By Martin Macwan* “Education is fundamental for achieving full human potential, developing an equitableand just society, and promoting national development”. This is the opening line of New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India. This is a positive statement which underlines the fact, though not clearly articulated, that India is still at a distance from developing … Continue reading National Education Policy 2020: A prescription without diagnosis
Category: Spotlight
By Johanna Deeksha* Despite the raging pandemic that is threatening our life, the African-American community took over the streets of the United States protesting for a freedom that the world had assumed they had won in 1865. Too many from the community had been murdered, abused, exploited, robbed, harassed and threatened for too long, and … Continue reading Martin Macwan on how India can take inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement
Human rights activist and founder, Navsarjan Trust, Martin Macwan, recipient of the prestigious Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award for the year 2000, has drafted an open letter toPresident Donald Trump following the turn of events in the light murder of George Floyd. Seeking signatures for the letter, Macwan asks people to light a lamp … Continue reading Dalits feel suffocation in India just as the Blacks and the coloured people do in US
Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer … Continue reading Epic war against caste system is the constitutional responsibility of an elected government
By Martin Macwan* To protect innocent citizens against false criminal cases is a noble principle of any caste on earth and it is not a new principle that India has discovered. However, the element of ‘innocence’ is a subjective perception in a society where the origin, preservation and protection of the caste system manifested through … Continue reading Your Lordship, with due respect… You are not Lord Almighty. What about caste prejudice in judiciary?
By Martin Macwan* The problem of land ownership, as it is being framed after the self-immolation of Bhanubhai Vankar in February, covers less than even the tip of the iceberg. For the Gujarat government, it is politically convenient to describe this incident, and many others, of violence against Dalits as an “atrocity” rather than to … Continue reading As state remains indifferent, social tension around Dalit landownership is snowballing in Gujarat
By Martin Macwan* The father of the boy who was assaulted by sharp razor on October 3 by two assailants riding a motorcycle without number plate and covered faces sports the biggest and twisted moustache I witnessed in village Limbodra of Mansa taluka. His moustache is not new or recent, as I saw his past … Continue reading Sporting a moustache: To Dalit women its a symbol of humiliation, subjugation and exploitation
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