Integration with the rest of society is more difficult owing to prejudice, but this is breaking down. There are signs of upward mobility through education and non-discriminatory laws. Caste distinctions exist among themselves and complaints have been made that workers mostly Dalits are kept out of trade union office by high caste supervisors. The Sri Lankan government's development and social welfare programs have also failed to integrate the Rodiya into mainstream society, 58 leaving many to rely on menial wage labor as sanitation workers and hospital attendants.
Most Dalits in India also continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or opportunities for better employment or education. With the exception of a minority who have benefited from India's policy of quotas in education and government jobs, Dalits are relegated to the most menial of tasks as removers of human waste and dead animals, leather workers, street sweepers, and cobblers.
Dalit children make up the majority of children sold into bondage to pay off debts to upper-caste creditors. According to government statistics, an estimated one million Dalits in India are "manual scavengers" a majority of them women who clear feces from public and private latrines and dispose of dead animals; unofficial estimates are much higher.
Handling of human waste is a caste-based occupation, deemed too "polluting and filthy" for anyone but Dalits. Manual scavengers exist under different caste names throughout the country, such as the Bhangis in Gujarat, the Pakhis in Andhra Pradesh, and the Sikkaliars in Tamil Nadu.
Members of these communities are invariably placed at the very bottom of the caste hierarchy, and even the hierarchy of Dalit sub-castes. Using little more than a broom, a tin plate, and a basket, they are made to clear feces from public and private latrines and carry waste to dumping grounds and disposal sites. Though long outlawed, the practice of manual scavenging continues in most states. In November , after a cyclone slammed into India 's eastern state of Orissa, killing thousands and rendering millions homeless, the government brought in two hundred Dalit manual scavengers from New Delhi, and planned to bring five hundred more from other parts of Orissa, to load animal carcasses onto hand-drawn carts and take them away to be burned.
Government officials had reportedly offered local upper-caste residents more than the daily minimum wage for each animal burned but they refused, citing the decayed conditions of the carcasses and the fact that the task was beneath them: they had "some self-respect left. Discrimination against Buraku persists in Japan 's economy. In a high profile case in , according to Buraku civil rights groups, over seven hundred companies were discovered to have hired private investigators to unearth job applicants' Buraku origins, ethnic background, nationality, ideology, religion, and political affiliation.
Already years before, in , the practice of selling "Buraku lists" had been exposed. Also compiled by investigative companies, these lists included information on the names and locations of Buraku households and were marketed to private companies for the purposes of screening job applicants and to families seeking to arrange and approve marriages.
Debt Bondage and Slavery The poor remuneration of manual scavenging, agricultural labor, and other forms of low-caste employment often force families of lower castes or caste-like groups into bondage.
A lack of enforcement of relevant legislation prohibiting debt bondage in most of the countries concerned allows for the practice to continue unabated. An estimated forty million people in India , among them some fifteen million children, are working in slave-like conditions in order to pay off debts as bonded laborers. Due to the high interest rates charged, the employers' control over records, and the abysmally low wages paid, the debts are seldom settled. The Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, abolishes all agreements and obligations arising out of the bonded labor system.
It aims to release all laborers from bondage, cancel any outstanding debt, prohibit the creation of new bondage agreements, and order the economic rehabilitation of freed bonded laborers by the state. It also punishes attempts to compel persons into bondage with a maximum of three years in prison and a Rs.
However, relatively few bonded laborers have been identified, released, and rehabilitated in the country. In Pakistan the debt bondage system is most prevalent in the agricultural provinces of southern Punjab and Sindh. Most laborers in these areas are minority Hindus from lower castes. While the loan agreement is often made between the landowner and the male head of the peasant household, the work to pay off the loan is performed by the entire family, including women and children.
A disturbing reflection of the slavery of centuries past is the well-documented practice of tying up or chaining bonded laborers to hinder their escape. Of the 7, bonded laborers reported to have escaped or been released since in the southern Sindh province, human rights organizations report that "several hundred" of them were found "tied up or in chains. Most were only given flour and chili peppers as food and had no access to plumbing facilities or medical care.
Provincial governments responsible for their enforcement have yet to establish mechanisms to put them into practice. According to the United Nation Development Programme's "Nepal Human Development Report ," despite legal pronouncements to the contrary, bonded labor has not been eradicated in Nepal.
The report adds:. In the mid-western and far western hills, the debt-bonded agricultural labourers, haliyas, mainly from "untouchable" castes, work under this system.
Such discrimination was designed to keep alive and intensify the system of debt bondage. Because the primary interest of the landlord lies in continued cultivation of his land and in regular assurance of labour supply, his lending is not directed towards earning interest in cash NRB The legacy of slavery as a form of caste and descent-based discrimination in Mauritania is an issue the government must do more to address.
Both the Arab and Afro-Mauritanian groups have long distinguished community members on the basis of caste, and both included a caste-like designation of "slave" within these systems.
To this day a former "slave" distinction-particularly for the Haratines, Arabic speakers of Sub-Saharan African origin-still carries significant social implications. At best, members of higher and lower castes are discouraged from intermarrying. In Soninke communities, members of the slave caste are also buried in separate cemeteries. Though the government has long outlawed slave-like distinctions and practices, it has taken few steps to enforce these laws.
A weak economy also leaves former slaves with few options other than remaining with the families of masters who owned their ancestors. Caste and Socio-Economic Disparities Significant economic and educational disparities persist between lower and higher-caste communities in the countries highlighted in this report.
Lower-caste communities are often plagued by low literacy levels and a lack of access to health care and education. A lack of formal education or training, as well as discrimination that effectively bars them from many forms of employment, and the nonenforcement of protective legislation, perpetuates caste-based employment and keeps its hereditary nature alive.
As of , there were reportedly only two Dalit medical doctors and fifteen Dalit engineers in Nepal. Nepal's Human Development Report revealed that development indicators closely followed caste lines. Without a single exception, the lower the caste, the lower the life expectancy, the literacy rate, years of schooling, and per capita income. However, the gap between so-called higher and lower castes has not narrowed.
There have hardly been any changes in the society or the living standard of the poor. Consequently, the people of backward communities have felt discriminated against and could not believe that the Government was doing anything for their welfare and development.
Access to Education High drop-out and lower literacy rates among lower-caste populations have rather simplistically been characterized as the natural consequences of poverty and underdevelopment.
Though these rates are partly attributable to the need for low-caste children to supplement their family wages through labor, more insidious and less well-documented is the discriminatory and abusive treatment faced by low-caste children who attempt to attend school, at the hands of their teachers and fellow students.
Over fifty years since India 's constitutional promise of free, compulsory, primary education for all children up to the age of fourteen-with special care and consideration to be given to promote the educational progress of scheduled castes-illiteracy still plagues almost two-thirds of the Dalit population as compared to about one-half of the general population. The literacy gap between Dalits and the rest of the population fell a scant 0.
Most of the government schools in which Dalit students are enrolled are deficient in basic infrastructure, classrooms, teachers, and teaching aids. A majority of Dalit students are also enrolled in vernacular schools whose students suffer serious disadvantages in the job market as compared to those who learn in English-speaking schools. Despite state assistance in primary education, Dalits also suffer from an alarming drop-out rate.
According to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes' and Report , the national drop-out rate for Dalit children-who often sit in the back of classrooms-was a staggering Rodiya children in Sri Lanka rarely study past elementary levels, if at all.
Instead, their parents require them to realize their income-earning potential even as young children, and often prematurely take them out of school. According to a Sri Lankan activist only 65 percent of plantation workers can read or write, compared to a high 90 percent national average. Higher drop out rates among children of plantation workers stems partly from the employment of these children as domestic workers, hotel workers, or sanitation cleaners.
The Buraku of Japan also suffer from lower levels of higher education than the national average, and higher dropout rates than the broader society. In particular, Buraku women report lower levels of literacy, high school and university enrollment, and employment. In Nepal the literacy rate for Dalits is appallingly low at 10 percent for men and 3.
According to the government's own fourteenth periodic report under ICERD, "The lowest literacy is among the occupational castes. Women constitute more than two thirds of the illiterates. Access to Land Most Dalit victims of abuse in India are landless agricultural laborers who form the backbone of the nation's agrarian economy. Despite decades of land reform legislation, over 86 percent of Dalit households today are landless or near landless.
Those who own land often own very little. Land is the prime asset in rural areas that determines an individual's standard of living and social status. As with many other low-caste populations, lack of access to land makes Dalits economically vulnerable; their dependency is exploited by upper- and middle-caste landlords and allows for many abuses to go unpunished.
Landless agricultural laborers throughout the country work for a few kilograms of rice or Rs. Many laborers owe debts to their employers or other moneylenders. Indian laws and regulations that prohibit alienation of Dalit lands, set ceilings on a single landowner's holdings, or allocate surplus government lands to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have been largely ignored, or worse, manipulated by upper castes with the help of district administrations.
Although many of Nepal's agricultural laborers are Dalits, Dalits also have a startlingly low rate of land ownership-only 3. Moreover, 90 percent of Nepal Dalits live below the poverty line, compared to 45 percent of the overall population. Their per capita income amounts to a paltry U. Political Representation and Political Rights India 's policy of "reservations" or caste-based quotas is an attempt by the central government to remedy past injustices related to low-caste status.
To allow for proportional representation in certain state and federal institutions, the constitution reserves The reservation policy, however, has not been fully implemented. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes' and report indicates that of the total scheduled caste reservation quota in the Central Government, 54 percent remains unfilled.
More than 88 percent of posts reserved in the public sector remain unfilled as do 45 percent in state banks.
A closer examination of the caste composition of government services, institutions of education and other services, however, reveals what Dalit activists call an "unacknowledged reservation policy" for upper-castes, particularly Brahmins, built into the system. Though they represented only 5 percent of the population in , Brahmins comprised 70 percent of the Class I officers in governmental services. At universities, upper-castes occupy 90 percent of the teaching posts in the social sciences and 94 percent in the sciences, while Dalit representation is only 1.
Dalits throughout India also suffer in many instances from de facto disenfranchisement. While India remains the world's largest democracy, for many of its Dalit citizens democracy has been a sham. During elections, many are routinely threatened and beaten by political party strongmen in order to compel them to vote for certain candidates. Already under the thumb of local landlords and police officials, Dalit villagers who do not comply have been harassed, beaten, and murdered.
Police and upper-caste militias, operating at the behest of powerful political leaders in India's states, have also punished Dalit voters. In February , police raided a Dalit village in Tamil Nadu that had boycotted the national parliamentary elections. Women were kicked and beaten, their clothing was torn, and police forced sticks and iron pipes into their mouths. Kerosene was poured into stored food grains and grocery items and police reportedly urinated in cooking vessels.
Little or nothing is done to prevent attacks on rape victims by gangs of upper-caste villagers seeking to prevent a case from being pursued. Sometimes the policemen even join in, the study suggests. Rape victims have also been murdered. Such crimes often go unpunished.
Thousands of pre-teen Dalit girls are forced into prostitution under cover of a religious practice known as devadasis , which means "female servant of god. Once dedicated, they are unable to marry, forced to have sex with upper-caste community members, and eventually sold to an urban brothel. Within India, grassroots efforts to change are emerging, despite retaliation and intimidation by local officials and upper-caste villagers.
In some states, caste conflict has escalated to caste warfare, and militia-like vigilante groups have conducted raids on villages, burning homes, raping, and massacring the people. These raids are sometimes conducted with the tacit approval of the police. In the province Bihar, local Dalits are retaliating, committing atrocities also. Non-aligned Dalits are frequently caught in the middle, victims of both groups. All rights reserved. Crime Against Dalits Statistics compiled by India's National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year , the last year for which figures are available, 25, crimes were committed against Dalits.
Lack of Enforcement, Not Laws Enforcement of laws designed to protect Dalits is lax if not non-existent in many regions of India. Crimes Against Women Dalit women are particularly hard hit.
A case reported in illustrates the toxic mix of gender and caste. There is very little recourse available to victims. Resistance and Progress Within India, grassroots efforts to change are emerging, despite retaliation and intimidation by local officials and upper-caste villagers. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.
India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. A number of factors produced this challenge. Colonialism brought with it a limited exposure to more egalitarian values.
Pre-Independence maneuvers between the British and a variety of Indian groups sometimes led to competitive efforts to woo Untouchable allegiance in ways that further encouraged Untouchables to redefine their perceptions of self and society. Mahatma Gandhi's reform movement, which introduced the term Harijan children of God , is the best known, but autonomous self-respect movements that developed within the Untouchable communities may well have had a more lasting impact.
Certainly the change of values among Untouchables has far outrun change in the dominant society. One Untouchable leader, the late Dr. The results have fallen far short of Ambedkar's dreams, but political parties are obliged to pay competitive lip service to Untouchable interests, and a new generation of Untouchable youth is now sufficiently well-educated to be bitterly aware of the glaring gap between promise and performance. It is this generation that has introduced a new term for Untouchables - Dalits the oppressed - and a protest movement that often consciously echoes the themes and symbolism of Black America's revolt.
Basic structural changes in the Indian economy such as the shift to cash and contract have not lessened the economic dependency of the Untouchables, but they have helped to erode the cultural values that once supported exploitative relationships. Geographic dispersion makes them a vulnerable minority in most villages. The stigma of Untouchability makes alliances with others difficult even when economic issues would seem to link them to others.
Landlords who use violence against demands for improved wages frequently single out Untouchables in their attacks, frightening non-Untouchable laborers. The resources available to Untouchables who seek change are severely limited. Theoretically, law is on the side of the Untouchable villager. In practice, the village Untouchable who seeks to enforce the law is asking for trouble. Untouchables cannot be sure of support from a police force and a bureaucracy that are still strongly influenced by prevailing social values and the economic interests of local elites with powerful political connections.
Law prohibits the touch-me-not-ism of untouchability, but a recent sample survey of villages by Harijan Sevak Sangh, a Gandhian service society, found Untouchables denied access to the village well in of these and denied access to the village temple in A police officer in the southern state of Tamil Nadu is quoted as saying of the anti-untouchability laws, "If we take this law seriously, half the population of Tamil Nadu will have to be arrested.
Dr Sonkar's soft voice turns angry as he describes the scene. For years, he says, he worked hard to leave behind his childhood of poverty, abuse at school and teasing at university.
By the time he had walked into the Rajasthan teashop, he had turned his life into a success story. He had a PhD in law and a teaching position at a Delhi university. Yet, as the shop owner handed him his tea, he asked him what caste he belonged to. I made it impure. I am an untouchable," says Dr Sonkar. India is well known for its caste system, but not many associate the world's biggest democracy with what Dr Sonkar, and many other Dalits, call an apartheid-style state.
But the truth is, it affects the very way this country is run," Dr Sonkar says. India's constitution banned the practice of untouchability - in which members of India's higher castes will not touch anything that has come in physical contact with the Dalits, the lowest caste. Recently, an organisation called Video Volunteers, which runs a network of community correspondents throughout India, launched a campaign called Article 17, named after the constitutional provision that banned untouchability.
They are now preparing to file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court and ask the government to take steps to stop untouchability practices. The campaign and the lawsuit are based on video evidence gathered by Dalits themselves.
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