Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi formerly known as the Dalit Panthers of India or the Dalit Panthers Iyyakkam is an Indian social movement and political party that seeks to combat caste based discrimination, active in the state of Tamil Nadu. The party also has a strong emphasis on Tamil nationalism. Its chairman is Thol. Thirumavalavan, a lawyer from Chennai and its general secretary is the writer Ravikumar.
Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan, better known as Thol. Thirumavalavan is a political leader, scholar and activist from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is a Member of Parliament from Chidambaram. Founder and President of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. He rose to prominence in the 1990s as a Dalit leader, and formally entered politics in 1999. His political platform centres on ending caste-based discrimination and consequently the caste system. He has also expressed support for Tamil nationalist movements in Sri Lanka.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Tamil Nadu are the most progressive among all states of India. Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce a transgender welfare policy, wherein transgender individuals can access free gender affirmation surgery in government hospitals and various other benefits and rights. The state was also the first to ban forced sex-selective surgeries on intersex infants, and also the first state to include an amendment in its state police guidelines that expects officers to abstain from harassing the LGBTQIA+ community and its members. The state also became the first to ban conversion therapy and the first to introduce LGBTQIA+ issues in school curricula.
S. Abdul Hameed known by his pen name Manushya Puthiran is a poet and writer from Tamil Nadu, India.
Raja Sandow was an Indian film actor, film director and producer. He began his career as an actor in silent films and later became a prominent actor and director in Tamil and Hindi films of the 1930s. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of early Indian cinema.
K. Krishnasamy is a physician, social worker and an Indian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He founded the Puthiya Tamilagam party in 1999 and was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Ottapidaram constituency in 1996 election & And as Puthiya Tamilagam candidate in 2011 Alliance with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party.
Dalit literature is a genre of Indian writing that focuses on the lives, experiences, and struggles of the Dalit community, who have faced caste-based oppression and discrimination for centuries. As Jobymon Skaria explains, "Dalit literature has been the most potent literary expression of Dalits' daily struggle for human dignity." This literature encompasses various Indian languages such as Marathi, Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Sindhi, Odia and Tamil and includes diverse narratives like poems, short stories, and autobiographies. The movement originated in response to the caste-based social injustices in mid-twentieth-century independent India and has since spread across various Indian languages, critiquing caste practices and experimenting with different literary forms.
Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti is observed on 14 April to commemorate the memory of B. R. Ambedkar, Indian politician and social reformer. It marks Ambedkar's birthday who was born on 14 April 1891. His birthday is also referred to as 'Equality Day' by some in India.
Leena Manimekalai is an Indian filmmaker, poet and an actor. Her works include five published poetry anthologies and several films in genres, documentary, fiction and experimental poem films. She has been recognised with participation, mentions and best film awards in many international and national film festivals.
Navayana is an independent anti-caste Indian publishing house based in New Delhi, strongly influenced by Ambedkarite ideas. It was founded by S. Anand and D. Ravikumar in 2003. The first book it published was Ambedkar: Autobiographical Notes priced at Rs 40. Since then it has published acclaimed fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels and poetry anthologies. From 2009 onwards, Navayana broadened its publishing outlook to include social issues other than caste because ‘the struggle against caste cannot happen in isolation from other struggles for justice and equality’ as a statement on the website reads.
Tamilisai Soundararajan is an Indian politician serving as the 2nd and current Governor of Telangana, and is the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry since 18 February 2021. She was the National Secretary and Tamil Nadu State Unit President of the BJP prior to this appointment.
Pa. Ranjith is an Indian film director and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2012 romantic comedy Attakathi, before earning unanimously positive reviews for his second film, the political drama Madras (2014). In 2016, he wrote and directed the gangster-drama Kabali and in 2018, Kaala both starring Rajinikanth.
D. Ravikumar is an Indian Tamil intellectual, writer, lawyer politician and an anti-caste activist. He was the editor of the magazine, Nirapirikai. Nirapirikai inspired several new writers in the 1990s in Tamil Nadu. He is an Ambedkarite. Ravikumar is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Viluppuram and member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Grace Banu is an Indian software engineer who is a Dalit and transgender activist. She was the first transgender person to be admitted to an engineering college in the state of Tamil Nadu. She lives in the Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu.
The Bhim Army, alternatively Bheem Army or the Bheem Army Bharat Ekta Mission is an Ambedkarite and Dalit rights organisation in India. It was founded by Satish Kumar, Vinay Ratan Singh and Chandra Shekhar Aazad in 2015. The organisation runs more than 350 free schools for Dalits and Bahujans in the districts of Saharanpur, Meerut, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh. The organisation is named after B. R. Ambedkar.
Draupathi is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language movie directed and produced by Mohan G. Kshatriyan. The film stars Richard Rishi and Sheela Rajkumar, with K. S. G. Venkatesh, Karunas, and Nishanth in supporting roles. The music of the film was composed by Jubin and cinematography was performed by Manoj Narayan and edited by Devaraj S. The film is a crowd funding project. It mostly received negative reviews from critics.
Queer Chennai Chronicles, also known as QCC is an Indian LGBT literary organization that aims to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer literature through programs that encourage development of aspiring writers and through annual Queer LitFest, Chennai.
#GoBackModi is a hashtag and movement that protests and voices opposition against the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's visits to various places, primarily throughout India, and sporadically throughout the world. The hashtag first gained popularity on 12 April 2018, when Modi visited Chennai, Tamil Nadu to inaugurate a defence exhibition, and has been especially popular in the state ever since. However, the movement's first instance was a Malayalam language variation of the hashtag named #PoMoneModi, and has been adopted since May 2016, when Modi was campaigning for elections in Kerala.
Priya Rajan of DMK party, is the forty-ninth and the incumbent mayor of Chennai city, Tamil Nadu. She succeeded Saidai Duraisamy of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to become the third woman mayor of the city after the local body election. She is the youngest woman to be the Mayor of Chennai.
Kasimedu is a hamlet in the neighbourhood of Royapuram, in Chennai district of Tamil Nadu state in the peninsular India. This hamlet is occupied by fishermen whose families depend on the fishing harbour and the fish market nearby. It stretches for about 2 km, near Ennore fishing harbour along the shore, north of Chennai Port. Large numbers of victims from Kasimedu fishing community were found during the tsunami observed on 26 December 2004. Kasimedu is located at about 5 km from Chennai Beach railway station. Near about 200 tons of fishes are brought to Kasimedu, daily. State Highway 114 passes through Kasimedu.
