25-07-2012, 12:30 PM
CASTE DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT
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Definition of the caste
The Equality Act 2010 defines the term “caste” as hereditary , endogamous (marrying within a group) community associated with a traditional occupation and ranked accordingly on a perceived scale of ritual purity .
Caste system in acient INDIA
The main communities of them are the Brahmin, Kshatriya , Vaishya and Shudra .
The Equality Act covers discrimination and harassment in respect of:
work ,
education ,
services and public functions ,
associations ,
premises and
transport
Discrimination and harassment are defined as follows:
Discrimination, which occurs when a person is treated less favourably than someone else because of a protected characteristic.
Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a particular protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or of creating an intim idating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person.
It was Gandhi, The Father Of The Nation, from the upper caste who called the down trodden as Harijan i.e. the people of God.
They were also called dalits which means “the person who is suppressed .”
STATUS OF DALITS
Due to caste based discriminatory system, certain groups of people, based exclusively on their birth into a particular social group, have always been branded as inferior.
The dalits have been the most severely affected victims due to caste system.
The structural discrimination has severely impacted the overall existence of dalits who have been unabatedly denied their rights to citizenship, land, education, health care, livelihood, security and bodily integrity.
On top of all manifestation of this discrimination system is the practice of “untouchability” which has absolutely segregated dalits from members of the other castes.
Dalits have been placed at the very bottom of Hindu caste hierarchy by the discriminatory caste based system, which changed their fate .
Dalits suffer from forced labor, bonded as agricultural workers , women are forced into prostitution , prevents them from engaging in any profession that involves handling food and water that nondalits consume and many more ….
Schools are typically located far from dalit communities and in many schools, dalit students are made to sit at the back of the classroom and in some they are forced to sit on the floor. They face discrimination by both teachers and non-dalit students, resulting in higher dropout rates among dalit students.
Women and girls face even more vulnerable situations than men and boys due to additional gender related obstacles that they have to face.
Dalit women and girls, who are systematically denied access to community water sources, are forced to fetch water from a longer distance as they face the risk of further violent action if they access nearby, “non-dalit” water supplies..
As most of the dalits are poor and landless, with limited access to food, they continue to carry a disproportionate burden of poverty and live in perpetual food insecurity, leading to undernourishment, lower life expectancy and higher rate of infant mortality.
The majority of dalits cannot afford private health care, the discrimination they face at low-cost government clinics also makes it difficult for them to access public health services.
Even the State agencies have further perpetuated this aspect of caste discrimination by constructing separate water taps for different castes. Thus when caste and gender differentials combine, dalit women are at the very bottom
Dalit women who are forced into prostitution, face even worse situations as they are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and sexual violence.
Untouchability is still being practiced in rural India. In most of the villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh scheduled caste (SC) people are not allowed to sit on cots in the presence of a Thakur or Brahmin.
In most of the temples in rural areas their entry is barred. Even Shankaracharyas, the religious heads of Hindus have not been kind to them. Some of them has a firm belief that they should not be allowed to enter temples.
Certain public behaviour was seen as offensive and harassing or stirring up caste discrimination. They all illustrate prejudice. Some may constitute harassment. They were enganed in performing alleged humiliating behaviour in the treatment of shopkeepers.
The exploitation of tribal's in Andhra Pradesh has made them naxalites. They have become conscious of their status and have become revengeful.
People against caste discrimination
The personal consequences of alleged caste discrimination and harassment includes:
(a) depression
(b) loss of self-esteem -"It makes us feel like a piece of dirt. They treat us like a piece of dirt, like from a different planet."
(d) loss of confidence
(e) loss of employment
(f) reduced career prospects
(g) lower earnings
(h) anger
(i) detrimental effects on education
EFFORTS TO ERDICATE CASTE DISCRIMINATION
Gandhi tried to change the worst situation of dalits but the politics did not let it happen .
Some journalists have voiced that these 'men of God' should be made priests in prestigious temples like that of Krishna in Guruvayur or Vishwanath in Kashi and many more in detail. The Dalits have no way in the hill temple of Sabarimala in Kerala, although it is relieved that the deity there is ethnically associated with the so called Dalits.
Narayan Guru of Kerala was instrumental in building separate temples when the brahminical order did not allow Dalits to enter their temples. The priests too are Dalit. Lord Shiva is the deity they worship. It was only a Brahmin priest who could install the idol and no Brahmin would perform that ceremony in these temples. Narayan Guru himself installed an idol and called the deity Ezhava Shiva i.e. Dalit Shiva.
Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy, an old Congress activist, in Vaikkom to lead a movement. For this movement he was behind the bars for six months.