17
Untouchables in Independent India
Brindavan Moses
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Introduction and Background
We have to situate the status of our scheduled castes within
the context of an 'independent' India. What has 35 years of 'independence'
meant for the poor and oppressed? The acid test for our developmental and
decision - making processes is to see whether these processes have contributed
to the attainment of human dignity, social justice and equality for the 100 and
odd million scheduled castes ('untouchables'). Mere casual contacts with the
lives of these untouchables are sufficient to prove the contrary. Inspite of
constitutional guarantees, protective legislations and developmental programs
the vast majority of the members of this community still continue to be
impoverished and suffer from social ostracism and ghastly atrocities; seldom
are they owners of productive resources.
No doubt significant strides have been made in the various
fields of development since Independence. Agricultural output has risen
consistently. There has been diversification and expansion in industrial
capability, which has in its turn resulted in the growth of banking, trade and
commerce. It has also increased employment and better earnings in the case of
certain sections of the people. But, by and large, the beneficiaries have been
the affluent sections. The weaker sections, the bulk of which comprise the
scheduled castes have yet to derive tangible benefits. Sufficient proof of this
is provided by an estimate of the year 1977-78, according to which, of the 290
million people living below poverty line, 160 million were below 75 percent of
the poverty line and the bulk of them constitute the scheduled castes.
What is 'untouchability'? Who are these 'untouchables'?
Untouchability is a basic and unique feature of the Hindu social system and
order. It is fundamentally of religious and political origin. It is not a
separate institution by itself but only a corollary to the institution of the
caste system of the Hindu society. It is an indisputable fact that the caste
system is the dominating social force in this country and was
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essentially devised as a socioeconomic framework with a
religious and political sanction behind it. All the levels of social and
individual behavior are influenced by it. Untouchability being its direct
offshoot is a fundamental religious notion. The problem of untouchability is,
therefore, inseparably linked to the question of caste system and the social
order based on that. In short, it is an attitude on the part of a whole group
of people and it is a spirit of social aggression that underlies this attitude.
There are two poles of the caste system. On the top are the
Brahmins and at the bottom, 'the untouchables'. Although untouchability forms
the most notorious aspect of the caste system, it is not easy to define who is
an untouchable and who is not. There are many divisions even among the groups
broadly defined as untouchables. Generally, even untouchable groups treat each
other as untouchables. In Tamil Nadu, a state in the
Indian Union, it is stated, that there are no less than eighty subdivisions
among the Harijans (untouchables), with those at the top of the untouchable
hierarchy regarding and treating the less fortunate untouchables, lower in the
hierarchy, as 'untouchables'. These untouchable were called "exterior
castes" or "depressed classes" before the 1935 Government of
India Act. Ambedkar preferred the term "untouchables"
and Gandhi, "Harijans". Today "Scheduled castes" (S.Cs) is widely used. The most militant of the S.Cs have begun to call themselves "Dalits" which
means the down-trodden or oppressed.
How did untouchability come into practice? Just as there is
no agreed definition of 'untouchability', there is also no agreement among
scholars on its origin. Different versions are put forth, (including some to
justify the necessity of its origin and the very practice of untouchability)
but even today the origin of the untouchables is a puzzle to social,
historians. This dilemma is further compounded by the fact that some sub-castes
which are considered untouchables in one area are not treated as untouchables
in an adjoining
21
area. Different theories are put forward with many of them at
variance with each other. But broadly three possible answers can be given as to
the origin of the untouchables i.e. they were Aryan, pre-Dravidian or
Dravidian. Scholars disagree only with regard to the identification of the untouchables
with any of these races (i.e. three distinct cultural groups) but they all
agreed on one point, namely, that they are the most ancient people of India.
The S.Cs comprised 14.6 per cent
of the population of India in 1971 i.e. almost 80 million. More than half of
these lived in U.P. (18.5 million), W. Bengal (8.8 million), Bihar (7.9
million), and Tamil Nadu (7.3 million). Their numbers
were expected to increase to about 100 million by the time of the 1981 census.
The disabilities suffered by these untouchables all over India prior to its
legislative abolition (!) were perhaps the ugliest manifestation of
indignation. While in other countries of the world, the disabilities and
cruelty perpetrated on the low classes and slaves were either social or economic,
in India they were reinforced by religion. Untouchability is deeply imprinted
in the mind of Hindus by their unswerving faith in the philosophy of 'Karma'.
(Karma means that one is born into a caste as a result of one's actions in the
previous birth and that he/she could improve his/her caste only in the next
birth by dutifulness to the caste of present birth.) As part of this religious
framework untouchables believed, and many still do, that they are destined to
be miserable and that redemption from misery will come to them only by the
patient sufferance of their present misery. True, so
long as faith in Karma lasts untouchables seek no way out of their degradation,
except to lie in silent resignation with a sense of frustration.
They were prohibited (in many regions they are still
prohibited) not only from touching the superior castes but also from
approaching them within prescribed distance (paces). Even their very shadow
falling on an upper caste was considered 'polluting' to the 'purity' of the
upper caste. They were, and still are, also prohibited from having any
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social
inter-course with the high caste hindus, and enjoying
even elementary civic rights such as participation in social and religious
functions-entering temples, utilizing the services of the priests, barbers, washermen, usage of public tanks, roads etc. In hotels they
were not served in plates and in tea shops separate glasses were kept for
serving tea. They were not allowed to sit in a cart when it passed through the
streets inhabited by caste hindus
or wear their chappals when they passed through the
caste hindu village. Thus the untouchables of India
were economically poor, politically ignorant, socially outcastes and
religiously non-entities.
Beginnings of the Struggle for Dignity:
Naturally, the problem of untouchability has been the target
of criticism by many a social reformer. Swami Vivekananda, the patriot monk of
modern India condemned untouchability in unequivocal terms. He went to the
extent of calling Malabar, (now part of the present Kerala state) where
untouchability was very nakedly and intensively practized,
a 'lunatic asylum'. Mahatma Gandhi took upon himself the responsibility of
eradicating untouchability from the Hindu society. Though he upheld the varnashrama system, he was not in favor of the practice of
untouchability which he considered as the 'greatest blot on Hinduism'. It is
against such a draconian social evil, reformers such as Narayana
Guru of Travancore, E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar) of Tamil Nadu and Dr. Ambedkar (Baba Saheb) of Maharashtra, himself an untouchable, fought all through
their lives. Owing to the ceaseless efforts of such people, expressed through
various organized programs, the practice of untouchability has been legally
abolished by the present Constitution of India. Untouchability was not
originally defined anywhere in the Constitution and it took as many as 5 years
to enact a law. This was called "Untouchability (offences) Act,
1935". The law proved teeth-less and on the persistent demand of the
untouchables and on the recommendation of a
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parliamentary committee a bill was moved in the parliament in
1972, called "Untouchability (offences) Amendment and Miscellaneous
Provisions Bill". For three years the Bill lingered on. Finally the then
existing Act was amended during the period of Emergency. It was renamed as
"Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1975", and came into force on the
19th of November, 1976.
Earlier, during the British rule the question of removing
the disabilities of 'untouchables' came before the rulers. In 1856 the
Government of Bombay had to consider the case of a Mahar
(a caste in W. India) boy who was refused admission to the government at Dharwar. In 1858 it was announced that "all schools
maintained at the sole cost of the government shall be open to all classes of
its subject without distinction". But as late as 1915, Mahar
and other depressed class boys in village schools were not allowed to enter the
class rooms but were accomodated outside the room on
the verandah. In view of this in 1923 the Government issued a circular that
grants would be paid to any aided educational institution which refused
admission to the children belonging to the depressed classes. In 1925 a Bill
was introduced in the Madras Legislature Council to put under statute the
principle of a resolution passed in the previous session of the Council
throwing open all public roads, streets or pathways, giving access to any
public office, well, tank or place of public resort to all classes of people
irrespective of their caste and creed. It was in Kerala that the campaign for
temple entry was best organized. The 'temple entry proclamation' issued by the
Maharaja of Travancore in 1936 was the pioneer in the field of reforms relating
to the eradication of untouchability before Independence. In the year 1928 Dr.
B.R. Ambedkar organized a satyagraha movement at Mahad
in the then Bombay Presidency to establish the civil rights of the Depressed
classes. Again in 1930 at Nasik, Kala
Ram Temple Satyagraha was organized by Dr. Ambedkar.
It continued upto 1935. The temples were closed to
the untouchables and many people were sent to
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jails. Ambedkar was militant in his
programs. He wanted separate electorates for the untouchables.
Before Independence, the ameliorative and welfare programs
promoted by non-official agencies set up on Gandhiji's
initiative were mainly related to the provision of sources of drinking water,
eradication of illiteracy and inculcation of hygienic habits. With a view to
change the old attitude, Gandhiji changed the old
name and called untouchables 'Harijans' or 'children of God'. He sponsored the
Harijan Sevak Sangh in
1933, and entrusted it to the care of the non-untouchables with the admonition
that they should run it in a spirit of repentance for continuing an ancient
practice and a present evil. The Harijan Sevak Sangh took up general ameliorative measures to improve the
lot of the untouchables. The programs proceeded, stage by stage, starting with
temple entry, education etc., and finally, two years before his assassination, Gandhiji took a vow that he would not give his good wishes
for marriages unless it be between a 'touchable' and an untouchable. The
climate created by Gandhiji and Ambedkar
precipitated the issue and resulted in the incorporation of article 17 in the
Constitution of India which laid down that abolition of untouchability and
forbidding its practice in any form was a fundamental right. The Constitution
of India requires the state to undertake activities for the advancement of
education, removal of disabilities and improvement of the conditions of life of
the untouchables as a statutory obligation. Besides these, there is the
reservation of seats in legislatures, educational institutions and public
services and also several programs of economic development. Undoubtedly, some
efforts have been made by the organs of the State and State-supported
non-official agencies to implement the programs.
The Situation Today:
Despite the earnest efforts of the stalwarts and their many
followers and despite the presence of Article 17 of the
25
Constitution
and the Untouchability (offences) Act, the practice of untouchability still has
its grip over the traditional pattern of behavior. Coupled with this has been
the corresponding social sabotage by the "dark forces" of Indian
society. These dark forces take on varying forms, (varying according to time
and region) in sabotaging even the minimum concessions and programs of the S.Cs. The reservations and concessions sanctioned by the
Constitution benefits but a small fraction of the untouchables while million of
them continue to suffer in poverty and squalor. Measures like granting of land,
inter-caste marriages and educational facilities are more in the nature of
charity than in the way of effecting a radical change in the relations between
the touchables and the untouchables. They continue to
live physically segregated in ghettos and socially discriminated in day-to-day
affairs of life. The discrimination
often results in denial of employment and therefore most of them remain
miserably poor eking out a daily living by the most menial labor.
A large number of workers among scheduled castes are engaged
in agriculture. There is a high participation rate of S.Cs
(males 54%, females 17%) in the work-force as compared to the general
population (males 51%, females 10%) which indicates, within the context of the
country's chronic unemployment situation, that they are perforce compelled to
accept for survival any work which provides them employment and for a pittance
as remuneration. Further, it is seen that there is a pronounced landlessness
among the S.C workers (51% as compared to only 20.20% of agricultural laborers
reported in the rest of the population). According to a study made by the
census organization, in 1971, 51 percent of landholdings of S.C cultivators
were less than 2.4 acres compared to others in whose case the percentage was
34. The small and unproductive pieces of land cultivated by
scheduled castes leads to low productivity and consequently low purchasing
power. The net result is that the bulk of the S.Cs
are forced
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to work as agricultural laborers; in mining and quarrying,
tanning and currying, scavenging etc. Thus this proves that untouchables are
forced to bear a twin oppression of not only untouchability but also chronic
poverty and economic oppression.
Although a large number of schemes have been introduced to
diversify the occupational structure of the untouchable castes, quite
frequently the bulk of them remain tied down to their traditional occupation.
Improvements in the economic
life of the people would require strengthening the technological and economic
base of occupation. Where attempts in this direction have been successful two
contradictory results follow. Either the traditional association of the caste
with the occupation is strengthened of it is weakened. Where the association is
strengthened, it reinforces casteism and delays the
transformation of the social structure. Where the association is weakened, new
set of people get into the occupation and derive the benefits of improved technology; but the
craftsmen belonging to the untouchable castes are thrown out. They cannot
immediately take to alternative occupations with higher returns. Thus they
suffer economic insecurity and get further impoverished.
Added to this rapid impoverishment of large numbers of the
untouchables is the consistent perpetration of the most ghastly and inhuman
atrocities by the 'upper castes' against these untouchables. Instances of
burning down their huts, hacking them alive, burning them to death, shooting
them at point blank range in broad day light, raping and torturing of harijan women by caste hindus and
the police are reported in the newspapers everyday; this is not to speak of the
inhuman atrocities and incidents of violence that are never reported.
In fact, atrocities on the S.Cs, a
continuing feature even after 35 years of 'freedom' have of late been
registering a perceptible rise giving cause for great
concern. There are instances where the weaker sections are subjected to
physical violence even while they try to exercise their fundamental
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right to vote in elections. Of course, a lot of noise and
protests are heard whenever an atrocity is reported, several committees start
probing into the incident and a few cases are registered (most often are
registered on the victims – the untouchables). Seldom are
the root causes properly analyzed so as to keep an effective vigil on the bases
of socioeconomic tension. During 1976, 1977 and 1978 as many as 6,197, 10,879
and 15,053 cases against S.Cs were reported. (The
increase in figures does not necessarily mean that during 1976 they were less,
it could probably be because of the S.Cs and their
support organizations were more alert in registering a large number of cases
than before: nor do these figures mean the final word
on the number of atrocities. These registered atrocities comprise only a small
percentage of the actual atrocities committed). An analysis of some of these
crimes indicates that they are a direct outcome of agrarian tensions which are
not attended to promptly and then taking the shape of ugly violent incidents.
These incidents also arise as a result of ineffective enforcement of Minimum
Wages Act, rural indebtedness, practice of bonded labor, social disabilities
lack of mobility on the part of scheduled caste agricultural labor to shift to
other congenial places of work. _It is reported that often the affluent farmers
who employ the landless laborers are able to draw the support of the revenue
and police officials and even of politicians.
Education and 'Untouchables'
The picture of educational development of the untouchables
is still a very deplorable one. The general illiteracy level according to 1971
census was 70.66 per cent (male 64.49% and females 81.56%) where as in rural
areas, for S.Cs – it was 87.23 per cent (males 79.96%
and females 94.94%). An analysis of the enrolment figures for 1977-78 shows
that the All-India percentages of the relevant age groups attending schools in
classes I to V and VI to VIII for scheduled castes was 75.5 per cent and 25.5
per cent as
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compared to 85.7 per cent and 37.9 per cent respectively
for the rest of the population. In some states the VI and VIII enrolment
percentage for S.Cs are as low as 9.4 in Bihar, 14.6
in Orissa, 14.8 in Rajasthan etc. At the level of
class IX and above the enrolment position of the S.Cs
is still worse. In ‘73-‘74 the enrolment of S.Cs to
the enrolment of all children for these classes was 11 percent as against 21.2
percent for the general population. In the six 'prestigious' Indian Institutes
of Technology, direct admissions to S.Cs receiving
more than 50 per cent marks was possible till '78-79' in addition to the
admissions through the Joint Entrance Examination. From the year 79-80 however,
direct admission of S.C candidates has been stopped and they are admitted only
through the Joint Entrance Examinations with the result that only 88 S.C
candidates could get admission to these Institutes as against 246 reserved for
them during that year. It is reported that due to the very high standard of
academic performance expected from the students in these Institutes, the
performance of scheduled caste students has not been encouraging, with the
result that some of them were not able to complete their courses successfully;
some of them were expelled from the Indian Institutes of Technology due to
then-poor performance. At the same time, as a result of various educational
development schemes, first generation students from numerically and
educationally weak S.C communities have to face competition from comparatively
more educationally advanced S.C communities resulting in the denial of
employment opportunities to them. Thus at times, the shrewd and the educated
among the untouchables appropriate advantages and special concessions while the
masses of untouchables live in the traditional way of religious faith and
social isolation.
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
Right to Equality
14. Equality before law. – The State shall not
deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection
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of the laws within the territory of India.
15. Prohibition of
discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. – (1)
The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
(2) No
citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or
any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition
with regard to –
(a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of
public entertainment, or
(b) the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats,
roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State
funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.
(3) Nothing in this article shall prevent the
State from making any special provision for women and children.
[(4) Nothing in this article or in clause (2) of
Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the
advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or
for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.]
16. Equality of opportunity in matters of public
employment. – (1) There shall be equality of
opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment
to any office under the State.
(2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them,
be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or
office under the State.
(3) Nothing in this article shall prevent
Parliament from making any law prescribing, in regard to a class or classes of
employment or appointment to an office [under the Government of, or any local
or other authority within, a
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State or Union territory, any requirement as to
residence within that state or Union territory] prior to such employment or
appointment.
(4) Nothing in this article shall prevent the
State from making any provision for the reservation of a
appointments or posts in favor of any backward class of citizens which, in the
opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the
State.
(5) Nothing in this article shall affect the
operation of any law which provides that the incumbent of an office in
connection with the affairs of any religious or denominational institution or
any member of the governing body thereof shall be a person professing a
particular religion or belonging to a particular denomination.
17. Abolition of Untouchability. –
"Untouchability" is abolished and its practice in any form is
forbidden. The enforcement
of any disability
arising out of "Untouchability" shall be an
offence punishable in accordance with law.
The Constitutional Right and Reality:
The principle of reservation in services for the weaker sections
of the society was a recognized practice even in years preceding Independence.
The policy of reservation derives its sanction from the directory, mandatory,
and enabling provisions in Articles 46, 335 and 16(4) of the Constitution of
India enacted in 1950. A look at the past thirty two years does indeed show
progressive crystallization of the policy of reservation; and yet the
inescapable impression remains that there are still miles to go before the
achievement of the goal of adequate representation can be claimed with any
degree of satisfaction Constitution of India.
While assessing the progress, it would be pertinent to note
the position of representation of these classes as existing today. What has
actually been achieved as against the fixed
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percentage of 15 per cent of reservation in services for S.Cs? Only mere 4.75 per cent in class I (group A), 7.37
per cent in class II (group B) and 12.59 per cent in class III (group C) in
central services for the S.Cs were filled as on
1.1.1979. In the services under Public Sector undertakings the representation
of S.Cs in class I, class II and class III was 2.03,
3.53 and 16.30 per cent respectively. The data for the public sector financial
institutions and the Nationalized banks reveal that
the percentage of scheduled caste officers was only 2.12 and among the clerks
11.69. Besides, during this period after 'Independence' occupational
opportunities in trade, commerce and industries in the private sector have
increased considerably. But few from among the untouchable castes have been
able to reach administrative, ministerial and supervisory positions in these
concerns.
On the one hand, these reservations have conditioned the
educated elites among the untouchables to look upon the administrative bureaucracy
as their reference group. Psychologically they orient themselves towards it.
When they cannot get into it they feel excessively frustrated. At the same
time, they can hardly take any entrepreneural role in
trade, commerce and other arenas. On the other hand, there is also a growing
realization among some sections of the untouchable elites that it is not always
desirable that Government service should absorb their best talent solely
because of the facility of reservation. As a government servant, polities is taboo, and this rules out the potential of
competent leaders among them.
Thus, reservation in the services has, by and large, yielded
diminishing returns to the untouchable castes. The picture that emerges
indicates that progress towards adequate representation has been at a snail's
pace. It is obvious that so long as the deficiency in representation continues,
the policy of 'special opportunity' distinct from mere 'equality of
opportunity' will have to be continued. In fact, it is already unjustifiably
demanded for in certain quarters of vested interests, terming themselves as
'oppressed castes', (who
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compromise mainly the forward
castes) that the reservation policy be scrapped or at the least, be revised.
The Nature of the Struggle Today:
On the eve of Independence, it was thought that through the
instrumentality of law the problems of untouchables could be solved. Several harijan leaders themselves did place tremendous faith and
hope in the newly 'Independent' India to provide solutions to their community's
age old miseries. It was thought that measures like legislative reforms,
enforcement of minimum wages, settlement of surplus land with harijans,
reservations of jobs, educational concessions etc. would usher in an era of
social, political and economic equality. They were soon disillusioned. After
several years of Independence there was a realization that these measures were
grossly inadequate. Further, a powerful landed lobby of upper castes was up in
arms against the strict enforcement of these measures. The harijan
community was turning to other paths for their liberation.
The first wake of protest by untouchables against their
suffering came in the early fifties. The central issue of protest was the
refusal of the untouchables to render forced services like removal of
carcasses, carrying death news from one village to another, palanquin bearing,
digging burial pits, beating of drums at funeral processions, scavenging etc.
They were subjected to all sorts of harassment. They were boycotted and denied
employment opportunities by the owners of land when the untouchables attempted
to free themselves from the bond-age of the age-old traditions. Their houses
were burnt and often they were physically tortured. There were several local
setbacks but, in the long run, the untouchables were successful in asserting
their civil rights — their very fundamental right to be treated and respected
as a human being — to a great extent. Even where they continue to render
traditional services there has been a quantitative change. Economic
relationship rather than social coercion has been the important determining
factor.
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The second wave is gaining momentum currently. It relates
primarily to the movement of the agricultural laborers and sharecroppers to establish the
implementation of the Minimum (Agricultural) Wages Act and their right over the
lands cultivated respectively. The failure to implement the Minimum Wages Act
and land reform measures successfully through normal administrative actions has
aggravated the situation. As the bulk of the agricultural laborers and
share-croppers belong to the untouchables and other castes of low ritual
status, the ethnic dimension is added to this movement of the essentially rural
proletariat. In some parts of the country particularly where intensive
cultivation and multiple cropping have augmented the employment opportunities
of the agricultural laborers, they are also fighting for higher wages. The
implementation of the crash employment program or guaranteed employment program
has also strengthened their hand. The massive assertion of their rights by the
'mute' millions of history has naturally caused consternation among the
landlords, rich peasants and other vested interests in rural society. They also
find it to their advantage to dilute the socio-economic character of the
movement and project it as 'social arrogance' on the part of the untouchables.
This helps the propertied sections to mobilize the support of the poor sections
of their own caste or at least to neutralize the castes of the middle ritual
status, who are generally small and medium farmers. The rural landed interests
are on the war path. Through terrorizing the untouchable castes and other poor
they want to nullify even the half hearted measures of socio-economic programs
attempted by the government for the S.Cs.
All this cruel plight of the untouchables is not a peculiar
feature of rural India alone; the untouchables, both educated and uneducated
living in the big cities, and also in the towns, do face social oppression and
humiliation from the upper castes, though the forms of social, political and
economic oppression in the urban areas takes on subtle forms. The
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most
glaring fact to prove that, heridatory occupation – a
fact of caste – has changed very little for the untouchables even in the urban
areas is to note that a high percentages of sweepers, rickshaw pullers,
scavengers, peons, ward boys, lower level clerks, daily wage earners,
construction workers and other manual workers in the urban areas hail from the
untouchable castes. Urbanization, industrialization, modernization,
westernization, higher education etc, have had only minimum impact on the caste
solidified mind of the urban Indian. The recent violent agitation in the state
of Gujarat, in the heart of its city, against the reservation of the Scheduled
castes, launched by doctors, is a pointer of how castes feelings in the urban
area can be whipped up by upper castes, political and economic interests.
Whether in temples, churches, educational institutions, employment or marriage,
the untouchable is still an untouchable. The whole anti-reservation agitation
itself has a fairly strong base among urban educated middle class sections.
This is not to mention the subtle theories, articles and pamphlets churned out
consistently by the upper castes either in the newspapers, magazines, various
academic and political meetings etc., refuting claims that the harijan is still a weaker member and hence deserves special
concessions and reservations. Of course all this is ably engineered by the
various caste associations in rural and urban India. Further, often the
political parties and trade unions of the establishment and rightist forces
whip up caste difference especially against the scheduled castes so as to alienate
them from the mainstream of workers thereby dividing the workers along caste
lines; often disrupting the persevering work of the progressive forces to build
unity along class lines.
A second probable confusion must be sorted out. It is difficult
to accept the view that economic factors alone are responsible for the
struggles of harijans today. In many cases economic issues like redistribution
of land, enforcement of minimum wages, more jobs for harijans are not the only
real issues of struggle. Harijans in many places
35
of the country are fighting also for dignity, status and
against persecution and torture. Religious conversion, more particularly, the
recent embracing of Islam by hundreds of harijans is a form of protest not
merely for economic gain. It was a protest against constant persecution,
humiliation, discrimination, ill treatment of their women, etc. It was a
struggle for basic human dignity, for status, for respect – for the right to be
treated as a person; not as an untouchable and a sub-human being.
In Conclusion:
What is really disturbing about the Indian situation is the
tendency among the masses themselves towards mutual caste violence. Some of the
lowest castes have been the most common targets of such violence whether it be in Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat or Andhra Pradesh. The caste system and the
entire ideological, cultural and psychological super-structure is extraordinarily tough and deep rooted. It is a
peculiarity arising from the specifics of Indian historical development. Hence, the extremely complex nature of it. There can be no
simplistic and short-cut solutions to solve this problem. It is this depth and
strength of the seeming caste divisions, which have led some to argue that in
addition to 'class' division, there persist caste
divisions in Indian society implicitly meaning that caste divisions are outside
the pale of class divisions having their roots in peoples' consciousness.
However, those who claim an interest in the progressive emancipation of the
people of this country need to be clear about the nature of caste – its
material base in history and in the present and the reasons for its continuing
use in the conduct of politics by those who control that politics. This is not
to make out a case that mere changes in production (economic) relations will
automatically do away with caste. It is a necessary condition but not a
sufficient condition. Caste divisions with its heredity, ritual, cultural,
pollution – conscious practice, and quasi-religious sanctions and prohibitions
will have to
36
be fought alongside the economic struggles. Proof of this is seen in the fact that
there are numerous struggles of harijans, which are not merely for improved
economic standards but also for basic human dignity and respect. Especially,
the younger generation of harijans are bent on
struggling for this cause, Unwilling to make any compromise with the castiest power lobbies. It is definitely a new mood, a new
awakening and a new thrust — a thrust never to accept submissively as mute
slaves the exploitation and humiliation perpetuated on them for ages. And this
will in turn lead to renewed, intensified and broad-based conflicts and
struggles.
References:
1. Thapar, Romesh (ed.). Change and conflict in India, The Macmillan Company of
India Limited, 1978.
2. Government of India, Report of the
Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Twenty sixth Report),
1978-79, Part – I & II.
3. Government
of India, Department of Social Welfare,
Report of the Committee on
Untouchability, Economic and
Educational Development of the Scheduled castes and Connected Documents, 1969.
____________________
Taken from Praxis Nos. 3-4, 1982.