A meticulous study of the agrarian relations in three villages. ONE of our senior sociologists once drew my attention to the distinction between economics and other social sciences. Other social sciences – sociology and anthropology, for instance – he said, pay a great deal of attention to gathering primary data and interpreting them, whereas economics relies on secondary data for its analysis. This is, to a large extent, a fair...

After a long wait of 17 years, justice was delivered to dalits of Badanawalu village of Nanjangud taluk where three community members were killed by a mob following a row over puja at a village temple. Sixth additional sessions judge L Malvalli convicted Suresh and 19 others. The sentence will be pronounced on October 30 or November 2. Though the chargesheet was filed against 23, three died during the prolonged trial. The...

India's downtrodden "untouchables" are to open a temple to a "Goddess of the English language" in honour of Lord Macaulay, an architect of the British Empire. Leaders of India's low-caste dalits are to celebrate the opening of a temple shaped like a desktop computer to inspire "untouchable" children to improve their prospects in life by learning English. They believe learning English will open up new opportunities for India's 160 million dalits...

The obnoxious practice will continue in one form or the other, as long as the government and society treat certain so-called menial jobs as the preserve of one community. On November 1, a unique journey will come to a ceremonious end in Delhi. Earlier this month, five bus loads of men and women headed out from different corners of the country with one slogan on their lips: honour and liberation for...

Back in May 2010, sixty dalits, who had worked their entire lives as manual scavengers, burned the baskets they used for collecting human excreta outside the District Collector's office here. They had just been employed as sweepers by the local administration under a rehabilitation scheme. Five months later, all of them are without work, having been suspended, astonishingly, for not working hard enough. “It took us a lot of courage to...