-The Indian Express Haryana panchayat poll outcome does not reflect the state’s social composition The panchayat elections in Haryana have yielded results drastically different from previous elections. This is because a large number of persons were barred from contesting these elections due to educational and other disqualifications introduced through amendments by the Haryana assembly in September last year. In the widely criticised Rajbala and others vs State of Haryana judgment, the Supreme...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Refuting claims of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, SC/ST commission chairman PL Punia said here on Sunday that Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide early this month was a Dalit. Talking to reporters here, Punia said: "He was a member of the Scheduled Caste. Some people are only trying to water down the issue. Rohith and his siblings were brought up by a single mother, so...

-The Indian Express Clearly, these suicides are the outcome of Indian Caste System-with-“Untouchability”, still omnipresent and omnipotent, and not a thing of the past, confined only to some remote areas. The significance of what led to Rohith Vemula and many other students belonging to Dalits, Adivasis, and also Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs) to end their life can be understood on the background of socio-historical facts. Clearly, these suicides are the...

-Livemint.com There is some quantifiable evidence that caste-based discrimination still exists in India New Delhi: The suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula has triggered a debate on caste discrimination in India. There is factual evidence (here and here) showing the existence of caste-based inequalities in terms of asset holdings, education and employment. Sure, it can be argued that these are the results of historical discrimination/deprivation and caste- based discrimination does not...

-CaravanMagazine.in Thomas Piketty's comments on inequality allude to the same structures that surround Rohith Vemula's tragic death. On 21 January 2016, addressing a packed hall of students and scholars at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, the French economist Thomas Piketty gave a talk in which he discussed the history of taxation, inequality and capital in the twenty-first century. Superficially, Piketty’s discourse appears to be entirely distinct from another recent discourse on inequality—that...