This book provides a comprehensive overview of caste in contemporary India. With contributions from scholars like Valerian Rodrigues, B. B. Mohanty, Surinder Jodhka, Anand Teltumbde, Professor Vivek Kumar etc., it discusses wide-ranging themes like the trajectory of caste in post-independence India; Dalits and cultural identity; the paradox of being a Dalit woman; caste violence and social mobility; Ambedkar's quest for the right of social equality; social security for inclusive development of Dalits; discrimination and exclusion of Dalits in education; and Dalit merit and institutional injustice, and presents an overview of the struggles for distributive justice in India.
This volume will be of importance to scholars and researchers of Dalit studies, social justice, exclusion studies, caste studies, affirmative action, political studies, sociology, social anthropology, and South Asian politics.
About the Author: N Sukumar teaches Political Science at Delhi University. His area of interest includes Indian Political Thought, Ambedkar and Dalit Bahujan Studies, Human Rights and Social Exclusion. Currently, he is engaged with the study of caste discrimination in Indian universities and on Dalit Citizenship. He is also member/advisor for many professional bodies in many Central Universities and other institutions. For his research credit he owns one international Project on 'Dalits and Well Being' (Indo-Swiss ICSSR Research Project), Two major research Projects one on 'Student Politics in Central Universities', (Funded by UGC), and the second one is on 'Exclusion and Discrimination in Higher Education', (Funded by ICSSR), One Sponsored Project on 'University as a sight of Exclusion', (Funded by ICSSR). He also conducted two research projects one on 'Panchayati Raj' and another on 'Atrocities on Dalits' in association with Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Delhi. He has published widely in research journals, blogs etc and has been involved in both national and international research studies on poverty and public institutions, migration and caste-based atrocities. Apart from the classroom, he is also actively involved in grassroots peoples' struggles.
Paul D'Souza, after completing his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi served at various institutes in Gujarat in diverse capacities. Since 2013 he was with Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, first as Research Director and then working as Head of the Department, Dalit Studies. Indian Social Institute established in 1951, is a premier Centre for Research, Training and Action for Socio-Economic Development and Human Rights in India.
His areas of interest and engagement have been marginalization and development; city and caste. He has engaged with a number of research projects ranging from the urban poor, half-widows of Kashmir, migrants in urban resettlement colonies, 'unclean' occupations and dalit communities, etc. His current research engagements focus on 'exclusion in education of the children from the marginalized communities in India'. He has a number of years of experience working at the grassroots with marginalized communities. He has published articles in various journals and has contributed articles to several edited volumes.
