In what condition is today’s Dalit society living in India?

From 1850 to 1936, the British imperial government used to call them by the name of depressed class. On the other hand, if we add 20 million Dalit Christians and 100 million Dalit Muslims, then the total population of Dalits in India is about 320 million, which is one fourth of the total population of India. Capitalism and imperialist rule made very sharp attacks on the caste system of India. Nevertheless, the Dalits were always protected and protected as the basic building block of this system, so that the caste system could survive. Keep on flourishing. The caste system was kept alive even in the Constitution of India by using Dalits.

By Shashank Dubey.

Dalits are the mirror of a divided society. All Dalits are discriminated against, they are deprived of their rights. This thing has generally been said about Dalits. But if you look closely, Dalits are the mirror of Hindu society divided into high and low status. After the Round Table Conference in 1931-32, when the British rulers divided the society communally, they made a separate schedule for the untouchable castes of that time, in which the names of these castes were inserted. They were called Scheduled Castes for administrative convenience.

This colonial system was maintained even in the post-independence Indian constitution. For this, the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 was issued, in which the names of 1108 castes of 29 states of India were included. Although this number in itself is very high.

Still, this number of Scheduled Castes does not give an idea of the actual number of Dalits. Because these castes are also divided into various sub-castes according to their high-low status in the society. The caste system has been going on since 2000. When the Muslim religion came to India, only the Dalit and downtrodden people became Muslims.

When the European colonial came to India, these people from the lower strata of the society were recruited in their armies. When Christian missionaries opened schools, these Dalits got admission in those schools and became Christians. Taking advantage of every opportunity, he went ahead with the help of colonial policy and thus the Dalit movement was organized. Leaders like Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar went ahead with this system and led the Dalits.

Benefits of the Dalit Movement: From the beginning of the 20th century, the condition of the Dalits was the same socially, educationally and economically. There were only a few people who could rise above the fallen condition of the Dalits. The Dalit movement under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar provided many benefits to the Dalits.

In these facilities like reservation and legal protection can be counted. Today some seats are reserved for Dalits in every level of governance. Similarly, there is reservation for Dalits in government aided educational institutions and government jobs.

These arrangements have been made for the protection of Dalit interests in the Constitution of India made after independence. However, the process of implementing them has remained half-incomplete. Still, a section of Dalits have benefited because of them. Their fight for survival has become easier. Dalits in a century old condition It seems that a section of Dalits has made a lot of progress, but still most of the Dalits are in the same condition as they were a century ago. The way the reservation policy has been made, it has been benefiting only those people who have taken advantage of it and moved forward. The result is that even among Dalits, a small section has become ready, which is rich. Who is continuously benefiting from the system.

This is only 10 percent of the total population of Dalits. Ambedkar had envisioned that Dalits, who progressed with the help of reservation, would help other members of their fraternity to come out of the downtrodden sections of the society. But far away from their imagination, even today people of every fraternity in the society are only busy in straightening their owls and even those who raise their voice for the Dalits, it is only for money whose truth is buried behind their voice.

The condition of the Dalit population in the villages has become different from that of the Dalit communities. The complaints of other sections of the society due to their progress are generally targeted by those Dalits who live in villages and have remained at the bottom of the ladder of progress. The growing crisis of the agrarian system in the country has further increased the tension in the relations between upper caste farmers and Dalits. Because Dalits are landless, they are not affected by this crisis. This is completely the result of economic politics after independence. This new class of atrocities has been created, in which upper caste Hindus target Dalits, so that they can teach a lesson to the entire Dalit community. Today Dalits are facing such situations and oppression all over the country.

Dalits still live mostly in villages. Urbanization of Dalit population is happening at half the speed as compared to non-Dalits. Despite not being the owner of the land, he is still seen in the role of a landless laborer and marginal farmer. Whatever little land the Dalits have, it is being snatched away. Today, the number of Dalits in schools is more as compared to other castes, but this number starts decreasing as they move towards higher education. Today, the Dalit dropout rate from higher education is twice that of non-Dalits. Because of coming from a weaker section, they study in substandard schools. If the standard of their education is not good, then they also get poor quality employment. Only a few people have been able to take advantage of reservation.

The purpose of reservation was for the welfare and progress of Dalits, but it has benefited only a few people. Because of this, the supporters of the caste system have been able to maintain this caste division, which is harmful to the interests of Dalits. Today Dalits are engaged in the politics of loan. The educated class of Dalits should have been concerned about the difficulties of their community, but they too seem to be concerned only to promote and maintain their caste identity..

Courtesy : Nedrick News

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