There is no connection between politics, elections and governance in Bihar. It is instead caste that defines both society and politics: caste parties and caste-based alliances seek to get the better…
The Azad Samaj Party represents both a crisis following the fracturing of the Dalit movement and a possible future regeneration under a new Ambedkarite organisation.
Conspicuous consumption of meat in India is often a counter to the idea of 'purity' associated with vegetarianism. An alternative is possible: one that advocates for both animals and…
A caste census may not transform the course of electoral politics. But bringing caste contradictions to the fore could give the social justice parties a strategy to woo lower castes that have drifted…
Anxiety amongst upper-caste diaspora that their narrative about a benign Indian culture would be undone lies at the heart of the opposition to California’s bill to ban caste discrimination.
Dalit labour organisations in Punjab have sought support from farm unions led by dominant castes. Such collaborations serve tactical purposes but also constrain the organisations' autonomy to…
The story of the Vikassheel Insaan Party or VIP, a party of the Nishad community in Bihar, is important for understanding the positives and negatives of the rise of small caste-based political…
Ahead of the May elections, observers in Gorakhpur in eastern UP could sense a groundswell of support for the BJP. The old caste dynamics had broken down and the efficient delivery of welfare…
