Harsh Realities of Dalits in India

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• published: 25 Oct 2011
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64 years of freedom and dalits remain captive. ?I believe that if Gandhi ever made a mistake it was grouping all of us lower castes under the term ?Harijan?, ?says Community Correspondent (CC) Satyawan Verma from Hisar, Haryana. Amit Kumar, CC from Kurukshetra also in Haryana nods in agreement. ?It literally means ?the people of God?. But the label stuck and a single word effectively ghettoised around 200 million people,? he says. ?I realize that perhaps he had our best interests in mind but the fact that only we were supposed to play ?god?s people? seems patronizing. If I am ?god?s people?, so is everyone, you and me and everything under the sun.? Jai Kumar, CC from Ludhiana in the neighbouring state of Punjab is visibly agitated. ?I hope the British would return to rule us all over again,? he explodes. One is perplexed and lost at this seemingly reactionary, anti-national outburst but Amit steps in to explain his comrade?s stand and anger. He says,? Before independence, we were gathering garbage, cleaning drains, scavenging, being abused and tortured and denied our human rights. After independence, very little has changed. There is an India on the road to progress, registering itself as a major player in the scheme of the world but for us dalits, India is a country where time has stood still for thousands of years.? Satyawan, Amit and Jai have been community leaders and dalit activists before they joined IndiaUnheard. Their experiences speak not just from the grassroots work they have done with their communities but also from the life they have lived. At 23, Satyawan became the youngest headman of his village. But as he tried to work his way around the political system, he found that in his predominantly upper caste constituency, caste put him at a disadvantage. He never received the grants that were supposed to come to him and he realized that the only way he was going to get any work done was by paying through his own pocket. So exasperated was he at the end of his term that he refused to stand for the re-election. For Amit, it was the discrimination that he experienced in school at the hands of upper caste students and teachers and later, his co-workers when he began work in the private sector that solidified his resolve to speak out for his community. And so disillusioned was Jai with the oppression of caste that he renounced his religion and turned a Buddhist. ?Caste is the elephant in contemporary India?s room,? he says. ?It?s taking so much space that I can hardly get my toe in.? Investigating the caste system in India is an exasperating and frequently paradoxical process. Its origins and existence have been made vague but the system has worked its way into every major religion and public and private spaces. But still, the official line on caste discrimination teeters between complete denial and the attempt to sweep the whole mess under the carpet. They would have you believe that the country has collectively enlightened and risen beyond this petty ?aparthied?. They would tell you that the Constitution of the country which provides social, political and economic justice for all has in place provisions which ensure that the lives, dignity and livelihood of the dalits are secure. Any exploitation along the lines of caste has been forbidden and long abolished. In fact, they?ll tell you, the most vulnerable segments are given special protection. Special reservations have been made for the underprivileged so that they can participate in the economic, social and political mainstream. From the couch to the TV, it appears as an inspiring portrait of a young nation of one billion citizens moving upwards into a brighter future. You have to look beyond the mainstream, towards the margins to realize that every day, in every 18 minutes, in the space of 3 advertisement breaks and half a news program, an atrocity crime is committed against a dalit. A closer inspection of the systems of power in India can testify to the exploitation and marginalization of the dalits. You may see it or you may not but it?s everywhere. In the political scheme, in spite of constitutional reservation, dalit representatives are few. The paradox remains that the dalit vote bank is much sought after and political parties are known to offer false promises and even stoop as low as to resort to blatantly undemocratic measures like threatening and pressurizing the people to gather their vote. Even so-called dalit parties are known to suspend all disbelief and willingly join hands with the upper caste right wing if that assures then a place in the ruling government. ?Dalit ideology and identity is missing from present day politics,? says Satyawan, speaking from experience. ?What is the point is you are a dalit but speak in the words of a Brahmin?? The justice system fares no better. The conviction rate for crimes against dalits is a paltry 15% and 85% of cases are kept in a perpetual state of being ?pending?.