Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ is intended to provide a brief and therefore superficial introduction to the Dalit human rights problem. If you find errors in this FAQ, please comment on this.
What is Caste?
Caste is determined by birth into a particular group, not by belief. The caste system splits people into a rigid hierarchy of groups defined by birth and occupation. Housing, marriage and all forms of social interaction are divided by caste, and the divisions are reinforced by the threat of ostracism, economic boycott and violence.
Lower- and upper-caste people are almost always indistinguishable in appearance. Further confusing the picture for outsiders, huge economic inequalities between upper and lower castes are masked by overall poverty: all are poor, but discrimination against the poorest stifles opportunity and distributes basic resources unfairly to the least poor. The worst jobs are rigidly assigned to Dalits and keep them "in their place" in the most vulnerable status. And abuse, debt bondage and violence is disproportionately the lot of Dalits.
What are sub-castes?
Within the castes there are more than 3,000 sub-castes or Jati, each having a different status in their own internal hierarchies. Even among the Dalits, there are many different sub-castes, variously positioned at upper and lower levels.
How did the caste system arise?
The origin of the caste system is disputed. There are several theories. The Hindu creation myth claims that the first man split himself to form the four castes from different parts of his body. A similar "biological" explanation theorises that all things have the three gunas (qualities): satya (Truth); rajas (action); and tamas (inertia) in different proportions. A sociological explanation is given by the Aryan invasion theory, but this is now largely discredited.
What is the Aryan invasion theory?
This is a disputed theory of the origin of the caste system and untouchability, espoused first by British and European colonialists to justify white supremacy and now by Hindu nationalists to justify the status quo. The theory is that the Indian Vedic culture arose from an ancient invasion of India by "Aryans", in about 500 BCE (some say 2000 BCE). Supposedly, the invaders were already organised into three groups, thus becoming the three upper castes, and the mainly Dravidian native inhabitants were conquered, becoming
Sudras and Dalits.
Various linguistic and genetic research has attempted to support the theory. However, discovery of archaeological remains of the advanced Indus valley civilisation, which predated the supposed Aryan invasion and surpassed the Aryans at the time, tended to undermine the invasion theory. The alternative, now attracting a degree of academic consensus, is a theory of a long-standing and highly developed indigenous civilisation that was nevertheless influenced by other cultures.
Define "Dalit"?
Dalit is a Sanskrit word from the root dal, meaning "broken" or "crushed". Dr B R Ambedkar or Jotiba Phule (1827-1890, a social reformer and revolutionary) are variously credited with using the word Dalit for untouchables, as broken victims of the caste system.
In the 1970s, the Dalit Panther Movement (Maharashtra, India) adopted the term Dalit. Today, the word is widely used, especially by Dalit people themselves.
What is the Dalit problem?
Globally, more than 250,000,000 people suffer discrimination based on "descent or work and occupation" (UN, 12 August 2004). Of these, about 160,000,000 to 180,000,000 are in India.
This discrimination affects every aspect of life: health, housing, education, work, marriage, social interaction... For most Dalits, there is no opportunity to escape from caste-imposed discrimination. Tens of millions of Dalits are trapped in debt bondage.
Globally, more than 250,000,000 people suffer discrimination based on "descent or work and occupation" (UN, 12 August 2004). Of these, about 160,000,000 to 180,000,000 are in India.
This discrimination affects every aspect of life: health, housing, education, work, marriage, social interaction... For most Dalits, there is no opportunity to escape from caste-imposed discrimination. Tens of millions of Dalits are trapped in debt bondage.
The plight of the Dalits is the worst human rights problem in the world.
The rest of this FAQ describes the problem in greater detail and gives a brief introduction to what can be, and is being, done about it.
How many Dalits are there?
About 250,000,000, three-quarters of them in India.
This number is so large that it is difficult to grasp, but for comparison, it is roughly equal to:
Quarter of the population of India
Not far short of the population of the United States
4% of the population of the world.
About 250,000,000, three-quarters of them in India.
This number is so large that it is difficult to grasp, but for comparison, it is roughly equal to:
Quarter of the population of India
Not far short of the population of the United States
4% of the population of the world.
It is no exaggeration to describe Dalit oppression as the worst human rights problem in the world, measured simply by the sheer numbers of people who are affected.
In India alone, there at least 179,000,000 Dalits (2001 census). Most of them live in conditions unimaginable in the developed world.
The largest population of Dalits is in India. Other countries with the largest Dalit (or similarly oppressed-through-caste) populations are:
Nepal: approximately 4,000,000, one-fifth of the population
Pakistan: approximately 2,000,000
Nigeria: 2,000,000 - 4,000,000 (Osu)
Japan: 1,000,000 - 3,000,000 (Buraku)
Other countries with similar issues include Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen. There are two caste systems in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese one not being linked to the Hindu religion.
There is also evidence of discrimination outside these areas in Indian diaspora communities. This has been reported in East and South Africa, North America, the Caribbean, Fiji, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Middle East, Suriname, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
The largest population of Dalits is in India. Other countries with the largest Dalit (or similarly oppressed-through-caste) populations are:
Nepal: approximately 4,000,000, one-fifth of the population
Pakistan: approximately 2,000,000
Nigeria: 2,000,000 - 4,000,000 (Osu)
Japan: 1,000,000 - 3,000,000 (Buraku)
Other countries with similar issues include Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen. There are two caste systems in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese one not being linked to the Hindu religion.
There is also evidence of discrimination outside these areas in Indian diaspora communities. This has been reported in East and South Africa, North America, the Caribbean, Fiji, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Middle East, Suriname, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Japan does have its own problem of discrimination based on "descent or work and occupation": the Buraku people.
These people are descendants of feudal-era outcastes, who had work such as slaughtering animals and leather work. The Buddhist and Shinto religions categorised these tasks as unclean.
In the 17th century, there were three social classes: warriors, peasants and townspeople. The outcastes, ancestors of today's Buraku people, were called Eta (extreme filth) and Hinin (non-human).
1n 1871, an 'Emancipation Edict' abolished the lowest social rank. However, no effective effort has been made to implement this declaration.
Today, according to government statistics, 1,200,000 Buraku people live in 4,400 Buraku communities. However, these figures only include people living in a limited number of government-defined areas. The true Buraku population is about 3,000,000 people in up to 6,000 communities.
What do Dalits do for a living?
The allocation of occupation by birth is a defining characteristic of the caste system, and in particular the restriction of lower castes to tasks deemed too dirty or polluting for members of the upper castes.
The dirtiest jobs come the way of the Dalits. Traditional occupations are associated with death or filth: handling dead bodies or animal carcases; tanning leather; cleaning, especially toilets and human faeces; refuse disposal; and a range of other "impure" tasks including drumming and weaving;
The allocation of occupation by birth is a defining characteristic of the caste system, and in particular the restriction of lower castes to tasks deemed too dirty or polluting for members of the upper castes.
The dirtiest jobs come the way of the Dalits. Traditional occupations are associated with death or filth: handling dead bodies or animal carcases; tanning leather; cleaning, especially toilets and human faeces; refuse disposal; and a range of other "impure" tasks including drumming and weaving;
How do Dalits fare against the poverty line?
The allocation of occupation by birth is a defining characteristic of the caste system, and in particular the restriction of lower castes to tasks deemed too dirty or polluting for members of the upper castes.
The dirtiest jobs come the way of the Dalits. Traditional occupations are associated with death or filth: handling dead bodies or animal carcases; tanning leather; cleaning, especially toilets and human faeces; refuse disposal; and a range of other "impure" tasks including drumming and weaving;
The poorest people in the world subsist on an income of less than one US dollar a day. (The World Bank "extreme economic poverty" line for India is set at US$1.08 a day.) Roughly half the Dalit population lives at or below this level of income, compared with about one-third of the total population of India.
How else are Dalits oppressed?
Living areas: Most Dalits are forced to live in segregated areas. In rural India, they are usually required to live outside villages. Even after death, grave sites are segregated.
Accommodation and resources: the best housing is reserved for the upper castes; the government provides separate amenities (electricity, sanitation, health care, water...) for each neighbourhood, which are themselves segregated on caste lines. Dalits are usually left with the worse of the amenities or none at all.
Land rights: over 85% of Indian Dalits own no land and are dependent on landlords for work or land to rent; those that do own land may find it difficult or impossible to enforce their rights; workers rarely receive the statutory minimum wage. Similar problems exist in Nepal.
Education, leading to high rates of illiteracy. Few Dalit children progress beyond primary education and they are often made to sit at the back of the class. Among Indian Dalits, about two-thirds are illiterate, compared with about one-half of the general population.
Access to credit: Dalits' access to credit is almost exclusively from higher-caste, literate and relatively powerful people. High interest rates, borrower illiteracy and extremely low wages make debts difficult to repay and frequently lead to debt bondage.
Debt bondage stemming from extremely low wages: up to 60,000,000 people in India are bonded labourers, 85% of them Dalits, effectively enslaved to pay off debts. Up to 15,000,000 of these are children. High interest rates and low wages make it difficult or impossible ever to escape from debt bondage. Moreover, debts are inherited by children. In some cases, debt "bondage" is all too literal and the labourers are tied up or chained to prevent escape, an unsettling echo of slavery. Despite 1976 legislation to abolish debt bondage, it remains a widespread practice in India. Similar problems exist in Pakistan and Mauritania and it has not been eradicated in Nepal.
Clothing: in some places, including parts of Sri Lanka, caste-specific clothing is required for Dalits.
Access to otherwise-public facilities: Many Dalits are not allowed to use the same water sources or drinking cups as higher castes
Marriage: not being allowed to marry or interact socially with other castes
Violence: Breaches of "untouchability", defiance of the established social order, disputes over land and demands for the minimum wage often lead to violence, sometimes murderous in intensity and leading to multiple deaths. 33,507 cases of atrocities against Dalits were recorded in 2002. Rape is common and mass rape is frequently reported.
Discrimination in law enforcement discourages reports of victimisation and continues the cycle of abuse. Even if police are not hostile to Dalits, they are usually located in upper-caste sections of villages and so they are literally inaccessible to Dalits. Moreover, many allegations of discrimination or atrocities are never entered in police records, still less investigated.
Disrespect, seated in prejudice based on ideas of purity and pollution. In many villages, Dalits must remove their shoes and dismount from bicycles before entering the area where upper castes live.
Disasters: Similar discrimination has been recorded at times of disaster, for example in the 2004 tsunami and the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.
What is "purity-pollution"?
Purity-pollution is a Hindu concept. The higher the rank of a Hindu, the higher the level of purity they must maintain. The lower the rank, the more impure they are. Purity restrictions are most prevalent in marriage, drink, food, and touch.
Certain occupational or social groups, notably Dalits, are regarded as "dirty" and contact with them as being polluting, at least for upper-caste Hindus. In extreme but commonplace interpretations, even contact with the shadow of a Dalit by upper-caste Hindus may require lengthy "cleansing" rituals: to an upper-caste person, a Dalit is literally "untouchable". Language in daily use typically identifies the upper castes with cleanliness and Dalits with filth.
Living areas: Most Dalits are forced to live in segregated areas. In rural India, they are usually required to live outside villages. Even after death, grave sites are segregated.
Accommodation and resources: the best housing is reserved for the upper castes; the government provides separate amenities (electricity, sanitation, health care, water...) for each neighbourhood, which are themselves segregated on caste lines. Dalits are usually left with the worse of the amenities or none at all.
Land rights: over 85% of Indian Dalits own no land and are dependent on landlords for work or land to rent; those that do own land may find it difficult or impossible to enforce their rights; workers rarely receive the statutory minimum wage. Similar problems exist in Nepal.
Education, leading to high rates of illiteracy. Few Dalit children progress beyond primary education and they are often made to sit at the back of the class. Among Indian Dalits, about two-thirds are illiterate, compared with about one-half of the general population.
Access to credit: Dalits' access to credit is almost exclusively from higher-caste, literate and relatively powerful people. High interest rates, borrower illiteracy and extremely low wages make debts difficult to repay and frequently lead to debt bondage.
Debt bondage stemming from extremely low wages: up to 60,000,000 people in India are bonded labourers, 85% of them Dalits, effectively enslaved to pay off debts. Up to 15,000,000 of these are children. High interest rates and low wages make it difficult or impossible ever to escape from debt bondage. Moreover, debts are inherited by children. In some cases, debt "bondage" is all too literal and the labourers are tied up or chained to prevent escape, an unsettling echo of slavery. Despite 1976 legislation to abolish debt bondage, it remains a widespread practice in India. Similar problems exist in Pakistan and Mauritania and it has not been eradicated in Nepal.
Clothing: in some places, including parts of Sri Lanka, caste-specific clothing is required for Dalits.
Access to otherwise-public facilities: Many Dalits are not allowed to use the same water sources or drinking cups as higher castes
Marriage: not being allowed to marry or interact socially with other castes
Violence: Breaches of "untouchability", defiance of the established social order, disputes over land and demands for the minimum wage often lead to violence, sometimes murderous in intensity and leading to multiple deaths. 33,507 cases of atrocities against Dalits were recorded in 2002. Rape is common and mass rape is frequently reported.
Discrimination in law enforcement discourages reports of victimisation and continues the cycle of abuse. Even if police are not hostile to Dalits, they are usually located in upper-caste sections of villages and so they are literally inaccessible to Dalits. Moreover, many allegations of discrimination or atrocities are never entered in police records, still less investigated.
Disrespect, seated in prejudice based on ideas of purity and pollution. In many villages, Dalits must remove their shoes and dismount from bicycles before entering the area where upper castes live.
Disasters: Similar discrimination has been recorded at times of disaster, for example in the 2004 tsunami and the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.
Purity-pollution is a Hindu concept. The higher the rank of a Hindu, the higher the level of purity they must maintain. The lower the rank, the more impure they are. Purity restrictions are most prevalent in marriage, drink, food, and touch.
Certain occupational or social groups, notably Dalits, are regarded as "dirty" and contact with them as being polluting, at least for upper-caste Hindus. In extreme but commonplace interpretations, even contact with the shadow of a Dalit by upper-caste Hindus may require lengthy "cleansing" rituals: to an upper-caste person, a Dalit is literally "untouchable". Language in daily use typically identifies the upper castes with cleanliness and Dalits with filth.
What is the "Devadasi" system? What are Badis?
Many thousands of Dalit girls are forced into "marriage" to temples or local deities in south India, often before puberty, sometimes in payment of a debt. They are then unable to marry and become unwilling prostitutes for upper-caste men, many eventually being sold into brothels.
The Badi Jat is regarded as a prostitution sub-caste. Women and girls are routinely trafficked into brothels. Perversely, and hypocritically, untouchability does not seem to apply to prostitution and customers are mainly men from the upper castes.
In Pakistan, rape of bonded labourers is widespread, often violent and rarely punished. In India, rape of Dalit women is also widespread.
Many thousands of Dalit girls are forced into "marriage" to temples or local deities in south India, often before puberty, sometimes in payment of a debt. They are then unable to marry and become unwilling prostitutes for upper-caste men, many eventually being sold into brothels.
The Badi Jat is regarded as a prostitution sub-caste. Women and girls are routinely trafficked into brothels. Perversely, and hypocritically, untouchability does not seem to apply to prostitution and customers are mainly men from the upper castes.
In Pakistan, rape of bonded labourers is widespread, often violent and rarely punished. In India, rape of Dalit women is also widespread.
What does it mean to be "twice born"? What is the thread ceremony?
A twice born Hindu is a male member of one of the three upper castes (Brahmins, Ksyatriyas and Vaisyas) who has completed the thread ceremony.
The thread ceremony is a Hindu initiation ceremony, similar to a Christian confirmation or a Jewish Bar Mitzvah. A thread is given to the boy and it is thereafter worn over the left shoulder or around the waist. The thread has three strands, representing the three gunas (qualities): satya (truth); rajas (action); and tamas (inertia).
Sudras and Dalits are excluded from the thread ceremony and cannot become twice-born.
The child of Dalit parents is invariably a Dalit.
Inter-caste marriages are rare, and the caste consequences for children are complex. If the father has the higher caste, children often acquire the father's caste. However, if the father has the lower caste, the marriage may be considered to be against the scriptures and any children may have a lower status even than the father. Some Hindus consider that children of mixed-caste parents belong to the higher-caste parent.
Marriages and relationships between members of different castes, whilst not actually prohibited, face strong social disapproval and the threat of ostracism or even violence. In a notorious case in August 2001, a Brahmin boy and a lower-caste girl were publicly hanged by members of their families in Uttar Pradesh, India for refusing to end their inter-caste relationship.
Matrimonial advertisements routinely express more-or-less rigid caste preferences.
What is a scheduled caste? ...a scheduled tribe?
The British listed the poorest (principally Dalit) sub-castes in 1935, creating detailed lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The 1948 Indian constitution, thanks to its architect Dr B R Ambedkar, reinforced this classification, for a system of affirmative action called reservation. The concept was that these measures would help the poorest to escape poverty and oppression.
(There is a similar anti-discrimination provision in the 1990 Nepal constitution. However, there is an exception for religious practices and as a result Dalits can be, and most are, prevented from entering Hindu temples.)
The British listed the poorest (principally Dalit) sub-castes in 1935, creating detailed lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The 1948 Indian constitution, thanks to its architect Dr B R Ambedkar, reinforced this classification, for a system of affirmative action called reservation. The concept was that these measures would help the poorest to escape poverty and oppression.
(There is a similar anti-discrimination provision in the 1990 Nepal constitution. However, there is an exception for religious practices and as a result Dalits can be, and most are, prevented from entering Hindu temples.)
What is "reservation"?
Reservation is an attempt by the Indian national government to redress past discrimination. The constitution reserves 22.5% of national government jobs, state legislature seats, seats in the lower house of the national parliament and higher education places for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Unfortunately, this policy has not been implemented in full. Less than half the national government quota had been filled in total in 1998 and less than 15% of "reserved" public sector jobs. An unspoken policy discriminates in favour of upper castes, particularly Brahmins. Dalit representation in university teaching posts is less than 1%.
Who is already working to help Dalits? Do they have agendas of their own?
Christians: there are about 14,000,000 Christian Dalits. Some Christian missionaries have been criticised for their focus on conversion and preparing converts for the "next life" instead of improving their lot in the present.
Buddhists: many Dalits have converted to a liberal strand of Buddhism.
Others supporting reform in India include Rationalists and Human Rights activists.
Others adopting a militant, revolutionary or violent approach to end upper-caste domination include Naxalite groups (such as the People's War Group), the Maoist Communist Centre and the Communist Party of India.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are some of the changes you are opposing on the subject of caste?
2. Isn’t it true that caste system was not hereditary and structured in ancient times and it is only later that it became hereditary? If so, why is the substitution of caste with varna and “social class” as specified by the Vedic Foundation's changes not acceptable?
3. But the caste system is a thing of the past and that untouchability has been outlawed now—so why teach our children about it now?
4. Even if there was caste and patriarchy in Ancient India, there was slavery and patriarchy in Greece and Italy too. Why do the texts only focus on the science and mathematics achievements of the Greek and Roman civilizations, while focusing on all the ills of Indian civilizations?
1. What are some of the changes you are opposing on the subject of caste?
As in the case of gender inequities, HEF and VF also want to remove or mitigate the representation of the horrors of caste inequalities. According to HEF, Sudras did not "perform services for members of the three higher castes" but merely "performed services for all classes and did more labor-intensive work," hence neatly erasing the inherent heirarchy of the caste system into higher and lower castes, as also tempering the distasteful occupations such as clearing deadbodies and waste as merely “labor intensive” work. In addition, the word "Dalit" has been removed from the text and the students are merely told that treating someone as untouchable is against the law in modern India. Sentences such as “The caste system is just one example of how Hinduism was woven into the fabric of daily life in India" and "Hinduism…has affected how people worship, what jobs they do,… And it has helped to determine the status of people in Indian society" have been deleted. At one point, the Vedic Foundation insists that caste only be spoken of in the past tense since it is no longer a reality and "According to the Indian Constitution, under the section, Fundamental Rights, the Right to Equality is guaranteed to all citizens."
2. Isn’t it true that caste system was not hereditary and structured in ancient times and it is only later that it became hereditary? If so, why is the substitution of caste with varna and “social class” as specified by the Vedic Foundation's changes not acceptable?
The difference between a caste and a class is that a caste is a social class which has been frozen through religious and ideological sanctions. As the noted historian Romila Thapar observes:
“For a society to become caste based society there have to be three preconditions: the society must register social disparities; there has to be unequal access of various groups within that society to economic resources; inequalities should be legitimized through a theoretically irreversible hierarchy and the imposition of the hierarchy claim to be based on a supra-natural authority. The latter takes the form of a ritual demarcation dependent on degrees of assumed purity or pollution determined by those controlling the religious ideology” 1
This ideological and theological sanction for freezing economic classes can be found in the earliest of the Vedas. The Rg Veda, in its Purushsukta hymn, does speak of the unequal relationship of the four castes. Subsequent Vedic texts such as Manusmriti that detail elaborate laws on societal regulations of caste system cite the Vedas for their authortity. As such, the existence of caste in Indian society and the traumatic impact it had/has on lower caste population, cannot be simply washed away by claiming caste to be simply a “social class”.
Further, just as the [upper caste] Vedic Foundation would like to wash away any references to caste, a number of lower caste groups such as Dalits and Adivasis, who have been exploited by the caste system, would prefer to let the world know of their suffering.
3. But the caste system is a thing of the past and that untouchability has been outlawed now—so why teach our children about it now?
Caste system is not a thing of past, it still a prominent practice in India even amongst the urban, educated Indians- the vast majority of marriages amongst Hindus are still arranged along the lines of castes showing how caste still plays an important role in the daily lives of Indians who want to believe that caste system is a thing of past. Even though the Constitution of India has made it illegal to discriminate of the basis of caste, untouchability is still a part of the daily lives of millions of Indians in India – caste-based atrocities are still happening today and discrimination against Dalits is still rampant.2 The Dalit population is still disproportionately below the poverty levels, both in rural as well as urban India, has significantly higher rates of unemployment and landlessness than non-Dalits and has less access to educational, administrative and judicial resources.3 Unless our children are made aware of these inequalities and sensitized about them, this pattern of injustice will simply continue.
4. Even if there was caste and patriarchy in Ancient India, there was slavery and patriarchy in Greece and Italy too. Why do the texts only focus on the science and mathematics achievements of the Greek and Roman civilizations, while focusing on all the ills of Indian civilizations?
First, we did not write the textbooks, and certainly agree that the textbooks need to put a balanced perspective on things. What we are questioning is what kind of a “balance” we need to advocate—one that erases all histories of oppression of large numbers of the subaltern, or one that addresses all of them and truly educates our children. While the Hindutva groups advocate the former, we staunchly promote the latter.
Secondly, as concerned persons of South Asia heritage, and especially having been
witness to a similar politically motivated white-washing of history in India, we feel obligated to direct our scholarly and community resources and experiences towards addressing issues pertaining to the history of Ancient India and Hinduism.
We also note that the Vedic Foundation and HEF have not made any suggestions about promoting the spectacular achievements of science and mathematics in Vedic age—which are certainly historically correct, but have been preoccupied with whitewashing caste system and debating contentious claims of the origin of Aryans. This further supports our claims that these groups are not really concerned about the need of Hindu school children for affirmation of Hindu histories, but are cynically manipulating this need in the Hindu communities to push their own politically motivated agendas.
Notes:
1. The Penguin History of Early India: From the origins to AD 1300, By Romila Thapar, pg 63-64
2. See an extensive listing of atrocities against Dalits at website of National Campaign of Dalit Human Rights http://www.dalits.org/atrocities.html and a special report on Dalit houses being burnt down in Gohana http://www.dalits.org/Gohana1.htm
3. In his presentation “Dalits and Globalization” delivered at the World Social Forum held in Mumbai, Professor SK Thorat presents very important data on socio-economic indicators of the Dalits. In 1999-2000, nearly 75% of the Dalits are landless or near landless, 65% of Dalit households are dependent upon wage labour, the literacy rates was around 37% as opposed to 58% in non-Dalit, 43% of Dalits are below poverty levels, almost twice as many as the non-Dalits. During 1980-2000, a total of about 300,000 cases of human right violation and atrocities were registered by the SC with the police. http://www.idsn.org/Thorat.html
The Dalit FAQ
India, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria Untouchability
This FAQ is intended to provide a brief and therefore superficial introduction to the Dalit human rights problem. If you find errors in this FAQ, please contact us or comment on this FAQ.
For information on how to provide practical help, please see our Adopt a Dalit Village in India page.
What is the Dalit problem?
Globally, more than 250,000,000 people suffer discrimination based on "descent or work and occupation" (UN, 12 August 2004). Of these, about 160,000,000 to 180,000,000 are in India.
This discrimination affects every aspect of life: health, housing, education, work, marriage, social interaction... For most Dalits, there is no opportunity to escape from caste-imposed discrimination. Tens of millions of Dalits are trapped in debt bondage.
The plight of the Dalits is the worst human rights problem in the world.
The rest of this FAQ describes the problem in greater detail and gives a brief introduction to what can be, and is being, done about it.
What is the literal meaning of "Dalit"?
Dalit is a Sanskrit word from the root dal, meaning "broken" or "crushed". Dr B R Ambedkar or Jotiba Phule (1827-1890, a social reformer and revolutionary) are variously credited with using the word Dalit for untouchables, as broken victims of the caste system.
In the 1970s, the Dalit Panther Movement (Maharashtra, India) adopted the term Dalit. Today, the word is widely used, especially by Dalit people themselves.
How many Dalits are there?
About 250,000,000, three-quarters of them in India.
This number is so large that it is difficult to grasp, but for comparison, it is roughly equal to:
Quarter of the population of India
Not far short of the population of the United States
4% of the population of the world.
What is the scale of the human rights problem?
It is no exaggeration to describe Dalit oppression as the worst human rights problem in the world, measured simply by the sheer numbers of people who are affected.
In India alone, there at least 179,000,000 Dalits (2001 census). Most of them live in conditions unimaginable in the developed world.
Where do Dalits live in the world?
The largest population of Dalits is in India. Other countries with the largest Dalit (or similarly oppressed-through-caste) populations are:
Nepal: approximately 4,000,000, one-fifth of the population
Pakistan: approximately 2,000,000
Nigeria: 2,000,000 - 4,000,000 (Osu)
Japan: 1,000,000 - 3,000,000 (Buraku)
Other countries with similar issues include Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen. There are two caste systems in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese one not being linked to the Hindu religion.
There is also evidence of discrimination outside these areas in Indian diaspora communities. This has been reported in East and South Africa, North America, the Caribbean, Fiji, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Middle East, Suriname, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Are Japanese Buraku people also Dalits?
Japan does have its own problem of discrimination based on "descent or work and occupation": the Buraku people.
These people are descendants of feudal-era outcastes, who had work such as slaughtering animals and leather work. The Buddhist and Shinto religions categorised these tasks as unclean.
In the 17th century, there were three social classes: warriors, peasants and townspeople. The outcastes, ancestors of today's Buraku people, were called Eta (extreme filth) and Hinin (non-human).
1n 1871, an 'Emancipation Edict' abolished the lowest social rank. However, no effective effort has been made to implement this declaration.
Today, according to government statistics, 1,200,000 Buraku people live in 4,400 Buraku communities. However, these figures only include people living in a limited number of government-defined areas. The true Buraku population is about 3,000,000 people in up to 6,000 communities.
What do Dalits do for a living?
The allocation of occupation by birth is a defining characteristic of the caste system, and in particular the restriction of lower castes to tasks deemed too dirty or polluting for members of the upper castes.
The dirtiest jobs come the way of the Dalits. Traditional occupations are associated with death or filth: handling dead bodies or animal carcases; tanning leather; cleaning, especially toilets and human faeces; refuse disposal; and a range of other "impure" tasks including drumming and weaving;
What is manual scavenging?
Manual scavenging is the practice, still the rule in rural India, of disposing of human waste by hand, using only the most basic tools, typically a brush, a tin plate and a wicker basket carried on the head. Scavengers also dispose of dead animals.
The practice was ineffectively outlawed in 1995: at least 800,000 Dalits, most of them women, still clean toilets by hand.
Scavengers are at the bottom of the caste ranks, and are the lowest sub-caste among the Dalits themselves.
How do Dalits fare against the poverty line?
The poorest people in the world subsist on an income of less than one US dollar a day. (The World Bank "extreme economic poverty" line for India is set at US$1.08 a day.) Roughly half the Dalit population lives at or below this level of income, compared with about one-third of the total population of India.
How else are Dalits oppressed?
Living areas: Most Dalits are forced to live in segregated areas. In rural India, they are usually required to live outside villages. Even after death, grave sites are segregated.
Accommodation and resources: the best housing is reserved for the upper castes; the government provides separate amenities (electricity, sanitation, health care, water...) for each neighbourhood, which are themselves segregated on caste lines. Dalits are usually left with the worse of the amenities or none at all.
Land rights: over 85% of Indian Dalits own no land and are dependent on landlords for work or land to rent; those that do own land may find it difficult or impossible to enforce their rights; workers rarely receive the statutory minimum wage. Similar problems exist in Nepal.
Education, leading to high rates of illiteracy. Few Dalit children progress beyond primary education and they are often made to sit at the back of the class. Among Indian Dalits, about two-thirds are illiterate, compared with about one-half of the general population.
Access to credit: Dalits' access to credit is almost exclusively from higher-caste, literate and relatively powerful people. High interest rates, borrower illiteracy and extremely low wages make debts difficult to repay and frequently lead to debt bondage.
Debt bondage stemming from extremely low wages: up to 60,000,000 people in India are bonded labourers, 85% of them Dalits, effectively enslaved to pay off debts. Up to 15,000,000 of these are children. High interest rates and low wages make it difficult or impossible ever to escape from debt bondage. Moreover, debts are inherited by children. In some cases, debt "bondage" is all too literal and the labourers are tied up or chained to prevent escape, an unsettling echo of slavery. Despite 1976 legislation to abolish debt bondage, it remains a widespread practice in India. Similar problems exist in Pakistan and Mauritania and it has not been eradicated in Nepal.
Clothing: in some places, including parts of Sri Lanka, caste-specific clothing is required for Dalits.
Access to otherwise-public facilities: Many Dalits are not allowed to use the same water sources or drinking cups as higher castes
Marriage: not being allowed to marry or interact socially with other castes
Violence: Breaches of "untouchability", defiance of the established social order, disputes over land and demands for the minimum wage often lead to violence, sometimes murderous in intensity and leading to multiple deaths. 33,507 cases of atrocities against Dalits were recorded in 2002. Rape is common and mass rape is frequently reported.
Discrimination in law enforcement discourages reports of victimisation and continues the cycle of abuse. Even if police are not hostile to Dalits, they are usually located in upper-caste sections of villages and so they are literally inaccessible to Dalits. Moreover, many allegations of discrimination or atrocities are never entered in police records, still less investigated.
Disrespect, seated in prejudice based on ideas of purity and pollution. In many villages, Dalits must remove their shoes and dismount from bicycles before entering the area where upper castes live.
Disasters: Similar discrimination has been recorded at times of disaster, for example in the 2004 tsunami and the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.
What is the relationship between Hinduism and Dalits?
The Hindu caste system explicitly excludes Dalits. They are often prevented from entering temples or participating in Hindu religious observance and exclusion remains the rule in rural India. Historically, Dalits have been forbidden to learn Sanskrit or study the Hindu scriptures, sometimes on pain of death.
There is a debate among Dalits themselves as to whether they are Hindus. The answer is unclear, partly because there is a wide range of Hindu belief and practice.
What is caste?
Caste is determined by birth into a particular group, not by belief. The caste system splits people into a rigid hierarchy of groups defined by birth and occupation. Housing, marriage and all forms of social interaction are divided by caste, and the divisions are reinforced by the threat of ostracism, economic boycott and violence.
Lower- and upper-caste people are almost always indistinguishable in appearance. Further confusing the picture for outsiders, huge economic inequalities between upper and lower castes are masked by overall poverty: all are poor, but discrimination against the poorest stifles opportunity and distributes basic resources unfairly to the least poor. The worst jobs are rigidly assigned to Dalits and keep them "in their place" in the most vulnerable status. And abuse, debt bondage and violence is disproportionately the lot of Dalits.
What are the Hindu castes?
The Hindu caste system is based on a concept of ritual purity. A person automatically joins the caste into which he or she is born and stays in it until death.
Caste determines status and occupation. Confusingly, the ranking of individual castes varies from place to place and, to a lesser extent, from time to time.
The stated justification for differences in status is the Hindu concept of karma and reincarnation, the belief that status in this life is based on conduct in previous lifetimes.
The four Hindu castes or varnas (lit. colours), with their traditional occupations, are:
Brahmins (priests and teachers; white)
Ksyatriyas (rulers and warriors; red)
Vaisyas (farmers, merchants and traders; brown)
Sudras (labourers and artisans; black); over half of all Hindus are Sudras
Dalits are not members of any of these four castes: ranked lower even than the Sudras, they are quite literally out-castes or pariahs.
The colours associated with each caste are suspiciously like skin colours. In India, it is a common expectation that higher caste people will have paler skin, but there are many exceptions, especially in the south of the country.
What are sub-castes?
Within the castes there are more than 3,000 sub-castes or Jati, each having a different status in their own internal hierarchies. Even among the Dalits, there are many different sub-castes, variously positioned at upper and lower levels.
How did the caste system arise?
The origin of the caste system is disputed. There are several theories. The Hindu creation myth claims that the first man split himself to form the four castes from different parts of his body. A similar "biological" explanation theorises that all things have the three gunas (qualities): satya (Truth); rajas (action); and tamas (inertia) in different proportions. A sociological explanation is given by the Aryan invasion theory, but this is now largely discredited.
What is the Aryan invasion theory?
This is a disputed theory of the origin of the caste system and untouchability, espoused first by British and European colonialists to justify white supremacy and now by Hindu nationalists to justify the status quo. The theory is that the Indian Vedic culture arose from an ancient invasion of India by "Aryans", in about 500 BCE (some say 2000 BCE). Supposedly, the invaders were already organised into three groups, thus becoming the three upper castes, and the mainly Dravidian native inhabitants were conquered, becoming Sudras and Dalits.
Various linguistic and genetic research has attempted to support the theory. However, discovery of archaeological remains of the advanced Indus valley civilisation, which predated the supposed Aryan invasion and surpassed the Aryans at the time, tended to undermine the invasion theory. The alternative, now attracting a degree of academic consensus, is a theory of a long-standing and highly developed indigenous civilisation that was nevertheless influenced by other cultures.
What is "purity-pollution"?
Purity-pollution is a Hindu concept. The higher the rank of a Hindu, the higher the level of purity they must maintain. The lower the rank, the more impure they are. Purity restrictions are most prevalent in marriage, drink, food, and touch.
Certain occupational or social groups, notably Dalits, are regarded as "dirty" and contact with them as being polluting, at least for upper-caste Hindus. In extreme but commonplace interpretations, even contact with the shadow of a Dalit by upper-caste Hindus may require lengthy "cleansing" rituals: to an upper-caste person, a Dalit is literally "untouchable". Language in daily use typically identifies the upper castes with cleanliness and Dalits with filth.
What is the "Devadasi" system? What are Badis?
Many thousands of Dalit girls are forced into "marriage" to temples or local deities in south India, often before puberty, sometimes in payment of a debt. They are then unable to marry and become unwilling prostitutes for upper-caste men, many eventually being sold into brothels.
The Badi Jat is regarded as a prostitution sub-caste. Women and girls are routinely trafficked into brothels. Perversely, and hypocritically, untouchability does not seem to apply to prostitution and customers are mainly men from the upper castes.
In Pakistan, rape of bonded labourers is widespread, often violent and rarely punished. In India, rape of Dalit women is also widespread.
How is caste and Dalit status inherited?
The child of Dalit parents is invariably a Dalit.
Inter-caste marriages are rare, and the caste consequences for children are complex. If the father has the higher caste, children often acquire the father's caste. However, if the father has the lower caste, the marriage may be considered to be against the scriptures and any children may have a lower status even than the father. Some Hindus consider that children of mixed-caste parents belong to the higher-caste parent.
What are the restrictions on inter-caste marriage?
Marriages and relationships between members of different castes, whilst not actually prohibited, face strong social disapproval and the threat of ostracism or even violence. In a notorious case in August 2001, a Brahmin boy and a lower-caste girl were publicly hanged by members of their families in Uttar Pradesh, India for refusing to end their inter-caste relationship.
Matrimonial advertisements routinely express more-or-less rigid caste preferences.
What does it mean to be "twice born"? What is the thread ceremony?
A twice born Hindu is a male member of one of the three upper castes (Brahmins, Ksyatriyas and Vaisyas) who has completed the thread ceremony.
The thread ceremony is a Hindu initiation ceremony, similar to a Christian confirmation or a Jewish Bar Mitzvah. A thread is given to the boy and it is thereafter worn over the left shoulder or around the waist. The thread has three strands, representing the three gunas (qualities): satya (truth); rajas (action); and tamas (inertia).
Sudras and Dalits are excluded from the thread ceremony and cannot become twice-born.
What is a scheduled caste? ...a scheduled tribe?
The British listed the poorest (principally Dalit) sub-castes in 1935, creating detailed lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The 1948 Indian constitution, thanks to its architect Dr B R Ambedkar, reinforced this classification, for a system of affirmative action called reservation. The concept was that these measures would help the poorest to escape poverty and oppression.
(There is a similar anti-discrimination provision in the 1990 Nepal constitution. However, there is an exception for religious practices and as a result Dalits can be, and most are, prevented from entering Hindu temples.)
Is caste discrimination the same as South African apartheid?
There are similarities between the quasi-racist oppression of Dalits and apartheid. However, unlike South Africa, the oppression of Dalits lacks active state sponsorship as a matter of policy.
India, with the largest numbers of Dalits, has legislated to outlaw discrimination, at least to some extent, and to prohibit practices such as manual scavenging. It has also reserved quotas of government jobs and higher education places for positive discrimination in favour of Dalits. One effect of the latter approach as been the emergence of a Dalit middle class minority with only limited benefit for the majority.
However, especially in India, the law has been enforced only rarely and therefore with minimal effect on Dalits' daily lives. In 2001, the U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights said, "The laws are there, but there is a clear lack of will on the part of law enforcement officers to take action owing to caste prejudice on their part or deference shown to higher-caste perpetrators."
The Indian government strongly objects to any international pressure, saying that Dalit oppression is an "internal matter", a disappointing echo of the former South African government mantra. Yet there is an acute lack of political will at all levels to accomplish effective change.
What was Gandhi's attitude to Dalits?
Gandhi did campaign for Dalit rights and influenced the pro-poor 1948 Indian constitution. He coined the name "harijan" (lit.children of god) for the untouchables in 1931, but this was quickly rejected by the untouchables themselves. Many modern Dalits reject Gandhi's approach as religious, patronising and actually intended to keep them in their place.
What is "reservation"?
Reservation is an attempt by the Indian national government to redress past discrimination. The constitution reserves 22.5% of national government jobs, state legislature seats, seats in the lower house of the national parliament and higher education places for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Unfortunately, this policy has not been implemented in full. Less than half the national government quota had been filled in total in 1998 and less than 15% of "reserved" public sector jobs. An unspoken policy discriminates in favour of upper castes, particularly Brahmins. Dalit representation in university teaching posts is less than 1%.
What can be done about the problem?
A big question. There is very little pressure for change, especially within India: it is said that the majority has an interest in perpetuating caste discrimination.
Land rights is the cause espoused by the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights in India.
Education and general economic advancement might lead to de facto Dalit emancipation.
Protests by Dalits themselves are rare: for many Dalits, day-to-day survival may be a higher priority
International pressure on the Indian government. To quote Human Rights Watch: "The solution lies in concerted international attention to assist national governments in this important and long overdue work."
For most Western people, the single action that has the best chance of making a difference would be to raise awareness of the problem, repeatedly bringing it to the attention of individuals, politicians, media, diplomats and above all the Indian government.
Would better sanitation solve oppression of the Dalits?
Since so many Dalits are employed in manual scavenging, universal provision of flush lavatories would eliminate this practice, and give effect to the mostly-unimplemented 1995 Indian law.
However, this alone would not be sufficient to eliminate the other forms of oppression to which Dalits are subject.
Could Dalits renounce Hinduism?
Hundreds of thousands of Dalits have already renounced Hinduism, generally by conversion to Buddhism or Christianity, sometimes in mass ceremonies. Dr B R Ambedkar famously led several hundred thousand Dalits in converting to Buddhism, saying "I was born a Hindu, but I will not die one".
Conversion is not a panacea, however, and converts to other religions, especially Christianity and Islam, have suffered continued discrimination. Some converts have lost "reserved" occupations on the grounds that they are no longer members of scheduled castes and converts are not counted as Dalits in the Indian census.
Who is already working to help Dalits? Do they have agendas of their own?
Christians: there are about 14,000,000 Christian Dalits. Some Christian missionaries have been criticised for their focus on conversion and preparing converts for the "next life" instead of improving their lot in the present.
Buddhists: many Dalits have converted to a liberal strand of Buddhism.
Others supporting reform in India include Rationalists and Human Rights activists.
Others adopting a militant, revolutionary or violent approach to end upper-caste domination include Naxalite groups (such as the People's War Group), the Maoist Communist Centre and the Communist Party of India.
Do Dalits have political power in a democratic India?
Through the weight of sheer numbers, one might suppose that in democratic India, Dalits would wield political power to effect real change. Sadly, in most respects this is not the case: Dalits are frequently disenfranchised and even when organised they represent at best a fragmented political force.
A Dalit, K R Narayanan, was elected President in 1997.
Who were Periyar? Gora? Ambedkar?
Periyar (1879-1973) E V Ramasamy, a rationalist leader and founder of the self-respect movement in Tamil Nadu, India and the Dravidar Kazhagam party.
Gora (1902-1975) The founder of Atheist Centre in India in 1948 and the Positive Atheism movement. Gora is the nickname of Goparaju Ramachandra Rao, coined from the initial syllables of his original name.
Dr B R Ambedkar (1891-1946). Born a Dalit; a lawyer, Dalit leader, politician and architect of India's first constitution. Founded Bahiskrit Hitakarini Sabha for the emancipation of untouchables in 1924, with two aims: eradication of illiteracy and non-violent struggle against visible symbols of caste-based discrimination. He formed a political party, the 'Scheduled Castes Federation,' in 1942. In 1950, he became Law Minister in the first post-independence cabinet, but resigned when Nehru's cabinet refused to pass the Women's Rights Bill. In October 1956, with about several hundred thousand other Dalits, he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur.
