Untouchability in India: Is it being Operated Only With ‘Sacredness’ or Holding Some Materials too?
Presented by Safrin B. International Institute for Population Science, Mumbai, India. The concept of caste
The segregation of people in Hindu society and allocation in different sections of works ..
Caste- The chaturvarna (The system of four varnas)
-Brahmin- The priests -Kshatriya- The warriors and rulers -Vaishya- The traders, merchants and minor officials -Shudra- The unskilled workers (Further divided into around 4000 endogamous jaatis i.e. sub- castes)
Caste- The chaturvarna (The system of four varnas)
-Brahmin- The priests -Kshatriya- The warriors and rulers -Vaishya- The traders, merchants and minor officials -Shudra- The unskilled workers (Further divided into around 4000 endogamous jaatis i.e. sub- castes)
Outside these varnas- the ati-shudras (Harijans), the untouchables
An ancient legal text “Manu Smriti” (Laws of human) A Hindu law book
“..for the sake of the prosperity of the worlds he (Lord) caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arms, his thighs, and his feet...”
“.. in order to protect this universe He, the most resplendent one, assigned separate (du es and) occupa ons to those who sprang from his mouth, arms, thighs, and feet. To Brahmanas he assigned teaching and studying (the Veda), sacrificing for their own benefits and for others, giving and accep ng (of alms); the Kshatriya he commanded to protect the people, to bestow gi s, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), and to abstain from a aching himself to sensual pleasures; the Vaisya to tend ca le, to bestow gi s, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), to trade, to lend money, and to cul vate land. One occupa on only the lord prescribed to the Sudra, to serve meekly even these (other) three castes. Man is stated to be purer above the navel (than below); hence the Self- existent (Svayambhu) has declared the purest (part) of him (to be) his mouth.
Concept of caste..
Division of people in hierarchical scale of en tlement, of du es, of puri es and pollu on.
These puri es and pollu ons se le into an elaborate system of ancestral occupa ons.
“Manu Smriti” (Laws of human)
1250 BC (Sir William Jones) 1000 BC (Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel) ------18th century philologists
One of the first Sanskrit texts translated by Sir William Jones...
...during the British rule of India in 1794 .. ...used to formulate the Hindu law by the colonial government. A jus fica on of caste “division of labour” – Healthy for smooth func oning of different kinds of works!
A jus fica on of caste “division of labour” – Healthy for smooth func oning of different kinds of works! ------Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
A jus fica on of caste “division of labour” – Healthy for smooth func oning of different kinds of works! ------Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
“.. Enclosed class”
“.. The study of the origin of caste must furnish us with an answer to the ques on—what is the class that raised this "enclosure" around itself?”
“..It is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other” Discrimina ons against dalits
-Use of public roads -Drinking from public well -Hindu temples -Privileged caste schools -Women to cover their upper bodies in public -Tying broom to their waist to sweep away the polluted foot-prints -The very shadow is not to be touched by -Undisputed right over the bodies of dalit women by upper- caste men.
Current scenario..
- Road, drinking water, temples, schools. - Mee ng, crossing, even seeing.. - Bea ng up of dalits for their food habits - Honor killing - Pushing of dalit students to suicide - Bea ng and Killing of dalit men - Raping and killing of dalit women
Prac ce of untouchability, recent evidence
Thorat Amit and Joshi Omkar, 2015
India Human Development Survey, 2011-12 Current scenario.. Examples-
Khairlanji incident: Current scenario.. Examples-
Khairlanji incident: Four members of a family were murdered in a small village called Kherlanji in Maharashtra. ...for "opposing" the requisi on of their field to have a road built over it. -The two women among these were paraded naked in public, abused sexually and hacked to death.
Current scenario.. Examples-
Khairlanji incident: 29th September 2006 Four members of a family were murdered in a small village called Kherlanji in Maharashtra. ...for "opposing" the requisi on of their field to have a road built over it. -The two women among these were paraded naked in public, abused sexually and hacked to death.
Current scenario.. Examples-
Assault of dalit men over skinning dead cow, Gujarat:
Men belonging to a local “cow protec on commi ee” are stripping the dalit men, tying them to a car before brutally bea ng up with iron pipes and s cks. Current scenario.. Examples-
Assault of dalit men over skinning dead cow, Gujarat: 11th July, 2016
Men belonging to a local “cow protec on commi ee” are stripping the dalit men, tying them to a car before brutally bea ng up with iron pipes and s cks. Una movement, Gujarat, July 2016 Una movement, Gujarat, July 2016
Keep your mother cow, Give our lands back.... Objec ves
With the central objec ve-
To inves gate into the economic privilegeness of, or the dependancy by the households belonging to different castes in India Objec ves
• To investigate into the main sources of income and level of income of Indian households belonging to different castes in India during 2011-12.
• To examine the pattern in the amount of land holding and land cultivation in the households by different castes in India during 2011-12.
• To examine how much was the largest amount of loan received by households belonging to different castes during a reference period of 5 years and to investigate into the main purposes and sources of taking those loans.
Data
• India Human Development, second wave 2 (IHDS II)
Ø 2011-12
Ø 42,152 households
• Caste is covered in detail
To cover the experience of untouchability, all the Scheduled Caste (SC) households were asked this question- “In your household, have some members experienced untouchability in the last 5 years?”
Results Sources of main income
Allied Profes agri./ Non sion/ Agri. Organiz Cultiva Artisan/ agri. Petty Salaried Pensio Caste categories wage ed Others Total tion Independ wage shopkeeper work n/ labour business ent labour Rent worker etc. Brahmin 26.8 1.9 1.3 7.5 11.5 1.6 32.5 12.8 4.1 100 Forward/General (excluding 25.6 2.4 5.8 14.8 14 2.3 24 7.8 3.3 100 Brahmin) Other Backward 26.1 3.4 9.6 24.1 12.2 1.2 14.9 4.8 3.6 100 Castes Scheduled 13.8 2.1 21.1 31.4 6.7 0.3 17.4 4.1 3.2 100 Castes (SC) SC untouchables 15.8 1.3 21.2 40.3 5.9 0.2 10 3 2.3 100 Scheduled Tribes 35.5 1.8 14.5 26.2 4.1 0.2 13 2.9 1.8 100 (ST) Others 24.1 4.2 5.1 33.4 11.9 1.2 15.7 3.1 1.4 100 Total 24.4 2.7 11.1 23.5 10.7 1.2 17.8 5.5 3.3 100 Mean HH income per capita
70000
59,400 60000 Metro urban Other urban Rural
48,732 50000 41,688 39,940 39,416 40000 38,039 34,519 33,817
In rupees 32,054 30000 25,517 23,097 24,168 21,016 18,968 20000 15,943 15,036 11,407 12,498 10000
0 Brahmin Forward/General Other Backward Scheduled Castes Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes except Brahmins Castes without experiencing experiencing untouchability untouchability Mean land holding (in acres) Mean land holding (in acres) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 Brahmin 2.75 2.80 2.77 Forward caste Brahmins
except 3.46 3.48 3.45 Backward Castes Other 2.94 2.91 2.87 Castes without untochability experiencing Scheduled Kharif 1.54 1.49 1.43 untochability experiencing Scheduled Rabi Castes 1.54 1.52 1.46 Scheduled Summer
Tribes 2.43 2.42 2.42 Mean amount of loan taken during last 5 years, from 2011-12
250000 Metro urban Other urban Rural
209064 200000
170705 166000 150520 150000 141678 129222 121856 102589 106691 105651 97228 100000 86857 80352 73890
52627 50000 37824 33509 38292
0 Brahmin Forward/General Other Backward Scheduled castes Scheduled castes Scheduled Tribes castes except Castes without experiencing Brahmins experiencing untouchability untouchability Purpose of taking loan (during last 5 years) Scheduled Scheduled Forward/ Other Castes Castes General Scheduled Brahmin Backward without experiencing Total Purpose of loan except Tribes Castes experiencing untouchabilit Brahmin untouchability y Buy/Improve a house 9.3 13.1 12.4 15.9 9.6 11 12.8 Buy land 3 1.7 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.4 Marriage expenses 16.3 13.1 19.6 21.6 24.3 20.4 18.8 Agriculture/ Agricultural 25.8 23.8 20.2 11.6 10.5 26.3 19.5 equipments Business 6 11.5 8 5.4 4.7 4.8 7.8 Household 9.8 11.7 12.6 14.1 14.2 15.6 12.7 consumption Vehicle 7.3 4.5 2 1.8 0.6 1.9 2.6 Educational 4.8 3.5 3.8 4.4 2 3.1 3.8 Medical expense 14.5 13.7 16.2 19 25.4 12.3 16.3 Others 3.2 3.4 4.1 5 7.3 3.1 4.2 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Source of obtaining the largest amount of loan during 2007-08 Scheduled Forward/ Castes Scheduled Other General without Castes Scheduled Source of loan Brahmin Backward Others Total except experiencing experiencing Tribes Castes Brahmin untouchabilit untouchability y Employer 3 2.2 2.3 2.9 4.5 2.3 1.1 2.5 Money lender 8.6 11.7 21.5 22.2 30.3 19 23 19.6 Friend/ 31 31.9 34.8 36 36.6 36.4 16.6 34.2 Relatives Bank 42.5 41.6 30.4 22.4 15.2 26.7 38.9 30.8
NGO/ 4.6 5.5 2.9 5.6 3.6 4.4 4.9 4 Community
Self help group 1.8 3.2 4.4 8.1 7.1 6.4 9.4 5 Kishan credit 6.8 2.2 2.5 0.8 1 3.2 2.7 2.3 card Others 1.9 1.7 1.4 2 1.7 1.6 3.5 1.6 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Discussion
• Enclosure of households experiencing untouchablity and other Scheduled caste househlds in the works of waged labour, contrasting to enclosure of Brahmins and other forward castes in the salaried works and cultivation
• Huge gap in land holding
• Loan: The high dependency on bank by the forward castes and high dependency on money-lenders by the untouchables for taking that loan, reflects the differences in the social relations due to differences in their economic need and privilege. Limita ons
• Detailed analyses on the pathways of resource holding, occupations, social behaviors
• Data is available only for 2011-12
• Detailed quantification of some related historical facts
However, relying on the basic facts of existence of untouchability and its operations in modern India, and, the extend and pockets in which castes discriminations exist, there are scopes of further survey and research. Thank you