Identities

This is the fourth in a series titled Against Aachaaram: A Dossier from Malayalam on Kafila. The note below is by J Devika. The excerpt from the essay by Kuttippuzha Krishna Pillai is translated by UTHARA GEETHA. The formation of the linguistic state of Kerala was the culmination of a long process of negotiation around Malayalam as a … Continue reading Against Aachaaram : Kuttippuzha Krishna Pillai on the veneration of Parasurama →

Statement issued on 27 September 2019. NEW DELHI. NEW YORK  On 30 August 2019,the United Nations’ International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Parveena Ahangar, mother of Javaid, a 16 year old who was ‘disappeared’by paramilitary forces in Kashmir in 1990 mourned again. Every year, the families of APDP (Association of Parents of Disappeared … Continue reading Women Of The World Stand With Kashmir →

This is the third in the series titled Against Aachaaram: A Dossier from Malayalam on Kafila. Both excerpts have been chosen and translated by HARIKRISHNAN S. The prefatory note below is by J Devika. They are about the notions of purity of clothing harboured by the traditional caste elite in Kerala, which were revised by … Continue reading Against Aachaaram: When is Your Cloth Clean/Pure/ Both? →

The Final NRC published today has excluded a whopping 19.06 lakh persons in Assam. The NRC process had shifted the burden of proof of citizenship on to the entire population of Assam, with people undergoing deep travails over the past four years to get their names included. In a poor country like ours and in … Continue reading Exclusion of 19 Lakh People Shows the Irrationality of #NRC Exercise: Joint Forum Against NRC →

This is the second in a series titled Against Aachaaram: A Dossier from Malayalam on Kafila. The note on Lalithambika Antharjanam is by J Devika. The excerpt from her story Vidhibalam (The Power of Fate) is translated by GEORVIN JOSEPH. Lalitambika Antharjanam (1909-1987) was the first Malayali woman to achieve prominence in the field of … Continue reading Against Aachaaram: Lalitambika Antharjanam →

I write this open letter to you as a well wisher, and someone who has been seriously supportive of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) through all the ups and downs in the years since its formation.  Perhaps like many others, I too have high expectations of the experiment that AAP is and the new ground … Continue reading Nationalism and Politics – An Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal →

Economist Jean Dreze, Kavita Krishnan of the CPI(ML) and the All India Progressive Women’s Association, Maimoona Mollah of the All India Democratic Women’s Association and Vimal Bhai of the National Alliance of People’s Movements released the following report to the press today, 14 August 2019, after spending five days in Kashmir, meeting and talking to … Continue reading Kashmir Caged – A Report from the Ground →

Dear Prime Minister, nothing about Jammu & Kashmir is as your party sees it Economist and activist Jean Dreze, who has co-authored books with Nobel laureates, such as Amartya Sen and Angus Deaton, was in the headlines for a placard he carried to a protest rally in Delhi earlier this week. His placard challenged the … Continue reading Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s Role: Official Myths on J&K Busted →

Guest Post by Gargi Chakravartty BOOK REVIEW Hindutva’s Second Coming by Subhash Gatade; published by Media House, Delhi; 2019; pages: 272; Rs 395 (US $ 18). The return of Modi to power with a huge margin in this 2019 election is a clear verdict for the Hindutva plank. Why and how it happened leave us, the secular billions, to … Continue reading Return of Hindutva: A Challenge for Secularism →

The excerpt below is translated by DARSHAN SUBRAMANIAM. The note that follows is by J Devika. Followers and disciples of Sree Narayana Guru make a pilgrimage to Sivagiri every year on the first of January. The first pilgrimage took place on January 1, 1933. Only five people took part then. Inception On January 19, 1928, … Continue reading Against Aachaaram: Srinarayana Guru →