The Continued Discrimination Against “Dalits” Highlights How Humanity Fails Everyday In India.

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The Continued Discrimination Against “Dalits” Highlights How Humanity Fails Everyday In India.

There are four classes – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra, and each is allotted a certain duty that they are supposed to fulfil, and stick to. But there are people who cannot be classified into either of these four classes – the infamous ‘untouchables’, also known as ‘Dalits’.

The four classes decide what basic rights and duties members of each class are entitled to; let one thing be clear, though. Dalits barely have any rights. They are the outcasts – both literally, and figuratively.


This is the way it has been in our country since time immemorial.

The Varna system, as it is commonly termed, has not only established itself as a part of our country’s culture, but has positively encroached upon it. Even today, I have heard people ask one another – ‘What is your caste?’ Take into consideration that aforementioned people happen to be (apparently) enlightened, “modern” 21st-century individuals, who have had the benefit of a (seemingly) proper education. If people still feel the need to ask another human being – another classmate or colleague – what “class”, what social order they belong to, it makes you question the hypocrisy of it all.

I have heard people rant about the unfairness of it all – I have heard them go on endlessly about how the caste system should be abolished and talk about equality and human rights in a voice driven with passion. I have then seen the same people go and talk in a demeaning way to people of a “lower class” than themselves; I have seen the same people refuse to so much as pass by them without keeping a rather wide distance and pulling faces; I have seen the same people refuse to so much as touch another HUMAN BEING, simply because he happens to be of a “lower class”.

You may say that this has changed with time. You may say that this was 60 years ago! No one does this anymore! Our ancestors were blinded – blinded by faith and religion, so much that they failed to see that the person who cleans their house is a human being as well! But not us! No, not us! We are BETTER – you might say – smarter, MORE CONSIDERATE. We don’t do this! We are as righteous as heaven multiplied ten times over!

Sure.

Here are some statistics that might help you realise that, no matter how many decades have passed, no matter how many years it has been since independence, Dalits are still considered lowly and worthless:

1. Each day, at least 3 Dalit women are raped.
2. Once in every 18 minutes, a crime of some sort is committed against a Dalit.
3. Every week, approximately 6 Dalits are kidnapped or abducted.
4. 13 Dalits are murdered every week.
5. Approximately 27 criminal atrocities are committed against Dalits every day.

These are the reported, documented ones. The undocumented ones would probably fill a castle.

And why? Because the victims are DALITS.

‘Dalit’, roughly translated, means ‘broken people’. They are the people who do the measly jobs that no one else would, simply to feed themselves. Even then, it is not enough. Even then, a majority of their population lives in conditions of dire poverty and helplessness. Society ostracises them to the extent that any interaction with them is considered “polluting”. They are the lowest members of the society; Dalits are the ‘manual scavengers’ – the people who clean out toilets, manually. They are the ones that sweep the streets. They are also the ones that have no land rights, no rights of education, and no rights to medical facilities.

The Constitution, however, grants every citizen equal rights, irrespective of his or her caste and social position. And every citizen is supposed to be granted his rights, while others should ensure that their rights are respected. This, does not happen, and this is exactly where the problem lies – in the rampant hypocrisy of the situation.

UNTOUCHABILITY is an issue many people have fought against, and are still fighting against, but to no avail. Sure, a million laws have been passed, a million promises made, but few of them fulfilled. Untouchability was abolished long ago, but that does not matter to several self-important people out there who are defined solely by their superiority to others, and nothing else. And so, the atrocities against Dalits continue.

Mahatma Gandhi fought against this practice, along with several other leaders. We learnt about it in school, we talk about this, we have multiple documentaries and endless discussions on the issue. Did it get us anywhere? Did it get them anywhere?

Not really.

Look at the statistics above. Those are facts, and quite recent ones at that.

People tend to take more liberties with Dalits, if only because of the long-held belief that they exist simply to do your dirty laundry – literally and otherwise.

Funnily enough, however, untouchability is not an issue when it comes to sexual abuse. Men of upper classes have been previously known to sexually abuse women whom they would otherwise not touch, God NO! Sacrilege! However, when it comes to rolling around in the sack with them – to put it crudely – the inhibitions seem to fall apart. Dalits are considered to be people who – oh, I’m sorry. Dalits are not considered “people”. Period.

Dalits face multiple problems solely because of being considered of a lower birth. People consider them to be “polluting” and “unclean”, using that as an excuse to abuse them; some even believe that they deserve such treatment. Dalit women face the worst of it. They have class, caste and gender working against them. So, there are these women who, 1) experience extreme physical and mental strain because of being Dalit, and 2) experience extreme physical and mental strain because they are female. Dalit women do not have access to hospitals and proper medical claims. Neither do men, but Dalit women have to be taken into special consideration here. Let me throw some numbers at you, so you could put things into perspective: each year 88.1% children born to Dalits die due to lack of proper medical facilities. To that extent, 81% Dalit women give birth to their child at home, without any medical assistance whatsoever. Of these, several women die during childbirth, because of a lack of proper medical aid.

Dalit women face threats of rape, are often raped, and forced to keep mum; Dalit women are accused of witchcraft and killed (yes, even today); Dalit women are made to parade naked; they are abused physically – both by men of their own community, as well as of higher classes; Dalit women are forced into prostitution, sometimes even before they are teenagers.

Dalit children are not extended the same privileges as others – they are forced to sit on separate benches, and do not receive the same opportunities as their “superior” counterparts. 50% of all Dalit children and 64% Dalit girl students drop out of primary schools, due to several reasons, one of the most prominent being discrimination. The students are often made to do meanly tasks, simply because of their class.

Dalits do not have land of their own: they are constantly at the mercy of landlords and other superiors, who often take advantage of their vulnerability. Sadly, due to lack of proper awareness, the Dalits remain unaware of the unfairness of the conditions meted out to them, and continue existing the way they do.

In recent years, several uprisings have brought these conditions to light, and this has, to a certain extent, helped in the upliftment of the class. However, any social outrage that displays itself in a fit of passion against a certain event soon fades away, so that the plight of these individuals remain in the dark, rooted, as it were, in oblivion.

This story was inspired by the following video.