Persecution of Dalits

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Persecution and discrimination against Dalits has been observed in the countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, the UK, and the US.

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Bangladesh

Most of the Dalits in the rural areas of Bangladesh are landless and live in houses built with straw and mud under a threat of eviction. Dalit women are more affected as they suffer from multiple forms of discrimination. [1]

India

Two separate approaches to improving the condition of the people known now as the Dalits came during the fight for Indian independence from the British. The first was led by Mahatma Gandhi who believed that the status of Dalits should be increased while maintaining elements of the traditional caste system. B. R. Ambedkar, a Dalit politician and a lawyer claimed that "untouchability" can only be destroyed by destroying the caste system. [2]

New developments took place after India achieved independence when the policy of caste-based reservation of jobs was formalized with lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Since 1950, the country has enacted many laws and social initiatives to protect and improve the socio-economic conditions of its Dalit population. [3]

According to data collected by India's National Crime Records Bureau for the year 2000, 25,455 crimes against Dalits were committed in the year 2000, the latest year for which the data is only available, 2 Dalits are assaulted every hour, 3 Dalit women are raped every day, 2 Dalits are murdered, and 2 Dalit homes are set on fire every day. These figures, however, do not reflect the true extent of crimes against Dalits. Since the caste system, which is based on Hindu religious teachings, is often supported by the police, village councils, and public officials; many crimes go unreported because of fear of retaliation, police harassment, and no trust in the police department. [4] Amnesty International documented a high number of sexual assaults against Dalit women, which were often committed by landlords, upper-caste villagers, and policemen, according to a study published in 2001. [5]

Nepal

Dalits in Nepal continue to face prejudice when entering sacred places, gathering water, social gatherings and are barred from marrying higher castes. Dalit activists say they were promised better rights during the Nepalese Civil War, but these promises are yet to be fulfilled. [6]

Pakistan

A Dawn's report in 2016 noted that the Dalits in Sindh, Pakistan continue to face atrocities. While the Dalit men are subjected to everyday violence, the more heinous attacks on women belonging to scheduled castes. [7]

Dalits in Pakistan have been subjected to forced conversions to Islam. [8]

United Kingdom

A number of Indians in the United Kingdom adhere to the caste system and still seek marriage with individuals who are of similar caste categories. [9] There have been several incidents involving abuse of low caste Dalits, by higher caste individuals in schools and workplaces. [10] [11]

In 2018, the UK government refused to enact a law on caste discrimination among Indians. The Dalit community reacted with displeasure. [12]

United States

A survey on caste discrimination conducted by Equality Labs, a Dalit rights organisation, [13] found 67% of Indian Dalits living in the US reporting that they faced caste-based harassment at the workplace, and 27% reporting physical assault based on their caste. [14] The survey also documents personal anecdotes about discrimination and isolation at schools, workplaces, temples and within communities. [15] The Carnegie Enowment researchers pointed out that the study used a non-representative snowball sampling method to identify participants, which might have skewed the results in favour of those with strong views about caste. [16] [13]

In 2021, the student body of California State University system, representing half a million students, passed a resolution seeking a ban on caste-based discrimination. [17] The campaign was spearheaded by Prem Pariyar, a Nepali origin Dalit student, who came to the US in 2015 escaping persecution in his home country, and claimed that he faced discrimination in the US as well. [17] For the affected students, casteism is manifested through slurs, microaggressions and social exclusion. The resolution cited the survey by Equality Labs where 25 percent of Dalits reported having faced verbal or physical assaults. [17] Al Jazeera noted that the resolution was authored by a higher caste student and backed by other students from other racial and religious groups. [17]

Related Research Articles

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Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru, and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement after renouncing Hinduism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalit Buddhist movement</span> Modern sociopolitical movement among Dalits

The Neo Buddhist movement is a religious as well as a socio-political movement among Dalits in India which was started by B. R. Ambedkar. It re-interpreted Buddhism and created a new school of Buddhism called Navayana. The movement has sought to be a socially and politically engaged form of Buddhism.

Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimination are found all over the world, untouchability involving the caste system is largely unique to South Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalit</span> Marginalized castes in India and other South Asian countries

Dalit, also some of them previously known as untouchables, is the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna of the caste hierarchy and were seen as forming a fifth varna, also known by the name of Panchama. Several scholars have drawn parallels between Dalits and the Burakumin of Japan, the Baekjeong of Korea, the Hukou system of China and the peasant class of the medieval European Feudal system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jagjivan Ram</span> Indian independence activist and politician (1908–1986)

Jagjivan Ram, known popularly as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician from Bihar. He was instrumental in the foundation of the All India Depressed Classes League, an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables, in 1935 and was elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1937, after which he organised the rural labour movement.

Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupation is sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered untouchables in the caste system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi</span> Indian political party

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caste system in India</span> Social stratification practiced in India

The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. It is today the basis of affirmative action programmes in India as enforced through its constitution. The caste system consists of two different concepts, varna and jati, which may be regarded as different levels of analysis of this system.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health care access among Dalits in India</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahad Satyagraha</span> Satyagraha or water led by B R Ambedkar

Mahad Satyagraha or Chavdar Tale Satyagraha was a satyagraha led by B. R. Ambedkar on 20 March 1927 to allow untouchables to use water in a public tank in Mahad, Maharashtra, India. The day is observed as Social Empowerment day in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thenmozhi Soundararajan</span> Indian American Dalit Rights Activist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalit feminism</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambedkarism</span> Philosophy or ideology of B. R. Ambedkar

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References

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  2. Christophe Jaffrelot. Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste. Orient Blackswan.
  3. Samson K. Ovichegan (2015). Faces of Discrimination in Higher Education in India: Quota policy, social justice, and the Dalits. Routledge. pp. 13–14.
  4. "India's "Untouchables" Face Violence, Discrimination". National Geographic. 2003-06-02. Archived from the original on February 20, 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  5. "Sex hell of Dalit women exposed". The Guardian. 2001-05-09. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  6. "Nepal: Deadly caste-based attacks spur outcry over social discrimination". Indian Express. 17 June 2020.
  7. "Caste and captivity: Dalit suffering in Sindh". Dawn. 13 March 2016.
  8. Ghulam Hussain (2020). "Faith Conversions in Pakistan: Projections and Interpretations". Policy Perspectives. 17 (2). doi: 10.13169/polipers.17.2.0005 .
  9. R. Thilagaraj, Jianhong Liu. Restorative Justice in India: Traditional Practice and Contemporary Applications. Springer. p. 52.
  10. Puri, Naresh (2007-12-21). "British Hindus divided by caste". BBC News. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  11. "Low caste Hindus 'abused'". BBC News. 2007-12-21. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  12. "UK government decides not to enact law on caste discrimination among Indians, community divided". Hindustan Times. 24 July 2018.
  13. 1 2 Sriram Lakshman, Group opposes protection from caste discrimination in California Varsity’s faculty union, The Hindu, 24 January 2022.
  14. Zwick-Maitreyi, M.; Soundararajan, T.; Dar, N.; Bheel, R. F.; Balakrishnan, P. (2018), Caste in the United States: A survey of Caste among South Asian Americans (PDF), Equality Labs, ISBN   978-0-692-94411-0, archived (PDF) from the original on 3 September 2021
  15. Tinku Ray (March 8, 2019). "The US isn't safe from the trauma of caste bias". WGBH News.
  16. Badrinathan, Sumitra; Kapur, Devesh; Kay, Jonathan; Vaishnav, Milan (9 June 2021), Social Realities of Indian Americans: Results From the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  17. 1 2 3 4 Naik, Raqib Hameed. "US students pass resolution to end discrimination against Dalits". Al Jazeera.