South Asia Citizens Web

It was the British who introduced communal historiography in India; this historiography is a way of looking at the historical phenomenon through the lens of religion.

Is it simply a coincidence that in the past few months, there has been a spate of violence against Christians, attacks on churches, a belligerent insistence on reconversion or “Ghar Wapsi” and similar events, in other words a new resurgence in the activities of the RSS/VHP? This has obviously caused embarrassment to the government at the Centre, which, nonetheless chose to remain quiet about it for a long time. How are all these events to be understood? Should one dismiss them as small unconnected episodes of little consequence? Or is there a larger pattern or a design behind it?

Eradicating hate material comprehensively will require a revision of education policy, allowing religious diversity, academic freedom and acceptance of cultural plurality

Sundergarh is a Schedule Five district in the north-western part of the state of Odisha. It has been a site of multiple movements for the right to self-determination historically, and also one of the regions that has made great sacrifices for the development of this country. As much as 67 per cent of the population lives in the rural areas. Sundergarh is the 2nd largest tribal district of Odisha having 51% of tribal population. The entire district is a
Scheduled Area thus making the Fifth Schedule as well as Acts like PESA, OSATIP and special schemes meant for tribal communities under ITDAs applicable in the area.

Garib ki joru sab ki bhaujai (A poor man’s wife is fair game). If anything captures the goings-on in the HRD ministry since the reign of Kapil Sibal, it is this saucy peasant proverb from the cow belt. Irrespective of the shade of the successive Central governments, the HRD minister and functionaries display a propensity, Alice in wonderland-like, for exercising power unbridled by reason and reasonableness. This has come to the fore most recently