Prejudice and Discrimination in India
Introduction: Culture is the way of living which a group of people for example Indians has developed and passed on from one generation to the next. It consists of beliefs, rituals, religions, behavior patterns and institutions .
I chose to visit India which has a myriad of different cultures and religions. India is located in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. It has an area which is comparatively slightly more than one-third the size of the US. India is a land of multicolored imagesconsisting of a distinctive assimilation of ethnic groups exhibiting diverse culturesand religions. In fact, this uniqueness in the ethnicity of the country is the feature that makes it different from other nations. Also it has such an abundance of different cultures, ethnic groups and, religions that the country is seen more as a seat for a major world civilization than a mere nation-state.
India has a population of 1i30 million as on 2007(US Census Bureau). The religion followed is predominantly Hinduism although other religions like Christianity, Islam Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are equally prevalent. The percentage of followers for different religions are Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% according to census2001( World Fact Book). The citizens have the freedom to practice any religion they want. Although it has developed in the technology sector specially in the computer software and industries, India is still a developing country with 25% of its people below the poverty line. “The Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand are among the poorest in India and have high rates of malnutrition” (Population Reference bureau). These states contain the highest number of Dalits and Adivasis of India.
India consists of different races such as Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (World Fact Group). ). It also has different ethnic groups which are demarcated into 35 different states andunion territories in the country with each State having their own unique language, food habits, clothing, and culture. Such ethnic groups consist of Assamese Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Telegu, Khasi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Maharashtrian and Bihari to name a few. The Constitution of India recognizes 22 different languages, out of which, Hindi is the official language and is spoken in most of the urban cities of India. Other than these 22 languages, there are hundreds of dialects.This has led to a sense of regionalism amongst the various parts of the country althougheventually theyblend through a common bond to display a common national and cultural identity.
Race, ethnicity, class, and gender are cultural creations; they derive their meanings from the culture. Although RACE and ETHNICITY are spoken in the same way, they are two very different things, and it is important to distinguish between the two. Race is connected with biology and ethnicity with culture. Ethnicity is associated with a geographic region and consists of a group membership with common culture and language. It is a matter of choice. But race is not a matter of choice. You either are or are not a member of that race such as whites, Hispanic, Asian, or African American. However, since ethnicity is based on culture, you can learn a language and its customs so that you can belong to that group. But racial categories have had a much more tangible impact on peoples' lives, because they've been used to discriminate and to deal out resources unequally and set up different standards for protection under law.
India is a land which has different castes based o race such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Sudras. The Brahmins belong to the highest class and the Sudras belong to the lowest caste. Among the Sudras are the Dalits and Adivasis known as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who belong to the lowest of the low according to the Indian caste system and are regarded as untouchables. Most of the Dalits and Adivasis of India do not own any land and work as bonded laborers to the higher castes More than 90% of them are below the poverty line. The Dalits and Adivasis are tainted by birth into a caste system that judges them to be impure.
There are numerous cases of discrimination and Human rights abuses against these people A random case of headlines in mainstream Indian newspapers tells stories such as "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked" etc. In fact when I visited a village in India, I have seen instances where Dalits and Adivasis were not allowed to drink water from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste and to eat in the same plates and cups as those used by the upper castes. They have separate wells to draw their water from and seperate temples. They also have separate priests to conduct their burial rites.
India's Untouchables are consigned to having the lowest jobs. Most of them are illiterate and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, beaten, and raped by upper-caste Hindus in trying to keep them in their place .The local non governmental organizations reports several heinous crimes committed against the Dalits and Adivasis every month. But according to them these are only the tip of the iceberg. Many crimes go unreported by the victims since they fear retaliation and intimidation by the police since the police, village councils, and government officials frequently support the caste system, which is based on the religious teachings of Hinduism.
“The Tsunami disaster has hit poor people the hardest: 40 percent of the population in the affected areas may have been bellow the poverty line and about a third would be from the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes”(UNESCAP Project). In fact even when relief was given at the time of tsunami, there were reports that the Dalits and Adivasis were denied relief due to their caste, since they did not own property and therefore were unable to make a legal claim. Due to their extreme poverty the Adivasis are reported to have become victims of trafficking of women and girls inside India for sexual purposes. “The Dalits and Adivasis also face debt bondage consisting of involuntary servitude in brick kilns, rice mills, and embroidery factories, while some children endure involuntary servitude as domestic servants”.( World Fact Book)
Conclusion: India is a country of varied hues with its people having different lifestyles, cultures, their dance forms and musical styles and art & handicrafts, People speak in different languages, dress differently, follow different religions, eat different food but identify themselves as being Indian and it is a pleasure to see the assimilation an bonding of various ethnic groups.. However the discrimination and racial prejudice meted out to the lower castes like the Dalits and Adivasis is not a matter to be taken lightly. Although, the Indian Government is trying its best to counter this discrimination by various laws, more needs to be done on these issues
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References:
Building livelihoods after disaster, Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nady, UNESCAP
Retrieved on 21/3/2008 from
http://www.unescap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/tsunami/tsunami-p2.asp
International Data Base, Country Summary India US census Bureau
Retrieved on 21/3/2008 from
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/country/inportal.html
The World Fact Book, Central Intelligence Agency
Retrieved on 21/3.2008 from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
World Population Highlights-2007.,Population Reference Bureau
Retrieved on 21/3/2008 from
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2007/623Malnutrition.aspx
Mayell.H.(2/6/2003)India’s Untouchables Face Violence, Discrimination., National Geographic
Retrieved on 21/3/2008 from
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0602_030602_untouchables.html