DAR AL HARB - INDIA: DALITS & THEIR STATUS AS "POLLUTERS OF HIGHER CASTE PEOPLE"

Muslim, Christian backwards seek Scheduled Caste tag

PATNA — Hundreds of Muslims and Christians of the backward class joined hands here yesterday to put pressure on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to accord Scheduled Caste (SC) status to them.

The backward class Muslims and Christians, including many women, attended a rights conference jointly organised by members of both communities at S.K. Memorial Hall in support of their decades-old demand of removing various restrictions on their reservation under Article 341 of the Indian Constitution.

"It is high time that UPA government should accord SC status to Muslim Dalits and Christian Dalits by removing the restriction of reservation for them under Article 341," Mohammed Ejaj Ali, president of All India United Muslim Morcha, said in his address.

"It (the move) is bound to give a new direction to socio-economic empowerment of Muslim and Christian Dalits," Ali, who has been spearheading a movement for the last 15 years for Muslim backwards, said. Franklin Seazer, leader of National Council of Dalit Christians from Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh Bishop Conference secretary Father A.X.J. Bosco attended the conference. "It will strengthen our demand," Father Bosco said. He described the conference as a "new beginning" for the rights of the both the communities.


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Who are Dalits?!?

Caste system One of the more confusing mysteries of India is her caste system. The caste system, which exists already for more than 3000 years, seems to have been developed by the Brahmins (priests) in order to maintain their superiority. Eventually, the caste system became formalised into 4 distinct classes (Varnas).

At the top are the Brahmins, the priests and arbiters of what is right and wrong in matters of religion and society. Next come the Kshatriyas, who are soldiers and administrators. The Vaisyas are the artisan and commercial class, and finally, the Sudras are the farmers and the peasant class. These four castes are said to have come from Brahma's mouth (Brahmin), arms (Kshatriyas), thighs (Vaisyas) and feet (Sudras).

Beneath the four main castes is a fifth group, the Scheduled Caste. They literally have no caste. They are the untouchables, the Dalits, which means oppressed, downtrodden and exploited social group.

The Dalits

A Dalit is not considered to be part of the human society, but something, which is beyond that. The Dalits perform the most menial and degrading jobs. Sometimes Dalits perform important jobs, but this is mostly not socially recognised. Dalits are seen as polluting for higher caste people. If a higher caste Hindu is touched by an untouchable or even had a Dalit's shadow across them, they consider themselves to be polluted and have to go through a rigorous series of rituals to be cleansed.

In India there are approximately 240 million Dalits. This means that nearly 25% of the population is Dalit. It also means that in a country, where everybody is supposed to have equal rights and opportunities, 1 out of 5 persons is condemned to be untouchable.

In general one can say that being a Brahmin means that you are more privileged. This can imply having a good education and, accordingly, a more powerful position in the society. Being born as a Dalit you will be less off and because of less education you will have a less good job. In daily life it has a lot of consequences of being a Dalit.

Dalits are poor, deprived and socially backward. Poor means that they do not have access to enough food, health care, housing and/or clothing (which means that their physiological and safety needs are not fulfilled). They also do not have access to education and employment. With deprived we would like to underline the injustice they face in every days life. Officially, everybody in India has the same rights and duties, but the practice is different. Social backwardness, lack of access to food, education and health care keeps them in bondage of the upper castes.


Pertinent Links:

1) Muslim, Christian backwards seek Scheduled Caste tag

2) Who are Dalits?!?