Research Radio

In 2012, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India reported in Parliament that the government inefficiently allocated coal blocks and caused a loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 1.8 lakh crore. The period from 2010 to the national elections in 2014 was when “the allocation of natural resources to mainstream economic sectors, especially mining, was politicised like never before.” What did this pr...

Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal challenged Brahminical literature and sought to reconstruct a caste-less society through his works. This podcast is based on the article Namdeo Dhasal’s new language that was published in EPW journal on 27th October, 2018. Yogesh is a poet, columnist, writer and founder of Panther’s Paw Publication. He is also a PhD scholar at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He is...

Gail Omvedt has published more than 50 articles in EPW . This includes sharp book reviews, innovative research work and critical responses to articles published in the journal. After her death, EPW published reflective articles to understand her contributions. To take this a step further, and to commemorate her legacy, we felt that it could be useful to take a behind-the-scenes look at her researc...

In their bid to maintain political visibility, various factions of the Republican Party of India have struck up alliances with "secular" and "non-secular" parties. They have not adequately utilised the progressive undercurrents of the Dalit consciousness to connect with other deprived communities to form a dynamic coalition. This podcast is based on the article Dalit Politics in Maharashtra that w...

Women spend more than three times as much time performing unpaid domestic work than men in India based on 2019 NSSO data. This means women get less time to pursue paid work, learn new skills, get rest, and more. This disproportionate division of labour remains unrecognised. Indian courts, however, have attempted to value women’s unpaid domestic work in cases where women have died or become disable...

In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an ambitious plan to achieve universal health coverage in India: by covering medical expenses upto Rs 5 lakh per family for one in every three Indians. The government called the scheme Ayushman Bharat and also promised to revamp the primary health care system alongside the insurance coverage. How has the Ayushman Bharat scheme fared? Scholars Sylvia K...

The classroom can be a space for us to engage in deep learning, rigorous  debate, collaboration and critical thinking. It’s a space where our  senses can be active and nourished. However, entry into the classroom  has been historically limited to upper-caste cis men. What happens when  these exclusions are challenged? This is a bonus episode of Research  Radio, where P Thi...

From academic writing to social media, Dr Ambedkar’s scholarship and  actions are receiving renewed attention due to the efforts by Dalit-Bahujan scholars and thinkers. This special programme produced by EPW is one specific example of this. Our  guest today has been writing on Dr Ambedkar for several decades, and  has more recently focused on frameworks on how to read Ambedkar....

Dr B R Ambedkar has written extensively about economics and  development. Along with proposing landmark legislations, he was also  attentive to the impact of policies on those from marginalised castes  and on women. Our guests will examine the policy landscape in and focus on two landmark programmes— the National Food Security Act’s  provisions for maternity entitlements and th...

What does it take to build unity among the working class? We'll explore how Dr Ambedkar led movements in the Konkan region against khots , or landlords, who gave unfair remunerations to tenants, and in the Bombay Presidency in favour of garnering humane working conditions for the working class, including mill workers. Santosh Suradkar is our guest for this week. Dr Suradkar teaches at the Departme...

What steps did Ambedkar take to counter patriarchy and the  caste-based order? Why should laws specifically consider caste in  addressing incidents of violence? What role have upper-caste women  played in furthering the women's movement in India? These  are a few of the questions that Abhinaya Ramesh explores on this week's  episode of Research Radio. Professor Ramesh is a...

What are the implications of studying Dr Ambedkar’s texts in an Indian public university? What are the multiple forms of violence that caste thrives on, and how are these contested? What is the importance of naming, particularly the use of the terms "Harijan," "Scheduled Caste" and "Dalit"? These are a few of the questions that Parthasarathi Muthukkaruppan explores on this week's episode of Resear...

Thanthai Periyar and B R Ambedkar shared several similarities in their  analysis of Indian society. However, they held different views on the  nation-state, and women's sexuality, among other areas. V Geetha joins  us to discuss Dr Ambedkar and Periyar's thought. She also details Dr Ambedkar's views on fraternity, political change, Savarnas, the law. Dr Geetha is a feminist historia...

Welcome to the first part of our new Research Radio special programme. This series will focus on Dr B R Ambedkar, and his mission of achieving “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.” For the next two months, every Wednesday, we’ll learn about Dr Ambedkar’s thoughts and actions from scholars across disciplines— from history, to literary studies and  economics. Through this series, we hope to...

"Hindu culture and the caste system," writes Gail Omvedt in her EPW article on Jotirao Phule in 1971 "rested upon Brahmanism; hence Phule, who aimed for the complete destruction of caste, superstition and inequality  within Indian tradition, linked his thought with a movement of opposition to the Brahman elite." On Phule’s birth anniversary, we’ll  discuss his writing on caste, class, an...

Debates over caste-based reservations in India consistently make  front-page news. Dominant political parties and the judiciary perform  vital roles in ensuring the implementation of this measure to address  historic and enduring injustices, social exclusion, and deep-seated  inequality in favour of Savarna castes in India. How well has the  judiciary fared in ensuring tha...

Let’s turn back the clock to a century ago. We’re in 1923 and the  Bombay Legislative Council has just passed a resolution enabling Dalits to access public places like wells and water tanks. Four years later in  1927, however, Savarnas continued to prevent Dalits from accessing drinking water. On 20 March that year, Babasaheb Ambedkar led a public demonstration where Dalits collectively...

Government school teachers are often blamed for the poor state of public education in India. Some scholars and commentators claim that they are incompetent, absent from classrooms, and overpaid, particularly when compared to teachers in the private sector. We’ll investigate if this is true. Protiva Kundu joins us this week to discuss the state of India’s public education system by focusing on teac...

The strict lockdown announced last March was followed by an increase in violence against women and girls by cis-men, and particularly violence in the ostensibly sacred and safe space of the home. Today we’ll ask—how can domestic violence be prevented? Poonam Kathuria and Jasoda Rana join us on Research Radio to discuss their efforts to support survivors. Jasoda Rana is a counselor with  Viole...

“Wash your hands with soap for twenty seconds and wear masks." S uch reminders have become ubiquitous since the start of the COVID-19  pandemic. Hospitals are supposed to be the flag bearers of hygienic practices to curb the spread of infectious diseases. Today, we’ll ask if public hospitals in India are hygienic. We will speak to Payal Hathi and Nikhil Srivastav about how caste-based-discrim...

Two decades ago, a survey found that only about one in four Adivasis in Tamil Nadu's Gudalur town were literate and the rate among women was  even lower. Adivasi student enrollment in specialised public schools was extremely low and the conditions of the schools were far from adequate. “Non-Adivasi teachers and staff showed little empathy or  concern for the Adivasi children,” write...

South Asia has witnessed vibrant movements against patriarchy and the caste system. However, these struggles have historically been fought separately, and at worse, in competing ways. Despite this, Dalit feminists have underscored the need to view caste and patriarchal systems as functioning in tandem. Rekha Raj joins us to discuss her article "Dalit Women as Political Agents." Raj is a Dalit femi...

Despite having one of the largest food security programmes in the world, why are Indians overwhelmingly going hungry? Last October, India slipped to the 94th position among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index, behind several neighbours including Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. We have a lot of ground to cover in this episode, and we’ll delve deeper into the public distribution system th...

At best, only three in ten Indians are vegetarians, and more realistically less than two in ten are vegetarians. Yet, India is often portrayed as a land of vegetarians in popular culture. Our guests will probe this representation, and reveal how vegetarianism varies across caste, religion, class, gender, state and time.  We will speak to Balmurli Natarajan and Suraj Jacob about the polit...

Indian society is suited to meet the needs of certain kinds of bodies over others that are deemed disabled. This is made clear in multiple ways: right from how buildings are designed to the types of appearances that are idealised. However, there are important ways in which people with disabilities have contested attempts to sideline their rights. This week we’ll speak to Renu Addlakha about w...