Caste People Research Articles

Caste Discrimination and Social Change In India

India has a great history of cultural diversities. It is the land where people of different castes and culture live together but it has been seen that along with unity there exists caste discrimination also. It is commonly noticed that higher caste people always dominated lower caste people with discriminated behaviour. As we all knows that change is the law of nature and change is a natural phenomenon. All things, including ideas, culture, civilization and human activities, are changeable. The circumstances that existed 30 years ago, does not exist today and it will not remain so after ten or twenty years. Many philosophers, educationists and sociologists have given different views regarding caste and the changes which has come with development and technology. The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories- Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation. Because of this distinction the caste which was placed at top dominated other caste which was placed at down. According to this distinction each caste has performed their duties and the type of occupation. The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation. It has been seen that caste discrimination is mostly prevalent in rural areas as compared to urban areas. In rural areas the upper caste people and lower caste people lived in different colonies, even the people of higher caste does not share their commodities with them. They did not allow them to sit equally and they would not like to take food or drink from the lower caste people. But it has also seen that social changes in India has boost their conditions to much extent and the problems which lower caste people had faced since last centuries has been improved now. In this paper researcher shall discuss the caste discrimination and social change in India.

Tracing Buried Selves: In Search of Punjabi Dalit Woman Autobiography

This article is an attempt to understand the significance of autobiographies with particular reference to Punjabi dalit women. In fact, autobiographies are one of the effective mediums for breaking the silence and create a constructive dialogue among people. These dialogues are prerequisite for the solidarity, democracy, equality and fraternity in the society. Besides, the autobiographies from the marginalized section challenge the exploitative established norms. Therefore, to write autobiographies is a courageous act full of risk and daring. In this context, there are more than hundred dalit autobiographies written in Indian languages, but in Punjabi literary discourses only a few dalit autobiographies have been written. However, according to Census 2011, in Punjab state, population of Scheduled Caste people is highest in India that constitutes 31.94% of the population in comparison to 16.6% in the entire country. Despite the largest population of dalits in Punjab, shockingly, there is not a single autobiography that has been written by a dalit woman until date. In this situation, it is a challenge for educated Punjabi dalit women to write their life narratives or autobiographies. They have to represent not only their pain in front of the world but also write about the consciousness, unconsciousness and subconsciousness of their community women who have not got opportunity to attain education. This article will examine and trace the problematics and complexities of gaps and silences so far as autobiographies of Punjabi dalit women are concerned.

Repression and Resistance in Dalit Feminist Literature

Feminist movements and Dalit feminist movement in India are mainly based on the experience of Repression and gender discrimination. Patriarchy, gender disparity and sexual violence are the basic reasons for these movements and they also find place prominently in the writings of Dalit women as they have come forward to write their experiences from women's point of view around 1980s. Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar in Marathi, Geeta Nagabhushan in Kannada, P. Shivakami, Bama in Tamil have got national level consideration. Dalit women were raped; insulted and abused by the upper caste people. They are insecure in the society as they have been exploited on the various levels. This feeling of insecurity of the Dalit women is the central theme of their writings. These women writers have come forward to express their ideas, their experiences in social violence as well as in domestic violence and thus they protest their traditional existence with anger and anguish. Geeta Nagabhushan’s dalit novels, Barna’s Sangati (2005), P. Shivakani's Grip of Change (2006) are initial important writings of dalit feminism; Datit feminism writing is different from the conventional way of Feminist writing. Their experiences, expression, method of narration are extremely different from the upper caste women writers. It is found that every woman in the world has been degraded to second grade citizenship. The Dalit women in India suffer more due to their Dalit identity.

Sree Narayana Movement and Social Transformation of Modern Kerala: A Bird’s - Eye View

Among the various factors that contributed for the transformation of Kerala into a modern democratic society the role played by Sree Narayana movement was most significant. Realising that the political power was the master key to social progress, the leaders of the movement came into tacit understanding with non Hindus, made permutations and combinations with them to maintain and strengthen their position in the society. Through their protests, incessant conflicts and assertions, they succeeded in transforming the pyramidal social structure of Kerala into pillar structure. From the position of caste victims they could elevate themselves to the makers of their own destinies. They also succeeded in politicising the social relations. The philosophies and pragmatic approaches propounded by Narayana Guru for the material and spiritual advancement of the backward caste people of Kerala was found successful that contributed for the social transformation from structural relations to human relations and from caste hierarchical structure to inter-personal relations.

Journey with Rural Identity and Linguicism

For a Dalit, especially from a rural background, it is not easy to survive in the higher education system in India because it is overwhelmingly dominated by the upper caste, class, and English-speaking people. It is not uncommon for Dalit learners like us to face multiple discrimination, and even exclusion in higher educational institutions. Intersectionality between these three factors abounds in institutions of higher learning. The transition from native language to English has not been an easy task for me, for in my educational journey, I have discovered that English is not just a language but also a commodity. It is becoming increasingly easy for economically well-off people to acquire education in English and dominate the spheres of educational institutions in India. They are usually considered as knowledgeable and intellectual persons. On the other hand, Dalit students also want to take education in English but, most of them are not able to do so because of their caste background and rampant discrimination. This study is based on my own experience and fieldwork at the University of Delhi through a semi-structured questionnaire.

A Study of Caste and Gender Barriers for the Operation of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Nepal

Micro-finance is used worldwide as an effective tool to reduce poverty through providing financial services to the disadvantaged groups such as low-income people and poor women who are traditionally excluded from such services. Nepal is one of the developing countries that is characterized by pervasive gender and caste bias. This study focused on gender and caste barriers that hinder the smooth implementation of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nepal. Using data from semi-structured interviews of ten employees of MFIs and other financial institutions, this study showed that staff of the Nepalese MFIs were aware of caste and gender discriminations, but they were inactive in overcoming these social and cultural barriers in their routine work. The findings indicated that the disproportionate male-female ratio among the staff was a major hindrance in the smooth operation of MFIs. Lack of female staff and the passiveness of female borrowers lead to the problem of communication between MFIs’ staff and their clients. Based on these findings, we suggest that gender sensitive awareness training should be included in MFIs’ training and advocacy programs for staff and clients in Nepal. Equal opportunities should be given to females and low caste people in the process of MFIs’ recruitment.

Firewood, forests, and fringe populations: Exploring the inequitable socioeconomic dimensions of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) adoption in India

Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) is an important clean fuel alternative for households that rely on burning biomass for daily cooking needs. In India, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has provided poor households with LPG connections since 2016. We investigate cooking fuel use in households to determine the impact of the policy in the Central Indian Highlands Landscape (CIHL). The CIHL has a large population of marginalized social groups, including Indigenous, Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, and Other Backward Caste people. We utilize survey data from 4994 households within 500 villages living in forested regions collected in 2018 and a satellite-derived measure of forest availability to investigate the household and ecological determinants of LPG adoption and the timing of this adoption (pre- or post-2016). In addition, we document patterns of firewood collection and evaluate the extent to which households acquiring LPG change these activities. The probability of cooking with LPG was lowest for marginalized social groups. We observe that households recently adopting LPG, likely through PMUY, are poorer, more socially marginalized, less educated, and have more forest available nearby than their early-adopter counterparts. While 90% of LPG-using households continue to use firewood, households that have owned LPG for more years report spending less time collecting firewood, indicating a waning reliance on firewood over time. Policies targeting communities with marginalized social groups living near forests can further accelerate LPG adoption and displace firewood use. Despite overall growth in LPG use, disparities in access to clean cooking fuels remain between socioeconomic groups in India.

Model Residential School Education to Scheduled Caste Pupils in Kerala

There are about forty lakh scheduled caste people in Kerala. Most of them are poor and daily wage workers. The socio-economic backwardness of scheduled caste people is a historically determined outcome of a caste system in India. Education is the only way for them to get out of this historical whirlwind of economic deprivation, denial of rights and social exclusion. The Government of India passed The Right to Education Act in 2010 and it ensures “free and compulsory education” for all children aged 6 to 14. The government of Kerala has introduced many innovative programs to provide education for scheduled caste pupils in the state. “Model Residential School” owned and managed by the Scheduled Caste Development Department of The Government of Kerala, is one of such successful initiatives. Model Residential Schools take special care to cater to the educational needs of the underprivileged children and help them to attain quality education. In this article, the investigators explore the role played by the model residential schools in the educational development of scheduled caste pupils in Kerala and particularly in solving the burning issue of a high rate of dropouts among scheduled caste pupils.

Multiculturalism in Kavita Dasvani’s Lovetorn

Multiculturalism is a mechanism of interconnected ingredients and their experiences with each other as well as with the present world. It is a kind of respecting others’ very existence and identity. In specific ethnic minorities especially the women and low caste people are not identified with their self or existence. Respect is the practice which teaches to treat others with some reverence and modesty. It protects and values the dignity and social worth of an individual. It also acknowledges the social differences, because every group has its own specificity. Multiculturalism considers it because the minorities’ contribution to the society is empowering the society and taking it to a position of next and better destination. Uma Parmeshwran rightly argues in her article, “Home is home where your feet are, and may your heart be there too” that “literature can play an important role since literature not only reflects persistence and change in society but also can lead society to a better appreciation of its multicultural and ethno-centered fabric. The ethnic emigrant writer either writes about the country in which he is presently residing, like the main stream writers do, and thus try to be like ‘them’ or he can write about his ethnic world and be different” (31). In the present paper the major focus is on the multicultural aspects in context with various situations. Characters behaviour in different multicultural situations is the angle of analysis of the researcher.

The Hadiya Case: Human Rights Violations and State Islamophobic Propaganda in India

This paper examines the “Hadiya case” which in the years 2016 and 2017 was well known throughout India and revolved around a woman, named Hadiya, her conversion from Hinduism to Islam and her marriage to a Muslim man. It caught the attention of the entire nation through intense coverage by the national media. The decision of Hadiya, who is an adult with her own conscience, to practice the religion of her choice and marry the person with whom she wishes to share her life, instigated a public legal debate. Hadiya’s case, which evoked Islamophobic and patriarchal ideologies, should be placed within the current political conditions of India. With regard to language, religion and ethnicity, India’s diversity under a right-wing political regime has been questioned, while the human rights of women, religious minorities like Muslims and Christians, dalits (lower caste people) and indigenous people from tribal communities have been violated. Paying close attention to the legal and logical reasoning of the Indian High Court during the year-long trial, this paper also evokes a critical perspective on the understanding of growing Islamophobia, hatred politics against Muslims and the violation of women’s rights, particularly of those from minority religious communities and lower castes in. Indian society is facing cultural dominance under the Hindutva ideology – an ideology that is intent on the dominance of Hindus and Hinduism. Such a cultural and ideological dominance can be seen in the everyday life of Indians, in legal systems, media institutions and other formal and informal organizations. As will become clear, such cultural politics were disguised in the form of legality in the Hadiya case.

A Study On The Educational Problems Of Scheduled Caste People With Special Reference To Biswanath Gaon Panchayat

Scheduled Castes are the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in our India. The Scheduled Caste people are scattered all over the country. They are mainly settled in rural areas and are dependent on the upper castes people for their livelihood. The scheduled caste people are mostly engaged in low paid manual occupations and also work as bonded labours. Majority of the scheduled caste people do not conscious in getting education and also unaware about the value of education for their lives. They do not give priority to send their child in school or colleges. Poverty, illiteracy, poor social environment, lack of general awareness etc. are the problem that scheduled caste people suffer from. The Government of India has special schemes to enable access to opportunities including scholarship for education, various educational facilities, financial support and skill building for setting up their lives, reservation in jobs, reservation for getting education and special courts to address instances of atrocities and violence. Though they have various educational schemes and policies but they unaware their rights and opportunities to upgrade their lives. It is utmost important for us to understand and analyses the problems in the context of their previous conditions which continue to have a bearing on the present. This paper identifies and analyses the educational problems of scheduled caste people in Biswanath Gaon Panchayat.

Attitude and self-care practice on hypertension among antihypertensive medication users in a tertiary care hospital Nepal.

Background:Hypertension a “silent killer” is a serious global health problem, whose prevalence is increasing in Nepal.Objective:This study aimed to determine the attitude and practice of hypertension among anti-hypertensive medication users in a tertiary care teaching hospital in western Nepal.Methodology:A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was used among 136 hypertensive patients under medication, aged ⩾ 30 years, and visiting medical outpatient department, medical ward, and geriatric ward, using a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection through interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used, and a p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:Most of the patients were male (56.6%), mean ± standard deviation age was 56.74 ± 12.58. Majority of them were Hindu (69.9%), upper caste people (29.4%), illiterate (22.1%), and house maker (27.2%). Half of the patients (50.7%) had a positive attitude and more than half (52.2%) had performed adequate self-care practice. Selected variables such as educational status and dietary pattern and attitude were significantly associated, whereas no association was found between sociodemographic variables and self-care practice. Attitude and self-care practices were found strongly associated with one another (p = 0.002).Conclusion:Our study found that half of the study population had positive attitude, and more than half of them had performed adequate self-care practice. Hence, educational interventions and awareness programs on dietary aspects should be focused for improving the attitude and practice of all the patient groups.

Firewood, Forests, and Fringe Populations: Exploring the Inequitable Socioeconomic Dimensions of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Adoption in India

Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) is an important clean fuel alternative for households that rely on burning biomass for daily cooking needs. In India, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has provided poor households with LPG connections since 2016. We investigate cooking fuel use in households to determine the impact of the policy in the Central Indian Highlands Landscape (CIHL). The CIHL has a large population of marginalized social groups, including Indigenous, Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, and Other Backward Caste people. We utilize survey data from 4,994 households within 500 villages living in forested regions collected in 2018 and a satellite-derived measure of forest availability to investigate the household and ecological determinants of LPG adoption and the timing of this adoption (pre- or post-2016). In addition, we document patterns of firewood collection and evaluate the extent to which households acquiring LPG change these activities. The probability of cooking with LPG was lowest for marginalized social groups. We observe that households recently adopting LPG, likely through PMUY, are poorer, more socially marginalized, less educated, and have more forest available nearby than their early-adopter counterparts. While 90% of LPG-using households continue to use firewood, households that have owned LPG for more years report spending less time collecting firewood, indicating a waning reliance on firewood over time. Policies targeting communities with marginalized social groups living near forests can further accelerate LPG adoption and displace firewood use. Despite overall growth in LPG use, disparities in access to clean cooking fuels remain between socioeconomic groups in India.

Sex as a Weapon to Settle Scores against Dalits: An Quotidian Phenomenon

In the Indian context, caste controls the gender norms as women are producers of the notion of ‘caste purity’. Historically, the violation of caste codes including those related to women have been subjected to punishment through the instrument of social ostracism. Dalit men and women have been encountering culturally sanctioned violence, from higher caste people in the name of ‘violating social norms’ such as temple entry, untouchability, intercaste marriages, and so on. As a result, Dalits, especially women become easy targets for the ‘guardians of social authority’. Sadly, larger majority of Hindus remain immune to the occurrence of violence against Dalits. This article aims to address sexual violence, specifically rapes of Dalit women due to their intersectional position in the society. It explores the responses of state machinery on two case studies: Bhagana (2014) and Alwar (2019), wherein Dalit women’s rapes expose the power wielded by dominant caste communities. The paper shows the use of rape as an apparatus to humiliate a community and family in cases of land disputes involving Dalit farmers.

Human rights perspectives of Indian Dalits

Indian institution of inequality is elaborately constructed in the form of caste system which has been in existence since ancient times. Dalits are traditionally lower caste people who are regarded as untouchables and are discriminated socially, economically and politically. Their human rights are regularly violated. Recent cases of Dalit human rights violations include, Jat -Dalit violence case killing 3 Dalits and 13 injured in Rajasthan, in 2015, suicide of Rohit Vemula, a Ph. D. scholar for caste discrimination in Hyderabad Central University in 2016, National crime Record Bureau recorded 33356 cases of rapes during 2018. In Unnao, Uttar Pradesh there was gang rape of 17 year old girl in June 2017 involving BJP leader and MLA and five others. Other Unnao case wherein 23 year old girl was raped, filmed and set on fire while going to court for hearing on 5th December 2019; Dr Payall Tadavi, belonging to a Dalit, Bhil sub caste of Tribal community and a post Graduate student of Topiwala National Medical College and BYZ Nair Hospital Mumbai, Maharashtra committed suicide on May 22nd 2019 as her senior colleagues continuously harassed her on caste basis. In an Honor killing case, 25 year Nandhish from dalit community fell in love with Swathi, an upper caste woman, got married and lived together. Both were murdered in December 2018 by the father of the girl and their bodies were thrown in river. 25 people were arrested on 5th January 2019 for social Boycott of SC community members from Nizamabad District in Telangana who dug and erected pillars for the Ambedkar Sangam building. A complaint was filed by a 64 year member of the tribe, Prabhaker Bhosale alleging that an accused boycotted him and few others from his community since 2010 for failing to attend the funeral of his brother Shani Shinganapur temple in Ahmednagar of Maharashtra lifts ban on women’s entry yielding to High Court of Mumbai directive in April 2016, Supreme Court in Sabarimala temple, Kerala case held in land mark judgment that Sabrimala Ayyapa temple women cannot be restricted from entering holy sites such as this temple. All these cases, besides numerous similar cases in the past, point to the fact that violence against Indian Dalits in present time is no way less rampant and horrible than reported in the past. Key words: Untouchables, caste discrimination, Dalits, empowerment, human rights violations.

Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali: Wailing Motherhood

Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali has gained critical responses for raising the voice on behalf of the silenced subaltern individuals and communities. However, this paper attempts to analyse the text through the gendered lens of ‘motherhood’. Rudali not only delineates the struggles and exploitations of the lower caste people and the outcastes, but the text also divulges the condition of mothers and their struggles of mothering. Mahasweta Devi, true to her strong writing agendas, has not written in favour of the mothers belonging only to the subaltern communities; she has taken into account of those mothers who are wealthy and belong to respected families as well as those who are defamed and disrespected and belong to the marginalized, red-light areas of the society. All the ‘mothers’ portrayed in Rudali have undergone similar ecstasy, agony, humiliation, dejection and rejection. The text leads us through motherhood as a ‘community’ and not just a biological attribute conferred with a namesake social status.

CHALLENGING HEGEMONIC CULTURAL TRADITION OF GHURCHARI IN HARYANA

Kathopinishad describe the meaning of chariot and in marriage bridegroom riding female horse. The use of female horse not only suggests patriarchal intention to domesticate the wife but also control the women. On the commencement of the Indian constitution, they have become equal citizens in all aspects of life. They become aware of self respects, dignity and their rights enshrined in the Indian constitution. The upper castes or greater Indians still trest them as lesser Indians and expect them to stay at the bottom of the society. Recent caste conflicts on marriage ritual of ghurchari i.e dalit groom and family members seriously injured during ghurchari (jatu luhari, 2002), upper caste people prevented a dalit groom from riding an elephant (2011), killed in 2013, Devsar, upper caste men beat dalit groom and stopped him to perform ghurchari(2013, Ratera), upper caste youth barred dalit groom from carrying the ritual of ghurchari (sanjharwas, charki Dadri) violence broke out in the village sangha, karnal after upper caste youth prevented dalit youth from performing, ghurchari (2017) etc... clearly reflects the social position of the lesser Indians in India. This was an exploratory study based on secondary sources such as newspapers and magazines. focussing on the hegemonic power, protest ideology, role of police and social relationship KEYWORDS:- scheduled caste, Ghurchuri, hegemony, protest ideology

IMPACT OF SEASONAL MIGRATION ON CHILDREN OF A SCHEDULED CASTE COMMUNITY IN WESTERN ODISHA, INDIA

Seasonal migration is rampant among the scheduled caste population of western Odisha, India. Due to dearth of employment opportunities and caste-based livelihood barriers, the scheduled caste people of Bargarh district migrate heavily to other states and to other districts of the same state for a period of about six to seven months. Children are one of the most affected sections of the seasonal migration. The present study makes an analysis of children’s situation of the migrant families both at the place of origin and place of destination. The study shows that the children who are left behind in the village are neglected, face educational hurdles and sometime remain engaged in economic activities at an early age and eke out hard for a living. The migrant children lead a sub-standard living in unhygienic environment and are exploited by the employer being engaged in work in odd hours of the day. They are deprived of the government sponsored facilities like immunization and vaccination at the place of destination and face health hazards, under nutrition and physical exploitation. KEY WORDS: seasonal migration, children, poverty, deprivation, education, health

Dalit Leadership, Collective Pride and Struggle for Social Change Among Educated Dalits: Contesting the Legitimacy of Social Class Mobility Approach

Dalit leaders have played a significant role in the lives of lower caste people. They have created a meaningful political identity for Dalits (oppressed) and inspired them in the collective movement for social change. This article critically explores three major theoretically interlinked and contested components, which are Dalit leadership, collective pride and social class mobility, and discusses the emergent categories. Participants in the present work are highly educated Dalits who take inspiration and pride from Ambedkar’s leadership and believe in the role of collective movement for social change.

Medico Legal Cases in One Stop Crisis Management Center (OCMC) Kaski

Background: The OCMC (One stop crisis management center) has been established in the recognized government hospitals of Nepal. The OCMC has built coalition and create an organizational manage­ment system with other organizations for providing comprehensive health and treatment services, legal aid services, and counseling services and make cer­tain protection to the survivors of GBV (Gender based violence) as well as to manage and control GBV incident. Worldwide more than 119 countries have laws on domestic violence, 125 countries have laws on sexual pestering and 52 coun­tries have laws on marital rape but still women are suffering from different physical, sexual and Psy­chological violence. Rape, hurt/battery, Indecent as­sault, are the main forms of violence.&#x0D; Materials and Methods: Study is conducted in Western regional Hospital Pokhara, in OCMC (One stop crisis management center). It is a cross-section­al type of study. Data collected by the observation, interview and case study from the survivors of vi­olence, available published materials related to women Violence and OCMC are also studied. Total 200 cases of GBV survivors came to OCMC center of Kaski from 2073Baisakh to 2074Ashad and included in the study as a primary source of data.&#x0D; Conclusion and Result: Out of total 200 cases, sexual offence victims were maximum in number which was 140 and least were forced marriage vic­tim which were only 4 in number. More than 50% of dalit caste people were the survivors of GBV cases. GBV cases were predominant in age group of 20- 30 years. Maximum numbers of victims of GBV in sexual offence cases were alleged Rape cases which accounts 85% of total cases came to OCMC center.