Cooperative Federalism or Unitary State?

Samuel Philip Mathew

In January 2015, ahead of its first full-fledged budget, the present NDA Government at the Centre had announced the scrapping of the Planning Commission. The announcement of a NITI Aayog to replace the Planning Commission was a regressive step which further pushed the country into a market driven economy and privatization in all spheres, at the expense of diluting even the inadequate schemes aimed at improving people’s welfare that existed then. Whatever role the Planning Commission had in allocating resources for the public sector and deploying public investment keeping in mind the regional disparities has now ended.

Book Review: Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development By Dr. BR Ambedkar

Nitheesh Narayanan

100 years have passed since the audience of Columbia University listened to the presentation of the paper “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development” by Dr. BR Ambedkar in an Anthropology seminar on 9^th May 1916. This, probably, will be the first academic work of Ambedkar on Caste. The paper carries on relevance even after one century of advanced developments, research bombarding and the experiences of changing social characteristics. It is this relevance that keeps the work significant, while studying the Caste system in India. It is also a powerful account of Ambedkar’s understanding of different social problems. Reading this text is also an active engagement at the time of heated debate around ‘appropriating Ambedkar.’