[Reader-list] Untouchability Another ‘Gujarat model’

[Asit Das]

Untouchability
Another ‘Gujarat model’
Show Caption
A study on untouchability practices in 1,589 villages in Gujarat provides
critical data for the Dalit movement to shape its interventions at the
national and international levels. By ANUPAMA KATAKAM

DESPITE laws making it punishable, untouchability continues to exist in the
country in a vicious manner. A study titled “Understanding Untouchability:
A Comprehensive Study of Practices and Conditions in 1,589 villages”,
conducted in Gujarat by the Navsarjan Trust, an organisation that promotes
the rights of Dalits, in collaboration with the Robert E. Kennedy Centre
for Justice and Human Rights, puts together staggering data on the
obnoxious practice that gets neglected by both the State and Central
governments. The survey was conducted from 2007 to 2010.

A sample of the findings indicates how deep the rot is. In 98.4 per cent of
the villages surveyed, inter-caste marriage was prohibited, and inter-caste
couples would be subjected to violence and would often have to leave the
village. In 98.1 per cent of the villages, a Dalit could not rent a house
in a non-Dalit locality. In 97.6 per cent of the villages, Dalits touching
the water pots or utensils of non-Dalits was considered defilement. In 97.2
per cent of the villages, Dalit religious leaders would never be asked to
perform a religious ceremony in a non-Dalit area.

The report says it is essential to note that while citizens’ groups and
human rights activists have been advocating Dalit rights, the lack of
political will has been a major setback to attempts to abolish
untouchability. The introduction to the report states: “There is systematic
underestimation of the practice of untouchability within modern India; the
perpetuation of a wide variety of abuses is allowed to continue with
impunity; there is a general lack of awareness and sensitivity to the
pervasiveness of the problem; and, consequently, there is limited political
will to address and change the situation.”

Martin Macwan of Navsarjan, who spearheaded the study, says, “Navsarjan has
experienced first hand that a deeper understanding gained by intensive data
collections leads to the development of more effective strategies to
address the continued practice of untouchability.” The organisation expects
the study will provide critical data for the Dalit movement to shape its
interventions at the national and international levels. According to
Macwan, untouchability is a deeply complex problem. “It is a crime to
practise untouchability, but the caste system is not a crime, which is the
root of the problem. People believe it is part of a belief and nothing is
wrong with that,” he says.

Most people tend to look at untouchability in isolation, he says, while it
is in reality closely linked to the economic, social and political
structure. Citing an example, he says the government itself marks out
separate burial lands for Dalits. The politician will not oppose it, says
Macwan, but rather encourage it for short-term gains.

Although the study was conducted in Gujarat, Macwan and his team believe it
is a pointer to a problem that exists across the country on a similar
scale. The report says: “The issue of untouchability is one of the most
divisive issues in the country’s history and a lived experience of all
people in India, including both Dalits, who number over 164 million, and
non-Dalit perpetrators and witnesses.”

To meet the study’s goals, an international team of human rights activists,
lawyers and academics with distinct areas of specialisation assembled in
2007 to define the diverse set of practices that constitute the legally and
almost conceptually amorphous term “untouchability” in a manner that would
reflect the experiences Dalits live through every day. Explaining its
methodology, the report says the study did not seek Dalit communities’
opinions on the various conditions and practices to which they were
subjected (for instance, what they feel about these practices).
Accordingly, the resulting research is intended to be a census of
untouchability and not a public opinion survey.

The study team conducted the census at the community level and the
household level involving the entire Dalit population in a village. A
randomisation process selected which locale would be subject to which
approach.

*Untouchability index*

The team spoke to 5,462 respondents in 1,589 villages over a two-year
period. The researchers formulated an index of untouchability after
identifying 98 distinct practices of discrimination and clustered them into
eight categories: 1) water for drinking, 2) food and beverage, 3) religion,
4) touch, 5) access to public facilities and institutions, 6) caste-based
occupations, 7) prohibitions and social sanctions and 8) private sector
discrimination. The survey was on both vertical and horizontal
discrimination, that is, discrimination by a non-Dalit against a Dalit and
discrimination by a Dalit against another Dalit. Seeking to understand the
pervasiveness of untouchability, the surveyors asked the villagers a series
of questions pertaining to their everyday lives, such as “can you get water
from the village well without assistance?” The answers helped in collating
crucial and relevant data.

A practice most prevalent across all the villages examined (at 98 per cent)
was the failure to serve tea to Dalits in non-Dalit households. Even if tea
was served, it was done so in a separate cup called “rampatar”—vessel of
Ram.

In approximately 96 per cent of the villages, Dalit labourers were served
lunch separately from other workers. Any leftover food touched by them was
thrown away, untouched by any non-Dalit. Further, in 94 per cent of the
villages, when the community gathered, Dalits were asked to sit in a
separate place to eat, to bring their own plates, or to eat after
non-Dalits had finished.

With regard to practices concerning religious activity, the study suggests
that in almost all of the villages surveyed (97 per cent), Dalits were not
allowed to touch articles used for religious rituals. In 96 per cent of the
villages, non-Dalits would not come to Dalit localities to perform
religious services.

The report states that in 90 per cent of the villages, Dalits were not
allowed to enter public temples. In 92 per cent of the villages, *prasad*,
or a portion of the food offered to the deity, was thrown to Dalits without
any physical contact.

The study also found that in approximately 96 per cent of the cases, it was
forbidden for a Dalit to enter an upper-caste house.

In less than half (44 per cent) of the villages, it was considered
defilement if Dalits splattered water on a non-Dalit even at common bathing
places or when a Dalit washed his or her hands or clothes. Additionally, in
38 per cent of the villages, a Dalit even accidentally touching a non-Dalit
was considered defilement.

Some of the clearest forms of vertical caste discrimination were in
restrictions with regard to private and public spaces. In 87 per cent of
the villages surveyed, Dalits were not allowed to hire cooking pots for
wedding ceremonies. Further, Dalits could not use the services of local
barbers (in 73 per cent of the villages), potters (in 61 per cent of the
villages) and tailors (in 33 per cent of the villages).

In 29 per cent of the villages, Dalits were denied access to common wells
or taps, and in 71 per cent of the villages, there was no water tap in the
Dalit area of the village. “Given that water is essential for so many
aspects of life—especially in a rural context —this form of discrimination
is especially inhuman. Particularly astounding is that, in 10 per cent of
the villages, Dalits were not able to receive the services of the village’s
private doctor, even though failure to do so is potentially fatal,” says
the report.

*Horizontal discrimination*

The researchers also highlight a few practices that are not in the index.
For instance, in 95.8 per cent of the villages, Dalits belonging to a
dominant sub-caste would enforce the practice where lower sub-caste Dalits
must remove carcasses. In 92.4 per cent of the villages, all Dalits did not
have access to Dalit burial grounds. In 91.4 per cent of the villages,
lower sub-caste Dalits had to collect the clothes discarded at burials, and
they are expected to wear them as their clothing. Dalit children were
always segregated and made to sit separately in classrooms.

Akin to vertical discrimination, but apparently not as severe, is the
discrimination by a Dalit against another Dalit. The report says that in
almost all villages, lower sub-caste Dalits had to sit separately from the
rest of the Dalit community during special meals. In 78 per cent of the
villages, lower sub-caste Dalit farm workers were not provided with water
on a higher sub-caste Dalit’s farm. “With regard to perhaps the most valued
of resources, those at the bottom are consistently discriminatory toward
others who share their plight,” the report says.

Another most prevalent form of horizontal discrimination concerns religious
activity. Specifically, in 80 per cent of the villages, lower sub-caste
Dalits were not allowed to sit with higher sub-caste Dalits when a
religious discourse was on even if the discourse took place in the home of
a Dalit.

In 64 per cent of the villages, despite there being a law that reserves a
certain proportion of seats for Dalit panchayat members relative to the
Dalit population, including having a provision to elect a Dalit head of the
local governing council, lower sub-caste Dalit members of the panchayat had
to often sit on the floor.

Other forms of discrimination include Dalit midwives refusing to assist
lower sub-caste Dalits or some others refusing to be treated by lower
sub-caste nurses. An important area of concern is Dalits’ access to
*gauchar *land, a public grazing area, which is required for their
livelihood. In 59 per cent of the villages, *gauchar *land access was
restricted to lower sub-caste Dalits. In some cases, lower sub-caste Dalits
were not allowed to dance at a Dalit-specific village celebration.
*Radical changes required*

The study emphatically points out that “understanding untouchability is
crucial to ending untouchability. Without understanding the problem, the
Government of India will never be able to fully address the issue and
fulfil the human rights obligations owed to Dalit citizens.”

It makes several critical points about the current status of
untouchability. Given the situation at the panchayat level where a Dalit
cannot even sit on a chair, reservation is not enough, it says.
Additionally, India’s human rights obligations are deficient, say the
researchers. “Faced with poverty, oppression and exploitation, Dalits have
a very difficult time reporting atrocities or other violations of law and
realising their constitutional right to non-discrimination,” says the
report.

The Navsarjan Trust believes that the data provided could be used to make
effective intervention towards eradicating untouchability in India.

Printable version | May 1, 2014 1:59:09 PM |
http://www.frontline.in/social-issues/social-justice/another-gujarat-model/article5958923.ece