Although we are celebrating Dalit History Month, which is significant for Dalit communities, this special month includes the birth and death anniversaries of important Dalit leaders and social reformers in the movement against systemic discrimination based on caste, such as Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Jyotirao Phule, Mangu Ram Mugowalia and Sant Ram Udasi.
But has the condition of Dalits really improved in the country despite the continuous efforts of these Dalit leaders and social reformers? Let’s discuss.
Caste-based discrimination has been deeply rooted in Indian society for centuries and has been on the rise in recent years, leading to widespread marginalisation, exclusion and violence against Dalits and other marginalized groups.
Despite the constitutional provisions and various laws aimed at protecting the rights of Dalits [Untouchables] and other marginalized groups, the reality on the ground remains grim, with frequent reports of violence and discrimination against these communities, violation of their fundamental human rights continues on a massive scale.
Incidents of crimes against Dalits and Scheduled Castes are coming to the fore daily in different parts of the country, Hate speech and discrimination against the Dalit minority is another issue of enormous concern; In such a situation, the claims of ending caste discrimination and violence by the society or the government seem false.
These crimes include physical violence, such as assault and murder, economic exploitation, discrimination in access to education, employment, and healthcare. Violence against Dalit women, including sexual assault and discrimination in access to justice, is seemingly normal.
There has been an alarming increase in sexual violence perpetrated against Dalit women, who are at the bottom of India’s caste system. Furthermore, the nature and frequency of the violence faced by Dalit women is unique to them as it is backed by economic oppression and socially sanctioned through the continued existence of the caste system.
Political parties always talk about ‘Upliftment’ of these minorities but Dalits still live in a state of humiliation. In reality, this community is not only the victim of this scourge caste system but also faces institutional discrimination and social exclusion.
Painful Life Of Dalits/Untouchables in India
“Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers”; “Dalit tortured by cops for three days”; “Dalit ‘witch’ paraded naked in Bihar”; “Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool”; “7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash”; “5 Dalits lynched in Haryana”; ” two Dalit sisters gang-raped and murdred, “a woman paraded naked after rape”; “Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits”, “gangrape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl”, “brutal murder of a Dalit man by his in-laws for marrying an upper-caste girl”.
Such incidents of violence against the Dalit community have become increasingly common across the country.
In India there are approximately 240 million Dalits. This means that nearly 25% of the population is Dalit. It also means that in a country, where everybody is supposed to have equal rights and opportunities, 1 out of 5 persons is condemned to be untouchable.
In India’s southern states, thousands of Dalit girls are forced to become prostitutes for upper-caste patrons and village priests before reaching the age of puberty.
An estimated sixty million people in India, among them twenty million children, are bonded laborers, working in slave-like conditions in order to pay off debts. The majority of them are Dalits. At least one million Dalits work as manual scavengers, clearing feces from latrines and disposing of dead animals with their bare hands. Dalits also comprise the majority of agricultural laborers who work for a few kilograms of rice, or 50-60 rupees a day.
Caste dynamics pervade every aspect of life in vast areas of India, particularly in rural areas. The country’s latest National Crime Records Bureau showed nearly 71,000 crimes against people from Dalit castes were also pending investigation at the end of 2021.
The prevalence of “untouchability” practices was also noted by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1996, while reviewing India’s tenth to fourteenth periodic reports under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
An October 2021 analytical study about sexual violence against Dalit women in the Journal of International Women’s Studies found that significant factors such as caste and gender interrelated or correlated with each other in rural pockets.
“Dalit women are illiterate, helpless to accept the social hierarchy norms, working as bonded laborers as landless beings, bearing untouchability as social pressure, and unaware of their civil, social, economic, and cultural rights,” the study found.
What NCRB Report Says On Crime Against Dalits And Adivasis
Since the early 1990s, violence against Dalits has escalated dramatically in response to growing Dalit rights movements. Despite strict laws and affirmative action policies, caste-motivated killings, social exclusion and other abuses are a daily occurrence.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, some 45,935 cases of violence are recorded each year. The report revealed that atrocities or crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) have increased by 1.2% in 2021 with Uttar Pradesh reporting the highest number of cases of atrocities against SCs accounting for 25.82% followed by Rajasthan with 14.7% and Madhya Pradesh with 14.1% during 2021. Further, the report reveals that atrocities against Scheduled Tribes (ST) have increased by 6.4% in 2021 with Madhya Pradesh reporting the highest number of cases accounting for 29.8% followed by Rajasthan with 24% and Odisha with 7.6% in 2021.
Violence against dalit and Adivasi women has also risen. Cases of Rape against SC women, (including minors) account for 7.64% and ST women account for 15% out of the total cases reported. The report has also tabled detailed numbers for cases of rape against dalit Women cases of minor rape, attempt to rape, assault on women to outrage her modesty, and Kidnapping of women and minors which cumulatively stood at 16.8% in SC women and 26.8% in ST women.
Discrimination against Dalits is endemic in Indian society, especially with regard to notions of “impurity” and “contamination.” It does not matter whether a Dalit is in school, at work, in temple,or at play, they are constantly reminded of their impurity and caste. The rising frequency of crimes against Dalits is a reflection of the increasing exploitation of Dalits by upper-castes socials.
A study by the International Dalit solidarity network on untouchables in India covering 565 villages in 11 states has revealed the extent to which untouchability and social exclusion are practised despite being officially banned by the constitution of India. It is the ideology which still continues to dominate the Indian public consciousness.