also predicted that cases against Congress leaders would intensify as elections draw closer, citing senior leader P Chidambaram as an example. “Elections are coming. So the script is predictable. Cases against Congress leaders will suddenly accelerate – @PChidambaram_IN has already been dragged back into the spotlight because Tamil Nadu is going for polls,” he wrote in the post. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently granted prosecution sanction against Chidambaram in the Aircel Maxis Deal and INX Media cases. “Meanwhile, proceedings against their “convenient allies” in the AAP and others will quietly vanish in light of the Gujarat and Punjab elections,” he wrote on X. Describing the developments as part of the “BJP playbook,” Khera alleged that the ruling party uses central agencies as “campaign tools”. “This is the BJP playbook: vendetta as governance and agencies as campaign tools,” he said. Kejriwal hits back with ‘Congress has no shame’ remark Responding to the Congress’ remarks, Kejriwal targeted Pawan Khera, who suggested that the narrative was being pushed to politically corner the Congress ahead of the Punjab and Gujarat elections. Questioning how many Congress leaders had gone to jail, the AAP supremo said the party had “no shame.” “I want to ask the Congress – Kejriwal went to jail. Did Robert Vadra go to jail? Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Rahul Gandhi go to jail? Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Sonia Gandhi ji went to jail? What is Congress saying? Does it have no shame?” Kejriwal asked. The political exchange followed a detailed order from a Special Court in Delhi, which held that the prosecution had failed to disclose “even the threshold of a prima facie suspicion, far less the grave suspicion” required for framing of charges in the CBI case linked to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. In a strongly worded ruling, Special Judge (PC Act) Jitender Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court said the prosecution’s case was “legally infirm, unsustainable, and unfit to proceed any further in law”. The court further observed that when the material collected by the agency was tested on admissibility, relevance and probative value, “the appearance of a coherent conspiracy dissolves,” exposing the allegations as being founded on inadmissible material and post-facto reconstruction. Among those discharged are Arvind Kejriwal, and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and 21 others. The court was also critical of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) reliance on approver statements, cautioning that granting pardon to an accused and then using his testimony to fill gaps in the prosecution’s case or implicate additional accused would undermine constitutional safeguards. The FIR in the case was registered in August 2022 following a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, alleging that the now-scrapped excise policy was designed to favour select liquor licensees by reducing licence fees and fixing profit margins, leading to kickbacks and losses to the exchequer. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
The Blistered Hands No One Talks About: Reading Dalit Women’s Labour Through Literature And Data
Scholarly work needs to centre Dalit women as narrators of their own labour—like Kamble, Pawar and Bama—whose literary testimonies document care work as political resistance. Dear reader, this article is free to read and it will remain free – but it isn’t free to produce. If you want to support the work that goes behind publishing high-quality feminist media content, please donate to FII and keep us paywall free. Thank you! » Editors Note: #MoodOfTheMonth for February 2026 is Gender and Literature. We are inviting submissions on this theme throughout February 2026. If you would like to contribute, please refer to our submission guidelines and email your pitches to info@@feminisminindia.com. When Babytai Kamble penned The Prisons We Broke, the first published autobiography by a Dalit woman in Marathi, she did more than just narrate a life; she exposed the architecture of caste-determined care. “We clean the filth others create, then are called filthy ourselves,” wrote Kamble, naming an untouchable reality that Indian literature has long rendered invisible. While mainstream narratives celebrate the housewife’s domestic sacrifice, they systematically erase the Dalit and Bahujan women whose blistered hands scrub floors before dawn, wash vessels others have dirtied, and absorb the household’s emotional dumping, only to disappear from the stories when the time comes. Their labour is what sustains the upper-caste domesticity, yet remains the silent infrastructure of comfort: foundational, uncredited, unnamed. Literary Testimonies of Embodied Labour Kamble’s testimony resonates powerfully across Dalit feminist literature. Bama’s seminal Tamil autobiography Karukku (1992) documents how Paraiyar Christian women scrubbed floors on their knees while being denied dignity by upper-caste nuns who “would not even drink water touched by our hands.” Similarly, Shantabai Kamble’s Majya Jalmachi Chittarkatha (The Kaleidoscope Story of My Life) traces how Mahar women’s bodies became sites of caste-allocated sanitation work, writing, “Our hands were meant only for sweeping, scrubbing, and serving.” Dalit feminist scholar Urmila Pawar writes in The Weave of My Life, “My mother used to weave aaydans,” the Marathi generic term for all things made from bamboo. “I find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. The weave is similar. It is the weave of pain, suffering, and agony that links us.” This metaphor transcends poetry: her mother’s bamboo weaving, like the Dalit domestic worker’s scrubbing, was never “just labour”. It was an unacknowledged infrastructure of survival, transformed into literary resistance. Interestingly, however, Pawar has analysed the differences between Brahman and Dalit women, arguing that the Dalit woman, in contrast to the Brahman woman, was not bound by customs such as sati, child marriage, among others. Pawar further exploded some myths regarding the gender question in relation to the Dalit movement, such as the wide gap between Dalit and Brahman women on economic, social and educational levels. Pawar continues, “A myth is harboured that unlike the brahman woman the dalit woman is free from bondage and stifling restrictions. The pain of the devadasi, the deserted woman and the murali is ignored in this stand. In fact the woman in the household is yet to get recognition as a full and equal human being (ibid: 94).” On similar lines, Joanna Liddle and Rama Joshi, in their work entitled Daughters of Independence, write about the non-sexual and the sexual divisions of labour. Although economically deprived, Dalit women lead more sexually liberated lives than upper-caste women. Lower caste women, by contrast, experience far fewer controls over their physical freedom. “The economic benefits and the social constraints of seclusion are unknown to them. Sati was never demanded of them, widowhood was no curse, divorce was allowed in many lower caste communities and widows and divorced people could re-marry without disgrace (Liddle and Joshi 1986: 95-69 and 91).” In Aayda: Mahila Adivasi Jivan Katha (edited by Pawar and Meenakshi Moon), oral histories of Adivasi and Dalit women reframe domestic work not as a naturalised duty but as caste-determined exploitation. Oxfam’s data confirms this structural truth: urban Indian women spend 312 minutes daily on unpaid care work, compared with men’s 29 minutes; rural women spend 291 minutes, compared with men’s 32 minutes. What The Data Says? The rate of this invisibility is concerning. Oxfam’s 2020 report, Time to Care, along with an India-focused supplement, demonstrates how our sexist economies are acting as a catalyst for the inequality crisis. “Women and girls are among those who benefit least from today’s economic system. They spend billions of hours cooking, cleaning and caring for children and the elderly. Unpaid care work is the ‘hidden engine’ that keeps the wheels of our economies, businesses and societies moving. It is driven by women who often have little time to get an education, earn a decent living or have a say in how our societies are run, and who are therefore trapped at the bottom of the economy,” stated former Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar. Furthermore, the report suggests that women make up two-thirds of the paid ‘care workforce’. Jobs such as nursery workers, domestic workers, and care assistants are often poorly paid, provide scant benefits, impose irregular hours, and can take a physical and emotional toll. Thus, pressure on carers, whether unpaid or paid, is set to grow over the coming decade as the global population ages. Climate change could worsen the looming global care crisis —by 2025, up to 2.4 billion people will live in areas without enough water, and women and girls will have to walk even longer distances to fetch it. 80% of indigenous people live in Asia and the Pacific, a region vulnerable to climate change. “Governments must prioritise care as being as important as all other sectors in order to build more human economies that work for everyone, not just a fortunate few,” said Behar. In the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2017–18) report, it is seen that in rural areas, the share of helper in household enterprises was nearly 17 per cent among male self-employed workers whereas 67 per cent among female self-employed workers while in urban areas, the
Social Media Amplifies Caste Inequality in India, Dalits Remain Marginalised: University of Bath Study
A University of Bath study finds social media amplifies caste-based discrimination, silencing Dalits and limiting their online participation. A new study by the University of Bath School of Management reveals that social media, often celebrated as a tool for giving everyone a voice, can actually reinforce inequality and deepen the marginalisation of communities such as Dalits in India.Cultural exchange programs Dalits, formerly called “untouchables” and legally recognised as Scheduled Castes, make up over 200 million of India’s 1.47 billion population. Historically subjected to social and economic oppression, Dalits were confined to tasks considered “polluting,” including leatherwork and animal slaughter. Despite progress in employment across public services, banking, railways, and private industries, discrimination and violence remain widespread. “Progress is painfully slow. Discrimination and violence against Dalits continue, and while the Dalit middle class is growing, social media has unfortunately amplified these problems instead of reducing them,” said Dr Pardeep Attri, lead researcher of the study. How Social Media Excludes Dalits The research, titled “You Belong to Gutters, Not Facebook or Twitter: Recovering Dalit Histories from the Shadows of Social Media”, highlights how online platforms shape, restrict, and sometimes erase the experiences of marginalized communities. The study identifies three major ways Dalits face exclusion online: being unseen, unheard, and unspoken. Dalit histories and contributions are often invisible due to biased algorithms. Platform reporting systems frequently fail to protect them from harassment, leaving many unable to raise concerns meaningfully. Constant trolling, abuse, and discrimination force several users into silence or withdrawal. Dr Attri explained, “There is an urgent need for moderators who understand the Dalit community and can address trolling effectively. Much of mainstream media and online moderation comes from dominant caste perspectives, which worsens the exclusion.” Digital Visibility Brings Risks The study found that simply being visible online does not guarantee empowerment. On the contrary, a higher online presence often exposes Dalits to greater harassment and attempts to discredit or erase their narratives. Many users feel they have little control over how their histories and contributions are represented. “Economic barriers also limit participation. Many Dalits cannot afford devices or internet access, further restricting their online engagement,” Dr Attri added. Despite these challenges, Dalits are building resistance. They are creating alternative archives, forming supportive online communities, and using digital activism, such as hashtags like #DalitLivesMatter, to reclaim their history and counter misinformation. A University of Bath study finds social media amplifies caste-based discrimination, silencing Dalits and limiting their online participation. “But this effort risks reinforcing exclusion,” Dr Attri warned. “Social media platforms and policymakers must act to address caste-based discrimination with clearer policies, effective moderation, and technology that reduces harmful content without silencing marginalized voices.” Subtle and Online Harassment The research details how hashtags like #AmbedkarJayanti are hijacked by trolls promoting Hindutva ideology, which distorts Ambedkar’s legacy and offends Dalits. Suman, a study participant, said, “[Dominant caste members] quickly take over discussions and shift the narrative, leaving us invisible.” Caste discrimination online is often subtle, with trolls using coded language, abbreviations, or “Hinglish” to bypass detection. Terms like “Bhimte” mock followers of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, while slurs such as “Bhangi” and “hijde” target Dalit women and gender-nonconforming individuals, reflecting intersectional oppression. Many posts, including sexualized abuse, remain unmoderated, reinforcing feelings of invisibility and exclusion. Social media narratives also reduce Dalits’ lived experiences to stereotypes, glorifying broom work as cultural pride while ignoring its historical link to caste-based oppression. Dalit perspectives are often labeled “unverified” or divisive, unlike those of dominant caste users, and their stories are frequently dismissed as exaggerated or agenda-driven. The Need for Structural Change The researchers emphasise that online platforms must do more than provide visibility. They should ensure that marginalized communities can speak, be heard, and shape their histories online without fear of harassment or erasure. The study team includes Dr Pardeep Attri, Professors Sarah Glozer and Vivek Soundararajan from the University of Bath, and Dr Ramya Sakthivel from Jönköping University, Sweden. “Reducing inequality is not just about participation; it’s about giving all communities control over their narratives and protecting them from abuse,” Dr Attri concluded. Courtesy : TOP Note: This news is originally published on https:/theobserverpost.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights