Social and spatial segregation is a significant aspect of inequality worldwide, influenced by factors such as neoliberalism and capitalism. However, it would not be right to attribute it solely to these forces. Historical factors, including caste systems and their associated notions of purity and pollution, have long contributed to territorial divisions. Despite Ambedkar’s belief that urbanization and the anonymity it brings would dismantle the caste system, this has not been borne out in reality. Urban planning still implicitly reinforces caste lines, with disadvantaged communities bearing the brunt of environmental burdens associated with industrialization. As urban areas expand, lower-caste groups face structural and spatial injustices, exacerbated by the deliberate placement of polluting industries and garbage dumps near resettlement areas. As Ambedkar stated, nature is casteized, and the allocation of land and spaces reinforces traditional discrimination through institutional biases. This research specifically focuses on the largest garbage dump in the city of Chennai, South India, known as Kodungaiyur, spanning 350 acres. This area is home to approximately 50,000 people, predominantly Dalits. Adjacent to the dumpsite is a housing board occupied by slum dwellers who were forcibly evicted from various parts of the city. The historical association of dirt and pollution with Dalits and Dalit bodies is being reproduced even today through various ways like dumping such toxic waste at their place of residence. Even when they settle down in other places, they are forcefully displaced and deprived from living through other forms of livelihood, and they end up doing cleaning or garbage management–related work or become rag pickers. Although the garbage landfill lacks legal approval, it operates under the Chennai Corporation, with around 2,500 tonnes of waste being dumped there daily. Despite politicians making empty promises to remove the dumpsite, it has been in operation for nearly 35 years. The research aims to shed light on the institutional and spatial discrimination endured by Dalit communities in North Chennai. Employing an ethnographic approach and using the lens of urban political ecology, this study seeks to understand the sociopolitical issues faced by the residents of this area. The study focuses on how these spaces are produced and how this spatial discrimination reproduces the social discrimination and hierarchy through institutional means.

This article discusses the findings of a qualitative study conducted in a village in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, where members of the Vani caste hold dominant positions in the village institutions. The study mapped the various dimensions of power relations, which are based on the higher social positions of certain groups in the caste hierarchy. From a theoretical perspective, this study strengthens the concept of caste and its link to Craig Jeffrey’s concept of social capital by examining how caste, particularly in rural India, shapes individuals’ social networks, opportunities and access to resources. In the global village of the twenty-first century, from the perspective of caste studies, the study suggests that even today the higher the social status of a caste group, the greater the power exercised by that group in the social, political and economic spheres. The different strategies used by the Vani caste to retain their power and dominance are discussed in this article.

Indian literature is short of translators, and this shortage is felt in regional works. The impact of translations is evident: Without A. K. Ramanujan, there would be no Sangam literature today. No doubt, there remains a scarcity, and as a result, folk poets, writers and dramatists stay at the margins. One such writer is Gorakh Prasad Mastana, whose epics are neglected despite their important themes and content. Building on the aforementioned points, this article examines how epics of Mastana remain at the margins due to a lack of translators. Simultaneously, the paper will compare Dalit aesthetics, especially Gurram Jashuva’s Gabbilam , with Kalidasa’s Meghdootam . The hypothesis will delve into Tathagata , Punyapathi and Ekalavya , and then compare these works with Korean and Chinese social strata to examine the impact on writers from excluded communities. The research questions will ask why Dalit writers are excluded. Is the lack of translators the only reason? Or is there any lack of writings from Dalits, or are they not given due importance? The conclusion will establish that Dalit writers and translators must be given due importance so they can achieve the same level of name and fame as other writers. The conclusion explains that if folk writers get translators, then regional writers such as Bhikhari Thakur, Dayachand Mayna and Deichand Sankhol will gain new readership, and a new discourse will begin, opening new avenues.

The persistence of caste-related jobs in India, despite constitutional safeguards and modernization, underscores deep-rooted structural disparities. One such occupation is manual scavenging, and due to being ostracized even by other Dalit groups, manual scavengers face significant social exclusion. A task force chaired by S. K. Basu made its first recommendations for rehabilitation in 1991. The efforts for the liberation and rehabilitation of manual scavengers were formally started with the enactment of legislation in 1993, although many studies and reports have pointed out the inadequacies of these initiatives. Although numerous government initiatives have been introduced to assist in the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, there is a scarcity of empirical studies regarding their real impact and effectiveness in Rajasthan. This study explores the gaps in the implementation of rehabilitation schemes for manual scavengers with a mixed-method research design and an ethnographic field study of 85 respondents. The district is one of the case study sites where the largest number of manual scavengers were identified in the 2011 census in the state of Rajasthan. Yet there were no surveys conducted by the state administration. The main argument centres on the insufficient information within the entire sanitation workers’ community, which needs to be addressed. Recognizing these gaps can help develop more inclusive policy design and implementation strategies that align with our aim of fulfilling constitutional goals of social justice and living with dignity.

India is one of the most diverse lands with multiple religions, cultures and languages, which simultaneously exist and are in conflict with each other. The country is known for its social distinctiveness, and the caste system is a crucial component of the Hindu social order. Dalits were denied pen because of the caste system, and due to this circumscription towards education, they lack a recorded history. Their history was mainly oral. Dr B. R. Ambedkar placed emphasis on literature as a potent tool to combat the caste system. Dalit literature is that annexe of Indian literature that emerged through suffering and destitution of Dalits, and it served as an expression of the Dalit’s social, cultural, economic, political and religious subjugation. It is a revolution by the Dalits which was used by them as a powerful weapon to share their experience. This article throws ample light on the evolution of Dalit literature in Maharashtra and West Bengal. It comes up with the contribution of different writers and thinkers to the development of modern Dalit literature. It also gives a detailed account of the background of Dalit literature in both West Bengal and Maharashtra; the rise of the Dalit Panthers; various upsurges of the Dalit movements; and the role of Sri Harichand Thakur, Sri Guruchand Thakur and Ambedkar’s ideology in the emergence of the Dalit literature.

Using a cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-method approach and a multi-stage random sampling procedure, this study measured the well-being-based, site-specific Quality of Life Index (QoLI) among 300 Indigenous agrarian households across 12 representative rural villages located within different adaptation zones of the Indian Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, a fragile, agriculture-based region in Southeast Asia. However, none of the studies focused on the well-being-based site-specific quality of life among the entire tribal communities in this fragile ecosystem. Human capital index, physical capital index, financial capital index and housing index are the four main dimensions that make up the QoLI. Twenty-seven indicators that are connected to the four dimensions of QoLI have been chosen for this study. By lowering the dimensionality of the data set, principal component analysis was used to find and examine the major causes of QoLI. The four QoLI dimensions show spatial variation between villages. The Shyamnagar village from the Kultali community development (CD) block received the lowest level of QoLI. On the other hand, the highest level of QoLI was received in Katamari village from Kultali CD block (moderate adaptation zone). A low level of concentration of QoLI (<0.300) has been found in two villages, namely Gangasagar from Sagar CD block (low adaptation zone) and Shyamnagar from Kultali CD block (moderate adaptation zone). On the other hand, a high level of concentration of quality-of-life status (>0.32) has been found in six villages, namely Khasramkarerchak, Palpur, Tetultala, Chanpali Abad, Katamari and Gabbaria. By implementing the necessary policies, regional planners and policymakers can use these findings to help transform villages with extremely low and low quality of life into areas with moderate to high quality of life. The approach adopted in this study can be effectively implemented at various scales in other regions of India and other lower-middle-income countries.

Within the context of complex policy challenges related to land access and resource management, Gujarat’s Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) is a distinctive and ecologically significant landscape. A multitude of natural resources, such as brine, salt deposits and wildlife, can be found in the LRK saline flatlands. Historically, the De-notified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs), who have relied on the area for their customary practices and means of subsistence, have had access to these resources. Nonetheless, a number of governmental, administrative, social and economic measures have combined to make it harder to access the LRK recently. Much of the LRK is now off-limits to the public due to the wild ass sanctuary designation by the government. Furthermore, the privatization of substantial land areas has resulted from the growing number of commercial salt production operations, which has further restricted access for local communities. These access restrictions have greatly affected the DNTs’ livelihoods, culture and human rights, who have relied on the LRK. Due to forced relocation, many DNTs have lost access to essential resources and had their traditional practices disrupted. They were also forced to give up their nomadic and semi-nomadic life. The LRK presents policymakers with opportunities to address land access and resource management issues. By doing so, they can guarantee that the natural resources of the area are managed in a way that upholds local communities’ rights and means of subsistence while simultaneously fostering the long-term sustainability of this distinctive and priceless ecosystem.

In this article, I examine eight autobiographies of women and Dalits, published close to 100 years apart, with specific attention to literacy practices. Paying close attention to life narratives of the marginalized in literacy studies serves three purposes—brings the children’s experiences (home and schooling) to the centre of educational and literacy discourse, making possible reflection on silences and gaps; brings focus on pedagogy as much as on content; and lastly, helps teachers to connect with children and their life worlds. Some questions that are explored in the article are: What does reading mean to children, especially from the marginalized communities; how does being a girl or a Dalit intersect with schooling and reading experience; how and where do the children access stories and storybooks; and what is the prevalent pedagogy of reading and what are the alternatives. The four themes that I discuss in the article are pedagogy of reading; reading as both an awakening and a burden; the intimate relationship between schooling, learning and punishments; and lastly, the stories heard and storybooks read by the authors.

This article contextualizes South Africa’s men’s cricket test team’s historic victory in the third edition of the ICC World Test Championship and its embodiment of social justice. By positioning this win, achieved under the leadership of a black African, Temba Bavuma, within the post-colonial Indian setting, the article argues that South Africa’s previous failures in ICC tournaments have been deliberately promoted within the dominant discourse by Hindu right-wing and upper-caste elites to undermine affirmative action, such as reservations. However, Bavuma’s success under the quota policy has challenged the narrative that affirmative action undermines meritocracy, thereby sparking a renewed debate around reservation in Indian cricket. Especially with the Indian government’s plan to conduct a caste-based census in 2026, the upcoming Bihar state election offers an opportunity for socialist leaders across the political spectrum, such as Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav and Prashant Kishore, to popularize the discourse around reservation in cricket in a genuine effort to achieve complete social equity from this land of social justice movement.