Monthly Archives: May 2025
DSN UK Welcomes Change: The Tamil Nadu government in India amends rules prohibiting caste discrimination in prisons
21st May 2025
DSN UK warmly welcomes the news item from The Hindu a prominent News paper that says’ “A sub-rule introduced in the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, 2024, said manual scavenging or hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank inside a prison should not be undertaken, in line with the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.” This amendment prohibits the question on caste on the form to be filled in the Prisons and Correction Centres in Tamil Nadu.
At a time when the current BJP government in India is trying to bring back the Descent based work that will promote employment based on caste which will hike caste based discrimination.
DSN UK is Recruiting a part-time Programme Officer
16th May 2025
DSN UK Endorses NSS’ Letter: Free speech and caste discrimination concerns
16th May 2025
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DSN UK Congratulates Critical Dance Studies Scholar Professor Royona Mitra!
7th May 2025
The new monograph Unmaking Contact: Choreographing South Asian Touch was published last month by Oxford University Press. The cover design is by “Rukminee Guha Thakurta, Letterpress Studio. Critical dance studies scholar Royona Mitra (Brunel University of London) says that it has taken ten years to birth this project and its publication coincided with the unexpected departure of her beloved mother who has played an integral role in many ways to this work, as Royona says, ‘in ways she will now never know’. Royona also notes that this publication aligns with “a devastating time in UK universities as we contend with precarities, redundancies, and become the fulcrum of political culture wars…” we wish that the joy of this publication brings abundant blessings to her, the student communities who will interact with her work and engage with the concerns that are close to her heart, especially in relation to “Cast out Caste” efforts from universities. .
We congratulate the dance artists – Akila, Diya Naidu, Nahid Siddiqui, and LaWhore Vagistan – whose words and works are integral to this project. We look forward to an online book launch in early autumn in the new academic year.