"Dalits in the New Millennium interrogates the major aspects of Dalit experience in multiple spheres and traces how Dalit politics is no longer merely content with desire for social justice but has become more assertive and aspirational in its demands. The volume represents the individual voices of the editors and contributors, who are eminent academics and activists, and situates Dalit life amidst all the major changes that have occurred over the last three decades. It aims to provide a more holistic approach to studying the community's socio-economic and political life in the new millennium and adds to the existing literature on Dalit politics, focusing especially on the changes that are taking place in the realm of electoral politics, popular culture, political economy, ideological worldview, and representation, among others"--

1. Introduction: Dalit Discourse in the New Millennium Sudha Pai, Shyam Babu and Rahul Verma; Part I. Shifting Patterns of Electoral Politics: 2. Electoral Politics: Voting Patterns among Dalits Rahul Verma and Pranav Gupta; 3. On the peculiar absence of Dalit politics: Punjab and West Bengal Dwaipayan Sen; 4. Decline of the BSP: Dalit Politics under Right-Wing Hegemony Sudha Pai; 5. A Democratic Dilemma: Dalit parties, election finance, and coalition politics Michael A. Collins; 6. Why Dalits voted for the BJP in recent elections? Abhinav Prakash; Part II. Popular Culture, Discourse andd Protest: 7. Role of songs in the emergence of Bahujan identity Kalyani and Satnam Singh; 8. Anti-caste Music and Cinema Prashant Ingole; 9. Portrayal of Dalits in the Media: A Study of Select Newspapers from Uttar Pradesh Swadesh Singh; 10. Dalit Protest Politics Amit Aahuja and Rajkamal Singh; Part III. Transformations in Ideology and Identity: 11. Annihilation, Identity, Representation: Kanshi Ram and the Conundrums of Dalit Political Agency Surinder S. Jodhka; 12. Reading Caste and Class together: A Dalit-Bahujan-Left Alliance? Dwaipayan Bhattacharya; 13. Towards Radical Democracy: the Dalit-Bahujan Claim for Political Power Harish Wankhede; 14. Liberation Panthers and the Dalit Challenge to Hindutva in Tamil Nadu Meena Kandasamy and Hugo Gorringe; 15. Dalit-Bahujan Politics: Crisis and Future Badri Narayan; Part IV. Aspirations and Anxieties: 16. Role of Technology in Social and Political Life of Young Dalits Snigdha Poonam and Samarth Bansal; 17. Dalit Middle Class: Aspirations, Networks and Social Capital Gurram Srinivas; 18. Persisting Gap: A Case for Restitution and Reparations Amit Thorat; 19. Dalit Capitalism: Adversity, Opportunity and Agency? D. Shyam Babu; Part V. Discrimination and Representation: 20. The Effect of Dalit Representatives on the Community Francesca Jensenius and Simon Chauchard; 21. Dalit Legislators as Policy Makers Kaushiki Sanyal; 22. Why some MBCs want SC status? Arvind Kumar; 23. Measuring caste-based Discrimination Victoire Girard, Cléo Chassonnery-Zaïgouche and Peter Mayer; 24. Suicide rates among Dalits Vikas Arya, Andrew Page, Gregory Armstrong and Peter Mayer; 25. Epilogue.