The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India

Simhadri Somanaboina is former Professor at Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He was associated with the Dept of Geography and Geoinformatics for 35 years. He has published on development studies, urban, regional and environmental studies and geo-informatics. His interest has been social activism and the marginalised people. He has published books on internal colonization of Telangana, election atlas and caste studies and has been associated with anti-caste movements and movement for a separate Telangana state for over three decades. Akhileshwari Ramagoud is an award-winning journalist and a teacher for 40-odd years. She was Deccan Herald’s Foreign Correspondent based in Washington DC, USA, and as its Special Correspondent for Andhra Pradesh based in Hyderabad. She taught at the Dept. of Communication and Journalism in Osmania University and in Loyola Academy, Secunderabad, Telangana, India. She has published several research papers on media studies in national and international journals.

Foreword by Christophe Jaffrelot. Introduction PART I: THOUGHT AND IDEOLOGY 1. The Backward God: Gautam Buddha’s Liberative Agenda for the OBCs 2. Contesting Caste: The Revolutionary Movement of the Sant-Poets 3. The Thought and Ideology of Jotirao Phule 4. Claiming Savitribai Phule: Life and Times of a Forgotten Liberator 5. Shahu Maharaj and OBC Empowerment in Maharashtra 6. Dr Ambedkar and Annihilation of Caste 7. Narayana Guru and Formation of Political Society in Kerala: A Contemporary Critique 8. E V Ramasami Periyar on Caste-Society & Category-wise Rights 9. Dr. Lohia’s Socialist Thought and Powering People PART II: OBC MOVEMENTS10. Introduction: OBCs and Social Justice 11. Mandal, Mandal Commission and Making of an OBC Identity 12. The Other Backward Classes: Pre- and Post-Mandal India 13. Backward Caste Movement: The Tamil Nadu Experience 14. Backward Class Movement in Karnataka 15. Politics and Public Policy of the Dominant Castes towards Backward Classes in Erstwhile Andhra Pradesh: A Critical Analysis from 1956-2014 16. OBC Movement in Maharashtra: Reclaiming the Bahujan legacy 17. OBC Leadership & Electoral Politics in Uttar Pradesh 18. Understanding Backward Caste Movement in Contemporary Bihar 19. The Other Backward Classes in Bengal: Exclusion, Exploitation and Empowerment PART III: OBC DEVELOPMENT AND POLICIES 20. Contextualizing the Backward Classes Discourse 21. Modernization, Social Exclusion and Empowerment of Other Backward Classes in India: A Study of Gujarat 22. Other Backward Classes and State Policies in Uttar Pradesh 23. The Status of Muslim OBCs in India: Inclusion/Exclusion of Muslim OBCs in the Process of Modernisation and Development in Post-Independent India 24. Status of Backward Caste Artisans in India: An Appraisal 25. Entrenched Inequality among OBC Women of India: A Narrative of Telangana 26. The Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities of Telangana: A Ground Report 27. Media in India: Free to Exclude? 28. The OBC vote in North India: Trends and Patterns