After thousands of years of discrimination based on caste, the Dalits or Untouchables of India still live on the fringes of society, and are denied the most basic of human rights. Excluded from a four tier caste hierarchy instituted over three thousand years ago, the word Dalit literally means “outcast”.

Dalits comprise nearly one quarter of India’s population. They are treated as social pariahs and denied access to wells, temples and shops for fear of contamination. They struggle to survive, earning a meager wage cleaning public latrines, deposing of dead animals or as bonded laborers in rural areas. In villages, the Untouchables of India live in the most deplorable of conditions—sleeping on dirt floors in inadequately covered huts. In cities, one can find entire Dalit families lining the streets, homeless and emaciated by hunger and despair.

Those who attempt to assert their rights as human-beings may be hacked to death for tilling newly acquired land. Women, the double Untouchables–by caste and gender–are indiscriminately raped and beaten. Humiliated and scared, rape victims seek justice from the local police who sometimes partake in the atrocities.

Excluded from village meetings, lack of education and confidence in their judicial bodies inhibits Untouchables from seeking help from government officials who brush off complains by asserting that the caste system was eradicated by the 1950 constitution. However, if you speak to Untouchable children who are often denied the right to basic education, or their parents who are being denied their right to pursuit of land and livelihood; it is evident that caste discrimination persists.

As India continues to emerge as formidable power on the world stage, it is the duty of the world community to hold India accountable for the gross violations of human rights within its borders. As responsible members of the global community, we must take part in ending caste discrimination in India, by educating ourselves about the atrocities being committed against over 200 million people in one of the world’s most populous nations, and advocating for change.

This site provides more information on the conditions facing Untouchables of India and ways to help. “Educate, Agitate, Organize!”

Resources:

Fact Sheet on Dalit Atrocities
Continuing Atrocities Against the Dalit Community
Tracking Caste Violence and Atrocities
Dr. Ambedkar and Civil Rights movement in India
Rural Development Center Report
Manuski Net
Jambudvipa Trust
A One World Young Leader’s Perspective