DanChurchAid
India
Caste discrimination
For thousands of years, the casteless in India have been oppressed, discriminated and abused. The result is that 90 per cent of the more than 160 million Indian casteless belong to the poorest of the poor in the country.
In addition to being targets of physical and sexual violence, Dalits are often required to eat and drink from separate containers in restaurants, attend separate religious services, walk long distances to get water and work in degrading conditions.
| What we do |
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| DanChurchAid in India works with caste discrimination. The work is linked to the programme type Political Space , which is focusing on increasing the participation of marginalised people in democratic processes. Read more: |
Dalit women face dual discrimination
Dalit women face dual discrimination, i.e., discrimination due to both gender and caste. Although Indian law contains extensive protection against caste discrimination, the government still fails to enforce its domestic and international obligations to ensure Dalit rights (Human Rights Brief, Center for HR & Humanitarian Law, Washington).
Dalits are forced to undertake the occupations that the rest of Indian society finds ritually polluting, such as handling carcasses, disposing of human waste (manual scavenging), sweeping streets and cobbling. Historically, Dalit women have been forced to serve as sexual servants to upper caste men. Dalit children are also subject to human rights abuses including bonded labour.
Crimes against lower castes
Dalits are also the targets of hate crimes and violence. Over the years, the National Human Rights Commission has received an increasing number of complaints, which is a positive sign that more people are aware of its existence and the possibility to file a complaint.
A lot has to be achieved in terms of protecting the human rights of all the citizens. According to National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes , a total of 98,349 cases of crime against lower castes were reported between 1994 and 1996, including 1,660 murders and 2,814 rapes. These figures do not include offences that Dalits did not report for fear of reprisal.
Discrimination due to caste is prohibited
According to Indian law, discrimination due to caste is prohibited. But one thing is what the law says, another is practice. This means that most casteless still live isolated in the outskirts of the villages, never get an education and work as day labourers under slave-like conditions.
All Indian states have indeed introduced a quota system to ensure that casteless are appointed to a certain number of all positions in the public sector. They are secured study places at universities and other education institutions. They are also supposed to have secured seats in the legislative assemblies both at local and national level. And there is a law for securing satisfaction for casteless who can prove to be victims of discrimination.
On paper it looks fine, but threats, corruption and ignorance mean that most often the system does not have the intended effect. Critics point to the fact that such quotas are undemocratic and only contribute to maintaining discrimination and animosity against the casteless.
