Dhananjay Rai

The Violence in Our Bones: Mapping the Deadly Fault Lines within Indian Society by Neera Chandhoke, New Delhi: Aleph, 2021; pp 288, `699.

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Map as Critical Pedagogy

Vol. 56, Issue No. 26-27, 26 Jun, 2021

Dhananjay Rai

Maharashtra (Nature Society Series) by Yemuna Sunny, Bhopal: Eklavya, 2020; ₹80.

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Gujarat State Higher Education Council Bill

Vol. 52, Issue No. 13, 01 Apr, 2017

Dhananjay Rai

The Gujarat State Higher Education Council Bill, 2016 proposes a centralised system to govern and control institutions of higher learning by taking implicit recourse to the Central Universities of India (Teaching, Research and Administration) Bill, 2013 and explicit recourse to the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan. The proposed bill avoids discussing any imperilment of the prevalent “academics’ atrophy” while ensuing “academic atrophy” and “atrophy of homogeneity.” This is followed by “atrophy of episteme” by way of deciding a priori research topics in universities.

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Disappearance of the Study of 'Politics'

Vol. 49, Issue No. 31, 02 Aug, 2014

Dhananjay Rai

The eclipse of the discipline of political studies in India's new central universities exhibits a lack of disciplinary purpose. The purpose of the discipline of political studies is to inform us about a political community, while "applied political studies" reduces it to a functional utility. Under the neo-liberal conception of education, utility dominates vision, and there is a misplaced emphasis on "what to study in" over "why to study" politics.

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Denotification of the Rathvas as Adivasis in Gujarat

Vol. 49, Issue No. 6, 08 Feb, 2014

Arjun Rathva, Dhananjay Rai, N Rajaram

The Gujarat government recently issued an order denotifying the Rathvas as a tribe ostensibly because their school records show them to be Hindus. The government's argument is that the Rathvas cannot be adivasis if they are Hindus. What makes the move ominous is that the Chhota Udepur region inhabited by the Rathvas is mineral-rich and laws that protect adivasi rights come in the way of corporate exploitation of these resources. The order could also set a precedent to threaten adivasis elsewhere who protest against the loot of natural resources in their areas.