Skip to main content

Posts

Dalit-Muslim segregation in Gujarat 'more complex than it appears'

This blog is in continuation of one of my previous blogs , in which I quoted a retired Gujarat cadre IAS bureaucrat telling me that I ought to stop using the word “Dalit” because it is “derogatory.” He advised me instead to use the “constitutional term, Scheduled Caste (SC).” This was in reference to my earlier story , titled India's Muslims' and Dalits' segregation levels are almost similar to the US Black-White segregation, based on a Chicago study.
Post a Comment
»
Recent posts

World Bank wants India to rethink industrial subsidies, fix structural gaps

A major new policy research report published by the World Bank Group has raised pointed questions about India's current industrial strategy, warning that the country's flagship Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme may be working against its own economic strengths — and that deeper structural reforms are urgently needed.
Post a Comment
»

Dalit, Harijan, or SC: What's behind 'renaming' former untouchables

Recently, I wrote a story titled "India's Muslim, Dalit segregation nears US Black-White levels: Chicago study", based on a working paper authored by Sam Asher, Kiritarth Jha, Paul Novosad, Anjali Adukia, and Brandon Tan. The paper documents how Scheduled Caste (SC) and Muslim communities in India are concentrated in neighborhoods with fewer schools, clinics, and basic infrastructure.
Post a Comment
»

U.S. to drop Adani fraud charges after $10 billion investment offer, NYT reports

  The U.S. Justice Department is planning to drop criminal fraud charges against  Gautam Adani , India's richest man, following an unusual private meeting in Washington in which his lawyers offered to invest $10 billion in the American economy if prosecutors closed the case, the  New York Times reported  on May 14.
Post a Comment
»

Aadhaar barrier, bank rigidity 'pushed' Odisha tribal to dig up sister’s remains

When 65-year-old  Jitu Munda  walked into the  Odisha Gramin Bank ’s Malliposhi branch on the afternoon of April 27, carrying a jute sack on his shoulder, no one expected what lay inside. The sack contained the skeletal remains of his sister, Kalra Munda, whom he had buried on January 26.
Post a Comment
»

High Court refused stay, state denied RTI: PUCL’s Chandola report calls out urban authoritarianism

By Rajiv Shah   The Ahmedabad unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has released a detailed field research report titled "Are we not Indians? The Development Politics of Uprooting Citizens and Shattering Lives at  Chandola Lake ," documenting the mass demolitions in the city's periphery that took place between April 27 and May 2, 2025.
Post a Comment
»

Karnataka water governance model faces criticism over large dam-centric climate strategy

  A joint submission by environmental research platform Mapping Malnad and climate coalition SAPACC has raised serious objections to the Karnataka government’s draft climate adaptation and mitigation strategy for the water sector, alleging that several major water infrastructure projects are being “mislabelled” as climate adaptation measures despite worsening ecological and hydrological stress across the state.  The  17-page response , submitted on May 11 to the Government of Karnataka, critiques the State Specific Action Plan on Climate Change (SSAPCC) prepared under the National Water Mission framework and calls for a complete overhaul of the state’s water governance approach.
Post a Comment
»