The book is a collection of essays woven around the contours of the growth of the dalit movement, the crusade undertaken by the dalit icons for the cause of dalit emancipation and the burning issues that have cropped up before the dalits. These issues are at the crux of very lively debates that are taking place in contemporary India. Politics of exclusion and identity have restricted the amalgamation of dalits into the national mainstream to a certain extent and despite more than 60 years of independence, they are dependent on reservation as their major mobilisation plank. The new economic reforms have led to reduction in the scope and breadth of reservation and lessened the role of the state to the detriment of majority of the dalit population. The challenges posed to the dalit movement by the mandalites and the Hindutva forces have also been discussed in the book. Dalit symbolism and the repercussions of such acts on overall polity, position of the dalits in rural India & their acute deprivation from land assets and inter squabbles among them have also been highlighted in this book. The presentation style is lucid and simple so as to enable even ordinary readers to understand the topics. One hopes that the book will be found to be useful for the students of Indian polity.