1. PRESENTATION ON THE ARTICLE
The Unwritten Writing: Dalits and the
Media by D. Ravikumar

2. The Unwritten Writing: Dalits and the Media
D. Ravikumar

3. Something about D. Ravikumar
D. Ravikumar is a well-known Indian
politician, social worker, Lawyer and former
Member of the Legislative Assembly. He was
elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly
as an Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi candidate
from Kattumannarkoil constituency in 2006
election.

4. Who is a Dalit?
“Dalit” is a designated name for a group of
communities in India who were historically
considered to be “untouchables” as they either
held jobs that were considered to be very
menial in Indian society, such as shoe
making/repair, butchering, washing, sweeping,
waste and animal carcass disposal, manual
scavenging, cremation works and so on. These
people were considered socially inferior and
faced
economic,
political
and
social
discrimination.

5. Dalit Literature
Literature about the Dalits, the oppressed class
under Indian caste system forms an important and
distinct part of Indian literature. Though Dalit
narratives have been a part of the Indian social
narratives since 11th century onwards, with works
like Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam portraying Dalit
women like half-naked and sexually exploitable and
praising the killing of thousands of Dalits on
"Kazhumaram" in the hands of Gnanasambandan,
Dalit literature emerged into prominence and as a
collective voice after 1960.

6. First Part of the Article
“The History”
D. Ravikumar talked about the first book in an Indian
language, Thambiraan Vanakkam, the Hicky’s Bengal Gazzette, the
Madras carrier, and the Indian Herald. He also tells us about how
print media was suppressed by Lord’s Wellesley’s Regulation of the
press in 1799. To trace the history of magazine production in Tamil
Nadu, Ravikumar discovers Iyothee Thass, whose work has
witnessed a revival in the post- Ambdekar centenary phase, has
recorded the fact that the Parayar were the first to publish Tamil
magazines in the Madrass presidency. The Hindus also published
several magazines like Thatthuvapodini and Viveka Vilakkam. The
Hindu was founded by six angry youth who were members of the
Triplicane Literary Society, in September 1878. Rettaimalai Srinivasan
founded the magazine Parayan on October 1893. Swadeshamitram
was founded in 1898. Magazines like Adi-Dravidar, Mahaavikada
Toothan, Booloka Viyasan and Adi-Dravida Mitran were few of the
earliest dalit writings.

7. Second Part of the Article
“The Comparison”
Ravikumar gave the comparison that The Hindu was founded in
September 1878 with an investment of just Rs.1 and 12 annas- that
too as a loan. Started as a weekly with eight pages selling for 4
annas, it initially had a print run of only eighty copies. Fifteen years
later, in October 1893, Rettaimalai Srinivasan founded the
magazine Parayan. It was started as a monthly with four pages for
2 annas. The total cost of production, including the
advertisement, was Rs. 10. The Hindu could not survive the
problem they face because of the fine so it was sold to Katuri
Iyengar, their then legal advisor, for Rs. 75000 and it was run by
Veerarghavachariar. The Hindu then afterwards got the support of
rich and powerful people and because of that it survives till today.
The Parayan however faced its end when Srinivasan went to
London ‘for the cause of the untouchables’ because there was no
one to run though there was good financial support from the

8. Third Part of the Article
“The sight of the Dalit”
Ravikumar talked about the launched of a dalit weekly Oru Paisa
Tamilan, by Iyothee Thass on 19 June, 1907. The aim of Oru Paisa
Tamilan is to teach fairness, the path of truth and honesty to
those who cannot otherwise discriminate between the excellent,
the mediocre and the bad. Swami Sagajananda produced several
magazines pertaining the dalits like paranjothi, Nadarajar
Thandavam, Aalayam Enbadu Arisanangalukke etc. Talking about
dalit’s involvement in media, Political scientist Robin Jeffrey says,
“‘If you ask an Indian journalist, ‘do you know any dalit journalist?’
the answer could be a long pause and then, ‘could you give me a
couple of days?’ sometimes it was a considerate ‘no’. There were
some dalit journalists in Malayala Manorama, but they worked in
less significant position. When we look into the Tamil dailies like
Dinamalar, Dinakaran and Dinathanthi we see that there were
very few dalit journalist.

9. The Conclusion
D. Ravikumar towards the end writes that ‘the power and
influence of the press are very high…if the press uses its
undoubted power to achieve democracy and equality, it will
hasten social change. Since the press is regarded as one of the
pillars of democracy, it plays a significant role in shaping
democracy”.
Ravikumar opines that demanding the inclusion of Dalits in the
media should not be merely regarded as a plea for job. It is a
demand for democracy, like that of the demand for dalit
representation in the assembly, parliament or judiciary.

10. The Insight
What should we learn from this article “The Unwritten
and Writing: Dalits and the Media” ?
There should not be bias in representing the view point
of various sections of society.
Media should be a means to educate, inform, entertain
the rich and the poor, the high class and the lower
class, the high caste and the lower caste, the white and
the black.
Media should bring justice, equality and job
opportunities to all.