About The Dalit Project

Our Standpoint

The Dalit Project writes from a Dalit standpoint. That is an editorial position, not a demographic label, but a way of seeing caste for what it actually is: a live, material system of graded inequality, enforced through endogamy, occupational fixation, ritual hierarchy, and the ongoing control of land, labour, and power. Not a cultural quirk. Not a fading tradition. Not a prejudice some people happen to hold and others have simply outgrown.

We work from an Ambedkarite horizon. The aim is annihilation, not reform: dismantling the hierarchy, not administering it more gently. Ambedkar, Phule, Periyar, and the generations of Dalit-Bahujan intellectuals who followed them are treated here as primary theorists, not decorative citation.

"Dalit" names a political identity of self-assertion, not a synonym for underprivileged, marginalized, or backward. The people this magazine covers organize, litigate, theorize, build, and disagree with each other. They are not a population to be processed or pitied. We center Dalit interpretive authority as the account of caste, not one perspective to be balanced against an "objective" outside view. The outside view already has the run of most newsrooms; the dominant-caste default is not neutrality, it's a standpoint that has simply gone unnamed.

Objectivity, here, means accuracy about power: naming the system, naming who benefits, and refusing to mistake the dominant-caste default for the neutral one. That is compatible with rigor, not opposed to it. We verify facts, mark uncertainty, publish disagreement inside Dalit-Bahujan politics, and are willing to criticize Dalit individuals and institutions when the evidence calls for it. A clear standpoint is not a license to lower the evidentiary bar; it's a reason to hold it higher.

We write for readers wherever caste reaches. Caste travels. So does our coverage.

Bahujan and Adivasi communities are adjacent to this fight, not incidental to it: caste and systemic injustice bear on both, and The Dalit Project stands with them against it. But the way caste operates for Dalit people is its own mechanism, not a variation on what Bahujan or Adivasi communities face, and this magazine's standpoint is exclusively Dalit: Dalit perspective, Dalit experience, Dalit expertise, first and always.

Final editorial authority over what The Dalit Project publishes rests with Dalit editors. That isn't a value we aspire to. It's the rule the outlet is built on. See Who decides below for exactly how that works.

Who decides

The Dalit Project is an independent, founder-led outlet, not the media arm of an existing political party or movement organisation. It is registered and operates from Australia, where the founder lives.

The founder is a Dalit social-justice research scholar, not a career journalist. They hold final editorial authority over everything The Dalit Project publishes and also run the outlet's funding, vision and strategy.

Anyone who shares our commitment to ending caste is welcome to contribute: Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi writers, and allies from any community. The final say stays with Dalit editors. By Dalit we mean anyone from a community historically subjected to untouchability who identifies as Dalit, including Dalit Christians, Dalit Muslims, and Dalits across South Asia and the diaspora.

Our pieces are signed "The Dalit Project" to protect the privacy of the contributors, unless the contributor chooses to identify themselves publicly. The editor stands behind everything published, and you can hold us to account through Corrections, Right of Reply or our contact form.

How we are funded

The Dalit Project is currently funded by its founder, and we haven't yet sought outside funding. We carry no advertising and no sponsored content.

Our editorial independence comes first. Funders don't see our pieces before they are published or shape what we cover, and final editorial authority stays with Dalit editors, whoever supports the work. If we take outside funding, we will name every funder here, with what they give.

How we work

We build each piece from the public record: court judgments, police and government data, official statements, and reporting by other outlets, credited and linked in the text, with every claim checked against the source it rests on.

If you're named in one of our pieces and want to raise something, we want to hear from you. Use the form on our Right of Reply page.

We use AI tools in our work, and our editor makes every final call: see How we use AI.

When we get something wrong, we fix it visibly and say what changed: see Corrections.

Why we use AI-generated images

See How we use AI.

Get in touch

To pitch a piece, see Contribute. For anything else, use our contact form.