This month a group of dalit (or Untouchables, as they were formerly labelled) students organised a Beef Festival in Osmania University of Hyderabad. It was the festival to assert their culinary rights in public and make a political statement of dietary habits of dalits and Muslims – by cooking and eating beef Biryani on campus. About 2000 students participated and although it started out well, the festival was disrupted and students...

-The Hindu The former Chief Justice of India S. Rajendra Babu has said that the practice of untouchability with all the consequent evils is still haunting dalits in particular and society at large. He was delivering the inaugural address at a discussion on “Empowering dalits under the Constitution” organised by Swabhimana here. Mr. Rajendra Babu said that untouchability continues owing to the indifferent laws. The governments are bringing in laws with the hope to...

-The Hindu To say human being is untouchable is to deny God: Asra Garg The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday appreciated Madurai Superintendent of Police Asra Garg (31) for efforts taken by him in putting an end to long pending hostility between Caste Hindus and dalits of Villoor near here through talks. Justice D. Hariparanthaman recorded his appreciation for the SP and his team of policemen while closing a writ petition...

Meena Kandasamy, one of Chennai’s well-known activists and poets, was recently in Hyderabad delivering a few lectures at NALSAR and other institutions about Ambedkar, when she heard about a beef festival at Osmania University being organised by the Telengana Students’ Association and the Progressive Students Union. Several students and teachers had gathered to support the event organised by the dalit students and also as a symbol of admonishing cultural oppression from...

-The Hindu The acquittal of 23 people convicted by a lower court in the gruesome Bathani Tola massacre case is a shocking indictment of the country's criminal justice system. The mass murder of a group of 21 dalits and Muslims, most of them women and children, by the notorious caste militia, the Ranvir Sena, took place in Bihar's Bhojpur district in 1996 in broad daylight. The basic facts about the ghastly...