Latest news with #SamathuvomKanbom
The Hindu
06-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Students taken out for ‘Samathuva Nadai' in Madurai
MADURAI As part of the 'Samathuvom Kanbom,' event organised by Centre for Social Justice and Equity, along with Madras School of Social Work, students of various colleges in the district were taken out for a 'Samathuva Nadai' (equality walk) to some important locations in the city on Tuesday. The rally was inaugurated by Madurai Superintendent of Police B.K. Arvind from Gandhi Memorial Museum. To give the participants a glimpse of the anti-caste movements and notable progressive events that have tad place in the district, the students were taken out to Sevalayam Ashram at Shenoy Nagar, George Joseph statue at Yanaikkal, the place where Mahatma Gandhi renounced western attire, point where the Meenakshi Amman Temple entry movement started among other locations. Writer and journalist Kavin Malar, one of the organisers, said that the motive of the walk was to educate students on the unequal treatment by various sections of people in our society and the sufferings. 'Through this, the students can learn how to treat humans with love and dignity,' she added. When visiting some of the places, the younger generation would learn of caste and how caste-related violence had created a society, she said. 'Many of the privileged section of the people should learn that not all people got everything they wanted and wished. The denial of access to certain things to a certain section of people was the history that should be learned and rectified,' she noted. Writer A. Muthukrishnan, while addressing the students, said that Madurai has a 3,000-year-long history. 'Only by knowing the history of a city or a State can we get connected to its people. Though we travel to many places in a day, we would not recognise any place's importance unless we know about its history,' he added. Madurai where Mahatma Gandhi visited about five times from 1919 to 1945 holds memory of some of the significant events in his life, he noted. Only after witnessing the struggles faced by poor people en route Madurai, he decided to renounce his western attire and started wearing khadi clothes and he undertook this change in Madurai, he recalled. Another significant event of Mahatma which was recalled often was his refusal to enter the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple after hearing that Scheduled Castes people were denied entry into the temple, he elaborated. 'Sevalayam Ashram in Madurai, which was started by Mahatma Gandhi in 1938 for the education and residence of students from underprivileged background, also stands tall in the memory of the leader's fight against the caste discrimination,' said writer and professor Stalin Rajangam. The institution, which was part of his Harijan Seva Sangh Organisation, is one of the 17 existing institutions in the State, he added. Not just the buildings and memorials, streets in the name of leaders like Kakkan, Vaidyanatha Iyer, Jagjivan Ram, Kumara Samy Raja, Sivashanmugam Pillai, remind people of the long history of anti-caste movements and leaders who fought for caste eradication and creation of an equal and just society, he said.
The Hindu
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Samathuva Paravaigal' photo exhibition inaugurated
Madurai Corporation Commissioner Chitra Vijayan inaugurated a 'Samathuva Paarvaigal,' a photo exhibition event at Government Museum in Madurai on Monday. The event which was part of the 'Samathuvom Kanbom,' - an awareness programme conducted by the Centre for Social Justice and Equity of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department and Madras School of Social Work. The exhibition featured pictures of photographers from various parts of the country. Starting from a tribal wedding, the photos depicted wornout slippers of workers, wedding procession of a Dalit youth with heavy police protection, series of newspapers run by Dalit personalities, Zadipatti – a unique form of rural theatre in Maharashtra, among others. J. Balasubramaniam, professor, Journalism Department Madurai Kamaraj University, one of the organisers and who has displayed the newspaper series, said that unlike other government events, the photo exhibition, which was curated by photographers named Steevez Rodriguez and J. Ajay Kumar, was done with an idea of bringing together artists who worked on the life of marginalised people in various parts of the country. As the organisers were aware of how a progressive idea would be conceived when it was just another event where speakers would be preaching the struggles faced by the oppressed people, it was made into a unique photo exhibition which could not be possibly seen in any other government events, he added. 'As we usually look down to see a slipper, here at the exhibit, the photographs of badly wornout slippers taken by photographer Palani Kumar, used by workers of various sectors were hung above,' he noted. Such a perspective would be a different experience to the viewers, Mr. Balasubramaniam said. By allowing them to conceive a different idea, the perspective of the viewers would automatically change to understand the photograph, he pointed out. Another photograph series about a Dalit youth's wedding in Rajasthan which was carried out with a heavy police deployment would have read by many of the people as just some news, he said. But seeing them visually as a life experience, he added that would allow them to think out of the box about the life and the struggles still faced by the Dalit community in the so-called developed world. Writer Stalin Rajangam, another organiser, said that photographs of various political events involving Dalits that have unfolded in the past century were displayed as Artificial Intelligence images. Though the images were AI-generated, it strongly proclaimed the aspirations of several Dalits, he added. 'The justice cut for a chair' displayed Melavalavu Murugesan, a Dalit leader from Melavalavu who was hacked by caste Hindus, as sitting on the chair as a panchayat president. Other displays included uprising for water, a struggle to access public waterbodies, and submission of 1969 untouchability report by Ilayaperumal. Mr. Rajangam noted that though the photographs were a creative idea inspired from real events, in reality, those were aspirations of the Dalits to be treated equal in the caste-ridden society of ours. C. Santhalingam, former archaeologist and secretary of Pandiya Nattu Varalattru Aivu Mayyam, said though there were several top court judgements and laws mandating equality and treatment of all humans as equal, in reality, they were just on papers.
