Pressing ahead with their demand for amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, the Sarv Khap Mahapanchayat on Sunday resolved to slap a token fine of "ek aana" (currency unit formerly used in India) on MPs and MLAs if they failed to meet its demand by June 19. In a meeting held in Jind, which was attended by around 2,000 representatives of Khap Panchayats, they also ruled out establishing any matrimonial...

Businessmen and society have a strangely contradictory relationship. The economic activity they generate can be an agent of social transformation and progress — a quick look at the changes in Indian society in the last two decades would be one indicator. Yet, businessmen in themselves are rarely conscious promoters of social progress. This is hardly unexpected. Business inherently seeks a stable environment in which to flourish, so businessmen tend not to...

The number of cases in which the totally unconstitutional caste panchayats have openly defied the law of the land by issuing illegal diktats has increased manifold. In Haryana today, rapid capitalist transformation is accompanied by a regressive feudal consciousness. As education and political awareness spread among Dalits, women and backward sections, alongside there is a massive consolidation of caste (khap) panchayats in defence of the status quo. The number of cases...

By scraping and bowing before khap leaders and agreeing to hold aloft their frayed flag of patriarchy, youth icon and Congress MP from Kurukshetra Naveen Jindal may have staved off a siege on his home by the violent keepers of middle-ages morality. But other MPs and MLAs who represent areas where the khap writ runs have now been warned that the lawmakers face khap ire if they don't make their...

IN 2005, Gohana in Sonepat district of Haryana witnessed the torching of several Dalit homes by members of upper castes. Now Mirchpur, a village 58 kilometres away and located deep inside Hisar district, has met a similar fate. On April 21, as many as 18 homes belonging to Dalits from the Valmiki community here were set on fire by upper-caste youth over an alleged slight on the part of the...