Top Tweets for #OCWriting

Former CJI Gavai on SC/ST creamy layer “Unfortunately, society, at least the people from the Scheduled Castes, are not ready for that conversation.” “I have been widely criticised by people from my own community for delivering a judgment in favour of the creamy layer in SC/ST reservations.” “Can a boy or girl studying in a gram panchayat or zilla panchayat school compete with my kids who are studying in the top colleges/universities?” “Persons who have reached a particular level, if they continue to enjoy the reservation, that is against the concept of social and economic justice as envisioned by Dr Ambedkar.”

Indian Hindu sect under US probe for exploitation of Dalit workers (oppressed Hindu castes) at NJ temple. Lured from India on religious visas as "skilled artisans". Paid ~$1/hr. Worked 13+ hrs/day. Lived on lentils & potatoes. Confined to site. FBI, DHS & Labor raided the Robbinsville temple. Lawsuit filed.

साहिल वाकोडे के परिजन न्याय की मांग को लेकर धरने पर बैठे हैं, लेकिन पुलिस उन्हें शांतिपूर्ण प्रदर्शन से भी रोक रही है। क्या अपने बच्चे की मौत पर न्याय मांगना अपराध है? प्रशासन को परिवार पर दबाव बनाने के बजाय निष्पक्ष जांच करानी चाहिए और दोषियों पर सख्त कार्रवाई करनी चाहिए। साहिल के परिवार की आवाज़ दबाई नहीं जा सकती। न्याय मिलने तक NSUI परिवार और छात्रों के साथ मजबूती से खड़ी रहेगी। #JusticeForSahilWakode #NSUI

The idiot dad should have considered this before publicly pressing caste discrimination charges with zero proof. Why is the onus on the rest of society to safeguard the image of the boy when his own dad didn't mind dragging himself and everyone through the mud just for a cheap gotcha moment in a ponzi scheme?

I feel so sad that these will be the last public visuals of the boy. IITB should have shared this with the parents and ensured that no ruckus was created. It's all just so unnecessary. While I get that university kids are adults, there needs to be a more empathetic environment to help deal with these situations. I am not all suggesting that the concerned faculty member did/said anything appropriate. But such situations should be dealt with by counsellors first and then the wheels of bureaucracy of the college.

A video of Sahil Wakode (IIT Bombay) allegedly looking at his phone during an examination is now being played repeatedly across media channels, as if those few seconds explain everything that happened afterwards. They do not. For a privileged student, cheating is treated as an individual act. But a Dalit student accused of cheating is rarely allowed to remain an individual. His alleged mistake is used to revive an old casteist prejudice that Dalit students lack merit and do not deserve their place in premier institutions. That was Sahil's immediate identity in our social order. Not simply a student accused of cheating, but a Dalit student accused of cheating. Rohith Vemula had written that a person is reduced to "his immediate identity and nearest possibility." Sahil is now being reduced in precisely this manner. A twenty-year-old human being is being compressed into one allegation, while the circumstances in which he died are pushed out of the frame. The video may help establish whether Sahil violated an examination rule or not. It cannot tell us how he was spoken to, whether casteist words were used, whether he was humiliated or threatened, or whether earlier discrimination existed. Cheating may be wrong and caste discrimination may still be real. One does not disprove the other. Sahil did not have to be a topper, an exceptional scholar or a faultless student for his life to matter. People do not die merely because they fail. They are broken when a failure is turned into their complete identity and every possibility beyond it appears closed. Stop using the video to put Sahil on trial after his death. Investigate what he did, certainly. But more importantly, investigate what was done to him.