The Social Lens: Insights on Institutions, Inequality, and Innovation

Indian social system is influenced by Dharamshahstras, which call for the Chaturvarnashram system created by Brahmins and Kshhatriyas. Any social movements defines opposition classes or groups, generally exploiter and exploited but dalit movement is based against the classical notion of “purity and pollution” and the notion of purity and pollution comes from the individual’s birth in a family i.e., totally ascriptive in nature. Dalit movements challenge it as Periyar challenged the Brahminical hegemony in cultural, social, religious and political spheres. challenging the Brahminical notion of hierarchy was the first step in Dalit movements through Temple Entry Movement, social justice movement etc. These movements talked for the enforcement of freedom, justice, liberty in the place of ritualistic traditional system where humans are deprived of basic rights to live decent life. Therefore, these movements were giving the model for alternate society based on ‘modern’ and rational...

Maithili is the language of Mithila, a cultural region of two historical dynasties in the North-Eastern part of India but no longer a distinct political entity. According to Grierson, it lies to the north of the Ganges, to the east of the Gandak river, to the west of the Kosi river, and to the south of the Himalayas (thus falling primarily in the Indian state of Bihar but including some territory in Nepal). Harimohan Jha, known as renaissance man of Mithila, wrote the book “Khattar kakak tarang” in 1948 and discusses about many things from food behaviour to dharmashastra to veda to philosophy to character of various gods to various cultural idioms of mithilanachal. His view are also very diverse as feminism, scientific temper, rationality, class and caste etc are prevalent in his writings. In the preface, Harimohan Jha describes the protagonist of the book khttar kaka as being named neo-charvak by the local people.  Khattar kaka sees everything with a doubt and applies inqu...

Karl Marx and Engles postulates a nation-less society based upon pan-human communalism. The various divisions in the society like politics, religion, ethnicity etc prevent man from realising his species being, wherein his true fulfillment lies. The real destiny of man is to be free of the constraints imposed by these divisions and also by any social roles and at the same time some ‘hidden hand’ will automatically incorporate him in a harmonious universal community.  However, they did not elaborated about this hidden hand. Class is the key to understand the mechanics of human alienation and human liberation.(Why? obvious reasons). So it is both noxious and historically relevant. The other category which suffers from the double indignity of being both noxious and unimportant is proletariat and it will liberate mankind from the class endowed society altogether. The single most crucial and disastrous error in Marxist system is the supposition that communist societies will not ...

In Spain, Franco started Spanish league to deviate people’s attention from the autocratic polity of the state and he made it sure to have five matches in a week. In the last Cricket world Cup, all Indian offices were closed for the semifinal match between India and Pakistan. The modern nation-state tries to enforce a consciousness of “we-ness” among the people living in a demarcated territory. The passion attached to these events creates a shared consciousness which is beyond the reach of any traditional identity. These forms of consciousness can be very easily attached to a nation state. So, nation becomes the supra-consciousness among the people and all other consciousness sometimes merged into it or accommodated within it. But, despite having this kind of consciousness, why the same nation again engaged into different forms of violent action and why the professed “civil religion” disappears? is it a temporary consciousness or contested space? is the notion of nationalism is un...