...Dalits and tribals
India’s Dalits and tribals keep losing the battle of livelihood--and dignity
If the African-Americans are the big losers in the United States, not much seems to be changing for tribals and Dalits in India. When it comes to mindless displacement, uprooting, loss of livelihood, victimisation by a greedy State apparatus, gratuitous violence by people from upper castes and contemptous neglect by policy makers, Dalits and tribals continue to be at the receiving end. Two recent examples are testimony to the depth and intensity of prejudice they suffer from in democratic India. Barely a hundred kilometres from the nation’s capital Delhi, an entire village of Dalits was destroyed in an orgy of violence by upper caste strongmen. The crime committed by the Dalits: they wanted to pray with dignity in temples, something most upper caste people in rural India deny them. There were the usual enquiries. But there is little doubt that like countless other times, this one, too, will be brushed under the carpet. The state of tribals are even worse. After centuries of suppression and subjugation, policy makers in India decided that the tribals need land of their own. A law for giving 2.5 acres of land to tribal families was drafted. But so strong was the opposition from a green lobby (worried about the future of the Indian tiger), that the law is yet to be presented to the Parliament. Are tigers more important than tribals? Is the ‘honour’ of upper caste monopolies more important than the basic human dignity of Dalits? These are uncomfortable questions that continue to haunt Indian democracy. ...
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here
Source: IIPM Editorial-2006
If the African-Americans are the big losers in the United States, not much seems to be changing for tribals and Dalits in India. When it comes to mindless displacement, uprooting, loss of livelihood, victimisation by a greedy State apparatus, gratuitous violence by people from upper castes and contemptous neglect by policy makers, Dalits and tribals continue to be at the receiving end. Two recent examples are testimony to the depth and intensity of prejudice they suffer from in democratic India. Barely a hundred kilometres from the nation’s capital Delhi, an entire village of Dalits was destroyed in an orgy of violence by upper caste strongmen. The crime committed by the Dalits: they wanted to pray with dignity in temples, something most upper caste people in rural India deny them. There were the usual enquiries. But there is little doubt that like countless other times, this one, too, will be brushed under the carpet. The state of tribals are even worse. After centuries of suppression and subjugation, policy makers in India decided that the tribals need land of their own. A law for giving 2.5 acres of land to tribal families was drafted. But so strong was the opposition from a green lobby (worried about the future of the Indian tiger), that the law is yet to be presented to the Parliament. Are tigers more important than tribals? Is the ‘honour’ of upper caste monopolies more important than the basic human dignity of Dalits? These are uncomfortable questions that continue to haunt Indian democracy. ...
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here
Source: IIPM Editorial-2006
Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-
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