The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy is a complex and multi-layered novel that explores a wide range of themes, including politics, society, and economics, through the lens of marginalized people. The novel offers a multidimensional reading experience that encourages readers to examine these issues from different angles and perspectives.

1. Marginalized Reading in Arundhati Roy's 'The
Ministry of Utmost Happiness' in Relation to
Contemporary Events
Paper no.207 Contemporary Literatures in English
Subject Code: 22414
Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University

2. Name: Divya Sheta
MA Part II, Semester IV
Topic : Marginalized Reading in Arundhati Roy's 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' in
Relation to Contemporary Events
Paper no.207 Contemporary Literatures in English
Subject Code: 22414
Enrollment Number: 4069206420210033
Contact Info.: divyasheta@gmail.com
Submitted to : S.B.Gardi Department of
Englis.h,MK Bhavanagar University.

3. Introduction
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy is a complex and multi-
layered novel that explores a wide range of themes, including politics, society, and
economics, through the lens of marginalized people. The novel offers a
multidimensional reading experience that encourages readers to examine these
issues from different angles and perspectives.

4. What is Marginalized meaning?
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary,
to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group
Marginalized populations are groups and communities that
experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political and
economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic,
political, social and cultural dimensions (Glossary of Essential Health
Equity Terms)

5. Cow Slaughter Episode
He arrested them on the
charge of “cow-slaughter” and put them in the
police lock-up.
They began to beat them, at first just with
their fists, and with shoes. But then someone
brought a crowbar, someone else
a carjack. I couldn’t see much, but when the
first blows fell I heard their cries …’
Prabhat Patnaik
purviews, “In a society where the people had been
passive objects of history, where the village
communities contaminated by distinctions of caste
and slavery had in Marx’s word ‘subjugated man to
external circumstances instead of elevating man to
be the sovereign circumstances’”

6. Living problems of transgender people
Gradually Jannat Guest House becomes a
hub for Hijras (transgendered people) who,
for one reason or another, had fallen out of,
or been expelled from, the tightly
administered grid of Hijra Gharanas”
Probir Mondol, who has been in Delhi for the
last 15 years, says, “My mother was looking
for an apartment for both of us. When he
came to know that I was a transgender, the
landlord refused to listen to her. They think
that we wear t-shirts and trousers and walk
out of the house and then wear sarees and
beg at the traffic signals.”
New Delhi alone is believed to originate
from four hijra gharanas, namely,
Sujani, Rai, Kalyani and Mandi.

7. Conclusion:
By the comparing the contemporary events, we can conclude that
the novel successfully analysed the current issue of Marginalized
society and the marginalized group of people.
Thank you

8. Work Cited
Patnaik, Prabhat. “Independent India at Sixty-Five.” Social Scientist, vol. 41, no. 1/2, 2013, pp. 5–15. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23611077. Accessed 7 Mar. 2023.
Aryal, Binod. “Reading Polity from the Margin in Arundhati Roy’s the Ministry of Utmost Happiness.” SCHOLARS:
Journal of Arts & Humanities, vol. 4, no. 1, 2022, pp. 77–86., https://doi.org/10.3126/sjah.v4i1.43057.
Goel, Ina. “The Lifestyle of Hijras Embodies Resistance to State, Societal Neglect.” https://thewire.in/gender/the-
lifestyle-of-hijras-embodies-resistance-to-state-societal-neglect.
Laha, Rozelle. “Hunting for a Home Not Easy for Transgenders.” Hindustan Times , 14 Sept. 2015.
“Marginalize Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/marginalize.
Roy, Arundhati. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. 1st edition, Penguin Random House India, 2017.