In recent times, several instances of violence against Dalits have brought back India’s focus on caste discrimination. Such instances also dent the claims of progress that Dalits have made with regard to their social and economic conditions. How does one reconcile that even in 2016 Dalits are subjected to violence with the fact that the country has implemented myriad programmes and schemes for their betterment? And what about the whole gamut of constitutional provisions that guarantee their basic rights? Where is the disconnect? In the first episode of CPR’s podcast, ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Senior Fellow D Shyam Babu on issues ranging from his work celebrating Dalit Entrepreneurs in Defying the Odds (co-authored with Devesh Kapur and Chandra Bhan Prasad) to the current spate of anti-Dalit violence, and the way forward.

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