The Hindu On Books The Hindu

Celebrated as the Dalit History Month, April is the time to reflect upon Dalit literature. There are many books in multiple Indian languages that raise issues related to caste and casteist patriarchy, oppression of the marginalised communities and their quest for equality.
The Dalit history month was started in India in 2015 by a group of young women activists who came together to assert their rights and resistance to the existing class conscious system.
April also commemorates the birth of Babasaheb Ambedkar besides celebrating and honouring the prominent figures of the community who have contributed to the Dalit movement.
Dalit literature has its origins in the exploitation, persecution and exclusion of Dalits. The subjugation also gave birth to people who fought against race and ethnicity and championed civil rights movements. Treated as a strong and separate category of literature, the documentation of Dalit history and experiences lent a new voice to a more inclusive understanding of the community.
There are many books that have ushered in fresh perspectives for empowering those who have challenged oppression for social equality and human dignity. The books included in the podcast and the Bibliography are:
1. Annihilation of Caste and The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables by Dr.B R Ambedkar
2. Ambedkar: A Life by Shashi Tharoor
3. Harijan by Gopinath Mohanty
4. Baluta by Daya Pawar
5. When I Hid My Caste by Baburao Bagul
6. Jina Amucha by Baby Kamble
7. Karukku by Bama
8. Koolamaathaari by Perumal Murugan
9. Chandal Jibon by Manoranjan Byapari
10. Joothan by Omprakash Valmiki

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

Ram Vilas Paswan was a steady presence in national politics for more than four decades. He has held Cabinet posts in several governments, including stints in key ministries such as Railways and Telecom. He is one of the faces associated with the historic implementation of the Mandal Commission report on OBC reservations. As someone adept at sensing shifts in political climate before others could, he was able to make the most of his political capital. But what is the nature of his legacy as a Dalit leader?

A new biography, titled ‘Ram Vilas Paswan: The Weathervane of Indian Politics’ by Sobhana K Nair offers a nuanced answer to this question.

Brinda Karat has been working with the CPI(M) for the last 53-years. And this memoir by her is primarily about the ten-years from imposition of emergency in 1975 till 1985 when she lived under the assumed name of Rita. It is also a story of a young upper middle class girl, who left her job with Air India in London to join the communist movement and struggles of working as a woman activist & politician. The book also chronicles stories of common workers, trade unionists and their struggles during the emergency years.  

Most of us would remember the sudden shortage of semiconductor chips during the pandemic – how it affected automobile manufacturing, delaying deliveries, and in many cases, even caused manufacturers to deliver cars without some features. But semiconductors form an integral component of not just cars but almost any high tech device we use today – from smartphones and laptops to televisions, satellites and, of course, all kinds of advanced military hardware.
As nations jockey for geopolitical dominance, in addition to traditional factors such as military capabilities and economic power, technological prowess has become another, and perhaps most critical factor. Control over the manufacture and availability of the most advanced semiconductors is a key element of geopolitical security and strategic autonomy.
And yet, geopolitics and semiconductor supply chains have mostly figured in separate debates. A new book, titled ‘When the Chips are Down’, by Pranay Lotasthane and Abhiram Manchi brings the two parallel discourses together, and also presents a framework for understanding where India fits into the picture.

We speak with the authors Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi. 

What are black holes? Mainstream physics sees them as Universe’s ultimate agents of death; afterall, what crosses over beyond the rim of the black hole – or its event horizon as it is known – disappears forever. Even all pervasive light cannot escape it. Science also shows that the universe is littered with billions upon billions of enormous black holes, capable of swallowing entire galaxies. But are they really the Universe’s cosmic executioners? Not necessarily, suggests Carlo Rovelli, one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and prolific author of extremely accessible and thoughtful popular-books on modern physics. In his latest book, ‘White Holes', Professor Rovelli, discusses, well, so called ‘white holes.’ They may be the yin to the black holes’s yang, or as Rovelli describes it in Tolkienisque terms --the transformation of ‘Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White.’ In this podcast, we also talk about the role of scientific speculation, how scientific progress requires abandoning comforting assumptions, how new universes may be born, and whether we need to re-evaluate our commonly held notions of past and future. 

Did you know that women were barred from public gallery of the British Parliament. Some 245 years back in 1778 women were thrown out of the public gallery of the House of Common. Fighting against their exclusion, the women began to listen in to the proceedings sitting close to the to the ventilator-shafts of the Parliament. And they continued to do this for 56-years, till the British Parliament was burnt down in accidental fire, a in the new Palace of Westminster, a ladies gallery was constructed. Women had to fight a long battle in Britian for voting rights. We in India take pride, that we have always had universal franchise. But has it been really that simple? Especially for the women politicians. We discuss the trials and tribulations of women in politics with author Nidhi Sharma who chronicles the life of 17 women leaders in her book - She, The Leader: Women In Indian Politics.