India

Mr. Manoj Mitta

The Bottom Layer: Impunity for Caste Violence in India

Mr. Manoj Mitta is a New Delhi-based journalist focusing on law, human rights, and public policy. He has served as a senior editor at two of India’s leading newspapers, the Times of India and the Indian Express. He was also founding director of the Foundation for Media Professionals, which promotes media freedom and works to uphold standards of journalism in India. He has published two critically acclaimed books on sectarian strife in India, The Fiction of Fact-Finding: Modi and Godhra (2014), in which he questions the exoneration of Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and When a Tree Shook Delhi: The 1984 Carnage and Its Aftermath, co-authored with H.S. Phoolka (2007). He has spoken at universities around the world, as well as at the British and Canadian Parliaments and the U.S. Congress. Following a year of primary research and interviews in the field, Mr. Mitta is devoting his fellowship to drawing up his findings and writing a book, tentatively entitled The Bottom Layer: Impunity for Caste Violence, focusing on massacres of former untouchables and tribal members in India.

Written Products:

“A Tale of Two Speeches: Rajiv Gandhi – November 19,1984 and Narendra Modi – February 28,2002,” Scroll.in, November 22, 2015.

“Nothing New: Modi’s Own Favourite Police Officer Raised Fears of Growing Intolerance in 2002,” Scroll.in, November 29, 2015. 

“The Judiciary: The Supreme Court’s Backsliding on the Ramjanmabhoomi Temple-Barbi Masjid Case, Religious Conversions and Cow Slaughter at Different Points of Time Over the Years Has Done Disservice to Indian Secularism,” India Today, December 21, 2015. 

Presentations:

Dasmesh Hall, Yuba City, “Remembering 1984’s Sikh Massacre,” October 31, 2015 

American University, Kay Spiritual Life Center, “The Bottom Layer: Impunity for Caste Violence in India,” November 10, 2015

Georgetown University, Department of Anthropology,”The Fiction of Fact Finding: Modi & Godhra,” December 7, 2015

American University, Kay Spiritual Life Center, “Demand Justice for Rohit Vemula,” January 30, 2016

Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Untouchable India: Impunity for Caste Violence,” February 4, 2016

National Endowment for Democracy, Penn-Kemble Fellows, “Caste Violence in India,” February 8, 2016

National Endowment for Democracy, “Untouchable India: Impunity for Caste Violence,” February 10, 2016

Media Mentions:

“New Delhi Journalist Among National Endowment for Democracy Fellows,” India West, November 16, 2015.

“India Today 40th Anniversary: Bylines of Top Journalists,” India Today, December 21, 2015.