Alternate Report To the Joint 2nd to 5th Periodic Report of the State Party (Republic of India) To

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights On The Implementation of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (A Periodic Report Submitted by the State Parties under Articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant)

National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) India, 2007 In Association with International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) and Social Watch-Tamil Nadu Contact Persons: Paul Divakar, National Convenor, NCDHR, Email: paul.divakar@gmail.com , Ms. Rikke Nohrlind, Coordinator, IDSN, Email: rn@idsn.org

CONTENTS Paragraphs Page General 1-40 1- 8 Caste and Descent Based Discrimination: The Characteristics and its Manifestations

Who Are Dalits? Dalits in the Caste System, Caste System, Untouchability, Human Rights and Dalits Caste/Descent and Work Based Discrimination Recognising Human Rights Violations in Caste based Discrimination by the Indian State Rationale and Scope for Special Provision for Dalits Importance Given to Issues of Dalits and Adivasis Constitutional Provisions Other Legislations Special Component Plan Massive Injustices And Loss of Opportunities for Dalits Proportionality Convergence Auto-Decision Making The Betrayal Article 6: Right to Work 41- 73 8- 16 Lower Access to Income Earning and Capital Assets Labour Market Agriculture Sector: Hiring Practices of Farm Labour as Primary Activity Agricultural Wage Rates Intervals of Wage Payments Non-Agricultural Sector Employment and Income Losses due to Exclusion in Hiring Market, Goods and Services: Economic Exclusion and Discrimination Discrimination in Consumer Market: Sale and Purchase Capital Market: Banks and Financial Institutions (tend to Exclude) Dalits in Priority Sector Lending Aspects of Economic Exclusion and Discrimination Discrimination in Other Factor Markets: Irrigation and Agriculture (Land) Access to Employment In Private Sector: Need for Anti-Discrimination Legislation No Serious Efforts for Corporate Social Responsibility National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) Article 7: The Right to Just and Favourable 74- 91 16- 19 Conditions of Work i Discrimination in Wage Earning Reservation in Education and Public Sector Employment Half Hearted Implementation of Reservation in Employment in Public Sector Article 11: Right to Adequate Standard of Living 92-126 20-28 Concept of Human Development and Condition of Dalits in India Caste Discrimination and Food Security Programmes Opposition to Dalit Cooks Public Distribution System Land Rights Non-Implementation of Land Reforms Policy: A Violation of Dalit Human Rights The Right to Housing, Discrimination in Renting, Sale and Construction of Residential

Houses by Dalits Atrocities Induced Displacements and Dalits in Slums Article 13 and 14: Right to Education 127-149 28-34 Right to Education for Dalit Children State Provision for Education For Dalit Children Dalit Children Population National Drop-Out Rate Of Dalit Children Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Campaign), Discrimination by Teachers Dalits and Higher Education Dalits and Curriculum Cultural Barriers in Access to Education Recommendations 34-39 ii

General Caste and Descent Based Discrimination: The Characteristics and its

Manifestations Who Are Dalits? 1) What the world today knows as Dalits constitute about 167 million Scheduled Castes as per the Indian Constitution and also according to the Census 2001. There is a sizeable population among the Muslims and Christians (as per a rough estimate there are 42 million Muslim Dalits and Christian Dalits who count about 16 million) people in India, were till a few years ago known and publicly identified as "Untouchables". And for all official purposes, Dalits who have converted to Islam and Christianity are not treated as Scheduled Castes, whereas those who are Sikhs and also those who converted to Buddhism are treated as Scheduled Castes. Dalits in the Caste System 2) The basic conception of social organization, which prevails among the Hindus, started with the rise of four groups or Varnas into which the Hindu society is believed to have become divided. These four Varnas were: 1) Brahmins, the priestly and educated class, 2) Kshatriyas, the military class, 3) Vaishyas, the trading class and 4) Shudras, the servant class. For quite a sometime there were merely four groups. But after sometime what were only groups (Varnas) before became castes (Jatis). And four castes multiplied into several sub-castes. In this way the modern caste system was only the evolution of the ancient Varna system.1 According to Manu, the Hindu lawgiver, there were originally four varnas and four they must remain. He had not admitted that the untouchables who were supposed to be out side the four fold division of the caste system. That the untouchables were to remain, out of the Hindu social structure is clear from the name, by which he describes the untouchables. Manu speaks of them as Varna Bahyas (those out side the Varna system). They must remain separate and segregated without being the part of the Hindu society. And if they are a part, they are a part but not of the whole.2

3) However, by implication those who are below the pollution line have been called as Panchamas. Legitimized by the theory of Karma and reincarnation, the Panchamas deserve to be untouchables.3 Untouchability with its manifold manifestation, is rooted in the notions of the purity and pollution, which is believe to have developed in the later Vedic period, when the Brahmanic literature emerged in the form of Smritis, Samhitas and the Upanishads. In the later Vedic period texts, the Chandals and the Poulkasa were manifested object of spite and abhorrence. They existed at
1

B. R. Ambedkar, Symbols of Hinduism, Writings and Speeches, Vol. 3, Education

Department, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1987, pp. 141-142

2

B. R. Ambedkar, The House the Hindus Have Built , Writings and Speeches, Vol. 5,
3

Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1989, p. 169 [ T. K. Oommen, Panchamas to Dalits: The Context and Content of Identity, The Times of India, New Delhi, 11 May 1994. 1 the lowest ritual and social level.4
4

Vivekananda Jha, Stages In the History of Unsociability, Indian Historical Review, Vol. 2,

No. 1, July 1975, pp. 28-31 Caste System, Untouchability, Human Rights and Dalits 4) The caste system is the social organization of Hindus. However the residual consequences of the caste system are also found in the communities that have converted to other religions like Buddhism. Sikhism, Christianity and Islam from Hinduism. As a system of social, economic and religious governance caste system is not founded on the principles of equality, liberty (or freedom) or fraternity but on the principles of inequality in every sphere of life. Historically the caste system has formed the social and economic framework for the life of the people in India. In its essential form, caste as the system of social and economic governance is based on principles and customary rules that involve the division of people into social groups (castes) where assignments of rights are determined by birth, are fixed and

hereditary. The assignment of basic rights among various castes is unequal and hierarchical, with those at the top enjoying most rights coupled with least duties and those at the bottom performing most duties coupled with no rights.

5) Untouchability is the belief system that creates a mindset practicing exclusion, discrimination and violence hindering the access and enjoyment of basic human rights, citizenship rights and development rights. It is a process of imposing disabilities, perpetuating deprivation and preventing equal opportunities.

6) The practice of untouchability is not a simple practice of touch or non-touch, rather a complex and dynamic set of beliefs that has created a mindset that is inherently hierarchical, exclusionary, discriminatory promoting deprivations and justifying violence on the slightest pretext or deviation from the norm. The untouchable communities are thus condemned to a life of indignity, chronic poverty and marginalisation. The mindset being re-produced in the administrative, legislative and governance institutions, they contribute little to change the system, the state sees its vast citizenry as a population to be administered than a people to be empowered.

7) The practice continues widespread owing to three fundamental causes: a) Continuing belief in untouchability in society b) Vulnerability of Dalit community c) Not benefiting from the fruits of growth d) Willful negligence by state institutions

8) In this framework the concept of human rights under the Hindu social system has a specific meaning. Unlike other human societies, the Hindu social order in its classical form does not recognize the individual and her/his distinctiveness as the center of the social purpose. The unit of the Hindu society is not the individual. Even the family is not regarded as a unit of society except for the purposes of marriage and inheritance. The primary unit of society is caste. There is no room for individual

merit and consideration of individual justice. Any right that an individual has is not due to her/him personally; it is owing to being born in a particular caste. Similarly, if

2 an individual suffers from lack of rights, it is not because s/he deserves it by their merit or conduct.

9) The unequal and hierarchical assignment of rights under caste system has its basis on the specific notion of "human-hood" which is different and unique. In this particular order of hierarchy, castes are placed at the top. The upper castes are given all privilege and rights as they are considered to be "superior social beings" worthy of all rights and privileges. Dalits being considered at the bottom are denied all rights because they are treated as "sub-human beings or lesser human beings" considered unworthy of any rights. As inferior social beings untouchables are not entitled to any individual rights i.e. civic, religious, political or economic. In addition, they are considered to be impure and polluting and therefore are physically and socially isolated and excluded from the rest of the Hindu society. Isolation and exclusion of untouchables is a unique feature of the Hindu social order.

Caste/Descent and Work-Based Discrimination 10) It is clear from the above characterization of caste system that Dalits who are placed at the bottom of caste hierarchy are denied basic human rights that are necessary for the development and growth of human beings. This comprehensive and multiple exclusions and discriminations and denial of human rights of the untouchables have severe consequences on their poverty and deprivation. The denial of human rights is not associated with race or colour, but based on descent associated with social origin determined by social and religious ideology.

11) Determination of occupation by birth and restrictions to change the hereditary occupation and social position obviously restricts the freedom of occupation and involves descent and work related discrimination. As occupation and property rights

of each caste are fixed and compulsory it necessarily involves forced exclusion of one caste from the occupations of other castes. Dalits having been excluded from access to social rights, property rights and source of livelihood for generations, except the labour or service to the castes above them, experience denial of basic rights in multiple spheres.

12) The religious and philosophical sanctions and societal mechanism of social ostracism against Dalits to change their position promoted the concept of impunity against harassment, exploitation and atrocities on Dalits from various angles abuse and physical violence of women, children or men, sexual exploitation of Dalit women including practices like Devadasi system, exploitation of Dalit labour through begar (free labour), bonded labour or child labour, destruction of assets belonging to Dalits and prevention of their right to free exercise of their franchise.

13) It must be mentioned that both legal and religious sanctions were powerful engines to keep caste going. The legal sanction has been done away with by the Constitution but caste and its practices continue unabated because of the more powerful religious and philosophical sanction. Therefore untouchable status, discrimination and forced impure occupation, all for an accident of birth even today characterize the life of Dalits.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is one of the foremost scholars of the nineteenth-twentieth century. Born

into a Dalit family he was the architect of providing a framework for the elimination of castebased disabilities for Dalits and inculcating the values of justice, equality, liberty and fraternity into the Indian Constitution. He is the foremost leader of the untouchable community.
6

The Constitution of India recognises Dalit community as Scheduled Castes National Commission for Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Sixth Report (1999-2000&

2000-2001), New Delhi, p.8 Recognising Human Rights Violations in Caste-Based Discrimination by the Indian State 14) The Constitution of India, adopted in 1950 is a total departure from the philosophy, norms and traditions of the Hindu social order. The adoption of the Constitution was preceded by strong social, religious and political movements of the untouchables in the early part of the 20 century against caste and Brahmanism. The induction of these viewpoints was particularly facilitated by the nomination of Dr. Ambedkar5, who led much of the struggle against caste and untouchability as chairman of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution.
th

15) The philosophic ethos of the Constitution proclaimed justice, equality, liberty, and fraternity to all Indian citizens as against rights based on birth. Further the democratic form of government with elected representatives also provided an opportunity for members of different sections to participate in decision-making on a common platform. Rationale and Scope of the Special Provisions for Dalits 16) In addition to the general frame of justice and equality, the Constitution also recognized the need for distinct and special provisions related to the protection for Dalit community (scheduled castes).6

17) A section of people in the Indian society were denied of certain basic rights since ancient times with the result they remained economically, socially and educationally

backward. Because of the fundamental disparities between the Schedules Castes and Schedules Tribes as compared to other communities and the urgent need for special measures to uplift their status, a clear distinction has been made in the Constitution itself in respect of the SCs (Dalits) and STs (Adivasi).7 Importance given to issues of Dalits and Adivasi (Tribals) 18) The spirit of the Constitution is that equality, justice and progress of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be a measure of progress of the Indian society as a whole. The provisions have been towards enhancing spaces for social, economic and political participation of Dalits. Inherent in the provisions is also the faith and belief that there is sufficient political will to ensure the implementation of these provisions by the newly promoted legislative, executive and judicial mechanisms of the state.

Constitutional Provisions 19) The Constitution emphasizes safe-guards for Scheduled Castes under the Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes in Part XVI of the Indian Constitution. The Constitution also provides for protection and promotion of their social, economic, educational, cultural and political interests to bridge the disparities and to bring them at par with other sections of the society. In addition, many articles in Parts III (Fundamental Rights), IV (Directive Principles of State Policy), IX, IX A and in the fifth schedule of the Constitution is a measure of the Constitutional concern and commitment.

20) The constitutional provisions include general measures found in equality before law (Article 14); Prohibition of discrimination (Art. 15), Protection of life and personal liberty (Art. 21)

21) The social safeguards extended specifically to address untouchability and caste based work and discrimination are found in Abolition of untouchability (Art.17), Prohibition of trafficking in human beings and forced labour (Art. 23), Prohibition of employment of children in hazardous jobs, etc. (Art.24), Freedom to practice religion (Art.25),

22) The economic safeguards are provided under - the provisions of Articles 23 and 24 stated above as well as under promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs under (Article 46 in Part IV, Directive Principles of State Policy)

23) Educational and cultural safeguards are specified in provision for reservation (Art. 15 (4) and that admission into educational institutions will not be denied (Art.29 (2))

24) Employment provisions are made under equality of opportunities under (Art.16), and claim to services and posts (Art.335)

25) Political representation was based on a compromise between Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar Reservation of seats in parliament and state legislatures under Art. 330,332, 334,

26) Monitoring of safeguards provided under Constitution and all other provisions and policies is also provided for by - Setting up commission under (Art.338)

Other Legislations 27) In addition some of the legislations of general nature have greater relevance to Dalit communities.

a) The Untouchability Offences Act, later reformulated as the Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955) and rules 1977 b) The Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and rules1995 Bonded Labour (system) Abolition Act, 1976
8

Report of the Steering Committee on Empowerment of the SCs, OBCs and Minorities, Tenth

Five Year Plan (Government of India) c) Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 d) Devadasi system Abolition Act in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. e) Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 f) Minimum Wages Act, 1948 g) Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 h) Land Reforms Act in different states

Special Component Plan (SCP) Budgetary Allocation for SCs: Special Component Plan Massive Injustice and Loss of Opportunities for Dalits 28) Analogous to the The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the Government of India does have a potentially powerful mechanism for the economic empowerment of Dalits. The mechanism is the Special Component Plan (SCP) for Dalits. SCP, in the words of the Indian Planning Commission is a policy instrument designed to ensure the fulfillment of constitutional guarantees and entitlements enjoined for the Scheduled Caste communities. The Concept of Budgetary Allocation 29) The SCP, initiated during the Indian Governments 6 Five Year Plan (1980-85), envisaged a radical redefinition of planning and budgeting for Dalits. It was based on the realization by the Government of India that decades of planning and hundreds of millions of Rupees spent in the name of Welfare of SCs & STs had not brought any substantial changes in the Socio-economic lives of Dalits. Hence the SCP was brought in as a radically reworked strategy of Dalit welfare and empowerment. a) The Sixth Five Year Plan marked a shift in the approach to the development of the SCs. The SCP, launched for the SCs, was expected to facilitate easy convergence and pooling of resources from all the other development sectors in proportion to the population of SCs and monitoring of various development programmes for the benefit of SCs8 30) The programme was made obligatory for all the State Governments and all their departments as well as all Central Government Ministries. And in 1986, a scheme of Special Central Assistance of 100% grant to the States for the implementation of SCP was also initiated. 31) The main elements of the philosophy of the SCP, as regularly stressed by the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment of the Government of India, are Proportionality, Convergence, Universal Application and Auto-Decision making.
9 th

Adidravida and Tribal Welfare Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu, 2003

Proportionality 32) According to SCP, funds allocated for the welfare of Dalits out of the total annual plan outlay, should be at least proportional to their population percentage at the national and States level. This means that as Dalits constitute 16.5% of the Indian population, at least 16.5% of the outlay of the Central Budget should be allocated as SCP funds. Similarly in a State like Tamil Nadu, where Dalits constitute 19% of the State population, at least 19% of the plan outlay of the State Budget should be allocated as SCP funds. Convergence 33) In contrast to the earlier practice of numerous schemes by different departments and ministries, rarely leading to any significant impact, SCP envisages an approach whereby holistic programmes, in accordance with specific historic needs and priorities of Dalits, would be evolved and sufficient funds allocated for the programmes. The targets fixed under SCP are to be desegregated into district-wise and sector-wise targets. At the district level, the district Collectors are responsible for coordinating the implementation of the schemes under SCP. Universal Application 34) As per SCP, no State Government Department and no Central Ministry or Department can claim exemption regarding the implementation of SCP. SCP also makes it clear that no mere notional allocations of funds, based on the unacceptable logic of indivisibility of projects, are allowed. Every department /ministry must initiate concrete steps to evolve proper programmes under SCP, as per specific Government Orders (G.Os). Separate budget heads have to be shown in the Budget Link Book, clearly mentioning the receipts-expenditures details of SCP, ensuring prevention of any diversion, under-utilization or mis-utilization of funds earmarked for Dalits.

35) An important operational principle of SCP is that in all sectors of plan programmes, outlays for development SCs should be incorporated and no distinction can be

drawn between the so called indivisible and divisible sectors, as the outlays are allowable in relation to the needs of scheduled castes9

Auto-Decision-Making 36) SCP visualizes also that Dalits themselves (and those that legitimately represent them) should have the final say in terms of the implementation of SCP. SCP demands that at both Central and State levels, the department concerned with Scheduled Castes Welfare, such as the Scheduled Castes Development Corporations should act as the nodal agency for the formulation, implementation and monitoring of SCP.

10 11

Controller and Auditor General CAG Report No. 1 of 2001 (Civil) ibid

The Betrayal 37) Unfortunately, just as with the SC/ST Act, SCP too remains a hope vastly betrayed by a combination of bureaucratic indifference and resistance, Casteist perceptions and a lack of political will. The spirit of the Plan has been consistently thwarted in its application and implementation by most of the departments at the Central and States level, denying Dalits all over the country hundreds and hundreds millions of Rupees, which are legitimately due to them, year after year.

38) As per proportional allocation 16% of the total budget should have been allocated instead the money was 4 percent of the total budget. Even the allotted amount has been lapsing. Controller and Auditor General (CAG), in its review of the Special Central Assistance by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, discovered persistently large unspent provisions during all the three years, it studied10. The Ministry surrendered Rs.5945.30 millions in 1997-98, Rs.5090.70 millions in 1998-99 and Rs.1452.00 millions in 1999-2000 on the last day of the financial year, without assigning reasons for the surrender, even though the Ministry was well aware of the scheme-wise savings early enough.11.
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39) The Steering Committee on Empowerment of SCs, OBCs and Minorities, 10 Five Year Plan, claimed, Often such unspent SCA funds were diverted to other purposes, leaving the earmarked / intended purposes unattended.

40) The total budget allocation under plan outlay for 2007-2008 is Rs. 20,51000 Crores, and under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan(SCSP) which was previously known as SCP, the Government of India is liable to allocate Rs. 32,816 Crores exclusively for Dalits (16% of the total budget) but it has allocated just Rs. 12, 515.75 Crores only for the welfare of Dalits which means the amount denied to Dalits is Rs. 20, 300.25 Crores.

Article 6: Right to Work 41) The Right to Work is not listed as a Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India. It is under the Directive Principles of State Policy that Article 39 and Article 41 emphasize a responsibility on the State to provide that citizens, both men and women should have adequate means of livelihood and also includes that the State, shall within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing Right to Work Keeping these Directives under consideration there have been many attempts by the Government over the years in this regard. But Right to Work could never acquire an enforceable character.

42) The Indian state has recognized backwardness and deprivation suffered by these Dalit groups as back as 1950 and developed policies for the economic, social and political empowerment of these communities. The governments approach towards Dalits draws primarily from the provisions in constitution.
12

Differences in level of conception among Socio and Economic Groups 1999 2000, NSS

55th Round, July 1999-June 2000, National Sample Survey Organisation, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, September 2001. 43) The government has used two fold strategies, namely (a) Remedial measures and safeguards against discrimination in multiple sphere and (b) developmental and empowering measures particularly in economic spheres. The measures and safeguards against discrimination in the form of reservation policy are however, confined to state run and state supported sectors and the private sector namely agriculture, private industry and cooperative sector where more than 90% of Dalit workers engaged, are excluded and therefore remained unprotected from possible discrimination. In the absence of legal safeguards and reservation policy in the private sectors the state has used general programmes for economic, educational and social empowerment of Dalits. The focus has been to improve the private ownership of fixed capital assets like agricultural land, ownership of non-land capital assets, human resource capabilities, and access to social and basic services like housing, health, drinking water, electricity and others. The strategy for improving or building the private ownership of capital assets and human resources capabilities

has been primarily undertaken as part of anti-poverty and other economic and social programmes for the poor, by targeting or fixing specific informal quotas for Dalits households in the case of divisible schemes.

44) With these policy measures of social and economic empowerment, it was expected that the access of these social groups to capital assets would improve through increase in proportion of land owning (self-employed) cultivator among Dalits. Priority in the distribution of surplus land under ceiling, government land and other land should bring a shift in the occupational status from wage labour to selfemployed cultivating households. The supply of credit for land development and inputs should also make marginal and small farmers viable self -employed cultivators. Similarly it was expected that with supports for non-farm economic activities, the proportion of self-employed household/person in business in rural and urban area would improve. With expected increase in the proportion of selfemployed in agriculture and non-agricultural, there should be corresponding decline in the proportion of wage labour households12. But unfortunately it could not work to the expectation of the policy makers because of deliberate poor implementation. Lower Access to Income Earning and Capital Assets 45) The Dalits have been suffering from a high degree of discrimination when we consider variables such as access to land, capital assets, employment, education and income etc. In 1999-2000, in rural India, the unemployment rate of Dalit males and females was 1.4 percent and 16.9 respectively. Interestingly, the unemployment rates for both the Dalit males and females were higher than those for the Non Dalits/ Adivasis.

46) In 1999-2000, although the disparity levels in rural unemployment rates between the Dalits and the Non Dalits/ Adivasis males were very low for CDS; Dalit males

13

Sukhadeo Thorat, M.Mahamallik, and Ananth Panth; Caste, Occupation and Labour Market

Discrimination: A Study of Forms, Nature and Consequences in Rural India; Report Submitted to International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India, January 2006.
14

ibid

were found to be more unemployed than the Non Dalits/ Adivasis. The Dalit females, on the other hand, were found to be more unemployed than their male counterparts. The unemployment rate for the Dalit males was found to be very high (more than 5 percent) for the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and the lowest for the States of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat for CDS. The unemployment rate of the Dalit females was found to be the highest in Kerala and the lowest in Uttar Pradesh. In the urban areas, the Dalit males were found to be more unemployed than the Non Dalit/ Adivasis males.

Labour Market 47) Like other sectors there is a rampant discrimination against Dalits in the labour market. The caste based labour market discrimination is conceived as13: a) Exclusion of Dalits from employment by higher caste. b) Exclusion of low caste from certain types of jobs/work due to notion of pollution and purity associated with Untouchability. c) Selective inclusion in employment but with unequal treatment reflected (i) In lower wages (lower than wages given to other labourer) (ii) In terms and conditions with respect to hours of works and other terms, and (iii) Differential behaviour towards low caste labourer /worker in work place Compulsive and forced work governed by traditional caste related obligations

Agricultural Sector: Hiring Practices of Farm Agricultural Labour as Primary Activity 48) The higher caste wage labourers manage to get significantly more days of employment as compared to Dalit wage labourers. A relatively high rate of employment for the casual wage labourers from High Caste compared with the Low

Caste particularly Dalits reflects the discriminatory working nature of the labour market. It reveals employees choice towards the labourer of his or her own caste persons. Since the casual farm wage labourers are involved in manual work which required a normal working skill and which is hold by casual labourers of all caste group in normal course through work experience, there is clear reason to believe that differences in employment rate between the Higher Caste and lower caste wage labourers are on account of caste preference in hiring by the High Caste employers. Agricultural Wage Rates 49) In all, the average wages per day received by Dalit wageworkers was Rs. 5 less than the all-caste wage rate (Rs. 33) as well as of wage rate of higher caste (Rs.34)14.

10
15

ibid

Intervals of Wage Payment 50) The results indicate that the Scheduled Caste wage labourers followed by the Scheduled Tribes wage labourers suffered in term late payment of wages. The terms of payment in term of time interval are much less favourable to these two groups as compared with their counter part from OBC and Higher Caste. Non-Agricultural Sector 51) The average days of employment obtained by per person in the non-farm casual work is work out to 124 days with a considerable varations across social groups.Highest emplyment is observed for higher caste category labourer (290 days), followed by 189 days for Scheduled Caste, 105 days for Other Back ward Caste and 81 days for Scheduled Tribe Casual labourer. Thus it apperaed that high caste labourer managed to get higher level of employment compared with other caste groups in non fram sector.However the participation of SC casual labourers is realtively high.

52) Coming to daily wage earning the average wage earned by casual labour in the non-farm sector is estimated at 48 rupees at aggregate level, but the daily wage of high caste casual wage labourers turn out to be Rs 77 as compared to Rs 58 for Scheduled Caste, Rs 45 Other Backward Caste and Rs 37 for Scheduled Tribes. Employment and Income Losses due to Exclusion in Hiring 53) Exclusion of employment in any work, or denial in some seasons, or selectively in some types of works in agricultural and non-agricultural operation or household work inside house leads to lower level of employment as compared with higher caste workers. Thus the lower employment that we have observed in the earlier sections may be attributed to loss of employment due to denial of employment to workers of Scheduled Caste in various manners. Market, Goods, and Services: Economic Exclusion and Discrimination 54) Persons belonging to Dalit community are being encouraged to move from wage labourers to owners of the activity by the schemes of the government, in both farm and non-farm activity. The high caste people do not openly oppose their entry, but do it indirectly through economic exclusion. The economic exclusion is through pricing in sale, purchase and hiring activities of ranging from raw materials to finished goods15.

55) The nature and forms of land market discrimination is evident in the form of a. denial in sale and purchase of land for agriculture and non agricultural use, which include land for agricultural production, business location and residential house b. denial in renting of land for agricultural use
16

Sukhadeo Thorat, M.Mahamallik, and Ananth Panth; Caste, Occupation and Labour Market

Discrimination: A Study of Forms, Nature and Consequences in Rural India; Report Submitted to International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India, January 2006 c. denial of residential house on rent and

d. in the event of transaction in sale and purchase of agricultural land or renting of land for agricultural use or residential house discrimination may be experienced in price paid and received by the low caste group in the exchange.

56) Dalits, who are in the farm activity, face problems of paying higher for purchase / hiring of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, hiring of machinery, irrigation facility, etc. Similarly they face problems of receiving less remuneration for hiring of machinery, etc., to higher caste people. The case is true for persons belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, who are in the non-farm activity also. This attitude discourages the marginalized people from entering such activities.

57) Beside the price factor the low caste persons seem to face other difficulties in the purchase of land which include land made available at a far-off place, low quality of land, lack of access to irrigation. However, the major difficulty relates to the denial of land, which have common boarder with the land belonging to high castes.

Discrimination in Consumer Market: Sale and Purchase 58) The Report16 presents the results related to the discrimination faced by the Scheduled Caste persons in sale and purchase of farm and non-farm consumer good and other goods. Discrimination in the form of denial of purchases of farm products by high castes from the scheduled caste sellers is visible in some cases mainly due to caste considerations.

59) This is particularly widespread in case of vegetables and milk products and where the low caste identity of seller is known. The high caste generally prefers to buy from the sellers of their own caste and higher caste the items like milk, vegetable and fruits. The denial to buy such items by the high caste buyer from low caste sellers was mainly due to the notion of pollution and purity. The traditional and classical notion of purity and impurity associated with untouchable persons still influences the economic behaviour of high caste persons which discouraged them from buying or

entering into exchange of consumer good particularly the vegetable, milk an from the low caste sellers.

60) Faced with restrictions from the high caste buyers on the purchases of goods offered for sale by Dalit sellers, they try to use the alternative market avenues to sale their products where their caste identity is hidden.

61) The Dalit business persons engaged in non-farm business also reported difficulties in purchase of goods and materials, one of them being higher prices for the good and material that they buy. Traces of discriminations are visible in location of shop,

17

Indebtedness among Agricultural And Other Labour Households In Rural India: Some

Preliminary Analysis; Paper Presented At Seminar Titled Rural Credit In Orissa; Organized By Sambalpur University, Orissa, 25-26 February 2006.
18

Sukhadeo Thorat, M.Mahamallik, and Ananth Panth; Caste, Occupation and Labour Market

Discrimination: A Study of Forms, Nature and Consequences in Rural India; Report Submitted to International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India, January 2006 choice of shops by high caste customers and choice of customers by high caste sellers.

Capital Market: Banks and Financial Institutions (tend to Exclude) Dalits in Priority Sector Lending 62) One of the important objectives of nationalization of banks was to spread out of banks to the remote area and make provision for credit at affordable / low interest rates. The rationale behind this objective is availability of concession rate credit at their doorstep would help the cultivators to adopt new technologies, combat uncertainties in the livelihood process. Access to credit can be viewed as a function of access to property rights, education, information, social relations, etc. It is a notion that by virtue of their caste characteristics the low caste households are being deprived of access to credit, as they do not possess the pre-conditions also.

63) According to NSSO, only 31 percent of agricultural labour households in India, across all castes, depend on institutional sources for credit. The ratio is also true in case of Other Backward Caste and High Castes (32 and 34 per cent respectively)17. The ratio is only 25 percent in case of Scheduled Caste households. The average amount of loan obtained non-Institutional sources by agricultural labour of scheduled caste group is higher (Rs.4207) than high caste households (Rs.3905). In case of Institutional sources, the average amount of loan obtained by SC households is lower (Rs.6703) than the average amount in case of OBC (Rs.8999) and high caste households (Rs.11868). The case is true for Other Labour households also with an average loan amount of Rs.7059 of SC households as compared to Rs.16656 of OBC and Rs.18878 of high caste households. There are two important inferences

from above mentioned facts18. First, access to Institutional credit is less for the SC households as compared to OBC and high caste households. This reflected through low share of SC households as well as average loan amount also being comparatively low. Second, if the access to Institutional loans were to increase for the SC households, as a result the average loan size would also increase. Aspects of Economic Exclusion and Discrimination 64) Differences in prices received or charged from the Dalits in the markets, depending on whether they are sellers or buyers. This may relate to the price of factor inputs, and consumers goods, such as wages for labour, price of land or rent on land, interest on capital, rent on residential houses, charges or fees for services such as

housing, water and, electricity; and Dalits also face exclusion and discrimination from participation in certain categories of jobs and sale and purchase of certain consumer goods. On account of untouchability and the notions of pollution and purity, the untouchables also face discrimination and exclusion in use of public economic services like water, electricity, health services and other services.

Discrimination in other Factor Markets: Irrigation and Agriculture (Land) 65) The discriminatory treatment to Dalits is not just confined to the labour market alone, but is equally operative in other factor markets as well. These include markets in agricultural (land) and irrigation (public and private). The evidence, although limited in nature, sheds light on the repressive and hostile market environment, which Dalits generally face in the course of their participation in various factor markets.

66) It has been well documented that land is a source of constant conflict and atrocities on Dalits are closely associated with the issue of land. Further, discriminatory practices were also reported in leasing of agricultural land to the Dalits and even the

Dalit tenants were subjected to unfavorable terms and conditions of work by the higher caste landowners.

Access to Employment in Private Sector: Need for Anti-Discrimination Legislation 67) There is a crucial conceptual distinction between a non-discrimination principle and affirmative action. Non-discrimination is, if you like, a more passive principle. It suggests that people refrain from discriminating against others on the basis of caste or caste-like characteristic. It suggests that no one should be the object of discrimination simply because of who they are, in terms of these characteristics. There ought to be no normative quarrel with this principle. Affirmative action, seeks to move beyond a narrow conception of non-discrimination towards equalizing results with respect to various groups. Proponents of affirmative action in India do not always strictly insist on equalizing results, but they do demand a measure of fairness that goes beyond non-discrimination. Reservations for them represent such a measure of fairness.

No Serious Effort for Corporate Social Responsibility 68) Unfortunately, social justice or compensatory discrimination'' programmes in India have gotten stereotyped around the theme of reservation'' in the public sector. And so much of a complex has been built up around the subject that there are major assumptions, which everyone takes for granted, but which are mistaken and need to be overcome. Among these two are important: first that social justice programme are more or less equivalent to reservation and that reservation is limited to employment in the public sector as well as seats in educational institutions. Second, even more debilitating, is the pervasive idea that reservation is in some way at odds with merit'', that we have to give up on or ``relax'' certain standards of merit in order to do social justice for Dalit community.
19

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, Ministry of Law and Justice,

Government of India, New Delhi, 7 September 2005 69) Today, as privatisation is frightening Government employees, Dalits are also worried about loss of the one area they have seen as a haven for employment. One

result is that the idea of ``reservation in the private sector'' has been brought forward by a number of Dalit political leaders. The issue of reservation in the corporate sector does not depend on the degree of disinvestment. Regardless of whether existing public sector companies are ``privatised'' or not, it is still true that the corporate sector is a growing and dynamic sector in India, and the question of who runs it and is employed in it is a crucial one.

70) Compensatory discrimination efforts, or social justice programmes, need not be limited to education and the public sector. In fact, today as India is ``going global'' faster than many sections of the society want, it is important to realise that a truly modern society requires the conscious creation of opportunities for all of its citizens, and a truly competitive society cannot afford to waste any talent. This means that social justice programmes are not only in the interest of Dalits, but in the interests of the nation as a whole - and they require policies that take account of every sector in a modern and growing economy.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 71) It is mainly because of mounting pressure from the civil society organizations and movement that a National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 as a law has come into being. Under this any person who is above the age of 18 and resides in rural areas is entitled to apply for work. Any applicant is entitled to work within 15 days, for as many days as he/she has applied, subject to a limit of 100 days per household per year. Work is to be provided within a radius of 5 kilometers of the applicants residence, if it is beyond 5 kilometers, travel allowance has to be paid. Workers are entitled to the statutory minimum wage applicable to agricultural labourers in the state, unless and until the Central Government notifies a different wage rate. There are provisions for timely payment of wages within a weeks time; unemployment allowance; worksite facilities as clean drinking water, emergency health care etc.; participation of women to ensure one third of beneficiaries to be women; penalties for contravening with the provisions of this Act; implementation of this Act to be monitored by a State Employment Guarantee Council; the Act to be

enforceable initially in 200 districts, and is to be extended to the whole of rural India within five years.19

72) However, barely four to six months after the launch of the landmark job guarantee scheme, a nationwide study reveals that only 30% of those registered for the scheme have received job cards. Discrimination on the basis of caste, community, gender, disability and a general lack of awareness are hampering the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), an 11-state study by the civil society organisation Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has shown. A field survey by PRIA and its partner organisations in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya

20 21

See The Hindu, New Delhi, June 2, 2006, and The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, June 2, 2006 See The Telegraph, Kolkata, September 19, 2006 and The Indian Express, New Delhi,

September 28, 2006 Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal revealed that while there was largescale registration for jobs, less than 30% got the crucial job cards. Another major problem was low public awareness of the scheme -- in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh, for instance, only 7% of respondents had proper information about the scheme. A gender bias was also apparent in the implementation of the scheme since women wishing to register for jobs faced much opposition. And in Sabarkantha district in Gujarat, the old and physically challenged were not even provided with registration forms. The survey also found village heads guilty of misusing their power, with people with ties to the sarpanch (village headman), panchayats secretary and officials appearing to have benefited more than villagers. In Rajasthan, elected panchayats functionaries are either ignorant or kept out of the exercise for the scheme's execution, despite the Rajasthan governments claim of having achieved decentralization of democracy.20

73) It has also come to the light that seven months after one of Indias most ambitious social welfare schemes, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was launched, less than a third of the funding to states for the current fiscal year have been utilised. According to a review of the programme by the rural development ministry, average utilisation across the country is just 29%. Only three states -- Punjab, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh -- have spent more than half the money released by the Centre under the NREGS in the year 2006-2007, says the ministry. The first meeting of the NREGA review council identified several gaps in implementation of the Act, including lack of awareness among beneficiaries and meager provisions for administrative expenses. Overburdened administrative machinery, weak redressal system and a host of other lacuna have been identified in the way this scheme is implemented.21

Article 7: The Right to Just and Favourable Conditions of Work Discrimination in Wage Earnings 74) There is massive economic inequality within the social groups. The wage rate is also determined by caste-based economic discrimination in rural areas. The differences in the magnitude of wage labour among the Dalits and the Non Dalits and their land ownership backgrounds and disparities in wage rates in agriculture and non-agricultural employments still persist in India.

75) For a sustained, anthropocentric, and holistic development of the Dalit labour force, State intervention in the form of affirmative actions in various markets such as land, labour, capital, products and social services (like education and health etc) is necessary. It must be recognized that the Dalits face multiple forms of discrimination in all factor markets. If the magnitude of wage labour among the Dalits is to be reduced and discrimination in employment, wages and occupation is
22

Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour, Government of India, (1998) Rural Labour Enquiry,
th

Report on General Characteristics of Rural Labour Households, 50 Round of NSS, 1993-94, Shimla / Chandigarh to be overcome, the policies of improving the access to physical capital assets, human capital and market intervention are necessary.

76) The farm and non-farm casual labour and salaried workers experienced various types of discriminations in emloyment which includes discrimination in hiring and wage payment. At least one fifth of the respondents reported preference of upper caste employer for the persons belonging to their own caste or Higher Caste, which lead to exclusion of low caste labourer from hiring in farm and non- farm work. The caste sympathy towards own caste people turnout to be the main reason for preferance of labourer of their own caste or high caste22.

77) The denial in hiring by high caste take various forms such as exclusion in any work, in some season and in some specific work. Dalit labourerers faced exclusion in some measure ,in some types of work in agriculture which include work related to

processing of crops and in cutting of some crops. In the case of non agricultural work, Dalit labourers faced exclusion to some extent in some types which mainly include work related to social ceromany, followed by house construction and work in restaurant. In case of inside housework of high caste persons, the Dalit labour faced complete exclusion.

78) Exclusion in employment in any work, or denial in some seasons, or selectively in some types of works in agricultural and non agricultural operation or household work inside house of high caste bring losses in employment and generate lower level of employment among Dalits as compared with higher caste worker. It is a clear denial of right to life with dignity and right to equality enshrined in the Constitution of India as well as in International human rights instruments. Reservation in Education and Public Sector Employment 79) Observing the centurys old and accumulated social, economic, political and educational deprivation, the Constitution of India made specific provisions for the protection of Dalits (SCs) and the other weaker sections from any form of discrimination. While the Constitution enjoins upon the State to make effective provisions for securing the right to education, it was not until very recently (2002) that the right to free and compulsory education of children up to 14 years of age was incorporated as a fundamental right through the 93
rd

Constitutional amendment.

Several policy instruments employed by the State in the post-independent India towards promoting education among the SCs have met with some measure of success.

80) Subject to Art 15(4) permits the state to make any special provision for (a) Socially and Educationally back ward classes of citizen, (b) SCs and (c) STs.

81) Thus the Indian government approach towards these groups has been primarily shaped by the provisions in the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the

law, and empowers the state to make special provisions to promote the educational and economic interest of Dalits and Adivasis and to protect them from discrimination in multiple spheres.

82) Now the reservation policy is confined to a tiny state run and state supported sectors and the vast private sector where more than 90 percent of the Dalits/ Adivasis population /workers engaged are excluded and therefore remained unprotected from possible discrimination.

83) Privatization has further marginalized the weaker sections by reducing the scope available in public sector, since the public sector itself is being disinvested. The significant fact is that according to 1984 Industrial Act, 18 sectors were reserved as public sector enterprises. Over the years, these have been also converted into private sector and now only half a dozen of these remain as public sector. This has directly and definitively given a death blow to the Adivasis and Dalits in terms of job opportunities.

84) Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution enabled both the state and central governments to reserve seats in public services for SCs and STs and enshrine equality of opportunity in matters of public employment: Nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class or citizens, which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State. Equal opportunity and equality of results can be achieved only by reservation. At the central level some of the services are excluded from the reservation and these prominently include defence and judiciary.

85) As per article 335: The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to

services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or State, as the limitation of Art.16 (4) The main objective of Art.16 is to create a constitutional right to equality of opportunity and employment in public offices. According to the articles 335 and 46 of the Constitution, Art.46 speaks about the promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and other weaker sections. The state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the paper, and in particular, of the SCs, STs and shall project them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Half Hearted Implementation of Reservation in Employment in Public Sector 86) Reservation policy has never been fully implemented from the time of its conception and much has been achieved in actual terms. This is disregarding the fact that SCs as per the 2001 Census constitute about 16.5 percent of the total population in India and thereupon too, they have been provided with 15 percent reservation. Yet, the implementation of the reservation policy for Dalits has been below par.

18

23

55 Round of NSS, 1999-00, Shimla / Chandigarh.

th

Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Rural Labour - Magnitude and Characteristics Chapter VIII Scheduled caste: A profile 2004 Documentation on Status of Scheduled Caste. 87) The inferences drawn from different statistical analysis clearly bring out the following. Firstly, the data evidently supports the proposition that the reduction of jobs in the Government sector for the Dalits is faster than that for the Non Dalits. Secondly, reduction in the absolute average number of employment for the Dalits in the different Groups of jobs after 1991 amply suggests that the National Employment Plan (NEP) has had adverse impacts on the job market, particularly, in the Government sector jobs. Thirdly, the percentage share of Dalit population to total employment in Group A and B jobs falls short of the stipulated 15 percent mark. However, for Group C and Group D, the SC population is fairly represented. Fourthly, in 2003, 6.7 percent of Dalits were employed in Group A and Group B jobs, while 93.3 percent of Dalits were employed in Group C and Group D types of jobs. Fifthly, from 1960s to the 1980s, approximately a half of the SC population was concentrated in Group D type of jobs while the other half was engaged in Group C occupations. Finally, the percentage share of Dalits over the periods under analysis has declined for Group D jobs and conversely, has increased for Group C jobs23.

88) Therefore, it becomes visibly discernible that firstly, after the inception of the NEP, though the overall employment in public sector banks has reduced for all social groups, but the Dalits seem to have been severely impacted. Secondly, due to the shrinkage of employment in the public sector banks, the Non Dalits have bifurcated to the private sectors while the Dalits still fall on the thresholds of unemployment and thirdly, though the Annual Report of the Ministry of Finance (1990) mentioned about launching a special drive to clear the backlog of jobs as on March 1990 in all classes of employees, it failed to address the question so as to how the percentage share of the Dalits in officer and clerical categories fell much below the stipulated quota.

89) Although, there has been a marked improvement in the overall representation of the Dalits in Government services, but still in 2003, a gap of about 3 percent in Group A

jobs and a gap of 1.5 percent were evident. Since the representation of the Dalits fell below the stipulated quota of 15 percent there is a need to implement a special drive to fill up the posts.

90) The notions of purity and pollution, social stigmas and forms of ostracisms linked with several caste-based occupations such as scavenging and sweeping discourage the Non-Dalits from participating in these occupations. This explains the higher concentration of the Dalits in lowest level jobs.

91) The fact that the reservation policy has been one of the cornerstones of Dalit empowerment cannot be negated. But still the Dalits have been unable to reach the levels of development as is visible for the Non-Dalits. Reservation policy has never been fully implemented from the time of its conception and much has been achieved in actual terms.

24

National Human Development Report 2001, P.17, Planning Commission, Government of

India, New Delhi, March 2002.

25 26

Ibid, p. 18 Caste based Discrimination, in Equality at Work: Tackling the Challenges, p.36, ILO

Report, Geneva, 2007.

27

Ibid, pp. 36-37

Article 11: Right to an Adequate Standard of Living Human Development and Living Condition of Dalits in India 92) Development process has to be ultimately assessed for its impact on quality of life and human well being. There is a broad based consensus that exists on the three critical dimensions of well being. These dimensions of well being are related to: a). Longevity: the ability to live long and healthy life; b). Education: the ability to read, write and acquire knowledge; and c). Command over resources: the ability to enjoy a decent standard of living and have a socially meaningful life.24

93) In India, there is a considerable difference in the level of attainment of people on various aspects of well being, depending on their place of residence(rural/urban), the sex of the person and the social group or the segment of the population(i.e. the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and others) that the person belong to The attainment levels of the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled Tribes are also lower than others on the available indicators.25

94) Caste based discrimination confines Dalits to occupations associated with their caste, often involving the most menial tasks such as manual scavenging or the removal of dead animals. Dalits are generally not accepted for any work involving contact with water or food for non-Dalits or entering a non-Dalit residence. They are thus excluded from a wide range of work opportunities in the area of production, processing or sale of food items, domestic work and provision of certain services in the private and public sector (e.g. office helpers). Limited access to education, training or resources, such as land or credit, further impairs their equal opportunities

for access to non-caste based occupations and decent works. The deprivation stemming from discrimination in all areas of their life leads to higher levels of poverty among Dalits as compared to non-Dalits.26

95) Where policies and laws are in place, enforcement and implementation are often lacking or unsatisfactory. Affirmative action measures have assisted a small number of Dalits in obtaining formal jobs, but have failed to lead to more even progress in providing equal opportunities for all. Purely developmental approaches to improving the lots of the Dalits are insufficient, if the underlying structural causes and caste barriers are not simultaneously addressed.27
28

Report of Sub-Group-I on Assessment of Prevailing Situation in respect of Scheduled Castes

and Scheduled Tribes for certain Socio-Economic Indicators, prepared and released by the Office of the Registrar General, Census, Government of India in November 2004. 96) In terms of access to basic services which could measure the status of Dalits in Indian society in terms of human development index and current standard of living, given below are some crude facts28:

Health According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) II data, the neo natal mortality, infant mortality and child mortality and under five mortality is higher for Dalits at all India level as compared with total mortality for others Anaemia among Dalit Women is more compared to the women of other communities At national level the full vaccination among Dalit infants is less compared to others At national level anaemia among Dalit children is more than that prevalent among others

Education Literacy Rates among Dalits is 45.20 percentage as compared to 54.51 percentage for the total population in India

The performance of literacy rates for Dalits in states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh is far below satisfactory, which is below 50 percentage 32 Districts in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have literacy rates below 30 percentage The enrolment rate of Dalit students has increased in different levels of education The drop out rate is still very high. 41.5 percentage at Primary Level; 59.9 percentage at Upper Primary Level and 71.9 percentage at Secondary Level

Electricity 44.3 percentage of Dalit households have access to Electricity where as for others it is 61.4 percentage 21.4 percentage of Dalit villages have no access to electricity at all whereas for others it stands at 19.5 percentage Drinking Water 27 percent Dalit households have water sources within premises whereas for others it stands at 45.2 percentage 19.5 percent Dalit households have access to drinking water sources away from their premises whereas it stands at 14.4 percentage for others 32.2 percent of Dalit households have access to drinking water from Tap, whereas for others it stands at 40.1 percentage Sanitation 23.7 percent of Dalit households have access to latrine facility as compared to 42.3 percentage General households
29

Citizens Report on Governance and Development 2006, Social Watch, Pearson Education-

Longman, Delhi, 2006 Housing 42.8 percent of Dalit households have permanent houses in comparison to 57.7 percent of General households

The condition of housing for Dalits in Orissa(19.5 percent), Chhattisgarh(22.2 percent), West Bengal(23.9 percent), Bihar(27.9 percent), Jharkhand(29.6 percent), Madhya Pradesh(34.8 percent), Uttar Pradesh(41 percent) and all the North Eastern States except Mizoram are below the national average Poverty Out of 27.11 percent of all population living below poverty line in rural areas, Dalits account for 36.25 percentage Out of 23.65 percent of all population living below poverty line in urban areas, Dalits account for 38.47 percentage

Caste Discrimination in Food Security Programmes 97) The right to food is considered a fundamental human right under Indian Constitution and International human rights instrument. But when it comes to the Dalit children it is severely violated in different forms and ways. Considering high drop out rate in primary education the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to provide Mid Day Meals Scheme (MMS) so students may be retained and the right to education for all can be realised. The mid-day meal scheme started in 1995 in a few districts with 33.4 million children in 1995-96 has increased to 105.0 million children across the country in 2000-02. SC children covered under this programme have fallen from 22638260 in 2003-04 to 22004919 in 2004-05 causing concern in the context of the discrimination reported.29

98) The physical setting of the MMS is important, the locality in which that space is situated is equally if not more significant. The physical access location of the MMS in terms of caste geography we note that Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have very low percentages of villages in which the MMS is held in a Dalit locality: 12% in Rajasthan and 19% in Tamil Nadu. Most midday meals in these states are held in dominant caste localities.

99) In Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, then, the vast majority of Dalit children must enter an area of heightened vulnerability, tension and threat, in order to avail themselves of the midday meal or its dry grain equivalent. Access for Dalit children is thus conditional, and hostage to the fluctuating state of caste relations in the village or region. A pattern of incidents documented in the study, to be discussed later, demonstrate how Dalit children's access to the MMS, already tenuous because it is held in the dominant caste locality, is then cut off when dominant castes feel the need to demonstratively reassert their hegemony.

100) In hiring practices, Rajasthan is consistently the least likely to employ Dalits, with 8% of respondent villages having a Dalit cook, and not a single respondent village having a Dalit MMS organizer. Tamil Nadu hires proportionally more Dalits, while

22
30

With regard to the PDS, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have implemented the scheme on a par with

the other states, unlike in the MMS. Therefore all five states in the survey are considered together. still keeping them firmly in the minority, with 31% of respondent villages having Dalit cooks, and 27% having Dalit organizers. 101) In Uttar Pradesh, measurable indicators point to an extremely low level of Dalit participatory empowerment and ownership of the pre-MMS dry grain distribution system. In 94% of respondent villages in UP, the distribution organizer is dominant caste; Dalit organizers are found in only 4% of respondent villages (the remaining 2% have Scheduled Tribe organizers). The issue of hiring cooks, of course, does not arise where dry grain is distributed in lieu of a proper, cooked, midday meal.

Opposition to Dalit Cooks 102) Opposition to Dalit cooks is actually a blanket term describing several different patterns of specific acts of caste discrimination and exclusion observed in the study. The patterns can be grouped into five, which take place at different points during the process of MMS institution and continuance. First, when local administrators are

putting the MMS into place, dominant caste community members intervene to block the hiring of Dalit cooks, favoring dominant caste cooks instead. Where a Dalit cook has been hired, dominant caste parents then begin sending their children to school with lunches packed at home, or require their children to come home for lunch, in any case forbidding their children to eat food prepared by the Dalit cook. In the third stage, dominant caste parents or community members pressure the local administration to dismiss the Dalit cook, on any pretext, and hire a dominant caste cook instead. Where this is ineffective, or sometimes without the intervening step, the dominant caste parents campaign to shut down the MMS in the village school altogether. Finally, some dominant caste parents react to the hiring and keeping of a Dalit cook by withdrawing their children from the school, and sometimes admitting them in a different school where the cook is not Dalit. Public Distribution System 103) The Indian Governments Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS, or, often, simply PDS) is reputed to be the largest system of controlled food distribution for the poor in the world. At the village level, the system is operated through governmentrecognized Fair Price Shops, or PDS shops, run by local, government-recognized PDS dealers.

104) As with the MMS, physical access, participatory empowerment/ownership and Dalits community-level access are the factors according to which the survey30 evaluates caste discrimination and exclusion in the PDS. Two measurable indicators are employed to gauge Dalit physical access to the PDS: existence and number of functioning PDS shops in the village, and location in terms of caste geography. First, are there PDS shops operating in the village, and second, are these shops placed in dominant caste localities, Dalit quarters, or elsewhere?
31

Only Andhra and Tamil Nadu have significant percentages of PDS shops held in other

places, at 22% and 31%, respectively. In these states, researchers understood other place to include the localities of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) instead of only caste-neutral places. Therefore, the percentages of PDS shops held in dominant caste (by which we mean all castes in

a position of dominance over Dalits, including OBCs) localities in Andhra and Tamil Nadu may be considerably higher than they appear in our data. 105) Dalits participatory empowerment and ownership of the PDS is measured by the percentage, out of all PDS shops in respondent villages, of PDS shops owned by Dalits.

106) A second factor conditioning Dalit access to the benefits of the PDS is the location in which the shops are physically situated. As a five state average, 17% of villages have PDS shops in Dalit colonies, while 70% (more than four times the former) have PDS shops located in dominant caste localities, and 13% of villages have PDS shops located elsewhere. Rajasthan has the highest proportion of PDS shops held in dominant caste localities at 91%, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 82%, Bihar at 76%, Tamil Nadu at 53%, and Andhra Pradesh with 30 percent31

107) In terms of Dalits community access to the PDS, four forms of discriminatory practices are reported discrimination in quantity, discrimination in price, castebased favouritism by the PDS dealer, and practices of untouchability by the PDS dealer in varying degrees of currency

108) One classic untouchability practice is the dominant caste dropping of goods (water, food, money) from above into cupped Dalit hands below, so as to avoid the possibility of polluting contact between the upper and lower. This remains in evidence, but other untouchability practices, such as dominant caste dealers hanging purdah before dealing with Musaher Dalits in Bihar, also emerge in the survey data. As PDS dealers are government actors, the practice by more than one quarter of PDS dealers of untouchability in the course of their official duty in blatant defiance of the Anti-untouchability Act of 1955, the Constitution of India and numerous pieces of legislation since has serious legal implications for the government.

109) The MMS and PDS are arguably the strongest available tools with which poor and marginalized populations in India can at present actualise their Right to Food. Whether they are operated well or poorly can indeed does make the difference between sustenance and preventable starvation for Dalits children and adults suffering from chronic poverty. While the problem is nationwide, its degree varies considerably from state to state.

Land Rights 110) Denial of land rights to Dalits is directly linked to caste system and its pernicious influence resulting into gross human rights violations of worst kinds in multiple forms. Perceptions of land are linked to social status and economic freedom Land owning patterns and being a high caste member are coterminous. There is also a

32

Smita Narula, Broken People-caste Violence against Indias Untouchables, Human Rights

Watch, 1999, p.27

33 34

National Sample Survey, Government of India 1995-96, Government of India

nexus between being lower caste and landless.32 .

111) It is indeed a sad commentary on land reforms and the egalitarian policies of the Government that five decades after independence, the Dalits are still forced to work as landless labourers, bonded labourers and attached labourers and are denied ownership rights to land. Violence against Dalit women is also linked to the denial of land rights as in majority of the land disputes; the Dalit women are made targets of violence to silence their male counterparts.

112) Landlessness among Dalits is a common feature in the Indian rural economy. At an all India level, the 1999-2000 NSS33 data illustrates that around 10 percent of the SC households are landless as compared to 13.34 percent in 1992 and 19.10 percent in 1982. Though it is apparent that landlessness is decreasing, but the rate of decrease is marginal. On the other hand, 6.15 percent of the Non Dalit households were found to be landless in 1999-2000, as compared to 10.53 in 1992.

The Non- Implementation of Land Reforms Policy: A Violation of Dalit Human Rights 113) The State wise analysis of the landlessness brings to the fore that in 1999-2000, the highest numbers of SC landless households were found in Bihar followed by Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Punjab respectively. Landlessness among the Non SC/STs was low both at all India level and at the State level as compared to the SC and the ST households. In 1999-2000, at the state level, landlessness among the Non SC/ST households was the highest in the States of Maharashtra (around 12 percent) followed by Punjab (9.85 percent), Tamil Nadu (9.35 percent),

and Gujarat (9.05 percent). It is a historical fact that in Punjab Dalit have not been allowed to own land, as there was a Law, which prohibited Dalits ownership of land.

114) It is also interesting to note that in 1999-2000, the percentage of Dalit landless plus near-landless households were more concentrated in the developed States like Punjab, Kerala and Haryana, followed by some underdeveloped States like Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

115) According to the Report of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes34, as on 30 September 1996 about 5.213 million acres of land were distributed at all-India level. Of these about 1.8 million acres were distributed to SC, and 2.67 million acres to non-SC/ST persons. A total of 5.121 million beneficiaries have been so far covered, of which 1.84 million were SC, and 2.55 million non-SC/ST. The land distributed per beneficiaries comes to 0.977 acre, which was less compared to 1.047 acres for non-SC/ST. Of the total land distributed to SC households, however, West Bengal alone accounted for about 20 percent, followed by UP. In term of share in beneficiaries also West Bengal also

35 36

Report on Prevention of atrocities against Scheduled Castes, NHRC, 2004, p.85 Planning Commission of India

accounted nearly 43 percent of total beneficiaries followed by U.P. (13%), A.P. (12%) and Bihar (12.4%).

116) Dalits and Adivasis have been greatly let down in the land distribution schemes as well as appropriation struggles. Right from 1948 up till 1970s, the Zamindari Abolition Act, and various Tenancy Acts, the land has actually been transferred from Kings, Jagirdars, Enamdars, Zamindars etc., to farmers and tillers of the land. This extent alone is around 34.9 million acres. But only a meager 0.5% of this land has reached to the hands of Dalits and Adivasis.

117) Under the new regime of liberalized economy, Dalits are further being alienated from land. This has been happening mainly because large tracts of lands are being provided to MNCs and big projects funded by the World Bank at throw away prices without taking into consideration the interest of the small and marginal farmers, majority of whom happen to be Dalit and other disadvantaged sections of Indian society. This has also led to large-scale displacement of Dalit and Adivasi families at various places within the country. The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which are being pursued with a missionary zeal by different State Governments is nothing but reincarnation of Zamindari system and is taking away the large tracts of cultivable land from poor people most of whom happens to be Dalits and other marginalized sections of Indian society.

118) Land Reforms Acts envisaged as a re-distributive strategy to change agrarian relations and break the caste-class nexus of big landlords, had the potential to provide reparation for one of the crucial disability placed on Dalits by the caste system. The implementation has however been subverted by the absence of political will and bureaucratic commitment, loopholes in the laws, tremendous manipulative power of the landed classes, lack of organization among the poor and excessive interference of courts35

119) The programme of ceiling set out in the plan had been diluted in implementation. There were deficiencies in the law and delays in its enactment and implementation resulting in large-scale evasions. Several states had made provisions for disregarding transfers made after a certain date but often these provisions proved to be ineffective and not much surplus land has been available for distribution. The main object of ceiling which is to re-distribute land to the landless at a reasonable price on a planned basis has thus been largely defeated.36

The Right to Housing Discrimination in Renting, Sale, and Construction of Residential Houses by Dalits 120) Dalits are being discriminated in the housing market. The questions mainly relate to the restrictions faced by Dalits in purchase of land for construction of residential

37 38 39

Sukhadeo Thorat, et.al., op.cit ibid Antony Margaret and G. Maheswaran, Social Segregation and Slum of Delhi, Indian Social

Institute, New Delhi 2001

40

Chugh Sunita, Why children drop out? Case study of a Metropolitan Slum, Book well, New

Delhi, 2004
41

Ibid

house in predominantly high caste locality, in taking house on rent in high caste locality and self restrictions imposed by high caste in buying of land in the low caste locality for construction of houses to live. The discriminations faced by low caste in each of these housing transactions is quite evident and of high order in the three sample villages.

121) Permitting the scheduled Caste persons to buy house for stay in high caste locality, or to rent the house to them in the high caste locality, or alternatively to buy land by high caste person in low caste locality and to take a house on rent in their locality for stay (by high caste), means breaking the traditional residential segregation in housing which is ubiquitous feature of caste-wise residential pattern of rural area.

122) The results indicated that about 64 percent of the respondent corroborated that the high caste persons do not prefer to buy land to build houses in low caste locality and only 7 percent present reported the willingness of high caste to buy land for houses in low caste locality37.

123) In response to the question related to the reasons, about 90 percent of the Dalit respondent reported the belief in caste prejudice and hence the unwillingness of the high caste to share housing with the low caste untouchables and to break the residential segregation as one of the main reasons. Only 5 percent indicated the price related reasons38.

Atrocities induced Displacement and Dalits in the Slums 124) Among the total population in the slums, Dalits and Muslims together account for 55% of the total population39. In terms of accessibility and availability of services, the most deprived among the people in the slum in this regard are the Dalits. Education of children in the slums is another major issue where drop-outs at an early age, and problem of lack of governmental initiative40 were highlighted. Also it was established in a study on the educational situation of Dalit children in Delhis slums that drop out of Dalit children is directly linked to the familial and personal factors. The most prominent observation is that there exists direct relationship between income expenditure gap and drop-out, followed by housing and environmental conditions. Another major factor was the frequent shifting of parents work place, followed by weak parental and home support to the children41. Chugh identifies that an overemphasis on child labour distorts the actual reasons for non-attendance. In the case of Dalits she says it is the school, family and community sub system responsible for drop-out among Dalits. It is important read this with

27

42

Bijulal, M.V, City Slum and the Marginalised: Dalits and Muslims in Delhi Slums, Indian

Social Institute, New Delhi, 2004

43

S. Anandi, Contending Identities: Dalits and Secular Politics in Madras Slums, Indian Social

Institute, New Delhi, 1995 another finding42 that only 14.86 percent of Dalit families were found to be capable of managing the income expenditure gap by their own.

125) Increased atrocities against Dalits and the general decline in rural sector associated to structural changes attached to globalization gave a new dimension in understanding Dalit migration to cities. A people centric approach would easily suggest how the states in India have failed to ensure the constitutional rights to life, livelihoods and dignified life to the Dalits in the Indian villages. In the context of large scale slum demolitions, the role of state as a neutral agency faces severe criticism across the ranks, since the state agencies does these demolitions unpublicized, unplanned and using heavy violence and without respecting any dialogical practices in a democratic system.

126) Urban Dalits identity formation on the basis of different strategies of resistance has been highlighted in various studies43. Few urban studies have established that marginalization was common in meaning to all Dalits across the country and that the urban experience is different from the rural in terms of agencies of oppression. Dalit youths and activists were mostly critical of the upper caste social behaviour in the slums and accused that while the police unduly hold the Dalits responsible for offences; their attitude to upper caste people was entirely different. In some places the men folk were restricting the movement (sometimes not allowing girls to go to school) fearing the rising cases of kidnapping of women. Men in the slums in this social reality act as protective insiders to secure the dignity and safety of the women by restricting their movements.

Article 13 and 14: Right to Education Right to Education for Dalit Children 127) The Constitution of India clearly embodies several significant pledges to promote the rights of children. This was affirmed further by the National Policy for Children, 1974. Eighty Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, 2002 promises free and compulsory elementary education of good quality of eight years for every child of the age group of 6-14 years as Fundamental Right.

State Provisions of Education for Dalit Children 128) State provision of education for SC and ST are contained in Articles 15 (4), 45 and 46 of the Indian Constitution. Article 15 (4) underscores the states basic commitment to positive discrimination in favour of the socially and educationally backward classes and or SC/ST. Art. 45 declares that the states endeavour to provide free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Art 46 expresses the specific aim to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of SC/ST.

Dalit Children Population 129) According to census 2001 the country had a child population of 205 million in the age group of 6 to 14. Of these children the number of Dalit children in the same age group is 35.6 million, about one in every six children. National Drop-Out Rate of Dalit Children 130) The enrolment of Dalit children has increased over the years, revealing the increased interest in education and mobility. Enrolment of SC and ST boys and girls at primary stage has reached an astonishing 92% during 1999-2000.44 But the real problem is an alarming drop-out rate among Dalit students. The national drop-out rate among Dalit children is 36.6 % at primary, 59.4 % at middle and 73.1 % at secondary level of education.45

44

Report, National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Government of

India, New Delhi, 1999-2000 & 2000-2001, pp. 151-183

45

Ibid. p. 177 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Dept. of Elementary

46

Education & Literacy, Government of India.

47

Akshaya Mukul, Sarva Shiksha Gains not Universal, Times of India, New Delhi, 27 January,

2006

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Campaign)46 131) The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has special focus on the educational development of children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Every activity under the project must identify the benefits that will accrue to children from these communities. Incentives in the programme will have a sharper focus on children from these communities. The participation of Dalits and Adivasi in the affairs of the school will be especially encouraged to ensure ownership. Unfortunately, the programme could not achieve the expected results in the past in terms of education of Dalit Children because of deep-rooted discriminatory practices at various levels.

132) Some excerpts from the latest survey on Out of School are given here to highlight present status of drop out rates in the context of SSA47. Universalisation of elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has not percolated to the marginal social groups (SCs/STs/OBCs and Muslims) and a sizeable section (nearly 40%) of disabled children. Besides, the maximum overall dropout rate (20%) is after the completion of class V.

133) In an exhaustive survey, based on data collected from 87,874 households and conducted by IMRB and commissioned by HRD ministry, it has been found that nearly 7% of children in the age group of 6-13 are out of school.

134) In real terms, this means that 1.34 crore out of 19.4 crore children in this age category have not been to school. Though among all social groups the estimated percentage of children out of school is higher in rural areas compared to urban areas, Muslims top the list in both the settings at close to 10%. 'Other' category comprising upper castes and the well heeled has the least number (nearly 4%) of out-of-school children.

135) Among SCs, while the national average of out-of-school children is 8.17%, states like Delhi (nearly 26%), Jharkhand, Bihar (both over 21%), Nagaland and Chhattisgarh and a few others have contributed to this mess in a big way. Discrimination by Teachers 136) Caste prejudices doggedly persist even in our modern settings. Teachers have been found to maintain discriminatory attitudes and practices that underlie caste relations in society. B K. Anithas study in Karnataka revealed that Dalit pupils were called kadu-jana (forest people) who would not learn without being beaten.48. In their study in Rajasthan, Jabbi and Rajyalakshmi found that fear of teachers and corporal punishments are factors that parents (especially of Dalit Children) cite as constraining regular school attendance.49

48

B.K. Anitha, Village, Caste and Education, Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 2000 Mona Jabbi and C Rajyalakshmi, Education of Marginalized Social Groups in Bihar, in A

49

Vaidynathan and P R Gopinathan Nair (Eds.) Elementary Education in Rural India: A Grassroots View, Sage Publication, New Delhi, 2001.
50

Umakant, Dalits and Education, Dalit International Newsletter, June 2006

Dalits and Higher Education 137) As far as higher education is concerned, the enrollment of Dalit students at the graduate, post-graduate, and professional/Ph.D research levels was abysmally low. By 2001, 3.4% of the Dalit men over the age of 15 and only 1% of the Dalit women over the age of 15 had a post-secondary education of any kind. For Dalit men this was less than half of the percentage of non-Dalit men, while the Dalit womens percentage was less than a quarter of the percentage of non-Dalit women. Despite the steady growth in higher-level educational infrastructure since Independence, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) stated in its report for 1996-97 and 1997-98 that it has been observed that the enrolment of the SC and ST in general, technical and non technical is not satisfactory. This situation is alarming in technical and professional courses where most of the SC\ST seats remain unfilled. Many universities do not even follow the University Grant Commission (UGC) guidelines regarding both the relaxation of admission standards and the facilities to be provided to the SC&ST students. In the same report, the National Commission indicated how important it was that the universities and professional institutions strictly follow the various guidelines, which the UGC has issued from time to time.50

138) The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in its last report observed that fifty-seven years of freedom is an occasion for some serious introspection, especially with regard to the mass education sector. In spite of a commendable expansion of facilities, the curse of illiteracy and deprivation has not been wiped out. Although the participation of Dalits has improved in the last five

decades, their unequal development in a hierarchical social order continues to be reflected in the indicators of the educational status of various communities. That the educational status of non-Dalits has progressed at a faster pace than the Dalits status, clearly shows the bias of the planners and implementers in bypassing the various policy guidelines framed for purpose of giving an impetus to improving the educational status of the weaker sections of Indian society.51

51

Report of National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Government of

India, New Delhi, 1999-2000 & 2000-2001

52

B.R. Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol. 3, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai, 1987,

p. 39
53

Geetha B Nambissan, Dealing with Deprivation, Seminar, Issue, 493, 2000

Dalits and Curriculum 139) Education is an important mean of reducing ignorance and inequality in society. It helps the individual to raise his/her social status in various ways. Knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes acquired through education help one to lead a desired quality of life. Knowledge must be made available to all. As Dr. Ambedkar, the great Dalit leader and chief architect of the Indian Constitution had said, In the complex world man lives at his peril and he must find his way in it without loosing his freedom. There can, under these circumstances, be no freedom that is worthwhile unless the mind is trained to use its freedom. Deprive a man of knowledge and you will make him inevitably the slave of those more fortunate than himself . . . deprivation of knowledge is denial of the power to use liberty for great ends. An ignorant man may be free . . . but he cannot employ his freedom so as to give him assurance of happiness52.

140) It is in this context that curriculum gains an important place in the over all policy framework for providing education to all which could lead to acquire the knowledge, skills and a sense of equity and also develop the scientific temper. The exercise for designing the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) was initiated around the year 1998 and then again in July 2004 to develop the National Curriculum Framework 2005. The second initiative was basically taken to remove the distortions which had been made part of the Curriculum Framework released in the year 2000. It is important in this regard to look at these initiatives in an unbiased way and assess whether the new initiatives could lead to creation of egalitarianism and also develop scientific temper.

141) Curricular and pedagogic concerns in the NCF, however, fail to be adequately informed by an understanding of the specific context of educational deprivation, particularly where the economically and socially vulnerable communities such as Dalits and Adivasis are concerned. For instance, it is important to recognize that these communities were historically deprived of education because of the position of Dalits as untouchables in the caste system that these factors may continue to be relevant to the educational experiences of these communities today has largely been ignored.53

31

54 55 56

Ibid Ibid Teesta Setalvads Address to Central Advisory Board on Education, September 8, 2005, The

South Asian, a web portal, September 8, 2005. 142) The transaction of the conventional curriculum in rural schools is a far cry from one that encourages exploration, problem-solving... participatory... interactive group learning... and so on (NCERT, 2000:11). A recent study by Bodh (DPEP, 1999) of schools in villages of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (a number of them predominantly inhabited by lower castes and Adivasis) reveals that curriculum transaction continues to be primarily textbook based, directed by the teacher and dominated by rote learning. The boundaries between school and community knowledge are rigidly drawn with the textbook serving as the only source of legitimate knowledge. Teachers rarely relate to the knowledge base of children.54

143) The authority of teacher is unquestioned and children usually ask no questions even to clarify their doubts. Children listen to the teacher, copy lessons, memorize them and answer questions (DPEP, 1999). In single and two teacher schools that predominate in the more backward regions, the situation is compounded as teachers are confronted with teaching children of many grades together, a situation that their training least prepares them for. They evolve their own coping strategies such as huddling children of two or more grades into one classroom, keeping pupils busy with writing work, and using punishment to maintain discipline. Learning becomes a casualty in the process.55

144) The NCF 2000 drew sharp criticism and many saw it as an attempt to destroy the secular fabric of the nation. The NCF 2005 was aimed at detoxifying the textbooks and at the same time to inculcate the principles of justice, social, economic and political, liberty, equality of status and of opportunity. But so far all the intended goals have not been operationalised on the ground. The NCF 2005 is confused, with no direction and systematic approach. It avoids the harsh reality on the ground and the ideological erosion that outfits and organizations that are antithetical to the Indian

Constitution have successfully made over the past two decades that was also the periods when the Indian state chose to withdraw from its basic constitutional mandate of providing good quality, free and compulsory education to all. What can the NCF 2005 do to ensure equity in access across class, caste community and gender of a curricular framework? The error in fundamentals in the NCF 2005 apart from those outlines above also mean that inequities due to caste, class, community and gender are not treated as violations of basic human rights and dignity but cloaked in syrupy phases such as minority sensibilities etc. This is downright dangerous for a rational national curriculum. For instance in the five major concerns outlined in the forward to the NCF 2005 (pg vi) not one reflects the non-negotiable Constitutional right of every Indian to have access to quality education based on the principles of egalitarianism, non-discrimination and therefore, democracy. The distinct approach that hopes to convert itself into national policy appears to be to offer the disadvantaged poorest of Indias poor sops and comforts but not the basis inalienable right to a good, free and quality education.56

32

57 58

Geetha B Nambissan, op.cit Umakant, Dalits and Education, Dalit International Newsletter, June 2006, p. 10

145) Official curriculum barely acknowledges the existence of Dalit and Adivasis communities, despite the fact that they form a significant proportion of the population especially at the district and local level in many states in the country (Kumar, 1989). On the other hand, these communities, when represented in the textbook, are portrayed largely in subservient roles in accordance with what is perceived as their traditionally low position in the social hierarchy (ibid; Nambissan, 1996 and 2000). Recent writings of Dalit intellectuals have also emphasized that the content of school knowledge excludes the culture and experiences of lower castes and Dalits and hence is alien to them. Referring to the richness and diversity of languages and experiences among producing communities by virtue of their being structured and rooted in the production process, Ilaiah observes that the linguistic skills or knowledge of the lower castes have no place in the education system (1996:56).57

146) How could one go from here especially with a focus on equity and justice? This is a question that must be answered if the egalitarianism and other noble goals as set in our Constitution are to be realized in actual practice and made available to all.

Cultural Barriers in Access to Education 147) The dominant culture of discrimination and exclusion as prevalent in society is also reflected in having access to education by Dalits. Dalit families usually live in spatially segregated clusters or habitations that are located at a distance from dominant caste habitations within the larger village set-up. This residential pattern has important implications for physical and social access to education, implications which are usually ignored in favour of other considerations when attempts are made to meet qualitative targets vis--vis school expansion. Given the fact that norms of purity and pollution still govern social norms and relations in rural areas, it becomes essential to understand whether schools are socially accessible to Dalit children when the schools are located at traditionally prescribed distances from Dalit habitations. In many habitations the school is situated in localities inhabited by

dominant castes, who are not only hostile to students belonging to lower castes or minority groups but also prevent their having physical access to the school. Putting the relationship between caste status and educational access into perspective, it has been observed that there are conditions in which the right to education for members of the socially marginal and low ranked caste members remains contested. Members of the high-ranked caste groups and the dominant actors of the village often see education for the working and labouring castes as both a waste and a threat. The popular perception is that members of castes ranked low in the caste hierarchy are incapable of being educated, and, if educated, pose a threat to village hierarchies and power relations. A study done in 1998 (Peoples Report on Basic Education: PROBE) highlighted the continuing caste discrimination in the heart of Delhi, where some teachers go so far as to pass on disparaging remarks about the accessibility of government schools to Dalit children. As one of them bluntly put it: What is the point of teaching Dalit children? Just teach them how to beat drums, that is good enough.58

33

59

Vani K Borooah and Sriya Iyer, Vidya, Veda, and Varna, The influence of Religion and Caste

on Education in Rural India, The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 41, 2005, p. 1369-1404
60

Ibid

148) Studies of education and caste show that Dalits are less likely to send children to schools. The influence of caste on school enrolment encompasses both sociological factors such as the role of cultural norms, and historical influences such as colonial and post-colonial policy towards education in India. Collectively, these non-economic factors might exert an important role on current schooling decisions, even after controlling for the economic factors that affects them. A recent study revealed that while there was a latent demand for education among Dalits, which was almost as strong as the Hindu demand, enrolment rates for children from this community were lower than that for Hindus because Dalits were not as well- endowed as Hindus with enrolment-friendly factors. In conjunction, the physical and psychological disincentives that inhibit Dalit school enrolment needs also to be both recognised and eliminated. Discrimination in schools against Dalit children is an important disincentive for these children to enroll at school.59

149) It is also important that sending children to school depends on attitudes towards education: of the children; of their parents; and of their wider communities. But an equally important finding is that the size of the religion or caste effect depends upon non-community circumstances in which children are placed. Under favourable circumstances, the size of community effect is negligible. Under less-favourable circumstances however, the size of the community effect is considerable. In summary therefore Vidya, Veda and Varna are profoundly and fundamentally interlinked. While economic and regional factors may mediate their interactions, recognition of these inter-linkages has significant implications for education policy in particular, and more widely, for development policy in India.60 Recommendations Options for Interventions The interventions that need to be addressed must include:

1. Recognition of caste-based untouchability as the basis for exclusion, discrimination, disabilities, deprivation and violence 2. Reparation for historical and ongoing exclusion and deprivation

Committee

on

Elimination

of

Racial

Discrimination

(CERD)s

General

Recommendation No XXIX should form the basis of National Principles of Governance by the State Party. However specific attention could be drawn on the following to adequately address the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 1. Resolutely implement legislation and other measures already in force; 2. Educate the general public on the importance of affirmative action programmes

34

to address the situation of victims of descent-based discrimination; 3. Conduct periodic surveys on the reality of descent-based discrimination and provide disaggregated information in their reports to the Committee on the geographical distribution and economic and social conditions of descent-based communities, including a gender perspective; 4. Take into account, in all programmes and projects planned and implemented and in measures adopted, the situation of women members of the communities, as victims of multiple discrimination, sexual exploitation and forced prostitution; 5. Take all measures necessary in order to eliminate multiple discrimination including descent-based discrimination against women, particularly in the areas of personal security, employment and education; 6. Provide disaggregated data for the situation of women affected by descent-based discrimination; 7. Undertake to prevent, prohibit and eliminate practices of segregation directed against members of descent-based communities including in housing, education and employment; 8. Secure for everyone the right of access on an equal and non-discriminatory basis to any place or service intended for use by the general public; 9. Organize training programmes for public officials and law enforcement agencies with a view to preventing injustices based on prejudice against descent-based communities; 10. Take substantial and effective measures to eradicate poverty among descentbased communities and combat their social exclusion or marginalization; 11. Work with intergovernmental organizations, including international financial institutions, to ensure that development or assistance projects which they support take into account the economic and social situation of members of descentbased communities; 12. Take special measures to promote the employment of members of affected communities in the public and private sectors;

13. Develop or refine legislation and practice specifically prohibiting all discriminatory practices based on descent in employment and the labour market; 14. Take measures against public bodies, private companies and other associations that investigate the descent background of applicants for employment; 15. Take measures against discriminatory practices of local authorities or private owners with regard to residence and access to adequate housing for members of affected communities; 16. Ensure equal access to health care and social security services for members of descent-based communities; 17. Take measures to address the special vulnerability of children of descent-based communities to exploitative child labour; 18. Take resolute measures to eliminate debt bondage and degrading conditions of labour associated with descent-based discrimination; 19. Reduce school drop-out rates for children of all communities, in particular for children of affected communities, with special attention to the situation of girls; 20. Combat discrimination by public or private bodies and any harassment of students who are members of descent-based communities;

35
61

The National Commission for SC/ST has made these recommendations in their many reports

to the government. Other UN Bodies 21. The efforts taken by the UN Sub-commission to study descent based discrimination practices as in Caste and the recognition accorded in ICERD need to be extended to other UN covenants like ICCPR, ICESC, CEDAW and CRC. 22. The UN agencies working in India (UNDP, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO, ILO) should incorporate CERD General Recommendation XXIX into Country Strategy Programmes. 23. The UN agencies working in India should establish mechanisms to work with Dalit organisations, CBOs, academics and other professionals to reach out to

Dalit communities in their programmes with particular reference to Millennium Development Goals. 24. UN agencies working in India should implement affirmative action measures in order to proportionately employ Dalits including women in all development agencies. 25. Ensure that caste and gender desegregated data is collected on the impact of all current programmes and develop social, economic, educational and health programmes and strategies that ensure non-discrimination and social inclusion. 26. All UN agencies working in India should incorporate an analysis of caste into poverty reduction and disaster response strategies, pay particular attention to caste discrimination, disabilities and violence and develop specific strategies and programmes to curb discrimination and violence, support Dalit empowerment and facilitate education and awareness on diversity and multi/inter-culturalism. 27. ILO should conduct a thorough analysis of the impact of caste discrimination on labour and should work with social partners and develop specific plan of action to address and eradicate caste based discrimination in the labour force, forced and bonded labour and child labour including gender analysis. National Commissions 28. Expand the Constitutional mandate to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Safai Karmacharis to ensure that their recommendations become binding on Union or States governments, Public Sector Units, Financial Institutions, and they have powers to undertake corrective measures, including action taking on erring officials is vested in them61. 29. Ensure that the Commissions present substantive annual reports and the Government place them before the Parliament within three months for discussion and action. 30. Ensure that all States, Ministries and Departments follow up recommendations of the Commissions and action-taken reports are submitted to the Parliament or respective bodies within six months.

36

31. Support and facilitate the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women to incorporate analysis of caste discrimination and disabilities and take necessary additional steps to support Dalit women and communities in ensuring and accessing their rights and entitlements. Union/ State Governments Bodies Legislative 32. Amend Art. 21 of the Constitution of India to include the following rights to all citizens, with special emphasis on Dalits and tribals on the basis of low income; the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of women and men equally, including food, safe drinking water, clothing, housing, public health and medical care, social security and social services, the right to living wage and the right to 5 acres of cultivable land or to gainful employment. 33. Ensure land and livelihood rights of Dalits living in scheduled areas in the Forest Bill. 34. Ensure Constitutional safeguards to Dalits who have converted to Christianity and Islam by providing them Scheduled Caste status as it has been done in the case of Dalits who became Sikhs or those who converted to Buddhism. 35. There should be proportionate increase in the Reservation Policy after taking into account the increased population of Dalits covering all religions. 36. The should be a Central Act of Reservation and should be provided enough safeguards by placing it in the IXth Schedule of Indian Constitution.

Executive 37. Organize periodic sensitization and exposure programmes to all members of the executive on untouchability, caste based discrimination and disabilities drawing resource persons from Dalit communities to share experiences and bottlenecks and progressive developments and best practices in diversity and multicultural principles and programmes.

38. Take up confidence building measures among Dalits and other communities on Constitutional values and principles, government institutions and implementation through frequent interaction and visit to Dalit communities, pro-active and prompt response in times of discrimination and conflict and immediate relief and adequate rehabilitation. 39. Ensure that the local bodies, district administration as well as state and ministries develop comprehensive mechanisms and programmes for enhancing for mandatory and increased access and availing of development programmes by Dalits. Special Legislations 40. Enforce with stringent measures the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and ensure immediate release and sufficient rehabilitation package to victims to prevent their lapse into the system. 41. Ensure the implementation of Minimum Wages act, Equal Remuneration Act, Land Reforms Act without any grounds for Caste based Discrimination. 42. Immediately and urgently release and rehabilitate all members involved in the work of manual scavenging providing alternate and sustainable livelihoods and employment and development programmes for the victims as well as their families and prosecute all violators and perpetrators of the dehumanizing

37

practice. 43. Extend the Devadasi System Abolition Acts to cover the practice in any part of the country and ensure the abolition of the system with immediate effect and provide relief and rehabilitation to victims and livelihood and development programmes for their families.

Earnest Implementation of Special Component Plan (SCP) 44. The mandated 16% (according to the proportion of Scheduled Castes to the total population of the country) of the budget must be allocated and spent strictly for the direct development of the scheduled castes by all ministries and departments at the central and state levels. 45. Any unspent money under SCP must be allowed to carry over and not be diverted or lapsed in the following year. 46. The social welfare department should be made the nodal department with full autonomy in the policy, planning, and implementation of the SCP as is being done in the state of Maharashtra. 47. Union government should ensure that states come up with a need-based plan for the SCP before the release of budgets.

Protect Rights of Dalit Children 48. Ensure strict enforcement of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, with comprehensive measures to enumerate disaggregated data, and special vulnerability of Dalit children. 49. Implement focused measures to arrest child labour among Dalit children disaggregated data on Dalit children in child labour, inspection and rescue of children in hazardous industries, Special measures to protect the vulnerability of Dalit girl children, special development programmes for areas that provide child labour, special measures to arrest distress migration and special drives to prevent trafficking of children etc.

50. Implement compulsory, free and high quality education for all Dalit children, making adequate funds allocation proportionate to the level of illiteracy, increase the number and amount of scholarships, provide better infrastructure facilities in SC schools and hostels, and offer market oriented vocational and technical education. Ensure Rights of Dalit Women 51. Recognize Dalit women as a distinct category among women and accordingly make disaggregated data on Dalit women available in census reports, action taken reports, and progress reports and while reporting to international treatise bodies. 52. Evolve national and state level perspective plans for mainstreaming Dalit women in developmental programmes, market enterprises, financial allocations,

reservation in education and employment and health facilities. 53. Ensure proper representation of Dalit women in statutory bodies and committees, vigilance and monitoring bodies and undertake capacity building programmes to promote their active participation. Equal Opportunity Commission 38

62 63

NCSC/ST Seventh Report, 2001-02, New Delhi, p.65 NCSC/ST Seventh Report, 2001-02, New Delhi, p.66 54. Set up an Equal Opportunities Commission and also to enact a separate and comprehensive Anti-discrimination legislation to address the issue of Untouchability, Atrocity and all other related forms of Social and Economic exclusions, discriminations and prohibitions.

Reservation 55. Extend reservation to the armed forces as has been recommended by the National Commission: The National Commission for SCs/STs still however feels that the Government should introduce some element of reservation in Armed forces without adversely effecting the efficiency as there was no substance to challenge the competency when there were regiments like Sikh and Mahars known for their excellent achievements. The Commission recommends that as far as possible in direct recruitments the reservation may be introduced62 56. Extend reservation to the judiciary as has been recommended by the National Commission: The Commission reiterates its recommendations made in its earlier reports that reservation provided for in judicial appointments below the High Courts needs to be implemented to fulfill the prescribed reservation percentage. The Commission also reiterates its recommendation to consider provision of reservation in appointments of judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court of India63 57. Extend Reservation to Private sector and it should apply to multiple spheres, namely private employment, market, private capital market, agricultural land, private education and housing, access to inputs and services, products and consumer-goods 58. Reservation in private sector should include legal safeguards of equal opportunities and non-discrimination. It should be in proportion to population and put in place adequate monitoring mechanisms.

39Alternate Report

To the Joint 2 nd to 5 th Periodic Report of the State Party (Republic of India)

To

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights On The Implementation of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (A Periodic Report Submitted by the State Parties under Articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant)

National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) India, 2007 In Association with International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) and Social Watch-Tamil Nadu Contact Persons: Paul Divakar, National Convenor, NCDHR, Email: paul.divakar@gmail.com , Ms. Rikke Nohrlind, Coordinator, IDSN, Email: rn@idsn.org

CONTENTS Paragraphs Page General 1-40 1- 8 Caste and Descent Based Discrimination: The Characteristics and its Manifestations

Who Are Dalits? Dalits in the Caste System, Caste System, Untouchability, Human Rights and Dalits Caste/Descent and Work Based Discrimination Recognising Human Rights Violations in Caste based Discrimination by the Indian State Rationale and Scope for Special Provision for Dalits

Importance Given to Issues of Dalits and Adivasis Constitutional Provisions Other Legislations Special Component Plan
Budgetary Allocation for Scheduled Castes: Special Component Plan

Massive Injustices And Loss of

Opportunities for Dalits

The Concept Of Budgetary Allocations

Proportionality Auto-Decision Making

Convergence

Universal Application

The Betrayal Article 6: Right to Work 41- 73 8- 16 Lower Access to Income Earning and Capital Assets Labour Market Agriculture Sector: Hiring Practices of Farm Labour as Primary Activity Agricultural Wage Rates Intervals of Wage Payments NonAgricultural Sector Employment and Income Losses due to Exclusion in Hiring Market, Goods and Services: Economic Exclusion and Discrimination Discrimination in Consumer Market: Sale and Purchase Capital Market: Banks and Financial Institutions (tend to Exclude) Dalits in Priority Sector Lending Aspects of Economic Exclusion and Discrimination Discrimination in Other Factor Markets: Irrigation and Agriculture (Land) Access to Employment In Private Sector: Need for Anti-Discrimination Legislation No Serious Efforts for Corporate Social Responsibility National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) Article 7: The Right to Just and Favourable 74- 91 16- 19

Conditions of Work i Discrimination in Wage Earning Reservation in Education and Public Sector Employment Half Hearted Implementation of Reservation in Employment in Public Sector Article 11: Right to Adequate Standard of Living 92-126 20-28 Concept of Human Development and Condition of Dalits in India Caste Discrimination and Food Security Programmes Opposition to Dalit Cooks Public Distribution System Land Rights Non-Implementation of Land Reforms Policy: A Violation of Dalit Human Rights The Right to Housing, Discrimination in Renting, Sale and Construction of Residential Houses by Dalits Atrocities Induced Displacements and Dalits in Slums Article 13 and 14: Right to Education 127-149 28-34 Right to Education for Dalit Children State Provision for Education For Dalit Children Dalit Children Population National Drop-Out Rate Of Dalit Children Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Campaign), Discrimination by Teachers Dalits and Higher Education Dalits and Curriculum Cultural Barriers in Access to Education Recommendations 34-39 ii

General Caste and Descent Based Discrimination: The Characteristics and its

Manifestations Who Are Dalits? 1) What the world today knows as Dalits constitute about 167 million Scheduled Castes as per the Indian Constitution and also according to the Census 2001. There is a sizeable population among the Muslims and Christians (as per a rough estimate there are 42 million Muslim Dalits and Christian Dalits who count about 16 million) people in India, were till a few years ago known and publicly identified as "Untouchables". And for all official purposes, Dalits who have converted to Islam and Christianity are not treated as Scheduled Castes, whereas those who are Sikhs and also those who converted to Buddhism are treated as Scheduled Castes. Dalits in the Caste System 2) The basic conception of social organization, which prevails among the Hindus, started with the rise of four groups or Varnas into which the Hindu society is believed to have become divided. These four Varnas were: 1) Brahmins, the priestly and educated class, 2) Kshatriyas, the military class, 3) Vaishyas, the trading class and 4) Shudras, the servant class. For quite a sometime there were merely four groups. But after sometime what were only groups (Varnas) before became castes (Jatis). And four castes multiplied into several sub-castes. In this way the modern caste system was only the evolution of the ancient Varna system.1 According to Manu, the Hindu lawgiver, there were originally four varnas and four they must remain. He had not admitted that the untouchables who were supposed to be out side the four fold division of the caste system. That the untouchables were to remain, out of the Hindu social structure is clear from the name, by which he describes the untouchables. Manu speaks of them as Varna Bahyas (those out side the Varna system). They must remain separate and segregated without being the part of the Hindu society. And if they are a part, they are a part but not of the whole.2

3) However, by implication those who are below the pollution line have been called as Panchamas. Legitimized by the theory of Karma and reincarnation, the Panchamas deserve to be untouchables.3 Untouchability with its manifold manifestation, is rooted in the notions of the purity and pollution, which is believe to have developed in the later Vedic period, when the Brahmanic literature emerged in the form of Smritis, Samhitas and the Upanishads. In the later Vedic period texts, the Chandals and the Poulkasa were manifested object of spite and abhorrence. They existed at
1

B. R. Ambedkar, Symbols of Hinduism, Writings and Speeches, Vol. 3, Education

Department, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1987, pp. 141-142

2

B. R. Ambedkar, The House the Hindus Have Built , Writings and Speeches, Vol. 5,
3

Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1989, p. 169 [ T. K. Oommen, Panchamas to Dalits: The Context and Content of Identity, The Times of India, New Delhi, 11 May 1994. 1

the lowest ritual and social level.4

4

Vivekananda Jha, Stages In the History of Unsociability, Indian Historical Review, Vol. 2,

No. 1, July 1975, pp. 28-31 Caste System, Untouchability, Human Rights and Dalits 4) The caste system is the social organization of Hindus. However the residual consequences of the caste system are also found in the communities that have converted to other religions like Buddhism. Sikhism, Christianity and Islam from Hinduism. As a system of social, economic and religious governance caste system is not founded on the principles of equality, liberty (or freedom) or fraternity but on the principles of inequality in every sphere of life. Historically the caste system has formed the social and economic framework for the life of the people in India. In its essential form, caste as the system of social and economic governance is based on principles and customary rules that involve the division of people into social groups (castes) where assignments of rights are determined by birth, are fixed and hereditary. The assignment of basic rights among various castes is unequal and hierarchical, with those at the top enjoying most rights coupled with least duties and those at the bottom performing most duties coupled with no rights.

5) Untouchability is the belief system that creates a mindset practicing exclusion, discrimination and violence hindering the access and enjoyment of basic human rights, citizenship rights and development rights. It is a process of imposing disabilities, perpetuating deprivation and preventing equal opportunities.

6) The practice of untouchability is not a simple practice of touch or non-touch, rather a complex and dynamic set of beliefs that has created a mindset that is inherently hierarchical, exclusionary, discriminatory promoting deprivations and justifying violence on the slightest pretext or deviation from the norm. The untouchable communities are thus condemned to a life of indignity, chronic poverty and marginalisation. The mindset being re-produced in the administrative, legislative and

governance institutions, they contribute little to change the system, the state sees its vast citizenry as a population to be administered than a people to be empowered.

7) The practice continues widespread owing to three fundamental causes: a) Continuing belief in untouchability in society b) Vulnerability of Dalit community c) Not benefiting from the fruits of growth d) Willful negligence by state institutions

8) In this framework the concept of human rights under the Hindu social system has a specific meaning. Unlike other human societies, the Hindu social order in its classical form does not recognize the individual and her/his distinctiveness as the center of the social purpose. The unit of the Hindu society is not the individual. Even the family is not regarded as a unit of society except for the purposes of marriage and inheritance. The primary unit of society is caste. There is no room for individual merit and consideration of individual justice. Any right that an individual has is not due to her/him personally; it is owing to being born in a particular caste. Similarly, if

an individual suffers from lack of rights, it is not because s/he deserves it by their merit or conduct.

9) The unequal and hierarchical assignment of rights under caste system has its basis on the specific notion of "human-hood" which is different and unique. In this particular order of hierarchy, castes are placed at the top. The upper castes are given all privilege and rights as they are considered to be "superior social beings" worthy of all rights and privileges. Dalits being considered at the bottom are denied all rights because they are treated as "sub-human beings or lesser human beings" considered unworthy of any rights. As inferior social beings untouchables are not entitled to any individual rights i.e. civic, religious, political or economic. In addition, they are considered to be impure and polluting and therefore are physically and socially isolated and excluded from the rest of the Hindu society. Isolation and exclusion of untouchables is a unique feature of the Hindu social order.

Caste/Descent and Work-Based Discrimination 10) It is clear from the above characterization of caste system that Dalits who are placed at the bottom of caste hierarchy are denied basic human rights that are necessary for the development and growth of human beings. This comprehensive and multiple exclusions and discriminations and denial of human rights of the untouchables have severe consequences on their poverty and deprivation. The denial of human rights is not associated with race or colour, but based on descent associated with social origin determined by social and religious ideology.

11) Determination of occupation by birth and restrictions to change the hereditary occupation and social position obviously restricts the freedom of occupation and involves descent and work related discrimination. As occupation and property rights of each caste are fixed and compulsory it necessarily involves forced exclusion of one caste from the occupations of other castes. Dalits having been excluded from access to social rights, property rights and source of livelihood for generations,

except the labour or service to the castes above them, experience denial of basic rights in multiple spheres.

12) The religious and philosophical sanctions and societal mechanism of social ostracism against Dalits to change their position promoted the concept of impunity against harassment, exploitation and atrocities on Dalits from various angles abuse and physical violence of women, children or men, sexual exploitation of Dalit women including practices like Devadasi system, exploitation of Dalit labour through begar (free labour), bonded labour or child labour, destruction of assets belonging to Dalits and prevention of their right to free exercise of their franchise.

13) It must be mentioned that both legal and religious sanctions were powerful engines to keep caste going. The legal sanction has been done away with by the Constitution but caste and its practices continue unabated because of the more powerful religious and philosophical sanction. Therefore untouchable status, discrimination and forced impure occupation, all for an accident of birth even today characterize the life of Dalits.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is one of the foremost scholars of the nineteenth-twentieth century. Born

into a Dalit family he was the architect of providing a framework for the elimination of castebased disabilities for Dalits and inculcating the values of justice, equality, liberty and fraternity into the Indian Constitution. He is the foremost leader of the untouchable community.
6

The Constitution of India recognises Dalit community as Scheduled Castes National Commission for Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Sixth Report (1999-2000&

2000-2001), New Delhi, p.8 Recognising Human Rights Violations in Caste-Based Discrimination by the Indian State 14) The Constitution of India, adopted in 1950 is a total departure from the philosophy, norms and traditions of the Hindu social order. The adoption of the Constitution was preceded by strong social, religious and political movements of the untouchables in the early part of the 20 century against caste and Brahmanism. The induction of these viewpoints was particularly facilitated by the nomination of Dr. Ambedkar5, who led much of the struggle against caste and untouchability as chairman of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution.
th

15) The philosophic ethos of the Constitution proclaimed justice, equality, liberty, and fraternity to all Indian citizens as against rights based on birth. Further the democratic form of government with elected representatives also provided an opportunity for members of different sections to participate in decision-making on a common platform. Rationale and Scope of the Special Provisions for Dalits 16) In addition to the general frame of justice and equality, the Constitution also recognized the need for distinct and special provisions related to the protection for Dalit community (scheduled castes).6

17) A section of people in the Indian society were denied of certain basic rights since ancient times with the result they remained economically, socially and educationally

backward. Because of the fundamental disparities between the Schedules Castes and Schedules Tribes as compared to other communities and the urgent need for special measures to uplift their status, a clear distinction has been made in the Constitution itself in respect of the SCs (Dalits) and STs (Adivasi).7 Importance given to issues of Dalits and Adivasi (Tribals) 18) The spirit of the Constitution is that equality, justice and progress of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be a measure of progress of the Indian society as a whole. The provisions have been towards enhancing spaces for social, economic and political participation of Dalits. Inherent in the provisions is also the faith and belief that there is sufficient political will to ensure the implementation of these provisions by the newly promoted legislative, executive and judicial mechanisms of the state.

Constitutional Provisions 19) The Constitution emphasizes safe-guards for Scheduled Castes under the Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes in Part XVI of the Indian Constitution. The Constitution also provides for protection and promotion of their social, economic, educational, cultural and political interests to bridge the disparities and to bring them at par with other sections of the society. In addition, many articles in Parts III (Fundamental Rights), IV (Directive Principles of State Policy), IX, IX A and in the fifth schedule of the Constitution is a measure of the Constitutional concern and commitment.

20) The constitutional provisions include general measures found in equality before law (Article 14); Prohibition of discrimination (Art. 15), Protection of life and personal liberty (Art. 21)

21) The social safeguards extended specifically to address untouchability and caste based work and discrimination are found in Abolition of untouchability (Art.17), Prohibition of trafficking in human beings and forced labour (Art. 23), Prohibition of employment of children in hazardous jobs, etc. (Art.24), Freedom to practice religion (Art.25),

22) The economic safeguards are provided under - the provisions of Articles 23 and 24 stated above as well as under promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs under (Article 46 in Part IV, Directive Principles of State Policy)

23) Educational and cultural safeguards are specified in provision for reservation (Art. 15 (4) and that admission into educational institutions will not be denied (Art.29 (2))

24) Employment provisions are made under equality of opportunities under (Art.16), and claim to services and posts (Art.335)

25) Political representation was based on a compromise between Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar Reservation of seats in parliament and state legislatures under Art. 330,332, 334,

26) Monitoring of safeguards provided under Constitution and all other provisions and policies is also provided for by - Setting up commission under (Art.338)

Other Legislations 27) In addition some of the legislations of general nature have greater relevance to Dalit communities.

a) The Untouchability Offences Act, later reformulated as the Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955) and rules 1977 b) The Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and rules1995 Bonded Labour (system) Abolition Act, 1976

5
8

Report of the Steering Committee on Empowerment of the SCs, OBCs and Minorities, Tenth

Five Year Plan (Government of India) c) Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 d) Devadasi system Abolition Act in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. e) Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 f) Minimum Wages Act, 1948 g) Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 h) Land Reforms Act in different states Special Component Plan (SCP) Budgetary Allocation for SCs: Special Component Plan Massive Injustice and Loss of Opportunities for Dalits

28) Analogous to the The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the Government of India does have a potentially powerful mechanism for the economic empowerment of Dalits. The mechanism is the Special Component Plan (SCP) for Dalits. SCP, in the words of the Indian Planning Commission is a policy instrument designed to ensure the fulfillment of constitutional guarantees and entitlements enjoined for the Scheduled Caste communities.

The Concept of Budgetary Allocation 29) The SCP, initiated during the Indian Governments 6 Five Year Plan (1980-85), envisaged a radical redefinition of planning and budgeting for Dalits. It was based on the realization by the Government of India that decades of planning and hundreds of millions of Rupees spent in the name of Welfare of SCs & STs had not brought any substantial changes in the Socio-economic lives of Dalits. Hence the SCP was brought in as a radically reworked strategy of Dalit welfare and empowerment. a) The Sixth Five Year Plan marked a shift in the approach to the development of the SCs. The SCP, launched for the SCs, was expected to facilitate easy convergence and pooling of resources from all the other development sectors in proportion to the population of SCs and monitoring of various development programmes for the benefit of SCs8 30) The programme was made obligatory for all the State Governments and all their departments as well as all Central Government Ministries. And in 1986, a scheme of Special Central Assistance of 100% grant to the States for the implementation of SCP was also initiated. 31) The main elements of the philosophy of the SCP, as regularly stressed by the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment of the Government of India, are Proportionality, Convergence, Universal Application and Auto-Decision making.
th

6
9

Adidravida and Tribal Welfare Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu, 2003

Proportionality

32) According to SCP, funds allocated for the welfare of Dalits out of the total annual plan outlay, should be at least proportional to their population percentage at the national and States level. This means that as Dalits constitute 16.5% of the Indian population, at least 16.5% of the outlay of the Central Budget should be allocated as SCP funds. Similarly in a State like Tamil Nadu, where Dalits constitute 19% of the State population, at least 19% of the plan outlay of the State Budget should be allocated as SCP funds.

Convergence 33) In contrast to the earlier practice of numerous schemes by different departments and ministries, rarely leading to any significant impact, SCP envisages an approach whereby holistic programmes, in accordance with specific historic needs and priorities of Dalits, would be evolved and sufficient funds allocated for the programmes. The targets fixed under SCP are to be desegregated into district-wise and sector-wise targets. At the district level, the district Collectors are responsible for coordinating the implementation of the schemes under SCP. Universal Application 34) As per SCP, no State Government Department and no Central Ministry or Department can claim exemption regarding the implementation of SCP. SCP also makes it clear that no mere notional allocations of funds, based on the unacceptable logic of indivisibility of projects, are allowed. Every department /ministry must initiate concrete steps to evolve proper programmes under SCP, as per specific Government Orders (G.Os). Separate budget heads have to be shown in the Budget Link Book, clearly mentioning the receipts-expenditures details of SCP, ensuring prevention of any diversion, under-utilization or mis-utilization of funds earmarked for Dalits.

35) An important operational principle of SCP is that in all sectors of plan programmes, outlays for development SCs should be incorporated and no distinction can be

drawn between the so called indivisible and divisible sectors, as the outlays are allowable in relation to the needs of scheduled castes9

Auto-Decision-Making 36) SCP visualizes also that Dalits themselves (and those that legitimately represent them) should have the final say in terms of the implementation of SCP. SCP demands that at both Central and State levels, the department concerned with Scheduled Castes Welfare, such as the Scheduled Castes Development Corporations should act as the nodal agency for the formulation, implementation and monitoring of SCP.

10 11

Controller and Auditor General CAG Report No. 1 of 2001 (Civil) ibid

The Betrayal 37) Unfortunately, just as with the SC/ST Act, SCP too remains a hope vastly betrayed by a combination of bureaucratic indifference and resistance, Casteist perceptions and a lack of political will. The spirit of the Plan has been consistently thwarted in its application and implementation by most of the departments at the Central and States level, denying Dalits all over the country hundreds and hundreds millions of Rupees, which are legitimately due to them, year after year.

38) As per proportional allocation 16% of the total budget should have been allocated instead the money was 4 percent of the total budget. Even the allotted amount has been lapsing. Controller and Auditor General (CAG), in its review of the Special Central Assistance by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, discovered persistently large unspent provisions during all the three years, it studied10. The Ministry surrendered Rs.5945.30 millions in 1997-98, Rs.5090.70 millions in 1998-99 and Rs.1452.00 millions in 1999-2000 on the last day of the financial year, without assigning reasons for the surrender, even though the Ministry was well aware of the scheme-wise savings early enough.11.
th

39) The Steering Committee on Empowerment of SCs, OBCs and Minorities, 10 Five Year Plan, claimed, Often such unspent SCA funds were diverted to other purposes, leaving the earmarked / intended purposes unattended.

40) The total budget allocation under plan outlay for 2007-2008 is Rs. 20,51000 Crores, and under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan(SCSP) which was previously known as SCP, the Government of India is liable to allocate Rs. 32,816 Crores exclusively for Dalits (16% of the total budget) but it has allocated just Rs. 12, 515.75 Crores only for the welfare of Dalits which means the amount denied to Dalits is Rs. 20, 300.25 Crores. Article 6: Right to Work

41) The Right to Work is not listed as a Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India. It is under the Directive Principles of State Policy that Article 39 and Article 41 emphasize a responsibility on the State to provide that citizens, both men and women should have adequate means of livelihood and also includes that the State, shall within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing Right to Work Keeping these Directives under consideration there have been many attempts by the Government over the years in this regard. But Right to Work could never acquire an enforceable character.

42) The Indian state has recognized backwardness and deprivation suffered by these Dalit groups as back as 1950 and developed policies for the economic, social and political empowerment of these communities. The governments approach towards Dalits draws primarily from the provisions in constitution.

8
12

Differences in level of conception among Socio and Economic Groups 1999 2000, NSS

55th Round, July 1999-June 2000, National Sample Survey Organisation, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, September 2001. 43) The government has used two fold strategies, namely (a) Remedial measures and safeguards against discrimination in multiple sphere and (b) developmental and empowering measures particularly in economic spheres. The measures and safeguards against discrimination in the form of reservation policy are however, confined to state run and state supported sectors and the private sector namely agriculture, private industry and cooperative sector where more than 90% of Dalit workers engaged, are excluded and therefore remained unprotected from possible discrimination. In the absence of legal safeguards and reservation policy in the private sectors the state has used general programmes for economic, educational and social empowerment of Dalits. The focus has been to improve the private ownership of fixed capital assets like agricultural land, ownership of non-land capital assets, human resource capabilities, and access to social and basic services like housing, health, drinking water, electricity and others. The strategy for improving or

building the private ownership of capital assets and human resources capabilities has been primarily undertaken as part of anti-poverty and other economic and social programmes for the poor, by targeting or fixing specific informal quotas for Dalits households in the case of divisible schemes.

44) With these policy measures of social and economic empowerment, it was expected that the access of these social groups to capital assets would improve through increase in proportion of land owning (self-employed) cultivator among Dalits. Priority in the distribution of surplus land under ceiling, government land and other land should bring a shift in the occupational status from wage labour to selfemployed cultivating households. The supply of credit for land development and inputs should also make marginal and small farmers viable self -employed cultivators. Similarly it was expected that with supports for non-farm economic activities, the proportion of self-employed household/person in business in rural and urban area would improve. With expected increase in the proportion of selfemployed in agriculture and non-agricultural, there should be corresponding decline in the proportion of wage labour households12. But unfortunately it could not work to the expectation of the policy makers because of deliberate poor implementation.

Lower Access to Income Earning and Capital Assets 45) The Dalits have been suffering from a high degree of discrimination when we consider variables such as access to land, capital assets, employment, education and income etc. In 1999-2000, in rural India, the unemployment rate of Dalit males and females was 1.4 percent and 16.9 respectively. Interestingly, the unemployment rates for both the Dalit males and females were higher than those for the Non Dalits/ Adivasis.

46) In 1999-2000, although the disparity levels in rural unemployment rates between the Dalits and the Non Dalits/ Adivasis males were very low for CDS; Dalit males

13

Sukhadeo Thorat, M.Mahamallik, and Ananth Panth; Caste, Occupation and Labour Market

Discrimination: A Study of Forms, Nature and Consequences in Rural India; Report Submitted to International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India, January 2006.
14

ibid

were found to be more unemployed than the Non Dalits/ Adivasis. The Dalit females, on the other hand, were found to be more unemployed than their male counterparts. The unemployment rate for the Dalit males was found to be very high (more than 5 percent) for the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and the lowest for the States of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat for CDS. The unemployment rate of the Dalit females was found to be the highest in Kerala and the lowest in Uttar Pradesh. In the urban areas, the Dalit males were found to be more unemployed than the Non Dalit/ Adivasis males.

Labour Market 47) Like other sectors there is a rampant discrimination against Dalits in the labour market. The caste based labour market discrimination is conceived as13: a) Exclusion of Dalits from employment by higher caste. b) Exclusion of low caste from certain types of jobs/work due to notion of pollution and purity associated with Untouchability. c) Selective inclusion in employment but with unequal treatment reflected (i) In lower wages (lower than wages given to other labourer) (ii) In terms and conditions with respect to hours of works and other terms, and (iii) Differential behaviour towards low caste labourer /worker in work place Compulsive and forced work governed by traditional caste related obligations

Agricultural Sector: Hiring Practices of Farm Agricultural Labour as Primary Activity 48) The higher caste wage labourers manage to get significantly more days of employment as compared to Dalit wage labourers. A relatively high rate of employment for the casual wage labourers from High Caste compared with the Low

Caste particularly Dalits reflects the discriminatory working nature of the labour market. It reveals employees choice towards the labourer of his or her own caste persons. Since the casual farm wage labourers are involved in manual work which required a normal working skill and which is hold by casual labourers of all caste group in normal course through work experience, there is clear reason to believe that differences in employment rate between the Higher Caste and lower caste wage labourers are on account of caste preference in hiring by the High Caste employers. Agricultural Wage Rates 49) In all, the average wages per day received by Dalit wageworkers was Rs. 5 less than the all-caste wage rate (Rs. 33) as well as of wage rate of higher caste (Rs.34)14.

10
15

ibid

Intervals of Wage Payment 50) The results indicate that the Scheduled Caste wage labourers followed by the Scheduled Tribes wage labourers suffered in term late payment of wages. The terms of payment in term of time interval are much less favourable to these two groups as compared with their counter part from OBC and Higher Caste. Non-Agricultural Sector 51) The average days of employment obtained by per person in the non-farm casual work is work out to 124 days with a considerable varations across social groups.Highest emplyment is observed for higher caste category labourer (290 days), followed by 189 days for Scheduled Caste, 105 days for Other Back ward Caste and 81 days for Scheduled Tribe Casual labourer. Thus it apperaed that high caste labourer managed to get higher level of employment compared with other caste groups in non fram sector.However the participation of SC casual labourers is realtively high.

52) Coming to daily wage earning the average wage earned by casual labour in the non-farm sector is estimated at 48 rupees at aggregate level, but the daily wage of high caste casual wage labourers turn out to be Rs 77 as compared to Rs 58 for Scheduled Caste, Rs 45 Other Backward Caste and Rs 37 for Scheduled Tribes. Employment and Income Losses due to Exclusion in Hiring 53) Exclusion of employment in any work, or denial in some seasons, or selectively in some types of works in agricultural and non-agricultural operation or household work inside house leads to lower level of employment as compared with higher caste workers. Thus the lower employment that we have observed in the earlier sections may be attributed to loss of employment due to denial of employment to workers of Scheduled Caste in various manners. Market, Goods, and Services: Economic Exclusion and Discrimination 54) Persons belonging to Dalit community are being encouraged to move from wage labourers to owners of the activity by the schemes of the government, in both farm and non-farm activity. The high caste people do not openly oppose their entry, but do it indirectly through economic exclusion. The economic exclusion is through pricing in sale, purchase and hiring activities of ranging from raw materials to finished goods15.

55) The nature and forms of land market discrimination is evident in the form of a. denial in sale and purchase of land for agriculture and non agricultural use, which include land for agricultural production, business location and residential house b. denial in renting of land for agricultural use

11
16

Sukhadeo Thorat, M.Mahamallik, and Ananth Panth; Caste, Occupation and Labour Market

Discrimination: A Study of Forms, Nature and Consequences in Rural India; Report Submitted to International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India, January 2006

c. denial of residential house on rent and d. in the event of transaction in sale and purchase of agricultural land or renting of land for agricultural use or residential house discrimination may be experienced in price paid and received by the low caste group in the exchange.

56) Dalits, who are in the farm activity, face problems of paying higher for purchase / hiring of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, hiring of machinery, irrigation facility, etc. Similarly they face problems of receiving less remuneration for hiring of machinery, etc., to higher caste people. The case is true for persons belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, who are in the non-farm activity also. This attitude discourages the marginalized people from entering such activities.

57) Beside the price factor the low caste persons seem to face other difficulties in the purchase of land which include land made available at a far-off place, low quality of land, lack of access to irrigation. However, the major difficulty relates to the denial of land, which have common boarder with the land belonging to high castes. Discrimination in Consumer Market: Sale and Purchase 58) The Report16 presents the results related to the discrimination faced by the Scheduled Caste persons in sale and purchase of farm and non-farm consumer good and other goods. Discrimination in the form of denial of purchases of farm products by high castes from the scheduled caste sellers is visible in some cases mainly due to caste considerations.

59) This is particularly widespread in case of vegetables and milk products and where the low caste identity of seller is known. The high caste generally prefers to buy from the sellers of their own caste and higher caste the items like milk, vegetable and fruits. The denial to buy such items by the high caste buyer from low caste sellers was mainly due to the notion of pollution and purity. The traditional and classical notion of purity and impurity associated with untouchable persons still influences the economic behaviour of high caste persons which discouraged them from buying or

entering into exchange of consumer good particularly the vegetable, milk an from the low caste sellers.

60) Faced with restrictions from the high caste buyers on the purchases of goods offered for sale by Dalit sellers, they try to use the alternative market avenues to sale their products where their caste identity is hidden.

61) The Dalit business persons engaged in non-farm business also reported difficulties in purchase of goods and materials, one of them being higher prices for the good and material that they buy. Traces of discriminations are visible in location of shop,

12

17

Indebtedness among Agricultural And Other Labour Households In Rural India: Some

Preliminary Analysis; Paper Presented At Seminar Titled Rural Credit In Orissa; Organized By Sambalpur University, Orissa, 25-26 February 2006.
18

Sukhadeo Thorat, M.Mahamallik, and Ananth Panth; Caste, Occupation and Labour Market

Discrimination: A Study of Forms, Nature and Consequences in Rural India; Report Submitted to International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India, January 2006 choice of shops by high caste customers and choice of customers by high caste sellers.

Capital Market: Banks and Financial Institutions (tend to Exclude) Dalits in Priority Sector Lending 62) One of the important objectives of nationalization of banks was to spread out of banks to the remote area and make provision for credit at affordable / low interest rates. The rationale behind this objective is availability of concession rate credit at their doorstep would help the cultivators to adopt new technologies, combat uncertainties in the livelihood process. Access to credit can be viewed as a function of access to property rights, education, information, social relations, etc. It is a notion that by virtue of their caste characteristics the low caste households are being deprived of access to credit, as they do not possess the pre-conditions also.

63) According to NSSO, only 31 percent of agricultural labour households in India, across all castes, depend on institutional sources for credit. The ratio is also true in case of Other Backward Caste and High Castes (32 and 34 per cent respectively)17. The ratio is only 25 percent in case of Scheduled Caste households. The average amount of loan obtained non-Institutional sources by agricultural labour of scheduled caste group is higher (Rs.4207) than high caste households (Rs.3905). In case of Institutional sources, the average amount of loan obtained by SC households is lower (Rs.6703) than the average amount in case of OBC (Rs.8999) and high caste households (Rs.11868). The case is true for Other Labour households also with an average loan amount of Rs.7059 of SC households as compared to Rs.16656 of OBC and Rs.18878 of high caste households. There are two important inferences

from above mentioned facts18. First, access to Institutional credit is less for the SC households as compared to OBC and high caste households. This reflected through low share of SC households as well as average loan amount also being comparatively low. Second, if the access to Institutional loans were to increase for the SC households, as a result the average loan size would also increase. Aspects of Economic Exclusion and Discrimination 64) Differences in prices received or charged from the Dalits in the markets, depending on whether they are sellers or buyers. This may relate to the price of factor inputs, and consumers goods, such as wages for labour, price of land or rent on land, interest on capital, rent on residential houses, charges or fees for services such as

13

housing, water and, electricity; and Dalits also face exclusion and discrimination from participation in certain categories of jobs and sale and purchase of certain consumer goods. On account of untouchability and the notions of pollution and purity, the untouchables also face discrimination and exclusion in use of public economic services like water, electricity, health services and other services.

Discrimination in other Factor Markets: Irrigation and Agriculture (Land) 65) The discriminatory treatment to Dalits is not just confined to the labour market alone, but is equally operative in other factor markets as well. These include markets in agricultural (land) and irrigation (public and private). The evidence, although limited in nature, sheds light on the repressive and hostile market environment, which Dalits generally face in the course of their participation in various factor markets.

66) It has been well documented that land is a source of constant conflict and atrocities on Dalits are closely associated with the issue of land. Further, discriminatory practices were also reported in leasing of agricultural land to the Dalits and even the Dalit tenants were subjected to unfavorable terms and conditions of work by the higher caste landowners. Access to Employment in Private Sector: Need for Anti-Discrimination Legislation 67) There is a crucial conceptual distinction between a non-discrimination principle and affirmative action. Non-discrimination is, if you like, a more passive principle. It suggests that people refrain from discriminating against others on the basis of caste or caste-like characteristic. It suggests that no one should be the object of discrimination simply because of who they are, in terms of these characteristics. There ought to be no normative quarrel with this principle. Affirmative action, seeks to move beyond a narrow conception of non-discrimination towards equalizing results with respect to various groups. Proponents of affirmative action in India do not always strictly insist on equalizing results, but they do demand a measure of

fairness that goes beyond non-discrimination. Reservations for them represent such a measure of fairness.

No Serious Effort for Corporate Social Responsibility 68) Unfortunately, social justice or compensatory discrimination'' programmes in India have gotten stereotyped around the theme of reservation'' in the public sector. And so much of a complex has been built up around the subject that there are major assumptions, which everyone takes for granted, but which are mistaken and need to be overcome. Among these two are important: first that social justice programme are more or less equivalent to reservation and that reservation is limited to employment in the public sector as well as seats in educational institutions. Second, even more debilitating, is the pervasive idea that reservation is in some way at odds with merit'', that we have to give up on or ``relax'' certain standards of merit in order to do social justice for Dalit community.

14
19

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, Ministry of Law and Justice,

Government of India, New Delhi, 7 September 2005 69) Today, as privatisation is frightening Government employees, Dalits are also worried about loss of the one area they have seen as a haven for employment. One result is that the idea of ``reservation in the private sector'' has been brought forward by a number of Dalit political leaders. The issue of reservation in the corporate sector does not depend on the degree of disinvestment. Regardless of whether existing public sector companies are ``privatised'' or not, it is still true that the corporate sector is a growing and dynamic sector in India, and the question of who runs it and is employed in it is a crucial one.

70) Compensatory discrimination efforts, or social justice programmes, need not be limited to education and the public sector. In fact, today as India is ``going global'' faster than many sections of the society want, it is important to realise that a truly modern society requires the conscious creation of opportunities for all of its citizens,

and a truly competitive society cannot afford to waste any talent. This means that social justice programmes are not only in the interest of Dalits, but in the interests of the nation as a whole - and they require policies that take account of every sector in a modern and growing economy. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 71) It is mainly because of mounting pressure from the civil society organizations and movement that a National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 as a law has come into being. Under this any person who is above the age of 18 and resides in rural areas is entitled to apply for work. Any applicant is entitled to work within 15 days, for as many days as he/she has applied, subject to a limit of 100 days per household per year. Work is to be provided within a radius of 5 kilometers of the applicants residence, if it is beyond 5 kilometers, travel allowance has to be paid. Workers are entitled to the statutory minimum wage applicable to agricultural labourers in the state, unless and until the Central Government notifies a different wage rate. There are provisions for timely payment of wages within a weeks time; unemployment allowance; worksite facilities as clean drinking water, emergency health care etc.; participation of women to ensure one third of beneficiaries to be women; penalties for contravening with the provisions of this Act; implementation of this Act to be monitored by a State Employment Guarantee Council; the Act to be enforceable initially in 200 districts, and is to be extended to the whole of rural India within five years.19

72) However, barely four to six months after the launch of the landmark job guarantee scheme, a nationwide study reveals that only 30% of those registered for the scheme have received job cards. Discrimination on the basis of caste, community, gender, disability and a general lack of awareness are hampering the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), an 11-state study by the civil society organisation Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has shown. A field survey by PRIA and its partner organisations in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya

15

20 21

See The Hindu, New Delhi, June 2, 2006, and The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, June 2, 2006 See The Telegraph, Kolkata, September 19, 2006 and The Indian Express, New Delhi,

September 28, 2006 Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal revealed that while there was largescale registration for jobs, less than 30% got the crucial job cards. Another major problem was low public awareness of the scheme -- in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh, for instance, only 7% of respondents had proper information about the scheme. A gender bias was also apparent in the implementation of the scheme since women wishing to register for jobs faced much opposition. And in Sabarkantha district in Gujarat, the old and physically challenged were not even provided with registration forms. The survey also found village heads guilty of misusing their power, with people with ties to the sarpanch (village headman), panchayats secretary and officials appearing to have benefited more than villagers. In Rajasthan, elected panchayats functionaries are either ignorant or kept out of the exercise for the scheme's execution, despite the Rajasthan governments claim of having achieved decentralization of democracy.20

73) It has also come to the light that seven months after one of Indias most ambitious social welfare schemes, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was launched, less than a third of the funding to states for the current fiscal year have been utilised. According to a review of the programme by the rural development ministry, average utilisation across the country is just 29%. Only three states -- Punjab, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh -- have spent more than half the money released by the Centre under the NREGS in the year 2006-2007, says the ministry. The first meeting of the NREGA review council identified several gaps in implementation of the Act, including lack of awareness among beneficiaries and meager provisions for administrative expenses. Overburdened administrative machinery, weak redressal system and a host of other lacuna have been identified in the way this scheme is implemented.21

Article 7: The Right to Just and Favourable Conditions of Work

Discrimination in Wage Earnings 74) There is massive economic inequality within the social groups. The wage rate is also determined by caste-based economic discrimination in rural areas. The differences in the magnitude of wage labour among the Dalits and the Non Dalits and their land ownership backgrounds and disparities in wage rates in agriculture and non-agricultural employments still persist in India.

75) For a sustained, anthropocentric, and holistic development of the Dalit labour force, State intervention in the form of affirmative actions in various markets such as land, labour, capital, products and social services (like education and health etc) is necessary. It must be recognized that the Dalits face multiple forms of discrimination in all factor markets. If the magnitude of wage labour among the Dalits is to be reduced and discrimination in employment, wages and occupation is

16
22

Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour, Government of India, (1998) Rural Labour Enquiry,
th

Report on General Characteristics of Rural Labour Households, 50 Round of NSS, 1993-94, Shimla / Chandigarh to be overcome, the policies of improving the access to physical capital assets, human capital and market intervention are necessary.

76) The farm and non-farm casual labour and salaried workers experienced various types of discriminations in emloyment which includes discrimination in hiring and wage payment. At least one fifth of the respondents reported preference of upper caste employer for the persons belonging to their own caste or Higher Caste, which lead to exclusion of low caste labourer from hiring in farm and non- farm work. The caste sympathy towards own caste people turnout to be the main reason for preferance of labourer of their own caste or high caste22.

77) The denial in hiring by high caste take various forms such as exclusion in any work, in some season and in some specific work. Dalit labourerers faced exclusion

in some measure ,in some types of work in agriculture which include work related to processing of crops and in cutting of some crops. In the case of non agricultural work, Dalit labourers faced exclusion to some extent in some types which mainly include work related to social ceromany, followed by house construction and work in restaurant. In case of inside housework of high caste persons, the Dalit labour faced complete exclusion.

78) Exclusion in employment in any work, or denial in some seasons, or selectively in some types of works in agricultural and non agricultural operation or household work inside house of high caste bring losses in employment and generate lower level of employment among Dalits as compared with higher caste worker. It is a clear denial of right to life with dignity and right to equality enshrined in the Constitution of India as well as in International human rights instruments. Reservation in Education and Public Sector Employment 79) Observing the centurys old and accumulated social, economic, political and educational deprivation, the Constitution of India made specific provisions for the protection of Dalits (SCs) and the other weaker sections from any form of discrimination. While the Constitution enjoins upon the State to make effective provisions for securing the right to education, it was not until very recently (2002) that the right to free and compulsory education of children up to 14 years of age was incorporated as a fundamental right through the 93
rd

Constitutional amendment.

Several policy instruments employed by the State in the post-independent India towards promoting education among the SCs have met with some measure of success.

80) Subject to Art 15(4) permits the state to make any special provision for (a) Socially and Educationally back ward classes of citizen, (b) SCs and (c) STs.

81) Thus the Indian government approach towards these groups has been primarily shaped by the provisions in the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the

17

law, and empowers the state to make special provisions to promote the educational and economic interest of Dalits and Adivasis and to protect them from discrimination in multiple spheres.

82) Now the reservation policy is confined to a tiny state run and state supported sectors and the vast private sector where more than 90 percent of the Dalits/ Adivasis population /workers engaged are excluded and therefore remained unprotected from possible discrimination.

83) Privatization has further marginalized the weaker sections by reducing the scope available in public sector, since the public sector itself is being disinvested. The significant fact is that according to 1984 Industrial Act, 18 sectors were reserved as public sector enterprises. Over the years, these have been also converted into private sector and now only half a dozen of these remain as public sector. This has directly and definitively given a death blow to the Adivasis and Dalits in terms of job opportunities.

84) Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution enabled both the state and central governments to reserve seats in public services for SCs and STs and enshrine equality of opportunity in matters of public employment: Nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class or citizens, which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State. Equal opportunity and equality of results can be achieved only by reservation. At the central level some of the services are excluded from the reservation and these prominently include defence and judiciary.

85) As per article 335: The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to

services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or State, as the limitation of Art.16 (4) The main objective of Art.16 is to create a constitutional right to equality of opportunity and employment in public offices. According to the articles 335 and 46 of the Constitution, Art.46 speaks about the promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and other weaker sections. The state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the paper, and in particular, of the SCs, STs and shall project them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Half Hearted Implementation of Reservation in Employment in Public Sector 86) Reservation policy has never been fully implemented from the time of its conception and much has been achieved in actual terms. This is disregarding the fact that SCs as per the 2001 Census constitute about 16.5 percent of the total population in India and thereupon too, they have been provided with 15 percent reservation. Yet, the implementation of the reservation policy for Dalits has been below par.

18

23

55 Round of NSS, 1999-00, Shimla / Chandigarh.

th

Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Rural Labour - Magnitude and Characteristics Chapter VIII Scheduled caste: A profile 2004 Documentation on Status of Scheduled Caste. 87) The inferences drawn from different statistical analysis clearly bring out the following. Firstly, the data evidently supports the proposition that the reduction of jobs in the Government sector for the Dalits is faster than that for the Non Dalits. Secondly, reduction in the absolute average number of employment for the Dalits in the different Groups of jobs after 1991 amply suggests that the National Employment Plan (NEP) has had adverse impacts on the job market, particularly, in the Government sector jobs. Thirdly, the percentage share of Dalit population to total employment in Group A and B jobs falls short of the stipulated 15 percent mark. However, for Group C and Group D, the SC population is fairly represented. Fourthly, in 2003, 6.7 percent of Dalits were employed in Group A and Group B jobs, while 93.3 percent of Dalits were employed in Group C and Group D types of jobs. Fifthly, from 1960s to the 1980s, approximately a half of the SC population was concentrated in Group D type of jobs while the other half was engaged in Group C occupations. Finally, the percentage share of Dalits over the periods under analysis has declined for Group D jobs and conversely, has increased for Group C jobs23.

88) Therefore, it becomes visibly discernible that firstly, after the inception of the NEP, though the overall employment in public sector banks has reduced for all social groups, but the Dalits seem to have been severely impacted. Secondly, due to the shrinkage of employment in the public sector banks, the Non Dalits have bifurcated to the private sectors while the Dalits still fall on the thresholds of unemployment and thirdly, though the Annual Report of the Ministry of Finance (1990) mentioned about launching a special drive to clear the backlog of jobs as on March 1990 in all classes of employees, it failed to address the question so as to how the percentage share of the Dalits in officer and clerical categories fell much below the stipulated quota.

89) Although, there has been a marked improvement in the overall representation of the Dalits in Government services, but still in 2003, a gap of about 3 percent in Group A

jobs and a gap of 1.5 percent were evident. Since the representation of the Dalits fell below the stipulated quota of 15 percent there is a need to implement a special drive to fill up the posts.

90) The notions of purity and pollution, social stigmas and forms of ostracisms linked with several caste-based occupations such as scavenging and sweeping discourage the Non-Dalits from participating in these occupations. This explains the higher concentration of the Dalits in lowest level jobs.

91) The fact that the reservation policy has been one of the cornerstones of Dalit empowerment cannot be negated. But still the Dalits have been unable to reach the levels of development as is visible for the Non-Dalits. Reservation policy has never been fully implemented from the time of its conception and much has been achieved in actual terms.

19

24

National Human Development Report 2001, P.17, Planning Commission, Government of

India, New Delhi, March 2002.

25 26

Ibid, p. 18 Caste based Discrimination, in Equality at Work: Tackling the Challenges, p.36, ILO

Report, Geneva, 2007.

27

Ibid, pp. 36-37

Article 11: Right to an Adequate Standard of Living Human Development and Living Condition of Dalits in India 92) Development process has to be ultimately assessed for its impact on quality of life and human well being. There is a broad based consensus that exists on the three critical dimensions of well being. These dimensions of well being are related to: a). Longevity: the ability to live long and healthy life; b). Education: the ability to read, write and acquire knowledge; and c). Command over resources: the ability to enjoy a decent standard of living and have a socially meaningful life.24

93) In India, there is a considerable difference in the level of attainment of people on various aspects of well being, depending on their place of residence(rural/urban), the sex of the person and the social group or the segment of the population(i.e. the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and others) that the person belong to The attainment levels of the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled Tribes are also lower than others on the available indicators.25

94) Caste based discrimination confines Dalits to occupations associated with their caste, often involving the most menial tasks such as manual scavenging or the removal of dead animals. Dalits are generally not accepted for any work involving contact with water or food for non-Dalits or entering a non-Dalit residence. They are thus excluded from a wide range of work opportunities in the area of production, processing or sale of food items, domestic work and provision of certain services in the private and public sector (e.g. office helpers). Limited access to education, training or resources, such as land or credit, further impairs their equal opportunities

for access to non-caste based occupations and decent works. The deprivation stemming from discrimination in all areas of their life leads to higher levels of poverty among Dalits as compared to non-Dalits.26

95) Where policies and laws are in place, enforcement and implementation are often lacking or unsatisfactory. Affirmative action measures have assisted a small number of Dalits in obtaining formal jobs, but have failed to lead to more even progress in providing equal opportunities for all. Purely developmental approaches to improving the lots of the Dalits are insufficient, if the underlying structural causes and caste barriers are not simultaneously addressed.27

20
28

Report of Sub-Group-I on Assessment of Prevailing Situation in respect of Scheduled Castes

and Scheduled Tribes for certain Socio-Economic Indicators, prepared and released by the Office of the Registrar General, Census, Government of India in November 2004. 96) In terms of access to basic services which could measure the status of Dalits in Indian society in terms of human development index and current standard of living, given below are some crude facts28: Health According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) II data, the neo natal mortality, infant mortality and child mortality and under five mortality is higher for Dalits at all India level as compared with total mortality for others Anaemia among Dalit Women is more compared to the women of other communities At national level the full vaccination among Dalit infants is less compared to others At national level anaemia among Dalit children is more than that prevalent among others Education

Literacy Rates among Dalits is 45.20 percentage as compared to 54.51 percentage for the total population in India The performance of literacy rates for Dalits in states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh is far below satisfactory, which is below 50 percentage 32 Districts in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have literacy rates below 30 percentage The enrolment rate of Dalit students has increased in different levels of education The drop out rate is still very high. 41.5 percentage at Primary Level; 59.9 percentage at Upper Primary Level and 71.9 percentage at Secondary Level Electricity 44.3 percentage of Dalit households have access to Electricity where as for others it is 61.4 percentage 21.4 percentage of Dalit villages have no access to electricity at all whereas for others it stands at 19.5 percentage

Drinking Water 27 percent Dalit households have water sources within premises whereas for others it stands at 45.2 percentage 19.5 percent Dalit households have access to drinking water sources away from their premises whereas it stands at 14.4 percentage for others 32.2 percent of Dalit households have access to drinking water from Tap, whereas for others it stands at 40.1 percentage

Sanitation 23.7 percent of Dalit households have access to latrine facility as compared to 42.3 percentage General households

21
29

Citizens Report on Governance and Development 2006, Social Watch, Pearson Education-

Longman, Delhi, 2006

Housing 42.8 percent of Dalit households have permanent houses in comparison to 57.7 percent of General households The condition of housing for Dalits in Orissa(19.5 percent), Chhattisgarh(22.2 percent), West Bengal(23.9 percent), Bihar(27.9 percent), Jharkhand(29.6 percent), Madhya Pradesh(34.8 percent), Uttar Pradesh(41 percent) and all the North Eastern States except Mizoram are below the national average

Poverty Out of 27.11 percent of all population living below poverty line in rural areas, Dalits account for 36.25 percentage Out of 23.65 percent of all population living below poverty line in urban areas, Dalits account for 38.47 percentage Caste Discrimination in Food Security Programmes 97) The right to food is considered a fundamental human right under Indian Constitution and International human rights instrument. But when it comes to the Dalit children it is severely violated in different forms and ways. Considering high drop out rate in primary education the Supreme Court of India directed the Union government to provide Mid Day Meals Scheme (MMS) so students may be retained and the right to education for all can be realised. The mid-day meal scheme started in 1995 in a few districts with 33.4 million children in 1995-96 has increased to 105.0 million children across the country in 2000-02. SC children covered under this programme have fallen from 22638260 in 2003-04 to 22004919 in 2004-05 causing concern in the context of the discrimination reported.29

98) The physical setting of the MMS is important, the locality in which that space is situated is equally if not more significant. The physical access location of the MMS in terms of caste geography we note that Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have very low percentages of villages in which the MMS is held in a Dalit locality: 12% in Rajasthan

and 19% in Tamil Nadu. Most midday meals in these states are held in dominant caste localities.

99) In Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, then, the vast majority of Dalit children must enter an area of heightened vulnerability, tension and threat, in order to avail themselves of the midday meal or its dry grain equivalent. Access for Dalit children is thus conditional, and hostage to the fluctuating state of caste relations in the village or region. A pattern of incidents documented in the study, to be discussed later, demonstrate how Dalit children's access to the MMS, already tenuous because it is held in the dominant caste locality, is then cut off when dominant castes feel the need to demonstratively reassert their hegemony.

100) In hiring practices, Rajasthan is consistently the least likely to employ Dalits, with 8% of respondent villages having a Dalit cook, and not a single respondent village having a Dalit MMS organizer. Tamil Nadu hires proportionally more Dalits, while

22
30

With regard to the PDS, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have implemented the scheme on a par with

the other states, unlike in the MMS. Therefore all five states in the survey are considered together. still keeping them firmly in the minority, with 31% of respondent villages having Dalit cooks, and 27% having Dalit organizers. 101) In Uttar Pradesh, measurable indicators point to an extremely low level of Dalit participatory empowerment and ownership of the pre-MMS dry grain distribution system. In 94% of respondent villages in UP, the distribution organizer is dominant caste; Dalit organizers are found in only 4% of respondent villages (the remaining 2% have Scheduled Tribe organizers). The issue of hiring cooks, of course, does not arise where dry grain is distributed in lieu of a proper, cooked, midday meal.

Opposition to Dalit Cooks

102) Opposition to Dalit cooks is actually a blanket term describing several different patterns of specific acts of caste discrimination and exclusion observed in the study. The patterns can be grouped into five, which take place at different points during the process of MMS institution and continuance. First, when local administrators are putting the MMS into place, dominant caste community members intervene to block the hiring of Dalit cooks, favoring dominant caste cooks instead. Where a Dalit cook has been hired, dominant caste parents then begin sending their children to school with lunches packed at home, or require their children to come home for lunch, in any case forbidding their children to eat food prepared by the Dalit cook. In the third stage, dominant caste parents or community members pressure the local administration to dismiss the Dalit cook, on any pretext, and hire a dominant caste cook instead. Where this is ineffective, or sometimes without the intervening step, the dominant caste parents campaign to shut down the MMS in the village school altogether. Finally, some dominant caste parents react to the hiring and keeping of a Dalit cook by withdrawing their children from the school, and sometimes admitting them in a different school where the cook is not Dalit. Public Distribution System 103) The Indian Governments Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS, or, often, simply PDS) is reputed to be the largest system of controlled food distribution for the poor in the world. At the village level, the system is operated through governmentrecognized Fair Price Shops, or PDS shops, run by local, government-recognized PDS dealers.

104) As with the MMS, physical access, participatory empowerment/ownership and Dalits community-level access are the factors according to which the survey30 evaluates caste discrimination and exclusion in the PDS. Two measurable indicators are employed to gauge Dalit physical access to the PDS: existence and number of functioning PDS shops in the village, and location in terms of caste geography. First, are there PDS shops operating in the village, and second, are these shops placed in dominant caste localities, Dalit quarters, or elsewhere?

23
31

Only Andhra and Tamil Nadu have significant percentages of PDS shops held in other

places, at 22% and 31%, respectively. In these states, researchers understood other place to include the localities of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) instead of only caste-neutral places. Therefore, the percentages of PDS shops held in dominant caste (by which we mean all castes in a position of dominance over Dalits, including OBCs) localities in Andhra and Tamil Nadu may be considerably higher than they appear in our data. 105) Dalits participatory empowerment and ownership of the PDS is measured by the percentage, out of all PDS shops in respondent villages, of PDS shops owned by Dalits.

106) A second factor conditioning Dalit access to the benefits of the PDS is the location in which the shops are physically situated. As a five state average, 17% of villages have PDS shops in Dalit colonies, while 70% (more than four times the former) have PDS shops located in dominant caste localities, and 13% of villages have PDS shops located elsewhere. Rajasthan has the highest proportion of PDS shops held in dominant caste localities at 91%, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 82%, Bihar at 76%, Tamil Nadu at 53%, and Andhra Pradesh with 30 percent31

107) In terms of Dalits community access to the PDS, four forms of discriminatory practices are reported discrimination in quantity, discrimination in price, castebased favouritism by the PDS dealer, and practices of untouchability by the PDS dealer in varying degrees of currency

108) One classic untouchability practice is the dominant caste dropping of goods (water, food, money) from above into cupped Dalit hands below, so as to avoid the possibility of polluting contact between the upper and lower. This remains in evidence, but other untouchability practices, such as dominant caste dealers hanging purdah before dealing with Musaher Dalits in Bihar, also emerge in the survey data. As PDS dealers are government actors, the practice by more than one

quarter of PDS dealers of untouchability in the course of their official duty in blatant defiance of the Anti-untouchability Act of 1955, the Constitution of India and numerous pieces of legislation since has serious legal implications for the government.

109) The MMS and PDS are arguably the strongest available tools with which poor and marginalized populations in India can at present actualise their Right to Food. Whether they are operated well or poorly can indeed does make the difference between sustenance and preventable starvation for Dalits children and adults suffering from chronic poverty. While the problem is nationwide, its degree varies considerably from state to state.

Land Rights 110) Denial of land rights to Dalits is directly linked to caste system and its pernicious influence resulting into gross human rights violations of worst kinds in multiple forms. Perceptions of land are linked to social status and economic freedom Land owning patterns and being a high caste member are coterminous. There is also a

24

32

Smita Narula, Broken People-caste Violence against Indias Untouchables, Human Rights

Watch, 1999, p.27

33 34

National Sample Survey, Government of India 1995-96, Government of India

nexus between being lower caste and landless.32 .

111) It is indeed a sad commentary on land reforms and the egalitarian policies of the Government that five decades after independence, the Dalits are still forced to work as landless labourers, bonded labourers and attached labourers and are denied ownership rights to land. Violence against Dalit women is also linked to the denial of land rights as in majority of the land disputes; the Dalit women are made targets of violence to silence their male counterparts.

112) Landlessness among Dalits is a common feature in the Indian rural economy. At an all India level, the 1999-2000 NSS33 data illustrates that around 10 percent of the SC households are landless as compared to 13.34 percent in 1992 and 19.10 percent in 1982. Though it is apparent that landlessness is decreasing, but the rate of decrease is marginal. On the other hand, 6.15 percent of the Non Dalit households were found to be landless in 1999-2000, as compared to 10.53 in 1992.

The Non- Implementation of Land Reforms Policy: A Violation of Dalit Human Rights 113) The State wise analysis of the landlessness brings to the fore that in 1999-2000, the highest numbers of SC landless households were found in Bihar followed by Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Punjab respectively. Landlessness among the Non SC/STs was low both at all India level and at the State level as compared to the SC and the ST households. In 1999-2000, at the state level, landlessness among the Non SC/ST households was the highest in the States of Maharashtra (around 12 percent) followed by Punjab (9.85 percent), Tamil Nadu (9.35 percent),

and Gujarat (9.05 percent). It is a historical fact that in Punjab Dalit have not been allowed to own land, as there was a Law, which prohibited Dalits ownership of land.

114) It is also interesting to note that in 1999-2000, the percentage of Dalit landless plus near-landless households were more concentrated in the developed States like Punjab, Kerala and Haryana, followed by some underdeveloped States like Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

115) According to the Report of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes34, as on 30 September 1996 about 5.213 million acres of land were distributed at all-India level. Of these about 1.8 million acres were distributed to SC, and 2.67 million acres to non-SC/ST persons. A total of 5.121 million beneficiaries have been so far covered, of which 1.84 million were SC, and 2.55 million non-SC/ST. The land distributed per beneficiaries comes to 0.977 acre, which was less compared to 1.047 acres for non-SC/ST. Of the total land distributed to SC households, however, West Bengal alone accounted for about 20 percent, followed by UP. In term of share in beneficiaries also West Bengal also

25

35 36

Report on Prevention of atrocities against Scheduled Castes, NHRC, 2004, p.85 Planning Commission of India

accounted nearly 43 percent of total beneficiaries followed by U.P. (13%), A.P. (12%) and Bihar (12.4%).

116) Dalits and Adivasis have been greatly let down in the land distribution schemes as well as appropriation struggles. Right from 1948 up till 1970s, the Zamindari Abolition Act, and various Tenancy Acts, the land has actually been transferred from Kings, Jagirdars, Enamdars, Zamindars etc., to farmers and tillers of the land. This extent alone is around 34.9 million acres. But only a meager 0.5% of this land has reached to the hands of Dalits and Adivasis.

117) Under the new regime of liberalized economy, Dalits are further being alienated from land. This has been happening mainly because large tracts of lands are being provided to MNCs and big projects funded by the World Bank at throw away prices without taking into consideration the interest of the small and marginal farmers, majority of whom happen to be Dalit and other disadvantaged sections of Indian society. This has also led to large-scale displacement of Dalit and Adivasi families at various places within the country. The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which are being pursued with a missionary zeal by different State Governments is nothing but reincarnation of Zamindari system and is taking away the large tracts of cultivable land from poor people most of whom happens to be Dalits and other marginalized sections of Indian society.

118) Land Reforms Acts envisaged as a re-distributive strategy to change agrarian relations and break the caste-class nexus of big landlords, had the potential to provide reparation for one of the crucial disability placed on Dalits by the caste system. The implementation has however been subverted by the absence of political will and bureaucratic commitment, loopholes in the laws, tremendous manipulative power of the landed classes, lack of organization among the poor and excessive interference of courts35

119) The programme of ceiling set out in the plan had been diluted in implementation. There were deficiencies in the law and delays in its enactment and implementation resulting in large-scale evasions. Several states had made provisions for disregarding transfers made after a certain date but often these provisions proved to be ineffective and not much surplus land has been available for distribution. The main object of ceiling which is to re-distribute land to the landless at a reasonable price on a planned basis has thus been largely defeated.36

The Right to Housing Discrimination in Renting, Sale, and Construction of Residential Houses by Dalits 120) Dalits are being discriminated in the housing market. The questions mainly relate to the restrictions faced by Dalits in purchase of land for construction of residential

26

37 38 39

Sukhadeo Thorat, et.al., op.cit ibid Antony Margaret and G. Maheswaran, Social Segregation and Slum of Delhi, Indian Social

Institute, New Delhi 2001

40

Chugh Sunita, Why children drop out? Case study of a Metropolitan Slum, Book well, New

Delhi, 2004
41

Ibid

house in predominantly high caste locality, in taking house on rent in high caste locality and self restrictions imposed by high caste in buying of land in the low caste locality for construction of houses to live. The discriminations faced by low caste in each of these housing transactions is quite evident and of high order in the three sample villages.

121) Permitting the scheduled Caste persons to buy house for stay in high caste locality, or to rent the house to them in the high caste locality, or alternatively to buy land by high caste person in low caste locality and to take a house on rent in their locality for stay (by high caste), means breaking the traditional residential segregation in housing which is ubiquitous feature of caste-wise residential pattern of rural area.

122) The results indicated that about 64 percent of the respondent corroborated that the high caste persons do not prefer to buy land to build houses in low caste locality and only 7 percent present reported the willingness of high caste to buy land for houses in low caste locality37.

123) In response to the question related to the reasons, about 90 percent of the Dalit respondent reported the belief in caste prejudice and hence the unwillingness of the high caste to share housing with the low caste untouchables and to break the residential segregation as one of the main reasons. Only 5 percent indicated the price related reasons38.

Atrocities induced Displacement and Dalits in the Slums 124) Among the total population in the slums, Dalits and Muslims together account for 55% of the total population39. In terms of accessibility and availability of services, the most deprived among the people in the slum in this regard are the Dalits. Education of children in the slums is another major issue where drop-outs at an early age, and problem of lack of governmental initiative40 were highlighted. Also it was established in a study on the educational situation of Dalit children in Delhis slums that drop out of Dalit children is directly linked to the familial and personal factors. The most prominent observation is that there exists direct relationship between income expenditure gap and drop-out, followed by housing and environmental conditions. Another major factor was the frequent shifting of parents work place, followed by weak parental and home support to the children41. Chugh identifies that an overemphasis on child labour distorts the actual reasons for non-attendance. In the case of Dalits she says it is the school, family and community sub system responsible for drop-out among Dalits. It is important read this with

27

42

Bijulal, M.V, City Slum and the Marginalised: Dalits and Muslims in Delhi Slums, Indian

Social Institute, New Delhi, 2004

43

S. Anandi, Contending Identities: Dalits and Secular Politics in Madras Slums, Indian Social

Institute, New Delhi, 1995 another finding42 that only 14.86 percent of Dalit families were found to be capable of managing the income expenditure gap by their own.

125) Increased atrocities against Dalits and the general decline in rural sector associated to structural changes attached to globalization gave a new dimension in understanding Dalit migration to cities. A people centric approach would easily suggest how the states in India have failed to ensure the constitutional rights to life, livelihoods and dignified life to the Dalits in the Indian villages. In the context of large scale slum demolitions, the role of state as a neutral agency faces severe criticism across the ranks, since the state agencies does these demolitions unpublicized, unplanned and using heavy violence and without respecting any dialogical practices in a democratic system.

126) Urban Dalits identity formation on the basis of different strategies of resistance has been highlighted in various studies43. Few urban studies have established that marginalization was common in meaning to all Dalits across the country and that the urban experience is different from the rural in terms of agencies of oppression. Dalit youths and activists were mostly critical of the upper caste social behaviour in the slums and accused that while the police unduly hold the Dalits responsible for offences; their attitude to upper caste people was entirely different. In some places the men folk were restricting the movement (sometimes not allowing girls to go to school) fearing the rising cases of kidnapping of women. Men in the slums in this social reality act as protective insiders to secure the dignity and safety of the women by restricting their movements.

Article 13 and 14: Right to Education Right to Education for Dalit Children 127) The Constitution of India clearly embodies several significant pledges to promote the rights of children. This was affirmed further by the National Policy for Children, 1974. Eighty Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, 2002 promises free and compulsory elementary education of good quality of eight years for every child of the age group of 6-14 years as Fundamental Right.

State Provisions of Education for Dalit Children 128) State provision of education for SC and ST are contained in Articles 15 (4), 45 and 46 of the Indian Constitution. Article 15 (4) underscores the states basic commitment to positive discrimination in favour of the socially and educationally backward classes and or SC/ST. Art. 45 declares that the states endeavour to

28

44

Report, National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Government of

India, New Delhi, 1999-2000 & 2000-2001, pp. 151-183

45

Ibid. p. 177 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Dept. of Elementary

46

Education & Literacy, Government of India.

47

Akshaya Mukul, Sarva Shiksha Gains not Universal, Times of India, New Delhi, 27 January,

2006 provide free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Art 46 expresses the specific aim to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of SC/ST. Dalit Children Population 129) According to census 2001 the country had a child population of 205 million in the age group of 6 to 14. Of these children the number of Dalit children in the same age group is 35.6 million, about one in every six children.

National Drop-Out Rate of Dalit Children 130) The enrolment of Dalit children has increased over the years, revealing the increased interest in education and mobility. Enrolment of SC and ST boys and girls at primary stage has reached an astonishing 92% during 1999-2000.44 But the real problem is an alarming drop-out rate among Dalit students. The national drop-out rate among Dalit children is 36.6 % at primary, 59.4 % at middle and 73.1 % at secondary level of education.45 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Campaign)46 131) The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has special focus on the educational development of children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Every activity under the project must identify the benefits that will accrue to children from these communities. Incentives in the programme will have a sharper focus on children from these communities. The participation of Dalits and Adivasi in the affairs of the

school will be especially encouraged to ensure ownership. Unfortunately, the programme could not achieve the expected results in the past in terms of education of Dalit Children because of deep-rooted discriminatory practices at various levels.

132) Some excerpts from the latest survey on Out of School are given here to highlight present status of drop out rates in the context of SSA47. Universalisation of elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has not percolated to the marginal social groups (SCs/STs/OBCs and Muslims) and a sizeable section (nearly 40%) of disabled children. Besides, the maximum overall dropout rate (20%) is after the completion of class V.

133) In an exhaustive survey, based on data collected from 87,874 households and conducted by IMRB and commissioned by HRD ministry, it has been found that nearly 7% of children in the age group of 6-13 are out of school.

134) In real terms, this means that 1.34 crore out of 19.4 crore children in this age

29

48

B.K. Anitha, Village, Caste and Education, Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 2000 Mona Jabbi and C Rajyalakshmi, Education of Marginalized Social Groups in Bihar, in A

49

Vaidynathan and P R Gopinathan Nair (Eds.) Elementary Education in Rural India: A Grassroots View, Sage Publication, New Delhi, 2001.
50

Umakant, Dalits and Education, Dalit International Newsletter, June 2006

category have not been to school. Though among all social groups the estimated percentage of children out of school is higher in rural areas compared to urban areas, Muslims top the list in both the settings at close to 10%. 'Other' category comprising upper castes and the well heeled has the least number (nearly 4%) of out-of-school children.

135) Among SCs, while the national average of out-of-school children is 8.17%, states like Delhi (nearly 26%), Jharkhand, Bihar (both over 21%), Nagaland and Chhattisgarh and a few others have contributed to this mess in a big way.

Discrimination by Teachers 136) Caste prejudices doggedly persist even in our modern settings. Teachers have been found to maintain discriminatory attitudes and practices that underlie caste relations in society. B K. Anithas study in Karnataka revealed that Dalit pupils were called kadu-jana (forest people) who would not learn without being beaten.48. In their study in Rajasthan, Jabbi and Rajyalakshmi found that fear of teachers and corporal punishments are factors that parents (especially of Dalit Children) cite as constraining regular school attendance.49

Dalits and Higher Education 137) As far as higher education is concerned, the enrollment of Dalit students at the graduate, post-graduate, and professional/Ph.D research levels was abysmally low. By 2001, 3.4% of the Dalit men over the age of 15 and only 1% of the Dalit women over the age of 15 had a post-secondary education of any kind. For Dalit men this was less than half of the percentage of non-Dalit men, while the Dalit womens

percentage was less than a quarter of the percentage of non-Dalit women. Despite the steady growth in higher-level educational infrastructure since Independence, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) stated in its report for 1996-97 and 1997-98 that it has been observed that the enrolment of the SC and ST in general, technical and non technical is not satisfactory. This situation is alarming in technical and professional courses where most of the SC\ST seats remain unfilled. Many universities do not even follow the University Grant Commission (UGC) guidelines regarding both the relaxation of admission standards and the facilities to be provided to the SC&ST students. In the same report, the National Commission indicated how important it was that the universities and professional institutions strictly follow the various guidelines, which the UGC has issued from time to time.50

138) The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in its last report observed that fifty-seven years of freedom is an occasion for some serious introspection, especially with regard to the mass education sector. In spite of a

30

51

Report of National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Government of

India, New Delhi, 1999-2000 & 2000-2001

52

B.R. Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol. 3, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai, 1987,

p. 39
53

Geetha B Nambissan, Dealing with Deprivation, Seminar, Issue, 493, 2000

commendable expansion of facilities, the curse of illiteracy and deprivation has not been wiped out. Although the participation of Dalits has improved in the last five decades, their unequal development in a hierarchical social order continues to be reflected in the indicators of the educational status of various communities. That the educational status of non-Dalits has progressed at a faster pace than the Dalits status, clearly shows the bias of the planners and implementers in bypassing the various policy guidelines framed for purpose of giving an impetus to improving the educational status of the weaker sections of Indian society.51 Dalits and Curriculum 139) Education is an important mean of reducing ignorance and inequality in society. It helps the individual to raise his/her social status in various ways. Knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes acquired through education help one to lead a desired quality of life. Knowledge must be made available to all. As Dr. Ambedkar, the great Dalit leader and chief architect of the Indian Constitution had said, In the complex world man lives at his peril and he must find his way in it without loosing his freedom. There can, under these circumstances, be no freedom that is worthwhile unless the mind is trained to use its freedom. Deprive a man of knowledge and you will make him inevitably the slave of those more fortunate than himself . . . deprivation of knowledge is denial of the power to use liberty for great ends. An ignorant man may be free . . . but he cannot employ his freedom so as to give him assurance of happiness52.

140) It is in this context that curriculum gains an important place in the over all policy framework for providing education to all which could lead to acquire the knowledge, skills and a sense of equity and also develop the scientific temper. The exercise for

designing the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) was initiated around the year 1998 and then again in July 2004 to develop the National Curriculum Framework 2005. The second initiative was basically taken to remove the distortions which had been made part of the Curriculum Framework released in the year 2000. It is important in this regard to look at these initiatives in an unbiased way and assess whether the new initiatives could lead to creation of egalitarianism and also develop scientific temper.

141) Curricular and pedagogic concerns in the NCF, however, fail to be adequately informed by an understanding of the specific context of educational deprivation, particularly where the economically and socially vulnerable communities such as Dalits and Adivasis are concerned. For instance, it is important to recognize that these communities were historically deprived of education because of the position of Dalits as untouchables in the caste system that these factors may continue to be relevant to the educational experiences of these communities today has largely been ignored.53

31

54 55 56

Ibid Ibid Teesta Setalvads Address to Central Advisory Board on Education, September 8, 2005, The

South Asian, a web portal, September 8, 2005. 142) The transaction of the conventional curriculum in rural schools is a far cry from one that encourages exploration, problem-solving... participatory... interactive group learning... and so on (NCERT, 2000:11). A recent study by Bodh (DPEP, 1999) of schools in villages of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (a number of them predominantly inhabited by lower castes and Adivasis) reveals that curriculum transaction continues to be primarily textbook based, directed by the teacher and dominated by rote learning. The boundaries between school and community knowledge are rigidly drawn with the textbook serving as the only source of legitimate knowledge. Teachers rarely relate to the knowledge base of children.54

143) The authority of teacher is unquestioned and children usually ask no questions even to clarify their doubts. Children listen to the teacher, copy lessons, memorize them and answer questions (DPEP, 1999). In single and two teacher schools that predominate in the more backward regions, the situation is compounded as teachers are confronted with teaching children of many grades together, a situation that their training least prepares them for. They evolve their own coping strategies such as huddling children of two or more grades into one classroom, keeping pupils busy with writing work, and using punishment to maintain discipline. Learning becomes a casualty in the process.55

144) The NCF 2000 drew sharp criticism and many saw it as an attempt to destroy the secular fabric of the nation. The NCF 2005 was aimed at detoxifying the textbooks and at the same time to inculcate the principles of justice, social, economic and political, liberty, equality of status and of opportunity. But so far all the intended goals have not been operationalised on the ground. The NCF 2005 is confused, with no direction and systematic approach. It avoids the harsh reality on the ground and the ideological erosion that outfits and organizations that are antithetical to the Indian

Constitution have successfully made over the past two decades that was also the periods when the Indian state chose to withdraw from its basic constitutional mandate of providing good quality, free and compulsory education to all. What can the NCF 2005 do to ensure equity in access across class, caste community and gender of a curricular framework? The error in fundamentals in the NCF 2005 apart from those outlines above also mean that inequities due to caste, class, community and gender are not treated as violations of basic human rights and dignity but cloaked in syrupy phases such as minority sensibilities etc. This is downright dangerous for a rational national curriculum. For instance in the five major concerns outlined in the forward to the NCF 2005 (pg vi) not one reflects the non-negotiable Constitutional right of every Indian to have access to quality education based on the principles of egalitarianism, non-discrimination and therefore, democracy. The distinct approach that hopes to convert itself into national policy appears to be to offer the disadvantaged poorest of Indias poor sops and comforts but not the basis inalienable right to a good, free and quality education.56

CASTE DISCRIMINATION:A GLOBAL CONCERN A Report by Human Rights Watch for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Durban, South I. INTRODUCTION Discriminatory and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of a vast global population has been justified on the basis ofcaste. In much of Asia and parts of Africa, caste is the basis for the definition and exclusion of distinct population groups byreason of their descent. Over 250 million people worldwide continue to suffer under what is often a hidden apartheid of segregation, modern-day slavery, and other extreme forms of discrimination, exploitation, and violence. Caste imposes enormous obstacles to their full attainment of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Caste is descent-based and hereditary in nature. It is a characteristic determined by one's birth into a particular caste, irrespective of the faith practiced by the individual. Caste denotes a system of rigid social stratification into ranked groups defined by descent and occupation. Under various caste systems throughout the world, caste divisions also dominate in housing, marriage, and general social interaction-divisions that are reinforced through the practice and threat of social ostracism, economic boycotts, and even physical violence. Among the communities discussed in this report are the Dalits or so-called untouchables of South Asia-including Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan-the Buraku people of Japan, the Osu of Nigeria's Igbo people, and certain groups in Senegal and Mauritania. The prominence of caste as a social and economic indicator for the widespread South Asian diaspora is also discussed. These communities share many features; features that have allowed even the most appalling practices to escape international scrutiny. In many cases, caste systems coexist with otherwise democratic

structures. In countries such as India and Nigeria, governments have also enacted progressive legislation to combat abuses against lower-caste communities. Despite formal protections in law, however, discriminatory treatment remains endemic and discriminatory societal norms continue to be reinforced by government and private structures and practices, in some cases through violent means. Lower-caste communities are almost invariably indistinguishable in physical appearance from higher-caste communities. This is not, as some would say, a black and white issue. For most outsiders then, the visual cues that otherwise accompany race or ethnicity are often completely lacking. Stark economic disparities between low and highcaste communities also get buried under a seemingly homogenous landscape of poverty. Poverty can be quite deceptive. It makes one conclude that all suffer from it equally. A closer look reveals the discrimination inherent in the allocation of jobs, land, basic resources and amenities, and even physical security. A closer look at victims of violence, bonded labor, and other severe abuses also reveals disproportionate membership in the lowest ranking in the caste order. A perpetual state of economic dependency also allows for abuses to go unpunished, while a biased state machinery looks the other way, or worse, becomes complicit in the abuse. The language used to describe low and high-caste community characteristics in the examples that follow are striking in their similarity, despite the variation in geographic origin, with ideas of pollution and purity, and filth and cleanliness prevalent. In turn, these designations are used to justify the physical and social segregation of low-caste communities from the rest of

society, their exclusion from certain occupations, and their involuntary monopoly over "unclean" occupations and tasks. The exploitation of low-caste laborers and the rigid assignment of demeaning occupations on the basis of caste keep lower-caste populations in a position of economic and physical vulnerability. The triple burden of caste, class, and gender effectively ensures that lower-caste women are the farthest removed from legal protections. Only with the honest implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and of domestic laws designed to abolish the vestiges of various caste systems and to protect the economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights of all, can the process of attaining economic and physical security, and human dignity, begin. In August 2000 the U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights passed resolution 2000/4 on Discrimination Based on Work and Descent.1 The resolution, aimed at addressing the issue of caste, reaffirmed that discrimination based on work and descent is prohibited under international human rights law. The Subcommission also decided to further identify affected communities, examine existing constitutional, legislative, and administrative measures for the abolition of such discrimination, and make concrete recommendations for the effective elimination of such practices. In August 2001, subcommission expert R.K.W. Goonesekere presented his working paper on work and descent-based discrimination to the subcommission's fifty-third session. The paper was submitted pursuant to Subcommission resolution 2000/4. Because of time and other constraints, Mr. Goonesekere limited the paper's focus to the Asian countries of India,

Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Japan but stated that further study of African countries in particular was warranted. The presentation of the paper, and the ensuing debate amongst subcommission experts that followed, marked the first time that caste discrimination was discussed as a major source of human rights violations worldwide by a U.N. human rights body. The subcommission also determined by consensus to extend the study to other regions of the world where work and descent-based discrimination continues to be experienced. This important resolution underscores the notion that caste systems are inherently economic and social in their consequences and that the exclusion of lower-caste communities extends to the economic and social realms of wages, jobs, education, and land. This report discusses the manifestations of caste and descent-based discrimination and abuse in over a dozen countries. It is not meant to be an exhaustive review but an introduction to the prevalence and global dimensions of this underreported problem. It is also an appeal to governments to give close and systematic attention to the problem of caste discrimination at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and beyond. Despite the magnitude of the problem, as of this writing, caste-based discrimination had been systematically cut out of the WCAR's intergovernmental process through the actions of a handful of governments. This has occurred despite the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's repeated affirmations that caste, as a form of descentbased discrimination, falls within the definition of racial discrimination under article 1 of the ICERD. Concerted international attention and the commitment of resources to assist national governments in this important work are

also long overdue. In many parts of the world, the success of the World Conference will turn upon its commitment to effectively addressing the issue of caste. For at least a quarter-billion people worldwide, the end of apartheid in South Africa did not signal the end of segregation and servitude in their own lives. This important conference can and should bring us closer to this important global goal. 1 U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, "Discrimination Based on Work and Descent," E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/2000/4, August 11, 2000. See Appendix A. Home | Current Events | News | Publications | About HRW | Documents by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Contribute | What You Can Do | Community | Book Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright 2001, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 101183299 USA Africa Americas Asia Europe/Central Asia Middle East/N. Africa United States Arms Children's Rights Women's Rights Refugees International Justice Prisons More... II. CASTE AND THE WORLD CONFERENCE

AGAINST RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE Caste discrimination's place in the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) has been confirmed by numerous international bodies created by treaties and by the title of the conference itself. In the concluding observations of its forty-ninth session held in August/September 1996 (as it reviewed India's tenth to fourteenth periodic reports under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) affirmed that "the situation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes falls within the scope of" the convention.2 The committee has clearly stated that the term "descent" contained in article 1 of the convention does not refer solely to race, and encompasses the situation of scheduled castes and tribes.3 In March 2001, CERD's "Concluding Observations" on Japan's report noted that discrimination based on descent constitutes racial discrimination, and that "the term `descent' contained in Art. 1 of ICERD has its own meaning and is not be confused with race or ethnic or national origin."4 In the same month, while reviewing Bangladesh's report, the committee reaffirmed that "the term `descent' does not solely refer to race or ethnic or national origin and [that it] is of the view that the situation of castes falls within the scope of the Convention."5 Similar conclusions were drawn by the U.N. special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in his January 1999 report. In 1997, the Human Rights Committee noted that members of scheduled castes endured "severe social discrimination," and suffered "disproportionately from many violations of their rights under the [ICCPR]." In reviewing Nepal's report in August 2000, CERD "remain[ed] concerned at the existence of caste-based discrimination, and the denial which this system imposes on some segments of the

population of the enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Convention." In January and February 2000, serious concerns over the treatment of Dalit children and Dalit women in India were also expressed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in their reviews of India's periodic reports under the children's rights and women's rights conventions.6 Despite blockage of discussion of the issue of caste in the major intergovernmental fora of the WCAR process, several preparatory meetings for WCAR have highlighted the need to address caste-based discrimination. These include the Asia-Pacific Experts Seminar in Bangkok, the European NGO meeting in Strasbourg, the African Experts Seminar in Addis Ababa, the NGO forum in Tehran, the Asia-Pacific NGO meeting in Kathmandu, the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste-Based Discrimination in New Delhi, and various Satellite Conferences, including the Bellagio Consultation. 2 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: India," CERD/C/304/Add.13, September 17, 1996. 3 "Scheduled Castes" is legal parlance for "Dalits." 4 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Japan," CERD/C/58/Misc.17/Rev.3, March 20, 2001. 5 Ibid. In August 2001, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination considered Sri Lanka's ninth periodic report. Despite the persistence of the problem, the report did not make any reference to caste-based discrimination in the country. See Committee on the Elimination of Racism Discrimination, "Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention: Ninth periodic reports of States parties due in 1999: Sri Lanka," CERD/C/357/Add.3, November 20, 2000. At this writing, CERD had yet to issue its concluding

observations on Sri Lanka's report. 6 See Appendices for relevant text from these and other U.N. reports. Home | Current Events | News | Publications | About HRW | Documents by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Contribute | What You Can Do | Community | Book Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright 2001, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 101183299 USA Africa Americas Asia Europe/Central Asia Middle East/N. Africa United States Arms Children's Rights Women's Rights Refugees International Justice Prisons More... III. RECOMMENDATIONS Nationally, concerned governments must act to uphold their own constitutional principles and international treaty obligations and work toward the full enjoyment of rights by all citizens, regardless of caste or descent. Globally, the international community must take advantage of the opportunity this World Conference represents to make progress on one of the world's most severe and forgotten abuses. Specifically, All governments, and in particular those of countries whose citizens suffer from caste or descent-based discrimination and abuse, should

ratify and fully implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; All governments should support efforts to implement the resolution on discrimination based on work and descent adopted by the U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in August 2000; Concerned governments should extend invitations to the special rapporteur on racism to investigate caste-based discrimination and other forms of discrimination based on descent in their respective countries; All governments should ensure that caste-based and similar discrimination against marginalized populations is explicitly addressed in the declaration and programme of action of the WCAR, and any follow-up plan of action thereafter; Dalits in South Asia, Buraku people in Japan, and other populations in similar situations should be explicitly acknowledged as groups of people who have been subject to perennial and persistent forms of discrimination and abuse on the basis of their descent; Concerned governments should: 1. Establish a program and timetable to enforce the abolition of "untouchability," segregation, or similar practices. 2. Enact and fully enforce laws aimed at ending abuses associated with caste, such as child labor, bonded labor, land reform, manual collection of human waste, and forced prostitution or similar practices. 3. Monitor and publicize the extent to which existing laws to end caste discrimination have been implemented. 4. Allocate adequate funds for programs for the socio-economic and educational support of communities that have faced discrimination on the basis of caste or descent. 5. Ensure greater participation by the affected communities in civil administration, especially the administration of justice, including in key institutions such as the police and judiciary.

6. Ensure that all necessary constitutional, legislative, and administrative measures, including appropriate forms of affirmative action, are in place to prohibit and redress discrimination on the basis of caste, and that such measures-including those already instituted in Japan and India-are continued until discrimination is eliminated. 7. Launch nationwide public awareness campaigns regarding legal prohibitions on discrimination on the basis of caste or descent. This campaign should explain in simple terms what actions are legally prohibited and what recourse is available to victims of discrimination and abuse. 8. Provide political and financial support for programs of the United Nations and regional bodies to assist countries seeking to eradicate caste discrimination. United Nations development agencies should pay particular attention to caste violence and caste discrimination, assess the impact of their existing programs with regard to caste, and develop programs and strategies designed to curb abuse and encourage accountability. Home | Current Events | News | Publications | About HRW | Documents by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Contribute | What You Can Do | Community | Book Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright 2001, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 101183299 USA Africa Americas Asia Europe/Central Asia Middle East/N. Africa United States Arms

Children's Rights Women's Rights Refugees International Justice Prisons More... IV. BACKGROUND "Untouchability" and Segregation India's caste system is perhaps the world's longest surviving social hierarchy. A defining feature of Hinduism, caste encompasses a complex ordering of social groups on the basis of ritual purity. A person is considered a member of the caste into which he or she is born and remains within that caste until death, although the particular ranking of that caste may vary among regions and over time. Differences in status are traditionally justified by the religious doctrine of karma, a belief that one's place in life is determined by one's deeds in previous lifetimes. Traditional scholarship has described this more than 2,000-year-old system within the context of the four principal varnas, or large caste categories. In order of precedence these are the Brahmins (priests and teachers), the Ksyatriyas (rulers and soldiers), the Vaisyas (merchants and traders), and the Shudras (laborers and artisans). A fifth category falls outside the varna system and consists of those known as "untouchables" or Dalits; they are often assigned tasks too ritually polluting to merit inclusion within the traditional varna system.7 Almost identical structures are also visible in Nepal.8 Despite its constitutional abolition in 1950, the practice of "untouchability"-the imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of birth into a particular caste- remains very much a part of rural India. Representing over one-sixth of India's population-or some 160 million people-Dalits endure near complete social ostracization. "Untouchables" may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes. They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls. Dalit children are frequently made to sit at the back of classrooms. In what has been called India's "hidden apartheid," entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste.9

"Untouchability" is reinforced by state allocation of resources and facilities; separate facilities are provided for separate caste-based neighborhoods. Dalits often receive the poorer of the two, if they receive any at all. In many villages, the state administration installs electricity, sanitation facilities, and water pumps in the upper-caste section, but neglects to do the same in the neighboring, segregated Dalit area. Basic amenities such as water taps and wells are also segregated, and medical facilities and the better, thatched-roof houses exist exclusively in the upper-caste colony. As revealed by the case study below on the earthquake in Gujarat, these same practices hold true even in times of great natural disaster. Earthquake in Gujarat: Caste and its Fault-Lines On January 26, 2001, a devastating earthquake rocked the northwest Indian state of Gujarat. Within days of the country's worst natural disaster in recent history at least 30,000 were declared dead and over one million were left homeless. In the months since the earthquake, residents of the state of Gujarat have been besieged by a man-made disaster: caste and communal discrimination in the distribution of relief and rehabilitation, corruption in the handling of aid, and political squabbling that has done little to help the earthquake's neediest victims. Six weeks after the earthquake, Human Rights Watch visited the towns of Bhuj, Bhijouri, Khawda, Anjar, and Bhachau in Kutch, the state's most devastated district. In all areas visited by Human Rights Watch, Dalits and Muslims lived separately from upper-caste Hindus. Several residents and survivors told us, "we are surviving the way we lived, that's why we are in separate camps." While the government has allocated equal amounts of monetary compensation and food supplies to members of all communities, Dalit and Muslim populations did not have the same access to adequate shelter, electricity, running water, and other supplies available to others. This was apparent in several cities near Bhuj, including Anjar and Bhachchau, where the government had provided far superior shelter and basic amenities to upper-caste populations. The attention is now shifting to the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction of homes. As of this writing, it remained to be seen whether the government would construct integrated housing and give effect to its 1950 constitutional abolition of "untouchability." India's caste system naturally finds corollaries in other parts of the sub-continent, including

Nepal, Pakistan,10 Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Within the Dalit community of Nepal, there are eight major caste groups and twenty-five identified sub-castes.11 Some NGOs estimate the Dalit population at 4.5 million, or 21 percent of Nepal's population.12 Despite their significant numbers, they continue to be victimized by reason of their caste. Nepal's 1990 constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste (along with religion, race, sex, and ideology). However, an exception was created for Hindu religious practices. As a result, Dalits can and most often are legally excluded from Hindu temples and rituals.13 They are also often kept from entering hotels, shops, or homes, and are even excluded from cowsheds due to the belief that they will pollute the milking cows.14 In a high profile case in 2000, dubbed the "Gaidakot Milk Scandal," the upper castes of the Gaidakot Multipurpose Milk Production Co-operative Institution Limited refused to sell milk from an animal raised by a Dalit. Only after protests and the intervention of NGOs and human rights organizations were Dalits allowed to sell their milk to the cooperative.15 As in India, the government has committed itself to developing policies aimed at the social and economic advancement of the Dalit population. In 1998, the Independent Downtrodden and Oppressed Community Council was formed with the objective of coordinating policies and supervising programs to benefit Dalits. Nepal's Ninth Five-Year Plan also adopted several specific policies and programs for Dalit socio-economic development in the areas of education, health, sanitation, training and skills enhancement, and employment.16 On August 16, 2001, the prime minister of Nepal announced that the government would outlaw discrimination against lower-caste Hindus and pledged to pass new legislation to criminalize untouchability practices and enforce the pre-existing constitutional ban on caste discrimination. At this writing, specific legislation had yet to be proposed.17 Unlike India, which persistently argues that "the policies of the Indian Government relating to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes do not come under the purview of Article 1 of the Convention [on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination],"18 Nepal has provided detailed accounts of the country's problems with caste discrimination in several of its reports to CERD. In its fourteenth periodic report under ICERD, the government frankly acknowledged that, "for an overwhelming majority of people the caste system continues to be an extremely salient feature of personal identity and social relationships and, to some extent, determines access to social opportunities."19 It further stated that:

[R]acial discrimination in the society, especially in rural areas, is still in existence. So-called untouchables cannot even enter the houses of the people of so-called higher and middle-class castes. On one hand, they are socially suppressed by the upper classes and, on the other hand, they suffer from poverty; the intensity of poverty seems to be higher in socially backward people.20 At the Asian Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Tehran in February 2001, the Nepali government also declared that the problem of caste discrimination should be addressed at WCAR. Within Sri Lanka's majority Sinhala community, the Rodiya were historically excluded from villages and communities, forcing them into street begging, scavenging, and roving. Moreover, Rodiya could only wear caste-specific attire; were restricted from schools and public facilities; segregated at gravesites;21 and made to drink out of disposable coconut shells from local teashops so as not to contaminate the glasses of others.22 A history of exclusion has carried forward into present-day practices-Rodiya continue to reside in segregated communities with little to no interaction with upper-castes.23 According to the U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights' working paper on work and descent-based discrimination: In Sri Lanka there are two caste systems, one for the Sinhalese and the other for the Tamils. Although they both have their origin in India, the Sinhalese caste system is not linked to the Hindu varna. It was an aspect of a feudal society which divided people "according to Descent and Blood" or according to their hereditary roles and functions. The caste system was a secular hierarchy.... Social distance was practised but the notion of pollution hardly existed. As an American scholar concluded, "The absence of the Hindu concept had rendered the Sinhalese caste system mild and humanitarian when judged by Indian standards." The exception is the caste of Rodiyas or Rodi (meaning "filth") from very early times. Many legends surround their origin, all agreeing that they were banished for a heinous crime and condemned to a life of begging or, more accurately, soliciting for alms. They were denied land and work and subjected to many disadvantages and degrading treatment.24 Caste differentiation occurs in both of Sri Lanka's main Tamil communities (those

descended from plantation workers of Indian origin brought to Sri Lanka by the British colonial government, as well as those with ancestors in Sri Lanka). Marriage bars persist, as do other social bans. Caste-based discrimination is sometimes applied to non-Hindus-including Tamil Christian and Muslim converts, and members of other minority groups. These tensions are exacerbated by conflict-driven displacement, which can place groups of varying caste backgrounds in closer proximity to another.25 Caste differences between Indian-origin Tamil plantation workers also remain prominent. Higher-caste workers will often refuse to touch food offered to them by "untouchables." "Untouchables" are also made to perform specific tasks during Hindu rituals that are particular to their low-caste status.26 Caste-based divisions of labor are central to several ethnic groups in many West African countries, including the Fulani, Mandinka, and Wolof communities. Various U.N. human rights treaty monitoring bodies have made at least passing reference to caste-based distinctions in Burkina Faso, Mali, Cameroon, and Mauritania. Outside of West Africa, caste in Burundi and Mauritius has also been noted.27 While this report limits its discussion in West Africa to Mauritania, Senegal, and Nigeria, in addition to the countries mentioned above, caste systems can also be found in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Though caste systems exist within several ethnic groups in Senegal, this report confines itself to the Wolof community, the country's largest ethnic group. In July 2001, a coalition of Senegalese nongovernmental organizations held a national workshop on problems faced by caste communities in the country. The one-day meeting was in preparation for the World Conference Against Racism. Among the participants was well-known sociologist Abdoulaye Bara Diop, who has written extensively on caste systems among the Wolof of Senegal. He remarked: "When we speak of castes we think of India where the caste system rigidly structures all of society. Sub-Saharan African also knows castes, among which the griot are the most well-known." He went on to add that castes can be defined as hereditary, endogamous groups that are assigned specific occupations and governed by strict hierarchical relationships. All such characteristics can be found among the Wolof who are principally divided between the geer and the neeno.28 The Senegalese constitution proclaims the right of all citizens to equal protection of the law

regardless of race, religion, sex, or origin, a reference to one's caste background (article 1), and prohibits all acts of racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination (article 5). Despite these constitutional protections, the extent to which neeno castes approach the courts for legal redress on discrimination claims is negligible. Within the Igbo communities of southeastern Nigeria, the marginalization of those that have been categorized as Osu reportedly remains largely unchecked.29 The term "Osu" historically applied to individuals who were held to be "owned" by deities.30 Like caste distinctions in other societies, the distinction of Osu is automatically passed on by inheritance and descent and cannot generally be overcome. Osus cannot be distinguished from others on the basis of their physical appearance or their speech.31 Though Osu share the same legal status as other Nigerians-the Osu system was outlawed with the passage of the Osu System Law and the Laws of Eastern Nigeria in 1956 and 1963-members of the Osu community are still shunned as pariahs and denied social equality.32 Mostly landless, Osu can traditionally only marry within their caste, and are buried in separate cemeteries.33 Discrimination against Buraku, sometimes known as eta (variously defined as "pollution abundant" or "unclean") persists in Japan. Scholarly consensus today holds that the estimated three million Buraku who live in Japan today can trace their ancestry to those who became involved in occupations thought to be unclean during Japan's feudal Tokugawa era in the seventeenth century. These occupations included leather-making, a task shunned by Shintoists and Buddhists who felt that anything which involved the taking of life was unclean. The then-government codified such discrimination against Buraku when it explicitly deemed certain groups distinguished by their occupations to be eta and hinin ("nonperson"). These newly formed lower castes were then further forced into specific occupations. The etas were forced to dispose of dead cattle or take work as hide tanners and other leather-related crafts, while the hinin became security guards and executioners. Beginning in the early 1700s, the Japanese government established specific rules limiting the types of clothes and hairstyles that Buraku could wear, rendering them easily identifiable. Buraku were often prohibited from entering towns at night or frequenting certain religious sites.34 Their gravestones were also marked with names connecting them to slavery or cattle.35

The Buraku system was officially abolished by the Emancipation Edict of 1871, though discrimination against Buraku persists to this day. Following the edict, peasants rioted in protest at being ranked as equals to Buraku, setting fire to Buraku villages in western Japan and demanding that the edict be revoked.36 In modern day Japan, many Buraku still live in segregated communities in cities around the country, including major cities such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe.37 Burakumin continue to be characterized as "dirty" and "inappropriate" to associate with. They are even said to be of a different descent than the majority of Japanese people even though they are racially indistinguishable from the rest of the population.38 Today, the Buraku people are the targets of verbal abuse and incitement to violence, often in the form of graffiti or messages posted on the Internet with slogans like "Kill Buraku People" or "Exterminate Buraku People." Offensive emails are frequently sent to NGOs active on Buraku issues, such as the Buraku Liberation Movement.39 Segregation also continues to be a way of life for the Buraku people in rural areas in Japan, though in urban centers many have successfully integrated with non-Buraku communities.40 Caste and Marriage Often, rigid social norms of purity and pollution are socially enforced through strict prohibitions on marriage or other social interaction between castes. While economic and social indicators other than caste have gained in significance, allowing intermarriage among upper castes, in many countries strong social barriers remain in place against marriage between lower and higher castes. In India the condemnation can be quite severe, ranging from social ostracism to punitive violence. On August 6, 2001, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an upper-caste Brahmin boy and a lower-caste Jat girl were dragged to the roof of a house and publicly hanged by members of their own families as hundreds of spectators looked on. The public lynching was punishment for refusing to end an inter-caste relationship.41 Inter-caste marriages can also lead to large-scale attacks on lower-caste communities. In May 2000 in Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh, a police constable enraged by his daughter's marriage to a Dalit was joined by other relatives in shooting and killing four members of his son-in-law's family.42 Dalits who marry high-caste persons in Nepal in some cases reportedly have been imprisoned by local authorities because of false cases filed against them by members of the

upper-caste families. Dalits are often forbidden from performing marriage or funeral rites in public areas or, in some areas, from speaking to members of upper castes.43 In both the Tamil and Sinhala communities of Sri Lanka, intermarriage between upper-caste and lower-caste persons is still socially discouraged.44 Matrimonial ads in Sri Lankan newspapers placed by Tamils and Sinhalese both routinely specify the caste background of the match that the family is seeking. In Japan marriage remains a primary source of discrimination for Buraku people today.45 Suspicions that a person is of Buraku descent often lead to private investigations into his or her family background. These background checks are easy to conduct because family registries are easily obtainable, and Buraku names are distinct and recognizable. Upon discovering that the intended bride or groom is of Buraku descent, the marriage plans are often reportedly cancelled or condemned.46 Marriages are still expected to fall along caste lines for the Wolof societies of Senegal; a geer who marries someone from the lower castes may be ostracized.47 Even amongst the neeno, marriage within one's own caste is preferred, particularly amongst the griot community. In parts of southeastern Nigeria, marriage to an Osu by a non-Osu is highly discouraged and even condemned by society, while children of such a union are likely to be ostracized and mistreated.48 Caste and Labor Allocation of labor on the basis of caste is one of the fundamental tenets of many caste systems, with lower-castes typically restricted to tasks and occupations that are deemed too "filthy" or "polluting" for higher-caste communities. Among the Wolof of Senegal, the concept of caste is founded on occupational groups, and accordingly divides Wolof Senegalese into one of four categories, each of which are either hereditary or assumed upon marriage.49 The "superior" category of the geer was traditionally comprised of farmers, fisherman, warriors and animal breeders-they are still deemed society's noblest. They traditionally can only marry within the group, and are not allowed to practice the traditional professions of the lower castes. Although the lower-caste professions are divided among three distinct castes, they are collectively termed neeno and are thus distinguished from the geer. The neeno are further divided into subcastes: the jeff-lekk are comprised of artisans while

griots and jesters constitute the sab-lekk. A third category of the noole, who are relatively few in number, make up the servants and courtesans. The artisans are further divided into four sub-castes, namely blacksmiths or jewelers, shoemakers, woodcutters, and weavers. Beneath the neeno is the category of jaam or slaves-they are deemed to be outside the caste system.50 Over time, the migration of Wolofs to cities and larger towns has led to greater access to educational and professional opportunities for neeno castes, though serious problems remain.51 Sanitation jobs-including street cleaning and the handling of human waste and animal carcasses-are functions almost exclusively performed by Dalits in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Dalits in Bangladesh-who originally migrated from India under British rule and remained after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947-work principally as municipal cleaners and domestic workers, lowly jobs that are shunned by the country's majority Muslim Bengali population.52 In the country's capital, for example, Dalits make up the majority of the 5,500 cleaners working for Dhaka City Corporation. They live in small, squalid quarters provided by the city corporation with no gas or electricity and are paid a little over U.S. $1 a day. Dalits also breed pigs for Dhaka's minority Hindu and Christian population and work as vendors and rickshaw pullers. 53 Indian-origin Tamils in Sri Lanka continue to face severe social discrimination. For many of the country's minority Tamils, little has changed occupationally since the eighteenth century when members of lower-castes from southern India were brought to Sri Lanka as captive labor to work on plantations and as city cleaners. To this day, the traditional division of labor continues to be perpetuated.54 At the bottom of the caste hierarchy in the Indian Tamil community are three untouchable castes. While Pallas and Nalavas can work on upper-caste land for wages, Paraiyars are predominantly engaged in "unclean" sanitation work.55 Plantation laborers also remain marginalized from economic, educational, and social opportunities, and suffer from poor health care and an inability to participate in political life.56 According to the subcommission's working paper on work and descent-based discrimination: A recent allegation of discrimination based on descent is that made by Tamils of Indian origin employed mainly as tea estate workers in the hill country. With regard to wages,

housing, sanitation, health and educational facilities, they were an oppressed group. Improvements have slowly been made as a result of government policies and powerful trade union action. Integration with the rest of society is more difficult owing to prejudice, but this is breaking down. There are signs of upward mobility through education and non-discriminatory laws. Caste distinctions exist among themselves and complaints have been made that workers (mostly Dalits) are kept out of trade union office by high caste supervisors.57 The Sri Lankan government's development and social welfare programs have also failed to integrate the Rodiya into mainstream society,58 leaving many to rely on menial wage labor as sanitation workers and hospital attendants.59 Most Dalits in India also continue to live in extreme poverty, without land or opportunities for better employment or education. With the exception of a minority who have benefited from India's policy of quotas in education and government jobs, Dalits are relegated to the most menial of tasks as removers of human waste and dead animals, leather workers, street sweepers, and cobblers. Dalit children make up the majority of children sold into bondage to pay off debts to upper-caste creditors. According to government statistics, an estimated one million Dalits in India are "manual scavengers" (a majority of them women) who clear feces from public and private latrines and dispose of dead animals; unofficial estimates are much higher. Handling of human waste is a caste-based occupation, deemed too "polluting and filthy" for anyone but Dalits. Manual scavengers exist under different caste names throughout the country, such as the Bhangis in Gujarat, the Pakhis in Andhra Pradesh, and the Sikkaliars in Tamil Nadu. Members of these communities are invariably placed at the very bottom of the caste hierarchy, and even the hierarchy of Dalit sub-castes. Using little more than a broom, a tin plate, and a basket, they are made to clear feces from public and private latrines and carry waste to dumping grounds and disposal sites. Though long outlawed, the practice of manual scavenging continues in most states. In November 1999, after a cyclone slammed into India's eastern state of Orissa, killing thousands and rendering millions homeless, the government brought in two hundred Dalit manual scavengers from New Delhi, and planned to bring five hundred more from other parts of Orissa, to load animal carcasses onto hand-drawn carts and take them away to be

burned. Government officials had reportedly offered local upper-caste residents more than the daily minimum wage for each animal burned but they refused, citing the decayed conditions of the carcasses and the fact that the task was beneath them: they had "some self-respect left."60 As witnessed with the earthquake in Gujarat, even in times of natural disaster, the laws of "purity and pollution" prevail and the government's actions often reinforce the prejudice. Discrimination against Buraku persists in Japan's economy. In a high profile case in 1998, according to Buraku civil rights groups, over seven hundred companies were discovered to have hired private investigators to unearth job applicants' Buraku origins, ethnic background, nationality, ideology, religion, and political affiliation.61 After factoring in each characteristic, an applicant was ranked from "excellent" to "advisable not to hire." However, a person discovered to be of Buraku origin was not rated and consequently not hired.62 Already years before, in 1975, the practice of selling "Buraku lists" had been exposed. Also compiled by investigative companies, these lists included information on the names and locations of Buraku households and were marketed to private companies for the purposes of screening job applicants and to families seeking to arrange and approve marriages.63 Some claim that the lists were used to counter the Buraku rights movement, which successfully campaigned for a standard job application for high school students, and for the prohibition of the discriminatory use of family registers to be legally mandated.64 Such lists were reported to be in circulation as recently as 1996.65 Debt Bondage and Slavery The poor remuneration of manual scavenging, agricultural labor, and other forms of low-caste employment often force families of lower castes or caste-like groups into bondage. A lack of enforcement of relevant legislation prohibiting debt bondage in most of the countries concerned allows for the practice to continue unabated. An estimated forty million people in India, among them some fifteen million children, are working in slave-like conditions in order to pay off debts as bonded laborers. Due to the high interest rates charged, the employers' control over records, and the abysmally low wages paid, the debts are seldom settled. Bonded laborers are frequently low-caste, illiterate, and extremely poor, while the creditors/employers are usually higher-caste, literate, comparatively wealthy, and relatively more powerful members of the community.

The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 abolishes all agreements and obligations arising out of the bonded labor system. It aims to release all laborers from bondage, cancel any outstanding debt, prohibit the creation of new bondage agreements, and order the economic rehabilitation of freed bonded laborers by the state. It also punishes attempts to compel persons into bondage with a maximum of three years in prison and a Rs. 2,000 (U.S.$43) fine. However, relatively few bonded laborers have been identified, released, and rehabilitated in the country. In Pakistan the debt bondage system is most prevalent in the agricultural provinces of southern Punjab and Sindh. Most laborers in these areas are minority Hindus from lower castes.66 In a pattern similar to that practiced in India, the charging of exorbitantly high interest rates ensure that loans from landowners never get repaid. While the loan agreement is often made between the landowner and the male head of the peasant household, the work to pay off the loan is performed by the entire family, including women and children.67 Women have also been held in custody by landowners when bonded male members of the family leave the land or area, and have even been sold into marriage or prostitution should the male family member fail to return.68 As in India, children often inherit their families' debts and remain trapped in a cycle of debt bondage.69 A disturbing reflection of the slavery of centuries past is the well-documented practice of tying up or chaining bonded laborers to hinder their escape. Of the 7,500 bonded laborers reported to have escaped or been released since 1995 in the southern Sindh province, human rights organizations report that "several hundred" of them were found "tied up or in chains."70 Similarly, in 1991 the Pakistani army reportedly conducted a raid that unearthed the illegal detention of 295 laborers, including 132 children, all of whom were shackled each night. Most were only given flour and chili peppers as food and had no access to plumbing facilities or medical care.71 National legislation in Pakistan prohibiting these practices reportedly has done little to eradicate them. Provincial governments responsible for their enforcement have yet to establish mechanisms to put them into practice.72 According to the United Nation Development Programme's "Nepal Human Development Report 1998," despite legal pronouncements to the contrary, bonded labor has not been eradicated in Nepal. The report adds: In the mid-western and far western hills, the debt-bonded agricultural labourers, haliyas,

mainly from "untouchable" castes, work under this system. The Anti-Slavery International and INSEC73 in 1996 rarely observed haliyas from among members of the high caste groups.... Their report also revealed that in the regions noted above, members of "untouchable" households were charged very high rates of interest - as high as 10 percent/month - on loans forwarded by their landlords, while members of "high caste" households were generally charged only 2-3 percent/month. Such discrimination was designed to keep alive and intensify the system of debt bondage. The "low caste" Tarai groups like Musahar, Dusadh, Dom, Chamar, etc. face a similar problem: repayment of loans is actively discouraged by the landlords (ibid.). Because the primary interest of the landlord lies in continued cultivation of his land and in regular assurance of labour supply, his lending is not directed towards earning interest in cash (NRB 1988).74 The legacy of slavery as a form of caste and descent-based discrimination in Mauritania is an issue the government must do more to address.75 While President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya has brought public attention to modern-day slavery practices throughout the country-and while the government purports to have implemented relevant education and agrarian reforms-its record on enforcing slavery-specific legislation, and legislation promoting the civil rights of former slaves, is weak.76 Both the Arab and Afro-Mauritanian groups have long distinguished community members on the basis of caste, and both included a caste-like designation of "slave" within these systems. To this day a former "slave" distinction-particularly for the Haratines, Arabic speakers of Sub-Saharan African origin-still carries significant social implications. At best, members of higher and lower castes are discouraged from intermarrying. In Soninke communities, members of the slave caste are also buried in separate cemeteries.77 At worst, however, there is a widespread system of unpaid servitude required of communities whose members still self-identify as slaves. Though the government has long outlawed slave-like distinctions and practices, it has taken few steps to enforce these laws. A weak economy also leaves former slaves with few options other than remaining with the families of masters who owned their ancestors. 78 Caste systems similar to those found among the Wolof of Senegal can also be found among Soninke, Halpular, and Wolof Afro-Mauritanians. Caste and Socio-Economic Disparities Significant economic and educational disparities persist between lower and higher-caste

communities in the countries highlighted in this report. Lower-caste communities are often plagued by low literacy levels and a lack of access to health care and education. A lack of formal education or training, as well as discrimination that effectively bars them from many forms of employment, and the nonenforcement of protective legislation, perpetuates caste-based employment and keeps its hereditary nature alive. As of 1997, there were reportedly only two Dalit medical doctors and fifteen Dalit engineers in Nepal.79 The life expectancy rate of Nepal's Dalits is five years short of the national average of 55.80 Children face a higher incidence of malnutrition81 and the general population lacks access to clean drinking water or proper health services.82 Nepal's 1998 Human Development Report revealed that development indicators closely followed caste lines. Without a single exception, the lower the caste, the lower the life expectancy, the literacy rate, years of schooling, and per capita income.83 In 1999, Nepal's fourteenth periodic report to CERD also frankly and constructively highlighted the economic disparities that continue to persist between low- and high-caste populations: [A]wareness creation, income generation, education and health facilities programmes were implemented to address the problems of the backward communities. However, the gap between so-called higher and lower castes has not narrowed. There have hardly been any changes in the society or the living standard of the poor. Consequently, the people of backward communities have felt discriminated against and could not believe that the Government was doing anything for their welfare and development. The main reasons for this are: lack of integrated programmes, weak implementation and sustainability, failure to mainstream backward communities and repressed people into the national development process, centre-oriented/based programmes rather than community-based/participatory programmes, little attention to human resource development and lack of encouragement to the development and modernization of traditional occupations and skills, lack of effective institutional mechanisms, etc.84 Access to Education High drop-out and lower literacy rates among lower-caste populations have rather simplistically been characterized as the natural consequences of poverty and underdevelopment. Though these rates are partly attributable to the need for low-caste children to supplement their family wages through labor, more insidious and less

well-documented is the discriminatory and abusive treatment faced by low-caste children who attempt to attend school, at the hands of their teachers and fellow students. Over fifty years since India's constitutional promise of free, compulsory, primary education for all children up to the age of fourteen-with special care and consideration to be given to promote the educational progress of scheduled castes-illiteracy still plagues almost two-thirds of the Dalit population as compared to about one-half of the general population. The literacy gap between Dalits and the rest of the population fell a scant 0.39 percent between 1961 and 1991. Most of the government schools in which Dalit students are enrolled are deficient in basic infrastructure, classrooms, teachers, and teaching aids. A majority of Dalit students are also enrolled in vernacular schools whose students suffer serious disadvantages in the job market as compared to those who learn in English-speaking schools.85 Despite state assistance in primary education, Dalits also suffer from an alarming drop-out rate. According to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes' 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 Report, the national drop-out rate for Dalit children-who often sit in the back of classrooms-was a staggering 49.35 percent at the primary level, 67.77 percent for middle school, and 77.65 percent for secondary school.86 Rodiya children in Sri Lanka rarely study past elementary levels, if at all. Instead, their parents require them to realize their income-earning potential even as young children, and often prematurely take them out of school.87 Lower-caste Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin in Sri Lanka also have low literacy levels. According to a Sri Lankan activist only 65 percent of plantation workers can read or write, compared to a high 90 percent national average. Higher drop out rates among children of plantation workers stems partly from the employment of these children as domestic workers, hotel workers, or sanitation cleaners.88 The Buraku of Japan also suffer from lower levels of higher education than the national average, and higher dropout rates than the broader society. In particular, Buraku women report lower levels of literacy, high school and university enrollment, and employment.89 Special scholarship programs that bolstered national averages of Buraku education are expected to be phased out by March 2002, despite the considerable success they had in bridging the education gap between Buraku and non-Buraku. In Nepal the literacy rate for Dalits is appallingly low at 10 percent for men and 3.2 percent

for women, compared to a national literacy rate that exceeds 50 percent. According to the government's own fourteenth periodic report under ICERD, "The lowest literacy is among the occupational castes. Women constitute more than two thirds of the illiterates."90 Access to Land Most Dalit victims of abuse in India are landless agricultural laborers who form the backbone of the nation's agrarian economy. Despite decades of land reform legislation, over 86 percent of Dalit households today are landless or near landless. Those who own land often own very little. Land is the prime asset in rural areas that determines an individual's standard of living and social status. As with many other low-caste populations, lack of access to land makes Dalits economically vulnerable; their dependency is exploited by upper- and middle-caste landlords and allows for many abuses to go unpunished. Landless agricultural laborers throughout the country work for a few kilograms of rice or Rs. 15 to Rs. 35 (US$0.32 to $0.75) a day, well below the minimum wage prescribed in their state. Many laborers owe debts to their employers or other moneylenders.91 Indian laws and regulations that prohibit alienation of Dalit lands, set ceilings on a single landowner's holdings, or allocate surplus government lands to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have been largely ignored, or worse, manipulated by upper castes with the help of district administrations.92 Although many of Nepal's agricultural laborers are Dalits, Dalits also have a startlingly low rate of land ownership-only 3.1 percent of Dalits own more than twenty-one ropanies93 of land and collectively Dalits own only about 1 percent of Nepal's total cultivable land. Moreover, 90 percent of Nepal Dalits live below the poverty line, compared to 45 percent of the overall population. Their per capita income amounts to a paltry U.S.$39.60 while the rest of Nepalese average U.S.$210 per year.94 Nepali Dalits are among the world's poorest of the poor. Political Representation and Political Rights India's policy of "reservations" or caste-based quotas is an attempt by the central government to remedy past injustices related to low-caste status. To allow for proportional representation in certain state and federal institutions, the constitution reserves 22.5 percent of federal government jobs, seats in state legislatures, the lower house of parliament, and educational institutions for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The reservation policy, however, has not been fully implemented. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes' (1996-1997 and 1997-1998) report indicates that of the total scheduled caste reservation quota in the Central Government, 54 percent remains unfilled. More than 88 percent of posts reserved in the public sector remain unfilled as do 45 percent in state banks. A closer examination of the caste composition of government services, institutions of education and other services, however, reveals what Dalit activists call an "unacknowledged reservation policy" for upper-castes, particularly Brahmins, built into the system. Though they represented only 5 percent of the population in 1989, Brahmins comprised 70 percent of the Class I officers in governmental services. At universities, upper-castes occupy 90 percent of the teaching posts in the social sciences and 94 percent in the sciences, while Dalit representation is only 1.2 and 0.5 percent, respectively.95 Dalits throughout India also suffer in many instances from de facto disenfranchisement. While India remains the world's largest democracy, for many of its Dalit citizens democracy has been a sham. During elections, many are routinely threatened and beaten by political party strongmen in order to compel them to vote for certain candidates. Already under the thumb of local landlords and police officials, Dalit villagers who do not comply have been harassed, beaten, and murdered. Police and upper-caste militias, operating at the behest of powerful political leaders in India's states, have also punished Dalit voters. In February 1998, police raided a Dalit village in Tamil Nadu that had boycotted the national parliamentary elections. Women were kicked and beaten, their clothing was torn, and police forced sticks and iron pipes into their mouths. Kerosene was poured into stored food grains and grocery items and police reportedly urinated in cooking vessels. In Bihar, political candidates ensure their majority vote with the help of senas, civilian militias, whose members intimidate and kill. The Ranvir Sena, a private militia of upper-caste landlords, was responsible for killing more than fifty people during Bihar's 1995 state election campaign. The sena was again used to intimidate voters in Ara district, Bihar, during the February 1998 national parliamentary elections.96 Dalits who have contested political office in village councils and municipalities through seats that have been constitutionally "reserved" for them have been threatened with physical abuse and even death in order to get them to withdraw from the campaign. In the village of

Melavalavu, in Tamil Nadu's Madurai district, following the election of a Dalit to the village council presidency, members of a higher-caste group murdered six Dalits in June 1997, including the elected council president, whom they beheaded.97 Unlike India, Nepal does not provide for reservations of posts or quotas in political bodies, civil sector jobs, and institutions of higher learning. Though they comprise over 20 percent of the population, lower castes are dramatically underrepresented in government. Since 1958, only fourteen Dalits in Nepal have become members of parliament (upper house) through a system of nomination, all of them men. Only one Dalit has been elected to the House of Representatives.98 Furthermore, there has been a dearth of Dalits in Nepal's administrative and judicial system; and discrimination continues to persist in the Nepal Royal Army.99 Conversely, according to an NGO study on discrimination against Dalits in Nepal, while Brahmins constitute only 16 percent of the population, they represent 57 percent of parliament and a staggering 89 percent of the judiciary.100 The result is that a full one-fifth of Nepal's population is effectively excluded. In Sri Lanka, Indian-origin Tamils-who have resided in the country since the nineteenth century-can only become citizens through registration. They are denied the right to citizenship by descent to which the rest of the Sri Lankan population is entitled.101 Physical and Economic Retaliation A principal weapon in sustaining the low status of Dalits in India is the use of social and economic boycotts and acts of retaliatory violence. Dalits are physically abused and threatened with economic and social ostracism from the community for refusing to carry out various caste-based tasks. Any attempt to alter village customs, defy the social order, or to demand land, increased wages, or political rights leads to violence and economic retaliation on the part of those most threatened by changes in the status quo. Dalit communities as a whole are summarily punished for individual transgressions; Dalits are cut off from community land and employment during social boycotts, Dalit women bear the brunt of physical attacks, and the law is rarely enforced.102 Since the early 1990s, violence against Dalits has escalated dramatically in response to growing Dalit rights movements. Between 1995 and 1997, a total of 90,925 cases were registered with the police nationwide as crimes and "atrocities" against scheduled castes. Of these 1,617 were for murder, 12,591 for hurt, 2,824 for rape, and 31,376 for offenses listed

under the Prevention of Atrocities Act.103 Given that Dalits are often both reluctant and unable (for lack of police cooperation) to report crimes against themselves, the actual number of abuses is presumably much higher.104 India's National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has reported that these cases typically fall into one of three categories: cases relating to the practice of "untouchability" and attempts to defy the social order; cases relating to land disputes and demands for minimum wages; and cases of atrocities by police and forest officials. Most of the conflicts take place within very narrow segments of the caste hierarchy, between the poor and the not so poor, the landless laborer and the marginal landowner. The differences lie in the considerable amount of leverage that the higher-caste Hindus or non-Dalits are able to wield over local police, district administrations, and even state governments.105 On the night of December 1, 1997, an upper-caste landlord militia called the Ranvir Sena shot dead sixteen children, twenty-seven women, and eighteen men in the village of Laxmanpur-Bathe, Jehanabad district Bihar. Five teenage girls were raped and mutilated before being shot in the chest. The villagers were alleged to have been sympathetic to a guerilla group known as Naxalites that had been demanding more equitable land redistribution in the area. When asked why the sena killed children and women, one sena member told Human Rights Watch, "We kill children because they will grow up to become Naxalites. We kill women because they will give birth to Naxalites."106 The senas, which claim many politicians as members, operate with virtual impunity. In some cases, police have accompanied them on raids and have stood by as they killed villagers and burned down their homes. On April 10, 1997, in the village of Ekwari, located in the Bhojpur district of Bihar, police stationed in the area to protect lower-caste villagers instead pried open the doors of their residences as members of the sena entered and killed eight residents. In other cases, police raids have followed attacks by the senas. Sena leaders are rarely prosecuted for such killings, and the villagers are rarely or inadequately compensated for their losses. Even in cases where police are not hostile to Dalits, they are generally not accessible to call upon: most police camps are located in the upper-caste section of the village and Dalits are simply unable to approach them for protection.107 Caste and Gender Lower-caste women are singularly positioned at the bottom of caste, class, and gender

hierarchies. Largely uneducated and consistently paid less than their male counterparts worldwide they invariably bear the brunt of exploitation, discrimination, and physical attacks. Sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women are often used by landlords and the police to inflict political "lessons" and crush dissent within the community. Lower-caste women also suffer disproportionately in terms of access to health care, education, and subsistence wages as compared to women of higher castes. Dalit women in India and Nepal make up the majority of landless laborers and scavengers, as well as a significant percentage of the women forced into prostitution in rural areas or sold into urban brothels. As such, they come into greater contact with landlords and enforcement agencies than their upper-caste counterparts. Their subordinate position is exploited by those in power who carry out their attacks with impunity. Incidents of gang-rape, stripping, and parading women naked through the streets, and making them eat excrement are all crimes specific to Dalit women in India. Sexual violence is also linked to debt bondage in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. According to a Tamil Nadu state government official, the rape of Dalit women exposes the hypocrisy of the caste system as "no one practices untouchability when it comes to sex."108 Like other Indian women whose relatives are sought by the police, Dalit women have also been arrested and tortured in custody as a means of punishing their male relatives who are hiding from the authorities. Gender-specific violence is a problem of epidemic proportions among low-caste plantation workers in Sri Lanka.109 In Nepal, Dalit women are economically marginalized and exploited, both within and outside their families. As the largest group of those engaged in manual labor and agricultural production, their jobs often include waste disposal, clearing carcasses, and doing leatherwork.110 Despite their grueling tasks and long hours, exploitative wages ensure that Dalit women are unable to earn a subsistence living. In some rural areas Dalit women scarcely earn ten to twenty kilograms of food grain a year, barely enough to sustain a family.111 Many have been driven to prostitution. One caste in particular, known as badis, is viewed as a prostitution caste. Many Dalit women and girls, including those from the badi caste, are trafficked into sex work in Indian brothels.112 Under the devadasi system, thousands of Dalit girls in India's southern states are ceremonially "dedicated" or married to a deity or to a temple. Once dedicated, they are

forced to become prostitutes for upper-caste community members, and eventually auctioned into an urban brothel.113 In Pakistan human rights organizations report that the rape of female bonded laborers is one of the most pressing problems facing the movement to end debt bondage. Not only is it a widespread, violent problem, but there is little legal recourse.114 In Mauritania, women are particularly burdened by the designation of "slave." While men are sometimes able to escape, and by law cannot be forced to return to their "masters," women are often forced to remain as their "masters" threaten to keep their children. The tenuous legal status of slave children also keeps women tied to their masters.115 Caste and the South Asian Diaspora Caste has migrated with the South Asian diaspora to firmly take root in East and South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, the Middle East, Malaysia, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, North America, and other regions.116 Among migrant communities in North America and Europe, caste ideologies are perpetuated by families returning to India to seek out marriage partners within their own caste. U.S.-based matrimonial services, including regional conventions, are burgeoning alongside a growing population of Indian origin.117 Families openly advertise their caste preference in the matrimonial sections of Indian community papers in North America and Europe (a practice quite common within India as well), as well as on Internet matchmaking sites. In the United States, a rising number of caste-based groups-each with chapters throughout many major cities-also points to the importance of caste as an identifier for migrant Indian communities. Such caste-based associations in the United States are providing funds and political support for a resurgence of caste fundamentalism in South Asia as well.118 In Britain emigrant Dalits must also worship in segregated temples and have thus formed an umbrella group for low-caste temples-Guru Ravidass UK.119 Twenty-two of these temples withheld (and ultimately redirected) funds raised for earthquake victims in Gujarat due to incidents of caste discrimination in the distribution of earthquake relief.120 Also in Britain caste tensions frequently erupt between high-caste Punjabis (Jats) and low-caste Punjabis (Chamars). Physical violence has also been known to erupt following intermarriage between the two communities.121 Caste consciousness becomes especially problematic given the sizable population of both Jats and Chamars in the United Kingdom.

According Sat Pal Muman, a presenter at the September 2000 International Dalit Human Rights Conference in London, inquiries about one's caste background are often made in privately run or Jat-run educational institutions and places of employment. In the city of Wolverhampton incidents of upper-caste Jats refusing to share water taps or make any physical contact with lower-caste persons have also been reported. At a sports competition in Birmingham in 1999 Jats reportedly refused to eat food that came from the Chamar community.122 In Suriname, Indians of Dalit-descent continue to be largely distinguished by their various caste-based occupations.123 Chamars traditionally worked as drum beaters, beggars, hawkers, and shoemakers; Pallen as landless laborers; Dhobis as washers; Collies as porters; and Dasis as house servants. A higher-caste group includes Kurmis as cultivators, Ahir as cow herders, and Chettyar as weavers, barbers, shopkeepers, and moneylenders. The third and highest caste category consists of priests, scribes, and schoolmasters.124 In Mauritius, with its large concentration of people of Indian origin, social organization is based on family, kinship networks, and "to a not negligible extent, caste-based organization."125 Caste-based considerations have also been reported in the political and employment sector.126 Caste distinctions play a role in both private life and political organization within Malaysia's minority "Indian" community although the extent of its influence on Malaysian Indian society is the subject of considerable debate.127 Caste considerations are most obvious in the private sphere, particularly in the community's attitudes towards intermarriage. Many families seeking to arrange marriages place matrimonial ads that include caste requirements, and marriage brokers may be expected to take caste into account when finding suitable matches.128 As one researcher observed, "Caste has, indeed, such a strong hold in marriage matters that intercaste marriages between different categories of higher caste status sometimes do not take place with parents' approval, much less between higher and lower caste members. Abolition of caste discrimination in this area remains a distant dream."129 Though interactions outside the home seem to take place without much emphasis on caste, within the home contact with castes thought to be polluting may be quite limited. Some families, for example, refuse to dine with or accept food and drinks from people they suspect of being lower caste.130

Mass migration of higher and lower-caste Indians to Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf states has brought with it vestiges of the caste system as well. Failure to Implement Domestic and International Law The practice of "untouchability," other caste-based discrimination, violence against lower-caste men, women, and children, and other abuses outlined in this report violate numerous domestic and international laws. International human rights law imposes on governments a duty to guarantee the rights of all people without discrimination and to punish those who engage in caste-based exploitation, violence, and discrimination. In its August 2000 resolution, the U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights urged governments to ensure that "appropriate legal penalties and sanctions, including criminal sanctions, are prescribed for and applied to all persons or entities within the jurisdiction of the Governments concerned who may be found to have engaged in practices of discrimination on the basis of work and descent."131 The subcommission's working paper on work and descent-based discrimination noted a year later, "The laws are there, but there is a clear lack of will on the part of law enforcement officers to take action owing to caste prejudice on their part or deference shown to higher-caste perpetrators."132 Though constitutional guarantees and other national legislation banning caste discrimination suggest that various governments have successfully tackled caste-related violations, much of the legislation remains unenforced. Official condemnation alone has proven insufficient in many countries in abolishing caste-based abuses. In India, for example, laws are openly flouted while state complicity in attacks on Dalit communities continues to reflect a well-documented pattern. India's own constitutional and statutory bodies, including the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, have repeatedly confirmed and decried the prevalence of the abuses outlined in this report. Other government authorities, however, have facilitated continued discrimination. Indeed it would be difficult to convince Dalits that, over fifty-four years after independence, the government had done anything to end the violence and discrimination that has ruled their lives. The message sent from the judiciary on caste discrimination is equally disturbing: in July 1998 in the state of Uttar Pradesh, an Allahabad High Court judge reportedly had his chambers "purified with Ganga

jal," water from the River Ganges, because it had earlier been occupied by a Dalit judge.133 The state's failure to prosecute atrocities against Dalits is well illustrated by its manipulation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Enacted in 1989, the act provides for certain stiffer punishments for abuses against members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes when committed by non-scheduled caste or tribe members. Its enactment represented an acknowledgment on the part of the government that abuses, in their most degrading and violent forms, were still perpetrated against Dalits despite the constitutional abolition of "untouchability" four decades earlier. The potential of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to bring about social change, however, has been hampered by police corruption and caste bias, with the result that many allegations of caste crimes are not entered in police records. Ignorance of procedures and a lack of knowledge of the act have also affected its implementation. Even when cases are registered, the absence of special courts to try them can delay prosecutions for up to three to four years. Some state governments dominated by higher castes have attempted to repeal the legislation altogether. In 1957 the government of Sri Lanka passed the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act making it an offense to deny access to various public places to persons by reason of their caste. A 1971 amendment imposed stiffer punishments for the commission of offenses under the 1957 act. According to the U.N. Subcommission's working paper: "Initially there were some prosecutions in the North but there was a tendency for the police not to take action against violations. In a celebrated temple-entry case, the Act was challenged as interfering with customs and ancient usages that prohibited defilement of a Hindu temple by the entry of low-caste persons. This argument was rejected by the Supreme Court and Privy Council."134 Unlike India's constitution, Sri Lanka's 1978 Constitution does not provide for community-based affirmative action. It does however prohibit discrimination on the grounds of caste, including caste-based restrictions on access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, places of public entertainment, and places of worship of one's own religion. Despite these constitutional prohibitions, serious problems remain. Prohibitions on the denial of fundamental freedoms to Nigeria's Osu community are part and parcel of the country's constitution and domestic laws. Legislation abolishing the Osu system has been in force since the 1950s, and constitutional provisions prohibit discriminatory

practices and promote equal implementation of legal protections.135 Nigeria has also incorporated the African Charter on Human and People's Rights into its national legislation, strengthening its commitment on paper to end discriminatory practices such as the Osu caste system. However, these laws remain largely unenforced. According to the 1984 report of an expert to the then-U.N. Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, slavery "as an institution protected by law has been genuinely abolished in Mauritania.... Nevertheless... it cannot be denied that in certain remote corners of the country over which the administration has little control certain situations of de facto slavery may still persist."136 Still many human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have pointed to Mauritanian government inaction in enforcing its own ban on slave-like practices. In their oral submission before the fiftieth session of the U.N. Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in 1998, Anti-Slavery International stated that, "the government does not have a pro-slavery policy, but its silence and inaction on this issue allow centuries-old caste servitude to continue with impunity."137 In a 1999 letter Human Rights Watch noted the following on the enforcement of laws against slavery: The government has not taken any forceful steps to remove what it considers the "vestiges" or "after effects" (sequelles) of slavery. While the courts have upheld individual rights in a few cases, judges have failed to enforce systematically the laws abolishing slavery, in some cases returning "slaves" to their "masters" even though this relationship in theory has ceased to exist. Few lawyers are able and willing to appear in court to defend the rights of "slaves." There is no law providing for the practice of slavery or forced labor to be an offense; while provisions in the 1980 law for compensation to be provided to slave-owners (but not slaves) have never been implemented, encouraging an attitude among "masters" that they need take no action to ensure substantive freedom for their "slaves."138 The success of legislation to combat caste discrimination in Japan may be coming to an end. To counter various forms of discrimination against the Buraku population, the Japanese government instituted the "Law on Special Measures for Dowa Projects." This series of reform efforts had considerable success in improving housing areas for Buraku communities and increasing education and literacy rates among Buraku children. As a case in point, from 1963 to 1997, the enrolment of Buraku children in high school and public vocational schools

rose from 30 percent to 92 percent, while university and junior college rates rose from 14.2 percent to 28.6 percent.139 With the Special Measures set to lapse in March 2002, civil rights activists in Japan worry that that progress will be halted and have urged the government to consider the need for further such legislation.140 7 See generally, Ainslie Embree, ed., Sources of Indian Tradition: From the Beginnings to 1800 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988); Pauline Kolenda, Caste in Contemporary India: Beyond Organic Solidarity (Menlo Park: Benjamin/Cumming Publishing Co., 1978); M. N. Srinivas, ed., Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar (New Delhi: Viking, 1996). 8 A caste system amongst Bali's predominantly Hindu population also mimics India's caste system in structure though not in severity. While people still self-identify as belonging to particular castes, and culturally abide by certain caste norms, the extent of discrimination based on caste is unclear. 9 For more on caste-based violence and discrimination in India, see Human Rights Watch, Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "Untouchables" (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999). 10 According to a 1979 study, Punjabi Christians of the sweeper caste were also reportedly treated as untouchables in Pakistan. Historically, Punjabi Christians belonged to a low-caste Hindu group called the Chuhras. After the partition of India in 1947, many migrated to Pakistan where they took on occupations that others considered to be impure, such as sweeping and scavenging. They were regarded and treated as untouchables, as were those referred to as Musallis, untouchable converts to Islam. Sweepers were confined to live in segregated areas, such as the slaughterhouse neighborhood in Karachi. Such neighborhoods were extremely poor and squalid. Members of the sweeper and other untouchable castes were also forbidden from entering Muslim tea houses. Pieter H. Streefland, The Sweepers of the Slaughterhouse: Conflict and Survival in a Karachi Neighborhood (Assen, the Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1979), pp. 13 and 15. The status of these groups in modern day Pakistan is unclear. 11 Padmalal Bishwakarma, "Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Against Dalits in Nepal," paper prepared by the Society for the Liberation of Oppressed Dalit Castes, Nepal, for the Global Conference on Caste Discrimination, New Delhi, March 1-4, 2001.

12 Ibid. 13 U.S. Department of State, 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nepal (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, February 25, 2000). The Constitution describes Nepal as a "Hindu Kingdom," though it does not establish Hinduism as the state religion. 14 D.B. "Sagar" Bishwakarma, "General Comments of Country Report for the United Nations Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," paper prepared by the Academy for Public Upliftment for the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Preparation of NGO Country Report Under the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 15 Ibid. 16 Rajendra Kalidas Wimala Goonesekere, "Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Indigenous Peoples and Minorities" (New York: United Nations, 2001) E/CN.4/Sub. 2/2001/16, para. 38 17 "Nepal Prohibits Bias Against Untouchable Caste," The New York Times, August 17, 2001. 18 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Fourteenth Periodic Reports of States Parties Due in 1996: India," CERD/C/299/Add.3, para. 7, April 29, 1996. 19 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Fourteenth Report of States Parties Due in 1998: Nepal," CERD/C/337/Add.4, para. 22, May 12, 1999. 20 Ibid., para. 38. 21 Nireka Weeratunge, Aspects of Ethnicity and Gender Among the Rodi of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka: International Centre for Ethnic Studies, 1988), p. 61. 22 Ibid., p. 77. 23 Ibid., p. 77. 24 Goonesekere, "Prevention of Discrimination" (New York: United Nations, 2001), E/CN.4/Sub. 2/2001/16, paras. 28-29. 25 In research conducted by Human Rights Watch in Sri Lanka in 1999, displaced members of the Kuravar minority, a non-Tamil tribal group, complained that their Tamil neighbors were preventing them from using a village water supply because they were viewed as low caste or "untouchable." Sri Lankan Tamil internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Trincomalee

also complained when they were forced to live in close proximity to Tamils of Indian origin, whom they considered lower caste. Human Rights Watch interviews, April 1999. 26 Oddvar Hollup, "Caste Identity and Cultural Continuity Among Tamil plantation workers in Sri Lanka," Journal of Asian and African studies, vol. 28, nos. 1-2 (1993), pp. 79-81. 27 See Appendix D. 28 "Confrence mondiale sur le racisme: Les castes, autre forme d'injustice," Le Soleil, July 16, 2001, available at http://www.lesoleil.sn/recherche/article.CFM?article__id=5605&article__edition=9337 (accessed August 15, 2001). Translated from French. 29 Victor Dike, "The Caste System in Nigeria, Democratization and Culture: Socio-political and Civil Rights Implications," African Economic Analysis, available at www.afbis.com/analysis/caste.htm (accessed March 22, 2001); Constitutional Rights Project, "Osu Caste Practice in South Eastern Nigeria," working paper; Igwebuike Romeo Okeke, The `Osu' Concept in Igboland: A Study of the Types of Slavery in Igbo-Speaking Areas of Nigeria (Nigeria: Access Publishers, 1986). 30 Constitutional Rights Project, "Osu Caste Practice in South Eastern Nigeria," p. 2. In order to appease village deities, Osu were traditionally "sacrificed" or dedicated to them. They were confined to living in homes at the edge of town, so as to bear the brunt of any misfortune that might befall the village. Felicitas Aigbogun, "Osu Caste System in Nigeria," working paper, p. 2. After being dedicated to a deity, a common practice was to cut off a small part of the ears or fingers of the Osu as an identification mark. Okeke, The `Osu' Concept in Igboland, p. 60. It was commonly thought that any contact with an Osu was contaminating, and any person who touched an Osu automatically became an Osu. Ibid., p. 31. 31 Constitutional Rights Project, "Osu Caste Practice in South Eastern Nigeria," p. 3. 32 Dike, "The Caste System in Nigeria." 33 Jerome Njikwulimchukwu Okafor, The Challenge of Osu Caste System to the Igbo Christians (Onitsha: Veritas Printing and Publishing, 1993), p. 33. 34 Ian Neary, "Burakumin in Contemporary Japan" in Michael Weiner (ed.) Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 55. 35 International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism and Buraku

Liberation League and Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute, "Reality of Buraku Discrimination in Japan: History, Situation, Challenge," February 2001, pp. 7-8. 36 Ibid., p. 10. 37 "Kyoto," Encyclopedia Britannica Online, http://members.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=109591&sctn=4, (accessed July 18, 2001). 38 Leslie D. Alldritt, "The Burakumin: The Complicity of Japanese Buddhism in Oppression and an Opportunity for Liberation," Journal of Buddhist Ethics, vol. 7 (2000), available at http://jbe.la.psu.edu/7/alldritt001.html (accessed March 28, 2001). 39 Yuka Ishikawa, "Rights Activists and Rights Violations: The Burakumin Case in Japan," paper prepared by the Buraku Liberation League for the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste Based Discrimination, New Delhi, India, March 1-4, 2001, available at http://www.imadr.org/tokyo/ishikawareport.html (accessed May 21, 2001). 40 Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute and Buraku Liberation League, Buraku People (Japan: Discrimination Against Buraku People). 41 Stephanie Nolen, "Cross-caste teen lovers brutally slain Families charged in torture, killing of Indian couple who defied ingrained tradition," Globe and Mail (Toronto), August 9, 2001. 42 Ramdutt Tripathi, "Arrests Over India Caste Deaths," available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_740000/740701.stm, May 8, 2000 (accessed May 18, 2001). 43 Bishwakarma, "General Comments of Country Report for the United Nations Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination." 44 Weeratunge, Aspects of Ethnicity and Gender Among the Rodi of Sri Lanka, p. 77. See also, Oddvar, "Caste Identity and Cultural Continuity," pp.79-81. 45 Ishikawa, "Rights Activists and Rights Violations." 46 Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute and Buraku Liberation League, Buraku People. 47 Sherman Lewis, "The First Senegal," available at http://www.isis.csuhayward.edu/alss/polsci/slewis/senegal/rpt.htm (accessed May 16, 2001). 48 Constitutional Rights Project, "Osu Caste Practice in South Eastern Nigeria," pp. 23-24.

49 "Wolof," Encyclopedia Brittanica, available at http://members.eb.com/bol/topic?idxref=517474 (accessed May 21, 2001); "Senegal Culture," available at http://www.lonelyplanet.lycos.com/africa/senegal/culture.html (accessed May 21, 2000); "Senegal Overview," available at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2787/overview.html (accessed May 21, 2001); Lewis, "The First Senegal." 50 Lewis, "The First Senegal." See generally, Abdoulaye-Bara Diop, La Socit Wolof: Tradition et Changement. Les Systmes D'Ingalit et de Domination. (Paris: Karthala, 1981). 51 Ibid. Griots occupied a special place within the caste system because of their traditional roles as oral storytellers, singers, and conflict mediators. Griots were at once celebrated for their storytelling skills and deemed polluting because of the tasks that they performed-including circumcision, funeral preparation, and midwifery. Contact with griots-particularly through their sweat-was seen as socially polluting. Benhill, J., Ph.D. Thesis in Anthropology, Yale University, http://www.geocities.com/jbenhill/thesisChap2.html (accessed July 26, 2001). 52 "Bangladesh Dalit Hindus Fight for Jobs and Homes," Indian Express, September 20, 2000. 53 Ibid. 54 P.P. Sivapragasam, "Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka: An Oppressed People" (paper prepared by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights for the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste Based Discrimination/Occupation and Descent Based Discrimination Against Dalits, New Delhi, India March 1-4, 2001). 55 Goonesekere, "Prevention of Discrimination" (New York: United Nations, 2001) E/CN.4/Sub. 2/2001/16, para. 32 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid., para. 36. 58 Weeratunge, Aspects of Ethnicity and Gender Among the Rodi of Sri Lanka, p. 78. 59 Ibid., p. 79. 60 Neelesh Misra, "Even for Money, Cyclone Survivors Won't Clear Bodies," Associated Press, November 12, 1999.

61 Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute and Buraku Liberation League, Buraku People; Ishikawa, "Rights Activists and Rights Violations." 62 Kenzo Tomonaga, NGO Report in Response to the First and Second Report Prepared by the Government of Japan Concerning the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Japan: Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute, 2000). 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 Dexter Filkins, "Serfs Cast Off Chains in Pakistan," Los Angeles Times, August 20, 1999. According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, bonded agricultural laborers in Sindh province in Pakistan, known as Haris, hail from lower caste and "untouchable" groups of Indian origin. In lower Sindh, many live in "unregistered villages" and so have no political rights. Many are illiterate and often ignorant of the laws that are meant to protect them. Haris work as contract laborers, migrant workers, and sharecroppers. Under current systems, Haris can never receive compensation worth more than one-fourth of the crop that they have farmed. Asian Development Bank, "Sindh Rural Development Project (TA 3132-PAK) Final Report, Volume 1," October 2000. 67 Human Rights Watch, Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Pakistan (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995), pp. 12-13. 68 Ibid., p. 66. 69 To ensure the sustainability of the practice of debt bondage, landowners in Pakistan have also been known to bribe teachers to stay at home, instead of teaching at schools attended by the children of bonded laborers. A 1999 report found that "Pakistani newspapers and education groups have documented at least 5,000 `ghost schools'-many of them in rural areas-where no students study because landlords often pay the teachers to stay at home." Filkins, "Serfs Cast Off Chains in Pakistan." 70 Ibid. 71 U.S. Department of Labor: International Child Labor Program, "Forced and Bonded Child Labor," available at http://www.dol.gov/dol/ilab/public/media/reports/iclp/sweat2/bonded.htm (accessed May 16,

2001). 72 U.S. Department of State, 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Pakistan, (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, February 2000). 73 Informal Sector Service Centre. 74 United Nations Development Programme, "Nepal Human Development Report 1998," available at http://www.undp.org.np/keydoc/nhdr98/contents.html (accessed August 15, 2001). The kamaiya bonded labor system is also prevalent in western Nepal. According to the UNDP report, kamaiyas are "mostly landless and homeless, and belong to the Tharu ethnic group.... A kamaiya is heavily burdened with debts and often remains as such for a long period. Debts are inter-generationally transferable. Frequently, therefore, a kamaiya household remains in bondage through multiple generations." Ibid. In July 2000, the Nepali government responded to years of sustained advocacy by local NGOs and issued a decree canceling all debts arising from the illegal practice of bonded labor. The decree liberated thousands of kamaiya laborers but it remains unclear whether haliyas were affected. Many kamaiyas were forcibly driven from their homes and dispossessed of all their belongings as a result of landlord retaliation. As of February 2001, a lack of government rehabilitation services had kept many displaced laborers in makeshift camps that lacked adequate shelter, water, food, and sanitation. "On to the Next Phase of the Kamaiya Mukti Andolan," Spotlight, available at http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/spotlight/2000/nov/nov24/forum.htm, November 24-30, 2000, (accessed May 17, 2001); Ramyata Limbu, "Lacking homes, freed peasants squat on gov't land," Inter Press Service, February 9, 2001. 75 Human Rights Watch/Africa, Mauritania's Campaign of Terror: State Sponsored Repression of Black Africans (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1994). 76 Ibid., p. 79. 77 "Mauritania: Compensation and Benefit Legislation," Economic Research Institute: Human Resource Codes and Laws, available at http://www.erieri.com/codes/MAURITANIA.htm (accessed March 22, 2001). 78 Ibid. 79 Hira Vishwakarma, "Reservations for Nepal's Dalits," Kathmandu Post, July 27, 1997.

80 Bishwakarma, "Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Against Dalits in Nepal." 81 Bishwakarma, "General Comments of Country Report for the United Nations Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination." 82 Bishwakarma, "Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Against Dalits in Nepal." 83 See Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Fourteenth Report of States Parties Due in 1998: Nepal," CERD/C/337/Add.4, Annex, May 12, 1999. 84 Ibid. 85 National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, Black Papers: Broken Promises and Dalits Betrayed (India: National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, 1999). 86 National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Highlights of the Report for the Years 1996-97 and 1997-98 (New Delhi: Government of India, 1999). In a school in Dhandhuka town, Gujarat, India, for example, a thirteen-year-old Dalit boy was singled out among several students playing with his Brahmin teacher's scooter. The teacher told the boy's father, a manual scavenger, that he was going to expel the child from school. After much pleading on the father's part, the teacher allowed the boy to stay in school on the condition that the father sign an apology letter. As the boy re-entered the classroom, the teacher threatened the child, saying he would not allow him to study or amount to anything in life. Later that evening the boy was found dead on a railroad track, his body cut into three pieces by a train. In his pocket was found the following suicide note: I would not have felt bad if the teacher had abused me. I would not have felt bad if the teacher had slapped me. But because he humiliated my father, I felt very bad and finally when he told me he wouldn't let me study or progress in life, I felt extremely hurt. If I am not going to be able to study and progress in life what is the meaning of living my life? Human Rights Watch interview with Martin Macwan, Director of Navsarjan Trust, January 2, 2001. Macwan retained a copy of the suicide note after the incident. 87 Weeratunge, Aspects of Ethnicity and Gender Among the Rodi of Sri Lanka, p. 79. 88 P.P. Sivapragasam, "Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka: An Oppressed People," paper prepared for the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste Based Discrimination/Occupation and Descent Based Discrimination Against Dalits, New Delhi, India March 1-4, 2001. 89 Buraku Liberation League and Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute,

Reality of Discriminated-Against Buraku People in Japan and the Challenge Aiming for the Elimination of Discrimination (Japan: Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute, 2001). 90 See Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Fourteenth report of States parties due in 1998: Nepal," CERD/C/337/Add.4, Annex, May 12, 1999. According to the report, "occupational castes" mostly indicate the so-called "Untouchables" of the Hills and Tarai (plains part of the country). 91 Human Rights Watch, Broken People, p. 28. 92 Ibid., p. 28. 93 Approximately one hectare. 94 Bishwakarma, "Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Against Dalits in Nepal." 95 National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, Black Papers: Broken Promises and Dalits Betrayed (New Delhi: National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, 1999). 96 Human Rights Watch, Broken People, p. 4. 97 Ibid., p. 5. 98 Bishwakarma, "Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Against Dalits in Nepal." 99 Hira Vishwakarma, "Reservations for Nepal's Dalits," Kathmandu Post, July 27, 1997. 100 Dalit NGO Federation (Nepal), "Nepal Alternative Country Report 2001," paper submitted to United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for Asian Regional Preparatory Meetings on the Occasion of the World Conference Against Racial Discrimination 2001, Teheran, Iran, February 17-21, 2001. 101 Sivapragasam, "Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka: An Oppressed People." 102 Large-scale clashes between caste communities in Tamil Nadu's southern districts in recent years, for example, have often been triggered by Dalits' efforts to draw water from a "forbidden" well or by their refusal to perform a delegated task. 103 Under the act, atrocities are defined to include forcing members of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance; dumping excreta, waste matter, carcasses or any other obnoxious substance in their premises or neighborhood; forcibly removing their clothes and parading them naked or with painted face or body; interfering with their rights to land; compelling a member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe into forms of forced or bonded labor; corrupting or fouling the water of any spring,

reservoir or any other source ordinarily used by scheduled castes or scheduled tribes; denying right of passage to a place of public resort; and using a position of dominance to exploit a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe woman sexually. 104 Human Rights Watch, Broken People, p. 9. 105 Ibid., p. 4. 106 Ibid., p. 5. 107 Ibid., p. 5. 108 Ibid., p. 3. 109 Sivapragasam, "Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka: An Oppressed People." 110 Bishwakarma, "Caste Discrimination and Untouchability Against Dalits in Nepal." 111 Dalit NGO Federation (Nepal) "Nepal Alternative Country Report 2001." 112 Durga Sob, "Caste and Gender Discrimination Against Dalit Women in Nepal," Feminist Dalit Organization. See also Human Rights Watch, Rape for Profit: Trafficking of Nepali Girls and Women to India's Brothels (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995). 113 Human Rights Watch, Broken People, pp. 150-152. In reviewing India's third periodic report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, submitted under article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in July 1997, the Human Rights Committee regretted "the lack of national legislation to outlaw the practice of Devadasi, the regulation of which is left to the states," and added that "it appears that the practice continues and that not all states have effective legislation against it." The committee emphasized that the practice was incompatible with the ICCPR and recommended that "all necessary measures be taken urgently" toward its eradication. Consideration of Report by India to the Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/79/Add.81, August 4, 1997. 114 Human Rights Watch, Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Pakistan, p. 72. If women bonded laborers seek legal recourse after sexual assault, they are subject to a series of laws that equate rape with adultery, an offense for which they can be punished under Pakistan's Hudood Ordinances. See Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani, The Hudood Ordinances: A Divine Sanction? (Lahore: Rhota Books, 1990). 115 Human Rights Watch/Africa, Mauritania's Campaign of Terror, p. 84; "Mauritania: Compensation and Benefit Legislation," Economic Research Institute: Human Resource Codes and Laws, available at http://www.erieri.com/codes/MAURITANIA.htm (accessed

March 22, 2001). 116 Prakash Jain of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University has analyzed major clusters of the Indian diaspora. The following summary appeared in an article in the weekly magazine India Today: There are approximately 15-20 million Indians across the globe. Other than Nepal, this population has emerged in five different ways. The first arose in the mid-19th and early 20th century when the British took Indian labour to raise sugar plantations in countries like South Africa, Mauritius, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana and Fiji. This numbers about 3.3 million. The second cluster of about 1.5 million in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Myanmar has descended from kingani/maistry labour. The third category numbering over two lakh [200,000] is made up of free passage emigrants, largely from Gujarat, who went to Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The fourth group comprises workers in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and other West Asian countries, now estimated at about three million. The final group comprises around four million emigrants to the US, UK, Canada, Australia and other western countries. Jairam Ramesh, "Ubiquitous Indians: The Indian Diaspora Living in Two Worlds is an Essential Feature of Globalisation," India Today, available at http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20000501/jairam.html, May 1, 2000 (accessed May 16, 2001). 117 Moses Seenarine, "The Persistence of Caste and Anti-Caste Resistance in India and the Diaspora," available at http://saxakali.com/indocarib/caste1.htm (accessed May 14, 2001); Madhulika S. Khandelwal, "Indian Organizations in New York City," available at http://www.qc.edu/Asian_American_Center/aac_menu/research_resources/aacre20.html (accessed May 17, 2001). 118 Seenarine, Ibid. 119 Naresh Puri, "Caste Splits Earthquake Appeal," BBC News, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1190000/1190875.stm, February 26, 2001 (accessed May 17, 2001). 120 Ibid. 121 Sat Pal Muman, "Caste in Britain," available at http://www.ambedkar.org/Worldwide_Dalits/caste_in_britain.htm (accessed May 17, 2001).

122 Ibid. The Chamars, traditionally a Dalit caste of leather workers in India, dominate the shoe industry in England. Ibid. 123 Sandy Rao, "India's Hidden Apartheid: The Caste System and Its Continuation to the Caribbean and America," available at http://saxakali.com/southasia/introduction.htm (accessed May 14, 2001). 124 Seenarine, "The Persistence of Caste and Anti-Caste Resistance in India and the Diaspora." 125 Thomas Hylland Eriksen, "Indians in New Worlds: Mauritius and Trinidad," Social and Economic Studies, No. 1 (1992) available at http://www.uio.no/~geirthe/Indians.html (accessed May 15, 2001). 126 Ibid. 127 Most Malaysians of South Asian descent are Tamils whose ancestors came from South India. But the term "Indian" also includes Sri Lankans, northern Indians and people from elsewhere in South Asia. 128 Wani Muthiah, "Pride and Prejudice," The Star (Kuala Lumpur), November 24, 1997. 129 Rajakrishnan Ramasamy, Caste Consciousness Among Indian Tamils in Malaysia (Selangor, Malaysia: Pelanduk Publications, 1984), p. 46. 130 Muthiah, "Pride and Prejudice." In the political sphere, caste was a driving force in a lengthy dispute between two prominent Malaysian Indian politicians, All Malaysian Indian Progressive Front (IPF) president Datuk M. G. Pandithan, and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) party president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu. In 1988, Pandithan, then the MIC's vice president, was expelled from the party for accusing the MIC of practicing caste-based politics that favored higher castes. "Pandithan's dilemma - to be or not to be in MIC," Utusan Express, January 26, 2001. In 1997, Vellu rejected Pandithan's claim that "casteism is a deep-rooted issue in Malaysia which is silently but strongly being practised." Pandithan was particularly critical of the existence of some twenty-two registered caste-based associations in Malaysia dedicated to assisting members of their own caste socially and financially. These associations sometimes impose caste-based restrictions on members, such as banning exogamous marriages. Muthiah, "Pride and Prejudice"; Ramasamy, Caste Consciousness among Indian Tamils in Malaysia, pp. 74-75. 131 U.N. Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,

"Discrimination Based on Work and Descent," E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/2000/4, August 11, 2000. See Appendix A. 132 Goonesekere, "Prevention of Discrimination," para. 26 (emphasis added). 133 "LS Concerned at `Purifying' Act by HC judge," Times of India (Bombay), July 23, 1998. 134 Goonesekere, "Prevention of Discrimination," para. 34. 135 Constitutional Rights Project, "Osu Caste Practice in South Eastern Nigeria," pp. 16-17; Dike, "The Caste System in Nigeria." 136 Marc Bossuyt, "Slavery and Slavery-like Practices" (New York: United Nations, 1984) E/CN.4/Sub. 2/1984/23, paras. 38-39. 137 Anti-Slavery International, "Persistence of slavery in Mauritania and repression of anti-slavery activists," oral statement to U.N. Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (delivered by Abdel Nasser Ould Othman Sid' Ahmed, translated from French original) August 1998. 138 Human Rights Watch, letter to John Rosenbaum, Assistant USTR for Trade and Development, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, May 14, 1999. See also Kevin Bales, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999). 139 Buraku Liberation League and Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute, Reality of Discriminated-Against Buraku People in Japan and the Challenge Aiming for the Elimination of Discrimination (Japan: Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute, 2001), p. 60. 140 Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute and Buraku Liberation League, "Buraku People," (Japan: Discrimination Against Buraku People). Home | Current Events | News | Publications | About HRW | Documents by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Contribute | What You Can Do | Community | Book Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright 2001, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 101183299 USA

Africa Americas Asia Europe/Central Asia Middle East/N. Africa United States Arms Children's Rights Women's Rights Refugees International Justice Prisons More... VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was researched and written by Smita Narula, senior researcher for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. Research and writing assistance was provided by Puja Dhawan, Nandini Ramnath, and Jonathan Horowitz, program associate for Human Rights Watch. The report was edited by Joe Saunders, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, James Ross, senior legal advisor, Mike McClintock, deputy program director, and Saman Zia-Zarifi, Academic Freedom program director. Production assistance was provided by Jonathan Horowitz and Patrick Minges, publications director. The cover design was provided by John Emerson, web advocate. Human Rights Watch would like to thank the following people and organizations for their generous assistance: the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, the International Dalit Solidarity Network, the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Ibrahima Kane and Chidi Odinkalu of Interights, Peter Prove of the Lutheran World Federation, and Margaret O'Grady of Anti-Slavery International.

Finally, we acknowledge with appreciation the support of the Ford Foundation, which provided funding that has enabled Human Rights Watch to pursue caste-related research and advocacy. Home | Current Events | News | Publications | About HRW | Documents by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Contribute | What You Can Do | Community | Book Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright 2001, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 101183299 USA Africa Americas Asia Europe/Central Asia Middle East/N. Africa United States Arms Children's Rights Women's Rights Refugees International Justice Prisons More... APPENDICES Appendix A: Discrimination based on work and descent: Sub-Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/4, E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/2000/4, 11 August 2000 The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Affirming that, as declared in article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set

forth in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, Aware that discrimination based on work and descent has historically been a feature of societies in different regions of the world and has affected a significant proportion overall of the world's population, Acknowledging the constitutional, legislative and administrative measures taken by relevant Governments to abolish practices of discrimination based on occupation and descent, Concerned, however, at the persistence of discrimination based on work and descent in such societies, 1. Declares that discrimination based on work and descent is a form of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law; 2. Requests Governments concerned to ensure that all necessary constitutional, legislative and administrative measures, including appropriate forms of affirmative action, are in place to prohibit and redress discrimination on the basis of work and descent, and that such measures are respected and implemented by all State authorities at all levels; 3. Urges Governments concerned to ensure that appropriate legal penalties and sanctions, including criminal sanctions, are prescribed for and applied to all persons or entities within the jurisdiction of the Governments concerned who may be found to have engaged in practices of discrimination on the basis of work and descent; 4. Decides to entrust Mr. Goonesekere with the task of preparing, without financial implications, a working paper on the topic of discrimination based on work and descent, in order to: (a) Identify communities in which discrimination based on occupation and descent continues o be experienced in practice; (b) Examine existing constitutional, legislative and administrative measures for the abolition of such discrimination; and

(c) Make any further concrete recommendations and proposals for the effective elimination of such discrimination as may be appropriate in the light of such examination; 5. Decides to continue consideration of this question at its fifty-third session under the same agenda item. 17th meeting 11 August 2000 [Adopted without a vote. See chap. V.] Appendix B: Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Indigenous Peoples and Minorities: Working paper by Mr. Rajendra Kalidas Wimala Gooneskere on the topic of discrimination based on work and descent, submitted pursuant to Sub-Commission resolution 2000/4. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/16 14 June 2001. INTRODUCTION 1. At its fifty-second meeting the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in resolution 2000/4 declared that discrimination based on work and descent is a form of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law and decided to entrust Mr. Rajendra Kalidas Wimala Goonesekere with the task of preparing, without financial implications, a working paper on the topic of discrimination based on work and descent in order: (a) To identify communities in which discrimination based on occupation and descent continues to be experienced in practice; (b) To examine existing constitutional, legislative and administrative measures for the abolition of such discrimination; and (c) To make any further concrete recommendations and proposals for the effective elimination of such discrimination as may be appropriate in the light of such examination. The present report is submitted in accordance with that decision. 2. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states "All human beings

are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood" (art. 1). In article 2 it is expressly stated that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind "such as race ... national or social origin, property, birth or other status". 3. Like other forms of discrimination, therefore, any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on work and descent which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impeding the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by all persons, on an equal footing, of all rights and freedoms contravenes the spirit and letter of international human rights law. 4. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes that all persons are entitled to the equal protection of the law "without any discrimination" (art. 26). The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination specifically prohibits discrimination based on "descent" which the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has interpreted to mean not solely race but tribal or caste distinctions as well. In its General Recommendation XIV CERD stated that "in seeking to determine whether an action has an effect contrary to the Convention, it will look to see whether that action has an unjustifiable disparate impact upon a group distinguished by race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin". 5. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone "to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts" (article 6, para. 1). 6. The International Labour Organization Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) calls on States to "eliminate discrimination based on race ... national extraction or social origin", in the matter of employment or occupation. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention against Discrimination in Education of 1960 asserts the principle of

non-discrimination in education based on "race ...national or social origin, economic condition or birth". 7. Discrimination based on work and descent is a long-standing practice in many societies throughout the world and affects a large portion of the world's population. Discrimination based on descent manifests itself most notably in caste- (or tribe-) based distinctions. These distinctions, determined by birth, result in serious violations across the full spectrum of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Likewise, the nature of a person's work or occupation is often the reason for, or a result of, discrimination against the person. Persons who perform the least desirable jobs in a society are often victims of double discrimination, suffering first from the nature of the work they must perform and suffering again by the denial of their rights because they perform work that is unacceptable. In most cases, a person's descent determines or is intimately connected with the type of work they are afforded in the society. Victims of discrimination based on descent are singled out, not because of a difference in physical appearance or race, but rather by their membership in an endogamous social group that has been isolated socially and occupationally from other groups in the society. I. COMMUNITIES WHERE DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT IS EXPERIENCED 8. Instances of discrimination based on work and descent have been identified in many different social and cultural contexts. The manifestations of such discrimination commonly include prohibitions on intermarriage between socially or occupationally defined groups; physical segregation of communities; restrictions upon access to resources including land, water and other means of production; social prohibitions regarding physical contact such as sharing food or utensils; restrictions on access to education or segregation in educational facilities; restrictions on access to religious buildings and restrictions on participation in religious ceremonies. The most widespread

discrimination on the basis of work and descent occurs in societies in which at least a portion of the population is influenced by the tradition of caste, including the Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A. India "We must say that the National Human Rights Commission as well as the UN General Assembly should recognize that caste, as an institution itself, is a source of gross violation of human rights. Therefore it must be treated on a par with the existence and operation of racism and apartheid. The caste system and the equally obnoxious practice of untouchability must be taken seriously by the Indian and international communities and administrative bodies." - Interim Observations and Recommendations of the Jury of the National Public Hearing on Dalit Human Rights Violations, Chennai, April 2000. 1 9. In 1937, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a learned and respected Indian leader and advocate of the rights of untouchables - or Dalits, as he called them and himself an untouchable, announced that he had made a momentous decision to renounce the religion of his birth, Hinduism, because he traced a great social injustice in contemporary Indian society, namely the caste system, to Hindu scriptures. Mahatma Gandhi, the spiritual leader of India, who was moved by the plight of the untouchables, was himself not prepared to blame Hinduism for the appalling discrimination against millions of Indians by other Indians. In a response to Dr. Ambedkar, the Mahatma said: "Caste has nothing to do with religion. It is a custom whose origin I do not know and do not need to know for the satisfaction of my spiritual hunger ... The law of Varna teaches us that each one of us earns our bread by following the ancestral calling. It defines not our rights but our duties. It also follows that there is no calling too low and none too high. All are good, lawful and absolutely equal in status."2 10. The Mandal Commission on the reservation of government jobs for Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in its 1980 report said of

the caste system: "The social ranks and their respective duties, ordained by God for humanity, were intended to remain fixed and unmovable. Like the limbs of the body they cannot properly exchange either their place or function."3 11. The debate as to whether caste is or is not derived from Hindu scriptures need not detain us because 85 per cent of India's 1 billion people remain Hindu. Only a few million followed Dr. Ambedkar and became Buddhists. Lesser numbers became converts to Christianity and Islam. India is a stratified or compartmental society not based on class but on descent or occupation. It has been so for many thousand years. Dr. Ambedkar, as Minister of Law and Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, was responsible for the many provisions in the Constitution intended to fulfil the promise in the preamble to secure to all citizens justice and equality of status and opportunity. 12. Besides untouchables, there are other underprivileged segments of Indian society who are grouped as Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes and they number many millions. Scheduled Tribes are distinguished by tribal characteristics such as social, religious, linguistic and cultural distinctions. In addition, they are concentrated in certain geographical areas. While they are officially recognized as deserving of special treatment, the policy towards them is to effect improvements of their conditions while at the same time preserving their distinctiveness and giving them a measure of autonomy. In the case of Other Backward Classes there is the initial difficulty of identifying the persons who fit the description.4 13. They appear to include all religious minorities who are economically poor and lacking in educational opportunities. The Mandal Commission report identified 3,743 sub-castes as being socially and educationally backward, and found that Other Backward Classes constituted 52 per cent of the population. That was in addition to the Scheduled Castes/Tribes, which constituted a separate category of 22.5 per cent of

the population. Dalits estimate that they constitute 19 per cent of the population, or 160 million people. The present study does not include Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes as the discrimination against them, where it exists, cannot strictly be said to be based on work or descent. 14. Those who suffer discrimination based on descent or work have received different names. Official terms were "untouchables", "depressed classes" or "scheduled castes". For Gandhi, they were "Harijans" or "people of God" rather than "untouchables". Today they are known as Dalits, or "oppressed people" or "broken people". 15. Hindu society recognizes a caste hierarchy of four classes or varnas: Brahmins (priests and scholars); Kshathriyas (rulers and soldiers); Vaishyas (merchants and farmers); and Sudras (servant class). The Sudras, the lowest caste, are seen as persons who exist to serve the higher castes or "twice born". Servility is their badge and with it loss of dignity. According to some researchers there were upper Sudras and lower Sudras, depending on the work they performed. Artisans, carpenters, barbers, washermen and the like belonged to the former while those engaged in unclean work such as sweepers, scavengers, cobblers, cremation workers, hide and leather workers, agricultural labourers, toddy tappers_belonged to the latter. Those considered to be at the lower end of the Sudras are not in fact Sudras but are untouchables who are outside the caste system or "outcastes", or they constitute a distinct fifth caste. 16. In the mind of the upper castes untouchables are polluted by their work and polluting to others by contact which must therefore be avoided at all costs. A corollary is pointed out by the Mandal Commission: "The real triumph of the caste system lies not in upholding the supremacy of the Brahmin, but in conditioning the consciousness of the lower castes in accepting their inferior status in the ritual hierarchy as part of the natural order of things."5

17. Untouchability conveys "a sense of impurity and defilement. It implies certain socio-religious disabilities. It includes customs, practices sanctioned by the rigid Indian caste system whereby persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes were debarred from entering Hindu temples, public places, streets, public conveyances, eating places, educational institutions, etc."6 There are other disadvantages - segregation in colonies in the village, denial of land rights, low wages for manual work, denial of access to services, e.g. by barbers and washermen, to health care and education. Untouchables belong to castes which have the lowest ritual standing and often the most depressed economic condition. 18. In the course of time occupations may have changed and many Dalits are now engaged in agriculture as landless labourers, as this activity has been opened to all. But this is not so in the case of other occupations to which access is not permitted by caste traditions. It is not merely the indignities heaped on Dalits that make them an oppressed people. Because of the social ostracism and economic deprivation they suffer, they often fall prey to the most serious forms of persecution in their society, including killings, mutilation, rape, arson, destruction of property and other forms of violence (sometimes regrettably by State agents) when they assert their rights. 19. The Government of India has taken several steps to prohibit the practice of untouchability. First, and most importantly, the Government has recognized the existence of the problem. Second, the Government has made determined efforts to deal with it. The _____Men who tap the sap of palm trees, used for drinking and the brewing of spirits. Constitution of India in its Bill of Rights (Part III), besides guaranteeing to all citizens the basic civil and political rights and fundamental freedoms has special provisions that are directed at the practice of caste discrimination: (a) Article 15 prohibits subjection to a disadvantage based on caste with respect to access to shops, public restaurants, etc. or to the use of wells, roads and public places maintained out of State

funds; (b) Article 16 prohibits discrimination on the ground of caste or descent in respect of employment under the State; (c) Article 17 abolishes untouchability and prohibits its practice in any form; (d) Article 23 prohibits forced labour and discrimination on the ground of caste when imposing compulsory service for public purposes; (e) Article 29 (2) prohibits denial of admission to any educational institution on the ground of caste; (f) There are also positive duties imposed on the State to redress imbalances due to past injustices against untouchables. Article 15 (4) permits the State to make special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward class of citizens, including Scheduled Castes; (g) Article 16 (4) permits the State to reserve appointments for members of backward classes not adequately represented in the State services. 20. Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) recognize beneficial discrimination or protective/compensatory/preferential discrimination, or simply affirmative action. Indeed, in the governance of the country the State is enjoined by a directive principle of State policy (art. 46) to "promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation". But it is important to note that in the implementation of these provisions the efficiency of the administration is not to be sacrificed (art. 355). 21. Other provisions in the Constitution addressing caste discrimination are: (a) Article 325 which prohibits disfranchisement on the ground of caste; (b) Articles 330 and 333 which provide for reserving of seats for members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Union and state

legislatures according to the Scheduled Caste population in each constituency; (c) Article 338 which mandates the appointment of a National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Commission has been appointed and investigates and monitors all matters relating to the safeguards provided for Scheduled Castes; (d) Article 341 which makes possible the legal identification of Scheduled Castes or untouchables by means of lists prepared for each state and union territory. The list, when published by the President, is final as to the castes or groups within castes deemed to be Scheduled Castes. The current state and union lists, when totalled, contain more than 1,000 castes but, given the fact that the same castes appear in the different state lists, the estimate given of 76 Scheduled Castes is probably correct. 22. To bolster the constitutional provisions, India has passed several laws: (a) The Protection of Civil Rights (Anti-Untouchability) Act, 1955, strengthened by an amendment in 1973, punishes offences that amount to the observance of untouchability, such as prohibiting entry to temples or insulting someone on the basis of his caste; (b) The Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976 aims at the release of labourers (usually Dalits) who work in slave-like conditions in order to pay off a debt due to a high caste employer, by cancelling any outstanding debt and prohibiting the creation of new bondage agreements; (c) The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. This important law was needed because of the high incidence of recurrent acts of violence against helpless Dalits throughout the country. Eighteen atrocities are listed, including violence against women, dispossession of a Dalit of his land, mischief by fire and destruction of property. Penal Code offences carrying a punishment of 10

years' imprisonment if committed against a member of a Scheduled Caste are punishable by imprisonment for life. The offences are cognizable and non-bailable. There are special courts to provide speedy trials and special prosecutors to conduct cases. In 1999 rules were enacted under the Act to strengthen the investigation process and make provision for payment of compensation to victims; (d) The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. A special law was considered necessary to deal with the most distressing discrimination based on work and descent. There are an estimated 800,000 people, mainly women, who are engaged in cleaning dry latrines using the most primitive methods. The law itself describes this as a "dehumanizing practice" and is intended to make it obligatory to convert dry latrines into water-seal latrines. For the implementation of the Act the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis was appointed. In its 1997 report the Commission found that manual scavengers are "totally cut off from the mainstream of progress and are still subjected to the worst kind of oppression and indignities". What is more pathetic is the fact that manual scavenging is still largely a hereditary occupation. Safai Karamcharis are no doubt the most oppressed and disadvantaged section of the population.7 There is unfortunately evidence that manual scavengers are considered untouchable by other untouchables;8 (e) Land reform laws to redistribute land to the landless. 23. It is an impressive list of the actions that have been taken by the Government of India. That improvements have taken place cannot be doubted and credit should probably go to the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission and the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. A micro-level study in the States of Karnataka, Gujerat, Andra Pradesh and Orissa has led a scholar to conclude that: "Like other institutions, caste- and untouchability-based discrimination

in the Indian society has undergone change. The practice of untouchability and resultant discrimination has reduced in the public sphere, like panchyat offices, schools, use of public roads, public transport, health and medical services, services of shops (for buying goods) and services rendered by the tailor, barber, eating places and tea shops in large villages and urban areas. But even here discrimination in various subtle forms prevail."9 24. If in urban areas it is more the hidden or invisible discrimination that a Dalit would encounter, in rural areas where three fourths of the Dalits live open discrimination in all its forms is fairly widespread. The overall picture is depressing. In school education there is a marked literacy gap between the Scheduled Castes and the rest of the population. It is reported that reserved quotas in the universities are not filled, especially in the technical and professional courses. There is reportedly poor representation of Scheduled Castes in teaching posts and caste clustering. There has been inadequate distribution of lands among the Scheduled Castes promised under the Ceiling of Land Acts. The shame of bonded labour remains for millions, including a large number of children. The hideous occupation of manual scavenging continues except in a few states. If reports are to be believed no real effort has been made to improve the conditions of work for these wretched people who out of sheer necessity find that it is their lot to clean dry latrines. 25. The reservation of quotas in government employment and education has run into the vexed problem of having to determine whether caste alone should be the test or whether caste should be combined with economic need. Quota reservations in state employment are being filled in lower category jobs such as sweepers, peons and clerks. In the absence of quotas there is hardly any representation in the defence forces, scientific establishments and the judiciary. The Scheduled Castes have not benefited from the economic progress made in the country in the 50 years since independence because there has been no policy in the

allocation of resources. In the rapidly growing private sector there does not seem to be any opportunities for advancement for members of Scheduled Castes. 26. At the same time atrocities are being committed almost daily against Dalits and they go unpunished. These have been researched and documented, mainly by Dalit organizations, in several publications in horrifying detail.10 The laws are there, but there is a clear lack of will on the part of law enforcement officers to take action owing to caste prejudice on their part or deference shown to higher-caste perpetrators. The Supreme Court in State of Kerala vs. Appu Balu said: "More than 75 per cent of the cases under the (SC/ST) Act are ending in acquittal at all levels."11 What is frightening is that the atrocities committed - murder, rape, mutilation, arson, etc. - are not only isolated acts but could even be acts of mass savagery committed by militia groups employed by the higher castes.12 The inability of the police and courts to deal with these crimes has had a backlash effect on young Dalits who also themselves have formed armed groups or Naxalites. 27. The present situation in India could not have been better expressed than in the words of the National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Commission: "The task ahead is clearly, therefore, to focus on the basic needs and requirements of SCs/STs and give them the social dignity and the economic capability to come at par with other sections of the society and become part of the mainstream which had been the charter visualized by the Constitutional makers 50 years ago. Such a strategy would not only control the feeling of alienation, frustration and rising military and civil strife but would also make the SCs/STs active partners in nation building." B. Sri Lanka 28. In Sri Lanka there are two caste systems, one for the Sinhalese and the other for the Tamils. Although they both have their origin in India, the Sinhalese caste system is not linked to the Hindu varna. It was an

aspect of a feudal society which divided people "according to Descent and Blood"13 or according to their hereditary roles and functions. The caste system was a secular hierarchy. The stratification took into account as many caste and sub-caste groups as there were feudal services and functions or temple services to perform in a disputed hierarchical order. There were no non-untouchables in the Indian sense. Social distance was practised but the notion of pollution hardly existed. As an American scholar concluded, "The absence of the Hindu concept had rendered the Sinhalese caste system mild and humanitarian when judged by Indian standards."14 29. The exception is the caste of Rodiyas or Rodi (meaning "filth") from very early times. Many legends surround their origin, all agreeing that they were banished for a heinous crime and condemned to a life of begging or, more accurately, soliciting for alms. They were denied land and work and subjected to many disadvantages and degrading treatment. They were a despised lot; even in the middle of the nineteenth century they suffered "untouchability with a vengeance". They were always a small community of about 500 families living mainly in the central highlands in their own colonies of huts devoid of amenities. 30. During 150 years of British rule when caste distinctions were not officially recognized, there was a high degree of mobility from low caste groups to positions of social standing through entry into professions, business and politics. Desertions from traditional caste occupations were easily achieved through education, and caste became a status concept.15 31. In the case of the Rodi the process has been much slower. Through the efforts of the Backward Communities Development Board, Rodi children were able to attend village schools. Government land was given to them for cultivation. While official sympathy was shown to the Rodi the prejudices of villagers were not easily overcome; however, there is no evidence of any atrocities committed against the Rodi. Farming and casual labour have provided some opportunities but they have not been

completely emancipated from the economic point of view: for many Rodi the old life outside the social system has continued.16 32. The caste system of the Tamils, who are mostly Hindus, is also occupation based. Tamils have high and low caste groups which show a stronger concept of pollution and social distance. At the bottom of the caste hierarchy are three castes of untouchables who suffer social disadvantage more than others. While Pallas and Nalavas (descendants of former slaves) can work on upper caste land for wages or rent garden land from them, Paraiyars engage mainly in so-called unclean work. 33. While the numerically powerful Vellala or farmer caste is not inclined to loosen its dominant position in society over all other castes, upward mobility could not be prevented after American missionary schools were established in the nineteenth century and education was opened to all without caste distinction.17 Descent is still important in Tamil society and prejudice is more openly shown. It is manifested publicly in acrimonious disputes over temple entry. Only a small number of temples are open to non-Vellala worshippers. 34. Recognizing that social disadvantages were imposed on people based on the accident of birth or the work they perform, the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act, 1957 was passed in 1957. The Act made it an offence for any person to discriminate against another on the ground of his caste in the matter of access to shops, public eating houses and hostels, public wells, hairdressing salons, laundries, cemeteries, places of worship, or for purposes of education and employment. In 1971 the Act was amended to strengthen its priorities and to impose heavier punishment. Initially there were some prosecutions in the North but there was a tendency for the police not to take action against violations. In a celebrated temple-entry case, the Act was challenged as interfering with customs and ancient usages that prohibited defilement of a Hindu temple by the entry of low-caste persons. This argument was rejected by the Supreme Court and Privy Council.18

35. The 1978 Constitution prohibits discrimination on the ground of caste (art. 12 (2)) and prohibits subjecting a person by reason of his caste to any disadvantage with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, etc. and places of public worship of his own religion. There are no affirmative action provisions as in India. Discrimination based on descent and work may not have disappeared, but there are no signs that it is a problem. 36. A recent allegation of discrimination based on descent is that made by Tamils of Indian origin employed mainly as tea estate workers in the hill country. With regard to wages, housing, sanitation, health and educational facilities, they were an oppressed group. Improvements have slowly been made as a result of government policies and powerful trade union action. Integration with the rest of society is more difficult owing to prejudice, but this is breaking down. There are signs of upward mobility through education and non-discriminatory laws. Caste distinctions exist among themselves and complaints have been made that workers (mostly Dalits) are kept out of trade union office by high caste supervisors. The citizenship laws enacted after independence rendered Indian Tamils, who numbered about 1 million, stateless, and they were denied voting rights. Subsequent laws based on agreements between the Governments of India and Sri Lanka have enabled them to acquire citizenship by registration without any distinction being made between them and others who are citizens by descent. C. Nepal 37. Nepal has predominantly Hindu population and a caste system similar to that of India. About 21 per cent of the population of 22 million constitute the service castes (untouchables/Dalits) who are engaged in traditional occupations with low status value. They range from artisans and singers to castes doing unclean work like scavenging and removing dead animals. What unites them is that they are subject to hurtful discrimination - segregation, exclusion from public institutions such as

hostels, restaurants and milk cooperatives, or denied free access to water, schools and temples, on the one hand, and deprived of rights, facilities and opportunities given to others to improve their conditions, on the other. 38. Untouchability was declared illegal in 1963 but the practice was not made punishable until the onset of multi-party democracy in 1990. The Constitution of 1990 guarantees the fundamental rights of the people and makes any discrimination against untouchables punishable by law. The National Code that prohibited Dalits from entering temples and religious sites was declared invalid by the Supreme Court in 1993. The Government is committed to implementing policies aimed at the advancement of Dalits. Thus, the "Independent Downtrodden and Oppressed Community Council" was formed in 1998 with the objective of coordinating policies and supervising programmes to benefit Dalits. The Ninth Five-Year Plan adopted several specific policies and programmes for the socio-economic development of the Dalits, including in education, health, sanitation, training and capability enhancement, and employment. 39. While these winds of change are appreciated, Dalits complain that untouchability has not been eliminated, that there is unequal distribution of resources, that many of them lack agricultural land and that they remain economically and socially depressed. The Government has acknowledged that "for an overwhelming majority of people the caste system continues to be an extremely salient feature of personal identity and social relationships and, to some extent, determines access to social opportunities".19 At the Asian Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Tehran in February 2000, the Government, whilst again admitting the problem of caste discrimination, declared that the issue should be addressed at the World Conference. D. Japan

40. Japanese feudal society, which started 400 years ago and lasted till 1867, left a class structure that placed "humble people" at the bottom. They consisted of eta (extreme filth) and hinin (non-human). The eta were assigned such duties as disposing of dead cattle, leather production, being security guards and sweeping while hinin made their living as security guards, executioners and performers.20 The Buraku, as they are now known, were subjected to intense prejudice and discrimination, forbidden to marry or have physical contact with common people as such contact was seen as "polluting" the higher classes. They were an outcast population confined to living in hamlets, now officially classified as Dowa districts. The people of a Dowa district consist of the original eta and hinin people and others who have moved there. The official figures are 4,442 Dowa districts with a total population of 1.2 million Burakumin, but the unofficial figures are 6,000 and 3 million, respectively. The discrimination is not only against those who work in traditional occupations. 41. Beginning with the Emancipation Edict, 1871, many laws have been enacted addressing the Buraku issue. Article 14 of the Constitution of 1946 states: "All people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin." But a government report in 1965 conceded that the Burakumin are "placed in such in inferior position economically, socially and culturally that their fundamental human rights are grossly violated even in present-day society and that, in particular, their civil rights and liberties which are assured to all people as a principle of modern society are not guaranteed in reality". The State's responsibility to solve the Buraku problem was accepted and special laws were passed in 1969, 1982 and 1987. The Law for the Measures for Promotion of Human Rights Protection, 1996, established a committee to analyse the extent of Buraku discrimination and make recommendations for human rights education and relief measures for

victims.21 The Law on the Promotion of Human Rights Education and Human Rights Awareness-Raising, 2000 was the result of a national campaign for the enactment of a fundamental law for Buraku liberation. 42. It is admitted that the living standard of Buraku people has improved, but discrimination in marriage and employment continues. Particularly hurtful is the use of derogatory terms in speech and writing. Also a matter of concern in the printing of lists of Buraku households with the names of the occupants, drawn up after private investigation and made available to big companies to prevent the employment of Burakumin. Government has enacted laws against such activities but the practice continues.22 E. Pakistan 43. Swat is an area of northern Pakistan which had a system of stratification of unequal social groups (qoum) that can be compared to the Hindu caste system, except that the people are Sunni Muslims. The concept of ritual pollution is absent, its place taken by notions of privilege and shame. The population of the area is about 500,000 and the people are dependant on subsistence agriculture. The groups are such as are to be found in an agricultural community, and at the bottom are despised people - sweepers, washermen, barbers and those who work with the guts of animals. There is pollution by occupation but caste status by birth does not prevent change of occupation. In ritual activities there is equality but in everyday situations a distinction exists.23 44. In Sindh Province there are about 1.8 million persons living in bondage as agricultural workers, the majority of whom are Dalits originally from India. A large number of Dalit families work in the brick kiln industry, also under conditions of total bondage. Bonded families are virtual prisoners and not permitted to leave until the debt is paid. In 1992 the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act was passed but observers note that even when the national police take action state prosecutors fail to file charges.

II. VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN 45. In addition to suffering discrimination on the basis of work and descent, Dalit women and girls also suffer gender discrimination. Women in Dalit communities in Asia are poorly educated and subjected to gruelling labour and many forms of violence, including trafficking and prostitution. Dalit women are consistently subjected to physical abuse and sexual exploitation by higher caste landlords. Women are raped, mutilated and murdered during caste violence. Dalit women do not regularly report incidents of sexual assault because of entrenched biases at every stage of the process. 46. Most girls and women in India's and Nepal's urban brothels are from lower caste, tribal or minority communities. The practice of devadasi involves the marriage or dedication of a pre-pubescent low-caste girl to a deity or temple. Once dedicated, the girls are unable to marry; their role is to serve as prostitutes to the higher caste men in the village. Some states in India have passed laws prohibiting the practice of dedication but they are reportedly not well enforced. 47. India has tried to remedy discrimination against women by adopting a constitutional amendment in 1993 that provided for one third of all panchyat, or village council, seats and village chief positions to be reserved for women and also reserved a percentage of those for women from the lowest rungs of the caste system. In Nepal the Constitution requires that 5 per cent of candidates put up by national parties be women, and in local government 5 per cent of the seats are reserved for women. It would appear, however, that Dalit women are not represented at the national or local level. III. CONCLUDING REMARKS 48. The people described in this paper are estimated to number 250 million. It is a staggering number by any account. They have inherited a life of burdens and few rights, a life of continuous discrimination, a life without dignity. What wrongs have they committed? The world may

have changed around them but not for them. They are ruled by traditions which are hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of years old, traditions that cannot be justified today. It is sometimes said that they are not a race as understood in the international instruments. But they are in fact a race of broken people with commonalities that bring them together. They speak in many tongues but with one voice to ask for social justice and good governance that will end the miseries in their daily lives. They are a people subject to violations of their human rights. It is the responsibility of the respective States to endeavour, not merely the passing of remedial laws, but by positive State action, to ensure that these violations do not go unpunished. The strict enforcement of the law can assist the other ongoing educational processes in society to bring about attitudinal changes in the direction of tolerance, compassion and justice. 49. The focus of this paper has been countries in Asia. At the time the resolution was discussed in the Sub-Commission it was mentioned the problem was not limited to Asia alone and that it existed in some parts of Africa and perhaps in South America. The author has not been able to include in this paper the situation in these other areas because of constraints of time and lack of access to relevant material. 50. This paper, which is introductory in nature, will hopefully demonstrate that there is a serious problem of human rights violations arising from work and descent. The many complaints of discrimination voiced at the United Nations General Assembly, the Human Rights Committee, CERD and the Sub-Commission itself merit further study, with the assistance of the Governments of the countries concerned. Notes 1 Dalit Human Rights Violations. vol. I, 314. The Jury consisted of the following eminent persons: Justice K. Punniah, former Judge, Andra Pradesh High Court; Justice H. Suresh, former Judge, Bombay High Court; Dr. Mohini Giri, former Chairperson, National Commission for

Women; Justice Amir Das, former Judge, Patna High Court; Dr. Vasanthi Devi, former Vice-Chancellor, MS University, Tirunelveli; Ms. Kumud Pawde, Dalit Writer; Ms. Sona Khan, Advocate, Supreme Court; Ms. Rani Jethmalani, Advocate, Supreme Court; Dr. R.K. Nagak, Founder and Director, NISWASS. 2 Dr. Ambedkar's address, Gandhi's articles published in the Harijan and Dr. Ambedkar's reply are published in Annihilation of Caste (3rd ed.), 1987. 3 Quoted in Rev. Dr. James Massey's paper, "Reflections and Remarks Occupation and Descent-Based Discrimination: Identification of Affected Communities in Various Countries" presented at the Global Conference against Racism and Caste-Based Discrimination, New Delhi, March 2001. 4 Mark Galanter, Competing Equalities - Law and the Backward Classes of India, 1984. 5 See note 3 above. 6 Mathew and Chacko, The Law on the Abolition of Untouchability. Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, 1996. 7 See Human Rights Watch, Broken People: Caste Violence against India's "Untouchables", March, 1999. 8 Broken Promises and Dalits Betrayed: Black Paper on the Status of Dalit Human Rights, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, 2000. 9 Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, "Hindu social systems and human rights of untouchables: Theory and Evidence on Violation", paper presented at the Global Conference against Racism and Caste-Based Discrimination, New Delhi, March 2001. 10 In addition to the publications cited in the present report, organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Global Action for Dalits and the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights have also received from individuals compilations of atrocities committed in various states. 11 1993 Cr. L.J. 1029.

12 See Frontline, 26 February and 12 March 1999. 13 Robert Knox, An Historical Relation of Ceylon, 1681. 14 Ryan, Caste in Modern Ceylon, 1953, p. 17. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/16 page 16 15 A.P. Kannangara, "The Rhetoric of Caste Status in Modern Sri Lanka" in Peter Robb, Society and Ideology, 1995. 16 M.D. Raghavan, Handsome Beggars - The Rodiyas of Ceylon, 1957. 17 Michael Banks, "Caste in Jaffna" in Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan, E.R. Leach (ed.), 1960. 18 Suntharalingam vs. Herath 72 NLR 54, 74 NLR 457. 19 Report of Nepal under article 9 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/337/Add.4), para. 22, May 1999. 20 International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), History of Buraku Discrimination in Japan, 2001. 21 See an account of the laws in Emily A. Su-lan Reber, "Buraku Mondai in Japan: Historical and Modern Perspectives and Directions for the Future", Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 12 (1999), p. 298. 22 In general see also Kenzo Tomonaga, "A Critique Based on the Present State of Discrimination Against Buraku People" in the Counter-Report to the Fourth Periodic Report by the Government of Japan (Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute 1998). 23 This account is based on Frederick Barth, "The System of Social Stratification in Swat, North Pakistan" in Leach, op. cit. Appendix C: Comments by U.N. human rights treaty bodies, and the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, on caste and descent-based discrimination in India, Japan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: INDIA: 17/09/96. CERD/C/304/Add.13 2. The Committee ... regrets that the report and the delegation claim that the situation of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes does not fall within the scope of the Convention. 14. Noting the declaration in paragraph 7 of the report, reiterated in the oral presentation, the Committee states that the term "descent" mentioned in article 1 of the Convention does not solely refer to race. The Committee affirms that the situation of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes falls within the scope of the Convention. It emphasizes its great concern that within the discussion of the report, there was no inclination on the side of the State party to reconsider its position. 23. It is noted that although constitutional provisions and legal texts exist to abolish untouchability and to protect the members of the scheduled castes and tribes, and although social and educational policies have been adopted to improve the situation of members of scheduled castes and tribes and to protect them from abuses, widespread discrimination against them and the relative impunity of those who abuse them point to the limited effect of these measures. The Committee is particularly concerned at reports that people belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes are often prevented from using public wells or from entering cafs or restaurants and that their children are sometimes separated from other children in schools, in violation of article 5 (f) of the Convention. 26. The Committee recommends that the State party continue and strengthen its efforts to improve the effectiveness of measures aimed at guaranteeing to all groups of the population, and especially to the members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the full enjoyment of their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, as mentioned in article 5 of the Convention. ... 27. The Committee recommends that special measures be taken by the authorities to prevent acts of discrimination towards persons belonging to

the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and, in cases where such acts have been committed, to conduct thorough investigations, to punish those found responsible and to provide just and adequate reparation to the victims. In this regard, the Committee particularly stresses the importance of the equal enjoyment by members of these groups of the rights to access to health care, education, work and public places and services, including wells, cafs or restaurants. 31. The Committee recommends a continuing campaign to educate the Indian population on human rights, in line with the Constitution of India and with universal human rights instruments, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This should be aimed at eliminating the institutionalized thinking of the high-caste and low-caste mentality. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Nepal. 21/08/2000. A/55/18, paras.289-306. (Concluding Observations/Comments) 3. Factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of the Convention In light of the multi-ethnic and multicultural society of the State party, the Committee notes that the existence of certain traditional customs, i.e. the caste system, and social attitudes are obstacles to efforts to combat discrimination .... 4. Concerns and recommendations .... The Committee expresses concern about the absence in the report of disaggregated data on the population, including by age, sex, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, including caste, and language. The Committee recommends that the State party provide these data in subsequent reports. .... The Committee remains concerned at the existence of caste-based

discrimination, and the denial which this system imposes on some segments of the population of the enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Convention. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation that the State party provide information in its next periodic report on the implementation of practical and substantive measures to eradicate the practice of the caste system, including measures for the prevention of caste-motivated abuse and the prosecution of State and private actors responsible for such abuse. Moreover, the State party is encouraged to implement, inter alia, affirmative measures to advance and protect persons subjected to caste-based discrimination. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Japan. 20/03/2001. CERD/C/58/Misc.17/Rev.3. 4. The Committee welcomes the legislative and administrative efforts made by the State party in order to promote the human rights and the economic, social and cultural development of some ethnic and national minorities, in particular the: i) 1997 Law for the promotion of Measures for Human Rights Protection; ii) 1997 Law for the Promotion of the Ainu Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture; and iii) the series of Special Measures Laws for Dowa projects with the aim to eliminate discrimination against Burakumi. 7. While taking note of the State party's point of view on the problems involved in determining the ethnic composition of the population, the Committee finds that there is a lack of information on this point in its report. The State party is recommended to provide in its next report full details on the composition of the population as requested in the reporting guidelines of the Committee and, in particular, information on economic and social indicators reflecting the situation of all minorities covered by the scope of the Convention, including the Korean minority, Burakumin and Okinawa communities. The population on Okinawa seeks to be

recognised as a specific ethnic group and claims that the existing situation on the island leads to acts of discrimination against it. 8. With regard to the interpretation of the definition of racial discrimination contained in article 1 of the Convention, the Committee considers, contrary to the State party, that the term "descent" has its own meaning and is not to be confused with race or ethnic or national origin. The Committee therefore recommends the State party to ensure the protection against discrimination and the full enjoyment of the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights contained in article 5 of the Convention of all groups, including the Burakumi community. 23. The State party is also invited to provide in its next report further information on the impact of: (i) the 1997 Law for the promotion of Measures for Human Rights Protection and the work and powers of the Council for Human Rights Promotion; ii) 1997 Law for the Promotion of the Ainu Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for their Traditions, and; iii) the Law Concerning Special Government Financial Measures for Regional Improvement Special Projects and envisaged strategies to eliminate discrimination against Burakumi after the law ceases to apply, i.e. in 2002. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Bangladesh. 22/03/2001. CERD/C/58/Misc.26/Rev.3. 11. With regard to the interpretation of the definition of racial discrimination contained in article 1 of the Convention, the Committee considers that the term "descent" does not solely refer to race or ethnic or national origin and is of the view that the situation of castes falls within the scope of the Convention. The Committee therefore recommends the State party to include in its next report relevant information about the enjoyment of the rights contained in article 5 of the Convention by all groups, including castes. Report by Mr. Gll-Ahanhanzo, Special Rapporteur on

Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/73. E/CN.4/1998/79, 14 January 1998. V. REPLIES TO ALLEGATIONS TRANSMITTED TO GOVERNMENTS BY THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR (B) INDIA: COMMUNICATION DATED 20 DECEMBER 1996 AND REMINDER DATED 18 AUGUST 1997 57. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the situation of the untouchables in India in communications from three organizations, namely, the Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace, the World Council of Churches and the Dalit Liberation Education Trust (E/CN.4/1997/71). He communicated these allegations to the Indian authorities, which replied to him on 30 September 1997. Reply from the Indian Government 58. In substance, the Indian Government rejects the allegations that it tolerated untouchability and closed its eyes to the human rights violations of protected castes. The reply contains a list of the measures taken in this regard with a view to curbing discrimination between castes and maintains that a practice that is so old cannot be eliminated rapidly. Special Rapporteur's observations 59. In view of the discrepancy between the facts alleged and the reply of the Indian Government, the Special Rapporteur would like to visit India in order personally to evaluate the actual situation in cooperation with the Government and the communities concerned. The country's authorities will be contacted with a view to arranging this mission. .... Report by Mr. Gll-Ahanhanzo, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/26. E/CN.4/1999/15. 15 January 1999. III. CONTEMPORARY MANIFESTATIONS OF RACISM,

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE 74 - 100 F. The question of the untouchables in India 88. In 1996 the Special Rapporteur's attention was drawn to the situation of the Dalits or untouchables in India (E/CN.4/1997/71, para. 127). Given the complexity of the question, the Special Rapporteur consulted the Indian Government, undertook documentary research and studied the position of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the question. The basic question was whether the age-old caste system in India, which had produced several million untouchables, could be regarded as racial discrimination. 89. In its appearances before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and its communications to the Special Rapporteur, the Indian Government has consistently held that the caste system is not a hierarchical system based on race. The following five paragraphs, which are taken from the Indian Government's communication of 30 September 1997, illustrate this position. 90. History has made India home to people of diverse origins. Over the millennia, the assimilative character of the Indian civilization combined with the process of intermingling of inhabitants after waves of immigration has resulted in a composite society. A variety of racial sources have therefore contributed to the "mix" that is the hallmark of the Indian people today. The fusion of these diverse racial elements over centuries has meant that Indian society is neither racially nor ethnically homogenous. Categorical distinctions of "race" or "national or ethnic origin" have ceased to exist and race itself as an issue does not impinge on the consciousness or outlook of Indian citizens in their social relations. Today India is a mosaic of different groups who seek identification in terms of language, religion, caste or even regional characteristics, rather than race, colour or ethnic origin. 91. The term "caste" denotes a "social" and "class" distinction and is not

based on race. It has its origins in the functional division of Indian society during ancient times. A hierarchical arrangement is the principal characteristic of this social institution in which certain privileges or disabilities are enjoined on its members from birth and are not supposed to change during a person's lifetime. Each caste group is functionally dependent on the other caste groups and has a well-defined role in a social set-up based on a symbolic relationship between persons belonging to different castes. Racial hierarchy appears as an aberrant adjunct to the main structure of society, while the multi-segmented and intricately ranked social grouping of castes has been the central principle of a functional organization of Hindu society. Further, there is ample evidence of persons belonging to different castes having the same racial characteristics. 92. Communities which fall under the category of "Scheduled Castes" are unique to Indian society and its historical process. They comprise persons who were excluded from the caste system and subjected to severe discrimination in ancient India. These persons were treated as "untouchables" and social and physical contact with them was shunned by the dominant castes. 93. The first enumeration of the former "untouchable" communities was carried out during a census in 1931 under British rule. Based on the definition evolved for the purpose at that time and reports of several commissions and committees since independence, the criterion generally followed for the specification of communities as Scheduled Castes has been "extreme social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of the traditional practice of untouchability". 94. "Race" has thus never been a factor in the process of identification and determination of the communities which constitute Scheduled Castes. Persons who belong to the Scheduled Caste communities are today considered different from others because of their social, economic and educational backwardness, not because they belong to a separate

"race". 95. The Indian Government also indicates that constitutional, legislative and institutional measures have been taken to prohibit discrimination based on membership in a caste with regard to access to public places and provision of goods and services and to abolish untouchability (Constitution, arts. 15 and 17). The Constitution also guarantees equality before the law (art. 14) and equal opportunity of access to public employment, although the State is permitted to (a) make reservations concerning appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens and (b) institute reservations in matters of promotion for Scheduled Castes and Tribes (art. 16). 96. A National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was also established, one of its goals being: (a) to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution or under any other law; (b) to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; (c) to participate in and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any state. 97. According to the 1991 census, 138.2 million persons belonged to the Scheduled Castes (16.48 per cent of the estimated population of 846.3 million at the time) and 67.8 million to the Scheduled Tribes (0.08 per cent of the population). 98. The organizations representing the untouchables or Dalits recognize the progress achieved on their behalf since India's independence, but point out that the group's situation continues to be difficult. According to these organizations, while the average literacy rates in India (for men and women, respectively) were 63.8 per cent and 39.42 per cent in 1992, among Dalits the averages were only 29.7 per cent and 18.05 per cent). /

Thiagara, Henry. The Indian Socio-Economic Pyramid, Dalit Liberation Education Trust./ There are currently about 115 million Dalit child labourers, 20 million of whom work under dangerous conditions. Additionally, in 1996 more than 1,200 Dalit children died from malnutrition in Maharashtra state. / Varhade, Yogesh. Statement made to the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Working Group on Indigenous Populations, fifteenth session, 28 July-1 August 1997, Ambedkar Center for Justice and Peace./ According to several sources, the Dalits are most often the victims of forced relocation, arbitrary detention and summary execution in India. The Dalit Liberation Education Trust asserts that, "every hour two Dalits are assaulted, every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, two Dalit houses are burnt in India". / Dalit Liberation Education Trust. Statement to the Working Group on Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights, 26-30 May 1997./ 99. In the rural areas especially, the practice of untouchability is said to be very much alive and is reflected in segregated housing, with the Dalits forced to live at least 1/2 km from the rest of the villagers, and in the prohibition for them to use the wells, the shared water source. Segregation also reportedly exists in the schools, public services and public places (shops, hairdressers and public transport; in restaurants, dishes used by Dalits are sometimes separated from those used by the higher castes). 100. Given, on the one hand, the above-mentioned information, particularly as it relates to the constitutional provision cited by the Indian Government in its communication of 30 September 1997 - "Under article 366, the Scheduled Castes are defined as `castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under article 341 to be Scheduled Castes for the purposes of the Constitution'" and given, on the other hand, the fact that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its concluding observations on

India's periodic reports, stated, "the situation of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes falls within the scope of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination" (CERD/C/304/Add.13, para. 14), the Special Rapporteur believes that specific attention should be given to the situation of the untouchables in India; a field mission might be envisaged for that purpose, with the agreement of the Indian Government. Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee: INDIA. 04/08/97. CCPR/C/79/Add.81 5. ... The persistence of traditional practices and customs, leading to ... discrimination against members of the underprivileged classes and castes and other minorities ... constitute impediments to the implementation of the Covenant. 8. The Committee also welcomes the establishment of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the National Commission for Women in 1992, and the National Commission for Minorities in 1993. These commissions have initiated some improvements, in particular in the levels of education and in the representation of the various groups concerned within elected bodies and other authorities. 10. The Committee has noted that positions in elected bodies are reserved for members of scheduled castes and tribes .... 15. The Committee notes with concern that, despite measures taken by the Government, members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, as well as the so-called backward classes and ethnic and national minorities continue to endure severe social discrimination and to suffer disproportionately from many violations of their rights under the Covenant, inter alia inter-caste violence, bonded labour and discrimination of all kinds. It regrets that the de facto perpetuation of the caste system entrenches social differences and contributes to these violations. While the Committee notes the efforts made by the State

party to eradicate discrimination: it recommends that further measures be adopted, including education programmes at national and state levels, to combat all forms of discrimination against these vulnerable groups, in accordance with articles 2, paragraph 1, and 26 of the Covenant. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women: INDIA. 01/02/2000. A/55/38, paras.30-90 52. The Committee considers that ... such social practices as the caste system ... present major obstacles to the implementation of the Convention. 68. ... Discrimination against women who belong to particular castes or ethnic or religious groups is also manifest in extreme forms of physical and sexual violence and harassment. 69. The Committee urges the Government to implement existing legislation prohibiting such practices as ... caste-based discrimination. ... 74. The Committee is concerned with the continuing discrimination, including violence, suffered by women of the Dalit community, despite the passage of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act of 1989. 75. The Committee urges the Government to enforce laws preventing discrimination against Dalit women and prohibiting the devadasi system. It urges the Government to introduce affirmative action programmes in such areas as education, employment and health so as to provide life chances to Dalit women and girls and create an environment conducive to their progress. ... Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: INDIA: 23/02/2000. CRC/C/15/Add.115 9. Given such a diverse and multicultural society, the Committee further notes that the existence of traditional customs (i.e. the caste system), and societal attitudes (e.g. towards tribal groups) is an obstacle to efforts to

combat discrimination, and compounds, inter alia, poverty, illiteracy, child labour, child sexual exploitation, and children living and/or working on the streets. 12. The Committee notes that insufficient efforts have been made to implement legislation and decisions of the courts and the commissions (i.e. the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission); and to facilitate the work of such institutions with respect to children's rights. 30. In the light of article 2 of the Convention, the Committee is concerned at the existence of caste-based discrimination and discrimination against tribal groups, despite these practices being prohibited under the law. 31. In accordance with article 17 of the Constitution and article 2 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party take steps to ensure states abolish the discriminatory practice of "untouchability", prevent caste- and tribe-motivated abuse, and prosecute State and private actors who are responsible for such practices or abuses. Moreover, in compliance with article 46 of the Constitution, the State party is encouraged to implement, inter alia, affirmative measures to advance and protect these groups. The Committee recommends the full implementation of the 1989 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the 1995 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Rules (Prevention of Atrocities) and the 1993 Employment of Manual Scavengers Act. The Committee encourages the State party to continue its efforts to carry out comprehensive public education campaigns to prevent and combat caste-based discrimination. In line with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/304/Add.13), the Committee stresses the importance of the equal enjoyment by members of these groups of the rights in the Convention, including access to health care, education, work, and public

places and services, such as wells. 56. ... There is serious concern regarding the striking disparities in terms of access to education, attendance at primary and secondary levels and drop-out rates between: different states, rural and urban areas, boys and girls, the affluent and poor, and children belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. ... 74. The Committee notes the Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children. However, in view of the scale of the problem, the Committee is concerned about the sexual abuse and exploitation of children especially those belonging to the lower castes and from poor urban and rural areas ... Fourteenth report of States parties due in 1998: Nepal. 12/05/99. CERD/C/337/Add.4. (State Party Report) F. Caste and ethnicity 20. The people of Nepal are socially segmented along lines of caste and sub-caste and ethnic and sub-ethnic groups. According to the 1991 census, there are more than 60 such groups, along with 20 major language groups. Many groups are endogamous, perform distinct rites de passage and maintain various types and degrees of commensal and other forms of group exclusiveness. 21. The caste system was recreated/defined in the time of the late King Jayasthiti Malla. He mentioned four main castes, Brahmin, Chhetri, Vaishya and Shudra, and 16 sub-castes in each main caste. Further, he divided the castes on the basis of the division of labour in the country. The caste system was primarily hierarchical. Brahmin was identified as the highest caste and Shudra was the lowest. He described the system in his book, Human Behavioural Science, in the 1930s. Since then, members of the Shudra were identified as untouchable; they could not enter the houses of higher caste people and water touched by them was considered impure by the upper castes. The Brahmins had the most power; their duties were to guide, direct and create awareness of social

values in society, perform ritual activities, etc. Punishments for the same crime were also different according to whether it was committed by a Brahmin, a woman or a person belonging to a lower caste. Deep social rifts and distance separated the high caste groups from those caste groups regarded as untouchables. 22. Racial discrimination in Nepal was legally abolished by the enactment of the National Code, 1963 (Muluki Ain), but it persists in rural areas. For an overwhelming majority of people, the caste system continues to be an extremely salient feature of personal identity and social relationships and, to some extent, determines access to social opportunities. Therefore, the human development indicators for occupational castes (so-called lower castes) are lower than for other castes. The caste system is weakening considerably in urban areas, workplaces and areas of high migration. There are also instances of a household or an individual having gone up in caste, even in the rural, indigenous areas, on account of the acquisition of wealth/income, learning or the adoption of particular modes of life. G. Social development trends 25. There has been a significant improvement in the education sector over the years. The adult literacy rate has increased from 24 per cent in 1981 to 40 per cent in 1996. The lowest literacy is among the occupational castes. Women constitute more than two thirds of the illiterates. The net enrolment ratios are 70 per cent for the primary level, 45 per cent for the lower secondary level and 36 per cent for the secondary level. However, Nepal still lags far behind in general, technical and vocational education. II. SPECIAL MEASURES RELATING TO SPECIFIC ARTICLES OF THE CONVENTION A. Article 2 27. That all citizens have equal rights is a principle of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1991 and all branches of government are devoted

to giving it concrete form. Article 11 of the Constitution stipulates that all citizens are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law in accordance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Article 11 (2) of the Constitution states that there shall be no discrimination in the application of general law on grounds of religion, race, sex, caste, tribe, ideological conviction or any of these. However, special legal provisions may be made for the protection and advancement of the interests of women, children, the aged, or those who are physically or mentally disabled or those who belong to a class which is economically, socially or educationally backward. Similarly, article 11 (4) provides that no person shall, on the basis of caste, be discriminated against as untouchable, be denied access to any public place, or be deprived of the use of public utilities. Any contravention of this provision is to be made punishable by law. 28. The Muluki Ain (hereinafter referred to as National Code) has prohibited any sort of discrimination on the basis of caste, any denial of access to public places or public utilities, and provides for a punishment of one year's imprisonment or a find of 3,000 rupees or both for violators of this provision. 29. Section 3 of the Civil Liberties Act (Nagarik Adhikar Ain), 1954 deals with equality before the law and equal protection of the law; section 4 prohibits any restrictions against any citizen on the basis of religion, race, sex, caste, or any of these in appointment to the civil service. The Act has provided for positive discrimination in favour of the socially or culturally backward ethnic groups. .... 33. The Compensation Act on Torture, 1997 states that each and every citizen, irrespective of caste, religion, ethnicity, colour and race, has the right to claim compensation from the Government for cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment received during any trial, investigation or inquiry.

The Social Welfare Act, 1992 has provisions for taking the necessary steps to protect and promote the interests of socially backward communities. .... 38. The attempt/campaign to eradicate racial discrimination started with a popular movement in 1951 and ended legally with the promulgation of the Civil Liberties Act, 1954 and the National Code in 1963. However, racial discrimination in the society, especially in rural areas, is still in existence. So-called untouchables cannot even enter the houses of the people of so-called higher and middle-class castes. On one hand, they are socially suppressed by the upper classes and, on the other hand, they suffer from poverty; the intensity of poverty seems to be higher in socially backward people. Efforts to promote the welfare and development of backward communities 40. .... In fiscal year 1997/98, the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare has provided financial assistance for socially disadvantaged communities/castes (Badi, Mushar, Ghanghar, Dome, Dushar, Raute, Satar, Dhimal, Chhamar, Damai, Kami, Sharki, Tharu, Sunuwar, Khatwe and Kumal) to promote their traditional technology. However, programmes to raise the status of repressed people and backward communities were not addresssed in national policies and programmes in an integrated way. .... 42. In addition, awareness creation, income generation, education and health facilities programmes were implemented to address the problems of the backward communities. However, the gap between so-called higher and lower castes has not narrowed. There have hardly been any changes in the society or the living standard of the poor. Consequently, the people of backward communities have felt discriminated against and could not believe that the Government was doing anything for their

welfare and development. The main reasons for this are: lack of integrated programmes, weak implementation and sustainability, failure to mainstream backward communities and repressed people into the national development process, centre-oriented/based programmes rather than community-based/participatory programmes, little attention to human resource development and lack of encouragement to the development and modernization of traditional occupations and skills, lack of effective institutional mechanisms, etc. .... 49. His Majesty's Government of Nepal has been continuing the scholarship programmes for the students of socially backward communities. In addition, all students of those backward communities and occupational castes get NRs. 25 for 10 months of the year as motivation. .... C. Article 4 55. As mentioned above, no discrimination exists in Nepal, either in terms of legal provisions or of policy and programme measures. The National Code prohibits any sort of discrimination on the basis of caste, any denial of access to public places and public utilities, and provides for the punishment of violators of this provision. The Civil Liberties Act, 1954 prohibits any restrictions against any citizen on the basis of religion, race, sex, caste, or any of these in appointments to the civil service and the Constitution stipulates that all citizens are equal before the law. .... 57. In Nepal, no news item, article or other reading material is censored which may jeopardize the harmonious relations subsisting among the people of various castes, tribes or communities. .... 1. Civil and political rights

.... 63. Irrespective of race, caste, religion, creed, ethnicity or colour, every person who has his/her domicile in Nepal is eligible for citizenship by birth in Nepal, by having one parent who was born in Nepal, or by naturalization by virtue of section 6 of the Nepal Citizenship Act, 1964 (art. 8). A foreign woman who marries a Nepalese citizen is also eligible for citizenship. 64. The Constitution guarantees civil rights. All citizens have equal rights before the law and have the following freedoms: (a) Freedom of opinion and expression; (b) Freedom to assemble peacefully and without arms; (c) Freedom to form unions and associations; (d) Freedom to move throughout the Kingdom and reside in any part thereof; and (e) Freedom to practise any profession or to carry on any occupation, industry or trade (article 12.2 of the Constitution). 65. These freedoms may be exercised with the following provisos: (a) Nothing in sub-clause (a) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities, or on any act of sedition, defamation, contempt of court or incitement to an offence or on any act which may be contrary to decent public behaviour or morality; (b) Nothing in sub-clause (b) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty, integrity or law and order situation of the Kingdom of Nepal; (c) Nothing in sub-clause (c) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may

jeopardize the harmonious relations among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities which may instigate violence, or which may be contrary to public morality; (d) Nothing in sub-clause (d) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws which are in the interest of the general public, or which are made to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal, or which may jeopardize the harmonious relations among the peoples of various castes, tribes or communities; (e) Nothing in sub-clause (e) shall be deemed to prevent the making of laws to impose reasonable restrictions on any act which may be contrary to public health or morality, to confer on the State the exclusive right to undertake specified industries, businesses or services, or to impose any condition or qualification for carrying on any industry, trade, profession or occupation. 66. Every person shall have the freedom to profess and practise his/her own religion as handed down to him/her from his/her forefathers and every religious denomination shall have the right to maintain its independent existence and for this purpose to manage and protect its religious places and trusts (article 19 of the Constitution). Right to marriage and choice of spouse 67. The legal age for marriage without parental consent is 21 years for males and 18 years for females whereas with parental consent the marriage age is 18 years for males and 16 years for females. The free will of the prospective spouses is given due importance; however, in some cases, prospective spouses might face social obstructions if the man and woman come from different social standings/castes/ethnic groups. 68. According to the prevailing laws, a man and woman who have attained the marriageable age may register their marriage at the District Administration Office and are given a Certificate of Registration of

Marriage duly signed by the concerned authorities. 2. Economic, social and cultural rights 69. Article 17 of the Constitution states that all citizens have the right to property subject to existing laws which cover the right to acquire, own, sell and dispose of such property. 70. To develop a healthy social life by eliminating all types of economic and social inequalities and establishing harmony amongst the various castes, tribes, religions, languages, races and communities is the social objective of the State. The State is also directed to pursue a policy of mobilizing the natural resources and heritage of the country in a manner useful and beneficial to the interests of the nation. Article 25 of the Constitution envisages the principal objective of the State as to promote conditions of welfare on the basis of the principles of an open society by establishing a just system in all aspects of the national life, including social, economic and political life, while at the same time protecting the life, liberty and property of the people. The State's fundamental economic objective is to transform the national economy into an independent system by preventing the country's available resources and means from being concentrated within a limited section of society, and by making arrangements for an equitable distribution of economic gains on the basis of social justice. .... III. CONCLUSION 101. The equality of rights of citizens is a principle of the Constitution. All branches of current legislation are devoted to giving it a concrete form. Article 11 of the Constitution stipulates the equality of all citizens before the law and equal protection of the law as stipulated in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Article 11 (2) of the Constitution states that there shall be no discrimination against any citizen in the application of general law on ground of religion, race, sex, caste, tribe or ideological conviction or

any of these. However, special legal provisions may be made for the protection and advancement of the interests of women, children, the aged, those who are physically or mentally disabled or those who belong to a class which is economically, socially or educationally backward. "Occupational castes" mostly indicate the so-called "Untouchables" of the Hills and Tarai (Plains part of the country). Appendix D: Comments by U.N. human rights treaty bodies on caste in Africa. Burkina Faso Initial reports of States parties due in 1992: Burkina Faso. 15/07/93. CRC/C/3/Add.19. (State Party Report) Committee on the Rights of the Child 14. Article 1 of the Constitution stipulates: "All inhabitants of Burkina Faso are born free and equal before the law". Discrimination of any kind, in particular discrimination based on race, ethnic group, religion, colour, sex, language, caste, political opinion, property or birth, is prohibited. 85. Legislation in Burkina Faso prohibits all discrimination based on race, ethnic group, region, colour, sex, language, religion, caste, political opinion, wealth and birth (Constitution, art. 1). Children belonging to a minority or an indigenous group enjoy the same rights as all citizens of Burkina Faso and all foreigners. Eleventh periodic report of States parties due in 1995: Burkina Faso. 13/03/97. CERD/C/279/Add.2. (State Party Report) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 8. The provisions of the Constitution recognize and protect civil, political and economic rights: Article 1, paragraph 3: "Discrimination of any kind, particularly based on race, ethnicity, region, colour, sex, language, religion, caste, political opinion, wealth and birth, is prohibited." 12. Any discrimination in marriage based on race, colour, religion, ethnicity, caste, social origin or wealth is prohibited; strict equality exists

between the spouses. Opposition to marriage on grounds of race, caste, colour or religion is prohibited. The Personal and Family Code currently in force in Burkina Faso seeks to modernize and standardize the marriage regime by eliminating all forms of discriminatory marriage, particularly forced marriage, the betrothal of young girls and levirate ("formal" marriage with the widow of one's brother). Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Burkina Faso. 21/08/97. CERD/C/304/Add.41. (Concluding Observations/Comments) C. Positive aspects 6. It is noted with appreciation that the prohibition of discrimination on any ground, in particular of race, ethnic origin, colour, religion or caste, is contained in the Constitution, which makes it an excellent basis for the implementation of the Convention in Burkina Faso. Summary record of the 1236th meeting: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Israel, Poland. 05/12/97. CERD/C/SR.1236. (Summary Record) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Mr. DIACONU (Country Rapporteur on Burkina Faso) 15. Burkina Faso was undergoing changes similar to those that had taken place almost everywhere in Africa during the 1990s. Under the 1991 Constitution, racial discrimination of any kind, particularly based on race, ethnicity, region, colour, sex, language, religion, caste, political opinion, wealth and birth, was prohibited. The Constitution was based on a pluralist concept; 13 political groups had taken part in the legislative elections in May 1997, and 4 political parties were represented in the new Parliament. Given that there had been seven political parties represented in the former Government, formed after the 1993 elections, he would like to know whether more than one party was represented in the current Government. Burundi

Summary record of the 1239th meeting : Burundi. 25/08/97. CERD/C/SR.1239. (Summary Record) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 57. The delegation of Burundi agreed wholeheartedly with the Committee that ethnicity should not be institutionalized. As to whether there was discrimination in education and whether Hutus were being victimized through the system, he explained that prior to Burundi's accession to independence, education was provided by white European missionaries. Any blame for subsequent discrimination in education should therefore be laid at their door. During the colonial era, a school had been established for the education of the princely and royal caste which had never identified itself with either Tutsis or Hutus. After the dissolution of the caste, its members had alternated between association with the Tutsis and the Hutus depending on which of the groups had held political power. After independence the schools had still been run by the clergy and missionaries until the accession of President Bagaza to power but even then there had been no discrimination whatsoever between Tutsis and Hutus. However, during the Bagaza regime a system designed to discriminate in favour of Tutsis had been developed - and that was indeed one of the reasons for the overthrow of that regime. The successive regimes in Burundi were, therefore, not responsible for discrimination in schools. Such discrimination no longer existed. If the Committee sent a delegation to Burundi it would be a perfect opportunity to determine the true situation. Cameroon List of Issues: Cameroon. 17/12/98. E/C.12/Q/CAMER/1. (List of Issues) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Article 6. The right to work 11. What measures, legislative or otherwise, has the State Party adopted to ensure that the right to work is provided to all in Cameroon without any discrimination as to colour, sex, caste, ethnic group, creed and social

or economic status? Mali Summary record of the 571st meeting: Mali. 05/10/99. CRC/C/SR.571. (Summary Record) Committee on the Rights of the Child Mrs. DIARRA THIERO (Mali) 5. In Mali, as in other African countries, castes had traditionally played a specific role as social regulators. However, there was no problem with respect to discrimination against children or for that matter any other members of specific castes in Mali, as members of castes were well received and socially integrated in Malian society. The Constitution established that all people were born free and equal. 19. Mr. BALLO (Mali) said he was unaware of any problems posed by the caste system in Mali, which was a domestic tradition rather than a form of discrimination. Each person had a job to do and that job was determined by marriage and family relationships. While there was no legal discrimination, other practices were also part of the caste tradition, which could not be legislated against. 39. Mrs. OUEDRAOGO agreed with the delegation's comments on the role of parents in supervising children's access to films and television programmes, which was particularly important in connection with the private video showings which often took place in villages throughout the subregion. Regarding excision, she agreed that a law would be premature in the context described by the delegation, but welcomed the Government's political will to combat that practice. She noted that there did not appear to be a problem of discrimination against castes in Mali. Regarding violence, she had been pleased to hear that police officers and gendarmes received training relating to the Convention, and asked whether there were plans to institute such training in police and gendarmerie training schools. Summary record of the 570th meeting: Mali. 09/11/99.

CRC/C/SR.570. (Summary Record) Committee on the Rights of the Child Mrs. OUEDRAOGO 42. What measures were being adopted to end the practice of early marriage? Were marriages still arranged at birth? There were some reports of discrimination on grounds of caste. What action was being taken by the Government in that connection? Furthermore, how was the principle of the child's best interests translated into practice in daily life? More specifically, what was the social situation and legal status of children born out of wedlock? She emphasized that although Malian law punished abortion, a distinction had to be drawn between theory and practice, and she asked about the numerous cases of illegal abortions, especially among teenagers. Mauritania Summary record of the 1341st meeting: Mauritania. 12/08/99. CERD/C/SR.1341. (Summary Record) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Mr. OULD MERZOUG (Mauritania) 23. Turning to the issue of slavery in Mauritania, he said that all African societies in the pre-colonial era had been marked by inequalities due to the traditional rigid class hierarchy and the caste system, and Mauritania had been no exception. However, a caste system had existed within each of Mauritania's communities - Arab, Pular, Sonink and Wolof. For example, one community had 12 castes, divided into three main groups: freemen, trades people such as fishermen or weavers, and slaves, who had often been captured in war. There was thus no racial dimension to slavery. It was a fallacy to believe that the Arabs had been the masters and the blacks the slaves. In fact, the Arab community had adopted the social structure of the other communities in Mauritania, which existed nowhere else in the Arab world. Members of the Arab community in Mauritania had been prominent in the fight against the slave trade.

24. The traditional social structure which he had just described had been destroyed by colonialization. The schools and jobs created by the colonial authority had principally benefited the lower castes in society, partly because the higher castes were more hostile to attempts to convert them to Christianity. As the colonial era had drawn to its close after the Second World War, new political associations had been formed which had challenged the traditional social structure and sought the advancement of the poorest groups. Independence from colonial rule in 1961 and the effects of new production methods and equipment, the market economy and the drought of the 1970s and 1980s had dealt the final blow to the traditional caste system. The nomadic population had been forced to become sedentary, and the former aristocrats and those they had exploited had moved into the shanty towns together. The formal abolition of slavery in 1980 had been important less as a legal measure -since slavery no longer existed in practice - than as a symbol of the religious authorities' commitment to the fight against social inequality and an attempt to change the outdated attitudes which still persisted in some remote rural areas. A field survey commissioned by the Government, in which it had invited the President of the Anti-Slavery Society to participate, had confirmed that slavery no longer existed in Mauritania. Mauritius Initial report: Mauritius. 14/10/94. E/1990/5/Add.21. (State Party Report) Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Economic and Social Council, Substantive session of 1995 48. Promotion in the public service is a matter for the Public Service Commission (PSC), which is a constitutional body under the Constitution operating within the parameters laid down in its regulations (PSC Regulations). The regulations which are made by the PSC under the Constitution ensure that appointment or promotion in the public

service are made within the spirit of the Constitution, i.e. there is no discrimination in regard to sex, race, caste, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed. Of course, in certain specific areas the requirements are restricted to either male or female candidates, depending on the nature of the duties required. For example in a girls college, the need will be for a female matron. 357. The Constitution of the Republic of Mauritius guarantees the right of every Mauritian citizen to take part in the cultural life which he or she considers pertinent and to manifest his or her own culture. In fact, chapter II of the Constitution of the Republic of Mauritius provides for the protection of the fundamental rights and freedom of the Mauritian citizen, namely: Protection of freedom of conscience, of thought, religion and freedom to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance; Protection of freedom of expression, i.e. freedom to hold opinions and impart ideas and information without interference with his correspondence; Protection of freedom of assembly and association, i.e. no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his right to assemble freely or associate himself with other persons for the protection of his interest; Protection of freedom to establish schools; No religious denomination and no religious, social, ethnic or cultural association or group is prevented from establishing schools at its own expense; Protection from discrimination on the basis of race, caste, place of origin, political opinion, colour or creed. Initial reports of States parties due in 1994: Mauritius. 07/03/95. CAT/C/24/Add.3. (State Party Report) Committee Against Torture 33. Section 7 (5) provides that an offender shall not be surrendered to a foreign State where the Minister has reasonable grounds for believing

that: (a) The request of his surrender, although purporting to have been made in respect of an offence for which, but for this section, he may be liable to be surrendered to that State, was made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing him on account of his race, caste, place of origin, nationality, political opinions, colour, or creed; or (b) If the offender is surrendered to that State he may be prejudiced at his trial, or punished, detained or restricted in his personal liberty, by reason of his race, caste, place of origin, nationality, political opinions, colour or creed. Initial report of States Parties due in 1992: Mauritius. 02/10/95. CRC/C/3/Add.36. (State Party Report) Committee on the Rights of the Child 19. With respect to fundamental rights and freedoms, all Mauritian citizens are equal before the law. Discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, colour, caste, political opinion, disabilities, etc. is not permitted. A law to remove discrimination on the basis of sex will soon go to Parliament. The problem of discrimination is dealt with in section 16 of chapter 2 of the Constitution. Moreover, the Mauritian Constitution recognizes the best interest of the child as the primary guiding principle in family matters. All legislation is enacted in the best interest of the child. Third periodic reports of States parties due in 1990: Mauritius. 15/10/95. CCPR/C/64/Add.12. (State Party Report) Human Rights Committee Advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred 2.2 The Public Gathering Act 1991 has added the offence of "stirring up racial hatred" to the Criminal Code. It reads as follows: "Section 282 (1) Any person who, with intent to stir up contempt or hatred against any section of the public distinguished by race, caste, place of origin,

political opinions, colour or creed (a) publishes or distributes any writing which is threatening, abusive or insulting; (b) uses in any public place or at any public meeting or procession any gesture or word which is threatening, abusive or insulting; or (c) broadcasts any matter which is threatening, abusive or insulting, shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Rs 25,000 and penal servitude not exceeding 10 years. Article 26 1. Section 16 of the Constitution, which provides protection from discrimination, only makes reference to "race, caste, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed"; no mention is made of "sex". Summary record of the 40th meeting: Mauritius. 30/11/95. E/C.12/1995/SR.40. (Summary Record) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Mr. BOOLELL (Mauritius) 7. It was worth noting two recent developments that would have a major impact on how Mauritius implemented the Covenant. In August 1995, section 16 of the Constitution of Mauritius had been amended so as to dispel any doubts regarding possible discrimination on the ground of gender. As a result of the amendment, any law found to be discriminatory on the basis of gender would be declared null and void. The Constitution stipulated, inter alia, that no law should make any provision that was discriminatory either of itself or in its effect. It was understood that discriminatory meant different treatment for different persons wholly or mainly on the basis of their respective descriptions by race, caste, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed or sex. The word "sex" had been added to fill the lacuna in the original version of section 16. 29. Mr. SIMMA asked whether section 16 (4) (c) of the Constitution could be construed as meaning that if, in the future, owing to some

fundamentalist pressure, a Muslim, Hindu or other law discriminating against women for religious reasons was enacted, it would be acceptable. 30. Mr. BOOLELL (Mauritius) replied that no discrimination on the ground of religion, caste, or sex would be constitutional and that any law allowing such discrimination was unlikely to survive in view of the terms of sections 1, 3 and 16 of the Constitution. Summary record of the 1476th meeting: Mauritius. 28/03/96. CCPR/C/SR.1476. (Summary Record) Human Rights Committee 42. Mr. BN observed that Mauritius had clearly made considerable strides in the field of human rights since the previous report: the Constitution had been amended in substantial points, the death penalty had been abolished and a series of anti-discrimination laws had been adopted. He wondered in that connection whether the amendment of section 16 of the Constitution would now set aside section 242 of the Criminal Code, which did not provide for equal treatment of men and women. Also, he would like an explanation of the terms "race, caste, place of origin", as they were used in section 16 of the Constitution. Summary record of the 1477th meeting: Mauritius. 08/04/96. CCPR/C/SR.1477. (Summary Record) Human Rights Committee Mr. SEETHULSINGH (Mauritius) 4. Responding to a question concerning traditional customs which affected women's rights to which reference had been made in the second report, he stated that rapid economic growth was leading to the gradual disappearance of cultural traditions which tended to discriminate against women. Moreover, the existence of a caste system similar to that in India was an unfortunate accident of history and although it was legitimized in the 1968 Constitution, it was never really practised. Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Mauritius. 27/09/96. CERD/C/304/Add.19. (Concluding Observations/Comments) 10. With regard to article 2 of the Convention, the adoption in July 1991

of section 282 of the Criminal Code, which makes it an offence to publish or distribute any threatening, abusive or insulting writings, to use in public any threatening, abusive or insulting gestures or to broadcast threatening, abusive or insulting matter, with intent to stir up contempt or hatred against any part of the population distinguished by race, caste, place of birth, colour or creed, is noted with appreciation. Twelfth periodic report of States parties due in 1995: Mauritius. 03/01/96. CERD/C/280/Add.2. (State Party Report) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 10. Under section 3 of the Constitution it is specifically provided that all citizens shall have access to human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination by reason of race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed or sex. This provision is further reinforced by section 16 which provides that no law shall be discriminatory on the ground of race, caste, place of origin, colour, creed or sex. 23. In the framework of its continuing policy aimed at the elimination of all forms of discrimination, the Government in July 1991 enacted section 282 of the Criminal Code (annex 4) to make it an offence for any person who with intent to stir up contempt or hatred against any section or part of any section of the public distinguished by race, caste, place of origin, colour or creed: (a) Publishes or distributes any writing which is threatening, abusive or insulting; (b) Uses in any public place or at any public meeting or procession any gesture or word which is threatening, abusive or insulting; or (c) Broadcasts any matter which is threatening, abusive or insulting. Appendix E: Final Declaration of the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste-based Discrimination: Occupation and Descent-based Discrimination Against Dalits, 1-4 March, 2001, New Delhi, India. A conference in preparation for the UN World Conference Against

Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance The Global Conference Against Racism and Caste-based Discrimination was convened in New Delhi, 1-4 March 2001, and included representatives and victims from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, Japan, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The participants of the Global Conference strongly condemn caste (occupation and descent based) discrimination and the practice of untouchability, which is the source of immense human suffering and the cause of gross human rights violations and of dehumanizing and degrading treatment of 240 million people. We, the participants of the Global Conference, have listened to disturbing testimonies from victims of caste-based discrimination who have suffered extreme violence, abhorrent conditions of work, degradation, exclusion and humiliation. We have also heard from experts, activists, academics, and grassroots leaders about their work to end caste-based discrimination. We appeal to governments and the international community to end this crime against humanity, and we strongly endorse the following declaration. Preamble 1. Taking note of the concluding observation of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) "that the situation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes falls within the scope of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," and that the term "descent" contained in Article 1 of the Convention does not refer solely to race, and encompasses the situation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, as cited on September 17, 1996, in the document CERD/C/304/Add.13, 2. Affirming that caste as a basis for the segregation and oppression of peoples in terms of their descent and occupation is a form of apartheid and a distinct form of racism affecting victims equally irrespective of

religion. 3. Asserting that Untouchability is a Crime against Humanity,141 4. Recognizing that caste-based practices - distinction, exclusion and restrictions on social and occupational mobility - which lead to a negation of humanity and the inability to exercise all human rights are affecting at least 240 million persons in South Asia and millions of others in East Asia and West Africa, 5. Recognizing that the 52nd United Nations Sub-Commission on Human Rights, given their concerns over caste-based discrimination, passed a unanimous resolution calling for a working paper on occupation- and descent-based discrimination, 6. Recalling conclusions drawn by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the United Nations Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the Human Rights Committee that Dalit men, women and children endure severe forms of discrimination, violence and exploitation because of their caste status, 7. Committed to the inclusion of caste-based discrimination on the agenda, the declaration and the programme of action of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Forms of Intolerance (WCAR), to be held at Durban, South Africa, from August 31-September 8, 2001, 8. Calling attention to the proceedings of the Bellagio Consultation, the European NGO preparatory meeting, and the Asian and African expert meetings in preparation for the WCAR which specifically address the problem of caste discrimination, 9. Encouraged by the solidarity expressed by non-governmental organizations in the WCAR preparatory and expert meetings and taking note of the consensus reached in the Asia-Pacific NGO Declaration in Tehran for inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the agenda of the

WCAR and the Declaration and Programme of Action, 10. Taking note of governments' obligations to uphold universal standards of human rights under the UN treaties and covenants, 11. Commending those governments that are supporting the inclusion of discrimination based on caste on the agenda of the WCAR, 12. Noting that many countries have recognized that certain communities, such as Dalit peoples in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, Buraku people in Japan, and other communities in Senegal, South Mauritania and other countries, face caste-based discrimination, 13. Recognizing that governments have undertaken constitutional, legislative, and policy initiatives, as well as set up administrative bodies to combat discrimination based on caste and race, but also that, due to lack of political will, these efforts have been insufficient and are being diluted, subverted, and not properly implemented, 14. Noting that women - especially Dalit women - represent the most oppressed sections of all societies, and that they face multiple forms of discrimination, including caste-based, religious and patriarchal ideology and practices; 15. Taking note of the support of some public leaders, the media, non-governmental organizations, and concerned citizens from various walks of life who have condemned the existence and perpetuation of caste-based discrimination, 16. Strongly condemning the attempts of the government of India to oppose the inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the agenda of the WCAR, and urging other governments to support the inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the WCAR agenda, 142 17. Denouncing governments - particularly India- that refuse to comply with or recognize their legal obligations as defined by the CERD,143 The participants of the Global Conference adopt the following: PROGRAMME OF ACTION

The participants of the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste-based Discrimination call upon Governments to: I. Measures at the national level 1. Enforce and implement an effective and time-bound program to abolish untouchability and similar practices in all spheres. 2. Enact and enforce laws related to compulsory primary education and the elimination of child labor, bonded labor, manual scavenging, caste-bound free labor, the devadasi system or temple prostitution, and other similar practices. 3. Ensure that all necessary constitutional, legislative, and administrative measures, including appropriate forms of affirmative action, are in place to prohibit and redress discrimination on the basis of caste, and that such measures - including those in Japan and India - are continued until discrimination is eliminated. 4. Monitor and publicize the extent to which existing laws have been implemented. 5. Monitor and analyze educational syllabi and textbooks that perpetrate caste-based oppressions and exclusion, and glorify worldviews that have contributed to the continued existence of a system of "hidden apartheid." Implement alternatives that emphasize human rights education at the school and university levels. 6. Allocate adequate funds for and effectively implement programs for the socio-economic empowerment of communities discriminated against on the basis of caste or descent. 7. Ensure full proportional representation based on percentage of national population size of Dalits, Buraku, and other groups excluded on the basis of caste in all sections of society including police, judiciary, public service, media, and private industry. 8. Urge statutory and constitutional bodies such as national human rights commissions, commissions on women, race, minorities, and other relevant groups, as well as the Asia-Pacific Coordinating Committee of

National Institutions, the African Coordinating Committee of National Institutions, and the International Coordinating of National Institutions, to take up the issue of caste-based discrimination and to support its inclusion in the WCAR. 9. Urge national and state governments to take all measures to combat caste-based discrimination against women. 10. Urge governments not to deny passports to people wishing to attend the WCAR in Durban, particularly Dalit activists. II. Measures at the United Nations level 11. Demand that the WCAR agenda specifically address caste-based discrimination and that the WCAR Platform for Action identifies concrete measures for ending this form of discrimination; 12. Demand that the caste system be included in the WCAR documents as a major source of discrimination. 13. Call upon the WCAR to underline the necessity for States to adopt immediate concrete measures to eradicate the widespread discrimination and persecution targeting Dalits, Burakumin, and other communities facing discrimination on the basis of caste or descent. 14. Call upon CERD and the Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Forms of Intolerance to reaffirm their position that caste-based discrimination comes under the purview of the CERD and to state that caste should be addressed in the WCAR. 15. Call for a declaration by the United Nations that untouchability constitutes a crime against humanity. 16. Call for intensified efforts at educating the public about the extent of caste discrimination and about the contributions of Dalit culture and history. 17. Urge the appointment of a United Nations Special Rapporteur on caste discrimination. 18. Declare April 14 (Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's birthday) as the

International Day of Dalit Solidarity. 19. Recommend that United Nations development agencies pay particular attention to caste violence and caste discrimination, assess the impact of their existing programs with regard to caste, and develop programs and strategies designed to curb abuse and encourage accountability. Appendix F: Asia-Pacific NGO Declaration for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Preamble i. We, the representatives of Asian and Pacific Non-Governmental Organisations and other national, regional and international civil society organisations, meeting in Tehran, Iran, during February 18-19, 2001 and in Kathmandu, Nepal during April 27-29, 2001 in preparation for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances, to be held in South Africa in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution 52/111, ii. Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and inalienable, irrespective of distinction of any kind such as race, class, colour, sex, gender, language, national or ethnic identity, caste, descent, occupation, `untouchability' religion, social origin, disability, sexual orientation, diverse gender identities, age and other factors, iii. Recognising that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and have the capacity to contribute constructively to the development and well-being of their societies and, that all human societies, including those of the Asia Pacific region, are based on the shared values of tolerance, solidarity and pluralism, iv. Noting with concern, the persistence and increasing spread of various forms of racism, racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in all continents and regions of the world,

v. Declare that racism is an ideological construct that assigns a certain social group to a position of power over others on the basis of a notion of superiority, dominance and purity. It is `scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous' and politically harmful; vi. Further declare that racism is the basis of gross violations of human rights and occurs in the form of unjust exploitation, it renders people stateless, creates refugees, leads to marginalisation, exclusion, pauperisation, militarism, ethnic cleansing, cultural annihilation and genocide, suppression and destruction of indigenous cultures, constitutes a threat to peace and development of all human societies and, therefore, must be addressed with all appropriate resources and means, including legal mechanisms; vii. Consider that the roots of many contemporary manifestations of racism and racial discrimination can be located in the legacy of colonialism which created historical injustices based on ideologies of superiority, dominance and purity; viii. Recall that some of the worst manifestations of racism and racial discrimination have been caused by colonialism, foreign domination and militarisation and express grave concern regarding the continued occupation of Palestine; ix. Call on the forthcoming World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances to specifically mention within it's scope and ambit new manifestations of racism and racial discrimination including growing tendencies of religious intolerance and caste-based discrimination as evidenced in different parts of the world and include the same as a manifestation of xenophobic and racist tendencies. .... Caste and Racism 40.Caste is a historically entrenched, false ideological construct which often has religious and ideological sanction, and which allows for the

treatment of some people as inferior. Casteism and racism operate at personal, social and structural levels. 41.Caste is descent and occupation based and hereditary in nature, determined by one's birth into a particular caste. Caste and descent-based discrimination affects nearly 240 million people in the Asia Pacific region, for example Dalits in India and Nepal and Burakamin in Japan, irrespective of the faith that they practice. 42."Untouchability" (the subjugation and denial of the basic human rights of people labelled as "polluted" or "impure") is the most insidious manifestation of caste-based discrimination in the Asia Pacific region, specifically in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. Caste-based discrimination de facto denies access to public services including housing, education, health, land, employment, social services and other resources normally available to citizens of a country as a right. We assert that Untouchability is a Crime Against Humanity. 43.The grave lack of legal protection in some countries for persons who suffer caste-based discrimination places restrictions on their enjoyment of rights as well as on their social and economic mobility and makes them more vulnerable to all forms of violence. 44.Even though states enact laws to protect the rights of marginalized communities, it is the states themselves who often violate these laws; 45.Caste as a basis for the segregation and oppression of peoples in terms of their descent and occupation is a form of apartheid and in its practical manifestation and nature of discrimination is a distinct form of racism affecting victims equally irrespective of religion. Casteism pre-dates racism and is a distinct form of racism. 46.The apartheid nature of caste discrimination manifests itself in the segregation of housing settlements and cemeteries, denial of access to common drinking water, restaurants, temples, tea stalls (`two-cup' system), restrictions on marriage and other insidious measures designed to prevent social interaction and mobility.

47.Any attempt made by members of these communities to struggle for equal rights is met with extreme violence such as the burning of homes, stripping and parading, mainly of women, rape, murder and social and economic boycott. The perpetrators of these crimes frequently enjoy police impunity, while the victims, who are mostly women, are often falsely accused and imprisoned. 48.There is a clear inter-sectionality between race, class and gender. Dalit women represent the most oppressed sections of South Asian societies, and face multiple forms of discrimination. 49.In spite of the fact that some governments have undertaken constitutional, legislative and policy initiatives, as well as set up administrative bodies to combat discrimination based on caste and other factors, due to a lack of political will and entrenched prejudices, these efforts have been ineffective and seriously inadequate in enabling social and economic mobility of these oppressed communities. 50.Caste-based practices - distinction, exclusion and restrictions on social and occupational mobility - lead to a negation of humanity and the inability to exercise all human rights. 51.Hence, the NGO community of Asia-Pacific is committed to the inclusion of caste-based discrimination on the agenda, the declaration and the programme of action of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Forms of Intolerance (WCAR), to be held at Durban, South Africa, from August 31-September 8, 2001, 52.The Asia-Pacific NGO community strongly condemns the attempts of the governments of India and Japan to oppose the inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the agenda of the WCAR in spite of the assertion by the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that caste discrimination is a form of racial discrimination. We urge other governments, as an urgent matter of basic justice, to support the inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the

WCAR agenda, despite the pressure exerted by India in particular, which is home to hundreds of millions of persons facing caste-based discrimination. 141 Untouchability is the subjugation and denial of the basic human rights of people labeled as "impure," a practice sanctified by religious tradition. 142 The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka does not subscribe to this section of the declaration. 143 The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka does not subscribe to this section of the declaration. Home | Current Events | News | Publications | About HRW | Documents by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Contribute | What You Can Do | Community | Book Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

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Burden of Past and Vision of Equality: Political Sociology of Social Exclusion and Jat-Dalit Conflicts in Punjab

Dr. Ronki Ram, Reader, Department Panjab of University, Political Science Chandigarh.

<ronkiram@yahoo.co.in> The recent spate of Jat-Dalit conflicts in the north Indian state of Punjab has exploded the myth of the casteless character of the Sikh society. Dalits in Punjab are no longer better than their counterpart in other parts of India. However, what distinguished Punjab from

the rest of country is that caste inequity persists here more in terms of landownership, social identification and dominant cultural patterns than of Brahmincal orthodoxy. Though over the years the Dalits of Punjab have strengthened their economic position through sheer hard work, enterprise and affirmative action but they failed to achieve a commensurate improvement in their social status. Armed with the weapon of improved economic conditions and social consciousness, the Dalits mustered enough strength to ask for a concomitant rise in their social status. Such moves of the marginalized find staunch critics among the Jats who often view Dalit assertion as a form of challenge to their dominant status in the agrarian society of Punjab. This in turn has sharpened the contradictions between Jats and Dalits that ultimately led to a series of violent clashes between them.

Caste has never been as assertive in Indian politics as it is today. Over the last few decades, however, it has entered the corridors of electoral politics with full force. Scholars, of late, have started recognizing the fact that once caste structures get politicized they help in the deepening of democracy, which in turn empowers the marginalized (Yadav 1999; Palshikar 2004). Delivering a lecture on Democracy and its Critics organized by the United Nations Foundation, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said, There is a need for caution, however, for those who believe that invocation of caste in any form in democracy is an evil force. As long as caste is invoked in speaking for a lower caste or uniting it, it is good (Hindu: 16 December 2005). Such a pragmatic view of caste eclipses the common conjecture predicated on the idea that the onset of the modernity project would inevitably render the

institution of caste invalid as a power index in the long run. This study is a modest attempt to understand the institution of caste in Punjab and its implications for the recent spate of Jat-Dalit conflicts in the state. The recent Jat-Dalit conflicts in Punjab have exploded the myth of the casteless Sikh society. They have brought forth the dormant contradictions between the landless and socially secluded Dalits, and the landowning and dominant peasant caste of Jats in Punjab. Dalits in Punjab constitute the largest proportion of the Scheduled Castes (SC) population in the country (29 percent [2001 census]). Interestingly enough, Punjab has also been the only state in India where the share of the Dalits in the agricultural land is the lowest (2.34 percent). In other words, despite the fact of their being in highest proportion in the population of the agrarian state of Punjab in the country, a very small number of them are cultivators. Their share in the trade, industry, financial sector, health, and religious establishments in the state is also almost negligible (Sharma 2003). However, over the years the Dalits of Punjab have strengthened their economic position through sheer hard work and enterprise. Although the constitutional affirmative action played an important role in the upliftment of the Dalits, in general, the monopoly of the Dalits on the leather business in the famous Boota Mandi in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab, and remittances turned out to be of crucial importance in overcoming their economic hardships. In addition, they have also been politicized to a large extant by the socio-political activities of the famous Ad Dharm movement1 and of the various Ravidas Deras2 (religious centers)

that have inculcated a feeling of self-respect among them3. Thus armed with the weapon of improved economic conditions and social consciousness, the Dalits mustered enough strength to ask for a concomitant rise in their social status. However, the Jats interpreted this Dalit assertion as a challenge to their long established supremacy in the state. This in turn has sharpened the contradictions between them and the Dalits. The Dalits, who for centuries have been subjected to humiliation and untold miseries, now learnt to say a firm no not only to the instances of violation of their human rights, but are also ready to take up cudgels with their tormentors. Consequently, this has led to a series of violent caste conflicts between the Dalits and the dominant peasant caste of Jats in Punjab over the last few years. The Jat-Dalit conflicts thus signify the emerging Dalit assertion and its serious implications for the asymmetrically structured agrarian society of Punjab. Such conflicts are in no way a manifestation of communalism in the state. They are in fact, signs of emerging Dalit assertion, which has all the possibilities of snowballing into serious violent conflicts, if kept ignored for a long time. This paper is divided into four sections. The first deals with the regional specificities of the state of Punjab and its impact on the phenomenon of caste discrimination in state. It also underlines the phenomenon of Jat-Dalit conflict formation in the state. The second section delves deep into the history of the Jat community in the state and its links with the emergence of the caste system within Sikhism. What are the patterns of caste discrimination in the Sikh society and how it forced the Dalits to seek a separate identity is discussed in the third section. The fourth section documents some cases of Jat-Dalit conflicts in the pre and post partition

Punjab. I Regional Specificities and caste Hierarchies in Punjab Though caste is prevalent throughout the country, it has never been monolithic and unilinear in its practice. Every region has its specific and unique characteristics that closely impact its sociopolitical and economic structures. Thus, for a correct understanding of the phenomenon of caste and untouchability, specificities of a region hold critical importance. In the following section an attempt is made to explore the regional specificities of the north Indian state of Punjab and their impact upon the phenomenon of caste. The phenomenon of untouchability was never considered so strong in Punjab as in many other parts of the country (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:15). Punjab has generally been known as a notable exception to the widely prevalent view of caste and untouchability in India owing to various historical factors (Puri 2004a: 1). But it does not mean that untouchability is alien to this part of the country. Dalits were never spared of social oppression and economic deprivations in Punjab. The repeated references to and loud condemnations of caste based discriminations in the teachings of the Sufi saints and the Sikh Gurus is a case in point. The social reform movements led by the Arya Samaj, Singh Sabha and Chief Khalsa Dewan further vindicated the presence of the institution of caste in the social set up of Punjab. Moreover, the roots of caste hierarchy were so well entrenched in society of the state that the reformatory measures undertaken by the all these social reforms movements failed to weed them out4. However,

what distinguished it from the other parts of India is the material factor of the caste based discriminations in Punjab as against the over all-dominating pattern of purity-pollution syndrome. Another feature that distinguished Punjab from the rest of the regions in the country was the phenomenon of widespread landlessness among the Dalits and the absolute monopoly of the Jats on the agricultural land in the state. The hold of Jats on the land was also reinforced by the Punjab Land Alienation Act (1901) that deprived the Dalits along with other non-agricultural castes the right to purchase the land. Since Punjab happened to be primarily an agricultural state, the ownership of land assumed significant importance in determining social status. Nowhere in India, are Dalits so extensively deprived of agricultural land as in the case of Punjab. Despite their highest proportion in the country, less than 5 percent of them were cultivators (lowest in India, 1991 census). They shared only 4.82 percent of the number of operational holdings and 2.34 percent of the total area under cultivation (1991 census). Consequently, till recently the landlessness rendered a large majority of them (60 percent, 1991 census) into agricultural laborers and made them subservient to the landowners, who invariably happen to be Sikh Jats. However, a significant change has taken place over the last few decades. Dalits have entered into a number of professions, which were traditionally considered as the mainstay of the artisan castes (Ram 2004a: 5-6). This has led to a sharp decline in the share of Dalits in the agricultural work force in the state, which in itself has come down from 24 per cent in 1991 to 16 percent in 2001 (Singh 2005:3) The hold of the Jats on the land was so strong that the lower castes were even denied the access to village common land

(shamlaat). In fact, Dalits were never considered part of villages, as their residences were located outside the main premises of the villages. So much so that the land on which the Dalit houses were built also considered to be belonged to the Jats (Virdi 2003: 2 &11). This kept the Dalits always afraid lest the Jat landowners ordered them to vacate the land. The abysmally low share of the Dalits in the land seems to be the major cause of their hardships and social exclusion. It is also an indication of the historical denial of rights to them (Thorat 2006:2432). The slightest sign of protest by the Dalits for the betterment of their living conditions often provoked the Jats to impose social boycott on them5. The patterns of domination by the Jats and that of the subordination of the Dalits also distinguished Punjab from rest of the country in a significant way. In Punjab the scale of social measurement differs from that of the other parts of the country. The social measurement scale in Punjab is not based on the purity/pollution principle of Brahminical orthodoxy. Instead, it is based on the hold of land, martial strength6, and allegiance to Sikhism, a comparatively new religion that openly challenged the rituals and dogmatic traditions of Hinduism and Islam. Unlike the system of caste hierarchy in rest of the country, the top down rank grading of Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (soldier), Vaishya (trader) and Shudra (menial worker) carries no meaning in Punjab. In Punjab Brahmin is not placed on the top of the caste hierarchy. The Sikh Jats, who otherwise have been Shudra as per the Varna system, considered themselves socially superior to the Brahmins (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:2; and Sabherwal 1976:10; Tandon 1961: 77).In fact, in contemporary Punjab Jats have replaced Brahmins in terms of domination. The ideological undercurrents of social domination based on the principles of purity/pollution, and wisdom

failed to hold ground in Punjab due to various historical reasons (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:1-87; Puri 2004a: 1). Interestingly, the phenomenon of the domination in Punjab clubbed together different sources of power (social, economic, political, religious, and numerical). These sources, in turn, are invariably concentrated in the community of Jats. In other words, multiple identities coalesced in the Jats that make them a dominant community of Punjab. They are Jats by caste, Sikhs by religion, and landowners by their hold on cultivation. All these different identities reinforce each other and thus strengthened the position of the Jat community in the state. Yet another factor that further strengthened the domination of the Jats in the state of Punjab was their numerical preponderance in the Sikh religion. Their large-scale entry into Sikh religion had not only rescued them from the labyrinth of their lower status in the Hindu society, it also turned them into a powerful community within Sikhism. According to the records of 1881 Census, 66 percent of those who returned as Sikhs were Jats. The second largest community within Sikhism was that of the Tarkhans/Ramgarhias (the carpenter caste) who just constituted 6.5 percent of the total Sikhs in Punjab. Next to the Ramgarhias were the Chamars/Ramdasias with 5.6 percent, followed by the Chuhras/Mazhabis who were 2.6 percent. If clubbed together these two outcaste groups (Ramdasias and Mazhabis) becomes the second largest group (8.2 percent) of Sikhs within Sikhism. Thus the numerical preponderance of the Jats within Sikhism combined with their Marti and self-willed nature, and monopoly on the land elevated them well above their humble origins. Such a combination and reinforcement of multiple identities

and their concentration in the community of Jats is, however, conspicuous by its absence among the Dalits, which weaken their collective strength and unity. Dalits in Punjab are scattered in multi-identities. Under the impact of Sikhism, while Jats of Punjab have enhanced their social status and achieved spiritual coherence, the same could not happen in the case of Dalits who remained divided in different religious orders. Dalits are found in almost all the popular religions in Punjab. Their presence in Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity not only proves the presence of the institution of caste in all these religions, but also weaken the chances of solidarity among them. The subjugation of the Dalits got further deepened during the course of green revolution in Punjab. The process of green revolution transformed the traditional subsistence character of the agriculture into commercial and mechanical farming. The market oriented agriculture pattern in the post 1960s phase favored the landowners, which further marginalized the Dalits and widened the already existing divisions between them and the dominant peasant caste in Punjab. Interestingly, it was also during this phase of market-oriented agriculture that a new middle class of educated Dalits emerged in Punjab. The advent of this new class among the Dalits coupled with the rise of the Ambedkarite movement in the region led to the formation of Dalit consciousness in the state. The emergence of the Dalit consciousness induced the Dalit agricultural laborers to ask for higher wages in the rural settings of Punjab, especially in its Doaba sub-region. The Dalit struggle for higher wages often employed pressure tactics of refusal to work unless the landowners increase the wages. In fact, it was during this very phase of transition in the agrarian economy of Punjab that

the process of Dalit immigration to Europe, North America, and the Gulf got streamlined. However, it may be pointed that the emergence of the process of Dalit immigration from Punjab coincided with the phenomenon of the influx of migrant labour from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh into Punjab. The influx of migrant labour has further sharpened the contradiction between the dominant peasant castes and the landless Dalits in that it provided the former cheaper labour compared to the local ones. Moreover, the changed cropping system under the green revolution patterns of agriculture squeezed the extant of farm labour to a few peak periods paddy transplantation, paddy harvesting-cum-threshing, and wheat harvesting. The traditional agriculture system, capable of providing almost round the year regular work, was changed into a commercial agriculture set-up that did not offer more than 75 days work annually (based on fieldwork, see also Singh 2001:5). In turn, they have to seek employment in other sectors for the rest of the year. Thus, the Dalit laborers, sand witched between the influxes of cheap migrant labour on the one hand and mechanized farming on the other, began to look for job in different sectors other than the agriculture. The alternative job opportunities reduced the dependence of the Dalits on landowners. The social mobility of the new middle class Dalits coupled with their relative emancipation from the economic dependence on the landowners led to the emergence of Dalit assertion in Punjab. The sustainability of this assertion drew strength from the politicization of caste on the one hand and from the failure of the asymmetrical caste structures to accommodate Dalits into its social space as equal citizen, on the other (Judge 2006:11). This new form of Dalit assertion and its recent exhibition in the form of Jat-Dalit clashes in the villages of

Punjab demands a serious enquiry. Yet another feature that distinguished the Dalits of Punjab from their counterparts in other parts of the country is their community wise heavy concentration in some pockets of the state. Dalits in Punjab have been categorized into 38 castes. Out of these 38 castes more than 80 percent of the total Scheduled Castes (SCs) population belongs to two major caste groupings of Chamars (leather working castes) and Chuhra (sweepers). These two caste groups consist of four castes Mazhabi (30.7%), Chamar (25.8%), Ad-Dharmi (15.9%), and Balmiki (11.1%). The Chamar caste group includes: Ad-Dharmi, Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasias, and Ravidasias. The Chuhra caste group clubs together Balmiki, Bhangi and Mazhabi castes. The Chamar caste group is largely confined to the Doaba sub-region of the Punjab (comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, and Nawan Shahr districts lying between two rivers, Beas and Sutlej). And the Chuhra caste group is mainly concentrated in the smaller Majha region and the much bigger Malwa region of the state. At the district level, Mazhabis are largely concentrated in Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Faridkot, Mansa, and Bhatinda districts of Punjab. Apart from their heavy concentration in the Doaba subregion of Punjab, Chamars are also numerous in Gurdaspur, Rupnagar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Sangrur districts. Among the Chamar caste group, Ad-Dharmis far outnumber other SCs in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts in rural as well as urban settings. Mazhabis in the Chuhra caste group outnumber other SCs in Faridkot and Ferozepur districts (for more details see Gosal 2004: 26-39). Though, traditionally they have been condemned as polluted and impure because of their occupational contact with animal carcass and hides, Chamars are basically chandravanshi by

clan and are also considered as the highest caste among the SCs in Punjab (Deep 2001:7). The Ad Dharmi and Chamar of the Chamar caste group are not only numerically preponderent in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab, they also happened to be the most resourceful caste in comparison to the all other castes among the SCs of Punjab. Chamars and Ad Dharmis of this sub-region are ahead of the all other Dalit castes in almost all spheres. Ad Dharmi Chamars are on the top of virtually every parameter education, urbanisation, jobs, occupational change, cultural advancement, political mobilization, etc. (Puri 2004:4). The famous Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s also emerged in this very region of Punjab. In the early 1930s, some of Ad Dharmi Chamars established a prosperous leather-business town (Boota Mandi) in the outskirts of Jalandhar city. Ad Dharmi Chamars of the Boota Mandi were among the early supporters of the Ad Dharm movement. Seth Kishen Dass, a leather business tycoon of the Boota Mandi, who won the 1937 Assembly election from Jalandhar constituency in Punjab, financed the headquarters building of the Ad Dharm Mandal in jalandhar city. Nowadays, this building houses Guru Ravidass High school and Sewing Centre. It is again from this caste group of the sub-region that maximum emigration took place to Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The Ad Dharmies abroad have not only excelled in business and skilled labour professions, they also established a strong networking of social organizations, International Dalit Conferences, Ravidass Sabhas and Ravidass Gurdwaras throughout Europe and North America. II

Sikhs, Jats and Caste Punjab is a Sikh majority state. The Sikhs constitute 63 per cent of its total population. About 72 per cent of the Sikhs in Punjab live in villages. In villages caste, as occupational division of labour, constitutes an integral part of routine social life (Kaur 1986: 229). Although Sikh doctrine does not assign any place to the institution of caste, the same is not true in its social practice (Puri 2003: 2693). In the Punjab Censuses between 1881 and 1931, more than twenty-five castes were recorded within the Sikh community, including Jats, Khatris, Aroras, Ramgarhias, Ahluwalias, Bhapas, Bhattras, Sainis, Lobanas, Kambohs, Ramdasias, Ravidasias, Rahtias, Mazhbis, and Rangretas (Verma 2002:33). Out of these, eleven castes two agrarian castes (Jat and Kamboh); two mercantile castes (Khatri and Arora); four artisan castes (Tarkhan, Lohar, Nai, and Chhimba); two outcastes groups (Chamar and Chuhra); and one distiller (Kalal) remain the principal constituents of the Panth (McLeod 1996: 93-4). The Outcastes groups of the Sikh community, popularly known as Dalit Sikhs, are divided into two segments: Mazhbis and Ramdasias7. The Dalits whose profession is scavenging and cleaning are called Mazhbis.Mazbi means nothing more than a member of the scavenger class converted to Sikhism (Ibbetson1883, rpt.1970:294). Some of the Sweepers who embraced Sikh religion are also called Rangretas. However, in spite of Mazhbis and Rangreta Sikhs meticulous observance of the Sikh religious principles, they are not considered equals by the upper caste Sikhs. The upper caste Sikhs refused to associate with them even in the religious ceremonies (Ibid.). In other words, even after converting to Sikhism, they were not relieved of the taint of

hereditary pollution. The other segment of Dalit Sikhs consists of Ramdasias, also known as Khalsa Biradar. They are chamars who have converted to Sikhism. Most of them are Julahas (weavers). They are often confused with Ravidasia chamars who are mostly engaged in the profession of leatherwork (Ibid: 300). Mazhbis/Rangretas and Ramdasias are not equal to the Jats, Khatris and Aroras within Sikhism. Even their status is also lower to Ramgarhia, Ahluwalia and Bhapa (trader caste) Sikhs.Thus, the change in the caste titles of the Dalits after their conversion does not make any difference to the dominant castes. The dominant castes continued to identify them by their earlier titles Chuhars and Chamars. Though the Mazhibs or Rangretas abandoned the occupation of scavenging, they still are classed with Chuhras (Ibettson [1883] 1970:268-69). As far as Dalits themselves are concerned they too continued to observe caste among them even after their conversion to Sikhism. Within Sikhism, Ramdasia Sikhs considered themselves superior to the Mazhbi and Rangreta Sikhs. Although Ramdasias and Ravidasias have originated from Chamars, the former [Sikh] considered them superior to the latter [Hindu] (Ibid: 297, 302). In the Sikh caste hierarchy, the Jats claim to occupy the top position (Singh 1977:70). To quote Pettigrew, an Anthropologist who did intensive fieldwork on the Sikh Jats, All Jats alike are brought up to be proud irrespective of what they possess in terms of education, wealth or power. No Jat defines himself as subservient and none can actually be trampled upon (Pettigrew 1978:20). Mostly concentrated in villages, the Jats are primarily landowners and agriculturists and are also widely considered to be the backbone of the Punjab peasantry. So close has become the

connection of the Jatts with peasant-agriculture in the Punjab that, besides being a caste-name, the word Jat can mean an agriculturalist and Jataki similarly can mean agriculture(Habib 1996:97). By virtue of their hold on the land they are popularly known as the dominant peasant caste in the state. The Jat might be employed as a school teacher, or service in the military but he sees his primary role as that of an agriculturist; his connection with land is what he holds most dear and what identifies him (Kaur 1986:233). They have also diversified into transport business and considered employment in the armed forces highly prestigious. Jats in Punjab are also considered the backbone of the Sikh community. Although all ten of the historic Sikh Gurus belonged to the Khatri caste, traditionally the majority of their followers have come from the Jat caste (Kaur 1986:225). In the Misl (military bands) system of the eighteenth century the leadership was largely under the control of the Jats and eventually it was a Jat misld r, Ranj t Singh, who secured total ascendancy (McLeod 1996:18). The overwhelming majority of the Jats (since 1962) in the leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the main political party of Sikhs, made it virtually a Jat political party" (Puri 2004a:10). Sikhs are identified by their appearance based on the five symbols (a Kirpan [steel dagger], a Kara [steel bangle], Kachha [short breeches], a kanghha [comb], and kesh [uncut hair]) that they wore in accordance with the Rahatnama (the Sikh code of conduct). However, Sikh Jats are generally liberal in observance of the Rahatnama. The majority of them trim their beard, cut their hair, and many often smoke or chew tobacco. They rarely visit Gurdwaras (Kaur 1986: 222-23). In spite of their lackadaisical approach towards the Khalsa discipline, Sikh Jats in their own eyes

and in those of others remained Sikhs. For others castes it is very different. If a Khatri shaves he is regarded as a Hindu by others and soon comes to regard himself as one (McLeod 1996: 98). The Sikhs who strictly followed Rahatnama belong to the lower class of north Punjab (Singh 1953: 179). The Khalsa symbols were considered to be associated with the influx of Jats into the Sikh religion during the eighteenth century (McLeod 1996; Pettigrew 1978:25). However, with the passage of time, they (symbols) became permanent part of the Khalsa discipline in 1699. Since these symbols were part of the Jat cultural patterns much before the entry of Jats into Sikhism, their adherence by the Jats could not become an identification mark of their being Sikhs. Even before they became Sikhs they used to keep uncut hair, wore a thick Kara, and the turban, as a measure of protection in warfare. Hence, the importance of these symbols did not make much difference to them after their becoming Sikh. So, in their case it was not the adherence to these symbols that made them look like Sikhs. They remained Sikhs even without wearing these very symbols sometimes. In other words, the entry of the Jats into Sikh religion did not dilute their caste identity. On the contrary, it got further strengthened. Jats considered themselves as the savior of the Sikh religion who defended it militarily throughout its entire turbulent history. In the words of Pettigrew, Each Jat felt tremendous pride that it was his section of the community that had built up the military organization which led to the establishment of Sikh rule in the Punjab. He felt that prestige lay with the Jats because of this (Pettigrew 1978:41, emphasis in original).The Jats often treated other castes as timid and incapacable of defending themselves. They called Aroras Kiraar (coward), and commonly applied the term Bhapa (which carries a

perceptible degree of opprobrium) to Khatris and Aroras who migrated from the Pothohar areas (McLeod 1996:100; and Pettigrew1978: 41). The Jats are generally considered to be of Indo-Scythians stock, and are said to have settled in the Indus valley, especially in central Sind, in the seventh century (Habib 1996:94). They were ruled over by the Brahmana dynasty of Chach that imposed harsh constraints on them (Ibid: 95). Their appearance became apparent in Punjab by the beginning of the 11th century (Ibbotson [1883] 1970:97; and Habib 1996:95). The entry of the Jats into the Province of Punjab must have based on their migration from the Sind (Habib 1996:95). However, for a period of four hundred years between the 11th and the 16th there is no account of them in the chronicles of Punjab. The absence of the Jats in the chronicles for such a long period simply shows their insignificance in the Punjab society. Alberuni, whose historical account covered the period of 11th century, designated them as cattle-owners, low Shudra people (quoted in Ibid). They were known as people of an unfeeling temper and hasty disposition; who were free from the dichotomies of small or great and rich or poor. References to them began to surface again after a long gap of four centuries in the in-I-Akbar and its record of Zamindar castes, compiled about 1595 (Ibid: 96). During the four centuries of their incognito the Jats must have expanded and metamorphosed from a pastoral to an agricultural community in Punjab (Ibid). This was, probably, also the period during which cultivation expanded substantially in Punjab. The introduction of the Persian wheel, reiterated Irfan Habib, was the main driving force behind the critical change in the agricultural situation of the Punjab (ibid:

98). The expansion of cultivation in the province of Punjab might have led to the massive shift among the Jats from pastoral to settled agricultural community. It is safe to say that it might have also elevated their social status in the political economy of the rural society of the state. It would not be out of the context to say that what Green Revolution was to the post 1960s Punjab, the introduction of the Persian wheel was to the Punjab of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. In both the cases, it was the Jat community that remained the main beneficiary of the transformation process in the rural settings. But, how the pastoral Jat community transformed into a settled agricultural community and established its control over the land? This question cannot be answered simply by asserting that since the pastoral Jats were tending cattle, and cattle are generally reared with the agriculture so they adopted the agricultural profession. Agriculture is not merely a profession; it is also an asset that bestows on the owners of the land a special status of Zamindar. Jats hold on the agricultural land, probably, made them an important community. In the sixteenth century when many of the Jats turned to cultivation, they were not only entirely peasants but, in so many localities of the Punjab, also Zamindar (Habib 1996: 99; see also Ibbetson [1883] 1970:103). Infact, it was their hold on the land that became a marker of their Jat identity. Jat and the profession of agriculture, thus, became synonymous. However, their improved economic conditions failed to push them up on the caste scale within the Hindu social order. Thus to escape the oppressive and suffocating structures of Hindu social order the Jats of Punjab embraced Sikhism a newly emerged religion, free form the hierarchies of caste and gender.(Habib 1996:99; see also McLeod 1996:13). They saw in this new religion

a hope and a promise to win over the dilemma of the incommensurability between their improved economic position and humiliating social status. Since Jats constituted a large segment of the population of the Punjab, their entry into the Sikh religion quickly made them the preponderant community. Infact, the large-scale entry of the Jats into the Sikh religion, had not only expanded the base of this new religion, it had also seriously impacted its social outlook. It introduced elements of militancy and caste in its organization. The militant outlook of the Panth (Sikh community) especially after the martyrdom of the fifth Guru Arjun Dev is generally attributed to, what McLeod called the preponderance of the Jat cultural patterns within Sikhism. The preponderance of such patterns also turned Jats into a dominant caste within the very religion that purged them of the taint of their lower caste status. In the due course of time they came to be known as the dominant caste in whole of the state.So much so that the Punjabi culture and identity is seen in terms of Jat culture and identity only (Jodhka 2006:13). In the words of Grewal, Although due to the present agricultural crisis in Punjab this community is in an unfortunate and painful condition, but still if anybody asks who is most powerful in Punjab, we would have to acknowledge that these directionless, Jatt Sikh families of Punjab, that is committing suicide [sic], are the ruling class here (Grewal 2006:16). The transformation of the Jats from the pastoral community into an agricultural one, and their allegiance to the Sikh religion revealed an interesting case of the empowerment of a lower caste community and the role of religion in that regard. Infact, what the Jats were fighting for in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,

the Dalits of Punjab seems to have been struggling for the same over the last few decades in the contemporary Punjab. They have been fighting for an equal share in the sources of power in the state and for a respectable status in the society. Though they have received some progression over the years in their economic status due to the constitutional affirmative action and ventures abroad, their lower social status remained intact. Unlike the lower caste Jats of the 17th and 18th centuries, they failed to overcome their social disability by embracing Sikhism. The Mazhabis of Punjab is a case in point. The Mazbis take the pauhl, wear their hair long, and abstain from tobacco, and they apparently refuse to touch night soil, though performing all the other offices hereditary to the Chuhra caste.... But though good Sikhs so far as religious observance is concerned, the taint of hereditary pollution is upon them and Sikhs of other castes refuse to associate with them even in religious ceremonies (Ibbetson [1883] 1970: 294). However, there is one major factor that distinguished the Dalit case from that of the Jats in the formative years of their struggle for the improvement of their social status. Jats were cultivators, landowners, nonchalant and a martial race. They also outnumbered other communities by their numerical strength within the Sikh religion. Moreover, the contradiction between the principal communities of the Khatris the community to which all the ten Gurus belonged and also the one, which provided the initial following to the Sikh religion and the Jats, was never sharp. Whereas the Jats remain a rural community heavily committed to agriculture, the Khatris are essentially urban-based and a mercantile community (McLeod 1996:98). To quote

McLeod, Unlike the Jats the Khatris have never shown any interest in Sikh identity as a means of enhancing social or ritual status (Ibid: 99). Nor the markers of new identity ever provoked them. But in the case of the Dalits in Punjab, the situation is entirely different. Dalits in Punjab are posited in direct confrontation with the Jats over the struggle for social justice and dignity. Unlike the Jats of the eighteenth century whose opponent (Khatris) were in no way directly entangled with them in their profession (agriculture), some of the Dalits of Punjab are still tied with the Jats in the sector of agriculture. It is in this context that that the Jats, the landholders, and the Dalits, the landless agricultural workers, find themselves in a situation of direct confrontation. But there are many Dalits in the state who have improved their economic conditions by dissociating from their caste occupations and distancing them from the profession of agriculture. Some of them have joined Government services, went abroad, and established their own small-scale servicing units [carpentry, barber, blacksmith shops etc. (for details see: Ram 2004a: 5-7). In this case they have not only improved their economic status, but have also liberated them from the subordination of the Jat landowners. Now, they feel no longer obliged to respect their erstwhile masters (Jats) in the feudal way. Thus their changed economic relation has not only improved their economic status, it also propelled them to aspire for a commensurate social status. This is what that pitted them against the Jats, who take it hard to digest any such attempt, which would press them to dilute their dominant position in the rural society of Punjab. The Dalitss struggle for equal social status, thus, has led to the violent caste conflicts between them and the Jats in the state, and has all the probability of escalating into many more such

conflicts in the near future. III Jats and Caste Discrimination Caste discrimination in Punjab is unique in comparison to its observance in other parts of the country. The Brahminical tradition of social stratification, as discussed above, has never been so effective there. The word Brahmin did not carry a sacerdotal connotation in Punjab. It was used, rather, derogatorily. The down play of the Brahmins in Punjab by the Sikh Jats might have diminished the purity-pollution practice to the benefits of Dalits (Sabherwal 1973:256). However, it did not in any way help the Dalits to improve their socio-economic status. The centre of power in Punjab revolves around the axle of land. Much of the land is owned by the Sikh Jats. Although Scheduled Castes in Punjab constitute high proportion of the population (29%) in comparison to the all India average of 16.3%, their share in ownership of land is negligible. Their being landless forced them to depend on the land-owning castes in the absence of alternative jobs in the agrarian economy of rural Punjab in the pre green revolution phase. Since cultivation required the services of the Dalits in its various operations, it was not feasible to strictly follow the system of untouchability based on the principle of purity-pollution. It does not mean that the Dalits were not discriminated in Punjab. They were very much discriminated. However, the context of their discrimination was different from that of the many other parts of India. The practice untouchability in Punjab was based the scheme of keeping the Dalits bereft of land ownership and political power in the state. Dalits were forced to

confine to their lowest status in the villages of Punjab lest they dare to ask for a share in the power structures (Puri 2003: 2698). In other words, despite the absence of the purity-pollution syndrome, the presence of the deep asymmetrical structure of power in the agrarian village economy of Punjab has subordinated the Dalits to the land-owning upper castes (Jodhka 2002: 1815). The villages in Punjab like the rest of the country are divided into upper caste and Dalit settlements. Dalit settlements are located, invariably, on the side towards which the dirt of the village flowed. Dalits were not allowed to build pucca (concrete) houses because the land on which they lived did not belong to them. In the villages, Dalits were often involved in the unclean occupations - carrying and skinning dead animals, scavenging and working as attached laborer Siris. Now a day, such type of work, is performed on non-jajmani basis. In Malwa region, there are many Dalits who still have been working as Siris. According to a latest study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had dalits working as Siris (Jodhka 2002: 1816). Another study found six Jats working as Siris with other Jats in a village in the district of Sangrur (Singh 2001:3). However, the situation is entirely different in the Doaba region of Punjab where the majority of the Dalits have dissociated themselves from such types of menial works. Although Dalit had interaction with Jat-Sikhs, being agricultural laborers and siris, they used to keep their own tumblers and plates to take meals or tea or water from the upper caste Sikhs. The upper castes Sikhs are a separate identity and like the upper caste Hindus they also follow the ideology of a graded human society. The Sikhs may take food with the Dalit-Sikhs in Gurdwaras, but they have no bond of fraternity with them (Singh

2002:333). To quote Singh again, the impact of Hinduism and caste is visible on the adherence of Guru Nanak and they monopolized Sikhism and could not accord an equal social status to the lower caste Sikhs in Punjab (Ibid.). Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their counterparts in the Hindu religion. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation grounds in the Shamlaat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. In such a recent case the dominant caste persons of the village Todder Majra of the Mohali district of Punjab grabbed the cremation ground land of the Dalits in the village (Desh Sevak, 2 January 2005). This shows that the social position of the Dalit Sikhs in Punjab is no better than that of other dalits in elsewhere within Hinduism in the country (Ibid: 334). Dalits Sikhs did not get equal treatment in the Gurdwaras of the upper caste Sikhs. Mazhabis were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities (Pratap Singh 1933: 146-47, 156-57 cited in Puri 2003: 2697). Dalit Sikhs were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and the members of the four-fold varnas were instructed not to mix with them (Oberoi cited in Ibid). Evidence of untouchability against the dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of Gurmatas (resolutions) adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee from 1926-1933 (Ibid.). Although removal of untouchability figured in the Singh Sabha movement, no strenuous effort was made in that direction. It was not surprising. For the Jats, who composed 70 % of the Akalis, and

other high castes, caste equality or removal of untouchability was contrary to their disposition for social domination and hierarchy (Ibid.). This has forced the dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras, which in turn has further led to the strengthening of the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs8 (Ibid: 2700; Jodhka 2002: 1818; Muktsar 1999 and 2003). Moreover the observance of caste prejudices against the dalit Sikhs has compelled them to search for alternative cultural spaces in a large number of deras, sects, and dargahs of Muslim Pirs and other saints (Puri 2003: 2700). However, for the last few decades the Dalits of Punjab have discovered the right remedy to cure their wounded psyche in the famous Dera Sant Sarwan Dass situated at village Ballan in the Jalandhar district of Doaba Punjab (Rajshekar 2004:3). This Dera, popularly known as Dera Ballan, has become a paragon of Ravidass movement in Northwest India. It has been playing a leading role in promoting cultural transformation and generating social consciousness among the Dalit of the region. The dera has a library on its premises, publishes a tri-lingual weekly, distributes free Dalit literature, honors Dalit scholars, runs a model school, and a hospital for the service and upliftment of the downtrodden. It made concerted efforts for the construction of a separate Dalit identity. The saints of Ballan developed their own religious symbols, flags, prayers, dress, salutations and rituals of worship. Of all the major contributions that the Dera Ballan mad, the construction of a mammoth Temple of Shri Guru Ravidasss Birthplace at Seer Goverdhanpur in the vicinity of Varanasi city is the most significant. This temple has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for the Dalits as the Mecca for Muslims and the

Golden Temple for Sikhs. IV Social Exclusion and Violence in Colonial Punjab The Dalits of Punjab faced stiff opposition and became victim of physical violence at the hands of the dominant castes during their struggle for dignity and equality in the colonial period. They were, said an eyewitness, Chased everywhere and hounded out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una(Pawar 1993:77). They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis (Chumber 1986: 51). In Layalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted Shudranand from the dais of the Achhuts (Dalits) public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the Jat-Sikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Sikh Jats had compelled the Achhuts to record

themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid: 54-56). In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-iHussain, on the request of Mangoo Ram9 that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had a tough time proving to the Lothian Committee that they were neither Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the Hindus. Likwise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal

(Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of Achhut Mandal (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab. According to them the untouchables were the backward class of Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the performance of Shuddhi. Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab. Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52). Thus Dalits were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights in the colonial period. Social Exclusion and Violence in Contemporary Punjab Atrocities on the Dalits continued even after India became independent. Moreover, the frequency and magnitude of such atrocities increased after the 1960s in the wake of the Green Revolution in Punjab. Over the last few years rarely a day passed when Dalits are spared of a social boycott by the Jats in the villages of the state. After the much-publicised violent conflict in the village Talhan, Punjab has witnessed a large number of similar cases. The pattern of conflicts in all such cases often remained the same. In almost all the conflicts social boycott was imposed on the Dalits who were asserting for equal rights in the structures of power at the village level. Pandori Khajoor village in Hoshiarpur district, village Bhattian Bet in Ludhiana district, Talhan, Meham and Athaula villages in Jalandhar district, Patteraiwal village in

Abhor district, Jethumajra and Chahal village in Nawan Shahr district, Aligarh village near Jagraon in Ludhiana district, Domali and Chak Saboo villages in Kapurthala district, Abuul Khurana village near Malout in Mukitsar district, Dallel Singhwala, Kamalpur and Hasanpur villages in Sangrur ard Jhabbar village in district of Mansa are among the most prominent cases of Jat-Dalit conlicts in the state. In the following section Talhan and Meham conflicts are taken up for a brief discussion to analyse the underlying causes of the caste-based oppression in the contemporary Punjab. In both these cases the issue of contention was dispute over the control of local religious sites. In the case of Talhan the Dalits were denied participation in the managing committee of the Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh, whereas in the case of Meham the Dalits were forced to vacate their hold on the Udasi Dera of Baba Khazan Singh. Both of the cases fall in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab. Talhan The Talhan conflict was based on the issue of Dalit representation in the management committee of the Gurdwara Shaheed (martyr) Baba Nihal Singh. The Dalits were denied access to the management committee of this Gurudwara in village Talhan. The Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh was built on the tomb of Baba Nihal Singh, a local carpenter (backward caste) who died while laying Gandd (wooden wheel) at the base of a well. Since Baba Nihal Singh was popular for his expertise and died while working for the public cause in the village, his death was not considered an ordinary event. The fellow village people in the area declared him a shaheed. They constructed a small smadh (tomb) in this memory, at the place where he was cremated. Another smadh

was also built nearby in the memory of Harnam Singh, an aide of shaheed Baba Nihal Singh, who for years cared for his smadh. To celebrate the martydom of Baba Nihal Singh, area villagers started organising an annual fair at the smadh. The popularity of shaheed Baba Nihal Singh began to attract a large number of devotees. The devotees brought offerings, mostly in cash. Subsequently, the smadhs were converted into shrines. In due course, another structure a Gurdwara was raised between the smadhs and the Sikh holy book was also placed there. The whole site, including the two smadhs, thus, turned into Gurdwara. The primary motive behind the conversion of the Smadhs into a Gurdwara was widely seen as an effort to grab the large amount of money received as offerings at the smadhs by the Jats of the village and the adjoining areas. The Jats of Talhan (25%), who control most of the agricultural land in the village and until recently enjoyed unquestioned domination in the social and political life of the village, established their control over this Gurdwara through the office of the Gurdwara management committee. This committee manages a huge annual amount of money, approximately 50 million rupees ($1.1 million), which the Gurdwara receives in offerings from Punjabi diaspora and local devotees (Philip 2003). While there may be a difference of opinion on the exact amount of the offerings, as A. J. Philip has put it, There is an agreement that the coffers in the Gurdwara have been overflowing with cash. Small wonders that anybody who is some body in the village wants to be a member of the Gurdwara management committee (Ibid.). Despite being a majority in the village, the Dalits of Talhan (72%) were kept out of the membership on the Gurdwara

management committee. The numerically predominant Dalits, majority of who are landless, have achieved a considerable degree of mobility and autonomy over the last few decades. They have diversified into non-agricultural employment and found employment abroad. Their numerical strength, have also added to their importance in the electoral politics of the village. Consequently, they started vociferously demanding a share in the structures of power at different levels of Punjabi society, which hitherto have been dominated by the landholding castes, particularly the Jats. These demands for a share in the local power structure led to Jat-Dalit clash in Talhan. The Dalits of Talhan employed every available method to seek entery into the Gurdwara management committee. They requested the Jats of the village to give them their due share in the membership of the committee in accordance to their population in the village. The Jats refused. Then, in 1999, the Dalits approached the local administration and the court of law. But the dispute still remained unresolved. However, the Dalits continued their efforts to acquire the membership in the committee. This ultimately led to a fight between the Jats and the Ad Dharmies in January 2003. Subsequently, the Jats publicly announced a social boycott of the Ad Dharmies. The non-Dalits residents of Talhan were asked to severe their social and economic ties with the Dalits. Jats stopped visiting the shops run by the Dalits in Talhan. They also banned the entry of the Dalits in their fields. They were not allowed to use the fields even for latrines, thus forcing them to defecate in open, by the side of the village roads. To fight against the social boycott and for representation in the committee, the Dalits organized a Dalit Action Committee (DAC)

under the leadership of L. R. Balley, a prominent Ambedkarite of the region. The DAC organized sit-ins and hunger strikes in the village and Jalandhar city. Repeated appeals by the DAC to the Punjab government for legal action against the boycotters failed to move the administration (Singh Prabhjot 2003). On 5th June 2003, the conflict took a violent turn. And soon it snowballed into the adjoining areas. Boota Mandi, a suburban of Jalandhar city, became the epicenter of the violence. It was here that an Ad Dharmi, Vijay Kumar Kala, fell victim to the police firing, an event that suddenly propelled Thalan and Boota Mandi onto the national scene. Talhan and Boota Mandi were virtually converted into a garrison. And the village was sealed off for a couple of days. The pressure of Dalit assertion compelled the government to solve the conflict without further delay, so that it would not turn into a serious political issue with wider implications. Moreover, it also cautioned the government to take necessary steps to prevent the victimization of Dalits in other parts of the state, lest they replicate Talhan. Although the district administration and police controlled the violence, it took the contending parties 18 days to reach a compromise, and another two months for the agreement to come into effect. Eventually the Dalits of Talhan succeeded in securing representation in the Gurudwara management committee. Though Talhan conflict was a case of local Dalit upsurge, it has set a historic precedent in Punjab through Dalit assertion (for more details see Ram 2004b: 906-12). Meham Meham conflict is another case of recent Jat-Dalit

confrontation, and a vindication of the existence of the

institution of caste in Punjab. The village Meham has total population of 1967 out of which 893 (45%) belong to the Dalits. Most of the Dalits belong to the Balmiki caste. The Ad Dharmi, another Dalit caste, constitutes 20 percent of the total population (Judge 2006:14). The Sikh Jats are also about 20 percent of the total population of the village. Jats, Balmikies and the Ad Dharmies each have their own Gurdwaras. In fact the Jats have two Gurdwaras. The Baba Khazan Singh Udasi Dera (the cite of dispute) is the fifth shrine in Meham. As has been the case in majority of the villages in the Doaba subregion of Punjab, the Dalits in Meham have also diversified into various non-cultivation professions. This has not only helped them abandoned their customary caste based

occupations but also liberated them from the dependence on the lands of the Jats. However, despite the fact of the Dalits dissociation from their hereditary professions and their distancing from the agriculture they failed to raise their social status in the eyes of the Jats. This has led to tensions between them. Though the context of the Meham conflict is different from that of the Talhan, the patterns and forms of the oppression of the Dalits are same in both of the cases. In Talhan, the Jats denied entry to the Dalits in the management of the Gurudwara. Whereas in Meham, the Sikh Jats forcebly took over the control of the Baba Khazan Singh Udasi Dera that was being looked after by the Ad Dharmies of the village for the last six decades. They replaced all the Udasi symbols with that of the Khalsa, and also objected to the offerings of liquor and the distribution of the same as a prasad among the devotees at the Dera as it violates the Sikh code of

conduct. The Ad Dharmi retorted back by saying that the tradition of offering liquor at the smadh in the Dera is in no way violate the Sikh code of conduct as the Dera was never a site of Sikhism. They reiterated that the issue of Sikh code of conduct entered into the Dera in 2003 when the Sikh Jats of the village placed Guru Granth Sahib on the premises of the Dera. Moreover, the presence of the mazaars (graves) in the precincts of the Dera ruled out the possibility of its being a Gurudwara. In the Talhan conflict, Dalits also raised the same argument over the dispute of the grave of Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. Another reason of the Jats control of the Dera could be the rising cost of the land in the state and the tremendous increase in the donations and offerings at the Dera over the last few years due to massive emigration of the Punjabis from the Doaba sub-region to Europe, North America and the Gulf (Kali 2003). However, unlike in Talhan, the timely intervention of the police brought the Meham conflict under the control and the dispute is referred to the court. For the time being the Dera is placed under a government receiver who has been assigned the task of the management of the shrine. The conflicts in Talhan and Meham reflect the underlying layers of tensions between the hitherto all powerful and dominant Jats, and the newly emerged economically independent class of the Dalits. Whatever be the causes of these conflicts, it is clear that the Dalits in Punjab, especially in Doaba, had achieved a state of consciousness to assert for their rights. In contrast, the Sikh Jats, who have thrived amid the meek silence of the Dalits, are finding it difficult to grapple with the surging Dalit consciousness. Given the rising level of social consciousness among the Dalits, the dominant

castes are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to ignore their demands for a share in the socio-economic structures of power at the local level. Conclusion What I have attempted to argue in this article is that contrary to the popular view of the casteless character of the Sikh society in Punjab, caste discriminations are very much part of its social set up. However, what distinguished them from that of the other parts of India is their indifference to the purity-pollution syndrome. Instead, landlessness and the preponderance of Jat cultural patterns prove to be the fundamental cause of the discrimination and the oppression of the Dalits in the state. In Punjab, Sikh Jats constitute dominant caste. Their domination, however, is not rooted in the graded system of caste hierarchy. They became dominant because of their hold over the land, and their numerical preponderance in Sikh religion coupled with their martial nature. Dalits in Punjab, for various historical reasons, were deprived of land, and their entry into Sikhism could not relieve them of the taint of their lower status. Their landlessness, obviously, made them subservient to the land owning castes, majority of which happen to be Sikh Jats. However, the improved economic condition of the Dalits coupled with their rising social and political consciousness over the years has led to sharpening of contradiction between them and the Jats in Punjab, especially in its Doaba sub-region. In fact, Punjab has entered into a volatile situation wherein Jats and Dalits have entangled themselves in a whirlpool of old mindsets versus rising social consciousness. This in turn has resulted into a series of violent Jat-

Dalit clashes in the state. What weaves the Jat-Dalit conflicts in Punjab together despite the difference in the issues and the locations of occurrences are the similarities of the nature and the pattern of their emergence. They invariably involve demands of Dalits for a respectable social space in the socio-political structures of power in the villages of Punjab commensurate to their improved economic conditions. Such moves of the marginals find staunch critics among the Jats who often view Dalit assertion as a form of challenge to their dominant status in the village society. Despite the fact that agriculture has ceased to exist as a profitable profession for the last few years, land is still considered as the most essential status symbol in rural Punjab. Though many dalits have benefited from constitutional affirmative action, spread of education, social welfare measures and ventures abroad, a vast majority of them still are landless, very poor and vulnerable. While many dalits have abandoned their caste-based occupations and have also distanced themselves from the employment in the agricultural fields, their social status in the rural economy remained marginal, precisely because of their landlessness. In rural Punjab, land determined social status. It is a fact. Dalits did not own land, is another fact. It is also a fact, that dalits have achieved a significant awareness and political consciousness over the last seven decades in the history of Dalit mobilization in Punjab. Now, they cannot be coerced any more to remain confined to the periphery. The contradiction between old mindsets based on proclivities of caste prestige and honor, and the emerging Dalit consciousness for equal share in the power structures of the rural society is fast becoming a fault line between the Jats and the Dalits of Punjab. The ever-increasing number of caste conflicts in the villages of Punjab is a clear testimony to the emerging dissension

between the Jats and the Dalits. Dalits have begun vociferously demanding a share in the structures of power at different levels of Punjabi society, which hitherto have been dominated by the Jats. Given the intensity of this consciousness on the parts of the Dalits, the Jats are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to ignore such Dalit demands without resorting to pressure tactics or force. This, in turn, often led to caste clashes between Jats and Dalits. A manifestation of Dalit assertion, these clashes have sharpened the issue of Dalit human rights and have emboldened the downtrodden to actively engage themselves in the political process in the state for the realization of these rights. Notes
1

Ad Dharm movement came into existence in 1925. It aimed at

emancipation of the Dalits and their empowerment through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration and political assertion. It was the first movement of its kind in North India that brought together the downtrodden to fight for their cause. It laid the foundation of Dalit consciousness and assertion in Punjab. Mark Juergensmeyers seminal work is the pioneer study of this movement (Juergensmeyer 1988; see also Ram 2004).
2

According to a recent study, the number of such Deras has

exceeded one hundred in Punjab (Qadian 2003). Since the publication of this study many more Ravidass Deras have been established in the state. In the year 2005 alone, the saints of Ballan have laid down the foundation stones of12 Ravidass Deras (calculated from the Begumpura Shaher [Jalandhar] weekly).
3

The Ad Dharm movement helped forge unity among the different

Dalit castes in the state by bringing them together into the fold of

Ad Dharm (an ancient and indigenous religion of the natives of India). This movement specifically focused on the ethnification of Dalit identity in the region than on treading the path of Sanskritization to move up the caste hierarchy, as was the case with the Adi Hindu movement (Jaffrelot 2003:149; and Chandra 1999:159). The Ravidass Deras provided the Dalits of Punjab the much-needed cultural space to connect them to their lost cultural heritage. These Deras also provided them the bare minimum of the infrastructure that required for the ethnification of their newly conceived Dalit Punjab.
4

cultural space. All these efforts helped

significantly in the generation of the Dalit consciousness in

However, the main concern of these movements was to transform

the attitudes of the individuals rather than striking hard on the asymmetrical structures of the society (Grewal 1994: 116). The socio-religious movements had never taken up the issue of disproportionate landholdings that has been the crucial cause of social inequalities and economic deprivations of the Dalits in the state. Whatever small impact the saints and the socio-religious movements were able to bring in the minds of the people faded away with the passage of time.
5

Social boycotts, a form of social exclusion, involve a ban on the

entry of the Dalits in the fields /agricultural lands of the Jats. Social boycott involves severe deprivations of the landless Dalits who are dependent on the lands of the Jats for fuel, fodder and even to answer the call of the nature. The Jat landowners used to employ social boycott, during the wheat harvesting seasons in the early 1970s, as a weapon of suppression against the landless agricultural laborers who demanded hike in their wages.

Nowadays, it is being used in the villages of Punjab by the Jats against the agitating Dalits who ask for equal participation in the formal and informal institutions of power at the local level. In the words of Judge, It is the means to remind them that despite their improved conditions, they continue to be low caste (Judge 2006:12).
6

The rise of militancy in Sikhism in the sixteenth century was

generally attributed to the martial nature of the Jats (Habib 1996:100; see also McLeod 1996:12) The ranks and leadership of the Khalsa from this period onwards were deeply predominated by the Jats so much so that the history of the Sikh religion that follows came to be known as the history of the Jat section of the Sikh community (Pettigrew 1978:26). For counter arguments on this theme see: Singh (ed.) 1986, especially the sixth part; and Singh 1985). In the rural areas of Punjab, one often heard a Jat saying that he would survive even if cut half when suggested to take medicine in case of sickness.
7

In Islam Chamars are known as Mochies, and Chuhras are called

Musallis and Kutanas. In Christianity Chuhras are named Massihs or Isais. Some of the Chamars who joined Arya Samaj came to be known as Chaudhary and Mahashas (Judge 2006: 6).
8

Dalits have separate Gurdwaras in about 10,000 villages out of a

total of 12, 780 villages in Punjab (Dalit Voice, Vol. 22, No. 17 September 1-15, 2003, p. 20). A survey of 116 villages in one Tehsil of Amritsar district showed that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in 68 villages (Puri 2003: 2700). Yet another fieldstudy of 51 villages selected from the three sub-regions of Punjab found that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in as many as 41 villages

(Jodhka 2002:1818); see also Muktsar 1999; and Muktsar 2003: 21-22.
9

Mangoo Ram (18861980) was one of the founders of Ad Dharm

movement. Born in a Chamar family, in village Mugowal, Dist. Hoshiarpur, Punjab, he immigrated to America (1909) where he came in close contact with the Gadhar Party (a militant nationalist organization). After his return in 1925, he organized Scheduled Castes in Punjab against the system of untouchability. During the Roundtable Conferences in London (1930-32) he sent telegrams in support for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as the leader of the untouchables in India instead of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1946, he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and remained in legislature till 1952. On 15 August 1972, Prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi honored him with a Tamra Patra and pension (Rs 200 per month) for the services he rendered in the Gadhar Party for Indias freedom. References Ahir, D.C. (1992). Dr. Ambedkar and Punjab. Delhi: B.R. Publications. Ambedkar, B.R. (1995). Annihilation of Caste. Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika. 3rd Edn. Bakshi, Ram Pandit. (n.d.). Mera Jiwan Sangharsh (Punjabi). Punjab Pradesh Balmik Sabha. Chandra, Kanchan. (1999). Post-Congress Politics in Uttar Pradesh: The Ethnification of the Party System and its Consequences, in Ramashray Roy and Paul Wallace (eds.), Indian

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Thorat, Sukhadeo. (2006). Paying the Social Debt, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLI, No. 24, June 17-23, pp.24322435. Verma, Archana B. (2002). The Making of Little Punjab in Canada: Patterns of Immigration. New Delhi: Sage. . Virdi, S. L. (2003). Bharat De Dalitan Di Asseem Dastan Da Dastavej (Punjabi), Begum Pura Shaher, August 11. pp. 2-11. _____. (2003a).Punjab Che Zimindaran Atey Dalitan Vichkar Takrar Dalit Chetna Da Prateek (Punjabi), Begum Pura Shaher, August 18, pp. 6-7. Yadav, Y. (1999). Electoral politics in the Time of Change: Indias Third Electoral System, 1989-99, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35, Nos. 34-35, August 21-27/28-September 3, pp.2393-99. Thi is very special article by Dr. Ronki Ram for

www.ambedkartimes.com on its successfully completion of one year. (September 1st, 2007) LAL SINGH DIL IS NO MORE

LAL

SINGH

DIL

(APRIL 11,1943 - AUGUST 14, 2007) Lal Singh Dil, Radical Dalit poet, left an indelible mark on the ongoing struggle for equality, social justice and freedom. Dil bade us all adieu at DMC hospital, Ludhiana, where he took his last breath at 8 p.m. on 14 August 2007. Dil was born on 11 April 1943 at his maternal village. After doing his matric from Samrala, he studied for a year at A.S. College; Khana. He also did Junior Basic Training for two years. However, the hard economic conditions did not allow him to continue his studies. Though he was forced to discontinue the study formally, he did not cease to read his surroundings. He kept on reflecting on the exploitative system till his last moment. The method that he

chooses for his analysis as well as struggle was poetry. He was one of the most popular and serious poets of the Naxal Movement in Punjab of the late 1960s. He was in the forefront of the Naxal Lehar and fell victim to inhuman torture during his arrest in 1969. He remained in jail for a long period of time. It was during his imprisonment that his first collection of radical poetry published in 1971 entitled Satlej De Hawa". His poetry immediately became an icon of the revolutionary struggle in Punjab as well as of the sorrows and sufferings of the poors and Dalits in the state. After his release from the jail he went underground where he spent about 15 years of his active life. He did all sorts of labour to keep his struggle going on. He did not ask any help from any quarter and gave much to the society. He kept on writing and penned two more books: "Buhat Saren Suraj" (1982), "Sathar" (1997) and an autobiography "Dastan". His entire poetry is available in Nag Loke" collection. Dil was a very fine comrade. He never liked to receive fame. He was happy to work incognito. He used to often present in many of the progressive programmes in different parts of the state, but no one had found him ever making any effort to make his presence felt. He believed in action rather in self propagation. He did never complained of about his personal concerns. He was a reticent but full of burning volcano within. He wanted to see radical transformation taking place in his very life time and an end to the sufferings of the poors and the Dalits. Let us all resolve to continue his struggle till the goal is achieved that will be the right tribute to the departed spirit. Ronki Ram (Dr.),

Dept. of Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh

(INDIA). POSTED ON AUGUST 15, 2007

Dr. Ronki Ram has finished this knowledgeable article "Capital Versus and Labour: Crisis for of

Globalisation, Governance" years.

Marginalised

after

reasearching

three

www.ambedkartimes.com Thanks to Dr. Sahib and very proud of him. CAPITAL VERSUS LABOUR: GLOBALISATION, GOVERNANCE MARGINALISED AND CRISIS OF

Dr. DEPARTMENT PUNJAB OF

Ronki POLITICAL

Ram SCIENCE CHANDIGARH

UNIVERSITY,

ronkiram@yahoo.co.in

The process of globalisation essentially operates in the asymmetrical real world fragmented into developed and developing regions/states; core and periphery; rich and poor people; and privileged and the marginalized groups. Given such a wide range of heterogeneities, its impact on all of them could not be uniform. The impact of the process of globalisation is generally perceived as inversely proportional to ones placement in the socio-economic scale. This study attempts to explore how and in what way the process of globalisation affected the marginalised sections of the society and how it was linked with the crisis of governance. Globalisation is one of the few concepts in social sciences, which has suddenly acquired a vast currency in almost all of its disciplines. It has led to the creation of a large body of literature encompassing varied definitions, interpretations, and explanations. The term globalisation has been employed to refer to different processes, structures, interactive networks, rhetoric, and discourses. Each one of these perspectives has further been categorised into a large number of issue areas with specific set of rules, norms and episteme. Such a plethora of varied contents of globalisation, and its multi-dimensional connotations, has produced enormous shades of meanings with an equally wide range of contexts (Rangarajan 2003). The present study is confined to one such context. That context refers to pro capital and anti labour postulates of the process of globalisation. This paper also intends to highlight that as a process, globalisation is a continuation of a system of capital accumulation and exploitation that started with the onset of imperialism (from about 1870 to 1914, for details see Abdelal and Segal 2007; Patnaik 2004). Furthermore, although globalisation had become the defining feature of the international economy at the beginning of the

21st century, it remains considerably less globalised and integrated in comparison with that of the pre-1914 era (Gilpin 2001:3; see also ORourke and Williamson 2000; McGrew 2005:216). However, this aspect of the phenomenon of the process of globalisation is often left untouched and its current pattern is significantly exaggerated and thereby fundamentally misrepresented because globalists fail to locate it in its proper historical context (McGrew 2005:216; see also Hoogvelt 2001). However, it should not be construed that the contemporary literature on the process of globalisation contains nothing essentially new. What makes a major difference between the age of imperialism and that of the process of globalisation is the pace of speed with which the events have been taking place in them (Rangarajan 2003). Recent developments in the field of communication infrastructures, informatics technology and transportation have restructured the equation of time and space to the extant that local now remains no longer local (Pauly 2005: 176-203). As Anthony McGrew observes, Although, geography still matters it is nevertheless the case that globalisation is associated with a process of time-space compression literally a shrinking world in which the sources of even very localised economic developments, from price rises to corporate restructuring, may be traced to economic conditions on another continent (McGrew 2005:210 emphasis in original). The shrinking of the world, and the recasting of geography, have become possible with the tremendous rise in the magnitude of the speed with which the events have been unfolding in the contemporary world that would have been unimaginable only a 100 years ago (Armstrong 1998: 466). The study speculates that the pace of the speed varies in its impact -ranging from capital to labour -- and has something to do with the heightened level of exploitation of the marginalised.

Globalisation, Dalits and the State The central theme of the paper focuses on how the process of globalisation has affected the lives of the marginalised, who had, hitherto, been looking forward towards the State for some support to stand on their own feet. Since the very logic of globalisation is based on the idea that the welfare state is a hindrance in the way of the global market, it is presumed that the marginalised need not be supported by the state at all as they used to be earlier. This has further deepened marginalisation and exclusion of the marginal groups and communities that were traditionally vulnerable and excluded (Rangarajan 2003). The rapid pace of transformation in the context of the market forces in the contemporary world has not only heightened the exploitation of the marginalised, but also severely limited the possibilities of their emancipation. Globalisation may have opened up enormous opportunities but one has to map the emphasis on the opportunities. In fact, in the asymmetrical world in which we live, such opportunities open many doors for the haves by further marginalising the interests of the have nots. The global disparity obtains between countries and regions gets translated into classes and categories within them. Indeed, it is reflected at the individual level too (Oommen 1999). Capital and the Marginalised In this way, the process of globalisation has favoured the capital and, ignored with impunity, the labour. In comparison to the ultra mobile capital, labour flows are stagnant, geographically extensive and reflect an almost mirror image of capital flows insofar as they become primarily South to North (McGrew 2005:216; see also Held et al. 1999; Castles and Miller 2002; Chiswick and Hatton 2003). For instance, in the 1970s and 1980s,

the outflow of labour from India was primarily confined to the Middle East countries, and in the early 20th century to the then emerging new colonies of the erstwhile British Empire under the rules of the indentured labour laws. In the opinion of Chiswick and Hatton, the outward mobility of labour primarily emanated from the developing countries only (Chiswick and Hatton 2003:74). Even from these countries it is the skilled labour that moves more frequently from South to North as against the unskilled. As far as the unskilled labour is concerned, it remains immobile and stagnant. Although, the pontiffs of the fast expanding caravan of globalisation are over optimistic about the emergence of integrated distance labour markets and the consequent birth of the common wage rates the world over, especially in the sector of the skilled labour, there is no general consensus about the equity of flows between capital and labour (McGrew 2005:216; Silver 2003; Galbraith 2002; Firebaugh 2003; Lindert and Williamson 2003). The opportunities for the poor, socially excluded, tribal people, women, disabled and other vulnerable groups have shrunk and marginalisation of certain sections among these groups has been intensified through the process of Special Economic Zones and arbitrarily deprivation of land and displacement. The destruction of Mcdonalds, which was under construction in rural southwest France in August 1999, under the poster child fame leadership of Jose Bove, and the recent incidences of violence on the poor peasants at Nandigram in India, vividly highlight the fast emerging contradictions between capital and labour (Birchfield 2005:581-82). 'Marginal' a very loose term has been employed by different scholars to include different communities, individuals and social groups under its rubric. Broadly speaking, it encompasses the deprived sections of the society who have been subjected to social

exclusion, economic deprivation and political isolation. It also includes gender, since the women are denied equal opportunities and rights (Bhattacharya [ed] 2004; Sivaraman 2000). In the context of the Indian society, it comprised some of Dalits them (literally, designated grounded/oppressed/broken

constitutionally as Scheduled Castes), tribals (Indias indigenous peoples legally known as Scheduled Tribes), economically deprived groups/individuals (officially termed as Backward Castes), women, disabled and other vulnerable groups. Dalits is the politically correct nomenclature for the ex-untouchables who traditionally have been placed at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste hierarchy and were contemptuously called by different names like Shudras, Atishudras, Achhuts, Antyajas, Chandalas Pariahs, Dheds, Panchamas, Avarnas, Namashudras, Adi-Dravida, Ad Dharmis, Mazhabis, Harijans, Depressed Classes and Scheduled Castes. The Dalit is a broad term that incorporates the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Backward Castes. However, in the current political discourse, it is mainly confined to the Scheduled Castes and covers only those Dalits who are classified as Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists but excludes Muslim and Christian Dalits (Moliner 2004:2). Dalits v/s Upper Castes Poor In the present paper, the term marginal (marginalised) has been used to refer to the labourers belonging to the categories of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the economically Backward Castes and also the poor upper castes. The marginal belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, economically Backward Castes and the poor upper castes fall in the category of economic deprivation whereas the Scheduled Castes belong to the category of the socially excluded and segregated groups. A labourer along with

his being subjected to economic deprivation might be a victim of social exclusion depending on his caste status. The case of a labourer belonging to an upper caste is different from that of the lower caste. In the case of the former he might be economically deprived but in no way socially excluded and segregated, as is the case of those labourers who belong to the Dalit/ Scheduled Castes category of the Hindu social hierarchy. In the case of the Scheduled Castes, it has been found that along with their economic deprivation they have also been suffering invariably from social exclusion. The process of globalisation impacts these different categories differently (Teltumbde 2004: 5). How the process of globalisation influences the caste based social divisions and their consequent economic repercussions is an important theme to be taken up a bit more seriously. The Dalits have been excluded from social, economic and political rights including the right to education and employment, other than the traditional forced and customary undignified labour, precisely because of their birth in the untouchable castes. They also suffered from social exclusion because of their geographical segregation. They were forced to live on the outskirts of the villages towards which the wind blew and sewage flowed. Their houses were dirty, dingy, dark, and unhygienic where poverty and squalor loomed large (for a detailed description see Madhopuri 2004). Until 1990, there had been some improvements in the lives of the Dalits in terms of education and employment opportunities, increase in wages, fall in poverty, access to land, water, health, education, housing and other resources owing to the States affirmative action. However, the trend was reverted and sidelined with the onset of the economic reforms under the process of globalisation. The economic policy in India has undergone a major transformation since the

beginning of the early 1990s, under the paradigm of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation. One of the main concerns of this new paradigm is to facilitate the process of the roll back of the welfare State and prepare the space for the operation of the unrestrained market forces and open international trade. This promarket and capital stance of the process of economic globalisation has led to the widening of the gap between the privileged few and the large mass of the marginalised, and among them the Dalit labourers, daily wage workers and workers in the informal sector suffer the most. It is pertinent to quote in this context Harish K. Puri, In fact the process of development tended to further marginalize some categories of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Judged by even the government statistics on all parameters of jobs, literacy, access to drinking water, medical facilities, housing and even cremation of the dead, this vast segment of Indian people remained abysmally deprived and oppressed (Puri 2006:10). It has led to discontentment and disillusionment among the marginalised people of the society to who the main slogan of the World Social Forum Another World is Possible appeals the most, perhaps because they feel that it opens up the perspective of a world without exploitation and exclusion (A Report from Mumbai Resistance 2004 and the World Social Forum: 6; see also Asia Gears up against Globalisation: 1-2). World Social Forum aims at not only building up a movement against the exclusion of the poor and the powerless from the mainstream political system, it also lobby for their inclusion (Green and Griffith 2002:54; see also Varadarajan 2006).

Although, both the Scheduled Caste and the non-Scheduled Caste labourers have been relegated to the periphery by the forces of the market in the process of globalisation, it did not affect them uniformly. In fact, the process of globalisation has never been uniform in its effects across all regions or economies. Since globalisation is an uneven process, it generates a distinctive geography of inclusion and exclusion such that the notion of a worldwide or global economy is less geographically inclusive than that of a planetary or universal economy (McGrew 2005:210). The way the process of globalisation affects the life of a Scheduled Caste worker differs significantly from that of the non-Scheduled Caste one. In a caste-based society, social rank plays an important role in determining one's economic status. In a system of graded social hierarchy, lower social status and economic backwardness seems to be coterminous. The process of globalisation has further aggravated this vicious equation of social and economic backwardness. The logic of economic globalisation favours the rich, who can invest and multiply capital. Such favoured rich are mostly found among the socalled traditional upper castes who have monopolised land and other economic sources in the country. It has made them prominent in the newly carved out vast private space of the open market. In other words, it has led to an alliance between the forces of the market and the upper castes -- much to the disadvantage of the marginal and the lower castes. Since the implementation of the new economic reforms, the numbers of jobs have been reduced in the public sector. This, in turn, has led to an increase in unemployment and poverty. The increase in unemployment among the Dalits is most discernible in relation to the constitutional space that signifies their current mode of existence. This space basically comprise (sic)

the provision of reservations in the state-aided educational institutions and in the employment of government and public sector companies. Despite the dismal record of their implementation, there is no doubt that these provision (sic) have played a crucial role in the advancement and progress of dalits. Globalisation has variously constrained this space without affecting any change in the constitution (Teltumbde 2004:5). In the first decade of the new economic reforms in India, the ratio of both unemployment and poverty increased from 28 per cent in 1989 to 48 per cent in 1992. Since Dalits constitute the bulk of the poor and unemployed, they have suffered most (Jogdand 2002). Their chances of acquiring jobs in the high-tech industry at home as well as in the multinational corporations have been getting curtailed since the beginning of the process of globalisation in India. The system of primary and elementary education in the rural and urban settings has been subverted almost totally. Since, majority of the rich upper caste send their wards to the private/convent/public schools, government schools have been reduced into dysfunctional centres of learning for the poor Dalits. It is simply out of the reach of the matriculates of such neglected government schools, where hardly any infrastructure and teachers are available, to be able to compete for admission in the countrys prestigious Information Technology (IT) or management schools. Moreover, since the background of a majority of Dalit undergraduates is in Arts and Humanities, it becomes difficult for them to meet the job requirements of the multinational corporations. Even if some of the Dalits aspire to compete in the technology driven new job market, it would be, perhaps, out of their reach to acquire the requisite qualifications at exorbitant rates from the various engineering and management institutes. The increasing cost of education on the one hand and drying up of the motivation

for education because of no-job prospects created by globalisation on the other is fast proving the reservation in education meaningless (Teltumbde 2004:5). Moreover, another way through which the process of globalization has been affecting the lives of the Dalits rather more severely is the transformation of their traditional hereditary occupations into lucrative profit seeking competitive avenues where they find themselves incapable of competing with the so called upper castes who until very recently used to consider such professions as polluting (Kumar 2002: 81-82). In other words, when the occupations of sewage disposal, scavenging and raw hides were performed in the Jajmani (hereditary system of asymmetrical reciprocity and patronage between landlords and occupational experts) set up bereft of profit incentive, Dalits were condemned and forced to take them up. But when the same occupations became profit-generating businesses, Dalits find themselves at odd in their own tested fields. It is in this context that the process of globalization perpetuates the system of caste and inequality albeit in a new form. Instead of liberating them, it further pins them down. Earlier they were excluded and were condemned as shudras because of their closeness to the sewages, now it excludes them by way of defeating them in the profit oriented open market system of the neoliberal economy. In fact, this market is open only for those who have the capital to play the profit game on the chessboard of its unrestrained competition. In this new profit driven game of the process of globalization, Dalits normally starved of capital stand disqualified. Yet another way through which the process of globalization severely affects the lives of the Dalits is the accentuation of the phenomenon of their exclusion from land. Significant parts of

the vast majority of them who live in villages are landless labourers. Only a small number of them are cultivators with marginal holdings (Teltumbde 2004:5). The large-scale landlessness on the part of the Dalits led to their dependence on the upper caste land owning communities, which in turn further deepened the caste based inequalities with the burden of asymmetrical class structures. The neo-liberal economic policies adopted under the regimes of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation widen the already existing caste and class divisions between the Dalits and the dominant castes. As Harish K Puri argues, The most worrying issue now related to the economic future of the lower castes and lower class people in the context of the ruling ideas and forces of neoliberalism because it spelled a virtual paradigm shift. The states welfare role of positive intervention, which was the mainstay of Nehruvian and Ambedkarite framework, had given way to market rationality (Puri 2006:11). In fact, the forces of neo-liberal economy have not only scuttled the post-1945 Keynesianism or social democratic agenda of state social welfare, they also substituted it with corporate farming to cater to the requirements of the global market, and Special Economic Zones to serve the purpose of the mega commercial centers under the control of the privileged few. Thus to put the above discussion succinctly, it can be said that the contemporary process of globalisation severely deprives the Dalits of the advantages of the new opportunities made available in the realm of capital and precludes the benefits of the hard earned constitutional affirmative action. However, it does not mean that poverty is found only in the developing countries and among them within the lower strata of the

society. Poverty also afflicts those who live in the developed world and also those who enjoy higher social status in the developing world. To quote Dipak Basu, In the United States, about 12 million people are homeless, one third of the people cannot afford primary health care, 20 per cent of the people are below poverty line, about 23 per cent of the people are illiterate with no security of either job or of life (Basu 2002). However, it makes a lot of difference to be a poor and at the same living in a developing world and also belonging to a low caste. For instance, in Punjab, a poor Scheduled Caste landless agricultural labourer is distinguished from a poor but dominant caste landless agricultural labourer (landless peasant labourer) by the fact that he, along with his being economically deprived, also suffers from social exclusion. In the case of a Scheduled Caste landless agricultural worker, his being deprived of land is to a large extent related with his social rank. This, in turn, also gets reflected in his economic status. In a broader context, the landlessness of the Scheduled Caste community has serious implications on its economic life. It has generally been observed that during a clash over wages between an agriculturist on the one hand, and landless but dominant caste agricultural labourers and landless Scheduled Caste agricultural labourers on the other, the agriculturalist imposes social boycott on the landless Scheduled Caste agricultural labourers in order to deny them an access to his green fields for fodder as well as to answer the call of nature in a rural setting. This does not apply on an equal scale to the landless dominant caste agricultural labourers, who lag behind their peer group economically, but enjoy a similar status socially. Amusingly enough, the agricultural labourers belonging to higher castes treated their fellow labourers of Scheduled Castes as social untouchables

(Chowdhry 1976: 464-65). The prestige system of social status also affects the lives of the members of the poor upper castes in its own unique way. The upper caste poor have often found that their so called higher social status turns out to be a hurdle in their way to take up those jobs which are usually undertaken by the lower caste people. The spate of suicides among the farmers in Punjab is a case in point. These hapless farmers were Jats by caste, which is a dominant caste in Punjab similar to the Brahmins in other parts of the country. Whatever be the reasons behind the act of their suicides, social prestige was an important factor in almost all the cases. Though in majority of the suicide cases the burden of indebtedness was the obvious factor, it was not the sole factor. The factor that pushed them to such a disastrous act was that they did not dare to face the blot of bankruptcy in a social system in which they enjoy a higher rank (Iyer and Manick 2000; Bhalla et al. 1998; Shergill 1998; Sidhu 1991; Singh 1993; for an excellent review of agrarian crisis and suicides by farmers in different states in India see also Ahlawat 2003; Lochan and Rajiv 2006; Suri 2006; Jodhka 2006; Mishra 2006a; Mishra 2006b; Rao and Suri 2006; Mohanakumar and Sharma 2006; Sridhar2006). In the following section an attempt has been made to delineate the meaning of globalisation with reference to capital and labour.

I Variants of Globalisation Globalisation, as referred to in the beginning of the paper, has been embellished with various meanings. It has been projected as a 20th century wonder, which contains immense potentialities for the elimination of poverty, hunger and disease. The European

Commission in its Annual Economic Report for 1997 defined globalisation as the process by which markets and production in different countries are becoming increasingly interdependent due to the dynamics of trade in goods and services and flows of capital and technology. It is not a new phenomenon but the continuation of developments that have been in train for some considerable time (European Commission 1997: 45). In this context, it is primarily associated with a process of intensifying worldwide economic integration (McGrew 2005:209). However, this political-economycentric view of globalisation when juxtaposed with the one grounded within the wider social science literature presents a more complex picture. It is also projected as an era of universalisation and intensification of transnational flows of images, people, commodities and capital (Deshpande 2003:152). Though the process of globalisation is often referred to interchangeably with the notions of liberalisation, internationalisation, universalisation, demodernisation, westernisation, Americanisation,

territorialisation, or supra-territorialisation, none of these terms, argues Scholte, captures its distinctive features (McGrew 2005: 209; see also Scholte 2000; Scott 1997:5; Abdelal and Segal 2007). Looked at through the prisms of political economy, cultural theory, political analysis, international relations, and urban sociology, globalisation resonates differently in the different contexts (Nasstrom 2003). Given the complex nature of its subject matter, the phenomenon of globalisation is prone to give rise to methodological disputes about its apt analysis (Rosenberg 1995). The recent discussion within sociology and political science has been careful to distinguish globalisation theory from the theory of modernisation on the one hand and from accounts of colonialism on the other. The concept of globalisation should not act simply as a synonym for a

new phase of modernisation or for Westernisation, (Scott 1997:3). The theory of globalisation needs to be saved from being slipped into a trap of reductionist or determinist that ... appear to reduce divergent aspects of a complex process to some set of fundamental causes or to some single societal sub-system (e.g., the economy) (Scott 1997:3). Globalisation needs to be understood as a multidimensional, rather than singular, process and free from the disciplinary boundaries of a particular field. Equally important is to rescue it from the prevailing myths and rhetoric about its inevitability and irresistibility (Scott 1997:1; McGrew 2005:3). New v/s the Old Globalisation is not a new phenomenon, as it is claimed widely. In effect, it is the replication of the political and economic imperialism of the 19th century (Harshe 2002: 1407). Moreover, in the 19th century the world was more integrated than is the case today (Gilpin 2001:3). Equally important is to critically analyse the objectives of the process of globalisation. The process of globalisation is not something that has come into operation on its own as a beneficial God gifted natural source. It is, perhaps, a well planned and well regulated project aimed at building a uniformed global market for the benefit of a limited number of individuals/corporations. Its sole aim is to accumulate capital, which by its very logic creates dens of poverty, disease and squalor in the periphery, and wealth in the core of the globalising world (Wade 2005: 291-316). In order to comprehend such diabolic posture of the phenomenon of globalisation, it needs to be distinguished as an ideology and as a paradigm. As an ideology, globalisation creates a sense of false consciousness in the periphery. It makes its appearance as beneficial

through various popularly projected images. At the same time, it also builds up the logic to subdue any opposition to its upward surgence. It emphasises that poverty and low economic growth were the results of keeping oneself out of the reach of globalisation. As a paradigm, globalisation provides an epistemological outlook for the understanding of the world. This epistemological outlook has assigned the prefix New to the already existing asymmetrical world. The fact, however, is that it is not the existential world that has really become new or newly ordered under the spill of globalisation. What the paradigm of globalisation was able to do under the prefix New is that it has succeeded in projecting the same old world as new in a particular way that favours capital over labour. This paradigm of presenting the old world in the form of something new emanates from a perspective, held by the privileged few, to scan the uneven structures of the existing world in such a manner as to project them as new, ordered, global, interdependent, and homogeneous. Such a paradigmatic approach in looking at the so-called changing trajectories of the world has more to do with the concrete processes of economy and politics rather than with its projected abstract realities. However, in the domain of political economy, it is not always essential to stick to apparent realities. On the contrary, the projected realities have usually been taken as given; realities that favour capital and the metropolis and deprive labour and the periphery. Such realities in fact are not generally acceptable realities at all. (Explain more clearly) It is so because they emboss the fabricated and artificial homogeneous world on the real and the existing asymmetrical world. This is another way of subjugating the marginal, the other. The marginalised are subjugated through the mirage of the promised /imagined new world. The imagined world has been made more real

than the actual real world is. The real world is not the one where we live, but the one we have been told about. The panacea to all our maladies, we are told, lies in getting assimilated quickly into this New world the globalising one. It is also said that poverty, failure of the State, and ethnic insurgencies in Asia, Africa and elsewhere are not the outcome of the specific factors grounded in the colonial structures of these continents or in their own current specific domestic situations, but because of their refusal to open themselves to the currents of the global market. In the words of Abdul-Raheem, Western ideologues insist that we must imagine and organise society in accordance with their values and systems without providing space to any alternative ideology. In this hegemonic scheme, the rest of us are seen as non-starters, or at best late comers, whose only destiny is to follow the path already trodden by the West" (Abdul-Raheem 2000:15). There is nothing sacred about regimes and institutions as sermonised by the Western think tanks. What democracy, globalisation, free market, and multilateral institutions mean to them does not equally apply to the poor South (Manchanda 1997). Nor, is the rich North seriously interested in the genuine proliferation of the principles of liberalism and democracy. In the name of democracy and free market economy regimes, the continents of Asia, Africa and South America were rather further subjected to what Abdul-Raheem characterised as "recolonisation" (Abdul-Raheem 2000: 15). No doubt the world has changed, but the governing principles of world politics have not. It is Realpolitik, which still regulates the transactions among the states and also among the non-state managers of today's world. The emergence of the process of globalisation and the triumph of free market over the planned economy do not imply that politics based on the pursuance of national interest and power has given place to communitarianism and welfare. It is claimed that [t]he process of globalisation has

produced much that is new in the world's economy and politics, but it has not changed the basic ways capitalism operates. Nor has it aided the cause of either peace or prosperity (Magdoff 1992: 39).

Contrary to the repetitive claims, the post-Cold War world is very much the same intransient world of power games and shrewd diplomacy. The so-called New world is the old place where one has to move cautiously in the given hard-core choices, and in an environment of no permanent friends and foes. How does one then understand the United States support to the non-democratic Sheikhdom in the Middle East and to the authoritarian states of South East Asia, whereas United States, itself, stands for democracy not only within but internationally also. Democracy as a value is not as important as its use for the promotion of national interests. "It seems that the West only prefers a democratic outcome that does not, as the Americans say, upset the applecart" (Abdul-Raheem, 2000: 19). To quote Abdul-Raheem further [t]hat means democracy with a western veto (Ibid.). Any democratic process that helps raise genuine political aspirations, finds no support from the West if such a process is likely to adversely affect the status of the West. Thus, in order to qualify for a democratic status one needs to fulfill the expectations of the West. It does not matter much even if you are a despot or a dictator provided you do not create any difficulties for the West. In the Southeast Asia, lack of democracy and gross abuse of human rights do not seem to have affected the growth of capitalism, whereas the Gulf States with their abundant oil wealth can dispense with democracy and human rights altogether. Otherwise, why would America and the so-called Allied powers have gone to war in the Gulf only to restore feudal family rule (Ibid: 18). Given a choice between democracy and promotion

of national interest, the latter gets a priority over the former. That is what the law of power politics advocates. It needs to be taken with a pinch of salt that free trade is the most important natural torchbearer of the 21st century. The moot point is who does the process of globalisation favour? How does globalisation operate in an unequal and anarchic world? What safeguards, if any, are available to the excolonial societies and the marginalised to defend themselves against the system of domination, embedded in the logic of a world structured on the principles of power politics? In fact, the process of globalisation legitimises the right of the advanced capitalist states and their citizens to dominate the rest of humanity. It affirms the right of the capital to move around the globe but restricts the freedom of labour (people). Those who desire a global humanity must, therefore, struggle to humanise the globe, such that free human beings can live, work or settle anywhere they wish?" (Ibid.) It is in this context that we need to take up the issue of the process of globalisation in the context of the marginalised in the periphery. Rampant violence, narcotic terrorism, mounting debts, political apathy and indolence, subordination to market, controlled print and electronic media, ecological devastation, marginalisation of the State, nepotism, corruption, the ever increasing rise in the internal civil strife leading to mass killings, and exodus are a few issues of crucial concern relating to the marginalised in the periphery.

II Globalisation Problematique The purpose of the paper is not to prescribe solutions, but to problematise the impact of the process of globalisation on the

societies in the periphery and the marginalised. The term periphery is used here to reflect on the weaker sections of the under-developed and developing countries of the Afro-Asian world. However, even in this very part of the asymmetrical world, the interest of the miniscule minority converges more conveniently with that of the core of the rich North rather than with that of their fellow beings in the poor South. Thus, it is in this context that the term periphery needs to be taken into consideration while evaluating the impact of globalisation on the socio-economic and political life of the marginal people divided on caste/class lines within the non-Western world. The purpose here is not to provide a blueprint, but to problematise the issue. What we often deal with in the name of globalisation is less of a phenomenon and more of an ideology and a paradigm. Such an aberration always keeps one away from understanding the real causes of poverty and exploitation induced by the process of globalisation in the periphery. Capital, Labour and Globalisation The system of globalisation is not accountable to the people whom it affects. Since the State, which draws sustenance and legitimacy from the citizens in the geographically determined boundaries, begins fading in the face of the surging forces of globalisation, it often finds excuses to exempt itself from its legal responsibility towards the betterment of its populace, especially the marginalised. Public policy, based on the State supported social protection, gave way to deregulation, privatisation, cuts in states social welfare schemes (e.g. Public Distribution System [PDS] in India), restrictions on labour unions, flexible labour markets, strict laws and quotas restricting immigration to the countries of the North. Such anti-people policies are not only encountered by the people of the developing world, the political establishments in the

countries of the developed world equally adhere to them. In this context, it is appropriate to reproduce here what Amiya Kumar Bagchi says: The rules of the game in the globalisation process changed drastically from the 1970s. The European and United States capitalists thought that they must teach the workers a lesson they must break the trade unions and put an end to the post-war welfare states of Europe. Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, was a pioneer in this worker bashing. Around 1985, I happened to be at a meeting with Sir Alan Walters, one of the chief economic advisors of Margaret Thatcher. We were talking about the failure of big strikes in Britain during Thatchers regime. Sir Alan said roughly, I told Margaret Thatcher, kick the workers, and go on kicking them till they are down, and kick them even when they are down A similar strategy was pursued by the United States Government during Ronald Regans presidency. As a result, the real wages of an average American worker today is lower than it was in 1979 (Bagchi 2004: 7).

Such anti-labour policies do not only characterise the governments in Europe and the United States, but even the governments and leftof-centre parties in Japan, and Australia have been talking the same language (Wade 2005:292). Furthermore, through the international financial mechanism of the Multilateral Economic Organisations (MEOs) like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), these anti-labour policies are extended to the domestic realms of the developing countries (Ibid).

The most startling case of non-accountability on the part of the forces of globalisation is the callousness on the part of the Union Carbide with regard to the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. According to Harish K Puri, Much of the information is hidden from the public. Inspection of the plant by the Indian government officials was evidently casual; and most likely corrupt. And we know the cost. Over 10,000 were killed by the leakage of the deadly gas; over 200,000 were injured and sick, including those born later. Invariably most of these who became victims happened to come from the low class caste workers and their families. And, even after 22 years of struggle for justice the culprits have not been punished (Puri 2006:15). The question of justice, of late, has come up as the most important contentious issue of globalisation. Some of the leading exponents of the process of globalising have now started echoing the concern that in its failure to deliver a more just global economic order, globalisation may hold within it the seeds of its own demise (Higgott 2000:131). James Wolfenson, President of the World Bank reiterated in his address to the Board of Governors of the Bank in October 1998 that in the absence of greater equity and social justice no amount of money could provide us financial stability. Ethan Kapstein expressed similar views when he underlined the fact that any economic system widely viewed as unjust will not endure for long. Of course, these views are not new. They were put forward much earlier when the present system of globalisation was not even conceived of. Adam Smith put on record in his Wealth of Nations that no society could survive or flourish if great numbers lived in poverty (quoted in Higgott 2000:131). If the contemporary process of globalisation sincerely aims at strengthening the need for strong governance, then contrary to the pro-capital policies of its neo-

liberal lobbying centres of London and Washington, it has to remove all barriers to the movement of people in search of work and to make stringent efforts towards the formation of a single market for both capital and labour (Jha 1999). The system of justice, which we are familiar with, is understood within the Westphalien cartography of clear lines and stable identities(ibid). Westphalien justice presumes a stable political order, based on legitimate political authority, having a clearly demarcated social space. Since with the concretisation of the process of globalisation, the territorial boundaries of politics are becoming unbundled, to borrow Ruggie's evocative phrase, it becomes inevitable that the conceptual images of justice conceived in the boundaries of politics fixed by territoriality will become similarly unbundled (ibid). The conventional accounts of justice have failed to address the changing nature of social bond. The system of globalisation is not a social bond at all. It is a blatant system of profit seeking and self-propagation. It has not been brought out by a contractarian agreement among the multitudes of large number of so-called fading states. The system of globalisation has come to be confronted by the people of Afro-Asian world who have yet to become citizens in real terms (Ram 2001). Before the people of impoverished states could win the battle of their subsistence against their native monopoliser and rent-seeker, they have suddenly been exposed to the big doyens over whom they have no system of pressure. In an era of consumer driven globalisation, it is not in the fitness of things to quote Karl Marx who even after one and a half-century sounds fresh in his contents and analysis of the economic structure of the society. To quote him in detail: The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and

consumption in every country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists, it has drawn from under the feet of industry the national ground on which it stood. All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction, the products of distant lands and climes. In place of the old local and national seclusion and selfsufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal inter-dependence of nations. And as in material, so also in intellectual production. The intellectual creations of individual nations become common property. National one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and more impossible, and from the numerous national and local literatures, there arises a world literature (Marx and Engels 1848:37-38).

This system of global relations of production, of exchange and of property has become, to quote Marx again, like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells" (ibid: 39). However, what makes Marxs analysis of the ever-widening reach of the bourgeoisie society unique is its class character articulated by him in the following words: In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working class,

developed a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market (Marx and Engels 1848:40).

Thus, the formation and augmentation of capital is the essential condition for the existence and furtherance of the bourgeoisie that lay at the foundation of the process of globalisation. The current process of globalisation does not paint a different picture. The basic rules of its grammar remain the same (see also Omvedt 2001). However, what makes a difference, as far as the status of the labour versus capital is concerned is that, to quote Marx once again, The modern labourer, on the contrary, instead of rising with the progress of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth (ibid: 45).

He (labourer), in fact, has been completely abandoned in the labyrinth of uselessness. Globalisation thrives on services and information technology. Agricultural, industry and manufacturing are no longer important avenues for it. Finance capital, capital generated through stock markets and capital earned on the use of information industry has ultimately replaced the capital generated by the labour. This, in turn, has further led to marginalisation of the already marginalised section of the society (Patnaik 2004).

History played a trick with Marx. He expected revolution on the basis of his capital analysis of the bourgeoisie society in the industrial world of Germany or England, and not in an agriculturally dominated society of Russia. However due to Lenins intervention, the revolution in Russia became successful at that time. For Marx, proletariats contain the force of transformation of the bourgeoisie society into socialism. In the manifesto of the Communist Party, he clearly mentioned that the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie. Since capital knows no boundaries and expands further and further, in search of its expansion it becomes imperative for the proletariats of all the countries to get united to oppose the march of such capital. The manifesto ends with the following words The proletarians have nothing to loose but their chains. They have a world to win. In reality, workers belonging to different countries failed to emerge into a global body. On the other hand, capital succeeded in forging a global network. The success of the capital has been celebrated with the end of the history thesis. In the absence of a radical alternative to the arbitrariness of the global capital, the future of mankind seems to zero-in on barbarism. One may venture into formulating that in the face of the end of history emerges the clash of civilisations. Efforts are being made now at the global level to tackle the crisis of communal global terrorism. However, such types of symptoms of the disease are quite early signs of the maturing evil of accumulation of capital on the one hand, and poverty on the other. From the Seattle protests of 1999 to the annual conclaves of the World Social Forum, surcharged street demonstrations and shouting of anti globalisation slogans represent deep smouldering embers of the severe crisis that the process of globalisation faces today.

III

Globalisation and the Crisis of Governance To manage the crisis of globalisation, efforts are now being made, since the second half of 1997, to politically legitimise, democratise and socialise the process of globalisation (Higgott 2000:133). Is it feasible, at least theoretically, to socialise the process of globalisation? To socialise globalisation seems to be tantamount to saying to socialise capital. However, capital by its very nature intrinsically defies any such attempts. It is basically based on the process of capital generation through the appropriation of surplus values generated by the labourers. And, the grammar of capitalism tells us that a surplus value is the value of labour that is denied to a labourer. Thus, the capital and the utopia of its equal distribution are basically antithetical to each other. In the words of Scott, not only is globalisation thought not to be tied to any substantive notion of the Good Society, it may, according to its critics, even preclude any discussion of what such a society might look like (Scott 1997:6). According to the Human Development Report 1997 published by United Nations Development Programme, The greatest benefits of globalisation have been garnered by a fortunate few. A rising tide of wealth is supposed to lift all boats, but some are more seaworthy than others. The yachts and ocean liners are rising in response to new opportunities, but many rafts and rowboats are taking on water- and some are sinking. The ratio of global trade to Gross Domestic Product has been rising over the past decade, but it has been falling for 44 developing countries, with more than a billion people. The

least developed countries, with 10 per cent of the world's people, have only 0.3 per cent of world trade half their share of two decades ago.

The metaphor of the rising tide lifting all boats fails to take off when applied in the context of the effect of the globalisation on the developing countries. In the developing world the tides of the neoliberal economy had ended up knocking over some of the smaller boats. It has increased the divide between the rich and the poor countries and further widened the gap between the rich and the poor in the Third World countries. The number of poor in Africa has doubled, said Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz in a lecture on Making Globalisation Work in Chennai recently (Stiglitz 2007). According to the 1999 version of the Human Development Report, the income gap ratio between the 20 per cent of the world's population in the richest countries and the 20 per cent in the poorest grew from 30:1 in 1960 to 60:1 in 1990 and 74:1 in 1995. The poorest 20 per cent of the world's population account for only one per cent of the total global Gross Domestic Product and 40 per cent of the world's population lives in absolute poverty. The number of people with income of less than $ 1 a day increased by almost 100 million to 1.3 billion between 1987 and 1993 (Reddy 1999). In the past 18 years, the per capita income has declined in more than 100 countries. In a large number of countries, life expectancy is still 40 years. The external debt burden of the developing countries totals $2.2 trillion, according to 1999 estimates. Of this, two-thirds is public debt. The net material worth of the world's 200 richest persons increased from $ 440 billion to more than one trillion in just four years: 1994-1998 (Oommen 1999). Global inequalities in income have increased alarmingly in the last hundred years. More than 30,000 children die every day from preventable diseases.

Some 90 million children are excluded from primary education. About 790 million people are hungry and 1.2 billion live on less than one dollar a day (Raj 2002). The above statistics shows that the global spread of capital failed to reduce the contradictions between the poor and the rich nations. Although a handful of third world countries, benefiting from the globalisation process, have made noteworthy progress in industrialisation and trade, the overall gap between core and periphery nations has kept on widening (Magdoff 1992:2). The exploitative and inequitable stance of globalisation became factually clear in the last few years. The Washington Consensus (WC) based neo-liberal project of globalisation came under severe attack on its durability in the wake of the financial crisis that hit Asia in the second half of 1997 and soon spread to Latin America and Russia in early 1998 (Williamson 2003). Another factor that accounted amongst the significant sources of backlash against the unbridled nature of globalisation project was the failure of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to establish the multilateral argument on investment. The battle of Seattle was yet another factor that jostled globalisation from its very roots (Higgott 2000:135-136). Along with these events of crisis revelation of globalisation, another factor which affected the ever surging march of globalisation is the development of a perception that global liberalisation brings with it increased inequality (ibid: 136). The above cited events and perceptions led to the lowering of the image of globalisation from its status of inevitability to its self-demise. This also led to the end of the orthodox Washington Consensus backed model of globalisation, based on economic liberalisation that dominated the period between 1980 and 1990, and resulted in the emergence of a 'Post Washington Consensus' (ibid: 137).

The Post Washington Consensus is a response to the challenges to the process of globalisation. It aims at rectifying the pitfalls of economic liberalisation by introducing the system of global governance (for an excellent review see Parkash and Jeffrey [eds.] 1999), what Stephen Gill calls a constitution for global capitalism (quoted in Higgott 2000:137). The project of globalisation of 1980s and the early 1990s did not have any place for ethics. It was based on purely the free market principle of profit and maximising self-interest. The idea is that capitalism, left to itself, can recover from any crisis and any public intervention can only make things worse. Thus any public actions are nothing but distortions of the system which must be minimised (Basu 2002). The Post Washington Consensus model has been trying to bring ethical dimensions into the theory of globalisation. The attempt on the part of Post Washington Consensus to bring ethical content into the theory of globalisation was not merely a tactical move to forestall the simmering revolt against economic liberalisation. According to Edwards there is genuine concern for bringing in recognition of the importance of tackling ethical questions of justice, fairness and inequality (Higgott 2000:137). The Post Washington Consensus, thus, distinguished itself from the Washington Consensus by the concepts of civil society, social capital, capacity building, governance and transparency, a new international economic architecture, institution building and safety-nets as against the Washington Consensus mantras of liberalisation, deregularisation and privatisation. Taming the Neo-liberal Economy The immediate question that comes to mind is that whether the Post Washington Consensus would make some efforts for setting an agenda to help the marginalised. Is it possible that the mere

chanting of the names of civil society, social capital, and governance etc. can facilitate the change for the betterment of the neglected lot of the society? The Post Washington Consensus fails to chart out the parameters through which the marginals can be brought into the purview of the civil society, which, as in the case of India, has still not become inclusive in its character and scope. How can capital translate the higher statuses into instruments of improvement for the downtrodden when their own kith and kin feel shy and fearful to openly divulge their caste identity in the highly inequitable hierarchical structures of the Indian society? Nothing concrete can be expected for removing the tears from the hapless faces until and unless something can be done in the form of structural transformation for dismantling the market based system of domination on one hand, and the varna based system of social hierarchy on the other. In fact, for India the crisis is not only confined to the forces emanating from the sphere of the market. It is equally severe, perhaps more, as far as its caste based social order is concerned. The market and the caste when combined make a deadly concoction for the crisis managers to tackle effectively. In the absence of an egalitarian alternative to the structures of domination, the human face of globalisation based on global governance makes no difference for the marginalised who continue to be afflicted in the gas chambers of gender, caste and class. The market has failed to liberate them. Moreover, it has further pinned them down. They are not welcomed in the sphere of market as equal partners of profit. In other words, the market too practices untouchability, albeit in a different form. They feel alienated in their own world of creation. How strong can the global market be, in the long run? It will not survive until and unless the question of the marginals is addressed amicably. As Abdelal and Segal argue, The

challenge is to sell the benefits of ongoing globalisation to a wary public, to make sure those benefits materialise, and then to ensure they are distributed more equitably (Abdelal and Segal 2007:1045). In fact, the question of equitable distribution of resources is closely related with the issue of the immediate and amicable redressal of the cause of the marginals and the socially excluded (Green and Griffith 2002: 68). They need not be provided with only cheap articles of provision of minimal use as have been popularly done in some Indian states. What seems to be essential is to empower them, to enhance their buying capacity in the real sense of the term, to dismantle the structures of economic and social dominations, and to remove the stresses of globalisation. If we are not concerned of the stresses of globalisation, ideological countercurrents will emerge. Globalisation is not a bed of roses. There is a need to be watchful, always, warned Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister George Tong-Boon Yeo at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit in Bangalore (The Hindu, March 19, 2007). In other words, a balance needs to be created between the forces of market and the principles of social justice. It is in this context that the contemporary process of globalisation, the crisis of governance, and the issue of empowerment of the marginalised pose a common and serious challenge to the policy makers which have to be addressed amicably at the earliest.

Acknowledgement Different versions of this paper were presented at seminars: Globalization and The Underprivileged: Perceptions, Fears and Consequences, organized by Department of Sociology, Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut; Globalisation and Political Economy of

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================================================ ============================= SOCIAL CATASTROPHE IN THE MAKING: RELIGION, DERAS AND DALITS IN PUNJAB

RONKI RAM (DR.) DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in The recent violent clashes between the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda (established in 1948 with its headquarters in Sirsa, Haryana) and different groups of Akalis as well as a spate of other social conflicts between Jats and Dalits in the state seem to have acquired an utmost importance in the current political history of Punjab. The importance of such conflicts surpases the much talked about shortterm politics of revenge and throws a critical light on their much deeper socio-religious roots steeped into the so-called casteless Sikh society in Punjab. On the one hand, it lay bare the dormant structures of social discrimination that permeates the fabric of the Sikh society and on the other, points towards the neo-conservative Sikhs anxiety of dwindling Sikh-Khalsa identity in the state. In fact, the recent Akalis-Dera Sacha Sauda row over the mimicking of iconography of the tenth Master of the Sikhs by Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, the current head of the Dera, seems much to do with the prevalence of the doctrinally rejected system of caste hierarchy among the Sikhs. Since majority of the followers of various Sacha Sauda type Deras come from the dispossessed sections of the society who at one point of time had embraced Sikhism in the hope of elevating their social status and fortune, their almost exodus from Sikhism towards alternative socio-spiritual space provided by such Deras invite the hostility of the clerics of the mainstream established religious order who interpret it as a serious challenge to the dwindling Sikh-Khalsa identity. Moreover, the frequent

politicisation of the Deras makes the issue further complicated. The persistent attempts made by the various Sikh organizations during the recent Akalis-Dera crisis to win over their disgruntled Dalit Sikh followers are a clear case in point. This paper intends to problematise the recent Akalis-Dera crisis by contextualising it into the larger Dalit question in Punjab and its implications for the religion based politics of the state. Punjab has the distinction of housing the countrys largest proportion of Scheduled Castes (SCs) population (29 per cent) belonging to different religions and castes. There are total of 38 castes among the SCs in the state. Out of these 38 castes, two belong to Sikh religion. The SCs who belong to Sikh religion are known as Mazhabi and Ramdasis or Ramdasia Sikhs. Mazhabis were Chuhras (sweepers) who converted first to Islam from Hinduism, and later to Sikhism. Ramdasias were Julahas (weavers) before their conversion to Sikhism. Ramdasia Sikhs are mostly confined to the Doaba and Malwa sub-regions of the state and majority of them are Sahajdhari Sikhs those who do not observe the Khalsa outward manifestation. Kanshi Ram, founder of the Bhaujan Samaj Party (BSP), was a Ramdasia Sikh. Ramdasias are also known as Khalsa Biradar. Mazhabis, the devout Sikhs, are mostly concentrated in the Majha (between Beas ans Ravi Rivers) and Malwa (south of the Sutlej River, also known as Cis-Sutlej during the British period) subregions of Punjab the battlefield of recent violent clashes between the Akalis and the Premis (literally lovers, a traditional metaphor for devotees of the Sufi and Bhakti orders) of the Dera Sacha Sauda. It is also in the Malwa sub-region, the heartland of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), that the Dera Sacha Sauda turned the tables on the SAD by helping the beleagured congress win 37 out of its total 65 seats in the recent vidhan Sabha elections. In terms of numbers,

Mazhabis are the most numerous Sikh caste among the SCs of Punjab (who account for 30.7 per cent of the total SC population in the state as per 19991 census), followed by Chamars (25.8 per cent), Ad Dharmis (15.9 per cent), Balmikis Chuhras and Bhangis (11.1 per cent) to mention only the major castes. In the 2001 census their population was recorded at just a little over 22 lakhs (31 cent of the total SC population of the state). They are also the most deprived section of the SCs of Punjab with the lowest literacy rate (42.3 per cent) and majority of them are agricultural workers (52.2 per cent). Many of them have also been working as Siris (attached labourer). Though the Siri system has ceased to exist in the state, but in the Malwa region some of the Mazhabis still work as Siris. According to a field-based study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had Dalits working as Siris. Mazhabis embraced Sikhism in the hope of gaining social equality, but even in Sikhism the spectre of untouchability kept on haunting them. They were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities. As late as 1920s they were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and members of the upper castes were instructed not to mix with them. Evidence of untouchability against Dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of resolutions adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) from 19261933. Although the Sikh reformers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries preached in favour of removing untouchability, no strenuous efforts were made in that direction. Social opprobrium continues to afflict the Mazhabis and other Dalits. Some of them were of the opinion that Jats treat them as badly in the Gurdwaras as they treated them in their farmlands. In spite of their meticulous

observance of Sikh religious principles, they are not considered equal by the dominant Sikh caste, which refused to associate with them, even in religious ceremonies. They continued to face discrimination in the Gurdwaras and are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their Hindu counterparts. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation grounds in the Shamlat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. They were also denied proportionate representation in various religious and local social structures in the state. It is the Jats, the dominant peasant caste in the state, who hegemonised over all the Sikh organizations: Gurdwaras, Sikh Deras, SGPC, and SAD. Dalits are often heard of complaining that if Jats refused to consider them equal even after deaths by denying them the right to burn in a common cremation ground then why should they expect from us that we should continue with their mainstream (read Sikh) religion. This has forced the Dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras that strengthened the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs. Caste divisions get further reinforced in the segregated lives that Dalits live in away from the mainstream villages. Their settlements are contemptuously called Thhattis or Chamarlees. Thhattis or Chamarlees are invariably located on the side toward which the sewerage of villages flows. Madanjeet Singh observes Notwithstanding the media images of Punjabs prosperity, the region has become the ghetto of caste apartheid. It is against this backdrop of blatant social exclusion that a large number of Dalits have been veering away from the mainstream Sikh religion and enrolling themselves into various forms of Deras in Punjab whose success partly lies in the relationship between Dalit resistance and religious rebellion. Of late, the Dalits of Punjab have

mustered enough strength to challenge the dominant caste and its exclusive hold on the mainstream Sikhism. At least from among the Mazhabis and Ramdasias Sikhs, a strand of thought has begun to emerge that rebels against the exclusionist and reactionary tendencies that have continued to linger contrary to the mission and ideas of the gurus. In fact, it was the Mazhabis and Ramdasias who constituted the core of the Bhaniarawala phenomenon and the Talhan crisis respectively. Again it was the Mazhabis and Ramdasias Sikhs of the Malwa region of the Punjab who figured most in the Sacha Sauda crisis recently. Another probable cause behind the large-scale Dalit followings of the Deras in Punjab could be the absence of a strong Dalit movement of the sort of the famous Ad Dharm led by legendary Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia during the first half of the 20th century. Had the Ad Dharm movement continued in full swing, it could have curtailed the swift flow of the Dalits towards the mushrooming growth of the Deras in Punjab? In fact, it could have even precluded the emergence of such a large number of Deras. In the absence of a strong Dalit movement and with the emergence of caste structures within the Sikh organizations despite the clear Panthic strictures against it, Dalits were but helpless to seek refuge in those organistions and Deras that promise them social equality and dignity. However, the phenomenon of Deras is not new to Punjab. Rather it was as old as the very process of the evolution of the Sikh faith. Different sects and Deras that emerged at different intervals during the evolution of the mainstream Sikh religion were primarily the outcome of the disgruntled and unsuccessful attempts of the fake claimants to the title of Guru. Bidhi Chand, the dissenter, made first such an attempt during the Guru-period (1552-1574) of third Guru,

Amar Dass. He formed the Handalis sect, instituted the worship of Niranjan, the bright God and declared himself as the Prophet or Handal. The Handalis endulged in anti-Panthic activities and collaborated with Muslims in the destruction of Sikh properties and documents. They were penalized and dispossessed by Ranjit Singh, the first Maharajah of the Sikh Empire. During the fifth Guruperiod of Arjan Dev (1581-1606), Dhirmaliye and Mine sects were organized in opposition to the main religious Sikh body and they established their Deras along the Sutlej River. These sects were led by no else a person than by the elder brother (Prithi Chand) of Guru Arjan Dev himself, who also claimed to be Guru. Massandis was another sect that also cropped up during the Guruship of Arjan Dev. The Massandis (from the Masand exogamous gotra of the Khatri trading caste) were personal agents of Guru Arjan who he employed for collecting the offerings for the annual assembly of Sikhs. Later on when they indulged in the anti-Panthic activities, the Guru denounced them publicly. The descendants of Ram Rai, son of the Guru Har Rai (1644-1661), also organized a sect known as Ramraiyas during the Gurus-period. They dissented against the main body of the Sikhs, built a Dera at Dehra Dun (Uttar Pradesh) and attributed Guruship to Ram Rai. Apart from these early sects and Deras of the Gurus times, there were many more sects and Deras that cropped up at different intervals on the long and tortuous journey of the consolidification of the Sikh religion. Some of the more prominent among them were Nanakpanthis, Udasis, Sewapanthis, Nirmalas and the Nihangs also known as Akalis or Shahids. What distinguished the contemporary Deras from their counterparts during the Guruship period of the ten Masters is that in the case of the former their founders were/are not related to the Gurus of the mainstream Sikh body nor they claim Guruship over and above the ten Masters. Even in the recent case of Dera Sacha

Sauda crisis, its chief had to render a written apology for mimicking the iconography of the tenth Master. However, one factor that seems to draw a similarity between the earlier and the contempopary Derasd is the presence of the institution of Human Guruship in all of them that goes against the very basic spirit and tenets of mainstream Sikhism. According to a latest study conducted by the Desh Sewak, a daily published from Chandigarh, there would be more than 9 thousand of such Deras in the total 12 thousand villages of Punjab. Among them the most popular Deras are of Radha Soamis sect, Sacha Sauda, Nirankaris, Namdharis, Divya Jyoti Sansthan, Bhaniarawala, and Ravidasis. Almost all of them have their branches in all the districts of the state and in other states of the country as well. Some of them are very popular among the Punjabi Diasporas and have overseas branches in almost all the continents of the world. These Deras claim to be only spiritual organizations and deny formulating any new religion. They said to believe in the oneness of God and do not adhere to a particular faith, though the heads of some of them (Sacha Sauda and Radha Soamis) wear turban and has long beard in the Sikh style. People belonging to various religions like Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity etc can become their members and they need not to relinquish their previous religious identities. Despite their non-sectarian claims some of these Deras are adhered to along caste lines. There is a close connection between the memerbership of some of them and the particular caste groups. When some caste members are persuaded to join a particular sect offering certain advantages, usually in terms of upward mobility, others of the same caste may also follow. In some cases, of course, the factor of hereditary descent or assumed hereditary descent from the founder of the sect is involved.

Namdharis, Bhaniarawala and Ravidasis Deras are of special interest in that they mostly draw on the affliations of those caste groups to which the founders of these sects belonged. In the case of the Namdharis, it was primarily members of the Ramgharia caste, actually a section of the Tarkhan Sikh caste, who were part of this sect. Bhaniarawala Deras are strongholds of the Mazhabis. In the Ravidasis Deras, again a very large majority of their followers belonged to the two main castes Chamars and Ad Dharmis of the Dalits in Punjab. There is a general impression that 80 per cent of the people of Punjab are affiliated with one or the other type of Deras. These Deras can be categorised into Sikh and non-Sikh ones. The non-Sikh Deras (like Sacha Sauda, Radha Soamis, Divya Joyti, Nirankaris, Bhaniarawala) enjoy a large number of followings among the Dalits [SCs and Other Backward Castes (OBCs)] in the state. Thereby, these Deras are also called Dalit Deras. About 70 per cent followers of Sacha Sauda are Dalits. Among its upper caste devotees a large number come from landless farmers or small time cultivators and shopkeepers who feel alienated by the powerful and moneyed leaders of Sikh organizations such as the SGPC. Among the followers of the Radha Soamis sect the estimated strength of the Dalits is more than 50 per cent and majority of them hail from Dalit concentrated districts of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, and Hoshiarpur of the Doaba sub-region of Punjab. Similarly among the Deras of the Divya Jyoti Sansthan headed by Ashutosh the participation of the Dalits is much more in comparison to that of the upper castes. The vast majority of the followers of Nirankaris also come from the non-Jats city dwellers castes. Namdhari Deras attract a large number of its followers from the Ramgarhia community originally Tarkhan (carpenter) caste, a Backward Caste in Punjab.

As far as Jats are concerned majority of them are the followers of Sikh Deras.It is generally believed that almost all the Sikh Deras are headed invariably by Jat Sikhs. It is rare that the head of a Sikh Dera would be a non-Jat Sikh. Even if there would be one he could not be a Dalit at all. At most Dalit Sikhs participation in Sikh Deras is confined only to the narration of the Sikhs sacred texts and performing of Kirtan (musical rendering of sacred hymns). Those who perform Kirtan are known as Raagis, and the professional narrators of the sacred texts who read it in a stylized manner are popularly known as Granthis. Majority of the Raagis and Granthis are Dalit Sikhs. Very few Jat Sikhs take up such professions. Bhai Mardana, a Marassi (lower caste), used to play the rabab (musical instrument) for Guru Nanak, the first Master of the founder of the Sikh faith. In the Sikh Deras, Sikh code of coduct is strictly followed and only Gurubani of Guru Granth Sahib is recited. Whereas in the non-Sikh Deras though Gurubani from Guru Granth Sahib is recited but at the same time other sacred texts are also referred to. In non-Sikh Deras idol worship and devotion towards human Guru is not an anathema like that in Sikh theology. It is precisely due to the presence of such non-Sikh traditions (human Guruship) in such Deras that the phenomenon of non-Sikh Deras came to be known what Meeta and Rajivlochan call alternate guru movement in Punjab. This alternate guru movement in Punjab with its loose syncretistic practices throws a formidable challenge to Sikh-Khalsa identity separate from the Hindu. For the neo-conservative Sikhs the Sikh-Khalsa identity has always been under a challenge and is particularly locked in an existential struggle with its two main adversaries: modernity and apostasy. Modernity is considered to be corrupting the young Sikhs who become lackadaisical in their

observance of the Khalsa principles advocated by the tenth Master. Though Bhindranwala tried to assert the Sikh-Khalsa identity by taking up cudgel with a dissident sect of the Nirankaris and preaching hatred against the Hindus, but that could not preclude the move of the Dalits towards non-Sikh Deras. These Deras, in fact, pose a more serious challenge to the mainstream Sikhism. It is argued that Dalit Sikhs desertion of the Panth and their entry into various non-Sikh Deras is directly related to the over all control of Jats on the various Panthic organizations. Since all the important Sikh/Panthic organizations are under the conrol of the Jats and they are adamant not to share their management with Dalits, Dalits were forced to build their own separate religious organizations or to take refuge in non-Sikh Deras in the state. The followings of these Deras seem to far exceed that of the Golden Temple-based clerical establishment. It is in this context that confrontration between Deras and the mainstream Sikhism assumes great significance. These Deras, in fact, represent the disillusions of the dispossessed who at one point of time in their life embraced Sikhism in order to escape the taint of untouchability that was adhered to them in the Hindu social order. However, since their conversion into Sikhism failed to liberate them from the scar of the untouchabilty, they turn towards no-Sikh Deras that offer them perhaps better place. In other words the entry of Dalit Sikhs into various non-Sikh Deras in Punjab represent their social dissent and disillusionment with the Sikh religion Their social dissent propels them to seek a sense of personal worth by getting enrolled into one or other of such Deras. The dynamics of dissent and seeking personal worth through affliations with the Deras is what that made these Deras very popular and consequently brought them into steep confrontation with the long established mainstream

Sikh religion in Punjab. In a recent case of confrontation between the Akalis and the Premis of the Dera Sacha Sauda, the Akalis tried to suppress the dissent through the use of violence and with the help of the state machinery. The Akalis also tried to win back some of their lost followers to the Dera Sacha Sauda, as most newspapers have reported, through forceful re-coversion. But social dissent cannot be simply wiped out either by re-conversion or by the sheer use of force legitimate or otherwise. Forceful suppression of social dissent rather turns it more aggressive. The very Sikh religion is a case in point. It rose in opposition to the rotten evils of caste and gender discrimination, and mindless religious persecution. The dispossessed soon joined its ranks. Untold atrocities against the Gurus and their followers failed to dampen its spirit. Instead, it got further strengthened. However, of late the evil of caste system against which it launched a tirade became its achilles heel. The sheen of its egalitarian agenda started becoming dim. It is at this juncture that the non-Sikh Deras enters into socio-religious territories of Punjab. They took on the same agenda of egalitarianism rather more vigorously that used to be an integral part of Sikhism in its pre Misl period. The promise of true egalitarianism pushed both Hindu and Sikh Dalits towards these Deras who feel alienated by the apartheid that pervaded rural Punjab. Since majority of their followers belonged to Dalits of different nomenclatures, these Deras came to be identified alongwith the traditional caste divisions in the state. It seems that all the non-Sikh deras are known as Dalit Deras and the Sikh Deras are called Jat Deras. Thus, it is safe to say that caste underscores the very composition of the various Sikh as well as non- Sikh Deras in Punjab. Thus the real bone of contention in the recent clashes between Akalis of various

nomenclatures and the Premis of the Dera Sacha Sauda in Punjab is not just over religion, but caste, which exploded the myth of casteless Sikh society in the state on the one hand and challenged the hegemony of the Sikh-Khalsa identity on the other. The violent clashes in Punjab are more about identity confrontation between Jats (a former marginal community that has successfully overcomed its lower social status) and Dalits (a contemporary marginal community that failed miserably to do the same). They, in fact, reveal what the Dalits seems to have been struggling for over the last few decades in the contemporary Punjab, probably used to bother the Jats also earlier in the state in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, what makes the case of the Jats as an ex-marginal community rather different from that of the Dalits was their being a clean Shudra and free from the taint of untouchability. On the contrary, Dalits were known as unclean shudras whose very touch and sigh were considered to be polluting precisely because of their occupational closeness to the polluting articles. Another factor that might have helped the Jats to overcome their lower status was their corporate social mobility affected through their group conversion into Sikh religion. Moreover yet another factor that might have helped them improve their social status was the absence of sharp contradictions between them and the then upper caste community of the Khatris in the state. Khatris, unlike Jats in the case of social mobility of Dalits, did not oppose the Jats in their attempts towards upward social mobility. On the contrary, the impoving socio-economic position of the Jats perhaps suited Khatris the most in their commercial interests. However, in contemporary Punjab Dalits find themselves in quite different situation from that of the Jats duing the formative period of their social mobility. First of all, Dalits case differs

clearly from that of the Jats in the sense that major gap lies between the shudra status of the Dalits and that of the Jats. Though Jats were considered Shudras and lower Vaishyas in the medieval times, their social ranking was still much higher in comparision to that of the Dalits who were further pushed down on the social scale of the Hindu caste hierarchy. Jats were Shudras because of their profession, so were the Dalits. But the profession (agriculture) of the Jats was placed on a higher scale in the Hindu caste hierarchy in comparision to that of the Dalits, who were considered polluted as well as polluting because of their professional closeness to the carrion, human excreta and leatherwork. Enough references are available in the literatures on social mobility indicating the importance assigned to the profession of agriculture for uplifting the status of the marginalized groups. So much so that some of the Dalits opted for agricultural labour work in order to escape the social taint caused by their polutted professions. Thus inspite of the Jats and Dalits being both Shudras they belonged to two different status groups within the same broader category (Shudras) in the Hindu social hierarchy. The Jats of Punjab are primarily an agriculture community. There is no consensus among the scholars about their origins and social rankings. However, they were considered to be egalitarian in their social dealings among themselves. Social hierarchies were alien to them. So was the gender discrimination. They were neither artisans nor menials. Since they were primarily first pastoral and then agriculturalists, they cannot surely be clubbed together with the categories of the artisans and the menials who were distinctly characterized by the ancillary nature of their hereditary professions to agriculture. Jats were also known as pagans who fall beyond the pale of the Hindu religion. Their placement within the Varna system

is also disputed. Since every profession that involves physical work is generally consigned into a lower status within the Brahminical Social Order (BSO), the profession of agriculture was not an exception. In fact, in the BSO polughing was considered to be below the status of the upper castes. An upper caste often prefers to die of starvation than to touch the plough that lowers his social status in the rigid caste hierarchy. The fourth Varna (the lowest), popularly known as Shudra, consisted primarily of the artisan and the menial castes. Similarly there is no doubt about the profile of the first (priest), second (soldiers), and the third (traders) Varnas. However, as far as Jats (agricultural caste) were concerned they were not clearly categorized in the Varna order. Their erstwhile social exclusion was based more on the unique social traditions and customs that they followed than on the polluting nature of their profession. Another factor that made the life of the Dalits further miserable was the fact that they were deprived of land ownership. So in an agrarian economy they were forced to depend for their livelihood by working on the land of some one else. That posited them in direct confrontation with the Jats the dominant land owning caste in Punjab. Unlike the case of Jats versus Khatris in the eighteenth century, the Dalits in contemporary Punjab are entangled with the Jats in a face-to-face contradiction in the sector of agriculture. Their relationship with the Jats is that of landlords versus landless agricultural workers. Despite their largest proportion in the population of the state in the country (29 percent [2001 census]), they own just 2.34 percent share in the agricultural land, the lowest in the country. Their share in the trade, industry, financial sector, health, and religious establishments in the state is also almost negligible. It is in this context that the Jats (the landholders), and the Dalits (the landless agricultural workers) find themselves in a situation of direct confrontation.

However, there are many Dalits in the state who have improved their economic conditions by dissociating from their caste occupations and distancing them from the profession of agriculture. They have strengthened their economic position through sheer hard work and enterprise. Although the constitutional affirmative action played an important role in the upliftment of the Dalits in general, the monopoly of the Punjabi Dalits of the leather business in the famous Boota Mandi in the Doaba sub-region of the state and their ventures abroad turned out to be of crucial importance in overcoming their economic hardships. Some of them have established their own small-scale servicing units [carpentry, barber, blacksmith shops etc. In addition, they have also been politicized to a large extant by the socio-political activities of the famous Ad Dharm movementand of the various Ravidass Deras (religious centers dedicated to the teachings and philosophy of Guru Ravidass). In this case they have not only improved their economic status, but have also liberated themselves from the subordination of the Jat landowners. Consequently, their improved economic circumstances propelled them to aspire for a commensurate social status, which they seek through their memberships of the alternate non-Sikh Deras. Thus armed with the weapon of improved economic conditions and sharpened social consciousness, the Dalits in Punjab mustered enough strength to ask for a concomitant rise in their social status. They also turn towards various Deras that help them in seeking new and respectable social identity they are terribaly in need of. However, the Jats interpreted such Dalit assertion as a challenge to their long established supremacy in the state and also to their SikhKhalsa identity that in turn sharpened the contradictions between them and the Dalits. This has led to a series of violent caste conflicts

between the Dalits and the Jats in Punjab over the last few years. Such conflicts are in no way a manifestation of communalism in the state. They are, In fact, signs of emerging Dalit assertion, which has all the possibilities of snowballing into a serious violent conflict. THIS ARTICLE WAS POSTED ON www.ambedkartimes.com , JUNE 12, 2007 ================================================ ============================ MAYAWATI AND THE SECOND SOCIO-CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN UTTAR PARDESH RONKI RAM (DR.) PANJAB UNIVERSITY CHANDIGARH (INDIA) ronkiram@yahoo.co.in Mayawati, the BSP supremo, sworn in as 40th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on May 13, 2007. This is the second socio-cultural revolution in the history of Uttar Pradesh where during the medieval Bhakti movement Guru Ravi Dass, an untouchable poet-saint of very high repute, convinced the Brahmins that it was not caste but ones deeds which are important. Brahmins and Rajput Kings prostrated before him and Ranis and Maharanis of the then rulers and the rulers themselves became his followers. It seems that history was repeating itself when Brahmins and Thakurs among others were touching the feet of BSP supremo Mayawati during the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet at Lucknow. Once again Mayawati has proved that hollow prestige based on birth when put on trial in the democratic court of social justice failed to stand any more. But

proving that is much easier said than done. Guru Ravi Dass fought a relentless battle against his tormentors who were adopting all fair and foul tactics to prevent him from entering into the mainstream of the social space. He unleashed a frontal attack on the long tradition of social oppression and untouchability. He took the battle right into the capital of the Brahmanical Social Order (BSO) and lay bare its fraudulent social structure. He employed Bhakti (loving devotion) as a method of protest against social exclusion. In his Bhakti he laid emphasis on compassion for all and absolute faith in God. His method was very daring and noble. He choose to challenge his tormentors by adopting the iconography of their dress code as a symbol of revolt which was not only highly objectionable but was equally deadly for a Shudra of his times. He rejected all forms of religious rituals and sectarian formalities. He challenged the tyranny of Brahmins and defied them by wearing Dhoti (cloth wrapped around the waist), Janeue (sacred thread) and Tilak (sacred red mark on forehead) that were forbidden for the untouchables. Though he attired himself like an upper caste, he did not hide his caste. He continued with his hereditary occupation of making/mending shoes. While adopting the prohibited dress and symbols of the upper castes, and at the same time sticking to his hereditary occupation he, probably, tried to show how lower castes could achieve their human rights without compromising with their separate Dalit identity. His Bhakti method of social protest reflected the democratic and egalitarian traits of his social philosophy. When challenged in their own estate and even in their own fiefdom of Bhakti, Brahmins had no option but to participate in a debate on the shastras thrown open by the Kashi Naresh (King). As Chandrabhan Prasad argues, Ravidass genius found no match. The pandits turned pale, bending before the saint in recognition of

his greatness. The saint rode the royal chariot through the lanes of Kashi, the King standing by his side. That was the Dalits first war of independence. Kashi was secured. The cow belt Brahmins never recovered from the shock, and were forced to reconcile to the Dalits cerebral superiority. History was repeated on May 13, 2007. The place was Lucknow, the current capital of power in UP. And the star of the battle was Mayawati. To be more precise this time the battle was not around the shastras but about the numbers in the game of electoral politics. To win in such a fierce modern battle is to prove ones metal. And more so when you have been fighting while sharing the chariot with the ones who were very recently sitting in your opposite camp. Mayawati did very well. She proved her metal and turned victorious. She has reinforced the cerebral superiority of the Dalits once again. It is in this context that her grand success in the recently concluded assembly election in Uttar Pradesh can be considered as the second socio-cultural revolution in the heartland of the varnashram order. Mayawati has provided a single-party government after more than 16 years breaking the whirlpool of coalition politics in UP. In fact, Mayawati put an end to coalition politics and ushered into an era of "Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim-ThakurVaishya-Bhumihar-OBCs" sarvjan combined rule. This new form of "combined rule of sarvjan" under the leadership of the Dalits is certainly an advancement not only over the tight rope walk of the coalition system that India has been experiencing for the last many years, but also a new beginning of the coming of the marginalized into the center stage of power politics. Mayawati's Dalit-Brahmin thesis and her emphasis on "sarv samaj" coupled with the social engineering formula would facilitate in laying down parameters for the mitigation of the gap between

what Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar said "political equality and social and economic inequality" in India. In other words, this new system of sarvjan combined rule would certainly help in deepening of the roots of democracy in India and inculcating positive feelings among the downtrodden that they too matter in this land where they were for centuries kept socially excluded, politically marginalized and economically deprived. Now they feel encouraged to come forward not to plead or ask for favors because they were neglected but because they are able to provide leadership to safely steer the ship to its destination. It was vividly clear from the oath taking ceremony dais where Smt. Mayawati was occupying the front seat followed by Pandit S.C. Mishra, general secretary of BSP. Is it not really a revolution in Brahmin dominated social set-up in India where they have agreed to not only sit behind Dalits but also to touch their feet? Imagine this even a few years before! Mayawati is absolutely right when she said that behind her great victory lays the philosophy of Phule, Naryana Guru, Periyar, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and Babu Kanshi Ram. In fact, it is she who tried to put this philosophy into action and translated it into reality. Whether the Savarnas were falling at the feet of Mayawati out of gratitude or of political expediency is not the point. The real point is that by putting the Brahmins and Thakurs in line and commanding respect, Mayawati has been able to evaporate the Laxman Rekha of Varnashramdharma. She has set the ball of self-respect and dignity of the so-called Avarnas rolling. She has brought the Savarnas and Avarnas on a single platform, of course, led by her. What is even more important is that she achieved all this through democratic way without firing a single shot. And people of all sorts (read castes) stood by her in her battle against social repression and jungle rule. In fact, this is not in any case less than a social revolution. This

revolution needs to be replicated in other parts of the country too, if India really wants to shine as a world power in near future. If India wants to march ahead, social exclusion has to be ended first. Untouchability is not a problem of the Shudras only; it is a number one problem of the entire Indian society. It needs to be tackle immediately. Baba Sahib Dr. B.R. Ambedkar sounded a grave warning on November 25, 1949 in the Constituent Assembly on the completion of the Draft Constitution: On the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so labouriously built up. Mayawati has fired the first shot. The struggle has to continue. Posted on May 15th, 2007 ================================================ ============================ BSP Supremo Mayawati sworn in as 40th Chief Minister of the state Uttar Pardesh

On May 13, 2007 BSP supremo Mayawati sworn in as 40th Chief Minister of the State (UP) that is going to play a decisive role in the forth coming presidential election. She has privided a single-party government after more than 16 years breaking the whirlpool of coalition politics in UP. In fact, Mayawati put an end to coalition politics and ushered into an era of "Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim-ThakurVaishya-Bhumihar-OBCs" sarvjan combined rule. This new form of

"combined rule of sarvjan" under the leadership of the Dalits is cetrtainly an advancement not only over the tight rope walk of the coalition system India has been experencing for the last many years, but also a new begining of the coming of the marginalized into the centre stage of power politics. Mayawati's Dalit-Brahmin thesis and her emphasis on "sarv samaj" combined with the social engineering formula would facilate in layingdown parameters for the mitigation of gap between what Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar said "political equality and social and economic inequality" in India. In other words, this new system of combined rule would certainly help in deepening of the roots of democracy in India and inculcatinig positive feelings among the downtrodden that they too matter in this land where they were for centuries kept socially excluded, politically marginalized and economically deprived. Now they feel incouraged to come forward not to plead or ask for favours because they were neglected but because they are able to provide leadership to safely steer the ship to its destination. It was vivdly clear from the oath taking ceremony dias where Smt. Mayawati was occupaying the front seat followed by Pandit S.C.Mishra, general secretary of BSP. Is it not really a revolution in Brahmin dominated social set-up in India where they have agreed to not only sit behind Dalits but also to touch their feet! Imagine this even a few years before! Here Mayawati is absolutely right when she said that behind all this the philosophy of Phule, Naryana Guru, Periyar, Dr. Ambedkar, and Babu Kanshi Ram has been playing the determinant role. And it is she who has put it into action and translated it into reality. In her 49-member Ministry 19 Ministers are of cabinet rank, 21 ministers of state (independent charge)and 9 ministers of state. The caste composition of her cabinet is: three Brahmins, one Muslim, one Thakur, one Bhumihar, one Vaishya, four Scheduled Casdtes and eighy OBCs.Cabinet ministers are: Naseeruddin Siddiqui,

Ramveer Upadhyaya, Inderajit Saroj, Lalji Verma, Thakur Jaiveer Singh, Sukhdev Rajbhar, Swami Prasad Maurya, Ved Ram Bhati, Laxmi Narain, Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, Babu Singh Kushwaha, Jai Narain Rai, Phagu Chauhan, Nakul Dubey, Daddoo Prasad, Narain Singh, Sudhir Goel, Ram Prasad Chaudhary and Dharam Singh Saini. We all wish her success in her endeavours, Ronki Ram (Dr.)

Panjab University, Chandigarh (India), Cell:+91 987 286 1290

Poted on May 13, 2007 ================================================ =========================== RESURGENCE OF DALITS: DELHI IS NOT FAR Dear Jai Bheem! Congratulations The victory of the BSP in UP has shown the way to power to those who were being denied for centuries. Power game has its own grammer. It seems the followers of Babu Kanshi Ram are now not too late to master it. BSP supremo, Mayawati has proved it. She has meticulously worked out the dynamics of number game. She has not only convinced her own people that united they win and divided they loose, but has also established her credentials among the dwijas All,

who uptill very recently were opposed tooth and nail to the coming of Dalits in to the public sphere. What is even more important is that the people of UP are convinced that if any political party can provide them relief from the mounting atrocities of the erswhile establishment it is the BSP under the strong leadership of the Madam Mayawati. They reposed confidence in her leadership and brought her into power to bring rule of law as well as justice in the beleaguered state of UP. Many are keeping the fingers crossed as to how Madam Mayawati would be able to make a balance between the Dalit emancipatory agenda of the BSP and the political expedency of her power politics. It seems, given her acumen and dexterity in politics, she would be able to tell the world that Dalits are now come of age and that Delhi is not too far from them.Once again Congrats to all of you. Ronki Ram (Dr.),

Dept. of Political Science,Panjab University, Chandigarh, India Cell: +91 987 286 1290. Posted on May 11th, 2007

============================================= ====================== SPECIAL ARTICLE ON 27TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY BABU MANGOO RAM AND EMANCIPATION OF THE DALITS RONKI RAM (DR.) DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH. (INDIA) E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Babu Mangoo Ram, a renouned revolutionary and founder of the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab was born at Mugowal, a village in the district of Hoshiarpur, on 14th January 1886. His forefathers were practising the occupation of tanning raw hides. However, his father, Harnam Dass, had abandoned the traditional caste-based occupation of tanning and preparing hides, and taken up the profession of selling the tanned leather on commercial basis. Since the leather trade required the knowledge of English language to read the sale orders, he was eager to have Mangoo Ram receive education to free him from the begar (forced labour), which he had to do in lieu of English orders read for him by the upper caste literates. Initially, Mangoo Ram was taught by a village Sadhu (Saint), then after studying at different schools he joined a high school at Bajwara, a town few miles away from his home. Being a chamar, he had to sit separately from the other upper caste students. In fact, he used to take a gunny bag from his home for sitting in a segregated place outside the classroom. In 1905 Mangoo Ram left the high school to help his father in leather trade. For three years he helped his father develop leather trade into a thriving business. However, in 1909 he left for America to follow into the footsteps of his peer group in the Doaba region. Interestingly enough even in America Mangoo Ram had to work on the farms of a Punjabi Zamindar who had settled in California. In other words, even in America he had to experience the same relations of production as back home in India. How a shudra immigrant worker, who works on the land of an Indian upper caste landlord settled abroad, feels and experiences work conditions and its resultant relations of production is an altogether a separate question. However, while in California, Mangoo Ram came in close contact with the Ghadar Movement - a radical organisation aimed at liberating India from the British rule through armed insurrection.

In fact, he participated in the weapon smuggling mission of the organisation. He was arrested and given the capital punishment but was saved from the death sentence by a chance as someone else in his name was executed. The news of his supposed death reached his village. According to the tradition of his community, his widow, named Piari married his elder brother. Mangoo Ram, on reaching India, remarried and had four sons from his second wife named Bishno. After his return from abroad where he spent as many as sixteen years, Mangoo Ram did not find any change in Indian society that was still infested with the disease of untouchability. He said While living abroad, said Mangoo Ram, I had forgotten about the hierarchy of high and low, and untouchability; and under this very wrong impression returned home in December 1925. The same misery of high and low, and untouchability, which I had left behind to go abroad, started afflicting again. I wrote about all this to my leader Lala Hardyal Ji that until and unless this disease is cured Hindustan could not be liberated. In accordance with his orders, a program was formulated in 1926 for the awakening and upliftment of Achhut qaum (untouchable community) of India. Having settled in his native village, he opened up a school for the lower caste children in the village. Initially, the school was opened up, temporarily in the garden of Risaldar Dhanpat Rai, a landlord of his village. Later on, Lamberdar Beeru Ram Sangha, another landlord of the same village, donated half-acre land for the purpose of formally opening up the school. The school had five teachers

including Mangoo Ram. One of the teachers of the school was a Muslim, Walhi Mohammad and one was Brahmin, who was later on converted into a Shudra. The conversion ceremony comprised of an earthen pot (Douri), which contained water mingled with sugar balls (Patasha) and stirred with leather cutting tool (Rambi). Thus the prepared sweet water considered as holy was given to Brahmins to baptize them into Shudras (Interview with Chatter Sain, 27 April 2001). Now a days, the school land has been declared as Shamlat (common land), and no remnants of the building exist except the old dilapidated structure of the well meant for drinking water in the school. It was in that school that the first official meeting of the Ad Dharm movement was held on June 11-12, 1926. There is another version about the school that traced its origin to the support provided by the Arya Samaj. However, given his close association with the Ghadar movement in California, Mangoo Rams relationships with the Arya Samaj was not as close as that of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudranand. Moreover, his personal experience of being treated as an equal in America, particularly by his fellow Ghadarites, inculcated in him an intense desire and inspiration for equality and social justice. This led him to lay the foundation of the Ad Dharm movement to streamline the struggle against untouchability. Soon he emerged as a folk-hero of the dalits who started rallying around him, particularly in the dalit concentrated areas of the Doaba region. However, after a while the Ad Dharm organisation got factionalised resulting in a split in 1929 into two groups: one headed by Vasant Rai and the other by Mangoo Ram. There emerged two independent organisations: the Ad Dharm Mandal with its office in Jalandhar was headed by Mangoo Ram and the All Indian Ad Dharm Mandal with its headquarters in Lyalpur was headed by Vasant Rai. The All India Ad Dharm Mandal got disbanded and merged with the organisation led by Dr Ambedkar in

1933 and after some years the same fate fell on Ad Dharm of Mangoo Ram, who closed the office of the Ad Dharm Mandal and changed its name to Ravidass Mandal. However, close associates of the Ad Dharm movement contested this observation. They said that Ad Dharm Mandal was not changed into Ravidass Mandal. In fact, later on, Ravidass School was opened up in the premises of the Ad Dharm Mandal building. So it was Ravidass School, which merely came to occupy the space of the Ad Dharm Mandal building rather than its being taken over by Ravidass Mandal. (Interviews with: late Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 29, 2001; K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P) Pb. (retd.) Chandigarh, April 28, 2001). The Vasant Rai group of the Ad Dharm Mandal was thoroughly soaked into the ideology of the Arya Samaj. In fact this group was lured back by the Arya Samaj. Although the Arya Samaj dominated section of Ad Dharm Mandal withdrew itself from the Mangoo Rams group in 1929, the latter played an active part in the politics of Punjab for a period of two decades from 1926 to 1952. Mangoo Ram set a clear agenda for the emancipation of the Dalits and their upliftment. The agenda was: restore their lost indigenous religion and provide them with a sense of self-respect and dignity. The method to achieve this agenda was: cultural transformation and spiritual regeneration. Mangoo Ram was not in favour of embracing any other existing religion. He was in favour of strengthening the Adi (the original) religion of the indigenous people of this country. His views on Hindu religion were very clear. He was of the opinion that since Dalits were not born Hindu where is the need to leave that religion and to embrace some other one. Mangoo Ram thought it appropriate to empower Dalits by carving out a separate Dalit identity on the basis of their indigenous religious strength (Ad Dharm).

In the poster announcing the first annual meeting of Ad Dharm Movement, Mangoo Ram devoted the entire space to the hardships faced by the untouchables at the hands of the caste Hindus. He also made an appeal to the Achhuts to come together to chalk out a program for their liberation and upliftment while addressing the Chamars, Chuhras, Sansis, Bhanjhras, Bhils etc. as brothers, he said, We are the real inhabitants of this country and our religion is Ad Dharm. Hindu Qaum came from outside to deprive us of our country and enslave us. At one time we reigned over Hind. We are the progeny of kings; Hindus came down from Iran to Hind and destroyed our qaum. They deprived us of our property and rendered us nomadic. They razed down our forts and houses, and destroyed our history. We are seven Crores in numbers and are registered as Hindus in this country. Liberate the Adi race by separating these seven crores. They (Hindus) became lord and call us others. Our seven crore number enjoy no share at all. We reposed faith in Hindus and thus suffered a lot. Hindus turned out to be callous. Centuries ago Hindus suppressed us sever all ties with them. What justice we expect from those who are the butchers of Adi race. Time has come, be cautious, now the Government listens to appeals. With the support of sympathetic Government, come together to save the race. Send members to the Councils so that our qaum is strengthened again. British rule should remain forever. Make prayer before God. Except for this Government, no one is sympathetic towards

us. Never consider us Hindus at all, remember that our religion is Ad Dharm. The way, the leaders of Ad Dharm chose to restore dignity and freedom to the untouchables was to completely detach them from Hinduism and to consolidate them into their own ancient religion Ad Dharm - of which they had become oblivious during the age-old domination by the alien Hindus. In fact, the task of the revival of their ancient religion was not an easy one by virtue of the fact that during a long period of persecution at the hands of the Savarnas, the untouchables had forgotten their Gurus and other religious symbols. In fact they were never allowed to nurture an aspiration to have their own independent religion. They were condemned as profane and were declared unfit to have their own theology. Thus to revive Ad Dharm was tantamount to developing an altogether a new religion for the Achhuts. Mangoo Rams appeal that the Dalits were the real inhabitants of this land made an enormous psychological impact on the untouchables who were treated as, even inferior to animals in Indian society. The appeal inspired them to come out of their slumber and fight for their freedom and liberty. The Ad Dharm provided a theological podium to sustain and reinforce the new Dalit identity. For centuries, they were bereft of any identity and remained in the appendage of the hierarchically graded Hindu society. Before 1920s, especially before the rise of Ad Dharm movement, the untouchables in Punjab hardly envisaged the idea of seeking a separate identity. The growing communal politics and resultant unrest within Punjab in the 1920s coupled with the emergence of Dalit organisations in different parts of the country, offered them a good opportunity to carve out such an identity. In the pre-partition Punjab, untouchables constituted one-fourth of the total population. Since scheduled castes did not have their separate religion, they

were being counted as Hindus. In a system of communal representation, Muslim leaders were thinking that the Achhuts, who were never considered as equal by the caste Hindus, should be separated from them and equally divided between the Hindus and Muslims. It was not only Muslims who alone had such an approach, even the Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus also wanted to absorb them into their respective religion for political benefits. In the absence of any other alternative open to them, a large number of the Achhuts of Punjab converted into Christianity (especially the chuhras of Sialkot and Gurdaspur), Sikhism (in Sialkot and Gurdaspur), and Islam (Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore division). Consequently, the Hindus in the province had been reduced from 43.8% in 1881 to 30.2% in 1931 while the Sikhs increased from 8.2% to 14.3% and the Muslims from 40.6% to about 52% and in the British territory the population of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims in 1931 was 26.80%, 12.99% and 56.4% respectively (Census of India, 1931, Vol. xvii, Punjab Part i, p. 291). Obviously, it alarmed the Arya Samaj to put an end to the conversions of Achhuts lest it turned out as a political suicide for Hindus. Lala Lajpat Rais Achhut Udhar Mandal at Lahore, Swami Ganesh Dutts Antyaj Udhar Mandal at Lahore and Lala Devi Chands Dayanad Dalit Udhar Mandal at Hoshiarpur came up in response to these conversions. As a matter of fact, the Arya Samaj started Shuddhi campaign to bring the converted Achhuts back into the Hindu-fold. This also brought the Arya Samaj into confrontation with the Sikhs and the Muslims. In a famous incident

in 1900, Sikhs rebelled at the Arya Samajs practice of publicly shaving lower caste Sikhs and offering them Shuddhi. It was at this stage that Ad Dharm entered into the volatile territories of communal politics in Punjab. The emancipatory project launched by Mangoo Ram inspired the lower castes to make efforts for their upliftment. Ad Dharm posited emphasis on the social equality of the Dalits and stressed on creating social and cultural awakening amog them. Ad Dharm movement aimed at securing a distinct identity for the dalits, independent both of the Hindu and Sikh religions. Sikhs and Hindus treated the dalits discriminately. But at times of counting their strategic strength they project the dalits as if they belonged to them. The central motif of the Ad Dharm movement was to highlight that untouchables constitute a qaum (Community), a distinct religious community similar to those of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and that the qaum had existed from time immemorial On this account the Ad Dharm movement resembles the other Adi movements, which consider the low castes as the original inhabitants of India who had been subjugated by the Aryans. The Aryans, they allege came from outside and established their rule and made them subservient to them. The Ad Dharm movement aimed at making the dalits realise that they have three powers: Communal pride (Qaumiat), Religion (Mazhab) and Organisation (Majlis). All these three powers of the untouchables were lying buried under the burden of untouchability. Mangoo Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm movement exhorted the untouchables to come forward to assert for their rights through building on these three main sources of their power. During the 1931 census, Ad Dharm movement succeeded in registering a large number of low castes in Punjab as Ad Dharmis

separate from Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the 1931 Punjab census, a total of 418,789 persons reported themselves as Ad Dharmis almost equal to that of the Christian population of the region. Since the center of the Ad Dharm movement was in Doaba region, nearly eighty percent of the lower castes of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts reported themselves as Ad Dharmis (ibid.:77). It was for the first time in the history of lower castes that they had come forward to officially declare themselves as separate and independent of the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religions. This was, perhaps, the beginning of the dalit assertion in North India. It got further impetus in the first election that took place in 1937 after the promulgation of the Government of India Act of 1935. Ad Dharm Mandal contested election in all the eight reserved seats and won all except one. In the 1945-46, Punjab Legislative Assembly elections on the eve of independence Ad Dharm also registered its presence by contesting in alliance with the Unionist Party. Mangoo Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm was one of the elected candidates. Ad Dharm movement was instrumental not only in helping the lower castes to get registered as a distinct religion in the 1931 census and providing them the platform to enter into the State Legislature, it also went a long way in bringing a cultural transformation in their life. In fact, Ad Dharm movement, as has been mentioned above, aimed at facilitating a cultural transformation in the life of lower castes that, under the impact of the centuries old system of degradation, had actually internalised a sense of being low and polluted. Mangoo Ram wanted to liberate them from such a state of mind and also to inculcate in them the feeling of dignity and self respect whereby they could start thinking about them as equal to the so-called twice-born people. Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 lists a number of moral

principles and duties, which the followers of the Ad Dharm are required to adhere to for creating spiritual regeneration and cultural transformation in their lives. Among the most important moral principles and the duties mentioned in the report are: The basic principles listed in the Report are: (1) The essential teachings of the Ad Dharm will always be the same: no one can change them. They can stay alive and persist only through the help of a guru. (2) Every man and woman belongs to the faith, but they may not know it. To live without a guru is a sin. (3) A guru should be someone who truly and rightly knows the teachings of the previous masters. He should be able to distinguish between falsehood and truth. He should be able to bring peace and love within the community. (4) Everyone should be instructed by the lives of previous masters; progress comes from following the masters examples. The practices of previous masters should not be abandoned. This leads to progress. (5) There should not be any discrimination in regard to eating with other castes. (6) Ad Dharmis should abstain from theft, fraud, lies, dishonesty, looking at someone elses wife with bad intentions, using anything which brings intoxication, gambling, and usurping other persons property or belongings. All of these things are against the law of nature and therefore the law of Ad Dharm. (7) Every Ad Dharmi has the duty to teach his children current knowledge and also to teach them to be obedient to the present king. (8) Every Ad Dharmi should read the Ad Prakash and act upon it. This is a foremost duty. (9) Ad Dharm does not believe in the caste system or any inferiority or superiority of this sort. (10) To learn and seek knowledge, and to learn and seek progress is compulsory for every man and woman. The twelve duties mentioned in the Report are as follows: (1) to publicize and propagate Ad Dharm. (2) To take pride in Ad Dharm.

(3) To promote the use of name of the community and to use the red mark, this is its sign. (4) Ad Dharmis should try to retrieve any property of fellow Ad Dharmi that has been usurped. (5) We should distinguish among Hindus, Ad Dharmis, and other communities of India. (6)Those books, which have created the problem of untouchability and led to discrimination - books such as the Laws of Manu and other Shastras should be completely boycotted and abandoned. (7) We should celebrate the festivals of our gurus and follow our faith to the utmost. (8) Abandon idolatry. (9) Receive education for ourselves and others in the brotherhood. (10) Boycott those who curse us as untouchables or discriminate against us. (11) Bring all demands of Ad Dharmis before the government. (12) Abandon expensive marriage and practice of child marriage. The fifty-six commandments included in the Report are: (1) Each Ad Dharmi should know everything about the faith. (2) For the betterment and salvation of ones body physical and spiritual one should recite the word soham. (3) Each Ad Dharmi should remember Guru Dev for half an hour each morning or evening. (4) When Ad Dharmis meet, their greeting should be jai Guru Dev. (5) We should be true followers of the founders, Rishi Valmiki, Guru Ravi Das, Maharaj Kabir, and Bhagwan Sat Guru Nam Dev. (6) a guru is necessary, one who knows about previous gurus and has all the capabilities of being a guru. (7) The wife of a guru should be regarded as ones mother, the gurus daughter as ones sister. (8) Devotion to ones wife should be a part of ones faith, for therein lies salvation. (9) Every Ad Dharmi should abstain from theft, fraud, lies, dishonesty, and usurping the property of others. (11) One should not cause someone else heartache. There is no worse sin than this. (12) Every Ad Dharmi should enthusiastically participate in Ad Dharmi festivals and rituals. (13) There should be equally great happiness at the birth of both boys and girls. (14) After the

age of five, every boy and girl should be given proper religious teaching. (15) Extravagant expenses at weddings are useless. Every marriage should be conducted according to rituals of our tradition. (16) Ad Dharmis should marry only Ad Dharmis. To marry someone outside Ad Dharm is not legal, but if someone does marry an outsider, he or she should be brought into the faith. (17) All Ad Dharmis, both men and women, should be obedient to their parents. (18) After the death of both parents it is the duty of each Ad Dharmi to cook food and distribute it among the poor. (19) The dead should be cremated, except for those under the age of five, who should be buried. (20) Ad Dharmis do not follow any other law except their own. (21) In the Ad Dharm faith only one marriage is allowed, but a husband may marry after the death of his wife. Also, if the first wife does not bear children, the husband may take another wife, provided he has the consent of the first wife. If this happens, the first wife remains a legal wife, with all the rights she had before. (22) Ad Dharmis should marry their children to the Ad Dharmis of the surrounding areas. (23) A girl should be more than twelve years old at the time of the marriage. The boy should be four years older than the girl. (24) It is illegal to receive money for a bride; on the other hand, there should not be a dowry. Those who sell their daughters commit a very great sin. (25) Offerings and sacrifices for prayers should be given only to those holy men who are Ad Dharmi and who have shown themselves to follow Ad Dharmi principles religiously. (26) It is necessary for each Ad Dharmi to provide primary education to both boys and girls. (27) The girls should be educated especially in household work such as sewing and needlework. (28) Young girls and boys should not be sent out to cut grass and gather wood. (29) It is the duty of parents not to allow young widowed daughters to remain in their household, because a young widowed daughter is a cause of disgrace. (30) If an Ad Dharmi widow with

children wants to hold a commemoration of her deceased husband, but cannot afford it, then the Ad Dharm Mandal of Jullundur and its members will help her. (31) It is not good to cry and beat oneself at a death or funeral. To do so is to anger Guru Dev. (32) Among the Ad Dharmis sons and daughters should receive an equal inheritance. (33) To eat the meat of a dead animal or bird is against the law of Ad Dharm. (34) To use wine or any other intoxicants is a sin, except in the case of sickness. (35) It is legal to eat food offered at noon Ad Dharm marriages, but the food should be decent, and not leftovers. (36) Cleanliness is important. It guaranteed good health. (37) It is forbidden to practice idolatry and worship statues, and one should not believe in magic, ghosts, or anything of the sort. (38) All Ad Dharmis should forget notions of caste and untouchability and work toward the unity of all people in the world. (39) Each Ad Dharmi should help a fellow Ad Dharmi in need. (40) One Ad Dharmi must not work at a place where another Ad Dharmi works until the first Ad Dharmi has been paid his wages. (41) If Ad Dharmis enter into a dispute with one another, they should attempt to come to some agreement by themselves or within the community. If no agreement is accomplished, they should refer the case to the Ad Dharm Mandal, Jullundur, and the Executive Committee will take action. (42) Ad Dharmis should open shops and business in every village. (43) Every Ad Dharmi should be a missionary for the faith. (44) Ad Dharmis should call themselves such and register in the census as Ad Dharmi. (45) A Red turban on the head is mandatory, for it is the color of our ancestors. (46) Every Ad Dharmi should work hard for the progress and peace of the community. (47) Ad Dharmis hould organize themselves into cadres called martyrdom cells. They should work hard on the Ad Dharms projects. (48) Each Ad Dharmis hould separate himself form Hindus, Sikhs, and members of other religions. (49) Each Ad

Dharmi should be a good citizen, a patriot loyal to the present government, and should follow the law of the land. (50) Ad Dharmis have the obligation to consider the Ad Dharm Mandal of Punjab, city of Jullundur, as their rightful representative, and to recognize that the programs of the AD Dharm are for their benefit. (51) It is the duty of every Ad Dharmi to trust the Ad Dharm Mandal of Jullundur, and to share its work. (52) All local branches of the Ad Dharm should be certified by the Ad Dharm Mandal of Jullundur, and those, which are not certified, should not be considered genuine. (53) All Ad Dharmis should save their fellow Ad Dharmis from fraud and selfishness on the part of other communities. If such a situation arises, the Mandal should be informed. (54) Each Ad Dharmi should report any difficulty concerning the community to the Mandal in Jullundur. (55) Ad Dharmis should subscribe to the qaums newspaper, Adi Danka. They should receive it regularly, read it regularly, a nd help support it regularly. (56) Anyone violating the laws of the Ad Dharm or of the guru, or who insults these laws in one way or another, will be liable to punishment, even the greatest punishment being banished from the community. The main emphasis of these commandments, principles and duties, in the opinion of Babu Mangoo Ram, was to strengthen the social, cultural and religious life of the Dalits so that it could help them build Dalit Solidarity and empowerm. ===================================== Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar and Nationalism Dr. Ronki Ram

ronkiram@yahoo.co.in DEPTOF POLITICLE SCIENCE,

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH-14 (INDIA) Dr. Ambedkar was an iconoclastic social reformer who at the very formative years of his career realized what it meant to be an untouchable and how struggle against untouchability could be launched. The social reform movement of the caste Hindus could not win him to its side because of his existential understanding of the pangs of untouchability. The issue of untouchability, for social reformers, was a mere problem. This problem was exterior to them in the sense that it affects only the untouchables. They themselves had never experienced the sinisterous blows of untouchability. Though they were sympathetic to the cause of Dalits, but they belonged to the camp that imposed this inhuman system of social segregation on the Dalits. Baba Sahibs analysis of the origins of the untouchability and his action plans for its eradication were different from the approach and practice of the caste Hindu social reformers. What distinguished Baba Sahib from the other social reformers was that he looked at the problems of the Dalits from below, from a vantage point of the deprived and oppressed. This perspective led him to think differently from the dominant stream of social and political thought of his time. His major works on: Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development; Annihilation of Caste; Who Were the Shudras; The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? are testimonies to his independent and original thinking. He smashed the mythological basis of untouchability and laid bare its economic roots. He built a strong case against the

Janam (birth) thesis of the untouchability which foreclosed all the ways for Dalit emancipation. He exhorted its victims to oppose it tooth and nail. He said, It is disgraceful to live at the cost of ones self respect. Self-respect is most vital factor in life. Without it, man is a mere cipher. To live worthily with self-respect one has to overcome difficulties. It is out of hard and ceaseless struggle alone that one derives strength, confidence and recognition. He drew a distinction between merely living and living worthily. For living a worthy life, Ambedkar said, society must be based on liberty, equality and fraternity. For Ambedkar, social tyranny is more oppressive than the political tyranny and a reformer who defies society, is a much more courageous man than a politician, who defies government Ambedkar was one who defied society. In the beginning of his social reform crusade, he tried to get respect and equality for the Dalits by bringing reforms within the social set up of Hinduism. He continued his struggle for empowerment of the Dalits by seeking changes within the fold of Hinduism till 1935. When he realized that the salvation of Dalits was not possible while living within the fold of Hinduism, he started his scathing criticism and tirade against Hinduism and ultimately sought the emancipation of Dalits and its empowerment from outside the Hindu religion. Hence his conversion to Buddhism. For Ambedkar the issue of Dalit liberation was the foremost issue and he emphasized that Dalits themselves have to come forward for its realization. Thus, Ambedkar provided a subaltern perspective to see clearly the chameleon of Indian casteridden social set-up deceptively appearing in crimson colors and the ways to guard the interests of the Dalits.

Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar made stringent efforts to transform

the hierarchical structures of Indian society for the restoration of equal rights and justice to the neglected lot by building up a critique from within the structure of Indian society. His was not a theoretical attempt but a practical approach to the problems of untouchability. He tried to seek the solution to this perennial problem of the Indian society not by making appeals to the conscience of the usurpers or bringing transformation in the outlook of the individual by begging but by seeking transformation in the socio-religious and politico-economic structures of the Indian society by continuous and relentless struggle against the exploitative system where he thought the roots of the untouchability lay. He thought that until and unless the authority of the Dharam Shastras is shaken which provided divine sanction to the system of discrimination based on the caste hierarchy, the eradication of untouchability could not be realised. He was of the opinion that untouchability emanated neither from religious notions, nor from the much-popularised theory of Aryan conquest. On the contrary, it came into existence as a result of the struggle among the tribes at a stage when they were starting to settle down for a stable life. In the process, the settled tribes employed the broken tribesmen as guards against the marauding bands. These broken tribesmen employed as guards became untouchables. Dr. Ambedkars views on Indian nationalism in opposition to the dominant discourse of Hindu nationalism as represented by Raja Rammohan Roy, B.G. Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Golvalkar and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on the one hand, and Communist-secular-socialist nationalism represented by M.N. Roy, R. P. Duta, T. Nagi Reddy and E.M.S. Namboodripad on the other, are not only distinct but also original. Hindu nationalism in essence aims at strengthening the Brahamanical supremacy in the post-

colonial India. The communist-secular-social nationalism though based on abolition of class, its ideologues like that of the Hindu nationalism also belonged to the upper-castes and were myopic to the Dalits tribulations. Dr. Ambedkars conception of nationalism articulated and synthesized the national perceptions and aspirations of the downtrodden. Ambedkars alternative form of nationalism, Phule and Periyar E.V. popularly known as Dalit-Bahujan-nationalism incorporated the subaltern philosophy of Jyotirao Ramaswami Naicker. It constructed an anti-Hindu and antiIt aimed at

Brahamanical discourse of Indian nationalism.

establishing a casteless and classless society where no one would be discriminated on the basis of birth and occupation. Within the DalitBahuhjan framework of Indian nationalism, Ambedkar built up a critique of pre-colonial Brahmanism and its asymmetrical social set up based on low and high dichotomy of graded caste system. This system of inegalitarianism led to the process of exploitation by the unproductive Brahamanical castes of the various productive castes. Ambedkars understanding of the question of the identity and existence of the nation was based on his incisive analysis of the oppressive character of the Hindu community. Since the dominant Hindu discourse of Indian nationalism remained indifferent towards removal of the caste system; and the economic analysis of the communist secular socialist school also failed to highlight the issue of caste in its mechanical interpretation of class, Ambedkar himself an untouchable and victim of untouchability formulated his own framework from the perspective of the untouchables for the understanding of the system of caste and untouchability. The foundations of dalit-Bahujan nationalism lie in this framework developed by Ambedkar. It aimed at restructuring the Indian society

into a casteless and classless and egalitarian Sangha (Ilaiah 2001: 109). Annihilation of caste was its central theme. Caste for Ambedkar was nothing but Brahmanism incarnate. Brahmanism is the poison which has spoiled Hinduism (Ambedkar 1995: 92). Ambedkar realised that any form of nationalism whose roots were steeped into Hinduism could not be a solution to the problem of dalits. Any discourse of nationalism bereft of annihilation of caste was just not acceptable to him. The agenda of annihilation of caste was so important to him that it became a central point of his struggle against colonial rule. In the first Round Table Conference, he minced no words in criticizing the British government for its failure to undo untouchability. Swaraj without extinction of caste had no meaning for Ambedkar. In his undelivered speech to the Jat Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore, he said, In the fight for swaraj you fight with the whole nation on your side. In this, you have to fight against the whole nation and that too your own. But it is more important than swaraj. There is no use having swaraj, if you cannot defend it. More important than the question of defending swaraj is the question of defending Hindus under the swaraj. In my opinion, only when the Hindu society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend itself. Without such internal strength, swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step towards slavery. Thus, it was Ambedkars subaltern perspective, which distinguished his conception of swaraj from that of the protagonists of the various shades of the national freedom movement. In his editorial in the Bahishkrit Bharat, Ambedkar wrote on 29 July 1927 If Tilak had been born among the untouchables, he would not have raised the slogan Swaraj is my birthright, but he would have raised the slogan Annihilation of untouchability is my birthright.

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Guru Ravidass, Dera Sachkhand Ballan And Dalit Consciousness in Punjab

RONKI RAM (DR.) ronkiram@yahoo.co.in DEPTOF POLITICLE SCIENCE,

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH-14

Guru Ravidass: Prophet of Dalit Consciousness Guru Ravidass, one of the famous untouchable saintpoets of the 15th-16th century, is by far the most revered among the scheduled castes, especially Chamars, Chambhars, or Charmakars of northwest and central India. Although they occupy the very bottom of the social hierarchy, the Cham rs and other Untouchable groups who worship Guru Ravidass do not passively accept their inferior status. Their worship of Ravidass is the manifestation of a dissident socioreligious ideology. The mere mention of his name evokes a sense of confidence and self-respect among them. So much so that a large number of them prefer to be identified as Ravidassia rather than be known by their

customary caste titles colored with derogatory connotations. Although in the past Ravidass low status may have presented a problem, his present-day admirers strive to affirm it, not deny it. They are popularly known as Ravidassia Dalits or Ravidassi Adharmis. In Punjab some of them are often confused with the Dalit Sikhs. Guru Ravidass is known as a leading star of the Bhakti movement, especially the nirguna sampradaya or sant parampara (sect or tradition of devotees of a formless God) of the later medieval centuries in Northern India. He was a cobbler, saint, poet, philosopher and social reformer. Together with Namdev and Kabir, Ravidas is one of the few Bhaktas to cross language barriers and become important in several parts of India. His popularity can be known from a variety of names attributed to him by his followers in different regions and languages. He is known as Raidasa, Rohidasa, Ruidasa, Ramadasa, Raedasa, Rohitasa, Rahdesa, Rav Das and Rab Das. His poetry has universal appeal. It is full of radical fervor and boundless love for the formless God. Although the poetry of Ravidass is rich with references to the adoration of and longing for God, it also gave significant space to the hope for a better world and a fight against exploiters, power-holders and oppression going on under the name of religion. His poetry reflected his vision of the social and spiritual needs of the downtrodden and underlined the urgency of their emancipation. He, therefore, is regarded as a messiah of the downtrodden. They revere him as devoutly as Hindus revered their Gods and Goddesses, and Sikhs their Gurus. They worship his image and showed their faith in his spiritual power. His hymns were recited every morning and night, and his birthday was

celebrated as a religious event. They raise slogans like Ravidass Shakti Amar Rahe (the spiritual power of Ravidass live forever) during his birth anniversaries. Ravidass was born in Chamar caste, also known as Kutbandhla, one of the Scheduled Castes in Uttar Pradesh. Chamars are known by their profession of leather and tanning. They were oppressed and their touch and sight were considered polluting by the upper castes. Ravidass revolted against this inhuman system of untouchability. He adopted Bhakti as a mode of expression for his revolt. His Bhaktibased method of revolt was very novel and daring. It was novel because of its emphasis on compassion for all and absolute faith in God. The principle of compassion for all reflected the egalitarian traits of his social philosophy and struggle. His concept of the absolute faith in the formless God showed the apathy of the elites of his times towards the plights of the downtrodden for whose emancipation he had to seek refuge in no one else but God. His method was daring in the sense that he choose to imitate the Brahmins in order to symbolize his revolt which was not only highly objectionable but was equally deadly for a Shudra of his times. He challenged the tyranny of Brahmins and defied them by wearing Dhoti (cloth wrapped around the waist), Janeue (sacred thread) and Tilak (sacred red mark on forehead) that were forbidden for the untouchables. Though he attired himself like an upper caste, he did not hide his caste. He continued with his hereditary occupation of making/mending shoes. He, probably, tried to show that while adopting the prohibited dress and symbols of the upper castes, the lower castes could still keep their identity intact. Thus Ravidass provided an alternative model for the

emancipation of the Dalits much (six centuries) before the articulation of the concept of sanskritization. What made the image of Ravidass a catalyst in the emergence of Dalit consciousness was his being a Shudra and at the same time a saint of very high repute. The process of sanskritization facilitated the ambitious lower castes to improve its position in the local caste hierarchy by pretending to look like the higher castes that enjoy great prestige in the hierarchically organized Brahminical social order. Since the caste is given and cannot be changed, the lower castes were left with no option but to imitate the culture of the upper castes. What made the emancipation project of Ravidass different from that of the sanskritization was his emphasis on acquiring social respect without crossing over the caste boundaries. He did not want to pretend to appear like an upper caste to ride the bandwagon of social prestige. On the contrary, he exhibited his protest against the social oppression by putting on the prohibited dress and symbols of the upper castes. By imitating the appearance of the upper castes he did not want the lower castes to abandon their caste to climb up the ladder of the caste hierarchy as in the process of sanskritization. The lower castes need not to be assimilated into the fold of higher castes. They had to, rather, assert for their human rights by challenging the caste hierarchy while being firm in their very caste group. He wanted to dismantle the norm of varnashram dharma (fourfold division of Hindu society based on graded rank system in caste hierarchy) by showing that lower castes were not beyond the pale of spiritual knowledge on the one hand and on the other that Brahmins were in fact hollow figures pumped up with false pride and

hypocrisy. In fact, he used caste to cut the steel frame of caste based social order the only way of Dalit emancipation. Thus, Ravidass gave a new meaning to Bhakti by projecting it as a method of social protest against the centuries old entrenched structures of Brahminical domination. He rejected all forms of religious rituals and sectarian formalities. He also commented graphically on the cursed and abject living conditions of millions of fellow downtrodden. Some scholars were of the opinion that though the devotional songs and hymns of Ravidass reflected the sufferings of the downtrodden, they lack the reformatory zeal and bitter condemnation of Brahminism and caste system that animated the poetry of Kabir and Tukaram. Though there is a difference in tone between the poetry of Kabir and Ravidass, both convey the same message. The poetry of Ravidass is known to be full of humility and devotion. But at the same time it is equally imbibed with reformatory zeal and concern for the downtrodden. Instead of bluntly snubbing the arrogance of higher castes, he undertook to raise the dignity of his own caste and profession, so that the higher castes could come to realize the shallowness of their self-imposed superiority. He advocated self-help for eliminating sufferings of the Dalits. His vision for self-help is clearly reflected in one of the legends about his refusal to make use of a Paras (a mythical stone that turns iron into gold) to get rich. He lent purity and respect to kirat (manual work), which also found special mention in the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikh faith. In fact, Ravidasss life and poetry provided a vision to the downtrodden to struggle for their human rights and civic

liberties. The Bhakti approach of Ravidass was a non-violent struggle for the emancipation and empowerment of the Shudras. Though he combined humility with Bhakti, his concept of formless God reflected an altogether different picture. Ravidasss God was not humble at all in the typical sense of the term. He was graceful. He was not indifferent to the downtrodden. His God was rather bold who was not afraid of anyone. He elevated and purified the so-called untouchables. Aaisee lal tujh binu kaunu karai. Gareeb niwaaju guseea meraa maathai chhatar dharai neecho uooch karai meraa govind kaahoo te na darai [refrain My Beloved, besides you who acts like this? Protector of the poor, my Master. You hold a royal umbrella over my head]. Ravidass further said Meri jaati kut bandhlaa dhor dhouwanta nithi baanaarasi aas paasaa. Ab bipar pardhan tihi karih danduouti tere naam sarnaaie Ravidass daasaa [My Caste is Kutabdhal , I cart carcasses constantly around Benares. Now Brahmans and headmen bow down before me, Ravid s the servant has taken refuge in Your Name. It is in this context that his non-violent struggle based on Bhakti assumed special importance for the emancipation of the Dalits. He did not only adopt nonviolence in his struggle against the social oppression, but also motivated the oppressors to abandon the path of violence. His low caste but high spiritual status posed a challenge to the Brahminical structures of domination. The traditional Brahminical institution of varnashram dharma failed to confront Ravidasss pragmatic and revolutionary reasoning based on equality, dignity and fraternity. Instead, the Brahmins attempted to undermine his low caste profile by

appropriating him in the Hindu fold. They concocted stories to project him as a Brahmin in his previous life. According to one of such stories, Ravidass was a Brahmin in his previous birth. But due to his bad habits of meat eating and the untouchable status of his co-wife he had to be born as a Chamar. Another story tells that Ramananda, his so-called Guru, cursed him in his previous life to be born in a family of untouchables on account of his accepting offerings from a local money lender who had dealings with leather workers. This itself indicates the degree of puritypollution behaviours observed even by Brahmin ascetics. Moreover, this account also reinforces conventional opinions of Chamars as being extremely polluting. Ramanand curses his disciple not for taking food directly from chamars, but from a person who merely does business with them. Yet even such indirect contact is enough to render the food impure. The story does not end here, however. It further informs that the baby Ravidass refused to accept the milk of his low caste mother. He accepted the milk of his mother only when Ramanand supposedly reminded him of his misbehavior in the previous life. Another story about his cooption in the Brahminical fold narrates that he had a golden sacred thread under his skin, though it was invisible on his body. When Brahmins declined to eat while sitting in the same row with him during a feast given in his honor by Jhali, the queen of Chittor, he left the room. But as they sat to dine, they found an image of Ravidass appearing at the side of each of them. The story also tells that he cut open his chest and revealed the sacred thread that lay within a clear proof of his being a real Brahmin. Thus challenged by the surging popularity of

Ravidass, among the lower and upper castes alike, Brahmins knitted layers of mythological narratives about his mythical high caste in his previous life. This was done, probably, to preclude the lower castes from rallying around his name. Yet another device adopted by the twice born to diminish his popularity was to present him as a Guru of the Chamars only. This was the final masterstroke to minimize his influence on the society as a whole. Though Ravidass was himself a chamar, his egalitarian social philosophy won him many disciples among the upper castes too. Jhali, Queen of Chittor; Mirabai, Rajput princes and daughter-in-law of King of Mewar, Sangram Singh; Prince Veer Singh Dev Vaghela of Rewa of Madhya Pradesh; and Prince of Kanshi were the most prominent among them. Dalit activists and academics condemned the process of Brahminisation of Ravidass. They ridiculed the so-called Brahminical narratives and interpretations about Ravidass and also refused to accept Ramanand as his Guru. Ravidass never mentioned the name of Ramanand in his most authentic bani recorded in Adi Granth. Instead he mentioned the names of saint Jaidev, saint Namdev and saint Kabir. Some radical Dalits claim that his Guru was Sardanand, and emphasize his ability to defeat Brahmins time and again in debates. Thus the process of Brahminisation had not only failed to assimilate Ravidass in the fold of the upper castes, it further strengthened the bond of the Shudras with him. The latter took pride in being known as Ravidassias with Ravidass becoming the paragon of their struggle for social equality and dignity. Ravidass envisioned an egalitarian model of state for ensuring human rights and civil liberties for all alike. He

called his ideal state as Begumpura (free from sorrows). In his ideal state no one would be discriminated against on the basis of caste and religion and everyone would be free from the burden of taxes and worries of food. His ideal state would be free from the graded system of caste hierarchy. There would be no segregated colonies for the downtrodden and they would be free to move around without caste prejudice. In other words, in Begumpura the evil of untouchability would cease to exist. Though Begumpura was an ideal state as visualized by Ravidass, it was not a mere figment of his mind. In fact, its articulation was based on indepth understanding of the socio-economic and political conditions prevailing during his lifetime. He lived during the period when Shudras were doubly oppressed by their political masters along with the members of higher castes; and by the Brahmins, the custodians of Hindu religion . He had no hope from any quarter regarding the improvement of the conditions of the downtrodden. In one of his hymns he thus articulated Dardu dekh sab ko hasai, aaisee dasaa hamaaree. Ast dasaa sidi kar talai, sab kirpa tumhari. [Everyone laughs seeing my poverty, such is my state. The eighteen perfections are in the palm of my hands, all through Your grace]. In fact, his entire poetry echoed a loud protest against slavery on the one hand and boundless love and devotion to the formless God on the other. He believed that God created all human beings and resided in all of them. If the same God pervaded the entire humanity, then it is foolish to divide the society on the basis of caste. He thus condemned the division of mankind on the basis of caste. He said, Jo ham shehri so meet hamara [whoever is my fellow citizen, is my friend] . It is in this context that the

egalitarian social philosophy of Ravidass expressed in the mode of poetry became the manifesto of the Dalit consciousness in Punjab. The establishment of a large number of Ravidass Deras by the Dalits in Punjab and in other parts of India over the last few years is a case in point. Ravidass became very popular among the Punjabi Dalit diasporas as well, who have also constructed Ravidass shrines in order to assert their separate caste identity. The number of Ravidass Deras has been multiplying very fast. It has taken the form of a sort of a socio-cultural movement for the emancipation of the Dalits. Led by the saints of Dera Sach Khand Ballan, this movement is silently sweeping the Punjab countryside offering a new hope to the untouchable, particularly the Chamars. It has generated a sense of confidence in them and provided them an opportunity to exhibit their hitherto eclipsed Dalit identity. The movement of Ravidass Deras reflects the fast changing socio-cultural scene of Punjab where the once powerful and revolutionary Sikh religion is failing to meet the needs of the oppressed who discovered the right remedy to cure their wounded psyche in the Ballan experiment. The secret of the success of this movement lies in the strategy of the saints of Ballan to sells Dr Ambedkars socio-cultural revolution packed in an ingenious religious capsule. Ravidass Deras are, perhaps, the only religious centers where religious and political figures (Ravidass and Ambedkar) are blended and projected publicly. These Deras thrive on the elements of social protest expressed in the poetry of Ravidass and the teachings of Ambedkar. These Deras, in fact, have been functioning as missions to sensitize the Dalits and to facilitate their empowerment. In order to look different from

the shrines of Hindu and Sikh religions, and to distinctly project their separate religious identity, Ravidass Deras have formulated their own religious symbols, ceremonies, prayers, and rituals.

Dera Ballan: The Centre of Spirituality and Social Service Dera Ballan (situated at village Ballan, seven miles North of Jalandhar city on the Pathankot road) is popularly known as Dera Sant Sarwan Das. Sant Pipal Das, father of Sant Sarwan Das (February 15,1895-June 11,1972), founded it in the beginning of the twentieth century. Sant Sarwan Das lost his mother (Shobhawanti) when he was only five years old. His father left home in search of truth. He took the child, Sarwan Das, with him on this mission. It was during the course of wandering that they reached the place where Dera Ballan is now situated. Pipal Dass found that place most suitable for spiritual pursuits. The place, in the outskirts of village Ballan, was a thick forest. The father-son duo spent days in the forest and took shelter in a mud house in the village during nights. Later on, a landlord (Hazara Singh) of village Ballan donated some land to them in the forest where they built a thatched hut to begin with. It soon became the goal of pilgrimage for lower caste and other villagers from all over central Punjab, and from its inception it was a center for the veneration of Ravi Das. It shot into prominence during the Ad Dharm movement. It was instrumental in bringing social consciousness among the Dalits of Punjab. Mangoo Ram, the founder of the Ad Dharm movement visited the Dera

Ballan and sought its support in popularizing the image of Ravidass among the Dalits of Punjab. The association of the Dera with the Ad Dharm movement further becomes clear from the fact that Sant Sarwan Dass, the then head of the Dera Ballan (October 11,1928-June 11,1972), offered juice to Mangoo Ram to open his fast-unto-death undertaken by him as a counter measure to that of Mahatama Gandhis fast against the communal award in 1932. Although this movement petered out after the first general election in independent India, deras such as that of Sarwan Das remain popular destinations for pilgrimage in the Punjab. Dera Ballan also hosted the mammoth Dalit conference (13th December, 1970) organised by Mangu Ram Jaspal, namesake of the famous Mangoo Ram, to revive the Ad Dharm movement. It was during this conference that the legendry Mangoo Ram and many other prominent leaders of the Ad Dharm movement commended the contribution of saints of Dera Ballan towards the emancipation and empowerment of Dalits. Sant Sarwan Das received early education from his father and learnt Sanskrit from Sant Kartanand of nearby village Kishangarh. He was in his early thirties when Sant Pipal Das died (1928). By that time he had already become a known figure not only among the people of Ballan but also of the neighboring villages. However, what distinguished him from other holy men of his time was his devotion and veneration for Ravidass. The dissemination of Ravidass Bani (philosophy in the form of poetry) was one of his missions. Ravidass appealed to the lower castes for many reasons. He belonged to the Chamar caste and was probably the pioneer

in the field of Dalit literature. The fact that Sant Sarwan Das was a chamar himself and a follower of the faith of Ravidass made him and his Dera instantly popular among the Chamars who consider Ravidass their spiritual mentor. Sant Sarwan Dass was an emissary of Guru Ravidass in the true spirit. Under his stewardship, the dissemination of the teachings of Ravidass became one of the most important missions of the Dera Sach Khand Ballan. He himself laid down foundation stones of various Ravidass Deras and sponsored construction of rooms in the Shri Guru Ravidass High School [Jalandhar], Arts and Crafts Training College [Jalandhar], Shri Guru Ravidass Technical College [Phagwara], Primary school [Raipur- Rasoolpur], Bhagwan Ravidass Ashram Nirmala Chowani [Haridwar], and High School [Village Ballan]. The Dera Ballan has meticulously kept sant Sarwan Dasss legacy of spreading the Bani of Guru Ravidass with zeal till date and has actually accelerated its efforts in this direction manifold in India and abroad. It has taken the message of Guru Ravidass to virtually every corner of India and abroad, and has generated a sense of cohesive belongingness among the Dalits. The construction of Guru Ravidass Mandirs (Temples) in Seer Govardhanpur (Varanasi), Hadiabad (Punjab), Sirsgarh (Haryana), Pune (Maharashtra), Haridwar (Uttranchal), and Una (Himachal Pradesh) is a clear indication of the concerted efforts of the Dera Ballan towards the popularization of the social egalitarian philosophy of Ravidass. The participation of the saints of Dera Ballan in sant sammelans (congregations of saints) organized by the devotees of Guru Ravidass in

different places in Punjab and outside showed their deep concern for the propagation of the Bani of Ravidass. The saints of Ballan also regularly visited their devotees abroad in order to enlighten them of the Bani of Ravidass. In year 2005, the present head of Dera Ballan, sant Niranjan Dass accompanied by sant Ramanand, visited Greece, Italy, Spain, Holland, and Germany from March 20 to May 31; and U.S., Canada and U.K. from July 1 to August 31. His latest journey to EuropeItaly, Greece Germany, Holland and England) was during April-May 2006. This was his 4th international religious visit to Italy and probably 14th to U.K. Sant Garib Dass, predecessor of Sant Niranjan Dass, also visited England six times, America four times, and Canada two times. The Dera has prepared a number of cassettes, compact discs (CDs), and video compact discs (VCDs) of the Bani of Ravidass for wider circulation among its followers. Some of the most popular cassettes are: Mission Guru Ravidass Ji (Mission of Guru Ravidass), Kanshi wich chan chariya (Moon in Kanshi), Begampura Shaher Ka Nau (City Named Begumpura), Rabb Dharti Te (God on the Earth), Satguru Da Updesh (Sermon of the Guru), Kanshi Ballan Wich Farak Na Koe (No Difference between Kanshi and Ballan), Har ke Naam Bin (Without the Name of God), Amrit Bani Shri Guru Ravidass Ji (Immortal Bani of Guru Ravidass), Duniya de Loko Nek Bano (Become nice, Peoples of the World), Jai Satiguru Ravidas (Victory to Guru Ravidass), Darshan Satguru de Kar Lau (Be face to face with the Guru), Begumpur de Wasia (Residence of the Begumpur), Guru Da Jehrey Nam Japde (Those who Remember the Name of the Guru), and Ban ke Messiah Aya (Came as a Messiah). Eh Janam Tumhare Lekhe

(This Life is for You), Begampure Diyan Raunkan (Festivities of Begumpura), Shri Guru Ravidass Amrit Bani Dohae' (Couplets of the Immortal Bani of Guru Ravidass), and Satsang Mahina Cheet (company of the saints in first month of the Hindu calendar) are some of the most popular VCDs. The six-volumes set of Amrit Bani of Guru Ravidass Ji is the most popular among the CDs. They are available at Dera Ballan on nominal rates and are also given as souvenir to the devotees. During one of my visits to the Dera Ballan, Sant Surinder Dass Bawa was kind enough to gift me a set of these cassettes (based on the information culled from various volumes [2003-2005] of Begum Pura Shaher, Trilingual weekly publication of the Dera Ballan). The Dera has also composed a Gurbani programme based on the Bani of Sant Ravidass. The program is called Amrit Bani: Shri Guru Ravidass ji. It is being telecast every Friday, 6.00 6.15 a.m. and every Saturday, 7.00 7.15 a.m. on D.D.1 channel of Jalandhar Doordarshan since October 13, 2003. This is the first program of its kind. This program has a unique importance for the Dalits who in the past were forbidden to read and listen the sacred text. Now they feel proud of projecting their religion on national television network at par with the other mainstream religious bodies. It has contributed significantly in building their self-esteem and confidence that in turn has sharpened their social and political consciousness. ( Primary education and healthcare were the two other main concerns of Sant Sarwan Dass, which further strengthened the surging popularity of the Dera Ballan among the Dalits. He encouraged Dalit children to study and

helped them financially. He opened an informal primary school within the premises of the Dera. He taught the poor children Panjabi and trained them in reciting Gurbani (sacred text of Guru Granth Sahib) correctly. He used to feed them with rice pudding and fried loafs on every Sunday a diet that was really a luxury for the poor Dalit children in order to boost up their mental faculties and physical strength. There is a general belief among the followers of Dera Ballan that whosoever was taught by Sant Sarwan Dass became an officer in Government service. He used to denounce those parents who did not educate their children as their enemies. He urged the poor people to educate their children so that they could earn their livelihood in a respectful way and help their families and community to lead a dignified life. All the chiefs of the Dera who followed him made concerted efforts towards the fulfillment of these vital concerns for the upliftment of the downtrodden. In fact, they turned these concerns into the missions of the Dera Ballan. To fulfill one of these missions, Dera Ballan founded Sant Sarwan Dass Model School at Hadiabad (Phagwara) in April 2004 to provide quality education to the Dalit children on nominal fee. The school is housed in a magnificent building equipped with modern instruments and materials, and has its own fleet of buses for the conveyance of the students. The medium of instruction in the school is English. What distinguished this school is that along with formal education in different streams of knowledge, students are also informed about the missions of Guru Ravidass and Dera Sach Khand Ballan. Thus, this school does not only provide quality education in a Dalit friendly environment, but also acts as an agency for generating Dalit consciousness.

Sant Sarwan Dass had also established an Ayurvedic medical center in the Dera for the benefits of the downtrodden who could not afford treatment and medicine in the market. His noble endeavor at the Dera was expanded into a full-fledged hospital (Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Hospital) at Dehpur-Kapoor village Adda Kathar on the Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar road (district Jalandhar). Sant Garib Dass, the then chief of Dera Ballan, founded the hospital in 1982. A humble beginning was made with a small dispensary in 1984. Soon after, it expanded into a two hundred-bed hospital equipped with latest medical technology. The hospital is famous for its expertise in surgery in the region. A team of doctors from U.K. held a 10-days (March 16-25, 2005) medical camp in the hospital. The camp had the sanction of Medical Council of India, Department of Health, UK, and British Medical Association. The camp got wide coverage in the western print media that brought the hospital on the international map. The detailed account of the camp was carried in two publications: Trust News of Calderdale and Huddersfield National Health Service (NHS) and the Evening Courier. It provided round the clock emergency services, and has its own chemist shop, which provided medicines at reasonable rates. For the convenience of the patients and their attendants indoor catering facilities and spacious retiring halls are also provided. Very nominal fee is charged from the patients to partially meet the hospital expenditure, which is about 2.5 million rupees per month. At a time when public health services have almost turned dysfunctional, Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Hospital has come out as a great relief for the downtrodden who are incapable of fending for them.

Moreover, since 1977 the saints of Ballan have been regularly organizing free eyes operation camps in the Dera in the month of February every year with the support of Swarn Dass Banger, a non-resident Indian (NRI) settled in England. Swarn Dass Banger has also donated 10 million rupees for the construction of Sant Sarwan Dass Memorial Eyes Hospital in the village Ballan near the Dera. Swarn Dass Banger has also donated 2.5-acre prime land adjacent to the Dera where a mammoth Satsangh Bhawan (religious congregation hall), centrally air-conditioned with a capacity of accommodating 50000 people at a time, is under construction. Seth Brij Lal Kaler, another NRI from England, has also donated 10 million rupees to the Dera Ballan Sant Niranjan Dass, the present chief of Dera Ballan, laid the foundation stone of the Eyes Hospital on November 10, 2004. The provision of excellent medical facilities in the rural sectors of Punjab made the Dera Ballan an exceptional religious site for the downtrodden, where spiritual and social services are combined together. Another important feature of the Dera Ballan that brought it in the forefront of the cause of the Dalits upliftment was its deep interest in literary activities. The Dera has a very rich library on its premises. The library contains books on the life and philosophy of Ravidass, Baba Sahib Ambedkar, Bhakti movement, the Ad Dharm movement, Dalit literature, and the missions of the Dera Ballan. All the writings and speeches of Baba Sahib Ambedkar are available in the library. The books are made available to the readers on nominal charges and even free of cost. Some of the books are also given to the devotees as a

souvenir along with the framed calendar prints of the Dera Ballan and Ravidass temple (Seer Goverdhanpur) with the images of Guru Ravidass and B.R. Ambedkar embossed on them. Mark Juergensmeyers book, Religious Rebels in the Punjab: The social Vision of Untouchables (Delhi: Ajanta, 1988) is one of the books that are widely distributed among the devotees. This seminal work of Juergensmeyer is a pioneer study of the Dalit movement in Punjab. This book also documents important information about the Dera Ballan. The Dera also publishes, and sponsors books on Dalit literature. In addition, the Dera also confers honours on Dalit scholars in acknowledgement of their literary contributions towards the upliftment of the downtrodden. Till now, it has honored forty-four such Dalit scholars with gold medals. In addition, the Dera has also been publishing a 12 page trilingual (Panjabi, Hindi, and English) weekly 'Begum Pura Shaher' since August 15, 1991. This weekly was founded by Sant Garib Dass, fourth head of the Dera Ballan, to highlight the problems of the downtrodden and to educate them about the missions of Guru Ravidass. 'Begum Pura Shaher, the sole mouthpiece of the Dalits who were highly underrepresented in the mainstream print and electronic media, has become a source of social consciousness and a symbol of self-respect among them. The Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Academy (Indian Dalit Literary Academy) honored its chief editor, Sant Ramanand, with the 20th National Dalit Literary Award (2004) for the contribution it made in the field of journalism for generating Dalit consciousness in the region. The Academy has also organized a two days National Dalit Introspection Camp (9-10 June 2006) at the Dera Ballan to discuss the commonalities among the thoughts, missions,

and objectives of Buddha, Ravidass and Ambedkar. Among the prominent participants who attended the Camp were Dr. Mata Parsad, former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Babu Parmanand, former Governor of Haryana, Dr. Satya Narayan Jatiya, former central minister of social justice and member of parliament of India, Chanderpal Sallani, former member of parliament of India, Bavanrao Gholap, former social welfare minister of Maharashtra and member of the State Legislative Assembly, and Dr. J. S. Sabar, chair Guru Ravidass, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The participation by such a large number of renowned personalities in the Dalit Introspection Camp a rare occasion of its kind at a religious site lend credence to the missions of the Dera Ballan for the upliftment of the Dalits. In a hierarchically structured society based on the caste system of low and high, the literary chapter of the Dera Ballan proved to be of immense importance in building confidence among the downtrodden who were often discriminated in the mainstream literary circles. Of all the major contributions made by the Dera Ballan, the construction of a mammoth Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir (Temple of Shri Guru Ravidasss Birthplace) at Seer Goverdhanpur, a locality in the city of Varanasi, is the most significant. The saints of Ballan traced the birthplace of Ravidass to a location in the village Seer Goverdhanpur, on the outskirts of Varanasi, near the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Sant Hari Dass of Dera Ballan had laid down the foundation stone of the temple in 1965 (June 14). The construction of the temple was completed in 1994. Babu Kanshi Ram, the BSP supremo, performed the ceremonial installation of the golden dome atop the temple. K.R. Narayanan, the then President of India, performed the opening

ceremony of the huge monumental gate on the way to the temple, on July16, 1998. Dalits from India and abroad helped build the temple. This temple has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for Dalits as the Mecca for Muslims and the Golden Temple for Sikhs. Every year on the anniversary of Ravidasss birth, the temple attracts millions of devotees from India and abroad. The Dera Ballan made special arrangements for the pilgrimage of of Ravidass devotees to their Mecca at Seer Goverdhanpur (Varanasi). Special trains were arranged from Jalandhar city in Punjab to Varanasi especially for attending the celebrations of the birth anniversary of Ravidass at Seer Goverdhanpur. This temple serves an important purpose in reminding the Dalits of the cultural revolution led by Ravidass in Varanasi, the headquarters of Hindu religiosity. Its unique contribution lies in symbolizing a Dalit history of struggle for equality and dignity, and a vision for the future. In the land of castes and religions, the Temple of Shri Guru Ravidasss Birthplace has become an important cultural-religious site for the assertion of distinct identity for the Dalits where they can move about with their heads high and without the fear of being measured on the scale of caste hierarchy. In fact, this temple has turned out to be a center of spirituality,social service and Dalit empowerment.

AD-DHARM MOVEMENT AND DALIT CONSCIOUSNESS IN PUNJAB

Dr. Ronki Ram E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Punjab has been a site of invasions, conflicts, agitations and martyrdoms. It has also been a boiling cauldron for various social and political movements. Its history is rich with innumerable instances of peoples upsurge against the tyrant systems. However, what makes the case of Punjab, a unique, is that its tirades against the system of oppression and violence remained always progressive and secular. They were not against a particular caste or community but against systems of tyranny and oppression. It is interesting to note that in all of the struggles and movements, the contribution of the lower castes and the untouchables was second to none. The share of these deprived sections of the society was equally tremendous in the sphere of Bhakti movement. One can quickly count the names of Dhanna, Sadna, Sain and Ravidass who were among the prominent stars of the Bhakti movement. Their share is equally remarkable in the struggles of the Khalsa against the then system of oppression and injustice. The popularity of the Rangrtas (scavengers converted to Sikhism) has been established by a rhyme Rangreta Guru Ka Beta (the Rangreta is the son of Guru). This rhyme is attributed to the Rangretas on account of the valorous act of bringing the severed head of Guru Teg Bahadur from Delhi to Anandpur Sahib, the seat of 9th and 10th Master of the Sikh faith by a Rangreta Sikh named Jeeta. Yet another movement which rose in the 1920s in the Doaba region of Punjab brought together all the Scheduled Castes (then known as Depressed classes) on a single platform to fight against the system of social oppression, economic deprivation and political indifference. Though this movement laid the foundation of dalit consciousness in Punjab, it could not succeed in getting the serious attention of scholarship. However, Mark Jurgensmeyers pioneer work (Juergensmeyer 1988) remained the only reference to the share

of Punjab in the Adi Movements in India. This movement is known as Ad Dharm movement. It draws its inspiration from the Bhakti movement, especially from Kabir, Ravidass and Namdev. It also assigns equal importance to the teachings of Valmiki. What makes this movement the most relevant case for study is its being a purely low caste character and its fight against social structures of domination. Ad Dharm was the only movement of its kind in the North-Western region of the country that aimed at securing a respectable place for the scheduled castes through cultural transformation and political assertion rather than seeking patronage from above. Another important feature of this movement was that it intended to bring social transformation and spiritual regeneration in the lives of the downtrodden. Although, this movement ceased to exist in its vehement form after the first general election in independent India, its emphasis on social transformation and political assertion against structures of social inequality and oppression continues to attract the Ad-Dharmis and other scheduled castes of Punjab. At present, the movement finds its sustenance in Punjab through the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ambedkarite organizations. Ad Dharm Movement: The Genesis The beginning of the 20the century witnessed a series of political developments, which among others led to the formation of Adi movements in different parts of the colonial India. The main objective of these movements was to liberate the downtrodden, poverty-stricken-oppressed classes, contemptuously branded as untouchables, from the most oppressive and obnoxious practice of Untouchability meticulously observed by the Savarna Hindus, and to bring the former at par with the socio-cultural level of the twice born so that they could lead a life of dignity with a sense of equality.

The Ad Dharm movement was one of them. Although, the abolition of Untouchability was also on the agenda of the protagonists of social reform movements (Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj and Singh Sabha), they wanted to achieve it without changing the basic structure of caste system (Manuqu 2003:5). Since these movements were operating on the social reform front of the nationalist struggle, they could not totally devote themselves to the removal of Untouchability. The immediate goal of the nationalist movement was to liberate the country from the British imperialism. Hence, [t]he ultimate result was that neither the Nehru Ian secularism nor Gandhi an Ramraj could provide an Indian identity that was libratory for the dalit and low castes... (Omvedt 1994: 92; see also Suresh 1998: 364). The most virulent opposition to the system of caste emanated from the lower caste movements. For these movements, the immediate important issue was caste domination, not Western hegemony; social emancipation, not political autonomy. The struggle against imperialism and other such issues were of secondary importance (Kothari 1998: 50-51). These anti-caste movements, of course, constitute an inseparable ...part of the broader revolutionary democratic movement in India, alongwith the national movement and communist-and socialist-led working class and peasant movements (Omvedt 1994: 13; see also Kshirsagar 1994: 2-3). The main exponents of these movements were, among others,

Jyotiba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, Naraynaswami Guru in Kerla, Achutananda in U.P. and Mangoo Ram in Punjab. The present paper confines to the Ad-Dharm movement in Punjab. It aims at exploring the social situations and political configurations in colonial Punjab during the 1920s which led to the rise of this movement. Another objective of the study is to document the present status of the movement in Punjab. It would be appropriate to focus on certain aspects relating to the rise of this movement in 1926 and its so called demise in 19461. What were the circumstances in which the Ad Dharm movement was originated? Who were its protagonists? What objectives did they seek to achieve? What were the tactics and strategies they adopted for the realization of these objectives? Whether such objectives sharpened the struggle against social oppression or led to blunt the very struggle itself? Was it really a struggle against social oppression or only a ploy to gain some incremental change for meager benefits? To whom the Ad Dharm considered its sympathisers and also its adversaries? What status did such sympathisers and adversaries hold in the socio-economic and politico-administrative setting of the Indian society? What is its present status? What are its goals and objectives? And how it intended to realise them? Ad Dharm: Socio-Political Settings Ad-Dharm movement was born out of a volatile social and political background in the early 20the century. Although, the similar sociopolitical situations were prevalent throughout the length and breadth of the country, the presence of various communal organisations in Punjab makes the case of the latter a peculiar one. The communal

organisations like Arya Samaj, Christian Church, Sikh Khalsa Diwan and the Ahmadiyya movements were active in their endeavors to promote their respective communal interests. It was exactly during this period of socio-political uncertainties that the British government passed the Land Alienation Act of 1900, Indian Counsel Act of 1909 and The Government of India Act of 1919. These acts provided further impetus to the ongoing competition among the various communal organisations (Mohan 1992: 164-8). Although, the Land Alienation Act of 1900 was aimed at preventing the transfer of land from the hands of agriculturist castes into the non-agricultural money-lending castes, it has by its very nature debarred many castes to own land. Untouchables, who were already kept deprived of land according to the Varna-Vivastha system of the Hindu caste hierarchy, were now legally debarred from land ownership (Puri 2003:2695). The system of separate electorates introduced in 1909 and 1919 further exacerbated the communal and separatists stance of politics (Tanwar 1999: 29). It brought serious implications in the province of Punjab where Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had their respective political organisation to strive for their vested interests (Malhotra 1976:7488). Since Scheduled Castes did not have their own organisation to articulate and defend their interests, they became the center of attention of all the communal organisations. Each of these organisations was trying to woo them on its side to secure an edge over the others in terms of numbers. This was, perhaps, the first time in the history of the Scheduled Castes that their numerical strength became important in the calculation and formulation of social and political forces. The provision for separate electorate also raised their expectation to enter into political arena as an independent force rather than to be used, by the Arya-Samaj, Congress or Alkalis, as a

pawn on the chessboard of electoral politics. Moreover, the adoption of the removal of Untouchability by the Indian National congress as an integral part of its policies in 1917 provided a further impetus to the scheduled castes in their efforts to seek a respectable place in the Indian society. The California based Ghadar Movement was another important political development which fascinated the youths of Punjab who were eager to bask in an egalitarian system free from discrimination and colonial tutelage. These revolutionaries exhorted the people to rise (Malhotra 1970:21) The Babbar Akali movement was yet another significant political development that catapulted Punjab into the vortex of revolt against injustice and foreign rule. In addition, another important social and political movement that swept the cities and countryside of Punjab was the loud appeals of Arya Samaj to restructure the Indian society on the basis of equality and social justice. Ghadar movement and the Babbar Akali movements were revolutionary and militant movements in comparison to the nonviolent and passive postures of the Indian National Congress and Arya Samaj. Interestingly enough, the Ad Dharm movement, particularly, some of its key protagonists had close affiliation with the Arya Samaj before they became active in the movement. Obviously, the rise and growth of the Ad Dharm had to be deeply influenced by the AryaSamaj. The Arya Samaj had provided young untouchables with ideas of social equality not only by allowing them to attend its schools but also by creating service organizations such as the Dayanand Dalit Udhar at Hoshiarpur and Achhut Udhar at Lahore

(Juergensmeyer 2000: 222). The trio that initially conceived the idea of the Ad Dharm movement consisted of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudra Nand. They were also active in the Arya Samaj Movement. Vasant Rai had worked with the Arya Samaj as a teacher before taking up with the Samajs orthodox Hindu opposition, the Sanatan Dharm (Juergensmeyer 1988:38). Swami Shudra Nand was a missionary of the Samaj and Thakur Chand, though a dalit like Vasant Rai and Shudra Nand was called pundit because of his association with the Arya Samaj. They were either pracharaks (preachers) or Updeshaks (missionaries) of the Arya Samaj. Even after their absorption into the newly formed Ad Dharm movement Arya Samaj offered them important role in the movement to lure them back. Mention may be made here that they quit the Ad Dharm movement and returned to the Samaj.2 Mangoo Ram And Ad Dharm Mangoo Ram literally took the movement to the doorsteps of the untouchables in the Doaba region and soon emerged as a cult figure of the dalits in Punjab. He was born at Mugowal, a village in the district of Hoshiarpur, on 14th January 1886. His forefathers were practicing the occupation of tanning raw hides. However, his father, Harnam Dass, had abandoned the traditional caste-based occupation of tanning and preparing hides, and taken up the profession of selling the tanned leather on commercial basis. Since the leather trade required the knowledge of English language to read the sale orders, he was eager to have Mangoo Ram receive education to free him from the begar (forced labour) which he had to do in lieu of English orders read for him by the upper caste literates. Initially, Mangoo Ram was taught by a village Sadhu (Saint), then after

studying at different schools he joined a high school at Bajwara Kalan, a town few miles away from his home.3 being a Chamar, he had to sit separately from the other upper caste students. In fact, he used to take a gunny bag from his home for sitting in a segregated place outside the classroom. In 1905 Mangoo Ram left the high school to help his father in leather trade. For three years he helped his father develop leather trade into a thriving business. However, in 1909 he left for America to follow into the footsteps of his peer group in the Doaba region. Interestingly enough even in America Mangoo Ram had to work on the farms of a Punjabi Zamindar4 who had settled in California. In other words, even in America he had to experience the same relations of production as back home in India. How a Shudra immigrant worker, who works on the land of an Indian upper caste landlord settled abroad, feels and experiences work conditions and its resultant relations of production is an altogether a separate question. However, while in California, Mangoo Ram came in close contact with the Ghadar Movement - a radical organisation aimed at liberating India from the British rule through armed insurrection. In fact, he participated in the weapon smuggling mission of the organisation. He was arrested and given the capital punishment but was saved from the death sentence by a chance as someone else in his name was executed (Ahir 1992:2). The news of his supposed death reached his village. According to the tradition of his community, his widow, named Piari married his elder brother. Mangoo Ram, on reaching India, remarried and had four sons from his second wife named Bishno.5 After his return from abroad where he spent as many as sixteen years, Mangoo Ram did not find any change in Indian society which was still infested with the disease of Untouchability. He said

While living abroad I had forgotten about the hierarchy of high and low, and Untouchability; and under this very wrong impression returned home in December, 1925. The same misery of high and low, and Untouchability which I had left behind to go abroad started afflicting again. I wrote about all this to my leader Lala Hardyal Ji that until and unless this disease is cured Hindustan could not be liberated. In accordance with his orders, a program was formulated in 1926 for the awakening and upliftment of Achhut qaum (untouchable community) of India.6 Having settled in his native village, he opened up a school for the lower caste children in the village. Initially, the school was opened up, temporarily in the garden of Risaldar Dhanpat Rai, a landlord of his village. Later on, Lamberdar Beeru Ram Sangha, another landlord of the same village, donated half-acre land for the purpose of formally opening up the school. The school had five teachers including Mangoo Ram.7 Now-a-days, the school land has been declared as Shamlat (common land) and no remnants of the building exist except the old dilapidated structure of the well meant for drinking water in the school. It was in that school that the first official meeting of the Ad Dharm movement was held on June 1112, 1926. There is another version about the school which traced its origin to the support provided by the Arya Samaj (Juergensmeyer 2000: 224). However, given his close association with the Ghadar movement in California, Mangoo Rams relationships with the Arya Samaj was not as close as that of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudra Nand. Moreover, his personal experience of being treated as an equal in America, particularly by his fellow Ghadarites, inculcated in him an intense desire and inspiration for equality and social justice. This led him to lay the foundation of the Ad Dharm

movement to streamline the struggle against Untouchability. Soon he emerged as a folk-hero of the dalits who started rallying around him, particularly in the dalit concentrated areas of the Doaba region. However, after a while the Ad Dharm organisation got factionalised resulting in a split in 1929 into two groups: one headed by Vasant Rai and the other by Mangoo Ram. There emerged two independent organisations: the Ad Dharm Mandal with its office in Jalandhar was headed by Mangoo Ram and the All Indian Ad Dharm Mandal with its headquarters in Lyalpur was headed by Vasant Rai.8 The Vasant Rai group of the Ad Dharm Mandal was thoroughly soaked into the ideology of the Arya Samaj. In fact this group was lured back by the Arya Samaj. Although the Arya Samaj dominated section of Ad Dharm Mandal withdrew itself from the Mangoo Rams group in 1929, the latter played an active part in the politics of Punjab for a period of two decades from 1926 to 1952.9 Mangoo Ram set a clear agenda for Ad Dharm movement. The agenda was to create a new religion for the lower caste. Lower castes were treated shabbily by the Hindus who for political motives considered them as part of their religion. Arya Samaj was making frantic efforts to bring the Shudras back into the Hindu fold who had proselytised into Islam, Christianity and Sikh religion (Malhotra 1976: 74-88; Sharma 1985). Arya Samaj and the Christian church were not the only organisations which were trying to win over the lower castes. Sikhs and Muslims were equally interested in bringing them into their respective religions. Mangoo Ram thought it appropriate to intervene at this juncture to espouse the cause of Dalits by carving out a separate identity of their own. In the poster10 announcing the first annual meeting of Ad Dharm

Movement, Mangoo Ram11 devoted the entire space to the hardships faced by the untouchables at the hands of the caste Hindus. He also made an appeal to the Achhuts to come together to chalk out a program for their liberation and upliftment while addressing the Chamars, Chuhras, Sansis, Bhanjhras, Bhils etc. as brothers, he said, We are the real inhabitants of this country and our religion is Ad Dharm. Hindu Qaum came from outside to deprive us of our country and enslave us. At one time we reigned over Hind. We are the progeny of kings; Hindus came down from Iran to Hind and destroyed our qaum. They deprived us of our property and rendered us nomadic. They razed down our forts and houses, and destroyed our history. We are seven Crores in numbers and are registered as Hindus in this country. Liberate the Adi race by separating these seven crores. They (Hindus) became lord and call us others. Our seven crore number enjoy no share at all. We reposed faith in Hindus and thus suffered a lot. Hindus turned out to be callous. Centuries ago, Hindus suppressed us, sever all ties with them. What justice we expect from those who are the butchers of Adi race. Time has come, be cautious, now the Government listens to appeals. With the support of sympathetic Government, come together to save the race. Send members to the Councils so that our qaum is strengthened again. British rule should remain forever. Make prayer before God. Except for this Government, no one is sympathetic towards us. Never consider ourselves as Hindus at

all, remember that our religion is Ad Dharm.12 The way, the leaders of Ad Dharm chose to restore dignity and freedom to the untouchables was to completely detach them from Hinduism and to consolidate them into their own ancient religion Ad Dharm - of which they had become oblivious during the age-old domination by the alien Hindus. In fact, the task of the revival of their ancient religion was not an easy one by virtue of the fact that during a long period of persecution at the hands of the Savarnas, the untouchables had forgotten their Gurus and other religious symbols. In fact they were never allowed to nurture an aspiration to have their own independent religion. They were condemned as profane and were declared unfit to have their own theology. Thus to revive Ad Dharm was tantamount to developing an altogether a new religion for the Achhuts. Mangoo Rams appeal that the dalits were the real inhabitants of this land made an enormous psychological impact on the untouchables who were treated as, even inferior to animals in Indian society. The appeal inspired them to come out of their slumber and fight for their freedom and liberty. The Ad Dharm provided a theological podium to sustain and reinforce the new dalit identity. For centuries, they were bereft of any identity and remained in the appendage of the hierarchically graded Hindu society. Before 1920s, especially before the rise of Ad Dharm movement, the untouchables in Punjab hardly envisaged the idea of seeking a separate identity. The growing communal politics and resultant unrest within Punjab in the 1920s coupled with the emergence of dalit organisations in different parts of the country, offered them a good opportunity to carve out such an identity. In the pre-partition Punjab, untouchables constituted one-fourth of the total population. Since scheduled castes did not have their separate religion, they were being counted as Hindus. In a system of communal

representation, Muslim leaders were thinking that the Achhuts, who were never considered as equal by the caste Hindus, should be separated from them and equally divided between the Hindus and Muslims.13 It was not only Muslims who alone had such an approach, even the Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus also wanted to absorb them into their respective religion for political benefits. In the absence of any other alternative open to them, a large number of the Achhuts of Punjab converted into Christianity (especially the Chuhras of Sialkot and Gurdaspur), Sikhism (in Sialkot and Gurdaspur), and Islam (Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore division) (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d.:23). Consequently, the Hindus in the province had been reduced from 43.8% in 1881 to 30.2% in 1931 while the Sikhs increased from 8.2% to 14.3% and the Muslims from 40.6% to about 52% and in the British territory the population of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims in 1931 was 26.80%, 12.99% and 56.4% respectively (Census of India, 1931, Vol. xvii, Punjab Part i, p. 291 as quoted in Malhotra 1976: 75). Obviously, it alarmed the Arya Samaj to put an end to the conversions of Achhuts lest it turned out as a political suicide for Hindus. Lala Lajpat Rais Achhut Udhar Mandal at Lahore, Swami Ganesh Dutts Antyaj Udhar Mandal at Lahore and Lala Devi Chands Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal at Hoshiarpur came up in response to these conversions. As a matter of fact, the Arya Samaj started Shuddhi campaign to bring the converted Achhuts back into the Hindu-fold (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d.:23). This also brought the Arya Samaj into confrontation with the Sikhs and the

Muslims. In a famous incident in 1900, Sikhs rebelled at the Arya Samajs practice of publicly shaving lower caste Sikhs and offering them Shuddhi(Juergensmeyer 1988: 27). It was at this stage that Ad Dharm entered into the volatile territories of communal politics in Punjab. There was no one to welcome it (Virdi April 2001:10). However, they received some support from the British government as it had helped in weakening the growing unity in the country (Chandra et al 1989: 290-291 and 408-410). Anyhow, The Ad Dharmi pugnacity before independence, then, was both social and political; the latter would no doubt have brought at least to high-caste minds thoughts of imperialist divide and rule (Saberwal 1976:71). Dominant Castes, Violence and Ad Dharm The Ad Dharm faced stiff opposition and its followers fall victim to physical violence at the hands of both Hindus and Sikhs. In fact, the Ad-Dharmis were beaten up when they organised meetings. They were [c]hased everywhere and hounded out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una (Pawar 1993:77). They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two Chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis

(Chumber 1986: 51). In Lyalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting14. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted Shudra Nand from the dais of the Achhuts public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the JatSikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Jat-Sikhs had compelled the Achhuts to record themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid.54-56). In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-i- Hussain, Chief Commissioner, on the request of Mangoo Ram that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village15. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had tough time at the Lothian Committee16 to prove that they were neither Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the

Hindus. Likewise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month ) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal (Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of Achhut Mandal (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab. According to them the untouchables were the backward class of Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the performance of Shuddhi. Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab. Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52). In addition, insinuations and condemnations were also hurled at the Ad Dharm Mandal by the various religious groups in a bid to scandalise the movement. The leaders of Ad Dharm were alleged to have hob-nobbed with the Muslims during the crucial time of communal representation where Hindus and Muslims were juxtaposed against each other. The Ad-Dharms political alliance with the Unionist Party during the Punjab Assembly elections, first in 1937 and then again in 1945-46 was an eye sore both for the congress and the Hindu Sabha17. The Hindu leaders did not like the

Ad Dharmis growing links or secretly in the 1937 election who

association with the British

government. In fact, the Ad Dharmis were supported by the British

... gave them cars for their campaign. In public meetings, they would attack the various aspects of Hindu society, and if this led to violence, the government used to protect them (Saberwal 1976:7071). As regards the Ad Dharms closeness to Muslims, it was more of political expediency rather than a blind alliance. It was, in fact, Mangoo Ram, who categorically said no to the mandarins of partition (Chumber 1986:52; Sain 1985:37). But on the issue of communal representation for the Achhuts, he showed keen interest in its implementation for the Achhuts. When Gandhi sat on fastunto-death at Poona against the separate electorate for untouchables, Mangoo Ram followed suit declaring Gandhi if you are prepared to die for your Hindus, then I am prepared to die for these untouchables. On this Mangoo Ram was accused of being a casteist. The rift between the liberal Gandhian and radical untouchables was not healed, however, since each continued to perceive the other as an obstacle to achieving intercaste harmony. Gandhi thought the untouchables militant separatism was reinforcing the concept of caste and the untouchables thought Gandhi was trying to whitewash existing differences and to deny untouchables their legitimate base of power. Both the perceptions were to some extent correct (Juergensmeyer 2000:230).

Gandhi pleaded on behalf of the Shudras and tried to live like a Bhangi among them to experience what hardships they faced. But Mangoo Ram was one of them. He was a Chamar who experienced the pangs of untouchability. Thus, his response to the epic fast against separate electorate was not merely pragmatic but also an existential one. When Dr. Ambedkar compromised with Gandhi and the Poona Pact was signed, Mangoo Ram rang up Dr. Ambedkar in an angry mood and expressed his anguish as to why he agreed to the Pact. Dr. Ambedkar said that he had to sign the Poona Pact on human grounds to save the life of Gandhi (Moon 19991:88). The Ad Dharmis perceived that the scheduled castes had lost much more than what they gained in the Poona Pact (Chumber 1986: 51). That is why Mangoo Ram continued his fast even after the Pact was signed. He broke his fast only after the declaration was made by the government that eight seats were reserved for the untouchables in Punjab. The fast undertaken by him continued for 28 days from 20th September to 17th October, 1932 until the Pact was received at Jalandhar. Mangoo Ram used to say those people (Hindus) who had humiliated us for thousands of years how we could trust their promise (Mugowalia 1986: 35). Thus the followers of Ad Dharm movement were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights. In spite of all types of pressures and hardships, the Ad Dharmis succeeded in registering Ad Dharm as a separate religion for the lower castes in Punjab in the 1931 census.

Ad Dharm And Dalit Identity A close study of the objectives set forth by the Ad Dharm founders and the methods adopted by them shows that they endeavored to

establish a religious identity for the lower castes than building up the subaltern consciousness. The Ad Dharmis wanted to remove the stigma of untouchability from the face of their community and secure equal rights and respect for the lower caste people. However, the methods and ways adopted by the Ad Dharm leaders ended up with creating another religion. The Ad-Dharmis were asked to salute each other in the name of Jai Guru Dev (Victory to the divine guru) and in response to that the reply was Dhan Guru Dev (blessed be the divine guru). These greetings were meant to differentiate them (the untouchables) from the other religious communities having their own specific nomenclatures to accost each other within their own social circles. For example, the Hindus address each other by Namaste, Sikhs by Sat Sri Akal and Muslims by Salaam (Juergensmeyer 1988: 53). The salutation of Jai Guru Dev and Dhan Guru Dev as a response to that provided a separate identity to the Ad-Dharm, a new religion of Shudras. Sant Ravidass was projected as a spiritual preceptor and Guru. Bhagwan Satguru Namdev, Maharaj Kabir and Rishi Valmiki were also included in the theology of Ad Dharm. The Sanskrit phrase sohang18 (I am that) was adopted as a mantra by the new religion, Ad Dharm. It is still being used in the wall calendars showing Guru Ravi Dasss picture. As far as the salutations are concerned, they have become memorabilia of the Ad Dharm movement. The protagonists of the Ad Dharm movement also strived to provide their new religion with a sacred book called Ad Prakash, the original light. The purpose of such a move was to institutionalise the newly created religion. Mangoo Ram expressed his will among his closest circle that on his death only the sacred couplets from the Ad Prakash should be chanted. So after his death, only the Ad Prakash was recited on the death ceremony. At that time only a hand written

copy of the Ad Prakash was available. Subsequently, Sant Isher Dass of village Nandgarh of District Hoshiarpur compiled the holy book19. Thus the Ad Dharm movement provided a new sense of identity to the untouchables which they lacked earlier. In fact, the Ad Dharm developed into a qaum (a community) similar to those of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. The Ad Dharm made substantial contribution to the social and political life of dalits in Punjab. It tried to generate awareness among the Dalits for bringing a cultural revolution in the society perforated with the evil of low and high caste dichotomy. Although, a large number of social organisations had sprung up since the early twenties for the benefits of the untouchables, all of them were patronised by the upper castes and failed to bring any significant change as far as the trajectories of varna system and caste configuration of the Indian society were concerned. Given the obnoxious contents of the social taboos and the anti-dalit social practices, it was adventurous for the untouchables to think about forming an organisation to fight for the cause of social liberation. Why Ad Dharm had to project Dalits as a separate qaum with an independent religion was not only a sociological issue but had deep political undercurrents in an in egalitarian social system where some people were excluded from the mainstream on the basis of their birth. Interestingly enough, their being untouchable was more pronounced in terms of denying them the benefits of facilities available in the civil society and less in terms of seeking their menial services. However, with the introduction of the adult franchise the untouchables have no longer been untouchable so far as their votes are concerned. But they are hardly encouraged to aspire for the seat of power. The game of numbers has made it imperative for the

Hindus to have claim on the untouchables. Even in the instruction guide for the 1931 census mention was made that [A] ll Chuhras who are not Muslims or Christians, and who do not return any other religion, should be returned as Hindus. The same rule applies to members of other depressed classes who have no tribal religion (1931 Census, Punjab, Vol. 20, Chap. 11, p. 289, as quoted in Juergensmeyer 1988:73) The emancipator project launched by Mangoo Ram inspired the lower castes to make efforts for their upliftment. The scope of the project, as vividly enunciated in the resolution passed in the first meeting of the Ad Dharm posited emphasis on the social equality of the Dalits and stressed on creating social and cultural awakening rather than merely seeking jobs and other benefits from the government. The Ad Dharm Report20 listed ten basic principles and twelve duties of the Ad Dharm organisation and fifty-six commandments to be followed by the Ad Dharmis. The main emphasis of these commandments, principles and duties was on the cultural, social and religious aspects of the life. The Report also includes twenty-five resolutions passed in the first Ad Dharm Conference in 1926. The government was requested to provide special schools and scholarships for the untouchable children (resolutions 7, 10, 11); proper representation in elected bodies and government departments (resolution 17); to eliminate rayit-namma and not to apply the Land Alienation Act to the untouchables (resolution 13). The Ad Dharm Mandal led by Mangoo Ram was able to raise the religious and organisational status of the untouchables beyond imagination21. The new constitution of independent India , adopted on 26 January, 1950, incorporated special provisions for Dalits to raise their social status and to help

them to come at par with the rest of the society. In fact, the voice for such special provisions were first raised by the Ad Dharm in 1926 and subsequently documented in its report in 1931. In 1950, Mangoo Ram requested his qaum to relieve him of active social service life and called upon young Ad Dharmis to come forward to take the flag of dalit liberation.22 However, for two decades, i.e. from 1950 to 1970, Ad Dharm movement remained dormant for reasons best known to its leaders. In fact, most of the Adi movements in different parts of the country ceased to play an active role in the post-colonial India until 1970. Some of their leaders either joined the Congress or, for some time, carried out their political struggle under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar. Some scholars believed that the Ad Dharm movement was eventually absorbed into Dr. Ambedkars Scheduled Castes federation and finally transformed into the Republican Party of India (Ahir 1992:5; and Saberwal 1976:68). It has also been said that in 1946 the Ad Dharm Mandal handed over the charge of political struggle to Dr. Ambedkars Scheduled Castes Federation and confined itself to the social and religious matters affecting the Scheduled castes (Juergensmeyer 1988:153). However, facts do not support such an analysis. After the 1937 Punjab Assembly elections, in which the Ad Dharm won all but one reserved seats, the low lying factionalism within its organisation came onto the surface. The main factional confrontation was between Seth Kishan Das and Master Gurbanta Singh. Seth Kishan Das was a rich man of the famous Boota Mandi, 23 whose financial support to the Ad Dharm Mandal was no secret. He was also in the good books of Mangoo Ram, President of the Mandal. Master Gurbanta Singh was an Arya-samaji turned congress sympathiser who had also served Ad Dharm at one time as a General Secretary.

He projected himself as a real representative of the untouchables being one of them as a poor man. Whereas, Seth Kishan Das, a wealthy leather merchant, in his view, could not empathise with the poor untouchables. He contested 1937 Punjab Assembly election as a congress nominee from the Jalandhar reserved seat against Seth Kishan Das who was supported by the Ad Dharm Mandal. Master Gurbanta Singh was defeated by Seth Kishan Das with a big margin. This further widened the gulf between them. In the meantime, Seth Kishan Das formed the Achhut Federation, a Punjabi version of Dr. Ambedkars Scheduled Castes Federation. Mr. Gopal Singh Khalsa, an M.L.A. from the Ludhiana reserved seat, joined him as a VicePresident. Seth Kishan Das formed Achhut Federation without taking Mangoo Ram into confidence that, in turn, got enraged by his behaviour. Master Gurbanta Singh exploited this opportunity and stepped into the Ad Dharm Mandal. He managed to come closer to Mangoo Ram. However, Master Gurbanta Singh had also formed Ravidass Naujawan Sabha and carried out for some time Ravidass Jaikara, as the publication of the Sabha. Bhagat Singh Mal, Pritam Singh Bala, Karam Chand Shenmar were some of the prominent members of the Ravidass Naujawan Sabha. He, in fact, reportedly wanted to emulate Mangoo Ram by forming an organisation and a publication to match Adi Danka, the weekly newspaper of Ad Dharm24. In the 1946-47 Punjab Assembly election, Mangoo Ram put his weight behind Master Gurbanta Singh who was a congress nominee against Kishan Das of the Achhut Federation. This time, Master Gurbanta Singh defeated Seth Kishan Das. However, by now the leadership of the Ad Dharm Mandal got scattered into different political segments, thanks to the allurement of political offices. Mangoo Ram himself got elected to the Assembly with the support of the Unionist Party from the

Hoshiarpur constituency. The Ad Dharm Mandal building, which was constructed with the financial support of Seth Kishan Das, came under the control of Master Gurbanta Singh who eventually became the custodian of its property and Chairman of Ravidass High School. A cursory glance at these developments in the Ad Dharm conjured up a pessimistic image about the Ad Dharm movement as if it had ceased to exist in the late forties. But what one needs to keep in mind while analysing the scope of the movement, is that movement is too big a phenomenon to be confined within the boundaries of a compact organisation or a political party. Political organisations and political parties may branch out from the domain of a movement. And the movement may for some time go into a gestation period to resurface again. Hardly if ever, does a social movement sustain a uniform ally high level of mobilised action. It alternates between periods of intense activity and relative calm, during which period it may devote itself to organisational problems. Therefore, a period of relative calm need not apply its dissipation (Mukherji 1977:47) The Achhut Federation and the emergence of an articulate dalit leadership which eventually joined the congress was, in fact, the product of the Ad Dharm movement. The coming up of the Achhut Federation and joining of the congress party by some of the Ad Dharmis should not be interpreted as the demise of the Ad Dharm movement. Even when the movement was in low ebb, Mangoo Ram and his associates like Sant Ram Azad and Chanan Lal Manak remained steadfast on the principles and sustenance of Ad-Dharm

movement. Rejuvenation Even in 1970 when efforts were made by Mangu Ram Jaspal, another Ad Dharmi of the Doaba region who had returned from England to settle in Jalandhar, to revive the movement, the veteran Mangoo Ram promptly came forward to help resuscitate the movement. Some other distinguished Ad Dharmis, who remained loyal to the movement even during its gestation period, wrote series of articles in the Ravidass Patrika of the new Ad Dharm movement. The new Ad-Dharm movement got resurged and revamped on December 13, 1970 under the banner of Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation. There were striking similarities between the Ad Dharm Mandal and the Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation. As a matter of fact, Mangoo Ram commented that were back to where we were in 1925' (Juergensmeyer 1988:263). Until the objective conditions or contradictions which initially propelled the movement were altered or resolved, the goals and ideology remained intact to reemerge at the slightest opportunity. ...[w]hen the existing structures in a society show certain inconsistencies with reference to the achievement of certain goals or when the goals themselves are inconsistent with the needs of the constituents of the system, objective conditions for their manifestation is (sic) prepared. When these conditions lead further to maturation collective mobilisation may take place in response to general discontent. ... Such mobilisation for collective action continue to persist until such times as when the

objective conditions change in a direction so as to render the continuance of such a collective mobilisation redundant. Such a situation may arise when the collective mobilisation has achieved its major objective, or when the major objective of the movement 1977:42). The main objectives of the Ad Dharm movement were to carve out an independent identity for the untouchables and to blot out the stigma of untouchability. Although, the Ad Dharm movement played an effective role in mobilising dalits on these vital issues, the shift in the then political arena, induced by the electoral system, forced the movement to adjust itself with the changed political scenario. As the majority of the Ad Dharm leadership got involved in the electoral process to gain political power25, it eventually diluted its emphasis on the goals of removal of untouchability and the construction of a separate identity. As a result the objective conditions remained unchanged. In spite of legal provisions enshrined in the new constitution, the traditional authority structures of hierarchy resisted and stalled the process of transformation. Mangoo Ram said: ... our people in the government are still treated like slaves. They fear their superiors and high caste people. (Juergensmeyer 1988: 258). In other words, the evil of untouchability has not been eradicated from the complex social structure of the society. Physical untouchability has given way to the mental untouchability26. Moreover, the goal of constructing a communal identity for the itself becomes irrelevant (Mukherji

untouchables by developing a separate religion, though partly achieved in the 1931 census, was rolled back in 1932 by the Poona Pact. Henceforth, from the status of a religion, Ad Dharm was reduced into a category of caste27. So, instead of elevating the status of the untouchables, it had a negative impact on the dalit mobilisation. A new caste was added to the already long list of Scheduled castes. Chamars were further categorised into Chamars and Ad Dharmis. The new Ad Dharm movement in the seventies was organised against this background. It pledged to revive the spirit of social and cultural transformation, as ignited by Mangoo Ram in the 1920s. Efforts were also made to keep away from the vicissitudes of power politics which had marred social and cultural stances of the original Ad Dharm movement. The Ad-Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation reiterated on the importance of communal identity of the Ad Dharmis as a separate qaum. In fact, the revived movement was more theological. Religion was employed as a rallying point for harnessing the allegiance of the untouchables. The construction of Ravidass Temple in Benares and highlighting the Ravidass temple (Dera Sach Khand) in village Ballan near Bhogpur town of Jalandhar was the focal point of the new Ad Dharm movement. The first conference of the revived movement was held at a religious place Dera Sach Khand Ballan. It focused on the renewal of the qaumi identity. However, in due course some material demands were also included. Land reforms and raising the income limit from Rs.3600 to 6000, for defining poverty, were among the most important demands in this regard (Juergensmeyer 1988: 261). The revived Ad Dharm movement attempted to widen the scope of Ad Dharm religion by including in its fold, the Chuhras (sweeper caste), Mazhbi Sikhs, Ramdasias, and the Ambedkar Buddhists. In

order to enlist the support of the Chuhras, who got estranged from the Ad Dharm, (Saberwal 1976:68) Valmiki, the patron saint of the sweeper caste, was assigned special importance in the revived movement. Although the Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation adopted the well-tried-out formulae of dalit mobilisation, it could not succeed in eliciting the same level of response. The practice of untouchability, the most important structural factor (Oommen 1977:16) in mobilising untouchables in 1920s, has been bridled to a significant extent. Moreover, the articulate leaders of the Scheduled castes were co-opted in the congress system which operated like an umbrella to incorporate various shades of political orientations and organisations. Moreover, what the Ad Dharm was aspiring for during the British regime, the congress delivered the same in the post colonial phase. Even Mangoo Ram had acknowledged it and said Dhanwad karna congress raj wala chotte waddhe da bhaid mitta ditta. Mahatama Gandhi ji bauhat upkar kitta girian kauman nu saath mila ditta. (Thanks to the congress regime for bridging the gap between the lower and the higher. Mahatama Gandhi ji did a lot of social service to bring the downtrodden at par with the other communities) 28. However, before the revived Ad Dharm movement lost in the whirlpool of militant fundamentalism in Punjab in the 1980s, fresh efforts were made to keep the struggle alive by publishing souvenirs, journals, and weekly news bulletins to glorify the various aspects of the movement. In January 1985, the Mangoo Ram Mugowalia Souvenir Committee released a souvenir29 in

commemoration of the 99th birth anniversary of Mangoo Ram. The purpose of the souvenir was to generate awareness among the scheduled castes about the protagonists and sympathisers of the Ad Dharm Mandal. Moreover, as a sequel to the Adi Danka of the 1920s and Ravidass Patrika of the 1970s, a Punjabi monthly named Kaumi Udarian was launched from Jalandhar in December 198530. It endeavored to give wide coverage to the different aspects of the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s and its contemporary relevance. In January 1986, a special issue of the Kaumi Udarian was published on the birth centenary of Babu Mangoo Ram. Likewise on 12 January 1997 the Bahujan Samaj Bulletin (a weekly newspaper of the Bahujan Samaj Party) also focused on various themes of the Ad Dharm movement. It was, in fact, through the columns of souvenirs, journals and news bulletins that many of the rare official documents of the Ad Dharm Mandal were made public. In addition, on 14 April 1986, the Ambedkar Mission Society, Punjab, posthumously honored Babu Mangoo Ram with the title of Kaumi Messiah (saviour of the community). The important factor which distinguished the revival of the Ad Dharm movement in the 1980s, particularly under the BSP, was that it laid less emphasis on the appeal of religion to seek support for the movement. It is politics which has now acquired the centre stage pushing religion into the background. No doubt the movement right from the very beginning had shown interest in gaining political power for purposes of bringing about the basic social transformation31 as witnessed during the Assembly elections in 1937 and 1946-47. The Ad Dharmis found it convenient to use religion as a strategy to political power. However, the real objective of the Ad Dharm movement was to create an egalitarian social structure where Ad Dharmis would be proud of their community and feel free to aspire for equal opportunities.

With an aim of achieving the same objective, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has become active in Punjab since 1985. Of late the Party has claimed that the ideology of Ad Dharm has become the spine, heart , brain, eyes, feet, and arms of the struggle of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Bulletin 12 January 1997:8). In 1996, it won three of the thirteen parliamentary seats and recorded leads in as many as seventeen assembly constituencies in Punjab (Verma 1999). Kanshi Ram, founder of the BSP, was elected to Lok Sabha (1996) from the Hoshiarpur constituency , wherefrom 50 years ago Babu Mangoo Ram, founder of the Ad Dharm movement, got elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1946. More interestingly, it was again in Hoshiarpur that the BSP celebrated 75th year of the AD Dharm movement on 28 February 2001. On this occasion, Kanshi Ram in his address exhorted the Bahujan Samaj to follow the principles of the Ad Dharm movement of which the BSP has, now, become the torchbearer. The pamphlet32, issued by the BSP, also emphasised that the Party had taken forward the mission of the Ad Dharm movement. It reiterated that although Dr. Ambedkar tried to give political freedom to the downtrodden by granting them the right to vote in the constitution, but in actual practice it could not be realised fully. Further, the Pamphlet stressed that the Manuite regimes have conspired to deprive the dalits of their hard earned rights by proposing to amend the constitution. The BSP, which drew inspiration from Ad Dharm and Dr. Ambedkar, strongly condemned such moves and sought support in its tirade against the Manuite government. Simultaneously, the efforts have also been made to revive the spirit of the Ad Dharm movement abroad. Begumpura Times Quarterly, a bilingual publication of the Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl.

Wolverhampton, U.K. (Started in 1999) has carried a series of articles on various aspects of the Ad Dharm movement and the steps taken for its revival. The Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl. also celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of the Ad Dharm movement at Shri Guru Ravidass Community Centre, Wolverhampton, on 11 June 2000. Earlier, on 25 July 1976, it celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Ad Dharm in U.K. where Babu Mangoo Ram was invited as the chief guest and also honored with a pension of Rs. 1000 per month (Sain, 1985:37). In India, the Platinum Jubilee function of the movement was organised at the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar on 11 June 2000. On this occasion, Mr. Chumber released the report of Ad Dharm Mandal 1931 (in Punjabi and Hindi) 33 which included the names of 500 members and 55 missionaries of the Mandal. The purpose of publishing the names of the members and missionaries was to acknowledge their contributions to the upliftment of the dalit community and also to generate an active interest among the younger generation of their families. The report also made a call to the scheduled castes to record Ad Dharm as their religion in the 2001 census as was done in the 1931 census. A similar appeal was made by the Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl., U.K. Mention may be made here that the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s had also received support from the immigrant Ad Dharmis settled in New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore, U.K. etc. (McLeod 1986:110: see also Manak 1985:8). As the ideology and principles of the Ad Dharm movement greatly influenced the dalits of the Doaba region, most of the immigrants who supported the movement from abroad also hailed from this very region. The present BSP, under the leadership of Kanshi Ram, which claims to fight for the rights of dalits in the framework of the Ad Dharm movement, has high hopes from the Doaba region. Moreover, given the significant number of Scheduled

Castes in Punjab (28.31% as per 1991 census), there is a possibility of the emergence of alternative dalit politics. The Impediments What stumbled the dalits in Punjab to emerge as a political alternative despite their numerical strength is that they have not been able to consolidate themselves as a homogeneous group. In fact, they form a conglomerate of thirty-seven distinct dalit castes34 with different sub identities and diverse religious affiliations. The rules of the caste grammar treating one caste as superior to another are equally followed by the scheduled castes in the state. A study based on the field work has found that 76.6 percent of the dalit respondents ranked Ad Dharmi at the top of the hierarchy of the scheduled castes in Punjab. Being conscious of their superior status the Ad Dharmis practice endogamy to maintain their distinctness from the other dalit castes. Further, the study reported that 91.6 percent of the Ad Dharmis had married within their own caste (Kamaljot 1996: 33-35). Another empirical study reveals that among the Valmikis and the Ad Dharmis in Punjab there exists a substantial measure of active caste consciousness which further precluded them forging unity to fight out the socio-economic and political backwardness (Saberwal 1973: 256). According to 1981 census, in terms of their numerical strength the Mazhabis, the Sikh counterparts of Valmikis also known as Chuhras, were 13,66,843; Chamars (also called Ramdasias, Ravidasies etc.) 12,21,145; Ad Dharmis 6,80,132; Valmikis 5,32,628; Dumnas 1,24,929; Bazigars 1,20,250; Meghs 78,405; Bawarias 62,624; Sansis 61,986; and Kabirpanthis 56,888 followed by rest of the scheduled castes in varied smaller denominations (Jodkha 2000: 400-401; see also his 2002). Out of the thirty seven

castes, the Punjab government declared thirteen as the Depressed Scheduled Castes. Seven of these thirteen Depressed Scheduled Castes are identified by the Punjab government as the De-notified Tribes or the Vimukta Jatis who were declared by the colonial administration as Vagrant and Criminal tribes. These thirteen castes together constituted only 11 percent of the scheduled caste population (ibid : 394). Chamars, Mazhabis, Ad Dharmis and Valmikis together constitute nearly three-fourth of the total scheduled castes population of Punjab. Apart from above, the factor of economic inequalities among the dalits in the state is no less significant. The Ad Dharmis of the Boota Mandi in Jalandhar who control the leather industry are the richest among the scheduled castes of Punjab. Moreover, a group of scheduled castes has established its hold over the surgical tool manufacturing units in the Jalandhar town. Likewise, a small number of scheduled castes households also own cultivable land (around 0.40 percent of the total holdings in Punjab) which makes them different from most other dalits whose mainstay of livelihood depends on the income as manual and landless labourers. Similarly, some sections of the scheduled castes, particularly the Chamar and Ad Dharmis have acquired administrative positions in the state administration. The above analysis shows that dalits of Punjab constitute a motley group of castes, economic strata and religious identities. Besides, the dalits lack an all-Punjab leader to mobilize them across religious and regional variations. It was precisely because of these intra-dalit cleavages that they could not emerge as a cohesive force to reckon with in the politics of Punjab. In the absence of a common platform, some of the dalits and their local elites seek their salvation through different political outfits including the Congress and the Akali Dal.

Conclusion What we have tried to argue above is that the dalit consciousness is a consciousness of seeking justice and equality which was born in the early 20the century. Another aspect of dalit consciousness which needs to be underlined is that it has never been an exclusive domain of dalits only. Intermittently it continued to receive inputs from nondalit quarters as well. Be it a phase of Bhakti movement, Sufis, Indian renaissance or of national freedom movement, there is an ample proof of efforts being made by non-dalits in the direction of eradication of untouchability. However, almost all of them thought it appropriate to take measures for the removal of untouchability without doing away with the in egalitarian social structure. This has led to a sharp division between the orientation of the dalits and the higher caste protagonists of social reform movements. The rise of Ad Dharm movement and Gandhi-Ambedkar dispute are testimonies to such polarization between the dalits and the twiceborn. This division in turn further strengthened the process of consolidation of dalit consciousness in a framework of we and others. The issues of caste and untouchability instead of emerging as a common social problem with a unified response across the length and breadth of Indian sub-continent have taken on a path of confrontation and antagonism. Dalit consciousness grew along these fault lines. Indian freedom struggle failed to provide an environment for the emergence of a politics based on consensus and common concerns. This was probably the main reason for the continuance of the ideology and principles of the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab through the efforts of the BSP. More curiously, dalits became victim of their own dalit consciousness, which instead of transcending caste and caste based hierarchies strengthened caste identities. Until very recently they

(dalits) were condemned as untouchable because of their being low caste, now they have been given favours constitutionally, too because of their being low caste. Hence as far as the social status of dalits is concerned no significant change has really taken place. The blatant untouchability of yesteryears got transformed into a subtle form. Once a Scheduled Caste succeeded to raise his economic status by making use of reservation, he absolutely finds no avenues to concomitantly raise his social status also. He then desperately seeks new identities in borrowing religions and sometimes even borrowing respectable sub-caste titles. Such borrowed identities haunt him incessantly because his new incarnation failed to get recognition in the hierarchical social set up. It is in this context that the contribution of the Ad Dharm movement becomes crucial. It helped the scheduled castes to seek social recognition through the process of cultural transformation on the one hand and spiritual regeneration on the other. It carved out a new identity for them. It gave them a new name: Ad Dharmi. The very title of Ad Dharmi instills in the minds of the scheduled castes a sense of pride. It reminds them of their pristine rich heritage. It also realised them as to how they were deprived of freedom and liberty and made subservient to the twice born. The Ad Dharm movement succeeded in raising the consciousness of the downtrodden people of the Doaba region of Punjab in particular and of the entire state in general. It gave them gurus to believe in, a qaum to belong to and a sense of history to relate with. It envisions them the possibility and potentiality of a social change whereby the scheduled castes could think and make efforts to improve their lot. The process of cultural transformation and spiritual regeneration started by the Ad Dharm movement under the leadership of Mangoo Ram continued to reverberate the cities and villages of Punjab into the 21st century through different platforms and political formations.

Notes

[I am grateful to Professor P.S. Verma for meticulously going through the various drafts of this paper. His scholarly comments and incisive criticism helped in improving the arguments raised in the paper. To late Chanan Lal Manak, I.D. Pawar, K.C. Shenmar, K.C. Sulekh, Chattar Sain, C.L. Chumber and Sant Baba Surinder Das I owe a special debt for helping me in locating and providing source material on the Ad Dharm movement. My thanks to Professors: H.K. Puri, Paramjit Singh Judge and Late Pradeep Kumar who provided critical inputs in preparation of the draft. My special thanks to Seema Goel for helping me in various ways in the preparation of the paper. However, for any fault or error, the responsibility lies entirely on the author]. <!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Some of the close

associates of the Ad Dharm movement, however, did not approve the closure of the movement in 1946. They were of the opinion that Ad Dharm continued to play an important role for the upliftment of the untouchables even after 1946. In 1946 Mangoo Ram got elected to the Punjab Assembly and remained there to espouse the cause of the Ad Dharmis till the first general elections in independent India. By that time, Mangoo Ram had grown fairly old. According to Chanan Lal Manak, a close associate of the movement, Ad Dharm could not produce any one of the caliber of Mangoo Ram to replace him. The rank and file of Ad Dharm was more interested in their individual vested interests rather than in the upliftment of the Dalits as a community. However, Mangoo Ram till his death did not surrender the Herculean task that he had taken on his

shoulders for the dalit consciousness and their upliftment. Interviews with Ishwar Das Pawar, Chandigarh, April 23, 2001; Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 1, 2001; and Chattar Sain, son of Mangoo Ram, Garshankar (Distt. Hoshiarpur), April 27, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]--> Interviews: Chanan Lal

Manak, Jalandhar, May 1, 2001; K.C. Sulekh, Chandigarh, July 1, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Interview with Chattar

Sain, son of Mangoo Ram, Garshankar (Distt. Hoshiarpur) April 27, 2001; see also Ram 1971: 4). <!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[if !supportLists]-->6. panth <!--[endif]-->Sain, n.3. <!--[endif]-->Ibid. <!--[endif]-->A signed pamphlet by Meri Walon Sandesh

Mangoo Ram in the name of his qaum, entitled Panjab De Achhut Nu Vadhai: (Congratulations to the Untouchable Brotherhood of Punjab: My Message ), reproduced as such in Monthly Kaumi Udarian(Punjabi), vol. 1, no. 2, January 1986, 24(Jalandhar, ed. C.L. Chumber). <!--[if !supportLists]-->7. <!--[endif]-->One of the teachers of pp. 23-

the school was a Muslim, Walhi Mohammad and one was Brahmin, who was later on converted into a Shudra. The conversion ceremony comprised of an earthen pot (Douri) which contained water mingled with sugar balls (Patasha) and stirred with leather cutting tool (Rambi). Thus the prepared sweet water considered as holy was given to Brahmins to baptize them into Shudras (Sain, n.3).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.

<!--[endif]-->The All India Ad Dharm

Mandal got disbanded and merged with the organisation led by Dr Ambedkar in 1933 and after some years the same fate fell on Ad Dharm of Mangoo Ram, who closed the office of the Ad Dharm Mandal and changed its name to Ravidass Mandal (Juergensmeyer 2000: 232). However, close associates of the Ad Dharm movement contested this observation. They said that Ad Dharm Mandal was not changed into Ravidass Mandal. In fact, later on, Ravidass School was opened up in the premises of the Ad Dharm Mandal building. So it was Ravidass School which merely came to occupy the space of the Ad Dharm Mandal building rather than its being taken over by Ravidass Mandal. Interviews with: late Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 29, 2001; K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P) Pb.(retd.) Chandigarh, April 28, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->9. <!--[endif]-->In 1952, Mangoo Ram

was offered a ticket by the Congress to contest the assembly elections as its nominee. As he refused to contest the election on the Congress ticket, it was given to Kartar Singh of village Ligari of Hoshiarpur District. (Sain, n.3). <!--[if !supportLists]-->10. <!--[endif]-->Mugowal Zila

Hoshiarpur De Ad Dharm Skool da Wadda Bhaari Diwan: Pehla Salana Jalsa Muwarka 11-12 June Aittwar, Somwar 1927 Mutabak 30-31 Jeth 1984 (Mugowal, Hoshiarpur District, in the Ad Dharm School: First Annual Huge Public Meeting, 11-12 June, Sunday-Monday 1927, as per the Local Calendar 30-31 of the first month of the Year 1984). However, in various writings about Ad Dharm the year 1926 is referred to as the year of the First Annual Meeting of the Ad Dharm. Reproduced as such in Monthly Kaumi Udarian (Punjabi), vol. 1, No. 2,

January 1986, pp 21-22. <!--[if !supportLists]-->11. Babu Thakur Chand. <!--[if !supportLists]-->12. <!--[endif]-->The text is in the form of <!--[endif]-->Swami Shudra Nand and

poetry (in Punjabi), translated by the author and Seema Goel. <!--[if !supportLists]-->13. <!--[endif]-->However, no record is

available to substantiate this thesis (Juergensmeyer 1988:23). <!--[if !supportLists]-->14. <!--[if !supportLists]-->15. <!--[if !supportLists]-->16. <!--[endif]-->Manak, n.8. <!--[endif]-->Ibid. <!--[endif]-->The Lothian committee

(Indian Franchise committee) was constituted in December 1931 under the Chairmanship of the Marquees of Lothian, C.H., and Parliamentary under Secretary of State for India. It consisted of 18 members. Dr. Ambedkar was one of them. The committee began its work, of hearing the views of the parties concerned and the provincial franchise committees constituted by the respective Provincial Legislatures, at Delhi on 1st February 1932. It conducted its enquires in Lahore on 31st March and 1st April, 1932. Ad Dharm Mandal and Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal represented the depressed classes of the Punjab before the committee. The Ad Dharm Mandal delegation consisted of eighteen members including Mangoo Ram (President) Hazara Ram Piplanwala (General Secretary), Hans Raj (Vice-President), Ram Chand Khera (Editor, Adi Danka), Pt. Hari Ram and Sant Ram Azad (Ahir 1992:8-9). <!--[if !supportLists]-->17. <!--[endif]--> In 1937 Assembly

elections in Punjab eight seats were reserved for the scheduled

castes. Ad Dharm contested on all seats with the help of Unionist Party. Ad Dharm candidates won seven seats. One seat (Hoshiarpur) went to Congress candidate, Moola Singh who defeated Hazara Ram Piplanwala of Ad Dharm with a margin of seven votes (Manak May 1971: No. 8). <!--[if !supportLists]-->18. <!--[endif]-->As spelt on the top of the

letter pad of Ad Dharm Mandal. One such letter is in the possession of K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P.) Punjab (retd.) on which Mangoo Ram gave him testimonial. K.C. Shenmar has kindly passed on the photocopy of the testimonial to the author. <!--[if !supportLists]-->19. <!--[endif]-->Ad Prakash Granth

contains 1248 pages which include hymns of Guru Ravidass, Maharishi Valmiki and Kabir, apart from many other Adi Gurus (Banta Ram, Joginder Bains, Shri Ad Prakash Granth Trust, Hoshiarpur; Sain, n.3). <!--[if !supportLists]-->20. <!--[endif]-->The report of the Ad

Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 was published on May 15, 1931 in Urdu. Mark Juergensmeyer and Surjit Singh Goraya translated it into English (Juergensmeyer 1988). C. L. Chumber translated it into Hindi and Punjabi (Chumber 11 June 2000). The Hindi and Punjabi translation include the name of the five hundred members of the Ad Dharm Mandal and its fifty five missionaries which were not included in the English translation. <!--[if !supportLists]-->21. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Shenmar, IG(P) Punjab (retd.), Chandigarh, April 28, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->22. <!--[if !supportLists]-->23. <!--[endif]-->Pamphlet, n.6 <!--[endif]-->Boota Mandi, also

known as Ramdasspura, is situated on Nakodar road in

Jalandhar. It has been inhabited by Ad Dharmis who had come from different villages to settle there for leather works and trade. <!--[if !supportLists]-->24. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Shenmar, Chandigarh, July 9, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->25. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Sulekh, Chandigarh, July 12, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->26. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Shenmar, Chandigarh, July 14, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->27. <!--[endif]-->Ad Dharmi is one of the

thirty seven castes listed as Scheduled Castes (Census of India 1991, section 17, Punjab). <!--[if !supportLists]-->28. <!--[endif]-->Pamphlet, n. 6, cf

(Juergensmeyer 2000:232, fn. 21). <!--[if !supportLists]-->29. Nagar, Delhi). <!--[if !supportLists]-->30. <!--[endif]-->Jalandhar was the head <!--[endif]-->Souvenir, 1985: Babu

Mangoo Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary (41, Kundan

quarter of the Ad Dharm Mandal. Adi Danka and Ravidass Patrika were also published form there. <!--[if !supportLists]-->31. <!--[if !supportLists]-->32. <!--[endif]-->n. 10, p. 22. <!--[endif]-->The pamphlet was made

available to the author by C.L. Chumber. <!--[if !supportLists]-->33. <!--[endif]-->The Report of the Ad

Dharm Mandal 1926-1931, translated by C.L. Chumber in

Hindi and Punjabi and circulated through Adi Dharm Weekly (Jalandhar), 11 June 2000. <!--[if !supportLists]-->34. <!--[endif]-->Thirty-seven Castes are:

Ad-Dharmi, Valmiki (Chura, Bhangi), Bangali, Barar (Burar of Berar), Batwal, Bauria (Bawria), Bazigar, Bhnajra, Chamar (Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidassi), Chanal, Dagi, Darain, Deha (Dhaya, Dhea), Dhanak, Kabirpanthi (Julaha), Khatik, Kori- koli, Marija (Marecha), Mazhbi, Megh, Nat, Od, Pasi, Perna, Pheera, Sanhai, Sanhal, Sansi (Bhedkut, Manesh), Sansoi, Dhogri (Dhangri, Siggi), Dumna (Mahasha, Doom), Gagra, Gandhila (Gandeil), Sapela, Sareta, Sikligar, Sirkiband, (Census of India 1991, Series 17Punjab).

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Department of Political SciencePanjab University, Chandigarh E.mail:ronkiram@yahoo.co

DALIT ASSERTION AND CASTE CONFLICTS IN PUNJAB Dr. Ronki Ram Department of Political Science Panjab University, Chandigarh. E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Untouchability lives within boundaries. The boundaries are made of Hindu sacred texts known as 'Dharam Shastras'. Untouchability ceases to exist as and when these boundaries are dismantled. This is what Ambedkar emphasised in his proposed inaugural speech at the 'Jat-Pat Todak Mandal' of Lahore in 1936. However, he was never allowed to deliver his speech precisely because of its anti-Dharam Shastric contents. Much water has flown since then, particularly after the independence, down the lanes and by-lanes of Indian social structures. But the curse of untouchability and caste related

problems has not been totally exorcised. Although the blatant observance of purity-pollution principle has scaled down to a considerable extent after the adoption of Indian constitution, in political space it has taken an altogether a new shape. Caste has never been so assertive in Indian politics as it is today. This has, in turn, led to caste violence in various parts of the country. Punjab is no exception. It has recently witnessed serious caste clashes in rural as well as in urban settings of its Doaba region. Although caste and untouchability is prevalent throughout the country but it has never been monolithic and unilinear in its practice. Every region has its specific and unique characteristics. In order to understand the phenomena of caste and untouchability one needs to give due importance to the cultural specificities of the different regions. This study is a modest attempt to understand the phenomena of untouchability and caste violence in Punjab. The article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the sources of untouchability, caste and domination and the state of untouchability in Punjab. It also reflects briefly on the role of the upper caste social reformers in the eradication of untouchability. It is proposed that untouchability has not only been articulated in the sacred Hindu texts but has also received popular support in the writings of Orientalists and British scholar-administrators. In the second part, Ad Dharm movement and the rise of dalit consciousness in Punjab is discussed. In the last part, an attempt has been made to document and analyse caste violence in Punjab. I Untouchability and Burdens of History Before taking up the issue of dalit consciousness, it may be

pertinent to probe into the genesis of the logic of a society based on the hierarchical grading of caste. What makes such a probe a difficult task is the most complex character of the Indian Society. In fact, it would be appropriate to call Indian Societies rather than a singular Indian Society. The term Indian Societies is used to refer to academic trifurcation of India into pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial. Pre-colonial India is referred to as pre-modern and preBritish India (Quigley 1999: 123). As far as colonial and postcolonial categories are concerned, their analysis is relatively unproblematic. It is more so in reference to post-colonial than the category of colonial India. Colonial India turns problematic when one takes up the issue of Mughal rule in India. Whether India during the long spell of Mughal rule should be considered as another colonial India, although in a different sense from that of British colonial India, or simply to be studied as a part of the category of pre-colonial India is altogether an independent research theme with significant bearings on the question of caste. However, the precolonial India invites more polemics and methodological complexities than one can think of by its customary use. The very prefix pre is vague and indeterminate when juxtaposed with the term colonial in relation to mapping out historical stretch of India's past. The word colonial has fixed historical as well as administrative connotations which lend it authenticity in reference to time and territory. So colonial India is both temporally and spatially demarcated. It has its objective beginning as well as its stipulated pin-pointed end. But the same is not all about the pre-colonial India. The most controversial about the pre-colonial India is its historical life. This is most apparent in the current debate on the periodization of Indian history. ...It has long been

maintained that the Indians were an a-historical people, since there was no recognizable historical writing from the Indian tradition similar to that from Greece and China (Thapar [1992] 2000: 19-20). Another equally important issue pertaining to pre-colonial India is who were its original inhabitants and to which racial stock did they belong to. This issue has come to assume most important place in the debate on the origin of caste in India (Kosambi 1998: 80-109; Majumdar 1998: 16-32). The main contributions to the debate are different interpretations in the writings of orientalist, European sociologists and anthropologists, dalit scholars, and non-dalit academics (Fuller 1997; Gupta 2000; Schweitzer 1989). Ironically, this debate did not assign equal status of academic merit to the early Indian historical tradition. "Traditional Indian historical writing with its emphasis on historical biographies and chronicles was largely ignored" (Thapar [1992] 2000: 2). Since there has been no authentic historical writing to map out the periodization of ancient Indian history, mythical narratives and fairy tales constitute the historical tradition of pre-colonial India popularly known as the Itihasa-purana tradition. The Itihasa-purana tradition of premodern history of India has serious implications in interrogating (Gupta 2000) and interpreting (Quigley 1999), the institution of caste in Indian society. Although in [t]he historiographical pattern of Indian past, which took shape during the colonial period in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...[t]raditional Indian historical writing...was largely ignored (Thapar [1992] 2000: 2). But the institution of caste and the large body of ancient text, otherwise pejoratively referred to as mythical, reflecting on the

origin of caste, remain the most reliable literature for the writings of orientalists. Whatever seemed alien to the European perspective of contemporary India was often visualized as a survival from earlier times and the presumed continuity was imbued with historical authenticity. More frequently the social institutions from the past were believed to persist virtually unchanged into the present and made it legitimate for those studying contemporary Indian society to concern themselves with the text of earlier periods (Ibid.: 23). This approach leads to represent caste as a permanent, timeless and `traditional' socio-cultural institution which in fact did not exist in ancient Vedic India (Gupta 2000: 204). Descriptions of caste are almost as old as recorded history itself. Greek scholars travelling with Alexander the great in 4th century BC not only commented on it but had themselves been made aware of its existence by the accounts of even earlier Greek adventurers into associated northwestern with India. Persian Greeks expeditions

subsequently connected with the Seleucid court and the Bactrian small kingdoms that succeed Alexander rendered accounts of it. So did Chinese-Buddhists pilgrims centuries later and European travellers during the mercantilist age. British civil servants during the Raj wrote volumes on India's dominant social structure. And what is remarkable of course is how consistent such descriptions were over more

than two millennia (Gould 1987:2-3). In fact, what has provided permanency to caste which did not exist in the pre-colonial Vedic India was the wide spread currency of the theory of Oriental Despotism (Wittfogel 1970). The central themes of this theory were the unchanging nature of society, absence of change, self-sufficient village communities, divine origin of the King, absence of private property in land and the despotic orientation of governance. Inevitably, the major historians of the late nineteenth century in India, who also happened to be the administrators, assumed the correctness of the theory as a pre-condition to their understanding of the Indian past (Thapar [1992] 2000 : 7). The long historical time span of pre-British India was projected as being static with no transformation in its social patterns, political processes, and economic transactions. If there were any change it was "an occasional change of dynasty" (Ibid.: 14).Social fabric of the society remained static. So strong was the pre-conception of the unchanging character of Indian society that the generalizations based on the sources of Vedic period (1000 BC) were considered adequate for the pre-colonial period upto the eighteenth century AD (Ibid.:55). The presumed static nature of pre-colonial Indian society helped caste structure to remain intact over such a long period of time. Who were the beneficiaries of the above discussed system of the immutability of caste ensconced in a static social system? As far as the internal social set up of the Indian society is concerned, it was

the pure castes as against the untouchables (Polluted and who can pollute others) who stand benefitted from this peculiar arrangement. It also went a long way in favour of British rulers who garnered tremendous support from this system in the form of Aryan theory to legitimize their rule. The theory of Aryan race equally benefited the new middle class elite in India who accosted the British taking over of India as "a reunion of parted cousins, the descendants of two different families of the ancient Aryan race" (Keshab Chander Sen as quoted in Ibid.: 87). Even this in turn further differentiated the new middle class elite from the lower classes who, in accordance with the logic of Aryan theory were believed to be non-Aryan (Ibid.: 29). Caste as a socio-cultural institution enjoyed the most favoured status of being commented upon across the millennia by the authors of Dharmasastras (Shrirama 1999); foreign travellers and pilgrims (Dahlquist 1962; Beal 1957; Weeler and Macmillan 1956; Kaul 1979; Woodcock 1966; McCrindle 1877; Legge 1886; Sachuau 1964); and offices of the rulers who came to rule this sacred and fabulous land, at different intervals during the last two millennia, popularly known as India. Amongst the various commentators on caste two deserve serious consideration by virtue of their significant contribution not in terms of understanding the institution of caste but helping it further getting entrenched in the Indian society. Dharmasastra literature constitutes the earliest legal commentary on the institution of caste which led to its ancient consolidation in the form of legally sanctified system of stratification. To quote Emile Senart "...`Hindu society is regulated by religious custom and the law-books are essentially collection of religious precepts'" (1930:91 as quoted in Beteille 1997:155). The second group of commentators consisted of orientalists and British

officials, popularly known as 'scholar administrator' "who had long and extensive experience in the Indian Civil Service and had not found their arduous activity incompatible with scholarship" (Bougle 1971: IX). They had contributed to the collection of Census data and produced seminal works on caste and tribes in India (Hutton 1946; Ibbetson 1883; Nesfield 1885; Risley 1891, rpt. 1908; and Senart 1896, rpt. 1930). According to Andre Beteille [c]olonial administrators wrote a great deal about caste, and much of what they wrote was biased as is indeed the case with official writing anywhere. For a hundred years they set about identifying, enumerating, describing, classifying and ranking the different castes and communities in the subcontinent. The decennial censuses played some part in bringing to public attention the division and ranking of castes. It is for this reason that it was decided not to enumerate castes in the censuses after the new Government took office on Independence ( Beteille 2002). Ancient Indian historiography, as constructed by orientalists and British officials, was motivated by colonial designs (Dirks 2002: 8, 28-42). Colonial historiography gave birth to a pre-colonial India which lacked social and historical change and had neither historians nor historical records. In other words, a timeless India became a pre-colonial India which had come to assume peculiar connotations suitable to alien rulers as well as to the emerging Savarna new middle class elites (Fuller 1997: 4-12; Quigley 1999:

12-20; Thapar [1992] 2000: 23-59). Similar attempts had already been made in the ancient times through the writings of Dharmasastras and Smritis. The main postulates of the Dharmasastra discourse and the colonial discourse were to project hierarchical structure of Indian society based on the unchanging principle of purity/impurity in consonance with disjunction between status and power (Dumont 1988). Thus the Dharmasastra tradition and the colonial discourse came together to provide theoretical inputs to the institution of caste based on the opposition of pure and the impure. Dalits were born out of this discourse. Caste and Culture of Domination Here caste is taken as a category of a social set up, organized for the purpose of providing comforts, and socio-economic and political advantages at one end; and squalor, subjugation and humiliation on the other. Although social divisions of such kinds may not be ruled out across different civilizational and cultural settings the world over, but the magnitude in which such distinctions and segmentations are internalized in Hindu civilization is a unique case in its own form (Bougley 1971; Risley 1891, rpt. 1908; and Senart 1896, rpt. 1930). What makes it further a distinguished case to be analysed rather more analytically, is the contextual distinctness of the category caste in the Indian society. The social set up based on its hierarchical structure is precolonial which makes it different from various other core issues clinging to the bosom of colonial and post-colonial Indian polity and society. Although caste was not the only institution to reflect on the social organization of pre-colonial India, as there were many other political institutions (Heesterman 1985; and Hocart 1950), caste has come to assume the status of dominant explanatory framework for

the understanding of hierarchical structure of Indian society (Inden 1986; 1990; Dirks 1987; Quigley 1999). In fact the caste in Indian context is not only the theme of society, it is also, rather more significantly a theme in polity, ideology and economy. As far as economy is concerned a protracted debate is on in India on classcaste frontiers. For the Marxists, class provides a rational platform for the analysis of social, political and economic settings of society. Whereas caste obfuscates such an analysis, nevertheless, class-caste framework is an important issue (Gould 1987: 29-72; Gupta 1981; D'Souza 1967:192-211) but of scope of the paper we could not take it further. Manusmriti sets the tenor of divisive society which in a downward spiraling affect led to the extreme social segregation of a part of our society and further reduced it into pariah and asprustha. Kingsley Davis rightly said ...the Hindu social order ... is the most thoroughgoing attempt known in human history to introduce absolute inequality as the guiding principle in social relationships. Such an attempt cannot completely succeed, any more than an attempt to introduce absolute equality . (Davis 1951:170). But caste has become an integral part of Hindu society which in turn occupies a prominent space in the cultural milieu of Indian subcontinent so much so that even other religious communities could not but get soaked into the inegalitarian mode of Hindu caste structure (Ibid: 165-66). The Mazhbis of Punjab is a case in point. The Mazbis take the pauhl, wear their hair long, and abstain from tobacco, and they apparently refuse to touch night- soil, though performing all the other

offices hereditary to the Chuhra caste .... But though good Sikhs so far as religious observance is concerned, the taint of hereditary pollution is upon them and Sikhs of other castes refuse to associate with them even in religious ceremonies(Ibbetson [1883] 1970: 294). Even the conversion of a Shudra into Muslim religion hardly relieves him of his humiliations (Ibid.: 300; see also Bagha 2001:19; and Hutton 1963:39 & 204). Moreover, in the initial years of proliferation of Christianity in Punjab, the curse of caste on the shudras remained unabated. It was they (shudras) who had to approach the missionaries for converting them into Christianity than the other way round as in the case of upper caste (Juergensmeyer 1988: 184). Christian missionaries thought of the lower castes "...as beyond the reach of the method they preferred - intellectual arguments and moral persuasion" (Ibid.). What came in the way of the missionaries not to make use of moral persuasion and intellectual argument as methods of approaching and winning the confidence of lower castes seem to be probably the prejudice on their part that the lower castes were really incapable of rational orientation and unamenable to moral appeal. To quote Juergensmeyer ...lower caste requests for conversion not only baffled the missionaries but embarrassed them: they saw no sensible or moral reason for keeping the lower caste out, yet feared that allowing them in would sully the Church's reputation. In a brisk exchange of letters between the mission field and various denominational head offices, a number of missionaries warned about the consequences of `raking in rubbish into the Church' (Ibid.:184).

The indignation of being a shudra continued to follow the entry of lower caste into the Church. The upper caste converts were distinguished by the title of `Convert'..."whereas recruits from the lower caste were known as mass movement Christians or simply Christian" (Ibid.:187). To quote him further it was only these lower caste Christians who adopted foreign names such as Samuel, Paul Masih... and the like; upper caste converts retained their ties to the caste system by continuing to use their Hindu or Sikh names Ibid.: 187-88). In other words, the adoption of foreign names by the lower castes has doubly affected the identity of these converts in the sense that they could be easily singled out by the natives as belonged to the shudra caste by virtue of their new names which only low caste had taken on. As far as the Christian missionaries were concerned, they could also, by the same logic of foreign names, easily identify who was shudra convert. Another way of distinguishing the upper caste converts from that of the lower caste was the mechanism of sitting arrangement in the Church, whereby the upper caste converts were allowed ... "to sit at the front of the Church so that they would use the communion implements first, before they became polluted by the Christians of lower castes" (Ibid.: 188; See also Chandra et al 1999: 448). The British rulers and their predecessors did not consider it appropriate to take measures to improve upon the social conditions of colonial India. On the contrary, the main thrust of colonial state was on maintaining law and order rather than social transformation in the colonial settings (Suresh 1998: 94). Colonial rule attempted to restructure the

brahminical caste into anglicized neo-brahminism and created structures to sustain the essential caste relations in a modified form. While it attempted to break several brahminical practices like `Sati' and the prohibition of widow re-marriage by introducing new laws, it did not attempt to break the caste system (Ilaiah in Chatterjee 1998: 268). Max Muller, a great orientalist was of the opinion that (c)aste cannot be abolished in India, and to attempt it would be one of the most hazardous operations that were ever performed in a political body. As a religious institution caste will die; as a social institution, it will live and improve (Muller 1869). However, the overall proliferation of modernization

irrespective of its underlying ideology led to the germination of awareness among the deprived groups as a result of which caste conflicts became a regular feature of Indian social set up, especially in Maharashtra, South India and Northwest India.

Untouchability and Power Dynamics

Untouchability has invariably remained attached with the notion of power in its varied dimensions. The concept of power in India needs to be seen in a peculiar sense as far as its socio-political and economic aspects are concerned. Power was seen as a sacred category. Its sacredness depends ultimately on something which has to be excluded from the purview of its sacred boundaries. Power

sails between the boundaries but its affects are felt within the boundaries. Untouchability has provided - in a metaphorical sense the building blocks for such boundaries. For a dalit to cross such boundaries amounts to committing blasphemy. They were simply asked to be continuously shut within their ghettos. In fact it was the sacred facade of power which led to the evolution of untouchability rather the other way round. Untouchability is the offshoot of power. The sacred structure of power led to its institutionalization. It was not that untouchability provided stanchion to power. Untouchability has been projected as antithetical to power. Since untouchability is profane, it can not be the custodian of power; power being a sacred. In other words, the structure of power which emerged in India keeps no space at all for the dalits to share that power. Their position somewhere resembled that of the slaves in Aristotle's Athens. Hence they have to be condemned to bear the shocks of power. In such a unique sacerdotal notion of power one need not be an entrepreneur of power. One needs to be a custodian of purity and sanctity. In ancient India the Brahmin held the key to power by way of projecting himself as the epitome of purity. Interestingly his purity has something to do with his projection of himself as a person who voluntarily abnegates (Schweitzer 1989; Thapar 2000 : 876-945; Gupta 2000). The more the renouncer you are the more purer you would be. More the purer you are the more powerful you would be. The institution of "Raj Purohit" in ancient India is a case in point. Even in contemporary India one can find such a phenomenon in existence where Gurus, Saints, and Babas shower blessings for the acquisition of power. What these Babas have been doing in India the Pope used to do the same in the West until the Treaty of Westphalia. But Pope need not be the renouncer in the similar sense as the sacred men in India used to be. The sacred connotation of power and its being surrounded by purity and

abnegation was so powerful that even the efforts on the part of the dalits to break the fetters of untouchability required them to put on the mask of purity emanating from abnegation. Tukaram, Chokhamela, Ravidass, Balmiki, to name only the most prominent, were the dalit renouncers who made significant contribution for the amelioration of the down trodden. In other words, even the sufferers of untouchability had to follow the route similar to that of upper castes to fight against their odds. These dalits turned renouncers and gurus were the progenitor of the voice of protest and reforms against hierarchy based on purity-impurity. They were the initiators of the dalit consciousness. Their voice was heard not because of their being the leaders of the dalit community but for their being renouncer and so holy-men. Untouchability in Punjab Untouchability in Punjab is unique in comparison to its observance in other parts of the country. The Brahminical tradition of social stratification has never been so effective there. The word Brahmin did not carry a sacerdotal connotation in Punjab. It was used, rather, in a derogatory sense (Saberwal 1976: 10; Tandon 1961: 77). The Jat-Sikhs, who otherwise have been Shudra as per the Varna system, considered themselves socially superior to the Brahmins. Brahmins, whereas in rest of the country, enjoyed the highest status in the Hindu caste hierarchy. The down play of the Brahmins in Punjab by the Jat-Sikhs might have diminished the purity-pollution practice to the benefits of dalits (Saberwal 1973:256). However, it did not, in any way, help the dalits to improve their socio-economic status. Punjab is a Sikh majority state. The Sikhs constitute 63 per cent of its total population. Among them the percentage of JatSikhs

is the highest. About 72 per cent of the Sikhs live in rural Punjab. Although Sikhism does not assign any place to the institution of caste in its doctrinal principle but the same is not true in its social practice (Puri 2003: 2693). Caste as occupational division of labour was, and is, very much a part of village life (Kaur 1986: 229). Sikh religion is not an exception. In the Punjab censuses between 1881 and 1921 there were more than twenty-five castes within Sikh community (Verma 2002:33). Among the Sikhs, JatSikhs, Khatri Sikhs, Arora Sikhs, Ramgarhia Sikhs, Ahluwalia Sikhs, Bhapa Sikhs, Bhattra Sikhs, Ramdasia Sikhs, Ravidasia Sikhs, Rahtia Sikhs, Mazhbi Sikhs, and Rangreta Sikhs are some of the most distinct caste communities. The Jat-Sikhs in Punjab substituted the Brahmins. The Jat is in every respect the most important of the Pnjab peoples. The Jat of the Sikh tracts is of course the typical Jat of Pnjab, Politically he ruled the Pnjab till the Khalsa yielded to our arms. Ethnologically he is the peculiar and most prominent product of the plains of the five rivers. And from an conomical and administrative point of view he is the husbandman, the peasant, the revenue-payer par excellence of the Province. But as a rule a Jat is a man who does what seems right in his own eyes and sometimes what seems wrong also, and will not be said nay by any man. The Banya with his sacred thread, his strict Hinduism, and his twice-born standing, looks down on the Jat as a Sudr. But the Jat looks down upon the Banya as a cowardly spiritless money-grubber, and society in general agree with

the Jat. (Ibbetson 1883, rpt. 1970: 102-103).

Jat-Sikhs are primarily agriculturists and land-owners. They are mostly concentrated in villages. They have also diversified into transport business and considered employment in the armed forces as prestigious. The Jat might be employed as a school teacher, or service in the military but he sees his primary role as that of an agriculturist; his connection with land is what he holds most dear and what identifies him (Kaur 1986:233). Jat-Sikhs are the backbone of the Punjab peasantry (ibid.). Although all the ten Gurus belonged to the Khatri caste, they found majority of their followers in the Jat caste (Ibid.: 225). According to 1881 census, 66% of Sikhs were Jats followed by Ramgarhias (6.5%) and Chamar Sikhs (5.6%). Khatris share was only 2.2% (Mcleod 1976: 84 as cited in Ibid.). Although Sikhs are prominently identified by a set of diacritical features which they are supposed to follow according to Rahatnama ( the Sikh code of conduct), the Jat Sikhs do not always observe them strictly. Majority of them trim their beard, cut their hair, and many often smoke or chew tobacco; very few wear the kirpan (steel sword), kachh (knee length drawers), karra (steel bangle or bracelet) and kangha (comb). They rarely visit Gurdwaras (Kaur 1986: 222-23). Majority of the Jats are non-baptised Sikhs. However, the baptised ones faithfully observe all the injunctions mentioned in the Rahatnama. Jat-Sikhs are generally liberal in observance of Rahatnama. In spite of their lackadaisical approach towards the Khalsa discipline, Jat Sikhs in their own eyes and in those of others remained Sikhs (Mcleod 1976: 98). The Sikhs who strictly followed Rahatnama belong to the lower class of north Punjab (Singh 1953: 179). Within Sikhism, dalit Sikhs are divided into two segments.

The dalits whose profession is scavenging and cleaning are called Mazhbis and Rangretas. Mazhbis and Rangretas were chuhras who converted to Sikhism (Ibbetson 1883, rpt. 1970:294). Of course a Mazbi will often have been returned as chuhra by caste and Sikh by religion; Mazbi means nothing more than a member of the scavenger class converted to Sikhism (Ibid.). Mazhbi Sikhs are almost confined to the Majha sub-region of Punjab. They make good soldiers and some of the regiments in British army were wholly composed of Mazhbis. The Rangreta are a class of Mazbi apparently found only in Ambala, Ludhiana and the neighbourhood, who consider themselves superior to the rest.The origin of their superiority, , lies in the fact that they were once notorious as highway robbers! But it appears that Rangretas have very generally abandoned scavengering for leather work, and this would at once account for their rise in the social scale (Ibid.). Their popularity in the Sikh religion has been established by a rhyme Rangreta, Guru ka Beta (the Rangreta is the son of the Guru), attributed to them on account of their valorous act of bringing the severed head of Guru Teg Bahadur from Delhi to Anandpur Sahib, the seat of the 9th and 10th Masters of the Sikh faith. However, in spite of Mazhbis and Rangreta Sikhs meticulous observance of the Sikh religious principles, they were not considered equal by the other Sikh castes who refused to associate with them even in the religious ceremonies (Ibid.). In other words, even after converting to Sikhism they were not relieved of the taint of hereditary pollution . The other segment of dalit Sikhs consists of Ramdasias and Ravidasias. They are chamars converted to Sikh religion. Religious conversion also changes the caste name. In some cases a change of

religion is also accompanied by a change of occupation (Ibid: 294). A scavenger is known as chuhra in Hinduism; Musalli and Kutana in Islam; and Mazhbi and Rangreta in Sikhism. A leather-worker is known as chamar in Hinduism; Mochi in Islam and Ravidasia in Sikhism. Weaver chamar is known as Julaha in Hinduism; Paoli in Islam; and Ramdasia in Sikhism. Ramdasias are also known as Khalsa Biradar. The Ramdasias are confused with Raidasi or Rabdasi chamars. The former are true Sikhs, and take the Pahul. The latter are Hindus, or if Sikhs, only Nanakpanthi Sikhs and do not take the Pahul; and are followers of Bhagat Rav Das or Rab Das, himself a Chamar. They are apparently as true Hindus as any Chamar can be, and are wrongly called Sikhs by confusion with Ramdasias. (Ibid.: 300). Most of the Ramdasias are Julahas (weavers). Whereas Ravidasia Sikhs are mostly engaged in the profession of leather work. Though there is a wide distinction between the Ravidasias, typical leather workers (Chamars) and the Ramdasias, typical weavers (Julahas), yet they are connected by certain sections of leather-working classes who have taken to weaving and thus risen in the social scale (Ibid: 296). Ramdasia (weavers) and Ravidasia (leather worker) are probably of the same origin. However, the distinction between them has arisen from divergence of occupation. The Mazhbis, Rangretas, Ramdasias and Ravidasias are not equal to the Jat-Sikhs, Khatri Sikhs and Arora Sikhs within Sikhism in terms of their status. Even their status is also lower to Ramgarhia Sikhs, Ahluwalia Sikhs and Bhapa Sikhs (trader caste). Thus the poison of caste has also penetrated into the religion of the followers of Guru Nanak as well (Singh, Balwant 2002: 332). Moreover caste hierarchy is also being practiced among the dalit Sikhs. Ramdasia and Ravidasia Sikhs are considered superior to the Mazhbi and

Rangreta Sikhs. Although Ramdasias and Ravidasias originated from Chamars, the former considered them superior to the latter (Ibbetson 1883, rpt. 1970: 297, 302). The evolution of Sikh community proceeded through a complex dynamics of interaction between religious principle, tribal cultural patterns of the dominant caste of Jats and their power interests. This resulted in the evolution of a Sikh caste hierarchy, distinct from and parallel to that of Hindu caste system (Puri 2003: 2693). However, what makes caste discrimination in the Sikh community different from that of the Brahamanical social order is the absence of purity-pollution frame of relations. The centre of power in Punjab revolves around the axle of land. Much of the land is owned by the Jat-Sikhs. Although Scheduled Castes in Punjab constitute high proportion of the population (28.3%) in comparison to the all India average of 16.32%, their share in ownership of land is negligible. They cultivate only 0.4 per cent of all the landholdings occupying 0.72 per cent of the total cultivated area of the state (1991 census and All India Report of Agricultural Census 1990-91). Their being landlessness forced them to depend on the land-owning castes in the absence of alternative jobs in the agrarian economy of rural Punjab. Since cultivation involves dalits in its various operations, it was not feasible to strictly follow the system of untouchability based on the principle of purity-pollution as was observed in rest of the country. It does not mean that the dalits were not discriminated in Punjab. They were discriminated by the JatSikhs. They were forced to remain confined to their lowest status lest they dare to ask for a share in the power structures (Puri 2003: 2698). Untouchability did exist in Punjab and its practice was tied with the scheme of keeping the dalits away from land ownership and political power in the state. Thus dalits in Punjab, though relatively

spared from the overt impact of purity-pollution syndrome, the asymmetrical structure of the agrarian rural economy has made them subordinated to the land-owning upper castes. In fact the Scheduled Caste population of the region has been comparatively more vulnerable in the economic structure of the village (Jodhka 2002: 1815). The villages are divided into upper caste and dalit settlements. Dalit settlements are located, invariably, on the side towards which the dirt of the village flowed. Dalits were not allowed to build pucca (concrete) houses because the land on which they lived did not belong to them. The residential land on which they lived was claimed to be owned by the Jat-Sikhs (Virdi 2003: 2 &11). Till 1952, the dalits along with other non-agricultural castes were deprived of landownership by the Punjab Land Alienation Act (1901), even if a few of them have the means to purchase the land (Puri 2003: 2695). In the villages, dalits were often involved in the unclean occupations. Such occupations were like carrying and skinning dead animals, scavenging and working as attached labourer Siris. Although such type of works, now-a-days, are performed on non-jajmani basis. In Malwa region, there are many dalits who still have been working as Siris. According to a latest study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had dalits working as Siris (Jodhka 2002: 1816). However, the situation is entirely different in the Doaba region of Punjab where the majority of the dalits have dissociated themselves from such types of menial works. Although dalit had interaction with Jat-Sikhs, being agricultural labourers, and siris, they used to keep their own tumblers and plates to take meals or tea or water from the upper caste Sikhs. Many of the lower castes like Chamars and Chuhras converted to Sikhism in the hope of social equality. Even in Sikhism, the specter of untouchability kept on haunting them.

The upper caste Sikhs are a separate identity and like the upper caste Hindus they also follow the ideology of a graded human society. The Sikhs may take food with the dalit-Sikhs in Gurdwaras, but they have no bond of fraternity with them (Singh Balwant 2002: 333). To quote him further, the impact of Hinduism and caste is visible on the adherence of Guru Nanak and they monopolised Sikhism and could not accord an equal social status to the lower caste Sikhs in Punjab (Ibid.). Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their counterparts in the Hindu religion. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation grounds in the Shamlat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. Therefore the Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are in no better position than the other dalits within Hinduism(Ibid.: 334). Dalits Sikhs did not get equal treatment in the Gurdwaras of the upper caste Sikhs. Mazhabis were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities (Pratap Singh 1933: 146-47, 156-57 cited in Puri 2003: 2697). Dalit Sikhs were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and the members of the four-fold varnas were instructed not to mix with them (Oberoi cited in Ibid). Evidence of untouchability against the dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of Gurmatas (resolutions) adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee from 1926-1933 (Ibid.). Although removal of untouchability figured in the Singh Sabha movement, no strenuous effort was made in that direction. It was not surprising. For the Jats, who composed 70 % of the Akalis, and other high castes, caste equality or removal of untouchability was

contrary to their disposition for social domination and hierarchy (Ibid.). This has forced the dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras which in turn has further led to the strengthening of the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs1 (Ibid.: 2700; Jodhka 2002: 1818; Muktsar 1999 and 2003). Moreover the observance of caste prejudices against the dalit Sikhs has compelled them to search for alternative cultural spaces in a large number of deras, sects, dargahs of Muslim Pirs and other saints2 (Puri 2003: 2700). Punjab has been a stronghold of pirs and saints, who vehemently campaigned against the system of segregation on the basis of birth. They preached unity of mankind. Farid and Bulle Shah of Sufi tradition, and Ravidass, Kabir, Nanak and Dhanna of the Bhakti tradition played a prominent role in diluting the substance and practice of untouchability in the state. Social reform movements led by the Arya Samaj, Singh Sabha and Chief Khalsa Dewan further bridled the impact of untouchability in Punjab. However, even these movements and saints could not succeed in stamping out the roots of the evil of untouchability in Punjab. The saints have never carried on a campaign against caste and untouchability. They were not concerned with the struggle between men. They were concerned with the relation between man and God. They did not preach that all men were equal. They preached that all men were equal in the eyes of God a very different and a very innocuous proposition which nobody can find difficult to preach or dangerous to believe in (Ambedkar 1995 3rd edn.: 109). The religious and social reform movements were primarily concerned with the humane and civic sense of society by transforming and elevating the individual rather than striking hard on the asymmetrical structures of the society (Grewal 1994: 116). The issue of disproportionate landholdings which has been the

crucial cause of social inequalities and economic deprivations had never been taken up by the social and religious movements. In other words, the agency was prioritised over the structure. The persistence of inegalitarian structure, with the passage of time, had led to the evaporation of social and moral reforms brought by these movements. The principles and social code of conduct formulated by such movements got routinised into hard-shell traditions and rules to be strictly obeyed by the followers. These movements themselves in turn got routinised into new religious orders or political organisations. Religion has become exclusive and been paraded as an index to the deep rooted social divisions based on economic differentiation. The followers of Nanak, Ravidass and Kabir are not only Nanakpanthis, Ravidasias and Kabirpanthis in the strict each other. sense of the term, they also represent a distinct social and economic class different from

Untouchability and Upper-caste Social Reformers The period of revival of art, literature and Vedic secular learning, popularly known as Indian renaissance, sets a new era for the development of rational and scientific outlook as far as social customs, traditions and religious notions about the regulation of community life were concerned. The nineteenth century witnessed a cultural-ideological struggle against the backward elements of traditional culture, on the one hand, and the fast hegemonizing colonial culture and ideology on the other (Chandra et al 1989:87). In fact, the Indian renaissance was not simply a revivification of India's past but a response to the intrusion of external forces as well. Moreover, its leaders had to deal with the new conditions created by modern science and technology (Bishop 1982: 1).

Literature abounds on various issues of social importance being taken up during the Renaissance period in our society. Widow remarriage, tirade against Sati and caste were more prominent among them. Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) is considered as the protagonist of social reform movements in India. The other prominent figures of such movements were Dwarka Nath Tagore (1794-1846), Davinder Nath Tagore (1817-1905), Keshav Chander Sen (1838-1884), Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar (1820-1891), Swami Dayanand (1824-1883), Swami Vivekanand (1863-1902), M.G. Ranade (1842-1901), B.G.Tilak (1852- 1920), Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) and Shri Aurbindo (1872-1950). It is interesting to note that all of them belong to the Savarna castes (Khare 1984: 4). Their perceptions about the caste system and its resultant structure of untouchability are a view from above. None of them had experienced the pangs of being a Shudra. Their understanding of the evil of untouchability was thus based upon articulation and formulation of a problem external to their very being rather as their own problem. Although Raja Ram Mohan Roy endeavoured to remove the evil of casteism first through an association called Atmiya Sabha and then through an organization called Brahmo Samaj but nowhere in his writings he cared to envisage a clear programme for the removal of hierarchical caste system. Rajaji and his Brahmo Samaj "...continued to identify, if not with `Hinduism' as such, with an Aryan `Golden Age'..." (Omvedt 1994: 91). Questioning the logic of caste system and its anti-progress stance, Gopal Krishna Gokhale said, The classes of the West are a perfectly elastic institution, and not rigid or cast-iron like our castes. Mr. Chamberlain, who is the most masterful personage in the British Empire to-day, was at one time a

shoemaker and then a screw-maker. Of course, he did not make shoes himself, but that was the trade by which he made money. Mr.Chamberlain today dines with Royalty, and mixes with the highest in the land on terms of absolute equality. Will a shoe-maker ever be able to rise in India in the social scale in a similar fashion, no matter how gifted by nature he might be? A great writer has said that castes are eminently useful for the preservation of society, but they are utterly unsuited for purposes of progress. And this I think is perfectly true. If you want to stand where you were a thousand year ago, the system of castes need not be modified in any material degree. If, however, you want to emerge out of the slough in which you have long remained sunk, it will not do for you to insist on a rigid adherence to caste. Modern civilization has accepted greater equality for all as its watchword, as against privilege and exclusiveness, which were the root-ideas of the old world (Gokhale 1920: 900-901). Though Gokhale echoed a loud concern for the downtrodden, he did not make any concrete effort for the eradication of untouchability (Weiner 2001: 200). B.G. Tilak while speaking in the first Depressed Classes Conference held in Bombay on 25 March 1918, said "(i)f a God were to tolerate untouchability, I would not recognize him as a God at all" (Varma 1995-96: 213). However, he showed his inability to work for the cause of Shudra precisely because of the priority he accorded to the attainment of Swaraj (Ibid.). For him, given the foreign rule in India, any effort in the direction of social reforms would rather further strengthen the grip of Britishers. Tilak was not against social reforms per se. It was out of sheer expediency that he had to defer social reforms till India achieved political freedom. M.G. Ranade's position in relation to political freedom versus social reforms was totally opposed to that

of Tilak. He considered that reactionary and dogmatic features of Indian social set up provided an easy passage to alien conquerors as well as hindrances in our way to get India liberated. Accordingly, he gave priority to social reforms over Swaraj. It was on this issue of political freedom versus social reforms that Indian National Congress got divided between moderates and extremists. It seems that the real issue of difference among the moderates and extremists was not one of social reforms but the modus operandi of winning freedom. For both of them social reforms constituted an important agenda. But what social reforms they wanted to bring into the social body of India is a question relevant for dalit discourse. Both moderates as well as radicals did not want to overthrow the Hindu social system as such. What they wanted was to "lop off diseased overgrowth and excrescences and ... restore vitality and energy to the social organism" (Ranade as quoted in Omvedt 1994:90). Hinduism of a Vedic age was their reference point. Social evils in their view were the late entry. These evils were based on Brahmanic superstitious traditions which had defiled the post-Vedic social fabric of Hindu religious system (Tripathi 1994: 3-8 and Reincourt 1961: 31-55). Thus for the twice born leaders of the freedom struggle the issue of Untouchability could be taken only within the framework of Hindu social system by purging it off its post-Vedic popular Hinduism, based on superstitions. Even Mahatma Gandhi who was steadfast in his determination for the eradication of untouchability (Chandra et al 1989:87-88, 230-234 and 290-295; Malhotra 1979:34-44; and Sarkar 1983: 328-330) did not seek its realization in the dismantling of caste system. Gandhi was not against caste as such.... (His) point was not to abolish caste but to make caste system horizontal, not vertical in the sense of inegalitarian

and

exploitative,

with

untouchability

even

unapproachability as the ultimate consequence (Galtung 1992: 3 and see also Suresh 1998: 362). He advocated moral revolution or change in the outlook at the individual level within the unchanged social structure (Robb 1997: 1). For the Arya Samajist the answer to untouchability lies in the assimilation of the Shudras into the Hindu social system wherein all Hindu castes are considered as descendants of Vedic Aryans (Omvedt 1994:91). II Ad-Dharm Movement and Dalit Consciousness in Punjab Although the abolition of untouchability was also on the agenda of the protagonist of social reform movements, they wanted to achieve it without changing the basic structure of caste system. Since these movements were operating on the social reform front of the nationalist struggle, they could not totally devote themselves to the removal of untouchability. The immediate goal of the nationalist movement was to liberate the country from the British imperialism. Hence [t]he ultimate result was that neither the Nehruvian secularism nor Gandhian `Ramraj' could provide an Indian identity that was liberatory for the dalit and low castes... (Omvedt 1994: 92; see also Suresh 1998: 364). "Understandably the most virulent opposition to caste came from lower caste movements" (Chandra et al 1989:88). For these movements, the immediate important issue was caste domination, not western hegemony; social emancipation, not political autonomy.

The struggle against imperialism and other such issues were of secondary importance (Kothari 1998: 50-51). The main exponents of these movements were, among others, Jyotiba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, Naraynaswami Guru in Kerala, Achutananda in U.P. and Mangoo Ram in Punjab. It was against this background that the main framework of dalit movements and their ideologies were conceptualized and formulated. The objective of the dalit movements was to liberate the downtrodden, poverty-stricken-oppressed classes, contemptuously considered as untouchables, from the most oppressive and obnoxious practice of untouchability observed meticulously by the Savarna Hindus, and to bring the former at par with the socio-cultural level of the twice-born so that they could lead a life of dignity with a sense of equality. These anti-caste movements of course, constitute an inseparable part of the broader revolutionary democratic movement in India, along with the national movement and communist - and socialist - led working class and peasant movements (Omvedt 1994:13; see also Kshirsagar 1994: 2-3). Ad Dharm movement in Punjab3 is one of the anti-caste Adi movements of the 1920s in India. Ad Dharm draws its inspiration from the Bhakti movement especially from Ravidass, Kabir and Namdev. Ad Dharm also assigns equal importance to the teachings of Balmiki. What makes this movement the most relevant case for the study of dalit assertion is its being purely a low caste character and its tirade against the structures of social domination. Ad Dharm was the only movement of its kind in the North-Western region of the country that aimed at securing a respectable place for the Scheduled castes through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration, and political assertion rather than seeking patronage

from above. Ad Dharm movement aimed at securing a distinct identity for the dalits, independent both of the Hindu and Sikh religions. Sikhs and Hindus treated the dalits discriminately. But at times of counting their strategic strength they project the dalits as if they belonged to them (Piplanwala 1986: 10-15; Ahir 1992: 9-11). The central motif of the Ad Dharm movement was to highlight that untouchables constitute a qaum (Community), a distinct religious community similar to those of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and that the qaum had existed from time immemorial (Juergensmeyer 1988: 45). On this account the Ad Dharm movement resembles the other Adi movements4 which consider the low castes as the original inhabitants of India who had been subjugated by the Aryans. The Aryans, they allege came from outside and established their rule and made them subservient to them. The Ad Dharm movement aimed at making the dalits realise that they have three powers: Communal pride (Qaumiat), Religion (Mazhab) and Organisation (Majlis) (Ibid.:46). All these three powers of the untouchables were lying buried under the burden of untouchability. Mangoo Ram5, the founder of Ad Dharm movement exhorted the untouchables to come forward to assert for their rights through building on these three main sources of their power. During the 1931 census, Ad Dharm movement succeeded in registering a large number of low castes in Punjab as Ad Dharmis separate from Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the 1931 Punjab census, a total of 418,789 persons reported themselves as Ad Dharmis almost equal to that of the Christian population of the region. Since the center of the Ad Dharm movement was in Doaba region, nearly eighty percent of the lower castes of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts reported themselves as Ad Dharmis (ibid.:77). It

was for the first time in the history of lower castes that they had come forward to officially declare themselves as separate and independent of the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religions. This was, perhaps, the beginning of the dalit assertion in North India. It got further impetus in the first election that took place in 1937 after the promulgation of the Government of India Act of 1935. Ad Dharm Mandal contested election in all the eight reserved seats and won all except one. In the 1945-46, Punjab Legislative Assembly elections on the eve of independence Ad Dharm also registered its presence by contesting in alliance with the Unionist Party. Mangoo Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm was one of the elected candidates. Ad Dharm movement was instrumental not only in helping the lower castes to get registered as a distinct religion in the 1931 census and providing them the platform to enter into the State Legislature6, it also went a long way in bringing a cultural transformation in their life. In fact, Ad Dharm movement, as has been mentioned above, aimed at facilitating a cultural transformation in the life of lower castes who, under the impact of the centuries old system of degradation, had actually internalised a sense of being low and polluted. Mangoo Ram wanted to liberate them from such a state of mind and also to inculcate in them the feeling of dignity and self respect whereby they could start thinking about them as equal to the so-called twice-born people. Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 lists a number of moral principles and duties which the followers of the Ad Dharm are required to adhere to for creating spiritual regeneration and cultural transformation in their lives. Among the most important moral principles and the duties mentioned in the report are : Ad Dharmis should abstain from theft, dishonesty, looking at someone elses wife with bad

intentions, intoxication,

using

anything and

which usurping

brings other

gambling,

persons property or belonging. Texts like the Law of Manu which treat untouchables as slaves should be banned and removed. All the untouchable brotherhood should forget about castes and quarrels and get along together. They should not fight with each other rather all untouchables should start eating together and have social relations with each other. All girls and boys of untouchable brotherhood should have compulsory primary education. The girls should be educated especially in household work such as sewing and needle work. Young girls and boys should not be sent out to cut grass and gather wood. Ad Dharmis should abandon expensive marriage and the practice of child marriage. There should be equally great happiness at the birth of both boys and girls. It is illegal to receive money for a bride. Ad Dharmi should marry their children to the Ad Dharmis of surrounding areas. All Ad Dharmis should be obedient to their parents. It is not good to cry and beat oneself at a death or funeral. To eat the meat of a dead animal or bird is against the law of Ad Dharm. Cleanliness is important. It guarantees good health. It is forbidden to practice idolatory and worship statues, and one should not believe in magic, ghosts or anything of the sort. All Ad Dharmis should forget notions of castes in untouchability and work towards the unity of all

people in the world. Each Ad Dharmi should separate himself from Hindus, Sikhs and members of other religions (Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal 1926-1931, trans. (Hindi) Chumber 2000: 1-54; (English) Juergensmeyer 1998: 290-308). Thus through the moral codes of conduct, the Ad Dharm movement tried to bring a sense of self respect among the lower castes of Punjab. It also made efforts for forging unity among the different lower castes by bringing them together in the fold of Ad Dharm, a new and distinct religion for the dalits. However, Ad Dharm was not a new religion in the real sense of the term because the protagonists of the Ad Dharm movement consider Ad Dharm as an ancient and indigenous religion of the original inhabitants of this region. All these, multifarious efforts of the Ad Dharm movement in the field of politics, religion, and culture helped in the rise of consciousness among the dalits who started asserting for their rights and share in the power. All this had led to a series of violent caste conflicts in the pre-partitioned Punjab between the dalits and upper castes. The main reason behind the caste conflicts was not the factor of communalism rather it was a sense of assertion on the part of the marginal who woke up from their slumber of impotence to ask for their rights. This in turn has challenged the dominant positions of those who were in the command of the things till date. They staged violent opposition to the dalits seeking their share in the power. In the next section, an attempt has been made to document the caste clashes during the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab.

III

Dalit Assertion and Caste Violence The Ad Dharm faced stiff opposition and its followers fell victim to physical violence at the hands of both Hindus and Sikhs. In fact, the Ad Dharmis were beaten up when they organised meetings. They were [c]hased everywhere and hounded out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una (Pawar 1993:77).

They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis (Chumber 1986: 51). In Layalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting14. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted Shudranand from the dais of the Achhuts public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the Jat-Sikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Jat-Sikhs had compelled the Achhuts to record themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and

intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid.:54-56). In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-i- Hussain, Chief Commissioner, on the request of Mangoo Ram that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village15. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had tough time at the Lothian Committee16 to prove that they were neither Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the Hindus. Likwise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month ) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal (Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of Achhut Mandal (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab. According to them the untouchables were the backward class of

Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the performance of Shuddhi. Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab. Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52).

In addition, insinuations and condemnations were also hurled at the Ad Dharm Mandal by the various religious groups in a bid to scandalise the movement. The leaders of Ad Dharm were alleged to have hob-nobbed with the Muslims during the crucial time of communal representation where Hindus and Muslims were juxtaposed against each other. The Ad Dharms political alliance with the Unionist Party during the Punjab Assembly elections, first in 1937 and then again in 1945-46 was an eye sore both for the congress and the Hindu Sabha. The Hindu leaders did not like the Ad Dharmis growing links or secretly in the 1937 election who ... gave them cars for their campaign. In public meetings, they would attack the various aspects of Hindu society, and if this led to violence, the government used to protect them (Saberwal 1976:7071). association with the British government. In fact, the Ad Dharmis supported by the British

As regards the Ad Dharms closeness to Muslims, it was more of

political expediency rather than a blind alliance. It was, in fact, Mangoo Ram, who categorically said no to the mandarins of partition (Chumber 1986:52; Sain 1985:37) But on the issue of communal representation for the Achhuts, he showed keen interest in its implementation for the Achhuts. When Gandhi sat on fastunto-death at Poona against the separate electorate for untouchables, Mangoo Ram followed Suit declaring Gandhi if you are prepared to die for your Hindus, then I am prepared to die for these untouchables. On this Mangoo Ram was accused of being a casteist.

The rift between the liberal Gandhian and radical untouchables was not healed, however, since each continued to perceive the other as an obstacle to achieving intercaste harmony. Gandhi thought the untouchables militant separatism was reinforcing the concept of caste and the untouchables thought Gandhi was trying to whitewash existing differences and to deny untouchables their legitimate base of power. Both the perceptions were to some extent correct (Juergensmeyer 2000:230).

Gandhi pleaded on behalf of the Sudhras and tried to live like a Bhangi among them to experience what hardships they faced. But Mangoo Ram was one of them. He was a Chamar who experienced the pangs of untouchability. Thus, his response to the epic fast against separate electorate was not merely pragmatic but also an existential one. When Dr. Ambedkar compromised with Gandhi and the Poona Pact was signed, Mangoo Ram rang up Dr. Ambedkar in an angry mood and expressed his anguish as to why he agreed to the Pact. Dr. Ambedkar said that he had to sign the Poona

Pact on human grounds to save the life of Gandhi7 Mangoo Ram continued his fast even after the Pact was signed. He broke his fast only after the declaration was made by the government that eight seats were reserved for the untouchables in Punjab. The fast undertaken by him continued for 28 days from 20th September to 17th October, 1932 until the Pact was received at Jalandhar. Mangoo Ram used to say those people (Hindus) who had humiliated us for thousands of years how we could trust their promise (Mungowalia 1986: 35). Thus the followers of Ad Dharm movement were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights. (Moon 1991:88). The Ad Dharmis perceived that the scheduled castes had lost much more than what they gained in the Poona Pact (Chumber 1986: 51).

Caste Violence: Talhan and Boota Mandi

The case of caste violence in Talhan8 and its consequent effect in Boota Mandi9 is a case of dalit assertion. Why caste violence in Talhan spilled over into Boota Mandi? It needs to be addressed for the analysis of caste violence in Talhan, in particular, and of dalit assertion in Punjab, in general. It requires a detailed account of Boota Mandi township and of other factors that provides a background for the dalit consciousness in Punjab. The dalits, who for centuries have been subjected to humiliation and untold miseries, now refused to submit themselves to the similar instances of violation of their human rights. Since independence they have earned new economic position with hard work and have also acquired political consciousness to guard their

interests. Although the contribution of constitutional affirmative action in terms of reservations in education, jobs and legislation have played a significant role in the upliftment of the dalits, the case of Ad Dharmis in village Talhan and Boota Mandi is a unique one. Ad Dharmis of Talhan village overcame their poverty and squalor through ventures abroad. Whereas the Ad Dharmis of Boota Mandi also known as Ramdaspura, have been a story of self made riches by their entrepreneurship in the trade of leather. In fact Boota Mandi township, in the vicinity of Jalandhar city on the Nakodar road, is a vivid example of the dalit upward mobility from the adjoining villages. Boota Mandi and Dalit Consciousness Boota Mandi was brought on the map of dalit politics by the two main sub-castes- Kaler and Mahey- of the Ad Dharmis who were forced to leave their ancestoral villages under hostile social and economic conditions. The Kaler and Mahey Subcastes came to this place which provided them an access to military contracts in the Jalandhar Cantonment for supplying leather for Boots. The name Boota Mandi cropped-up from the leather trade established by Seth Kishan Das and Mr. Sundar Das. Seth Kishan Das belonged to the Kaler sub-caste. Kalers were tenant cultivators in village Nangal, five miles away from the Boota Mandi. They migrated to this suburb of Jalandhar city to try their luck in leather trade. Mr. Sundar Das belonged to the Mahey sub-caste whose ancestoral village was Dhanal, four miles away from the Boota Mandi. Almost all the Kaler and Mahey families from village Nangal and Dhanal, respectively, joined Seth Kishan Das and Mr. Sundar Das in the newly established leather trade in Boota Mandi. Later on many other sub-castes of the dalits from various villages in the vicinity of Jalandhar also came to Boota Mandi after learning about the success

of the recently established business of leather trade by the Kalers and Maheys. Seth Kishan Das, a Chamar turned Ad Dharmi during the famous dalit movement spearheaded by Babu Mangoo Ram a former Gadharite, preferred to utilise his wealth for raising the social and political consciousness of the Ad Dharmis in this part of the country. He financed the headquarters building for the Ad Dharm in Jalandhar. Now-a-days Ravidass High School and Sewing Training Centre for girls is being run in that building. He was also the one who pioneered to give a practical shape to the call of Baba Saheb, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for the establishment of AllIndia Scheduled Castes Federation. He became the founder president of the Punjab unit of the All-India Scheduled Caste Federation. Baba Saheb Ambedkar took dinner at his residence at Boota Mandi on October 27, 1951 during his Punjab tour. In fact, the residence of Seth Kishan Das had become a meeting place of all the prominent dalit personalities of Punjab (Ramdasspuri n.d.: 68). During his Punjab tour, Baba Saheb Ambedkar addressed large gathering of masses at Jalandhar (October 27, 1951), Ludhiana (October 28, 1951) and Patiala (October 29, 1951). In Jalandhar at Ramdaspura (Boota Mandi) Ambedkar addressed a gathering of lakhs of people in the evening of October 27, 1951 (Balley 1971:382). In Ramdaspura(Boota Mandi), where Ambedkar delivered about two hour long lecture, Ambedkar Bhawan was constructed in 1972 as a memorial to perpetuate sacred memory of the Messiah of the downtrodden. Ambedkar Bhawan has become a centre of dalit activities. The road, leading to Boota Mandi, on which it is situated is named as Dr. Ambedkar Marg (Nakodar road). Another factor that played a significant role in raising the dalit consciousness in Punjab in the 30s and early 50s was the contribution of two weekly papers, Adi Danka and Ujala. Adi Danka

was published by Ad Dharm Mandal, Jalandhar. Ram Chand Khera, an Ad Dharmi, was its editor. Adi Danka was the official weekly of the Ad Dharm, published both in Urdu and Punjabi. Gurdass Ram Aalam, Sant Ram Azad, Chanan Lal Manak, Sansar Chand, Charan Singh Saffri and Bhagat Ram Mandhali were among the prominent contributors to Adi Danka (Sain 1985: 36). Gurdass Ram Aalam and Chanan Lal Manak set the trend of radical dalit poetry in Punjab through the columns of this weekly. It succeeded in bringing enthusiasm and consciousness not only among the Ad Dharmis of Punjab but also among those who had settled abroad (Manak 1985: 8). However, it was discontinued in the mid 40s when the Ad Dharm movement became dormant. During 1930s, Ravidass Jaikara, another Punjabi weekly was also published from Jalandhar. Master Gurbanta Singh, a prominent Ad Dharmi of Doaba, who won the Assembly elections in 1946 with the support of Ad Dharm, was its editor10. After the closure of Adi Danka, Ujala was launched. Its first issue was released on April 14, 1948, on the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar. Ujala was the only dalit paper of its kind published by Kartara Ram Madhas, a prominent Ambedkarite of the Boota Mandi (Sulekh 1994: XXV). K.C. Sulekh, General Secretary of the Punjab unit of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, was its editor. He was the pioneer journalist amongst the Dalits who has the privilege to work under the direct guidance of Baba Saheb Ambedkar (Balley 2003:3). Sulekh11 has also translated Ambedkars book Mr.Gandhi and The Emancipation of The Untouchables in Urdu in 1946 (Sulekh 1994: XXIX). Ujala was published in Urdu but later on many issues were brought out in Punjabi also. Ujala was the only voice of the dalits at that time in North India amidst the upper caste controlled press. It brought an awakening in the dalit consciousness through carrying out Ambedkars philosophy and views of the prominent dalits (Sulekh

n.d.: 108). After K.C. Sulekh joined Government service, Mr. Leal of Boota Mandi took the charge of editorship of Ujala in 1952. Ujala was followed by Hamara Jeewan, Bheem Patrika, Ravidass Patrika and Kaumi Udarian. Hamara Jeewan and Ravidass Patrika both were Punjabi weeklies and published from Jalandhar. Hamara Jeewan was launched immediately after the Ujala was established. Mota Singh, General Secretary of Punjab unit of Scheduled Castes Federation of India (1946-48), was its editor. Ravidass Patrika was started in 1970s by an NRI Ad Dharmi, Mangoo Ram Jaspal12, who left England to settle in Jalandhar. Bheem Patrika, a vernacular monthly paper, and Kaumi Udarian a monthly journal in Punjabi were also published from Jalandhar. Bheem Patrika was founded by Lahori Ram Balley13 in 1958. Kaumi Udarian was launched in December 1985. C. L. Chumber, also an Ad Dharmi, was its editor. In fact all these publications followed in the footsteps of Ujala which had become not only an exemplary mouthpiece of the dalits in Punjab but also a centre of dalit social activists and literary personalities. Thus Boota Mandi virtually became the vibrant nerve centre of all types of activities, social, religious, political and literary, for the dalits. Seth Kishan Das's progeny carried on meticulously the process of dalit consciousness initiated by him through actively participating in the political arena of Punjab politics. His grand-son, Mr. Avinash Chander contested Parliament and State Assembly elections. Mr. Sundar Das's son Mr. Khushi Ram also served as councillor in the Jalandhar Municipal Committee. The present Mayor Mr. Surinder Mahey is his grandson. A casual visit to the Boota Mandi convinces one that this town presents a vivid impression of a particular community's stronghold and success. The Ad Dharmi community has proudly established centres of

Ambedkar and religious places of Guru Ravidass and Buddh Vihars. They have also established education centres, libraries and community centres in the name of Ambedkar, Buddha and Ravidass. One of the Mohalla (residential area) in the Boota Mandi has been named as Siddhartha Nagar. All these names evoke a sense of an independent identity which the lower castes in the Doaba region of Punjab were in search of since the beginning of the Ad Dharm movement. Guru Ravidass, Dera Sach Khand Ballan and Dalit

Consciousness

Guru Ravidass has been projected as the spiritual master of the Ad Dharmis. He was revered as devoutly as Hindus revered their Gods and Goddesses and Sikhs their Gurus. However, Ad Dharmis did not subscribe to the philosophy of reincarnations as is believed by Hindus. They simply believe in the spiritual power of Guru Ravidass. They raise slogans 'Ravidass Shakti Amar Rahe' (the spiritual power of Ravidass live forever) during the Ravidass jayanti. The figure of Ravidass, the fifteenth Century poet-saint became the icon of dalit assertion in Punjab. It was during the Ad Dharm movement that the image of Guru Ravidass has been systematically projected to shape the newly conceived cultural space for the Ad Dharmis (Omvedt 2003: 192). Boota Mandi took the lead in that regard. What made the image of Ravidass a catalyst in the emergence of dalit consciousness is his being belonging to one of the lower castes. He was born in Chamar caste, also known as Kutbandhla, one of the Scheduled Castes in Uttar Pradesh. Chamars are known by their profession of leather and tanning. They

were oppressed and badly treated by the upper castes. Ravidass revolted against the system of untouchability. He rejected the caste system based on the hereditary principle of higher and lower status. He revolted against the tyranny of Brahmins and defied them by wearing Dhoti (cloth wrapped around the waist), Janeue (sacred thread) and Tilak (sacred red mark on forehead) which were forbidden for the untouchables. He advocated the method of self help for eliminating sufferings of the dalits. His vision for self help is expressed in on eof his hymns as So kat jane peer prai ja ke untre darad na pai (only the sufferer knows where it hurts, the mere observer has no idea). He envisioned an egalitarian model of state(Begumpura), where no one would be discriminated on the basis of caste and religion and everyone would be free from the burden of taxes and worries of food. Ravidass said Aesa chahun raj me, jahan mile saban ko unn, ouch neich sab sam wase, Ravidass rehe parsan (I want a kingdom where everybody has enough to eat, higher and lower live together in harmony and Ravidass shall be happy). His aproach was unique. He used Bhakti and sacred hymns as a medium for raising the consciousness of the downtrodden against the system of oppression. He was a protagonist of equality, oneness of God, human rights and universal brotherhood. He condemned the division of mankind on the basis of caste. He said that all human beings were created by God and God Himself resides in all of them. If the same God pervades the entire humanity, it is then foolish to divide it in the name of caste. He said, tohee mohee mohee tohee antar kaisa. He neither identified with nor patronised any particular caste. He said that who believed in oneness of mankind and did not believe in caste was his friend (Jo ham shehri so meet hamara). He said He visited North India twice and met Guru Nanak Dev first at 'Chuharkana', now known as Nankana Sahib and at Sant Ghat of Kali Bein in Sultanpur Lodhi. Forty

hymns and one couplet of Guru Ravidass have been inscribed in Guru Granth Sahib (Jassi and Suman 2000: 25, 28). His popularity is being kept alive in Punjab among the lower castes through the network of shrines and pilgrimage centres popularly known as deras constructed in dedication to his memory. One of the most famous such deras is in village Ballan, seven miles North of city of Jalandhar on the Pathankot road. It is known as 'Dera Sach Khand', Ballan. An equally famous Ravidass dera14 is in village 'Chak Hakim', near the town of Phagwara. These two Ravidass deras shot into prominence during the Ad Dharm movement. The spiritual space of these deras was also utilised for the creation of cultural orientations and social consciousness among the dalits. Thus the deras dedicated to Ravidass "not only provided foci for spiritual life, they functioned as lower caste centres as well" (Juergensmeyer 1988:84). Dera Sach Khand Ballan has taken specific initiatives in the direction of cultural transformation and social consciousness of the dalits in Punjab. The dera has a library on its premises and also sponsors a vernacular weekly 'Begum Pura Shaher' published from Jalandhar. The dera distributes free literature on Ravidass and on the dalit issues. In the Begum Pura Shaher a detailed account of deras dedicated to the philosophy of Guru Ravidass is being serialised to document the rising consciousness among the dalits in the region. The main contribution made by the Dera Sach Khand Ballan in the direction of raising the dalit consciousness is the construction of a mammoth Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir at Seer Goverdhanpur, Varanasi. Sant Sarwan Dass of Dera Ballan took the task of spreading the ideals of Guru Ravidass among the lower castes. He made strenuous efforts to make Bani (a spiritual poetry) of Ravidass popular among the dalits and made

them to understand its inherent meaning. Sarwan Dass thought the job to be incomplete until the place where Guru Ravidass gave the sermon of 'Begum Pura' was traced out. He made great efforts in locating the place where Ravidass was born. Sant Sarwan Dass assigned the task to a selected group of people under the guidance of Sant Hari Dass. The group went to Varanasi, surveyed the area near the Banares Hindu University. A location in the village Seer Goverdhanpur, on the outskirts of Varanasi, near BHU, is confirmed as the birthplace of Guru Ravidass. The plot of land was purchased and foundation stone of Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir was laid on Monday, June 14, 1965 by Sant Hari Dass alongwith a large number of devotees of Dera Ballan. The lower caste people from within the country as well as abroad helped in various ways in the construction of the temple. They did so in the name of Guru Ravidass, whom they consider the harbinger of their identity. Help for the construction of the temple came from the devotees of the Ravidass residing in U.K., Canada and other foreign countries15. They were keen to see the project completed and contributed in their respective individual capacities. The first phase of the temple was constructed by year 1972. For managing the affairs of Ravidass temple, "Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Public Charitable Trust" was constituted with the headquarter at Dera Sach Khand Ballan, Jalandhar and its branch office was established Varanasi. at Janam Sach Asthan Khand Mandir Ballan Seer also Goverdhanpur, Dera

coordinates the ecclesiastical affairs of the various other Ravidass deras in India and abroad. However, all the major Ravidass institutions in India and abroad have separate Trusts to manage their affairs. In the United Kingdom, the trust was named Shri 108 Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Trust (Regd.), U.K. It was at the request of

the UK Trust that a huge monumental gate in the memory of Guru Ravidass was raised at Lanka Crossing in Varanasi city on the way to the Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir. The second phase of the construction of mandir was completed in 1994 and the ceremony of installation of Golden Kalash atop the mandir dome was performed by Babu Kanshi Ram in the presence of the then incharge of the Dera Sach Khand Ballan, Sant Garib Dass on April 7, 1994. The monumental gate approaching the mandir at Lanka Crossing was inaugurated by the then President of India K.R. Narayanan on July 16, 1998. The Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir at Seer Goverdhanpur has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for dalits as Mecca for the Muslims and Golden temple for the Sikhs. The Ravidass Janam Asthan Public Charitable Trust encourages the publication of literature about Ravidass. The dera at Ballan also helps the poor dalit students by sponsoring them monetarily. It is also constructing Sant Sarwan Dass Model School at Hadiawad in Phagwara where poor children will be provided free education. In addition, the dera honours dalit scholars for literary contributions for the upliftment of the downtrodden. Till now, it has honoured fifteen such dalit scholars with gold medals (Bahadur 2003:3). It has acquired a unique importance among the dalits of the Doaba region who look forward to it for spiritual guidance, public utilities and advice for managing their cultural spheres. The dera is running a two-hundred bed hospital at Kathar, on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road, where poor patients get free medical aid. It costs the dera about Rs. twenty-five lakh every month (Kauldhar 2003: 5 & 8). All this has contributed significantly in building dalit consciousness and strengthening the dalit identity in the region. Every year on the Ravidass Jayanti, the dera makes special arrangements for the pilgrimage of the devotees of Ravidass to their Mecca at Seer Goverdhanpur. Special trains are arranged from Jalandhar to

Varanasi exclusively for Ravidass Jayanti celebrations. Such spiritual cum cultural activities further provides impetus to the process of the rise of dalit consciousness initiated during the Ad Dharm movement and subsequently carried on by the social and political efforts of the wealthy Ambedkarites of the Boota Mandi. It is against this background of dalit consciousness generated over a period of six decades in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab that caste violence in Talhan and its repercusions in Boota Mandi could be understood in a proper perspective. Talhan: The Conflict Violence started in Talhan on June 5, 2003 after a five month long drawn conflict between Jat-Sikhs and Ad Dharmis. The conflict was on the issue of dalit representation in the management committee of a local smadh turned Gurdwara. However, Boota Mandi became the epicentre of violence. It was in Boota Mandi that an Ad Dharmi, Vijay Kumar Kala, was killed in the police firing which suddenly brought Talhan and Boota Mandi on the national scene. Since Boota Mandi has become a hot bed of dalit activities from the Ad Dharm movement onwards, it is nave to expect that the radical Ambedkarites of this township, to whom Dr.Ambedkar once said, chop off the hands and smash the heads of those who molest your women folk (Sulekh 1994: XXI), could remain indifferent to the plight of their brethren in the adjoining rural areas. Talhan is situated at a distance of fifteen kilometers from the Jalandhar city and about twenty kilometers from the Boota Mandi. It is one of the big villages in Doaba. Its population is about 10,000. Dalits constitute majority of the population (72%). The rest of the population is of Jat Sikhs and other communities such as Ramgarhias [Carpenters], Lohars [Blacksmiths], Jheers [water

carriers], chhimbas [tailors] and kumhars [potters] (Philip 2003; Sharma, Reeta 2003; Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924: Judge 2003). Almost all the dalits are Ad Dharmi scheduled castes (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). They are largely clean-shaven and worship Guru Ravidass. However, they also swear by Sikhism (Sandhu 2003). The village distinctly exhibits prosperity. Huge and stylish houses in Talhan witness richness of the inhabitants of the village who have emigrated in large numbers to Europe, North-America, and the Gulf. The literacy level in the village is as high as 95%. The village has a senior secondary government school (ibid.). There are three main Gurdwaras in the village along with the Smadh turned Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh. The main three Gurdwaras reflect on the caste divisions in the village which follows a religion that forbids division on such lines (ibid). Jat Sikhs have their own Gurdwara. There is a also a Gurdwara of Ramgarhias. Dalits too have their separate Gurdwara constructed in the name of Ravidass. These Gurdwaras are not simply a place for worship and religious congregations of the respective caste communities. In fact, they are an index of the assertion of caste identities (Jodhka 2001; 2002; Jassi 2003: 6). Each Gurdwara has its own management committee. However, as far as the Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh is concerned, the management committee has become a bone of contention between the Jat Sikhs and Ad Dharmis of the village. The committee of this Smadh turned Gurdwara is dominated by land-owning Jats from Talhan and the adjoining villages. Though dalits constitute majority of the population in the village, none of them has ever been included in the management committee. Whereas other caste communities of Talhan and adjoining villages in the area are granted representation in the financially rich management committee. The committee manages an annual amount of about Rs. Five crore that the smadh of Baba Nihal Singh receives

in the form of offerings from its rich NRI and local devotees (Sharma, Reeta 2003; Philip 2003; Sandhu 2003). There may be a difference of opinion on the exact amount of offerings. But there is an agreement that the coffers in the Gurdwara have been over flowing with cash. Small wonder that anybody who is a somebody in the village wants to be a member of the Gurdwara Management Committee (Philip 2003). The richness of the Gurdwara is visible from the mammoth building in which it is housed. The building has spacious air-conditioned halls. One of such halls has a capacity of simultaneous recitation of Guru Granth Sahib by as many as fiftyfive Granthis (professional readers of the holy Granth) in one go. The Gurdwara has a well-appointed Kotha Sahib (resting room) for Guru Granth Sahib where tranquility is disturbed only by the purr of the air-conditioners (ibid). The annual offerings of the smadh turned Gurdwara is spent on development work of the village done under the supervision of the management committee. Dalits allege that Jats spend more money on their own areas. Money is spent discriminatly. The electricity and water bills of the Jat households, it is alleged, were paid by the management committee from the money collected at the smadh (Sandhu 2003). However, the version of the Jat Sikhs member of the committee gives entirely a different picture. They claim that a large amount of the money is spent on the maintenance of the Gurdwara and on various development activities undertaken for the whole village. Moreover, the members of the committee claim to have given Rs.2.5 lakh to the dalits for the construction of Ravidass Gurdwara (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). Irrespective of such claims and allegations, the fact is that dalits of Talhan have never been granted membership in the management committee of the Gurdwara. Although Jat Sikhs have monopolized the

management committee in spite of their being in minority in the village vis--vis the dalits, Baba Nihal Singh himself did not belong to the Jat Sikh community. He was a Ramgarhia Sikh of Tarkhan (carpenter) caste, which is a backward caste in Punjab. He was an ordinary person, who practiced his caste occupation. He also used to lay Gandd (wooden wheels) at the base of the wells in order to maintain a natural flow of ground water in the wells. His expertise in laying Gandd earned him fame during his life time. His fellow villagers admired him for his professional dexterity. He did not live in Talhan. He belonged to a village called Dakoha near Talhan. He died while laying a wooden wheel in a well near Talhan. Since Baba Nihal Singh was popular for his expertise in laying the Gandds and died while performing his job, his death was not considered as an ordinary event. Rather it was considered as a martyrdom, by the villagers of the area. Thus from Baba Nihal Singh he became Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. Shaheeds (martyrs) are not only the ones who die for the country while fighting in the battle field. Those who die while functioning for public utilities are also known as Shaheeds. In Punjab Shaheeds are remembered and venerated. Smadhs (tombs) are raised in their honour on the place where their bodies are laid to rest and annual fairs (melas) are organized in their honour. Since Baba Nihal Singh was remembered as a Shaheed, a smadh was also built on the place, near Talhan, where his body was laid to rest. To celebrate his martyrdom, villagers of the area started organizing a annual fair at the smadh. After the death of Harnam Singh, an aide of Baba Nihal Singh who used to take care of the smadh, another smadh was also built in his name near the smadh of Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. The popularity of Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh attracted a large number of devotees, who brought offerings mostly in cash. Subsequently smadhs were converted into shrines. In due course an other structure was raised in the middle of smadhs

and Guru Granth (Holy Book of Sikhs) was placed there. Since Sikh religion forbids worshipping smadhs, the placing of Guru Granth in between the smadhs was, in fact, contrary to the basic tenets of Sikhism. The main motive behind the construction of a Gurdwara in-between the smadhs was to, perhaps, grab the large amount of money received in the form of offerings at the smadhi by the dominant upper caste of the village and the adjoining areas (Anand 2003: 5). If the Jat Sikhs put their claim on the smadh by converting it into a Gurdwara with help from some outside Sikh religious organisations, how can they legitimately convince the dalits not to ask for a share in the committee simply because they do not belong to the Jat Sikh community. Ad Dharmis revered Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh almost as much as Jat Sikhs and used to participate in all the events at the Gurdwara with same enthusiasm (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). However, when the dalits asked for a fair representation in the committee, it evoked a stony, if not violent response from the Jats (Philip 2003). Dalits could not have come forward for demanding a representation in the committee had the Gurdwara been not become a symbol of power by virtue of its economic strength on the one hand and spiritual popularity on the other. Recently there has been a strong tendency among the dalits to demand a share in the structures of power at different levels of the society which have earlier been dominated by the land holding castes particularly the Jats (Sharma, Reeta, 2003). Ad Dharmis demand for a share in the committee is also rooted in that tendency. Now demands of the dalits for a share in the socio-economic structures of power could not be wished away either by evoking purity-pollution principle or by the blatant use of muscle power. Dalits have become wise enough to escape the traps of theocratic mechanisations and rituals adopted by the upper castes

to keep them away from the power. Ad Dharmis of the Talhan village vehemently refuted the arguments of the Jat Sikh members of the committee of Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh that they could not be given membership simply because of their not following the Sikh Maryada (code of conduct) properly. Ad Dharmis retorted back if clean-shaven Jats could become members of the committee, why could not they (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). Caste violence in Talhan did not erupt suddenly. It has a history of protracted conflict between the dalits asserting for their right and the Jat Sikhs who have been finding it difficult to adjust with the changed social and economic conditions. The conflict started in Talhan a few years ago on the demand of the dalits for representation in the management committee of the Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh. They approached the court in 1999. Filing cases and counter cases could not help resolve the conflict. The conflict took a new turn on January 20, 2003 when the Jat Sikhs publicly announced a social boycott of the Ad Dharmis. On the preceding day there was a fight between the Jats and Ad Dharmis on the eve of the election of the management committee. The Ad Dharmis who were demanding representation in the committee were beaten up and chased away by the Jats with the help of the police (Jodhka and Louis: 2925). They also tore down the portrait of Sant Ravidass. A few days earlier, the management committee also terminated the services of 39 dalit women who used to prepare Langar [food prepared in large quantity for free distribution] (Judge 2003). Ad Dharmis organised a Dalit Action Committee (DAC) under the leadership of Lahori Ram Balley, a prominent Ambedkarite of Abadpura near Boota Mandi, to fight against their social boycott and for representation in the management committee of the Gurdwara. DAC organized dharnas and hunger strikes at

Ambedkar Chowk in Jalandhar City and village Talhan. Ad Dharmis of Boota Mandi also participated in the dharnas and strikes. A team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes visited Talhan on February 5, 2003 and confirmed the social boycott. The team ordered that Kewal Singh and Bhupinder Singh be externed from the village for 6 months (Grewal 2003). Additional Director, Social Welfare Department, Punjab, also provided documentary evidence of the social boycott of the dalits (ibid 2003). The DAC demanded that the Commissions directive be obeyed and legal action under Section 295 A, IPC and Section 3, 9, 10 and 14 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, be initiated against those named in the FIR dated February 7, 2003 (Grewal 2003). In spite of all the efforts of DAC the informal social boycott of the dalits continued that started about four months ago. On May 17, 2003 DAC staged a protest by showing black flags outside the venue of the divisional meeting of the senior police and civil officers being chaired by the Chief Secretary against the failure of the state government to resolve the issue pertaining to the alleged social boycott of the dalits in Talhan (The Tribune 18.6.2003). Even after the above mentioned meeting of the senior officers the conflict in Talhan continued unabated. On May 27, 2003, DAC in its memorandum threatened (t)ill now our struggle has been peaceful, but if the Punjab government does not understand our peaceful overtures, we will resort to direct action for which preparations are being made (Grewal 2003). Although on June 3, 2003 a compromise was worked out between the contesting parties through the efforts of the officers of the district administration, it could not last even for two days. It was against this backdrop that violence erupted in Talhan on June 5 and quickly snow-balled into Boota Mandi.

The site of the beginning of the violence was the Mazaar (grave) of Sufi Pir Baba Fateh Shah Qadri. The Mazaar is located in the North-west of Talhan. It is about a kilometer from the Smadh Baba Nihal Singh. It has three graves, a tomb and a small structure where a Muslim family lives (Singh, Prabhjot 2003). At the Mazaar a mela is organised, every year on June 5, by an emigrant Jat Sikh from Talhan. People of all the castes of Talhan and of adjoining villages participate in the mela (Ibid.; Balley 2003a:11). It was at the mela where violence erupted at 2.00 p.m., on June 5, and continued unabated for six hours. Thereafter, it was followed by violent clashes in Boota Mandi and other nearby towns like Phagwara and Kartarpur. It is alleged that the violence was caused by the Jat Sikhs, who asked the dalits to leave the mela (Balley 2003a:11). Some reports say that the clash was sparked-off, when dalit boys passed comments at Jat-girls singing devotional songs on the stage at the mela (Judge 2003). Whatever be the cause of the violence, at least it is clear that dalits have now achieved a state of consciousness which not only empowered them to say a firm no to their hitherto tormentors but also encouraged them to ask assertively for equal share in the structures of power. Whereas the Jat Sikhs who have, till recently, been thriving at the meek silence of the dalits, are obviously finding it difficult to digest the emerging dalit assertion. Although the violence was controlled by the district administration and police, it took eighteen days for a compromise to take place between the contending parties. Curfew remained clamped, in sensitive areas, in Talhan and Boota Mandi during all these days. On June 13, police arrested five members of the DAC and an equal number of persons belonging to Jat Sikh community, including Kewal Singh and Bhupinder Singh against whom an FIR

was registered on February 7,2003. After the arrests, negotiations started between both the parties at the PAP Complex, Jalandhar, under the leadership of ADG Police, D.R. Bhatti. A compromise was worked out. In fact, it was the same compromise that was signed on June 3, 2003, but could not be implemented because of the violence on June 5. In the compromise, it was agreed that two dalits would be included in the committee. However, a condition was attached that they should have Sikh Saroop(Sikh appearance). The other terms of the compromise included the withdrawl of all the cases related to Talhan clash, public apology with the Bhog (completion of recitation of Sikh holy book) of the Adi Granth for social boycott and scrilege of Guru Ravidass. The agreement was signed by both the parties. On June 16, the arrested persons were released. On June 22, all the clauses of the agreement were fulfilled in the presence of the sangat (gathering of people at a religious place) gathered at the smadh of Baba Nihal Singh. However, it took almost two months for the agreement to, actually, get implemented. On August 17, 2003 one of the two dalit nominees, Amarjit, was unanimously elected as the vice-secretary of the Sehajdhari committee of the Jat dominated Management committee of the Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. The Sehajdhari committee is a decision making committee. It comprises all office bearers of the management committee. Amarjit was elected after he obtained Sikh Saroop. He has taken Amrit (Holy water) at the historic Gurdwara at Anandpur Sahib on August 13, 2003 and has grown a flowing beard (Singh, Varinder : 2003). Though the Jat Sikhs were adamant on the Sikh Saroop of the dalits for inclusion in the committee, a Jat, who was president of the committee for many years, did not keep such a saroop. It seems that the adamant attitude of the Jat Sikhs towards the dalits

was, in fact, a face saving strategy in view of the indomitable fight put up by the dalits during the Talhan conflict for securing justice and dignity. The pressure of the dalit assertion has also compelled the Government to solve the Talhan imbroglio without further delay, so that it could not turn into a serious political issue having wider implications. Moreover the rise of dalit assertion has cautioned the Government to take necessary measures to prevent the victimisation of dalits in other parts of Punjab lest they replicate Talhan. Mention may be made that during the Talhan crisis and after the recent Panchayat elections in Punjab as well, in as many as fourteen villages the cases of social boycott of the dalits were successfully resolved by the Government (Balley 2003a:11; Virdi 2003a:6-7). Thus Talhan has created a history in Punjab. It has set an example of dalit assertion. Talhan was not a case of caste problem as has been popularly projected. Nor it was solely caused by the allurement of the wealth at the smadh. In fact it was a case of dalit assertion against caste domination and untouchability in Punjab. It sharpened the question of dalit human rights and civil liberties in Punjab. The dalit assertion that has come on the surface during the Talhan crisis contains the seeds of dalit emancipation in the real sense of the term. It is in this context that Talhan has become an important case for the understanding of the violation of the human rights of the dalit in the rural settings of Punjab which boasts of a caste free society.

Conclusion What we have argued above is that untouchability is rooted in the legal and literary discourse of Dharam Shastra literature. It got further reinforced by the rationalistic discourse of the Orientalists. However, in Punjab, the impact of the Brahmanical principle of purity-pollution and of the Varna Vyavastha has never been so

strong as in many parts of India. Although the ritualistic and ceremonial underpinnings of untouchability were weak in Punjab, owing to the cultural specificities of the region, the gravity of social oppression and economic deprivation of the dalits has never been weak. Untouchability in Punjab was more associated with the asymmetrical structures of the agrarian rural economy than with the syndrome of purity-pollution. The seeds of dalit consciousness were sown in Punjab in the early 1920s. The Ad Dharm movement provided the necessary background for the rise of dalit consciousness in the colonial Punjab. After 1940, the Punjab unit of All India Scheduled Castes Federation and the Punjab unit of Republican Party of India carried on the legacy of the Ad Dharm movement. The process of politicization of the dalits in Punjab and their empowerment has also been promoted by the social, cultural and spiritual activities undertaken by Ravidass deras, especially Dera Sach Khand Ballan in Jalandhar district in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab. Dalit consciousness has never been an exclusive domain of dalits only. It continued, intermittently, to receive support from non-dalit quarters as well. Be it a phase of Bhakti movement, Sufis, Indian renaissance or of national freedom movement, there is an ample proof of efforts being made by non-dalits in the direction of amelioration of untouchability. However, almost all of them, thought it appropriate to take measures for the removal of untouchability without doing away with the inegalitarian social structures. This has led to a sharp division between the orientation of the dalits and the upper castes protagonists of social reform movements. The rise of Ad Dharm movement and GandhiAmbedkar dispute are testimonies to such polarization between the dalits and the twice born. This division, in turn, further

strengthened the process of proliferation of dalit consciousness in a dichotomous framework of we and others. The issue of caste and untouchability, instead of becoming a common social problem with a unified response across the length and breadth of Indian subcontinent has taken on a path of confrontation and antagonism. Dalit consciousness grew along these fault lines. Indian freedom struggle failed to provide a conducive environment for the peaceful resolution of caste based conflicts in the post colonial India. Talhan caste conflict, in fact, is not the first of its kind as has generally been reported both in the media and academia. Caste violence, in colonial Punjab, during the Ad Dharm movement is a case in point. Ad Dharmis were subjected to physical violence and sever hardships. Their only fault was, they dared to assert for civil rights. In fact, whenever, the oppressed raised voice for emancipation from social oppression and economic deprivation, they faced stiff and violent opposition from those who were in command of economic resources and bracketed with higher social status. They may be Brahmins, Rajputs or Jats. It does not make much of a difference. What is important is not a particular caste, but the economic set up of the concerned region and the resultant configuration of social forces and relations between the dominant castes and the dalits. In the case of Punjab, Jat Sikhs constitute dominant caste Their domination, however, is not rooted in the graded system of caste hierarchy. They became dominant because of their hold over the land. Dalits in Punjab, for various historical reasons, were deprived of land. Their being landlessness, obviously, made them subservient to the land owning castes, majority of whom happen to be Jat Sikhs. Although employment opportunities were created for the dalits under the system of caste based reservation since the promulgation of the constitution of independent India, their social status has not been raised accordingly in the rural Punjab

where majority of them reside. In addition, inspite of, the progressive stance of Sikh religion which forbids division of mankind on the basis of parochial and ascriptive values, Punjab could not succeed in overcoming the reactionary and obscurantist tendencies of caste based social setup. Although agricultural has ceased to exist as a profitable profession for the last few years, land is still considered as the most essential status symbol in rural Punjab. Though many dalits have benefited from constitutional affirmative action, spread of education, social welfare measures and ventures abroad, a vast majority of them still remained very poor and vulnerable. While many dalits have abandoned their caste based occupations and have also distanced themselves from the employment in the agricultural fields, their social status in the rural economy remained marginal, precisely because of their landlessness. Moreover, their increasing hold on the electoral structures of power at the grassroots has not yet converted into their empowerment. Reservation in the Panchayati Raj institutions failed to improve their lot significantly. Although they were elected to reserved posts of Sarpanches and Panches in village Panchayats, even in some cases from the general seats as well given their numerical strength, they were not allowed to function independently and fearlessly. In many cases, Government had to intervene to help them assume the elected offices. In rural Punjab, land determined social status. It is a fact. Dalits did not own land, is another fact. It is also a fact, that dalits have achieved a significant awareness and political consciousness over the last seven decades in the history of dalit mobilization in Punjab. Now, they cannot be coerced any more to remain confined to the periphery. The contradiction between old mind sets based on proclivities of caste prestige and honour, on the one hand, and the emerging dalit consciousness for equal share in different social

structures of power, on the other, is fast becoming crucial. The rise of a large number of separate dalit Gurdwaras and community centres, and the ever increasing number of caste conflicts in the villages of Punjab is a clear testimony to the surging dalit assertion for equal rights and dignity. It is in this context that Talhan caste conflict cannot be seen as a sporadic case of spontaneous violence. In fact, it alludes to a deep-rooted crisis born of general neglect and violation of human rights of the downtrodden in Punjab which needs serious attention for its peaceful redressal. Notes: [This is a revised and enlarged version of the paper presented at the International Dalit Conference, Vancouver, Canada, May 15-18, 2003. I thank Prof. P.S. Verma for extremely helpful discussions in the course of formulating different parts of the paper. My thanks to Late Prof. Pradeep Kumar who helped me in understanding the different dimensions of dalit politics. I also acknowledge the critical inputs from the participants of the International Dalit Conference, especially Dr. K.P. Singh, Prof. John C.B. Webster, Mr. Chander Bhan Prasad, Dr. Ambrose Pinto S.J., Prof. Eleanor Zelliot, Dr. Laxmi Berwa, Mr. Jai Pal Birdi, Mr. Chanan Chahal and Mr. Arun Kumar, in helping me refine the arguments considerably. To Late Chanan Lal Manak, K.C. Sulekh, Lahori Ram Balley, G.S. Bal, K.C. Shenmar, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, I.D. Pawar, Chatter Sain, C.L. Chumber, Dr. Som Nath Bharti, and Sant Surinder Dass Bawa, I owe special debt for providing me source material on the Ad Dharm movement. Long discussions with Professors Harish K. Puri, P.S. Judge and the seminarians of the Wednesday Seminar, Deptt. of Sociology , Panjab University, Chandigarh, helped me sharpen my formulations. To Seema Goel, I owe a special debt for helping me in various ways in preparation of this draft. However, for any

fault or error, the responsibility lies entirely on the author].

1.

Dalits have separate Gurdwaras in about 10,000 villages out of a total of 12, 780 villages in Punjab (Dalit Voice, Vol. 22, No. 17 September 1-15, 2003, p. 20). A survey of 116 villages in one Tehsil of Amritsar district showed that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in 68 villages (Puri 2003: 2700). Yet another field-study of 51 villages selected from the three sub-regions of Punjab found that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in as many as 41 villages ( Jodhka 2002:1818); see also Muktsar 1999 ; and Muktsar 2003: 21-22.

2. Some of the most important Deras are: Radha Soami Satsang Beas; Sacha Sauda, Sirsa; Dera Wadbhag Singh, Una. Dera of Piara Singh Bhaniarwala is an emerging sect of the followers of Piara Singh Bhaniarwala who considered himself a holy man. There are many such persons who considered themselves spiritual and have established their deras all over Punjab. They command a large number of followings among the dalits. For details see Puri 2003: 2700. 3. Ad Dharm movement came into existence in 1925. Ad Dharm was a movement against the system of untouchability. It aimed at emancipation of the dalits and their empowerment through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration and political assertion. It was the first movement of its kind in North India where the downtrodden were brought together to fight for their cause. It laid the foundation of dalit consciousness and assertion in Punjab. Mark Juergensmeyers seminal work is the pioneer study of this movement (Juergensmeyer 1988).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.

<!--[endif]--> Adi movements

appeared in 1920s in different parts of India. Adi Dravida movement in Madras, Adi Andhra in Andhra Pradesh, Adi Karnataka in Karnataka and Adi Hindu in Uttar Pradesh (Mendelsohn and Vicziany 1998:.3, 215-16; Juergensmeyer 1988:24-25 & 274). 5. Mangoo Ram was one of the founders of Ad Dharm movement. He was born on January 14, 1886 in a Chamar family, in village Mugowal, Dist. Hoshiarpur, Punjab. His father had a business of selling hides. In 1909, Mangoo Ram immigrated to America where he came in close contact with the Gadhar Party (a militant nationalist organization). On his return home in 1925, he started organizing Scheduled Castes against the system of untouchability and founded the Ad Dharm movement. In January 1928, he led a deputation of 150 prominent Ad Dharmis to the Simon Commission and gave memorandum for equal rights for the dalits (Manak 1985:6). In 1932, he also met the Lothian Committee at Lahore and pleaded that dalits were neither Sikhs, Hindus, Christians or Muslims. They were, in fact, the indigeneous people of India. Their religion is AD Dharm. He also sent telegrams during the Roundtable Conferences in London (1930-32) pledging Ad Dharm support for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as the leader of the untouchables in India instead of Mahatama Gandhi. In 1946, he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and remained in legislature till 1952. On 25 July 1976, he was invited as a Chief Guest by Ad Dharm Brotherhood, UK, of the Ad Dharm Golden Jubilee celebrations. Ad Dharm Brotherhood, UK, honoured him with a pension of Rs. 100 per month which he received till

his death (Sain 1985:37). On 15 August, 1972, Prime minister of India , Indira Gandhi honoured him with a Tamra Patra and Rs. 200 pension per month for the services he rendered in the Gadhar Party for Indias freedom. He died on April 22, 1980.

6.

In 1937 Assembly elections in Punjab, eight seats were reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Ad Dharm contested on all seats with the help of Unionist Party. Ad Dharm candidates won seven seats. One seat (Hoshiarpur) went to Congress candidate Moola Singh, who defeated Hazara Ram Piplanwala of Ad Dharm with a margin of seven votes. For details see Manak 1971.

7.

B R Ambed????

8. Talhan is a village. It falls in Jalandhar district in Doaba subregion of Punjab. Doaba is the central part of Punjab. It consists of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahar. 9. Boota Mandi is a suburb of Jalandhar city, on Nakodar road. Ad Dharmis constitute majority of its population. 10. Ravidass Jaikara was discontinued for sometime and again revived in 1963 by Ch. Jagjit Singh, son of Master Gurbanta Singh. At present it is being published Mr. Jagat Singh. 11. K.C.Sulekh is a commited and dedicated Ambedkarite. He is endowed with sharp insights and critical mind. He wields an incisive pen. He is a prolific writer and a critical commentator on dalit issues. He met Dr. B.R.Ambedkar from Jalandhar. Mr. Surinder Kumar Banger is its editor and is published by

many times. When Babasaheb addressed a mammoth gathering at Jalandhar in October 1951, K.C. Sulekh was the incharge of the stage from where Babasaheb delivered his lecture. He also accompanied him during his Punjab tour to Ludhiana and Patiala. 12. Mangoo Ram Jaspal is an NRI Ad Dharmi of village Haryana near Hoshiarpur, Punjab. He returned from England and got settled in Jalandhar in 1970. He took active interest in reviving the Ad Dharm movement in Doaba region of Punjab and convened a Conference on December 13, 1970 at Dera Sach Khand Ballan and revived Ad Dharm Mandal as Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation. 13. Lahori Ram Balley is a renowned Ambedkarite of Doaba region of Punjab. He embraced Buddhism. He played a significant role in popularizing B.R. Ambedkars writings in North India. Under his Bheem Patrika publication he did not only publish Babasahebs writings in English but translated them in Hindi and Punjabi. He also wrote extensively on Ambedkar and Buddhism. His contribution in the agitation of Republican Party in Punjab in 1964 is well known. 14. Sant Hiran Dass of this dera established Ravidass Sabha in 1907 and published his collection of Ravidasss poems under the title Rae Das Ki Bani [Allahabad: Belvedere Press, 1908]. For details see Mark Juergensmeyer 1988: 87. 15. Ad Dharmis abroad have established Guru Ravidass Sabhas wherever they have settled. They gather at these Sabhas quite often. Such gatherings are not only confined to religious activities, political matters and issues relating to dalitconsciousness and emancipation are discussed seriously. Following organizations have given Millennium Awards to

Sant Niranjan Dass, the present head of Dera Sach Khand Ballan. Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, 282, Western Road, Southall, Middlesex, London; Shri Guru Ravidass Temple, Sacramento, California, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Pittsburg, California, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Bay Area Fremont, California, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Vancouver, Canada Shri Guru Ravidass Temple, 61-01, Broadway Woodside, New York-11377,USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Marg, Astoria, New York, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, (Medway) Strood Kent, UK; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, The Lane (Ash Burnham Rd.), Bedford MK 40 IED UK (Jassi and Suman 2001:19-20). Recently on May 25, 2003 Shri Guru Ravidass International Oganisation for Human Rights (regd.), Italy, has invited Head of Dera Sach Khand Ballan and Sant Ramanand on the 626 Birth Anniversary of Guru Ravidass (Begumpura Shaher, No. 16, August 18, 2003: pp. 4 & 9).

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From

Servitude

to

Assertion:

Ambedkars Subaltern Approach to Nationalism And Dalits Liberation Ambedkar and Dalitisation of Untouchables:

Dr. Ronki Ram E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Traditionally, according to the Hindu code of conduct, the untouchables were placed at the bottom of the caste hierarchy and were known by different names in different parts of the country. They were called Shudras, Atishudras, Chandalas, Antyajas, Pariahs, Dheds, Panchamas, Avarnas, Namashudras, Asprusthas, etc. etc. The hierarchical and inegalitarian structure of Indian society came into existence during the period of manusmriti. The manusmriti set the tenor of social discrimination based on birth. This, in turn led to economic degradation and political isolation of the untouchables now popularly known as Dalits. Dalits are the poor, neglected and downtrodden lot. Their social disabilities were specific, severe and numerous. Their touch, shadow or even voices were considered by the caste Hindus to be polluting. They were not allowed to keep certain domestic animals, use certain metals for ornaments, eat a particular type of food, use a particular type of

footwear, wear a particular type of dress and were forced to live in the outskirts of the villages towards which the wind blew and dirt flowed. Their houses were dirty, dingy and unhygienic where poverty and squalor loomed large. They were denied the use of public wells. The doors of the Hindu temples were closed for them and their children were not allowed into the schools attended by the children of caste Hindu. Barbers and washer men refused their services to them. Public services were closed to them. They followed menial hereditary occupations such as those of street sweepers, scavengers, shoe makers and carcasses removers. Generally the term dalit includes those who are designated in administrative parlance as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes. However, in common political discourse, the term dalit is so far mainly referred to Scheduled Castes. The term Scheduled Caste was used for the first time by the British officials in Government of India Act, 1935. Prior to this, the untouchable castes were known as depressed classes. Mahatma Gandhi gave them the name Harijans meaning children of God. Gandhi himself did not coin the name. He borrowed the name from a Bhakti movement saint of the 17th century Narsinh Mehta. The name Harijan became popular during 1931 amid conflicts between Gandhi and Ambedkar on the issue of guarantying communal political representation to the dalits. Gandhi took this move as a step towards the disintegration of Hindu society. By terming the untouchables as Harijans, Gandhi tried to persuade caste Hindus to shed their prejudices against the achchutas i.e. untouchables. The purpose to adopt this new nomenclature of Harijan for the untouchables was to induce change in the heart and behaviour of the Hindus towards untouchables. At the same time, it was hoped that this new name would be accepted by the untouchables who would

too try to cultivate the virtues which it connotes. To quote Gandhi probably, Antyaja brethren would lovingly accept that name and try to cultivate the virtues which it connotes may the Antyaja become Harijan both in name and nature (Gandhi 1971: 244-5). The term Harijan got further recognition as an emancipatory nomenclature in the formation of Harijan Sewak Sangh, an organisation established for the purpose of upliftment of the dalits under the aegis of the Congress. A weekly Harijan was also started by Gandhi to provide voice for the cause of the downtrodden. However, Ambedkar did not find any substance in the change of name for the redressal of the structural hindrances that stood menacingly in the way of the their all around amelioration. To him it did not make any difference whether the downtrodden were called achchuta or Harijan, as the new nomenclature did not change their status in the social order [Shah 2001a: 21]. The term dalit was used by no less a person than Ambedkar in his fortnightly called Bahishkrit Bharat (Guru 2001: 100). Though Ambedkar did not popularise the word dalit for untouchables, his thoughts and actions have contributed to its growth and popularity. The word dalit is a common usage in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and many other Indian languages, denoting the poor and oppressed persons. It also refers to those who have been broken, ground down by those above them in a deliberate way (Shah 2001b: 195-196). It includes all the oppressed and exploited sections of society. It does not confine itself merely to economic exploitation in terms of appropriation of surplus. It also relates to suppression of culture way of life and value system and, more importantly, the denial of dignity. It has essentially emerged as a political category. For some, it connotes an ideology for fundamental change in the social structure and relationships (Shah

2001a: 22). The word dalit indicates struggle for an egalitarian order (Zelliot 2001a: 232) and provides the concept of pride to the politically active dalits (Zelliot 2001 b: 130). The word dalit gained currency through the writings of Marathi writers in the early 1970s. Dalit writers who have popularised the word have expressed their notion of dalit identity in their essays, poems, dramas, autobiographies, novels and short stories. They have reconstructed their past and their view of the present. They have expressed their anger, protest and aspiration (Shah 2001a: 22). Dalit is a by-product of the Ambedkar movement and indicates a political and social awareness. Ambedkar adopted a different approach and philosophy for the emancipation of Scheduled Castes. He wanted to liberate the dalits by building an egalitarian social order which he believed was not possible within the fold of Hinduism whose very structure was hierarchical which relegated the dalits to the bottom. Initially, he tried to seek emancipation of the dalits by bringing transformation within the structure of Hinduism through his efforts for opening the temples for the dalits and multi-caste dinners. However, Ambedkar came to realise soon that such an approach would not bring the desired result for the amelioration of the inhuman condition of the dalits. He asserted that the dalits should come forward and fight for their own cause. He gave them the mantra educate, organise and agitate. He did not have faith in the charitable spirit of the caste Hindus towards the untouchables as it failed to bring any change in the oppressive social order. Ambedkar did not have any faith in Mahatmas and Saints whose main emphasis was not on the equality between man and man. Their philosophy, according to him, was mainly concerned with the relation between man and God. Baba Saheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, himself a dalit, made

efforts to transform the hierarchical structures of Indian society for the restoration of equal rights and justice to the neglected lot by building up a critique from within the structure of Indian society. His was not a theoretical attempt but a practical approach to the problems of untouchability. He tried to seek the solution to this perennial problem of the Indian society not by making appeals to the conscience of the usurpers or bringing transformation in the outlook of the individual by begging but by seeking transformation in the socio-religious and politico-economic structures of the Indian society by continuous and relentless struggle against the exploitative system where he thought the roots of the untouchability lay. He thought that until and unless the authority of the Dharam Shastras is shaken which provided divine sanction to the system of discrimination based on the case hierarchy, the eradication of untouchability could not be realised. It was his subaltern perspective, a perspective from below which helped him to come to the conclusion that untouchability emanated neither from religious notions, nor from the much-popularised theory of Aryan conquest. He believed that it came into existence as a result of the struggle among the tribes at a stage when they were starting to settle down for a stable community living. In the process, the broken tribesmen were employed by the settled tribes as guards against the marauding bands. These broken tribesmen employed as guards became untouchables. However, Ambedkar could not provide answer to the problem as to why only these broken tribesmen were confined to the one part of the village in the setting towards which the wind blew and the dirt of the village flowed. Ambedkars tirade against untouchability was a tirade to make these people conscious of their rights, and to prepare them to agitate and win their rights. Dalit Liberation: Subaltern Approach

With the entry of Ambedkar into the Indian political arena during 1920s, the issue of social reforms achieved a new dimension. He was of the opinion that until and unless the downtrodden themselves came forward to fight their own battle, no one else could alleviate their grievances. No one else could know better than them about their own state of affairs. Ambedkar impressed upon the people to understand their own affairs themselves. Self-awakening, he believed, could provide them necessary strength to fight against evils in society. Ambedkar (started) exorcising the spirit of despair from the minds of dumb millions who had been forced to live the lives of sub-human beings. Here was a liberator preaching them the grand universal law that liberty is neither received as a gift; nor begged for a charity it has to be fought for. Self-elevation is not achieved by the blessing of others but only by ones own struggle and deed. Those inert, dormant masses lacked courage and needed a vision and a mission. Ambedkar was now inspiring them to do battle for their human rights. He was driving them to action by acting himself Ambedkar was displaying energy by his own action; arousing their faith by showing faith (Keer 1971: 73-74). Although low-caste protest movement which started with Jyotirao Phule in the 19th century continued in western India with leaders like Vithalji Ramji Shinde, Shivram Janba Kamble, Gangaram Kishnajee and others, they could not pull out the victims of the Brahmanical system of social gradation from their forced ghettos to fight for themselves. However, the movement started by Jyotirao Phule was more nearer to the real goal of dalit liberation than that of the movements led by the Brahmin liberal reformers like Ranade, Gokhale and Karve who concentrated more on inducing reforms in the different settings of Hindu dominated society rather than its total transformation. It was Dr. Ambedkar who provided for the first time to the dalits a system of struggle which they could consider as their

own. Although Phule had done the same before him in the 19th century, yet Phule like him did not belong to the untouchable caste. Phule was born in Mali-Kunbi caste broadly considered Shudra but not untouchable, while Ambedkar was born in the Mahar community which is an untouchable caste. Another factor which distinguished Ambedkar from Phule was that the latter studied at local mission school but had no opportunity available to study abroad. Ambedkars stays abroad during his higher education exposed him to English political institutions, liberal democracy and the system of rule of law, which cultivated in him a faith in parliamentary democracy as the best means for achieving the socioeconomic liberation of the under- privileged sections of the Indian society. He was equally concerned with the cause of the freedom of India from the colonial rule. Ambedkar said I will demand what is right full for my people, and I will certainly uphold the demand for swaraj (Ibid. 145). However, Ambedkar was always concerned to highlight the cause of the downtrodden and ever ready to redeem the same. At the first Round Table Conference, he said that One fifth of the total population of British India was reduced to a position of worse than that of a serf or a slave. He then declared to the surprise of all that the untouchables in India were also for replacing the existing government by a government of the people, for the people and by the people. He said that this change in the attitudes of the untouchables to British Rule in India was surprising and a momentous phenomenon. And justifying his stand, he observed with a rise in his voice and a glow in his eyes: when we compare our present position with the one which it was our lot to bear in Indian society of pre-British days, we find that, instead of marching on, we are marking time. Before the British, we were in the loathsome condition due to our untouchability. Has the British government done anything to remove it? Before the British, we could not draw

water from the village well. Has the British government secured up the right to the well? Before the British, we could not enter the temple. Can we enter now? Before the British, we were denied entry into the police force. Does the British government admit us into the force? Before the British, we were not allowed to serve in military. Is that career now open to us? To none of these questions can be given an affirmative answer. Our wrongs have remained as open sores and they have not been righted, although 150 years of British rule have rolled away (Ibid. 149-150). He continued of what good is such a government to anybody. We must have a government in which the men in power will give their undivided allegiance to the best interests to the country. We must have a government in which men in power, where obedience will end and resistance will begin, will not be afraid to amend the social and economic code of life which the dictates of justice and expediency so urgently call for (quoted in ibid.: 150). So from the above it is clear that for Dr. Ambedkar, political freedom was as important as the social transformation of Indian society. In his speech delivered at Bombay on 12 June 1951, Ambedkar said that the Scheduled Castes should come forward to cooperate with other communities in strengthening the newly won freedom. But at the same time he cautioned his fellow beings to keep in view the interest of their community. He was sure that the Scheduled Castes could not capture political power by joining the Congress. To win, guard and promote the interests of the untouchables, he emphasized that they should consolidate themselves under their own political party (Bakshi 1992: 60). Ambedkar was of the firm belief that howsoever, the caste Hindus worked hard for the welfare of the untouchables they did not know their mind. That was why he was fundamentally opposed to any

organisation started by the caste Hindus for the upliftment of the Depressed Classes (Keer 1971: 43). His principal objective was to achieve a respectable place of existence for the downtrodden sections of the society to which he himself belonged. But at the same time he was also not ready to compromise with the cause of the Indian Freedom. He too wanted swaraj but the contents of his conception of swaraj were more versatile than that of the Savarna leaders of the Indian Freedom movement. He accepted the responsibility of framing a constitution for independent India. He said, I feel now that it was the golden opportunity for me and my community. By framing the constitution, I convinced the Hindus, who were abusing me and my party for the last twenty years as antinationalist, that they were entirely wrong. We are as staunch a nationalist organisation as any other (quoted in Bakshi: 1992: 60). However, Ambedkars joining of the Congress government created a great amount of confusion among the Scheduled Castes. In clarification of his joining the government he said, I have joined the central government but have not become a member of the Congress and have no intention to do so. I was invited by the Congress to join the central government and I had joined it unconditionally. I shall come out any time. I think it is useless to stay there. Our condition is such that it is necessary that our men should be in the administrative machinery. There is no fear of just legislation, but even good laws may be badly administered and if the government is composed of persons who are by tradition against the interests of the Scheduled Castes, then there can be no hope for us (quoted in ibid.: 62). It was his subaltern perspective which made him to think practically that the administration was unsympathetic to the Scheduled Castes because it was completely run by the officers who were relatives of the oppressors or were known to them. Had these officers belonged to the Scheduled Castes they would have

given proper protection to their brethren. He was of the opinion that the high caste tyranny and oppression could be averted only if more of the Scheduled Castes could find places in the administration. This could be achieved by being inside the government rather than by sitting outside. Ambedkar, a firm believer in the parliamentary form of government, impressed upon the Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes, who together formed majority of the population of the country, to come forward to capture political power in the system of adult franchise. He said, People do not seem to buck up courage because they are overwhelmed by the belief that the Congress government is there for ever. I said, this is a wrong impression. In a popular democracy, no government is permanent and not even the government established by the two of the tallest congressmen, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel. If you organise, you can even capture that government (quoted in ibid. 66). Ambedkar was not only a visionary; he tried his level best to translate his vision into a practical reality. With the purpose of breaking the ladderless multi storied tower of Hindu society he formed the Independent Labour Party in 1936 so as to have a broad alliance of peasants, workers and Scheduled Castes. In 1942, he formed another political party for defending the interests of the Scheduled Castes. That party was known as Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF). Although the SCF could not make a significant mark in the electoral politics, it provided an alternative to the dalits to think about capturing the political power by organising themselves into a political organisation. After the death of Ambedkar, his close associates formed the Republican Party of India (RPI) in deference to the wishes of their mentor and saviour. Ambedkar hoped that the Republican Party would be a vehicle for all who sought to achieve the great goals surpassing the narrow confines of the Scheduled Caste Federation (Omvedt 2001: 150). It shows that Ambedkar

wanted to consolidate the downtrodden into a significant political force to guide them to achieve a dignified place in the Indian society. During his long journey of political struggle, he had come to realise that the issue of dalit liberation and empowerment could never be genuinely taken up by the caste Hindus. The dalits themselves have to come forward to take up the herculean task of their emancipation and empowerment. He had no hopes from the caste Hindus to get any help in such a project. He was greatly disillusioned after his experiences of Mahad agitation in 1927 where inspite of the resolution of Bombay State Assembly to declare all public places open to untouchables, the high caste Hindus violently resisted the untouchables attempt to drink water at the public pond. Yet, in another struggle to seek special rights for the Scheduled Castes during the Round Table Conferences, in the form of special electorate, Ambedkar was opposed tooth and nail by Mahatma Gandhi. Although Ambedkar succeeded in getting communal award for the benefits of Scheduled Castes, yet finally he had to compromise under moral duress due to Mahatma Gandhis fast-unto-death. The clash with Gandhi not only shook Ambedkars faith in the legal method of redressing grievances, but also convinced him of the futility of striving for equality by remaining within Hinduism. Ambedkar now opened that Hinduism was incapable of reform on its own and that the untouchables must ready themselves to fight their battle for equality alone (Doctor 1997: 125). Moreover, even during his earlier attempts three temple satyagrahas to seek equality within Hinduism, Ambedkar failed to get any support from Gandhi or the Indian National Congress. As said earlier his efforts to join the popular Ganapati festivals in Bombay also proved futile. So, were his attempts to arrange inter-caste dinners and to organise a public ceremony for

making the low-caste put on the sacred thread (Zelliot 1986: 163). The failures of all these attempts to bring reforms in the system of Hindu religion demonstrated to Ambedkar, that the untouchables were not really a part of Hindu society and would never be accepted as equals by the Hindus within that framework (Verma 1999: 2806). In other words, the project of dalit liberation through reforms in Hindu religion failed to yield any result. In the face of such failure, Ambedkar was forced to leave the Hindu religion. At the Yeola Conference, in Nasik district, on October 13, 1935 Ambedkar said that unfortunately he was born a Hindu untouchable and it was beyond his power to prevent that. But he declared that it was within his power to severe ties with that religion. He thundered, I solemnly assure you that I will not die a Hindu (Keer 1971: 253). Twenty years after, in October 1956 he converted to Buddhism. With this declaration of Ambedkar, the struggle of dalit liberation entered into a new phase: fighting against the oppressive structures of Hinduism from outside. This new form of dalit struggle which distinguished itself from the pre-1935 struggle of Ambedkar for transformation of the Hindu religion from within, shocked the Hindu community out of complacency and at the same time provided an opportunity to the untouchables to grasp their own future (Zelliot 1986: 165). Dr. Ambedkar realised that caste and Brahminic Hinduism reinforce each other and discriminate against the downtrodden sections of the society. He said in 1946, To the untouchables, Hinduism is veritable chamber of horrors (Lobo 2001: 243). He traced the genesis of the oppressive nature of the caste dominated Indian society to the sacred shastras of the Hindus who guarded them so closely that if any one except them read or heard them he would commit an act of sacrilege. Manusmriti sanctioned severest

punishment for such a sacrilegious act. Ambedkar quotes from Manusmriti, If the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the Veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and if he utters the Veda, then his tongue should be cut-off; if he has mastered the Veda his body should be cut to pieces (Thorat and Deshpande 2001: 73). According to Ambedkar the Vedas, smritis and shastras were all instruments of torture used by Hinduism against the untouchables (Lobo 2001: 243). In fact it was Ambedkars subaltern perspective which pierced through the shastras to reveal their true face. He emphasized in his Annihilation of Caste that the smritis and shastras were not the embodiment of religion but a system of rules to deprive the untouchables even of their basic needs and deny them equal status in the society. Ambedkar distinguished between rules and principles. Rules are practical and based on prescription. But principles are intellectual and are useful methods of judging things. Rules seek to tell an agent just what course of action to pursue. Principles do not prescribe a specific course of action. Rules are commands and tell what to do and how to do it, whereas principles provide man a reference point to his conscience to guide his course of action. This difference between rules and principles, according to Ambedkar, make the act done in pursuit of them different in quality and in content. Performing an act under the command of a rule and in the light of a principle, as a guide of conscience, are two different things. The principle may be wrong but the act is conscious and responsible by virtue of the fact that such an act has been performed by an individual by making use of his critical abilities. The rule may be right but the act performed thereof is mechanical. A religious act may not be a correct act but according to Ambedkar must at least be a responsible act. To permit of this responsibility,

religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It can not be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules it ceases to be religion, as it kills responsibility which is the essence of a truly religious act (Ambedkar 1995: 88). On the basis of a discussion around the distinction between rules and principles in reference to religion, Ambedkar comes to conclusion that what is called Religion by the Hindus is nothing but a multitudes of commands and prohibition. He said, the Hindu religion, as contained in the Vedas and smritis, is nothing but a mass of sacrificial, social, political and sanitary rules and regulations, all mixed up. Therefore, he said that there should be no hesitation in saying that such a religion must be destroyed and there is nothing irreligious in working for the destruction of such a religion that discriminates against its own people whom it bracketed as untouchables. The most notorious aspect of these bunch of rules and codes of ordinances, masquerading as religion, is that they are made immutable same for all generations, iniquitous not the same for one class as for another, and were invested with the character of finality and fixity. Religion, in the sense of spiritual principles is conspicuous by its absence in them. In other words, what the Hindu call religion is, in fact, not a religion in a true sense of the term. It is really Law or at best legalised class ethics (ibid. 89). Ambedkar exhorted the untouchables to tear the mask and find in it the hidden conspiracy against them which projected the code of conduct as a religion. He opined that once the people come to know that what Hindus called religion is not a religion but a law, they could urge for its amendment or abolition because law can be changed but not religion. One can leave religion but cannot change it because, said Ambedkar, the idea of Religion is generally speaking not associated with the idea of change (ibid. 90). It is in this context

that Ambedkars decision to leave Hinduism and his conversion to Buddhism becomes self-explanatory as a step for dalit liberation. The above discussion shows that what Ambedkar was against was a religion of rules not religion in itself. Had he been against religion he could not have had embraced Buddhism. Ambedkar said I agree with Burke when he says that True religion is the foundation of society, the basis on which all true civil governments rest, and both their sanction, Consequently, when I argue that these ancient rules of life be annulled, I am anxious that its place shall be taken by a religion of principles, which alone can lay claim to being a true religion (ibid.: 90). Ambedkar wanted to raise religion in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity. In short, his religion could not be against the principles of democracy. He said, I am no authority on the subject. But I am told that for such religious principles, as will be in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity is, may not be necessary for you to borrow from foreign sources and that you could draw for such principles on the Upanishads (ibid.: 92). An other aspect of Dr. Ambedkars subaltern approach for the emancipation of dalits and their empowerment was his distinct formulation of Indian nationalism in opposition to the dominant discourse of Hindu nationalism as represented by Raja Rammohan Roy, B.G. Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Golvalkar and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on the one hand and Communist secular socialist nationalism represented by M.N. Roy, R. P. Duta, T. Nagi Reddy and E.M.S. Namboodripad on the other. Although the protagonists of Hindu nationalism differed in many ways from each other, in essence they strengthen the Brahamanical hegemony in modern India. The communist secular social nationalism though based on abolition of class, its ideologues like that of the Hindu

nationalism

belonged

to

the

upper-caste

and

upper-class

background. Kancha Ilaiah put these two streams of Indian nationalism on a single platform by emphasizing that though they appear to be antagonistic in their discourses of transformation; the social forces that were engaged in this discourse did not differ in their roots of existence and formation. In caste/class term, they belong to the Brahamanical upper and middle class. Though their consciousness appeared to be antagonistic to each other, their being and self remained Hindu. This was one of the main reasons why the Marxists and socialists schools failed to problematic and critique Hinduism and Brahmanism (Ilaiah 2001: 109). Dr. Ambedkars conception of nationalism articulated and synthesized the national perceptions and aspirations of the downtrodden. Ambedkars alternative form of nationalism, popularly known as dalit-Bahujan-nationalism also incorporated the subaltern philosophy of Jyotirao Phule and Periyar E.V. Ramaswami Naicker. It constructed an anti-Hindu and antiBrahamanical discourse of Indian nationalism. It aimed at establishing a casteless and classless society where no one would be discriminated on the basis of birth and occupation. Within the dalitBahuhjan framework of Indian nationalism, Ambedkar built up a critique of pre-colonial Brahmanism and its inegalitarian social set up based on low and high dichotomy of graded caste system. This system of in egalitarianism led to the process of exploitation by the unproductive Brahamanical castes of the various productive castes. Ambedkar understands of the question of the identity and existence of the nation was based on his incisive analysis of the oppressive character of the Hindu community. By arguing for the rights and basic needs of the dalits, he challenges the assumptions of both nationalist politics and indigenous communitarian politics

(Verma 1999: 2804). Since the dominant Hindu discourse of Indian nationalism remained indifferent towards removal of the caste system; and the economic analysis of the communist secular socialist school also failed to highlight the issue of caste in its mechanical interpretation of class, Ambedkar himself an untouchable and victim of untouchability formulated his own framework from the perspective of the untouchables for the understanding of the system of caste and untouchability. The foundation of dalit-Bahujan nationalism lies in this framework developed by Ambedkar. It aimed at restructuring the Indian society into a casteless and classless and egalitarian Sangha (Ilaiah 2001: 109). Annihilation of caste was its central theme. Caste for Ambedkar was nothing but Brahmanism incarnate. Brahmanism is the poison which has spoiled Hinduism (Ambedkar 1995: 92). Ambedkar realised that any form of nationalism whose roots were steeped into Hinduism could not be a solution to the problem of dalits. Any discourse of nationalism bereft of annihilation of caste was just not acceptable to him. The agenda of annihilation of caste was so important to him that it became a central point of his struggle against colonial rule. In the first Round Table Conference, he minced no words in criticizing the British government for its failure to undo untouchability. Swaraj without extinction of caste had no meaning for Ambedkar. In his undelivered speech to the Jat Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore, he said, In the fight for swaraj you fight with the whole nation on your side. In this, you have to fight against the whole nation and that too your own. But it is more important than swaraj. There is no use having swaraj, if you cannot defend it. More important than the question of defending swaraj is the question of defending Hindus under the swaraj. In my opinion, only when the Hindu society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend it. Without such internal

strength, swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step towards slavery (ibid. 97). Thus, it was Ambedkars subaltern perspective which distinguished his conception of swaraj from that of the protagonists of the various shades of the national freedom movement. In his editorial in the Bahishkrit Bharat a fortnightly, on 29 July 1927, Ambedkar wrote, If Tilak had been born among the untouchables, he would not have raised the slogan Swaraj is my birthright, but he would have risen the slogan Annihilation of untouchability is my birthright.

Conclusions Dr. Ambedkar was an iconoclastic social reformer who at the very formative years of his career realised what it meant to be an untouchable and how struggle against untouchability could be launched. The social reform movement of the caste Hindus could not win him to its side because of his existential understanding of the pangs of untouchability. The issue of untouchability, for social reformers, was a mere problem. This problem was exterior to them in the sense that it affects only the untouchables. They themselves had never experienced the sinister us blows of untouchability. Moreover, though they were sympathetic to the cause of dalits but nevertheless, according to the social framework of the Indian society, they belonged to the opposite camp which practiced this inhuman system of social segregation based on sheer birth. Although Ambedkar dedicated his book Who Were Shudras to Phule, the precursor of non-Brahmin anti-caste movement, he did not approve the movement as a harbinger of dalit liberation. In a message given to the Satyashodak magazine, on the

16th Satyashodak Social Conference, Ambedkar said, The nonBrahmins have effaced the memory of Jyotiba Phooley completely. Not only that but that class has shamelessly betrayed his philosophy (quoted in Kuber 1987: 119). According to Ambedkar the non-Brahmin leaders failed to germicide the virus of caste among themselves. He criticized that many of them tried to emulate Brahmins and failed to abandon Brahmanical practices. They did not cease to employ the card of caste in politics. Marathas began to preach their superiority and the distinction between Marathas and non-Marathas became clear in all the party programs. Even in educational conferences of the non-Brahmins, the untouchables were seated away from others for fear of being polluted (ibid. 119). There was no hope for untouchables in such a movement. It was against this background of total despair and in the absence of untouchables own political philosophy and independent platform that Ambedkar entered into social and political space of the colonial India as a true representative of the dalits. His analysis of the origins of the untouchability and his action plans for its eradication were different from the approach and practice of both the caste Hindu social reformers and the non-Brahman anti-caste movements. Reflecting on the original contribution of Ambedkar in the rise of the dalit movement in India, Omvedt writes, It is impossible to conceptualize the dalit movement in India in the absence of Ambedkar, it is equally difficult to imagine, sociologically, Ambedkar coming of any other region than the Marathi-speaking areas of British presidency (Omvedt 1984: 139). If Omvedt considered the tradition of anti-caste movement in Maharashtra as a catalyst for the organisation of dalit movement by Ambedkar, Zelliot underlined the untouchable status of Ambedkar as the main factor for his meteoric rise as the leader of untouchables

(Elliot 1996: 160). Of the two, the tradition of anti-caste movement in Maharashtra; and his untouchable status, it seems the latter played a more prominent role in the evolution of Ambedkars subaltern approach for the emancipation of dalits and their empowerment. What distinguished his subaltern approach was that it looked at the problems of the dalits from below, from a vantage point of the deprived and oppressed. This perspective led him to think differently from the dominant stream of social and political thought of his time. His, Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development, Annihilation of Caste, Who Were the Shudras? and The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? are a testimony to his independent and original thinking. In these seminal works Ambedkar smashed the mythological basis of untouchability and laid bare its economic roots. He built a strong case against the Janam (birth) thesis of the untouchability which foreclosed all the ways for dalit emancipation. He exhorted its victims to oppose it tooth and nail. He said, It is disgraceful to live at the cost of ones self respect. Self respect is most vital factor in life. Without it, man is a mere cipher. To live worthily with self-respect one has to overcome difficulties. It is out of hard and ceaseless struggle alone that one derives strength, confidence and recognition (quoted in Jatava 1965: 15). He drew a distinction between merely living and living worthily. For living a worthy life, Ambedkar said, society must be based on liberty, equality and fraternity. In an ideal society there should be many interests consciously communicated and shared. There should be varied and free points of contacts with other modes of association. In other words, there must be social endosmosis. This is fraternity, which is only another

name for democracy. Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen (Ambedkar 1995: 57). For Ambedkar, social tyranny is more oppressive than the political tyranny and a reformer who defies society, is a much more courageous man than a politician, who defies government (ibid: 75). Ambedkar was one who defied society. In the beginning of his social reform crusade, he tried to get respect and equality for the dalits by bringing reforms within the social set up of Hinduism. He continued his struggle for empowerment of the dalits by seeking changes within the fold of Hinduism till 1935. When he realised that the salvation of dalits was not possible while living within the fold of Hinduism, he started his scathing criticism and tirade against Hinduism and ultimately sought the emancipation of dalits and its empowerment from outside the Hindu religion. Hence his conversion to Buddhism for Ambedkar the issue of dalit liberation was the foremost issue and he emphasised that dalits themselves have to come forward for its realisation. Thus, Ambedkar provided a subaltern perspective to see clearly the chameleon of Indian casteridden social set-up deceptively appearing in crimson colors and the ways to guard the interests of the dalits. References: Ambedkar, B.R. (1995), Annihilation of Caste, (Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika). Bakshi, S.R. (1992), B.R. Ambedkar: Statesman and

Constitutionalist, (New Delhi: Anmol Publications).

Doctor, Adi H. (1997), Political Thinkers of Modern India (New Delhi: Mittal Publications). Gandhi, M. K. (1971), Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 47 (Delhi: Publication Division). Guru, Gopal (2001), The Language of DalitBahujan Political Discourse, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Ilaiah, Kancha (2001), Dalitism Vs Brahmanism: The

Epistemological Conflict in History, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.) Dalit Identity and Politics (New Delhi: Sage). Jatava, D. R. (1965), the Political Philosophy of B.R.Ambedkar (Agra: Phoenix). Keer, Dhananjay (1971), Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 3rd Ed.). Kuber, W.N. (1987), B.R. Ambedkar (New Delhi: Publication Division, Govt. of India). Lobo, Lancy (2001), Visions, Illusions and Dilemmas of Dalits Christians in India, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Omvedt, Gail (1994), Dalit and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Sage). Omvedt, Gail (2001), Ambedkar and After: The Dalit Movement in India, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics

(New Delhi: Sage). Shah, Ghanshyam (2001a), Introduction: Dalit Politics, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Shah, Ghanshyam (2001b), Dalit Movements and the Search for Identity, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Thorat, S.K. and Deshpande, R.S. (2001), Caste System and Economic Inequality: Economic Theory and Evidence, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Verma, Vidhu (1999), Colonialism and Liberation: Ambedkars Quest for Distributive Justice, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, Sept. 25 October 1. Zelliot, Eleanor (1986), The Social and Political Thought of B.R. Ambedkar, in Thomas Pantham and Kenneth L. Deutsch (eds.), Political Thought in Modern India, (New Delhi: Sage). Zelliot, Eleanor (1996), From Untouchables to Dalits: Essays on Ambedkars Movement (Delhi: Manohar). Zelliot, Eleanor (2001a), Dalit Traditions and Dalit Consciousness in Niraja Gopal Jayal and Sudha Pai (eds.), Democratic Governance in India, (New Delhi: Sage). Zelliot, Eleanor (2001b), The Meaning of Ambedkar, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage).

Suggested Readings Ambedkar, B.R. (1916), Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development (reprint, Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika Publications,1977). Ambedkar, B.R. (1936), Annihilation of Caste (reprint, Jalandhar, Bheem Patrika Publications, 1995). Ambedkar, B.R. (1946), Who were the Shudras? (Bombay: Thacker and Co.). Ambedkar, B.R. (1948), The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? (New Delhi: Amrit Book Co.). Baxi, Upendra (1995), Emancipation as Justice: Babasaheb Ambedkars Legacy and Vision, in Upendra Baxi and Bhikhu Praekh (eds.), Crisis and Change in Contemporary India (New Delhi: Sage). Bharill, C. (1977): Social and Political Ideology of B.R.Ambedkar (Jaipur: Aalekh Publishers). Gore, M.S. (1993), The Social Context of an Ideology: Ambedkars Political and Social Thought, (New Delhi: Sage). Kuber, W.N. (1973), Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: A Critical Study (New Delhi: Peoples Publishing House). Omvedt, Gail, (1994), Dalit and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Sage).

Rajasekhariah, A. M. (1971), B.R. Ambedkar, Politics of Emancipation (Bombay: Sindhu Publications). Zelliot, Eleanor (2001): From Untouchables to Dalits: Essays on Ambedkars Movement (Delhi: Manohar), 3rd edn.

I am grateful to Mr. K. C. Sulekh for his scholarly comments and to the anonymous referee for his seminal suggestions. DR. RONKI RAM Department of Political Science Panjab University, Chandigarh-( india ) pIN-160014. Ph:(R)+91-172-2541290 (cell):09872861290 E-

mail: ronkiram@yahoo.co.in

t 2001, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA

57 58

Geetha B Nambissan, op.cit Umakant, Dalits and Education, Dalit International Newsletter, June 2006, p. 10

145) Official curriculum barely acknowledges the existence of Dalit and Adivasis communities, despite the fact that they form a significant proportion of the population especially at the district and local level in many states in the country (Kumar, 1989). On the other hand, these communities, when represented in the textbook, are portrayed largely in subservient roles in accordance with what is perceived as their traditionally low position in the social hierarchy (ibid; Nambissan, 1996 and 2000). Recent writings of Dalit intellectuals have also emphasized that the content of school knowledge excludes the culture and experiences of lower castes and Dalits and hence is alien to them. Referring to the richness and diversity of languages and experiences among producing communities by virtue of their being structured and rooted in the production process, Ilaiah observes that the linguistic skills or knowledge of the lower castes have no place in the education system (1996:56).57

146) How could one go from here especially with a focus on equity and justice? This is a question that must be answered if the egalitarianism and other noble goals as set in our Constitution are to be realized in actual practice and made available to all.

Cultural Barriers in Access to Education 147) The dominant culture of discrimination and exclusion as prevalent in society is also reflected in having access to education by Dalits. Dalit families usually live in spatially segregated clusters or habitations that are located at a distance from dominant caste habitations within the larger village set-up. This residential pattern has important implications for physical and social access to education, implications which are usually ignored in favour of other considerations when attempts are made to meet qualitative targets vis--vis school expansion. Given the fact that norms of purity and pollution still govern social norms and relations in rural areas, it becomes essential to understand whether schools are socially accessible to Dalit children when the schools are located at traditionally prescribed distances from Dalit habitations. In many habitations the school is situated in localities inhabited by

dominant castes, who are not only hostile to students belonging to lower castes or minority groups but also prevent their having physical access to the school. Putting the relationship between caste status and educational access into perspective, it has been observed that there are conditions in which the right to education for members of the socially marginal and low ranked caste members remains contested. Members of the high-ranked caste groups and the dominant actors of the village often see education for the working and labouring castes as both a waste and a threat. The popular perception is that members of castes ranked low in the caste hierarchy are incapable of being educated, and, if educated, pose a threat to village hierarchies and power relations. A study done in 1998 (Peoples Report on Basic Education: PROBE) highlighted the continuing caste discrimination in the heart of Delhi, where some teachers go so far as to pass on disparaging remarks about the accessibility of government schools to Dalit children. As one of them bluntly put it: What is the point of teaching Dalit children? Just teach them how to beat drums, that is good enough.58

33

59

Vani K Borooah and Sriya Iyer, Vidya, Veda, and Varna, The influence of Religion and Caste

on Education in Rural India, The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 41, 2005, p. 1369-1404
60

Ibid

148) Studies of education and caste show that Dalits are less likely to send children to schools. The influence of caste on school enrolment encompasses both sociological factors such as the role of cultural norms, and historical influences such as colonial and post-colonial policy towards education in India. Collectively, these non-economic factors might exert an important role on current schooling decisions, even after controlling for the economic factors that affects them. A recent study revealed that while there was a latent demand for education among Dalits, which was almost as strong as the Hindu demand, enrolment rates for children from this community were lower than that for Hindus because Dalits were not as well- endowed as Hindus with enrolment-friendly factors. In conjunction, the physical and psychological disincentives that inhibit Dalit school enrolment needs also to be both recognised and eliminated. Discrimination in schools against Dalit children is an important disincentive for these children to enroll at school.59

149) It is also important that sending children to school depends on attitudes towards education: of the children; of their parents; and of their wider communities. But an equally important finding is that the size of the religion or caste effect depends upon non-community circumstances in which children are placed. Under favourable circumstances, the size of community effect is negligible. Under less-favourable circumstances however, the size of the community effect is considerable. In summary therefore Vidya, Veda and Varna are profoundly and fundamentally interlinked. While economic and regional factors may mediate their interactions, recognition of these inter-linkages has significant implications for education policy in particular, and more widely, for development policy in India.60 Recommendations Options for Interventions The interventions that need to be addressed must include:

1. Recognition of caste-based untouchability as the basis for exclusion, discrimination, disabilities, deprivation and violence 2. Reparation for historical and ongoing exclusion and deprivation

Committee

on

Elimination

of

Racial

Discrimination

(CERD)s

General

Recommendation No XXIX should form the basis of National Principles of Governance by the State Party. However specific attention could be drawn on the following to adequately address the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 1. Resolutely implement legislation and other measures already in force; 2. Educate the general public on the importance of affirmative action programmes

34

to address the situation of victims of descent-based discrimination; 3. Conduct periodic surveys on the reality of descent-based discrimination and provide disaggregated information in their reports to the Committee on the geographical distribution and economic and social conditions of descent-based communities, including a gender perspective; 4. Take into account, in all programmes and projects planned and implemented and in measures adopted, the situation of women members of the communities, as victims of multiple discrimination, sexual exploitation and forced prostitution; 5. Take all measures necessary in order to eliminate multiple discrimination including descent-based discrimination against women, particularly in the areas of personal security, employment and education; 6. Provide disaggregated data for the situation of women affected by descent-based discrimination; 7. Undertake to prevent, prohibit and eliminate practices of segregation directed against members of descent-based communities including in housing, education and employment; 8. Secure for everyone the right of access on an equal and non-discriminatory basis to any place or service intended for use by the general public; 9. Organize training programmes for public officials and law enforcement agencies with a view to preventing injustices based on prejudice against descent-based communities; 10. Take substantial and effective measures to eradicate poverty among descentbased communities and combat their social exclusion or marginalization; 11. Work with intergovernmental organizations, including international financial institutions, to ensure that development or assistance projects which they support take into account the economic and social situation of members of descentbased communities; 12. Take special measures to promote the employment of members of affected communities in the public and private sectors;

13. Develop or refine legislation and practice specifically prohibiting all discriminatory practices based on descent in employment and the labour market; 14. Take measures against public bodies, private companies and other associations that investigate the descent background of applicants for employment; 15. Take measures against discriminatory practices of local authorities or private owners with regard to residence and access to adequate housing for members of affected communities; 16. Ensure equal access to health care and social security services for members of descent-based communities; 17. Take measures to address the special vulnerability of children of descent-based communities to exploitative child labour; 18. Take resolute measures to eliminate debt bondage and degrading conditions of labour associated with descent-based discrimination; 19. Reduce school drop-out rates for children of all communities, in particular for children of affected communities, with special attention to the situation of girls; 20. Combat discrimination by public or private bodies and any harassment of students who are members of descent-based communities;

35
61

The National Commission for SC/ST has made these recommendations in their many reports

to the government. Other UN Bodies 21. The efforts taken by the UN Sub-commission to study descent based discrimination practices as in Caste and the recognition accorded in ICERD need to be extended to other UN covenants like ICCPR, ICESC, CEDAW and CRC. 22. The UN agencies working in India (UNDP, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO, ILO) should incorporate CERD General Recommendation XXIX into Country Strategy Programmes. 23. The UN agencies working in India should establish mechanisms to work with Dalit organisations, CBOs, academics and other professionals to reach out to

Dalit communities in their programmes with particular reference to Millennium Development Goals. 24. UN agencies working in India should implement affirmative action measures in order to proportionately employ Dalits including women in all development agencies. 25. Ensure that caste and gender desegregated data is collected on the impact of all current programmes and develop social, economic, educational and health programmes and strategies that ensure non-discrimination and social inclusion. 26. All UN agencies working in India should incorporate an analysis of caste into poverty reduction and disaster response strategies, pay particular attention to caste discrimination, disabilities and violence and develop specific strategies and programmes to curb discrimination and violence, support Dalit empowerment and facilitate education and awareness on diversity and multi/inter-culturalism. 27. ILO should conduct a thorough analysis of the impact of caste discrimination on labour and should work with social partners and develop specific plan of action to address and eradicate caste based discrimination in the labour force, forced and bonded labour and child labour including gender analysis. National Commissions 28. Expand the Constitutional mandate to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Safai Karmacharis to ensure that their recommendations become binding on Union or States governments, Public Sector Units, Financial Institutions, and they have powers to undertake corrective measures, including action taking on erring officials is vested in them61. 29. Ensure that the Commissions present substantive annual reports and the Government place them before the Parliament within three months for discussion and action. 30. Ensure that all States, Ministries and Departments follow up recommendations of the Commissions and action-taken reports are submitted to the Parliament or respective bodies within six months.

36

31. Support and facilitate the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women to incorporate analysis of caste discrimination and disabilities and take necessary additional steps to support Dalit women and communities in ensuring and accessing their rights and entitlements. Union/ State Governments Bodies Legislative 32. Amend Art. 21 of the Constitution of India to include the following rights to all citizens, with special emphasis on Dalits and tribals on the basis of low income; the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of women and men equally, including food, safe drinking water, clothing, housing, public health and medical care, social security and social services, the right to living wage and the right to 5 acres of cultivable land or to gainful employment. 33. Ensure land and livelihood rights of Dalits living in scheduled areas in the Forest Bill. 34. Ensure Constitutional safeguards to Dalits who have converted to Christianity and Islam by providing them Scheduled Caste status as it has been done in the case of Dalits who became Sikhs or those who converted to Buddhism. 35. There should be proportionate increase in the Reservation Policy after taking into account the increased population of Dalits covering all religions. 36. The should be a Central Act of Reservation and should be provided enough safeguards by placing it in the IXth Schedule of Indian Constitution.

Executive 37. Organize periodic sensitization and exposure programmes to all members of the executive on untouchability, caste based discrimination and disabilities drawing resource persons from Dalit communities to share experiences and bottlenecks and progressive developments and best practices in diversity and multicultural principles and programmes.

38. Take up confidence building measures among Dalits and other communities on Constitutional values and principles, government institutions and implementation through frequent interaction and visit to Dalit communities, pro-active and prompt response in times of discrimination and conflict and immediate relief and adequate rehabilitation. 39. Ensure that the local bodies, district administration as well as state and ministries develop comprehensive mechanisms and programmes for enhancing for mandatory and increased access and availing of development programmes by Dalits. Special Legislations 40. Enforce with stringent measures the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and ensure immediate release and sufficient rehabilitation package to victims to prevent their lapse into the system. 41. Ensure the implementation of Minimum Wages act, Equal Remuneration Act, Land Reforms Act without any grounds for Caste based Discrimination. 42. Immediately and urgently release and rehabilitate all members involved in the work of manual scavenging providing alternate and sustainable livelihoods and employment and development programmes for the victims as well as their families and prosecute all violators and perpetrators of the dehumanizing

37

practice. 43. Extend the Devadasi System Abolition Acts to cover the practice in any part of the country and ensure the abolition of the system with immediate effect and provide relief and rehabilitation to victims and livelihood and development programmes for their families.

Earnest Implementation of Special Component Plan (SCP) 44. The mandated 16% (according to the proportion of Scheduled Castes to the total population of the country) of the budget must be allocated and spent strictly for the direct development of the scheduled castes by all ministries and departments at the central and state levels. 45. Any unspent money under SCP must be allowed to carry over and not be diverted or lapsed in the following year. 46. The social welfare department should be made the nodal department with full autonomy in the policy, planning, and implementation of the SCP as is being done in the state of Maharashtra. 47. Union government should ensure that states come up with a need-based plan for the SCP before the release of budgets.

Protect Rights of Dalit Children 48. Ensure strict enforcement of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, with comprehensive measures to enumerate disaggregated data, and special vulnerability of Dalit children. 49. Implement focused measures to arrest child labour among Dalit children disaggregated data on Dalit children in child labour, inspection and rescue of children in hazardous industries, Special measures to protect the vulnerability of Dalit girl children, special development programmes for areas that provide child labour, special measures to arrest distress migration and special drives to prevent trafficking of children etc.

50. Implement compulsory, free and high quality education for all Dalit children, making adequate funds allocation proportionate to the level of illiteracy, increase the number and amount of scholarships, provide better infrastructure facilities in SC schools and hostels, and offer market oriented vocational and technical education. Ensure Rights of Dalit Women 51. Recognize Dalit women as a distinct category among women and accordingly make disaggregated data on Dalit women available in census reports, action taken reports, and progress reports and while reporting to international treatise bodies. 52. Evolve national and state level perspective plans for mainstreaming Dalit women in developmental programmes, market enterprises, financial allocations,

reservation in education and employment and health facilities. 53. Ensure proper representation of Dalit women in statutory bodies and committees, vigilance and monitoring bodies and undertake capacity building programmes to promote their active participation. Equal Opportunity Commission 38

62 63

NCSC/ST Seventh Report, 2001-02, New Delhi, p.65 NCSC/ST Seventh Report, 2001-02, New Delhi, p.66 54. Set up an Equal Opportunities Commission and also to enact a separate and comprehensive Anti-discrimination legislation to address the issue of Untouchability, Atrocity and all other related forms of Social and Economic exclusions, discriminations and prohibitions.

Reservation 55. Extend reservation to the armed forces as has been recommended by the National Commission: The National Commission for SCs/STs still however feels that the Government should introduce some element of reservation in Armed forces without adversely effecting the efficiency as there was no substance to challenge the competency when there were regiments like Sikh and Mahars known for their excellent achievements. The Commission recommends that as far as possible in direct recruitments the reservation may be introduced62 56. Extend reservation to the judiciary as has been recommended by the National Commission: The Commission reiterates its recommendations made in its earlier reports that reservation provided for in judicial appointments below the High Courts needs to be implemented to fulfill the prescribed reservation percentage. The Commission also reiterates its recommendation to consider provision of reservation in appointments of judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court of India63 57. Extend Reservation to Private sector and it should apply to multiple spheres, namely private employment, market, private capital market, agricultural land, private education and housing, access to inputs and services, products and consumer-goods 58. Reservation in private sector should include legal safeguards of equal opportunities and non-discrimination. It should be in proportion to population and put in place adequate monitoring mechanisms.

391

Issues of Social Justice: Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes -An Unfinished National Agenda [being an edited extract from the consultation paper of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution entitled - Pace of Socio-economic Change under the Constitution released for public debate and eliciting public response] Readers are requested to send their comments and responses to the NCRWC at the following address: The Secretary, National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, Vigyan Bhavan Annexe Maulana Azad Marg New Delhi- 110 011 tel: 011-302 2079/302 2080 fax: 011-302 2082 email: ncrwc@nic.in Important ! [For any doubts or clarifications please check with the original consultation paper. Complete versions of the consultation paper and questionnaire are available on the NCRWC website] 2 Guidelines for Using this Document 1. This document summarises the ideas and questions contained in the consultation papers along with additional background information. 2. For the sake of ensuring continuity, the order of topics and questions has been changed from the

original. 3. Every sub-section and corresponding question has an identification number in the original paper. We have used the same numbers for easy reference. Questions marked ' ' against them are additional queries raised by the paper in the same context. 4. While sending your responses to the Commission please quote the sub-section and the question numbers. This will make it easy for Commission Staff to categorise them. You need not quote the entire question. 5. The NCRWC website has a user-friendly facility for making online submissions. Apart from 'yes/no' answers responses up to 50 words may also be submitted online. In order to log in you must have an email address as this will be used as your log-in identification. (however this facility is not available for making submissions relating to the consultation paper entitled- 'Pace of Socioeconomic Change under the Constitution'). 3 Background to the Constitution Review The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) was set up in February 2000 by the National Democratic Alliance government thereby fulfilling its electoral promise to review the Constitution. The government initially wanted to find a way of amending the Constitution to ensure political stability and avoid frequent elections to the Lok Sabha. But the mandate of the

NCRWC was a wide one and included development and human rights related topics and other important constitutional issues. The necessity of reviewing the Constitution was discussed several times in Parliament. The NDA and its allies favoured the review but the Opposition saw no special need and repeatedly wanted the government to spell out what needed reviewing. However, in the end it was not by a resolution of Parliament that the NCRWC was set up but by an executive order of the Ministry of Law Justice and Company Affairs. Perhaps the NDA feared that it might not be able to get parliamentary approval for reviewing the Constitution as it lacked a majority in the Rajya Sabha. The arbitrary manner of appointing the NCRWC and the lack of any effort at evolving a political consensus have resulted in the major opposition parties staying away from the review process. The NDA government assured Parliament repeatedly that it would not touch the basic structure of the Constitution. Before accepting its Chairmanship, Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah - former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - also insisted that reviewing the basic structure of the Constitution should not be included in the mandate of the NCRWC. As a result of these developments the idea of changing over from the parliamentary form of government to a presidential form - similar to that which exists in the USA will not be considered. This debate has come up from time to time and would have required a major overhauling of constitutional arrangements.

Since January 2001, the NCRWC has released several consultation papers on subjects such as electoral reforms; reviewing the working of the political party system; making the public audit mechanism more effective; setting up a judicial services commission to ensure independence and merit in the appointment of judges; codifying laws regarding the State's tortious liabilities so that citizens can get compensation for wrong-doing or neglect by officers acting under the state's authority; allowing for the prosecution of MLAs and MPs for corrupt activities - especially in the legislatures; enlarging the fundamental rights chapter of the Constitution to include more rights for citizens such as the right to education; reviewing centre-state relations especially with regard to imposition of President's rule under Article 356 and reviewing the institution of the Governor; setting up a mechanism for ratifying international and other treaties signed by the government which does not exist at present; effectuating fundamental duties etc. The ideas contained in these papers are not the Commission's own views. Instead various options for reform have been put forward for public discussion. The Commission wants people to debate these ideas and give their opinion on the suggested options for reform. These suggestions will be taken into consideration when the NCRWC compiles its final report to the government. 4 Issues of Social Justice: Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes:

An Unfinished National Agenda Introduction The consultation paper entitled Pace of Socio-economic Change under the Constitution released by the NCRWC takes a critical look at India's development experience since 1950 when the Constitution came into force. This paper evaluates the successes and failure of the State in fulfilling its constitutional obligation of assuring every citizen a life with dignity. The overarching concern of the paper is whether socio-economic progress made since independence has been fair, fast and equitable in everybody's experience - particularly of those belonging to the weaker sections of society like women, children, Dalits and Adivasis. The paper notes that the Indian economy has grown considerably since independence. Introduction of new technologies, modernisation of agriculture, rapid industrialisation, and the production of a whole new range of goods and services have led to a significant expansion of the economy. The paper states that the initiation of economic reforms in 1991 such as - abolishing the licencequota raj, privatisation of several government owned enterprises, reducing restrictions on exports and imports and reforms in the banking and finance sectors have led to further economic growth. In order to show that these results are real, statistics pertaining to the size of the economy, the monetary value of the goods and services produced and growth in per capita income1 etc. are provided in the paper.

However the paper refuses to consider development merely in terms of increasing per capita income and economic growth. Inspired by the ideas of the Nobel Prize winning Indian economist Amartya Sen, the paper notes that the level of human development achieved should be the criterion for evaluating progress. Human development means expanding the freedoms of and assuring human rights to all people so that they have the capability to lead the kind of life they value. Human development therefore means attaining freedom from fear, repression, discrimination and exploitation, freedom to lead a life of dignity, freedom from hunger and ignorance and freedom to participate in decision-making in an informed and intelligent manner. The paper looks at whether Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) who are nearly a quarter of the Indian population have attained this level of human development during the last five decades. As the condition of SCs and STs has not improved as much as it should have - despite the existence of several constitutional guarantees and welfare schemes - the paper examines the causes for this failure. Several options for accelerating improvement in the socio-economic conditions of these people's lives have been put forward in the paper. 1 In order to determine per capita income, the rupee value of all goods and services produced in any financial year (say April 2000 to March 2001) is calculated. This figure is divided by the total number of people in the country. The result is an artificial

figure and tells us nothing about the actual differences of income between the rich and the poor. For example, the per capita personal disposable income for the year 1996-97 works out to Rs. 11,289/- according to one estimate (http://www.indiaonestop.com/gnp2.htm). Whereas more than 30% of the population (between 300 to 350 million) were found living below the poverty line i.e., earning less than Rs. 3,500 during the same year. 5 An Overview of the Problems Faced by SCs and STs The paper notes that despite abolishing untouchability, prejudice against SCs and STs persists in some form or the other - be it overt, covert or subtle in expression. "Whatever has been done in this regard has been done hesitatingly half-heartedly and as a measure of concession forgetting that this relates to their Constitutional rights and not concession to (them)..." (page XVII) Atrocities against SCs and STs continue to occur frequently. More and more Dalits and Adivasis are becoming landless and are joining the ranks of agricultural labourers. The paper notes that loss of land is caused by atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis. This state of landlessness makes them vulnerable and fuels and promotes further perpetration of atrocities against them. Since the 1980s there has been a steady decline in the allocation of government funds for SC and ST development and welfare projects. The paper states, " there has in general been an inherent lack of interest and seriousness on the part of the planning and implementing machinery to achieve the

objectives of the Constitution...benefits secured by the SCs and STs do not appear commensurate with the funds spent so far" (page 93). Despite providing reservation quotas in jobs, the representation of SCs and STs in the higher levels of all public services remains poor. The paper notes that the amendments to departmental orders concerning recruitment and promotion of SCs and STs have adversely affected their interests. The paper quotes extensively from the Dalit Manifesto to highlight the feelings of SC/STs and backward classes (BCs) regarding the extent of deprivation and humiliation faced by them. In order to identify a combination of measures for fulfilling the constitutional mandate of securing the welfare of SCs and STs, the paper seeks the opinion of the public on several reform options. The following is a summary of the questions raised by the paper on various topics. 11.6.5 Ensuring Human Dignity - Eliminating Untouchability and Prevention of Atrocities Question # 35: Do you agree with the view that untouchability continues to occur in many different open, covert and subtle ways today despite the Constitution abolishing it under Article 17? Question # 35a: What do you think should be done to stop the practice of untouchability and stop atrocities against SCs and STs? Do you think human rights education would help in eradicating untouchability? If you agree with this view, what methods and means do you suggest for carrying out a campaign against untouchability?

Question # 35b: What, according to you, needs to be done for building up a powerful democratic mass movement to eradicate untouchability and similar forms of discrimination practiced at the village and mohalla levels? Question # 35c: Do you think that the police and the administration are taking effective steps to curb untouchability and atrocities as required by the Protection of Civil Rights, 1955 (PCR) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (POA)? If notDo you think providing a separate cell in every police station for investigation and prosecution of offences under the PCR Act and POA Act will be helpful in preventing atrocities? Should these separate cells be set up in areas with significant SC/ST population to begin with? Untouchability is practiced in public places like wells, temples, hotels etc. though it is a crime to do so. Yet many times the concerned police officers do not take any action even after complaints have been made. Do you think such police officers should be punished as abettors2 of untouchability? 2 In legal jargon an abettor is a person who promotes, instigates, advises, or encourages another to commit a crime. 6 Question # 35d: What measures do you suggest for strengthening the PCR Act and the POA Act to make them more effective? It is widely alleged that false criminal cases are filed against SCs and STs when they lodge

complaints about atrocities committed against them. This defeats the very purpose of the POA Act. What measures do you suggest to prevent sufferers of atrocities from being victims for a second time? Should practices like social and economic boycott and social and economic blackmail imposed upon SCs and STs by the upper castes be listed as crimes of atrocities under Section 3(2) of the POA Act by amending it? What deterrent measures and punishment do you suggest in order to stop people from committing multiple murders, mass rapes, gang rapes etc. upon SCs and STs? Sometimes atrocities may be engineered or promoted by non-SCs and non-STs but not actually committed by them. In some other cases not all, but most of those who commit atrocities may be nonSCs and non-STs. Do you think the POA ACT should be amended to cover such cases also? Under the present law if a person is held likely to commit an atrocity against a tribal he can be removed from that place for up to 2 years. This possibility of removing a person from a place is only available in areas that are named as Scheduled or Tribal areas.3 Should this idea of removing a person likely to commit an atrocity be made applicable all across the country wherever SCs live? In order to ensure speedy trial and punishment of those who have committed atrocities do you think it is a good idea to set up exclusive Special Courts that have an exclusive special public prosecution

machinery and a special investigating agency in every district?4 Do you think this will act as a discouraging factor for people who are likely to commit atrocities? Do you think it is a good idea to set up special mobile courts in every district which would go to those places where untouchability is practised openly and deal out punishment on the spot? Will this measure help to prevent atrocities? 11.6.13 Strengthening Constitutional Provisions The paper notes that the NCRWC has received several suggestions to amend the Constitution to better protect and promote the interests of the SCs and STs. The paper seeks views on the 'need', 'appropriateness' and 'desirability' of making these amendments. Question # 61a: Article 46 of the Constitution directs the State to promote the educational and economic interests of the SCs, STs and other weaker sections of society and protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.5 Should the Constitution be amended to convert this provision into a fundamental right with the following sentence being added to it: "And it shall be the right of the weaker sections of the people and in particular of the SC and ST that the State and all institutions of or created/promoted/assisted by the State shall at all times function fully and totally in accordance with this right, shall take every measure required to fulfill this right and shall not take any measure the effect of which will be contrary to it."? 3 For a discussion of the significance of Scheduled and Tribal Areas please see the section 11.6.10 - 'Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution' below on page 13.

4 For a list of districts where Special Courts have been set up please see the Annexure on pages 23-24. 5 As this constitutional provision exists only in the form of a directive principle that should guide policy and law making and the administrative decisions of the State, citizens cannot move a court of law claiming that the State is not doing enough to promote the well being of SCs and STs. If it were to become a fundamental right then SCs and STs could approach the High Court or the Supreme Court and challenge the State for not doing its duty. 7 11.6.3 Right to Livelihood Article 21 of the Constitution states that no person may be deprived of his life and liberty except according to the procedure established by law. This implies that generally every citizen has a right to life and the State has a duty to protect it. The Supreme Court expanded the scope of this right to include the right to livelihood.6 The Court held that no person can live without a means of livelihood and depriving him of livelihood would amount to depriving him of his life. Question # 32: The Supreme Court has declared that the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right to livelihood. Article 39 (a) directs the State to frame policies that will secure the right to an adequate means of livelihood for men and women equally. Similarly Article 46 directs the State to promote the economic and educational interests of the SCs and STs and protect them from social injustice and exploitation. What legal framework do you suggest for making the right to livelihood effectively available for SCs and STs?

Question # 61d: Clause 4 or Article 16 is just an enabling provision which allows the government to create reservations for other backward classes if the government is of the opinion that they are not adequately represented in public services. Do you think that it should be compulsory for government to reserve seats for backward classes where they are not adequately represented?7 Question # 61e: At present there is no explicit mention of SC/ST welfare and development in the responsibilities of either the central government or the state governments. Should 'Development, welfare and protection of SCs and STs be made part of the subject matter of the Concurrent List (List III)8 of the Constitution? 11.6.6 & 11.6.7 Representation in Public Services and the Higher Judiciary The paper notes that despite several constitutional provisions, the representation of SCs and STs in government services has not improved substantially during the last five decades. In order to promote their socio-economic interests, the Government of India has provided reservation in jobs to the extent of 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs.9 These figures roughly correspond to their population percentage. However there is no law made by Parliament governing job quotas for SCs and STs. Apart from constitutional guarantees the sole basis for reservations is the executive orders and departmental instructions issued from time to time by the Department of Personnel and Training (DPT). During the last five decades the proportion of SCs and STs has gone up to some extent only in Group

C and Group D services and not in the higher bureaucracy. The following table is indicative of the slow improvement made since independence (Table 9.2, page 90) 6 Olga Tellis v Bombay Municipal Corporation 1985 SC 545 7 There seems to be a misunderstanding in the original question as clause 4 of Article 16 does not contain the word 'permissibly'. The entire clause reads as follows- "Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which in the opinion of the State is not adequately represented in the services under the State." 8 Both Parliament and State legislatures can make laws on the subjects enumerated in the Concurrent List. According to Article 254 if there is a contradiction between the State and Central laws on a subject belonging to the Concurrent List then the law passed by Parliament will prevail. However the contradictory provision in the State law may become valid only if the Bill receives the assent of the President. 9 There is no constitutional provision for reservation based on numerical quotas in public services. Articles 330 and 332 require that seats should be reserved for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies in the states in proportion to their population percentage. As SCs and STs roughly constituted 22.5% of the population about 120 seats have been reserved for them in the Lok Sabha. Similarly the figures for legislative assemblies correspond to the SC/ST population percentage in the states. Though the constitution did not mention a numerical criterion for job reservations, the government has followed the same principle as that of the electoral arrangements. The judiciary and the armed forces are excluded from the purview of this policy.

8 Group % age of Scheduled Castes % age of Scheduled Tribes (Excluding Sweepers) 1961 1998 1961 1998 Group A 1.44 10.38 0.21 3.21 Group B 2.45 11.73 0.67 2.68 Group C 7.49 15.99 0.92 5.95 Group D 17.19 21.45 3.13 6.85 The paper notes that the representation of the SCs, STs and BCs in the higher judiciary - High Courts and the Supreme Court is inadequate. There are only 20 judges belonging to SC and ST communities among a total of 610 High Court judges. Since 1996 several obstacles have cropped up with regard to filling up of posts reserved for SCs and STs.10 In a series of judgements, the Supreme Court has stated thatAccording to Article 335, SC/ST and BC claims to public service posts may be considered only if they are consistent with maintaining efficiency in the administration; but lowering of marks or reducing evaluation criteria for their promotion were not permissible.11 If due to reservation an SC/ST candidate is promoted and later a person from the general category is promoted into the same grade, the SC/ST candidate loses his edge and is treated on par with the general candidate who now has the same seniority.12 But where there are two non SC/ST candidates seniority between them is based on -among other things - the date of their promotion; Where there is only one post available in a grade or category then that post cannot be

reserved at all for an SC/ST but automatically falls into the general quota.13 Subsequently the DPT issued several memos to implement the orders of the Supreme Court. The paper notes that there is a complaint that the government has gone beyond the mandate of the Supreme Court while amending promotion rules - to the disadvantage of SC/STs. Backlog Vacancies Until 1997, jobs reserved for SCs and STs could not be filled up by recruiting general candidates if suitable SCs and STs were not available. These vacancies were termed 'backlog' and treated as a separate class of vacancies which were to be filled up through special recruitment drives. In 1992, the Supreme Court fixed a cap of 50% on all and any reservations, including reservations for OBCs, or disabled or women. Taken together they cannot exceed 50%.14 This ceiling included the backlog of vacancies that existed at the time. Following the Court's orders the DPT issued an office memorandum in 1997 putting an end to special recruitment drives. Several organisations and MPs brought pressure upon the central government to find ways and means of restoring the job reservation policy to the pre-1997 position. As a result the Constitution was amended to enable the government to treat backlog vacancies as a separate class and fill them up 10 This has happened despite the 1995 amendment of the Constitution (77th Amendment) to nullify the effect of the Supreme Court judgement in the Indira Sawhney v Union of India case which held that the benefit of reservation could be given only once at the time of recruitment and the same principle did not apply to promotions. The amendment introduced clause 4(a) to Article

16 which mentions affirmative action for SCs and STs. 11 S.Vinod Kumar v Union of India 1996 SC 3639. 12 VirPal Singh Chauhan v Union of India 1996 SC 2894; R.K. Sabharwal and others v. State of Punjab and others, 1995(2) SC 646 etc. 13 PGIMER Chandigarh v Faculty Association 1998(2) SC 794. 14 This ceiling on reservation was fixed by the Supreme Court in the wake of the implementation of the Mandal Commission's recommendations for reserving jobs for Other Backward Classes. Indira Sawhney v Union of India 1992 SC 217. 9 through special recruitment drives.15 But this amendment does not undo all changes brought about by the DPT memos. The paper says there is a widespread demand for restoring reservation policy to its pre-1996 position. Question # 36: Do you agree that the reservation policy for SCs and STs in public services should be restored to the pre-1996 position? Question # 37: What further measures do you suggest to ensure that SCs and STs are adequately represented in the higher levels of public service? Question # 38: Do you think quotas for SCs and STs should be brought under the purview of a single law called `Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Appointments to Posts and of Seats in Educational Institutions)' which will cover all aspects of reservation? Do you think it is necessary to set up Arakshan Nyay Adalats or Tribunals under such a law for providing justice in

reservation (its main bench could be in Delhi and other benches wherever the Central Administrative Tribunal is situated)? (Such Adalats may be given the status of a High Court with appeals lying to the Supreme Court.) Question # 61b from para 11.6.13: In order to overcome the difficulties arising from the Court's interpretation of Article 335 should the clause - "...consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration" found in that Article be deleted? Question # 61c from para 11.6.13: In order to ensure that reservation for the SCs and STs becomes mandatory should Article 335 be transferred to Article 16 in the fundamental rights chapter after making suitable changes?16 Should this provision also give the State enabling powers to make laws covering all aspects of reservation for the SCs and STs? Question # 39: What measures would you suggest to ensure that reservation for BCs is fully implemented every year and there is no shortfall in filling vacancies reserved for them? Question # 40: Do you think it will help to bring quotas for BCs under the purview of a single law to be called "Backward Classes (Reservation in Appointments to Posts and of Seats in Educational Institutions)" ? Should Arakshan Nyay Adalats be set up for BCs along the lines suggested for SCs and STs above? Quotas in the Privatised Public Sector Units Question # 41: The ongoing process of privatisation of and disinvestments in Public Sector

Undertakings (i.e., enterprises owned or controlled by the government) and similar bodies is likely to adversely affect the existing reservation for SCs, STs and BCs in those bodies. (This is because the reservation policy does not apply to the private sector.) What measures would you suggest to ensure continued representation of SCs, STs and BCs in these bodies even after privatisation? 15 The Eighty-first Constitution (Amendment) Act inserts clause 4(b) into Article 16 of the Constitution. The new clause reads"Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from considering any unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for being filled up in that year in accordance with any provision for reservation made under clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be filled up in any succeeding year or years and such class of vacancies shall not be considered together with the vacancies of the year in which they are being filled up for determining the ceiling of fifty per cent reservation on total number of vacancies of that year." 16 Article 16 of the Constitution guarantees equality of opportunity to all citizens in matters relating to employment in public services. The State shall not discriminate between citizens on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence etc. But this provision shall not prevent the State from reserving jobs for SCs, STs and backward class citizens if they are not adequately represented in a public service. Similarly the State may put in place reservation quotas for SCs and STs in promotions to higher positions also. But Article 335 of the Constitution requires that such claims of SCs and STs to public services or in matters of promotion be considered only if they are consistent with the maintenance of efficiency in the administration.

10 Do you think that in order to protect the interests of ST/SCs and BCs the new Memorandum of Understanding - signed at the time of privatisation - should include mandatory clauses that ensure continuation of reservations policies? 11.6.9 Social Responsibilities of the Private Sector The paper believes that the private sector in India is likely to grow more rapidly in the future as a result of the government's economic reform policies. Due to the withdrawal of the government from several areas of economic activity (because of privatisation of government owned industrial, mining, service and infrastructure facilities) there is a growing worry that employment opportunities for SCs and STs would also reduce drastically. Unlike the State, the private sector has no constitutional obligation to implement job quotas for the weaker sections of society. Nor has it responded in an understanding manner to create employment opportunities for these sections of society. The paper takes note of a widespread opinion that the number of SCs, STs and BCs working in the private sector is insignificant except at the lowest levels. But the paper does not provide any statistics to support this view. A major concern of the paper is identifying policies and mechanisms to protect the interests of the weaker sections of society in the post-liberalisation era. The paper notes that the private sector depends upon banks and other government owned institutions

for financing its activities. A large portion of the investment in the private sector comes from public funds acquired from these banks or through sale of shares to the public. "Therefore" notes the paper, "the private sector has social responsibilities to perform." (page 142). As economic activity can hope to flourish only in a conflict free and caring society, the private sector must help in improving the socio-economic conditions of the weaker sections. The paper suggests that the private sector should contribute towards improving education and health facilities in society. Similarly it should help in advancing employment opportunities for SCs, STs and BCs. The paper calls for a meaningful and result-oriented debate with leaders of Indian industry, trade and commerce for evolving a policy framework for the active participation of the private sector in socio-economic development. Question # 49: What areas of social obligation would you like to identify for the private sector? Question # 50: What policy framework do you suggest so that the private sector may make meaningful contributions in these areas of social obligation? Question # 51: Some sources have suggested that reservation of jobs for SCs, STs and BCs in the private sector is the only alternative. Do you agree? What measures do you suggest for ensuring that large scale firms in the private sector actually employ SCs, STs and BCs in adequate numbers at supervisory, technological and managerial levels? 11.6.12 Protection of Land Ownership and Land Tenures

The paper notes that land reform programmes during the last five decades have not substantially altered the conditions of SCs and STs in rural areas. In fact landlessness is increasing at a faster rate among SCs and STs than others, as more and more small and marginal cultivators are becoming landless labourers. Land reforms have been held up in several states due to long running litigation. Sometimes courts' judgements have run contrary to the spirit of the land reform laws. Cultivable government land and Bhoodan land are available but have not been distributed properly among the SCs and STs. In many cases where SCs and STs have been allotted land they have been forcefully evicted and persecuted. The paper feels that proper implementation of land reforms legislation still has the potential to improve the lot of these landless labourers. Question # 58: What measures do you suggest for distributing available government land (which is not required for public purposes), Bhoodan land and ceiling surplus land among SCs, STs and other weaker sections without much delay? If SCs, STs and other weaker sections are to take possession of these lands promptly what measures should be put in place? 11 What measures do you suggest for recovering these lands from people who are occupying them even though they are not eligible for allotment and distributing them among SCs, STs and other weaker sections of society?

What measures do you suggest for developing these lands occupied by SCs, STs and other weaker sections through irrigation and otherwise?17 Question # 59: What measures do you suggest for avoiding forcible eviction of SCs and STs from land allotted to them under various schemes? What measures do you suggest for restoring lands which have been taken away from them forcibly? Question # 60: What measures do you suggest for implementing and enforcing land reforms laws effectively? 11.6.10 Tribal Land - Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution The Constitution provides special mechanisms for the administration of areas occupied by tribal communities and ethnic communities in order to protect them from exploitation at the hand of unscrupulous elements and preserve their identity. In independent India such areas are notified by the President of India in accordance with Article 244 and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution. The Sixth Schedule deals with notifying and administering the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Fifth Schedule contains the procedure for notifying and administering Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas in the remaining parts of the country. So far Scheduled and Tribal Areas under the Fifth Schedule have been notified in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. The state-wise list of areas covered by the Fifth Schedule are as

follows: State Areas under the Fifth Schedule Andhra Pradesh Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Adilabad, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Mahboobnagar, Prakasam (only some mandals are scheduled mandals) Jharkhand Dumka, Godda, Devgarh, Sahabgunj, Pakur, Ranchi, Singhbhum (East & West), Gumla, Simdega, Lohardaga, Palamu, Garwa (some districts are only partly tribal blocks) Chattisgarh Sarbhuja, Bastar, Raigad, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bilaspur, Sehdol, Chindwada, Kanker Himachal Pradesh Lahaul and Spiti districts, Kinnaur, Pangi tehsil and Bharmour sub-tehsil in Chamba district Madhya Pradesh Jhabua, Mandla, Dhar, Khargone, East Nimar (Khandwa), Sailana tehsil in Ratlam district, Betul, Seoni, Balaghat, Morena Gujarat Surat, Bharauch, Dangs, Valsad, Panchmahl, Sadodara, Sabarkanta (parts of these districts only) Maharashtra Thane, Nasik, Dhule, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nanded, Amravati, Yavatmal, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur (parts of these districts only) Orissa Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Koraput (fully scheduled area in these three districts), Raigada, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Boudhkondmals, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Balasor (parts of these districts only) Rajasthan Banswara, Dungarpur (fully tribal districts), Udaipur, Chittaurgarh, Siroi (partly tribal

areas) Source: National Campaign Against the Fifth Schedule Amendment 17 This question is similar to another raised in the context of equitably sharing water resources elsewhere in the paperQuestion # 70 from para 11.7.4: What steps should be taken in order to ensure that farmers from SC, ST and other weaker sections of society are able to secure the benefit of the country's water resources? 12 The Fifth Schedule empowers the Governor of the concerned State to modify, annul or limit the application of any law made by Parliament or the State legislature to these Tribal areas. The Governor is empowered to make regulations for the good governance of these areas. He may also make regulationsa) Prohibiting or restricting transfer of land by or among members of STs; b) Regulate allotment of land to members of the STs and c) Regulate business such as money lending in such areas. To do this he can repeal or amend Central or State laws and make regulations along the guidelines mentioned above. The Sixth Schedule lays down details of the mechanism and institutions necessary for governing the 'autonomous districts' in Assam, Meghalaya Tripura and Mizoram. They are called autonomous districts as they are directly under the control of the Governor who is responsible for their administration. The constitution, powers and functions of District Councils and Regional Councils in these autonomous districts are spelt out.

The paper notes that there are some tribal areas in the country that do not fall within either category. More over several anomalies are said to have occurred in the administration and control over areas covered by the Fifth Schedule. The paper does not mention which areas these are or explain what these 'anomalies' might be. Instead the paper remarks that the mechanisms laid down by the Sixth Schedule have worked better in the North-eastern states. Question # 52: Do you agree that the Scheme under the Sixth Schedule has worked better? If yes do you think it is a good idea to bring areas covered by the Fifth Schedule and the left over tribal areas under the same arrangements as are in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution?18 11.6.11 Transfer of Tribal Land Under the provisions of the Fifth and the Sixth Schedules, laws may be passed to prohibit transfer of tribal land to non-Adivasis in Scheduled and Tribal Areas even though they may have lived there for several generations. Such laws are in place in states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa. But these laws have not been effective in preventing land alienation problems faced by Adivasis. Transfer of land to non-Adivasis occurs through clandestine means and this has been documented extensively not only by academicians but also by bureaucrats working in the field. The Supreme Court has recently held in a majority judgement that tribal lands cannot be transferred to nonAdivasis under any

pretext.19 Ramaswamy and Sagir Ahmad JJ, noted that even government land could not be transferred, licensed or leased to non-Adivasis in a Scheduled area. Ramaswamy, J, in his judgement observed-"the purpose of the Fifth and Sixth Schedules to the Constitution is to prevent exploitation of truthful, inarticulate and innocent Adivasis and to empower them socially, educationally, economically and politically to bring them into the mainstream of national life. The founding fathers of the Constitution were conscious of and cognisant to the problem of the exploitation of the Adivasis. They were anxious to preserve the tribal culture and their holdings. "...the Constitution intends that the land always should remain with the Adivasis. Even the government land should increasingly get allotted to them individually and collectively through registered Cooperative 18 One of the immediate implications of transferring all tribal and Schedule areas to the Sixth Schedule will be the removal of these areas from the purview of the 73rd and 74th Amendments. These constitutional amendments introduced Panchayati Raj system for the whole of India with the exception of areas covered by the Sixth Schedule. If all tribal areas in the country are shifted to the Sixth Schedule, separate regional and district councils will have to be set up. Sufficient powers for collecting taxes, administering criminal and civil justice etc. will have to be devolved to these councils. 19 Samatha vs. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1997 SC 3297. 13 Societies or agricultural/farming Cooperative Societies composed solely of the Adivasis and would be

managed by them alone with the facilities and opportunities provided to them by the Union of India through their annual budgetary allocation spent through the appropriate State Government as its instrumentalities or local body in a planned development so as to make them fit for selfgovernance." The Government of India failed in a petition seeking to review the judgement. Tribal lands are rich in minerals and forest wealth. The Supreme Court's judgement makes extraction and exploitation by non-tribals, large industrial interests and multinationals, difficult. It is widely believed that in order to overturn the effect of the judgement the Fifth Schedule might be amended. The Fifth Schedule can be amended by a simple majority in Parliament. Question # 53: What measures do you suggest for protecting tribal ownership and control over all land in tribal areas - whether owned individually or communally or controlled by the government? What measures do you suggest in order to ensure that land and other resources in these areas are utilised in the best interests of not only the Adivasis but also the nation at large with the consent and participation of the Adivasis? As Adivasis are emotionally attached to their land what measures should be taken to respect their feelings and help them to organise themselves to protect their land and other cultural interests? Do you think it is a good idea to set up cooperative societies or companies wholly owned and managed by Adivasis?

Question # 54: What measures do you suggest for restoring lands to STs which were illegally transferred to non-Adivasis? What measures do you suggest for ensuring that land transfer laws are not violated in tribal areas? Question # 55: Do you think it is necessary to have a constitutional or statutory framework for a scheme to rehabilitate people affected by developmental works and projects? If you agree, what do you think should be contained in such a policy broadly speaking? How best can dislocation of people due to developmental projects be minimised? Do you think the costs of resettling displaced people should be built into the project plans with the mandate that rehabilitation work must be completed before or simultaneously with the project construction? Question # 56: The symbiotic relationship that has traditionally existed between Adivasis and forests is often disturbed by commercial interests. What measures do you suggest for restoring this relationship so that protection and growth of both forests as well as Adivasis and the protection of their traditional rights are brought about together? Question # 57: Many Adivasi communities are dependent on minor forest produce (MFP) for their livelihood. What measures do you suggest for ensuring that Adivasis receive proper value for the MFP which they collect and sell? What steps do you suggest for replenishing and regenerating the shrinking stock of MFP on a regular basis? 11.6.8 Allocation and Management of Funds- Revitalising the SCP and TSP

Since 1970s the government has earmarked plan funds specifically for the socioeconomic empowerment of SCs and STs. The Special component Plan (SCP) for SCs and the Tribal Sub-Plan for the STs were intended to ensure adequate allocation of resources for schemes to improve their all round development.20 According to the government guidelines, the proportion of funds allocated under each plan should be equal to the proportion of SC and ST population in each State. Without providing any statistical data the paper notes that in reality this proportionality is hardly maintained. The paper 20 The Tribal Sub-Plan was introduced in the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79) and the Special Component Plan was initiated during the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85). 14 remarks that budgetary allocations on SC, ST welfare schemes has declined in the recent years.21 In many cases the unspent money lapses back to the government because departments which have the responsibility of spending the funds are unable to promptly finalise the welfare schemes. Question # 43: In your opinion what is the best way to determine budgetary allocations for the empowerment of the weaker sections of society? What do you think needs to be done to ensure that appropriate budgetary allocations for SCs and STs are made every year? Question # 44: What constitutional, statutory or non-statutory mechanism would you suggest to ensure that funds allotted for SC and ST schemes are used exclusively for their welfare?

Question # 45: What measures do you suggest to make bank loans and advances easily available to SCs and STs in the emerging economic scenario? Question # 46: Every year funds are allotted for carrying on developmental work in the constituencies of MPs and MLAs under the Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS and MLALADS). Do you think that funds equal to the amount allotted to SC/ST MPs and MLAs should be spent exclusively on development schemes for SCs and STs?22 Question # 47: Do you think it is a good idea to allot a certain percentage of funds released to Panchayati Raj institutions exclusively for building up the assets of SC and ST communities? Question # 48: In order to achieve the objectives of these plans and schemes, do you think it is advisable to set up a National SC and ST Development Authority both at the Central and the State levels fora) formulating and approving Five Year/Annual/State and Perspective Plans based on the priorities and developmental needs of SCs and STs and b) directing, supervising and monitoring the implementation of developmental schemes under the SCP and TSP at Central and State levelsDo you support the view that a corpus of funds equal to the proportion of SC and ST population in the country should be put at the disposal of the National SC and ST Development Authority to be used for allocation under SCP and TSP? Do you think this body should be given the authority to make

sector-wise and scheme-wise allocation of funds under these special plans at the level of the Centre, the States and the Union Territories? Do you think it is a good idea to have SC and ST Development Authorities in each district with officials, representatives of people, Panchayati Raj and other local bodies and NGO representatives as members for implementing, monitoring and reporting the progress of SCP and TS-P? Do you think these bodies should be given constitutional status by amending the Constitution suitably? 21 While this is true of the Special Component Plan, the state-wise allocations for Tribal Sub-Plans have matched the percentage-wise population of STs. During 1996-97 the outlay for TSP was a little over 8% while STs comprised 7.5% of the total population. But allocation for SCP during the same year was a little over 11% though SCs constitute 16.48% of the population. (See National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled TribesFourth Report;1996-97 & 1997-98, pp. 86ff) 22 There are 79 SC and 41 ST MPs (elected from reserved constituencies) in the Lok Sabha. There is no provision for reservation of seats for these communities in the Rajya Sabha. Each MP gets Rs. 2,00,00,000/- under the MPLADS scheme every year. 15 11.6.4 Monitoring Nutritional Status of SC and ST Families The paper points out that amongst the poor, SCs and STs are worst affected by the problem of malnutrition. Maternal anaemia, children with low birth weight related deficiencies are other problems

that affect SC/ST communities. As a combined result of social neglect and denial of opportunities, these communities have not been able to realise their potential. The paper suggests a mechanism for monitoring the nutritional status of SCs and STs. The proposal requires the district administration to do the monitoring on their own or with the help of voluntary organisations. The paper suggests that a beginning can be made with 200 families from each district. The outline of the suggested mechanism is as follows:23 Prepare a draft survey format; Determine the size of the sample and methodology for conducting the survey; Include a procedure for rotation so that every year there will be at least 10% new persons being surveyed. Similarly 10% may be dropped after the third year; Monitoring must be done by District Magistrates; Each district or group of districts will be covered by an accredited NGO who will have the responsibility to over see the collection, compilation and analysis of data; Professional institutions like the National Council of Applied Economic Research, the Institute of Economic Growth or the Centre for Policy Research (all based in New Delhi) may be asked to prepare national level analytical reports annually. Question # 33: Do you think such a monitoring mechanism will help in formulating appropriate policies for improving the nutritional status of the SCs and STs? Question # 34: Do you think the monitoring mechanism outlined above is adequate? If not what additional information or changes would you suggest? 11.6.1 Protection of the Educational Interests of the SCs and STs

The paper states that the likelihood of talented children achieving their potential depends on their socio-economic background. Talented children from well to do families have much better chances of doing well in life than those from poor families. The talents of children from weaker sections of society waste or wither away due to lack of opportunity. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh had declared the right to education to be a fundamental right of SCs and STs.24 Therefore the State had a mandatory duty to provide opportunities and facilities for education at all levels to the weaker sections of society, particularly to SCs and STs. The paper feels that it is necessary to identify and groom talent amongst boys and girls belonging to SC,ST and other BCs and train them in special talent schools. This will enable them to compete with the rest of society in an equal manner. Question # 28: Do you agree with the view that there is a need for establishing talent schools for the SCs, STs and BCs? a) If your answer is yes do you think boys and girls from these communities must be selected for admission to these schools by rating their potential talent? b) Should such schools be residential in nature i.e., with hostel facilities? Should these schools be devoted to grooming these children for high educational excellence- for becoming administrators, scientists and other professionals- without losing touch with reality and remaining sensitive to the plight of the poor in the country?

c) Should these children be trained in talent schools till the age of 14 years and then be trained for leadership and to take part in competitive exams for various public services? 23 See Appendix XVII on page 193 in the main consultation paper. 24 See D. Murali Krishna Public School Vs. Regional Joint Director of School Education (AIR, 1986 AP 204). 16 d) What mission or vision statement do you suggest for this project? Is it a good idea to call it `Preparing future professionals and administrators of the highest calibre'? e) What other features would you suggest to include in such a scheme? f) Do you think talent schools should be established first in those districts which make up for more than 50% SC and ST population?25 OR Should each State establish talent schools in districts having the highest percentage of SC and ST population such that at least 50% of them are covered by this project in that State? g)-How best do you think civil society - particularly self-help groups - reputable and experienced educational societies and voluntary organisations - may contribute to and cooperate with this project? h)-How do you think these projects should be funded and managed? 11.6.2 Prohibition of Occupations Offensive and Degrading to Human Dignity The paper states that manual scavenging performed under inhuman conditions by members of certain SC communities is an 'unfortunate blemish on India's urban sanitation system'. Parliament passed the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act in 1993 in order

to put an end to the practice of manual scavenging. This Act relates to the subject'Public health and sanitation; hospital and dispensaries' included under the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. It was passed by Parliament at the request of the legislatures of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tripura and West Bengal.26 It has become applicable to these States as well as to the Union Territories (UTs) with effect from 26 January 1997. The Assemblies of Orissa, Punjab, Assam, Haryana, Bihar and Gujarat have adopted this Act. Many States are yet to adopt this law. Even in those States where this law is applicable, the paper states that the governments have failed to abolish the employment of manual scavengers (safai karamcharis) completely. In order to make this law applicable to all States, the paper suggests that the law become related to the subject - 'Welfare of labour including conditions of work, provident funds, employers' liability, workmen's compensation, invalidity and old age pensions and maternity benefits' included in the Concurrent List of the Constitution.27 This can be achieved by changing the Preamble and the applicability clause of The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act. Question # 29: Do you agree that The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act should be amended to relate it to the Concurrent List so that it becomes applicable to all States?

Question # 30: Do you think this Act needs to be amended further in order to completely prohibit employing any person as safai karamchari in scavenging, directly or indirectly? 25 Appendices V and X of the consultation paper list 100 districts for SCs and 40 districts for STs which account for more than 50% of their total population. In reality only Cooch Behar district in West Bengal has more than 50% SCs in its population. Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh comes a distant second with 42.5%. In all other districts SCs constitute around one third of the total population or less. STs constitute more than 50% of the population in 14 districts spread over the country. 26 According to Article 252 of the Constitution, Parliament may make a law on a subject mentioned in the State List if the legislatures of two or more States pass resolutions requesting it to do so. Such a law will be applicable to all the States that made such a request. This law will apply to other States only if their legislatures have adopted it by a resolution. However such laws may be amended or repealed only by a resolution of Parliament. State legislatures do not have the power to tamper with them. 27 According to Article 246 of the Constitution both Parliament and the State legislatures have the power to make laws on subjects included within the Concurrent List. According to Article 251 if there is a contradiction between the Central and the State laws then the law passed by Parliament shall prevail. 17 Question # 31: What further measures do you suggest for liberating safai karamcharis from manual scavenging without causing loss of employment and income to them? What measures do you suggest

for ensuring education and training for their children so that they make take up other kinds of jobs? 11.1.3 Sensitisation of Public Servants The paper states that there is a strong opinion (without saying who holds such an opinion) that members of the public services in general are reluctant to working in fields relating to SCs and STs. It is also felt by some that many public servants are guided by their own biases and prejudices instead of the Constitution's objectives and aspirations. This results in denial of the rights of the SCs and STs. Question # 6: Do you think that public servants in general are not sufficiently sensitive and responsive to the special needs of SCs, STs and the backward classes? Question # 7: If yes how can public servants be made more sensitive to the special needs of these sections of society? Would you like to suggest any changes in personnel policies for this purpose? Annexure: List of Districts where Special Courts have been set up in accordance with SC/ST (POA) Act 1989. State/UT Type of Court State/UT Type of Court Andaman and Nicobar Islands The District and Sessions Court is designated Special Court for the islands. Kerala Designated Special Courts in all 14 districts

Andhra Pradesh Special Sessions Courts sanctioned in Chittoor, Guntur and Mahboobnagar in 1993. Special mobile courts (under the authority of a Judicial First Class Magistrate) are to be set up in a phased manner. Madhya Pradesh Exclusive Special Courts in Dhar, Shajapur, Morena, Shahdol Damoh, Raisen and Mandla. Sessions Court in other districts designated Special Courts. Assam All Sessions Courts in plains districts and all Courts of Deputy Commissioners in Hill districts are notified as Special Courts. Maharashtra Session courts of all districts notified as Special Courts along with Bombay civil Court and court of Sessions for Greater Bombay. Bihar Designated Special Courts have

been set up in all districts. Manipur District and Sessions Judge Courts in East and West Manipur districts designated Special courts. Chandigarh The Sessions Court has been designated Special Court. Meghalaya Special courts notified in all districts. Chhattisgarh Exclusive Special Courts in the districts of Raipur, Bilaspur and Bastar Orissa Courts of Sessions Judges and Additional Sessions Judges in all 13 districts have been designated Special Courts. Daman and Diu Sessions Court designated Special Court Pondicherry Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pondicherry, Sub-Division Judicial Magistrate,

Karaikal and First Class Judicial Magistrate, Yanam have been designated Special Courts. 18 Delhi One Court of the Additional Sessions Judge has been designated Special Court. Punjab Courts of senior-most Additional Sessions Judges designated Special Courts in all districts Goa Three designated Special courts in North Goa, Panaji and south Goa. Rajasthan Special Courts set up in 16 districts- Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Bikaner, Pali, Alwar, Merta, PratapgarhDausa, Jhalawar, Sawai Madhopur, Baran, Tonk and Sri Ganganagar. Gujarat

All District Sessions Courts designated as Special Courts. Sikkim District and Sessions Court Designated Special Court. Haryana No special courts set up as only 39 cases were pending. Tamil Nadu Existing Sessions Courts designated as Special Courts in all districts. Himachal Pradesh District and Sessions Courts in 9 districts- Shimla, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, Hamirpur, Kangra, Una, Chamba and Bilaspur designated. Special Courts. Tripura Sessions Court in the districts of West, North and South Tripura designated Special Courts. Jammu and Kashmir No information available. POA Act is not applicable to Jammu & Kashmir.

Uttar Pradesh All district Sessions Courts designated Special Courts. Jharkhand All District Sessions Courts designated Special Courts. Uttaranchal All District Courts designated Special Courts. Karnataka 4 exclusive Special Courts in Bijapur, Kolar, Raichur and Gulbarga. Sessions Courts in all other districts designated Special Courts. West Bengal All District Courts designated Special Courts. Source: National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes- Fourth Report 1996-97 & 1997-98, Vol. I.

Volume 2 Issue 6 July 2006 LAND RIGHTS For Private Circulation Only 2 "This document is an output from a project funded by the Department for International Development, UK, for the benefit of developing

countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of Department for International Development, United Kingdom. The views expressed in the articles in this newsletter are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Development Alternatives or PricewaterhouseCoopers (P) Ltd. Owner, printer and publisher: Dr. Ashok Khosla on behalf of Development Alternatives. Editorial Board: Kiran Sharma, Sunetra Ghosh Published from 111/9-Z, Kishangarh, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi - 110070. Tel. : 91+11+2689-0380, 2613-4103 Fax : 91+11+2613-0817 Email : pacsindia@devalt.org Website : http://www/empowerpoor.org Printed at Grover Enterprises, 9871716029 Volume 2. Issue 6 July 2006 empowerpoor.org Editorial st At the turn of the 21 century, India still remains home to 27% of the worlds poor. These people are predominantly rural, and over 40% of them are landless. No wonder, access and ownership of land, the source of all food and sustainable rural livelihoods, is a major issue in matters relating to eradicating rural poverty. Although much of the rural poor in our country are landless, others have some access to small plots of land. However, they remain poor not simply because their holdings are small, but also because their land rights are weak and insecure, liable to threats from various directions. For example, over 90% of the tribal population in the country has no legal title to land, a situation that is steadily worsening as conservation pressures increase on the forest / protected land that they live in. This unequal distribution of land is a key

reason for other phenomena associated with poverty, from increasing numbers of poor, to economic stagnation, rural urban migration and escalating violence. From the days of the freedom struggle, it was evident to many leaders that reordering of land relations was crucial to social change. In the post independence years, more than 270 legislations have been enacted regarding land reforms. Yet, the facts speak a different story. For example in Bihar, a state where subsistence agriculture and tenant farming is widespread, only 1.53% of cultivable land in the state was acquired and redistributed till 1986. Similarly, across the country, landowners commonly take 50% of produce under tenancy arrangements, despite a statutory cap of 25% on such arrangements. The evidence clearly points out that there has been no uniform land reform policy anywhere in the country. Reforms have been piecemeal, reactive to elitist and political pressures rather than being proactive for the public good. The different stages of land reform, beginning from zaminadari abolition to land ceiling to security of tenancy, have all seen a skewed implementation that has increased divisions between the marginal and landless poor, and let the large land owners get away scot free with their hold on the administration and bureaucracy. It has been remarked by various commentators that ineffective implementation has been because of no pressure from below. As civil society institutions working with and for the poor, it is up to us to act as a pressure group to bring about this much needed change. Kiran Sharma Land Rights Discourse: A Critique 3 Land first 6 Rights over Land 8 Land & Women 11

Dalits' struggle of land right, for their better livelihood In Marathwada. 13 NREGS Week Campaign update 15 LAND RIGHTS For Private Circulation Only empowerpoor.org 3 It is common knowledge that On the other hand, the reality is that their own food. As contradictory as land constitutes the principle there is strong political will not to it may seem, hunger is widespread basis of human living. It is a engage in redistribution of among the families of agricultural fact that land is the source of resources. labourers and small farmers in sustainable livelihood and food for particular. Three-quarters of the 1.2 almost half the world's population. In terms of numbers, the volume of billion people in the world, who live It is estimated that 45 per cent of the landlessness of people who are in extreme poverty, live in rural areas. world's population still makes it's engaged in land is very high. In less Of these rural poor people, at least living from land. But the crucial fact developed countries, an estimated 500 million have no access to fertile is that ownership of land not only 100 million agricultural households land. provides livelihood options but it or approximately 500 million people also gives people social dignity, are absolute landless. Most of them This brings us to the discussion on economic viability and a sense of eke out a living as tenant farmers or land reform in principle and security. On the other hand, agricultural labourers. Moreover, practice. Land reform was an landlessness erodes social status and there are millions of families in these important agenda during freedom makes people economically countries who are original settlers, strug gle. Gandhiji said, In vulnerable and mentally insecure. It but have been branded as illegal independent India the peasants

also imposes social exclusion and encroachers, since their original would take the land they cultivated political powerlessness to those who settlement is seen to be under the and no compensation would be paid do not own land. jurisdiction of the state and the to the landlords. Reiterating the government is the owner of land. views of Gandhiji, the Indian Unequal distribution of resources is National Congress said, There is a common feature in almost all the In a report submitted by the United only one fundamental method of societies and nations. But, the hard Nations' Report of the Special improving village life, and that is, reality is that inequitable and unjust Rapporteur of the Commission on through the introduction of a distribution of land is widespread in Human Right to Food, July 2002, it system of peasantproprietorship less developed countries. It is widely was stated that according to FAO under which the tiller of the soil is recognised that the unequal estimates, over 800 million people himself the owner of it and this will distribution of land and natural suffer from chronic hunger. People lead to an all-round improvement in resources is the key reason for suffer from hunger because natural the condition of the rural increasing poverty, economic disasters destroy harvests, because p o p u l a t i o n " . Howe v e r , i n stagnation, rural-urban migration wa r s u p r o o t f ami l i e s a n d independent India the same party and escalating violence. It has also communities, and because food and d i d n o t p u r s u e f o r t h e given rise to numerous violent hunger are manipulated for political comprehensive land reform. In peasant movements in the third ends. Hunger in fact has very little to contrast to Gandhiji 's wishes, more world. Taking into account these do with the impression that there is than 6,000 million rupees are facts many social scientists and not enough food on earth to feed reported to have been paid as activists conclude that there is lack everyone. Hunger, however,has compensation to the landlords. This

of political will due to which much to do with the fact that people is what the social scientist calls the resources are unequally distributed. are not in a position to buy or grow unfinished agenda. Land Rights Discourse: A Critique 4 More than in the past, it is now being argued that during the early stages of the freedom struggle, the masses of India, especially the rural masses, peasants and agricultural labourers, were asked to join the freedom struggle. In return they were promised enactment of land reform and other welfare schemes. But once freedom was achieved with the mass movement, this promise was forgotten. It is a fact that land reform was introduced as a programme in independent India. Land reform measures were revolutionary in themselves. The measures contemplated under the land reform programmes were as follows: 1. Abolition of intermediaries; 2. Regulation of Rent; 3. Security of tenure; 4. Reorganisation including consolidation of holdings and prevention of subdivision and fragmentation of holdings; 5. Ceiling of land holdings.

Most of the states introduced land reform as early as 1950. Bihar government introduced land reform policies in 1951. A glance at the various enactments by the different state governments does give us a rosy picture indeed. But the major weakness of the land reform programmes has been the wide gap between the policy pronouncements and their execution. This is true of the majority of states in the country. empowerpoor.org States Area Declared Surplus Andhra Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Orissa

Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh West Bengal D&N Haveli Delhi Pondicherry Total 571632 575837 399932 156003 115935 281462 450000 159716 91330 256580 648366 1685 162573 105153 552423 171114 1944 511028 121684

9305 394 1207 6428393 102406 510989 482868 278719 130335 113124 3340 450000 117153 64078 185673 556806 1682 151242 440624 149650 1598 368174 941382 6811 394 1022 5058070 437176 424364 330101 29814 38018

4400 450000 72084 143763 72209 139457 1258 130880 26634 76762 124834 1424 30120 2059576 3313 654 1359 4887750 218781 44138 162482 80552 59738 2305 0 70346 25108 49752 160236 128 48184 41801

139057 59607 212 250581 349630 48 277 612 1753580 101543 57389 38128 28685 0 139 0 3002 5152 73516 101049 97 63362 44178 233 448 1332 180775 6760 0 0 705788

77662 40964 40631 12871 0 261 0 1573 7353 26991 28351 72 48695 10737 178 359 745 395429 3286 0 0 696158 S.C. Beneficiaries S.T. Beneficiaries Table 1: Land Reform Implementation [Source: National Commission for SC and ST. Annual Report 1993-94] Area Taken Possession of Area Distributed

to Individual No. of beneficiaries Area in Acres Area in Acres No. of beneficiaries 800968 612380 474621 2480320 121409 284053 455575 73878 136363 288572 723103 1830 174007 133876 609646 184972 1995 542618 127064 9406 1132 2355 7351431

No. of beneficiaries 189614 42364 199255 13007 17657 29334 54012 61530 21601 41781 44959 10072 28246 56435 217932 764836 0 96 256 25 495 797 1758984 Table 1 presents the dismal picture possibilities of implementing the Scheduled Castes. So it was hoped of land redistribution by the state. government policies. But since most that land reforms would provide At the all India level over 73 lakh of these were done after some effective remedy to their ills. But this acre was declared surplus by the massacres or after the naxalite did not happen. With regard to the

government. But out of that only phobia, these too have remained an tribals, they have been subjected to 87.40 per cent land was taken exercise in futility. land alienation, displacement and possession of. Out of the land taken forced migration. This further possession of only 68.80 per cent Many people are denied access to forces them to cultural alienation was distributed. In Andhra Pradesh, resources that are vital to life and and thus their very identity is lost. about 8 lakh acres were declared essential for development. Others surplus by the government by 1950s. lose these resources for a myriad of Taking into account the aboveOut of that about 71.38 per cent was different reasons: because they have presented facts and figures it is taken possession of. From this land, been driven from their land; because essential to state that all the talk of only 63.79 per cent was distributed. the ground has become infertile and land reform has remained only This data highlights the low level of the water sources have dried up; rhetoric. These policies were political will in taking possession because plant and animal species are enacted to tell the world that India and distributing land by the ruling disappearing; or because they have has progressive policies when it elite of the country. been denied traditional user rights. comes to the poor. But in reality Bad policies - which do not make these policies were not to be When a statesman like Nehru's adapted means of state support implemented. Because, any insistence to enact land reform available to small farming families or implementation of this policy would failed in his mission of land to the those which tolerate the destruction lead to reordering of the Indian landless, one could not expect of the domestic agricultural sector social order which would go against successive leadership to even muster caused by cheap food imports may the ruling elite of India. But the

courage to talk about it in any real prove to be the final nail in the conflicts and the crisis that is sense. Interestingly, the Chief coffin. engulfing rural India is an indication Ministers and Revenue Ministers of of the strug gle to demand states met regularly to take stock of The emancipation of Scheduled ownership, access and control over the implementation of land reforms Castes and Scheduled Tribes has resources. If this issue is not policies. There have been 4 Chief been a matter of topmost priority in addressed at the earliest, the very Ministerial level meetings on the the minds of social and political security of the country will be at implementation of land reform reformers of India. For centuries stake. policies. Similarly, there have been they have been subjected to about 7 Revenue Minister level e xc lus ion, depr iva t ion and meetings on the implementation of discrimination. Almost all of them land reforms. But these have not live in rural areas. Their main resulted in any tangible results. Over occupation has been to serve as and above, few committees have agricultural labourers in the fields of been constituted to look into the others. This was the case of the empowerpoor.org Dr. Prakash Louis Senior Researcher Bihar Social Institute prakashlouis@gmail.com 6 M Edges of marginalization Why land? Jal, Jangal aur Jameen.. ho yah Janta Kay Adheen ahatma Gandhi said, poverty (51%), followed by non- constraints of non-implementation. Political independence is agricultural rural labour (35%). Of the During last five decades there is 43% only the first step towards total rural poor, almost 42% are land re-distributed in China, 37% in

true independence. The second step agricultural labourers and about 33% Taiwan, 32% in Korea, and 33% in would be, to give ownership of the land s e l f - employ ed hou s ehol d s in Japan, but even after a lot of to those who are tilling it. These words agriculture. Overall, 42% of rural poor programmes and policies only 1.25% are even more relevant now than they households are landless and over 80% land was re-distributed in India. were in pre-independence India. In a of them cultivate less than 1 ha of land. Obviously, when only 7.43% big country like India, where agriculture is farmers owned 41.57% percent of land the prime source of livelihood for a vast The Madhya Pradesh Human compared to 31.80% land cultivated by majority of people living in rural and Development Report (1998), which was a large number of 64.33 percent small tribal areas, land continues to be the compiled before the division of and marginal farmers, then only Five pivotal property in terms of both Madhya Pradesh in 2000 to create the Year Plan doesn't serve the purposes income and employment, around which new state of Chhattisgarh, ranks and priorities of poverty reduction in th socio-economic privileges and Madhya Pradesh (undivided) 15 out of India. deprivations revolve. 16 major states in terms of human development indices. An Asian There is an increasing evidence that Development Bank study of poverty in many developing countries, Land ownership is equated with social, data nationwide ranks Madhya Pradesh, redistribution of land in favour of economic and political power. The 7th out of 16 major states on the basis of landless and nearlandless peasants has pattern of land distribution, therefore, rural poverty head count statistics. The significant potential to increase food

follows to some extent the existing latest state government data for Madhya production at low cost. In the existing social hierarchy. With the onset of Pradesh show that 37.4% of the state Indian conditions, redistribution of globalization and the establishment of population and 37.6% of the rural even 10 percent of cultivation land era of industrializations is increasing population were living below the (over and above the redistribution that the problems of landlessness and poverty line in 1999-2000, compared has already taken place) will release 38 exodus of rural populations. Poor with national averages of 26% and million acres of land, which can benefit people deprived of their livelihood 27.1%, respectively. On the basis of about 25 million poorest families. In a resources, have no other choice than poverty-line data, the rural populations widely quoted publication (Agriculture join ranks of landless workers in the city of these states rank among the seven Towards 2000), the Food and slum areas. poorest states in India. Major factors Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the underlying poverty in these states are United Nations has also emphasized The rate of decrease in the proportion landlessness, uneconomic size of the role of small farms in increasing of the poor, however, is slow, at about landholding, effects of drought and food production. Speaking particularly 2% per annum in the 1980s, and poverty lack of access to irrigation, also social in the India context, the FAO says, remains widespread. In absolute terms, exclusion due to low caste or tribal redistribution of only 5% of farmland the number of poor in India increased status. in India, coupled with improved access from about 164 millions in 1951 to over to water, could reduce rural poverty 325 million in 1993. Of the estimated levels by 30% under what they would

1.3 billion poor in the world, about 27% According to the Ninth Five Year Plan, otherwise be, so that in India conditions are in India. Given that India's share of 77% dalits and 90% tribals are fully or of land and water reforms would be a world population is only about 15%, it near landless. After independence of key approach. has a disproportionately higher share of India more than 270 legislations have the world's poor. Among the rural been enacted with regard to land households, landless agricultural reforms but their effectiveness has labourers have the highest incidence of often been hindered by political Responding to the unequal and unjust Land first ... People's participation in land rights empowerpoor.org distribution of land, ekta Parishad for poverty reduction philosophy, Ekta JANADESH) by Assembly of (meaning United Forum) has been Parishad has presented a New Vision Deprived on 10th December 2005 in building a mass based movement of of land Reforms to the prime Minister Gwalior, with the presence of 5000 people drawn from tribal, dalits, of India during the discussion on 24th landless deprived, aims to bring many and landless and other deprived December 2005 in Delhi. The key people together to support those who communities. With its 150,000 component of the new vision for Land are suffering without dignity and members, it is pushing the government, Reforms is: self-worth. By raising people's the revenue and forest department Reduce the number of landless consciousness to the need for equity officers to implement the existing laws poor through immediate land and justice in their communities and and policies favoring the poor. Born out regularization, and distribution society at large, the campaign works to

of people's struggle in Madhya Pradesh including identification of create structures that retrieve people's in late 80s, Ekta Parishad has now surplus and ceiling land to ensure basic dignity and self-worth. Raising the spread to Bihar, Chhattisgarh, livelihood security. issues of people's basic self-worth and Jharkhand, Orissa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, dignity focuses us to re-direct our Gujarat and Utter Pradesh. Ekta Guarantee the land rights to the energy away from the present trends i.e. Parishad espouses a Gandhian form of marginalized poor i.e. scheduled where unregulated industrialization is action namely Satyagraha. 'Satya' means caste and tribes, women and causing people to lose land, water and truth, and the 'Graha', determined minorities respecting the forest-which are their livelihood pursuit or holding on to truth. It does principles of social equity, resources. As a result they are migrating not mean passive resistance, but rather empowerment and inclusion. to cities to work as a cheap labour, left active non-cooperation. Reformulate development rootless without democratic rights. The policies and programmes in a Janadesh is to assist with livelihood One of the largest Satyagraha taken up manner wherein access, use and generation inputs for small landholders by Ekta Parishad was the 'Bhumi ownership of land is the central so that they can stay small-scale Adhikar Satyagraha Padyatra'. Led by axis for poverty reduction and agriculture as a basic building block to Rajagopal Ji, the founder of Ekta sustainable development. national development. This campaign Parishad, thousands of people from uses non-violence and civil villages walking a distance of 3500 disobedience as its way to show dissent Kilometers and covering 10,000 villages ... in the existing system and to resist the within a period of 6 months (December Retrieving people's dignity through land unethical behaviour of leaving people 1999 to June 2000). After this massive & livelihood to continuously suffer indignity. In this mobilization and people's pressure, the effort the Janadesh uses methods from

Government of Madhya Pradesh had Advancing a People's Verdict is a way of the Gandhian tradition as a way to constituted a 'Task Force' for facilitating pressing for a common social change frame the struggle. What Mahatma the land re-distribution among tribals agenda for removing poverty and Gandhi said five decades agothe and dalits. During year 2001-2003, redistributing justice in the form of essence of non-violent civil disobedience is to about 347,000 marginalized families land rights to the poorest sections. The stand firm for what is right and springs from a benefited through land distribution. A progression of building a People's deep sense of injustice. Opposing injustice similar Bhumi Satyagraha Yatra in Verdict from the grassroots to the means seeing that people have sufficient for their Chhattisgarh, in the year 2003, resulted global level will culminate in large survival; seeing that the earth is carefully in the constitution of Task Force and actions in October 2007. One of the maintained; and seeing that non-violent facilitated land distribution among 5000 large programmes being planned in behaviour continually transforms positively our Baiga (a primitive tribe) families in India is to have 25,000 people march human relations. Kavardha district. Since the first 350 kilometers to Delhi from Gwalior Padyatra, Ekta Parishad had taken a and profile the power of more than number of Satyagrahas in Bihar, Orissa, 100,000 people demanding their land Jharkhand, and Utter Pradesh and in rights. Kerala. The declaration of Retrieving People's Recognizing the Land Rights as a key D i g n i t y C a m p a i g n ( c a l l e d    People's verdict

7 Ramesh Sharma Ekta Parishad Gandhi Bhavan Shyamla Hills Bhopal 462 002 Phone +91 755 4223821 empowerpoor.org 8 T Zamindari Abolition he ba s i c cha l l eng e in Some of the most revealing facts that & commerce, for storage, etc. In order developing Bihar lies on the h a ve b e e n b r o u g h t o u t b y to make full use of special provision agrarian front, as Bihar is independent assessments of land Zamindars started evicting the titlepredominantly an agrarian economy reform in Bihar may need reiteration holders and occupy large amount of of subsistence farming. According to in order to prove how particularly the land in the capacity of occupancy the last census (2001) district wise, low peasantry was completely by- tenants, as only occupancy tenants 65% to 85% of the work forces are passed. could become owners of land under dependent mainly on agriculture and the act. They divided their estate as to largest number among them, who are retain their right over maximum the marginalized peasants and In 1950 just before Zamindari amount of land. As a result as against landless labour, are living precariously abolition there was 2,05,927 the 2,05,927 estates recorded in 1950 on the brink of subsistence. They permanently settled holdings the land reform implemented survive on uncertain employment and accounting for 90% of the land area. committee recorded that 4,74,000 wages or are forced to spend most of By 1952 notices could be sent to only middlemen were affected and were

their working life as unsettled 155 Zamindars. In the face of the entitled to compensation by the act. migrants outside the state. Zamindars refusal to submit rent rolls Imagine the extent of benami / furgi and other land records the act had to holdings. To begin with, it should be most be amended in 1954 and then 1959 in appropriate to relate back to JP (Jai order to serve collective notice to all According to one assessment the Prakash)-led Bihar movement that Zamindars. On the other hand the act Zamindars were successful in keeping threw up the present leadership. He itself contained various clauses to about 14% i.e. about 15,00,000 acres gave land reform the highest priority protect the Zamindars' interest in the name of special category in his program of socio-economic allowing them to keep enough land ownership. In addition, a large transformation. To him reordering of under special category ownership e.g. amount of public (government) land land relations was crucial to social home stead land (house, courtyard, was occupied by them in the name of change. Way back in the 1950s the backyard, garden pond place of Khas land. In fact the act empowered eme rg enc e of the Bhoodan worship) Khas land and land for trade the Zamindars to settle Gair mazuria movement appeared to him not simply a movement for redistribution of land but the beginning of a new social revolution. For him Bhoodan was not asking for charity but a demand for realization of land rights. In 1970s JP lent strong support to the movement started by certain political parties for peaceful occupation by the people of land held by the proprietors in excess of the ceiling law. Answering

his critics he had tersely commented (why) there was no hue and cry, no democracy in danger slogan, when the stronger elements illegally and stealthily stole hundreds of thousand acres to which they had no right whatsoever Rights over Land empowerpoor.org 9 land with the raiyats making it almost impossible for the state to wrest legal control of land and distribute it among the landless. About 10,000 acres remained trapped with them due to court case and stay order obtained by them. At the most Zamindari abolition benefited the occupancy tenants and to a lesser extent non-occupancy raiyat under the system, the intermediate agrarian class and the OBCs. The various categories of sub tenants and agrarian labourer mostly Dalits were left out completely. appointed special committee (the KB No government has expressed the In the similar fashion, Bihar in 1955 Saxena committee) to look into the political will to enforce even partial took the lead in preparing land ceiling violation by the numerous Matha and legislation like Bihar tenancy Act law, which was put in cold storage and Charitable trusts and out of 18, 17 1986. It was reported that 73.4% of

then taken out in 1961. It provided Mathas were found to be fake. To sum the cases on land went in favour of the that a person, not a family, shall have up only 1.53 % of the cultivable land landowners. Shri Karpoori Thakur the right to keep 20-30 acres of land, was acquired and distributed till 1986, had taken up the challenge of 10 acres of homestead area and 15 of which the surplus land accounted updating the land and tenancy records acres for growing fodder. Moreover for only 20%. when he was the chief minister. The the landlords were granted one year to plan went ahead in the Kosi belt, but transfer the land they own as raiyat in was stopped because reportedly the name of their heirs to be i.e. their As the third stage in land reforms tenants would record their names in son, daughters, etc. They also took came security of tenancy, the most large numbers leading to disruption advantage of the concessions vital link in 'land to the tiller. Bihar of peace in this agricultural area. available for instance, Bhoodan, has the highest incidence of tenancy Educational Institution, Orchard/ in the country as more and more Among other progressive land gardens etc. They were also permitted landowners get engaged in service reforms, land consolidation, which to take back land from non- profession, trade and commerce in completely transformed agriculture, occupancy tenants on the pretext of the cities and resort to tenancy. for example in Punjab. In Bihar, in the self-cultivation. The Act was amended Because all tenancy is oral and first place, absence of land records in 1971 and 1973. It made family (one informal all laws made for security of blocked its progress and the large head and three members) as unit tenancy have proved ineffective. landowners using their muscle and (instead of a person) and reduced the Nearly 25% of the cultivated land was money usurped the fertile land of the

ceiling from 95 acres to 45 acres, but under tenancy arrangement in 1998. peasants leaving the infertile tracts for till then most of the surplus land had Land owners taking half the produce them. In the absence of tenancy already been cornered by them. against the statutory provision of records and without any intention to 25% being the common mode. record them it led to eviction in large By March 1981, i.e. 20 years later the Concealed tenancy reduces the scope numbers. government had acquired only 369 of access to land and the tenants lakh acres of surplus land. The first bargaining position. Lastly 1973-74 was declared as land Janata Party government had reform year. It is needless to say that Land Ceiling Tenancy empowerpoor.org 10 the rising pressure from below, implementation of the reform is improve the implementation of land heralded the Bihar movement to because of the absence of Pressure reforms laws by plugging the target distribution of 18 lakh acres of from Below. The traditionally loopholes and launching special drives land. However, only 2.16 lakh i.e. oppressed peasantry was too were left to the bureaucracy alone. merely 13% of land could be at dependent and mired in ignorance to Other independent and pro landless allocated up to July 1979 and half of it mobilize themselves to build pressure organizations should be introduced. was Bhoodan land. for effective implementation of land reforms. It is essential to fill up this There should be a deadline set for the vital organizational gap and create preparation of a revenue-village-wise Various subject matter committees conditions conducive to active roster of all the pending cases with all have recommended minimum wage participation of the intended essential details and the current status

to be treated as essential for land beneficiaries of land reforms and of what is holding the case and where. reform. Despite fixation of minimum organizations working for the It would be desirable that the case wages, the ruling agricultural wages do operation of the land laws. their details are computerized for the not touch 1/3rd of it. Prevailing wage education and self-organization so purpose of proper monitoring. rates are widely varied. As many as 71 that genuine grievances accumulated types and 210 wage rates prevailed in over all these years could find There should be land dispute Bihar ranging from 76 Paise to 16 legitimate channels of expression and settlement tribunals including the rupees (pradhan 1989). The range non-violent actions. concerned revenue officer with may have increased to average 25 jurisdiction and including non-official rupees at the most. Studies of rural members representing the interests of unrest and violence have revealed that The land reform legislation and the the intended beneficiary of the land most of the resistances are against the manner of its implementation have reforms. The jurisdiction of the economic exploitation that is given either directly caused conflicts or tribunal should include holding public the cover of caste or religion. exacerbated contradiction and have hearings in the village also detect divided the landless and marginal missing land and make on the spot peasants along the caste line. One of settlement and grant purchase. If the obvious reasons being that there is needed a comprehensive land tribunal Land reform studies point out that hardly any transparency in the law may be enacted as expeditiously as one of the prime factors responsible operation of the land laws. possible. f o r t a r d y a n d i n e f f e c t i v e All the efforts made in the past to At the state level, a group may be constituted of ministers holding charge of the concerned department

namely Revenue, Land reforms, Law and Justice, Social Welfare, Home along with two or three eminent nonofficial members to streamline and facilitate the functioning of the tribunal. Minimum wage Focus Area Role of NGOs and Peasant Organizations Mr. B.N Jewel Ekta Parishad Bihar empowerpoor.org 11 The land on which and of helps it to grow, become a creative 60% livestock are dependent on the which I am born is great person; the land is mother of all the Drought-prone areas. 44% food and worth worshiping and living forms. It helps these living grain production comes from dryI will give my life to it. The very species to grow, to reproduce its own land agriculture. As much as 64% of sentence and the feeling it expresses kind and then cease to exist. The the dryland farmers are marginal and reveal our respect for the land that is land further assimilates the life and alongwith the 48% of the BPL the source of our livelihood. The makes the elements again available families are dependent on the land is given the status of Mother, for the birth of a new life. Both- the dryland farming. Management of for simple reason that the rudiment land and the woman have the ability dryland farming is mostly by the of life The Coasservate- came into to remain calm, unmoved and be women such as pre-sowing land existence on this land. Since then it stable. A few hundred volts through preparations, sowing, weeding,

evolved into multicellure life, from earthing or the thunderbolt both are fertilizer application, spraying of quadruped to bipid man and from accepted with equal calm. we edi c ide s or ins e c t i c ide s, Neantherdal man to Homo sapien harvesting or even selecting the seed Today women contribute 75% of for the future. However, she has no or the pr e s ent day Homo the food-grain production but get say in the matters like crop selection economicus. In Sanskrit literature only 10% as their share of the or marketing the produce etc. Her land is also referred to as Prasava or production and have right and title right over the income from the farm Janani, which are also the synonyms to only 1% of the properties. In produce is negligible. for Woman. Just the way the mother India 40% of the population and gives birth to a child, nurtures it, and Consequentially it is the woman and her children who are affected by hunger and poverty. This is due tothegender discrimination by the society- created and sustained to protect the vested interests. Even among the children it is the girl child who suffers most, as she is a woman first and a child afterwards. Land & Women empowerpoor.org 12 reputation or glory. At times execute unauthorized occupation. Therefore lands are safer with women. Under his or her care everyone's future,

future of the life is secured. It is the non-existent and invisible labor and skills that make it possible To ensure and establish her right to immovable properties like land and house. Ensure her role in utilization and management of Natural resources. Even within the rural family a that belongs to the family is Freedom to use her own woman is more burdened than the considered to be hers. Being resources. man. Rural women have to look after GRIHALAXMI she is supposed to the home and also the farm. But in own everything. But the fact remains Information dissemination to return she may not get adequate that the man owns the woman as enhance her skills and food health and medical facilities or well as the land. She may be capacities to take decisions. education. She is responsible for the DHANNO but he is the DHANI. Not imparting information is welfare of the family but has no title to keep them away from the Women like lands also quietly suffer decision making process. to the property or the ownership the violence and oppression without To educate her about her rights over the resources. complaining. If it has been said that and to give her opportunity to She has no identity of her own; her she resembles the mother earth then claim and use her rights. identity comes from the identity of why this loud shouting about her her husband or his profession. Her having the title etc. Is all this about Equitable distribution of work status in the family is secondary or an area of six feet by 2 feet? She between men and women to tertiary. In society it may be tertiary produces, creates and recreates, ensure the just end equitable or even quaternary (i.e. common nurtures and evolves for the future. returns. property resource if she is a destitute HER RELATIONSHIP WITH E n s u r e c o n d u c i v e or a widow) she is some body's T H E L A N D I S N O T environment for her growth daughter, wife or mother. Common EXPLOITATIVE. It is men who and development.

mode of the society is to protect fought wars for territorial gains, for women, ornaments and food from reaping and harvesting the produce, the viewer ship. Being emotionally sale purchase or even mortgage the attached to the family everything lands for accumulating the wealth or        Dr M. A. Ghare Chairman, Afarm. Pune. empowerpoor.org 13 In the Marathwada region of had captured this land. kept the issue unresolved, and has not Maharashtra g razing land, benefited the landless dalits in any way. traditionally referred to as Gairan The encroachment in Marathwada by In fact it has led to demoralization of cover 2,31,300 ha, which is, 3.6 % of the the Dalits were inspired by the Jabran Jot the persons involved in the land rights total geographic area of 64,813 Sq.Km. (forcible cultivation) movement of the struggle. Several Dalit families have On an average, each village has 230 ha 1960s in which the tribal of Chandrapur become subject of violence, and this of Gairan land. Besides Gairan land, district encroached on forest land after has resulted in losing faith in justice by other common land (temple land, being driven out of their own land. the rest. Though a number of activist revenue land, mahar vatani land, waste groups are involved in organizing dalits land, fertile patches around changing The initial cases of Dalits possessing around the issue of 'right to land', their

river basins, etc) also exists in this area. Gairan land met with severe resistance success has been very limited and from the landed communities sporadic. In the feudal and caste ridden society of accompanied by violence and Marathwada, where the Marathas were bloodshed. In the recent years, the dalit leaders the land owning caste, the dalit involved in the land right struggle have community depended completely on By 1991, with support from social realized that they must work together agriculture labour for their livelihood activists, the movement had become and strengthen their struggle. Working but owned no land. In the cast-base strong enough for the state government discretely has made them inefficient and society structure, dalits come at the to regularise encroachments on Gairan ineffective. Since their only recourse is bottom. They have no land, their only land of 23,938 people of whom 19,582 through democratic processes like employment source is in their villages. were dalits. Since then, several GRs lobbying and advocacy to get their basic They are totally dependent on the have been passed to give legal rights, what they need is a well thought landlords of the village. entitlements of land (pattas) to dalit plan and authentic data and intensive labourers. However, these GRs have efforts. The landless poor in this region (mostly remained mostly on paper. dalits and Pardhi tribes) had captured J a m i n A d h i k a r A n d o l a n , this land for their livelihood. They had After mass encroachments in many Marathwada. inherited the strength of mind from villages the upper caste landlords Activist groups looked at the Dadashseb Gaikawad, who was a very realized the danger of their bonded reassurances given by the government famous dalit leader during Dr. labourers becoming land owners and from time to time as an attempt to slow Ambedkar's time. began opposing the encroachments. down the momentum of the land Social ostracism, threats of physical struggle in the state. Dalit leaders

In 1956, while Gairan land was brought harm and even violence were freely involved in the land struggle began to under the management of the gram used in the process. However, with realise that they must work for the land panchyats, it was during the Nizam's support from social activists, the right in Marathwada for the rights of rule that the Dalits and Pardhis started movement became strong enough for the landless. Around the year 2000, cultivation on Gairan land. The earliest the State government to regularize, in t h e r e we r e s e v e r alpeople's Gairan possessions date back to 1952- 1991, encroachments of Gairan land of o r g a n i s a t i o n s a n d NGOs i n 53. With growing awareness of rights 23,938 people of whom 19,852 were Marathwada working with dalits. among Dalits, they began to aspire for Dalits. Through the process of alliance more sustainable and permanent building, informal meetings and livelihood measures. Since purchase of The State does not have a uniform land consultations, the Marathwada Lok arable land was out of the question for reform policy for all types of land, Vikas Manch (MLVM), with a majority economic reasons, the only option left including waste and unutilized land, and Dalit membership, was formed. MLVM was cultivation on the Gairan land, only a piece-meal approach has been became instrumental in focussing which was largely government land. taken so far by the government, and attention on the issue of Gairan And that's why Dalits in Marathwada often from a populist stand. This has Dalits' struggle of land right, for their better livelihood In Marathwada. empowerpoor.org 14

Manavi Hakka Abhiyaan (Campaign for b a c kwa r d a n d mi n o r i t y distribution of land, under possession Human Rights of CHR) working for communities to get elected in of people and families engaged in other Dalit human rights also took up this local governance. trades, to the landless, was obtained issue and worked hard for it by strongly from the Promoting women's ownership candidates contesting pushing this issue 'Availability of over land. elections. Gairans' and stressed livelihoods for Dalits'. A composite strategy started Sensitising local governance Two groups of JAA based in Kej taluka appearing. It is against this background officials. of Beed district filed a writ petition in that the Jamin Adhikar Andolan (JAA) Facilitating the process of land the Aurangabad high court for was formed. JAA was an outcome of a verification by the Talathi besides regularisation of 220 acres of gairan two- year long process of mass filing complaints of atrocities. land belonging to 64 Dalit and Pardhi mobilisation and efforts of all net work Creating a cadre of barefoot families of three villages, Sonesanghvi, members. activists in districts to provide Umri, and Yeota. The high court passed training and for motivating them. an order to that effect in November JAA is advocating a uniform land 2004. reform policy to ensure land Making use of the GRs of 1991 entitlement to all the landless and a n d 1 9 9 2 t o d e m a n d Research on the status of Gairan land in increase government investment in regularisation of land titles in the Marathwada in 1000 villages of eight natural resources development to name of the landless. districts had been undertaken to verify enhance the livelihood options of the Tr ying to mobilise g ram the availability of land for distribution poor and the marginalised. Panchayats to pass resolutions to and verification of actual possession regularise the titles of cultivators. and its present utilisation.

Intermon Oxfam, a development Using protest techniques like A family survey of dalit communities support organization came across the Dashkar Morcha, Bombaboom had been initiated in 3000 villages for movement leaders and learnt about Morcha and Preyatra. distribution and verification of actual their struggle. With Intermon's global experience in supporting such Sampark Mumbai-based NGOs is possession of Gairan and its present struggles, their inputs were crucial in supporting JAA in policy advocacy. In utilisation. Analysis of soil, water and consolidating a common strategy for 2002-2003, the chief minister of agronomic practices of selected gairans c l a iming l and r i ght s for the Maharashtra declared that all and private plots in 150 villages, has also marginalized. government wasteland (padik Jamin) been initiated to suggest improvements should be made available to the landless in the present land use pattern. Through Intermon Oxfam support poor and Dalits. But Tehsildar at the At present, JAA composes of 200 JAA has completed research on Gairan local level responded to the government people's organizations and groups and land in Marathwada and has enquiry by starting that on record there is spread in all the 8 districts of eastablished community based are no landholdings under possession Marathwada. The network runs an Microfinance institute of dalits women. without entitlement, and hiding the fact advocacy campaign in order to ensure Basix is giving input for this work. that sine 1982, 75-80 % waste and basic living rights to the landless and With the support of PACS, 1000 JAA Gairan land was under possession Dalits. activists participated in the World social without title in almost all the villages From January 2006, with forum programme in Mumbai in 2004. . support of PACS, JAA is working in 240 During the 2004 state assembly villages for the cause of Dalits' land JAA has taken initiatives for the land elections, JAA released a manifesto for rights and for their sustainable right in Marathwada. p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s d ema n d i n g livelihood in six district of Marathwada. regularisation of encroachments Mobilising the landless of all according to the government castes and religions in the r e s o l u t i o n , v e r i f i c a t i o n o f struggle. encroachments, distribution of Sensitising Panchayats and unutilised land, distribution of ceiling promoting candidates from sur plus, and a cqui s i t ion and

         Vishwanath S Todkar Secretary Jamin Adhikar Andolan Marathwada. empowerpoor.org 15 NREGS Week Campaign update: Rallies, village-level meetings, NREGA, padyatras and nukkad Hariharpur, Mendra and Kantaroli s amme l a n s , d i s t r i b u t i o n o f sabhas at several villages to spread villages of Sarguja district by the CSO. communication material, pad yatras awareness about the scheme were Sammelans of community based and nukkad natak performances were undertaken in all the clusters. organisations were held in two organised to observe the weeklong Testimonials are being collected and a clustersKantaroli and Ghatbarrahof (July 3-9th, 2006) NREGS campaign public hearing in the presence of Sarguja district. In Kawardha district, held across the PACS Programme. government officials and media the awareness building drives were representatives is planned for July 16, organised in the Chitadabri and In Bihar, the initiative which covered 2006 at the town hall in Palamu. Damgarh clusters of Pandaria block 2326 villages in 106 blocks of 22 Panch and sarpanch sammelans were

districts received a big boost as the In Maharashtra, PACS Programme organised at Goplingchua and other state's secretary of rural development partner Paryay facilitated meetings on villages in Rajnandgaon district sent an official letter to all district NREGS related issues with BDOs, covered by the Jagriti Seva Sansthan officials concerned urging them to tehsildar and other officers in (JSS). At Nawa Nagar in Sarguja, the support the PACS Programme effort. Aurangabad and Khultabad. The gram Sarguja Gramotthan Samaj Sevi A radio interview on NREGS with the sabha in Siresaygaon in Gangapur Sansthan (SGSSS) convened a meeting state's special secretary for rural block worked out an action plan for attended by leaders of 10 villages to development was one of the highlights construction of a road under the discuss the activities that will be of the campaign. scheme. In Suliganjan village, undertaken in their villages. Khultabad, around 40 people could Apart from a large amount of IEC get work under the scheme due to the In Uttar Pradesh PACS Programme materials, a script of a play was intervention of the CSO. partners in 13 districts participated in a prepared by the Indian People's state-wide Rozgar Adhikar Yatra Theatre Association (IPTA) that was In Nanded district, Sandhi Niketan organised by the National Conference distributed to the CSOs. A flex-board organised meetings in banjara (tribal) of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), a on the NREGS was particularly hamlets in Mukhed block. A press confederation of more than 300 popular and effective, according to conference was also held here. A press grassroots dalit organisations. PACS CSO reports. CSOs helped people fill conference was also held at Yavatmal, Programme partners in these districts

forms for job cards in different areas. where programme partner Asmita were closely involved in the planning Each CSO was given a target of filling Institute for Development held and mobilisation for the yatra, which at least 300 forms. In Darbhanga, the meetings with sarpanchs in each of the ended in a massive Rozgar Adhikar Mithilanchal Samagra Vikas Sansthan, 14 villages covered by it under the Sammelan in Lucknow on July 3 and a network partner of Gramin Vikas programme. A short animation film on formal adoption of a Lucknow Parishad, had facilitated the filling of NREGS was prepared and distributed Declaration.Information about the over 750 forms till July 6, 2006. among all CSOs in the districts scheme had not been disseminated by covered by the scheme. the authorities and in some areas In Jharkhand the NREGS week was people knew very little about the observed in 4500 villages in 20 districts In Madhya Pradesh various events scheme or how to apply for work. by over 100 CSOs. IEC material such organised by programme partners Interactions were also held with as flex posters, a CD of a film on uncovered several problems in the officials at the panchayat and block NREGS, Sau Din Rojgar, Hamara implementation of the NREGS. level. Adhikar, a CD of 10 songs, a script for a street play, a booklet on NREGS In Chhattisgarh a huge meeting was week and a pamphlet on the scheme organised at Chandan Nagar in Sarguja were also developed. A press district by Margadarshak Seva conference was held to announce the Sansthan (MSS) on July 6. Nukkad activities. Training for CSOs on nataks were organised in of Satepur, (Source: Detailed report PACS Programme raises awareness about NREGS in 6 states

can be obtained from our website www.empowerpoor.org) empowerpoor.org The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme is probably the single largest anti-poverty programme beingh implemented in India by a network of Civil Society Organisation (CSOs). Supported by the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by Development Alternative and PricewaterhouseCoopers (P) Ltd., the PACS Programme focuses on the 108 poorest districts of India. Over 80% of India's poorest districts are located in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. These are the states covered by the Programme. A seven-year programme, PACS is now in its fifth year of implementation. The programme already has a network of 562 CSOs in 89 districts, covering over 15,853 villages in these six states. Objective: Empowering the Poor PACS aims to empower the poor so that they can exercise their rights and demand their entitlements. The Programme aims to achieve this by strengthening the capacity of CSOs working for the poor in the target districts. For more information visit us at: www. empowerpoor.org Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme A Partnership Initiave against Poverty Supported by: Managed by DFIDDepartment for International Development Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme (2001-2008) Enabling the poor to do what they want to do Development Alternatives Pricewaterhouse Coopers (P) Ltd.

Burden of Past and Vision of Equality: Political Sociology of Social Exclusion and Jat-Dalit Conflicts in Punjab

Dr. Ronki Ram, Reader, Department Panjab of University, Political Science Chandigarh.

<ronkiram@yahoo.co.in> The recent spate of Jat-Dalit conflicts in the north Indian state of Punjab has exploded the myth of the casteless character of the Sikh society. Dalits in Punjab are no longer better than their counterpart in other parts of India. However, what distinguished Punjab from the rest of country is that caste inequity persists here more in terms of landownership, social identification and dominant cultural patterns than of Brahmincal orthodoxy. Though over the years the Dalits of Punjab have strengthened their economic position through sheer hard work, enterprise and affirmative action but they failed to achieve a commensurate improvement in their social status. Armed with the weapon of improved economic conditions and social consciousness, the Dalits mustered enough strength to ask for a concomitant rise in their social status. Such moves of the

marginalized find staunch critics among the Jats who often view Dalit assertion as a form of challenge to their dominant status in the agrarian society of Punjab. This in turn has sharpened the contradictions between Jats and Dalits that ultimately led to a series of violent clashes between them.

Caste has never been as assertive in Indian politics as it is today. Over the last few decades, however, it has entered the corridors of electoral politics with full force. Scholars, of late, have started recognizing the fact that once caste structures get politicized they help in the deepening of democracy, which in turn empowers the marginalized (Yadav 1999; Palshikar 2004). Delivering a lecture on Democracy and its Critics organized by the United Nations Foundation, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said, There is a need for caution, however, for those who believe that invocation of caste in any form in democracy is an evil force. As long as caste is invoked in speaking for a lower caste or uniting it, it is good (Hindu: 16 December 2005). Such a pragmatic view of caste eclipses the common conjecture predicated on the idea that the onset of the modernity project would inevitably render the institution of caste invalid as a power index in the long run. This study is a modest attempt to understand the institution of caste in Punjab and its implications for the recent spate of Jat-Dalit conflicts in the state. The recent Jat-Dalit conflicts in Punjab have exploded the myth of the casteless Sikh society. They have brought forth the dormant contradictions between the landless and socially secluded Dalits, and the landowning and dominant peasant caste of Jats in

Punjab. Dalits in Punjab constitute the largest proportion of the Scheduled Castes (SC) population in the country (29 percent [2001 census]). Interestingly enough, Punjab has also been the only state in India where the share of the Dalits in the agricultural land is the lowest (2.34 percent). In other words, despite the fact of their being in highest proportion in the population of the agrarian state of Punjab in the country, a very small number of them are cultivators. Their share in the trade, industry, financial sector, health, and religious establishments in the state is also almost negligible (Sharma 2003). However, over the years the Dalits of Punjab have strengthened their economic position through sheer hard work and enterprise. Although the constitutional affirmative action played an important role in the upliftment of the Dalits, in general, the monopoly of the Dalits on the leather business in the famous Boota Mandi in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab, and remittances turned out to be of crucial importance in overcoming their economic hardships. In addition, they have also been politicized to a large extant by the socio-political activities of the famous Ad Dharm movement1 and of the various Ravidas Deras2 (religious centers) that have inculcated a feeling of self-respect among them3. Thus armed with the weapon of improved economic conditions and social consciousness, the Dalits mustered enough strength to ask for a concomitant rise in their social status. However, the Jats interpreted this Dalit assertion as a challenge to their long established supremacy in the state. This in turn has sharpened the contradictions between them and the Dalits. The Dalits, who for centuries have been subjected to humiliation and untold miseries, now learnt to say a firm no not only to the instances of violation of

their human rights, but are also ready to take up cudgels with their tormentors. Consequently, this has led to a series of violent caste conflicts between the Dalits and the dominant peasant caste of Jats in Punjab over the last few years. The Jat-Dalit conflicts thus signify the emerging Dalit assertion and its serious implications for the asymmetrically structured agrarian society of Punjab. Such conflicts are in no way a manifestation of communalism in the state. They are in fact, signs of emerging Dalit assertion, which has all the possibilities of snowballing into serious violent conflicts, if kept ignored for a long time. This paper is divided into four sections. The first deals with the regional specificities of the state of Punjab and its impact on the phenomenon of caste discrimination in state. It also underlines the phenomenon of Jat-Dalit conflict formation in the state. The second section delves deep into the history of the Jat community in the state and its links with the emergence of the caste system within Sikhism. What are the patterns of caste discrimination in the Sikh society and how it forced the Dalits to seek a separate identity is discussed in the third section. The fourth section documents some cases of Jat-Dalit conflicts in the pre and post partition Punjab. I Regional Specificities and caste Hierarchies in Punjab Though caste is prevalent throughout the country, it has never been monolithic and unilinear in its practice. Every region has its specific and unique characteristics that closely impact its sociopolitical and economic structures. Thus, for a correct understanding of the phenomenon of caste and untouchability,

specificities of a region hold critical importance. In the following section an attempt is made to explore the regional specificities of the north Indian state of Punjab and their impact upon the phenomenon of caste. The phenomenon of untouchability was never considered so strong in Punjab as in many other parts of the country (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:15). Punjab has generally been known as a notable exception to the widely prevalent view of caste and untouchability in India owing to various historical factors (Puri 2004a: 1). But it does not mean that untouchability is alien to this part of the country. Dalits were never spared of social oppression and economic deprivations in Punjab. The repeated references to and loud condemnations of caste based discriminations in the teachings of the Sufi saints and the Sikh Gurus is a case in point. The social reform movements led by the Arya Samaj, Singh Sabha and Chief Khalsa Dewan further vindicated the presence of the institution of caste in the social set up of Punjab. Moreover, the roots of caste hierarchy were so well entrenched in society of the state that the reformatory measures undertaken by the all these social reforms movements failed to weed them out4. However, what distinguished it from the other parts of India is the material factor of the caste based discriminations in Punjab as against the over all-dominating pattern of purity-pollution syndrome. Another feature that distinguished Punjab from the rest of the regions in the country was the phenomenon of widespread landlessness among the Dalits and the absolute monopoly of the Jats on the agricultural land in the state. The hold of Jats on the land was also reinforced by the Punjab Land Alienation Act (1901) that deprived the Dalits along with other non-agricultural castes the

right to purchase the land. Since Punjab happened to be primarily an agricultural state, the ownership of land assumed significant importance in determining social status. Nowhere in India, are Dalits so extensively deprived of agricultural land as in the case of Punjab. Despite their highest proportion in the country, less than 5 percent of them were cultivators (lowest in India, 1991 census). They shared only 4.82 percent of the number of operational holdings and 2.34 percent of the total area under cultivation (1991 census). Consequently, till recently the landlessness rendered a large majority of them (60 percent, 1991 census) into agricultural laborers and made them subservient to the landowners, who invariably happen to be Sikh Jats. However, a significant change has taken place over the last few decades. Dalits have entered into a number of professions, which were traditionally considered as the mainstay of the artisan castes (Ram 2004a: 5-6). This has led to a sharp decline in the share of Dalits in the agricultural work force in the state, which in itself has come down from 24 per cent in 1991 to 16 percent in 2001 (Singh 2005:3) The hold of the Jats on the land was so strong that the lower castes were even denied the access to village common land (shamlaat). In fact, Dalits were never considered part of villages, as their residences were located outside the main premises of the villages. So much so that the land on which the Dalit houses were built also considered to be belonged to the Jats (Virdi 2003: 2 &11). This kept the Dalits always afraid lest the Jat landowners ordered them to vacate the land. The abysmally low share of the Dalits in the land seems to be the major cause of their hardships and social exclusion. It is also an indication of the historical denial of rights to them (Thorat 2006:2432). The slightest sign of protest by the Dalits for the betterment of their living conditions often

provoked the Jats to impose social boycott on them5. The patterns of domination by the Jats and that of the subordination of the Dalits also distinguished Punjab from rest of the country in a significant way. In Punjab the scale of social measurement differs from that of the other parts of the country. The social measurement scale in Punjab is not based on the purity/pollution principle of Brahminical orthodoxy. Instead, it is based on the hold of land, martial strength6, and allegiance to Sikhism, a comparatively new religion that openly challenged the rituals and dogmatic traditions of Hinduism and Islam. Unlike the system of caste hierarchy in rest of the country, the top down rank grading of Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (soldier), Vaishya (trader) and Shudra (menial worker) carries no meaning in Punjab. In Punjab Brahmin is not placed on the top of the caste hierarchy. The Sikh Jats, who otherwise have been Shudra as per the Varna system, considered themselves socially superior to the Brahmins (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:2; and Sabherwal 1976:10; Tandon 1961: 77).In fact, in contemporary Punjab Jats have replaced Brahmins in terms of domination. The ideological undercurrents of social domination based on the principles of purity/pollution, and wisdom failed to hold ground in Punjab due to various historical reasons (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:1-87; Puri 2004a: 1). Interestingly, the phenomenon of the domination in Punjab clubbed together different sources of power (social, economic, political, religious, and numerical). These sources, in turn, are invariably concentrated in the community of Jats. In other words, multiple identities coalesced in the Jats that make them a dominant community of Punjab. They are Jats by caste, Sikhs by religion, and landowners by their hold on cultivation. All these different identities reinforce each other and thus strengthened the position of the Jat community

in the state. Yet another factor that further strengthened the domination of the Jats in the state of Punjab was their numerical preponderance in the Sikh religion. Their large-scale entry into Sikh religion had not only rescued them from the labyrinth of their lower status in the Hindu society, it also turned them into a powerful community within Sikhism. According to the records of 1881 Census, 66 percent of those who returned as Sikhs were Jats. The second largest community within Sikhism was that of the Tarkhans/Ramgarhias (the carpenter caste) who just constituted 6.5 percent of the total Sikhs in Punjab. Next to the Ramgarhias were the Chamars/Ramdasias with 5.6 percent, followed by the Chuhras/Mazhabis who were 2.6 percent. If clubbed together these two outcaste groups (Ramdasias and Mazhabis) becomes the second largest group (8.2 percent) of Sikhs within Sikhism. Thus the numerical preponderance of the Jats within Sikhism combined with their Marti and self-willed nature, and monopoly on the land elevated them well above their humble origins. Such a combination and reinforcement of multiple identities and their concentration in the community of Jats is, however, conspicuous by its absence among the Dalits, which weaken their collective strength and unity. Dalits in Punjab are scattered in multi-identities. Under the impact of Sikhism, while Jats of Punjab have enhanced their social status and achieved spiritual coherence, the same could not happen in the case of Dalits who remained divided in different religious orders. Dalits are found in almost all the popular religions in Punjab. Their presence in Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity not only proves the presence of the institution of caste in all these religions, but also weaken the

chances of solidarity among them. The subjugation of the Dalits got further deepened during the course of green revolution in Punjab. The process of green revolution transformed the traditional subsistence character of the agriculture into commercial and mechanical farming. The market oriented agriculture pattern in the post 1960s phase favored the landowners, which further marginalized the Dalits and widened the already existing divisions between them and the dominant peasant caste in Punjab. Interestingly, it was also during this phase of market-oriented agriculture that a new middle class of educated Dalits emerged in Punjab. The advent of this new class among the Dalits coupled with the rise of the Ambedkarite movement in the region led to the formation of Dalit consciousness in the state. The emergence of the Dalit consciousness induced the Dalit agricultural laborers to ask for higher wages in the rural settings of Punjab, especially in its Doaba sub-region. The Dalit struggle for higher wages often employed pressure tactics of refusal to work unless the landowners increase the wages. In fact, it was during this very phase of transition in the agrarian economy of Punjab that the process of Dalit immigration to Europe, North America, and the Gulf got streamlined. However, it may be pointed that the emergence of the process of Dalit immigration from Punjab coincided with the phenomenon of the influx of migrant labour from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh into Punjab. The influx of migrant labour has further sharpened the contradiction between the dominant peasant castes and the landless Dalits in that it provided the former cheaper labour compared to the local ones. Moreover, the changed cropping system under the green revolution patterns of agriculture squeezed the extant of farm labour to a few peak

periods paddy transplantation, paddy harvesting-cum-threshing, and wheat harvesting. The traditional agriculture system, capable of providing almost round the year regular work, was changed into a commercial agriculture set-up that did not offer more than 75 days work annually (based on fieldwork, see also Singh 2001:5). In turn, they have to seek employment in other sectors for the rest of the year. Thus, the Dalit laborers, sand witched between the influxes of cheap migrant labour on the one hand and mechanized farming on the other, began to look for job in different sectors other than the agriculture. The alternative job opportunities reduced the dependence of the Dalits on landowners. The social mobility of the new middle class Dalits coupled with their relative emancipation from the economic dependence on the landowners led to the emergence of Dalit assertion in Punjab. The sustainability of this assertion drew strength from the politicization of caste on the one hand and from the failure of the asymmetrical caste structures to accommodate Dalits into its social space as equal citizen, on the other (Judge 2006:11). This new form of Dalit assertion and its recent exhibition in the form of Jat-Dalit clashes in the villages of Punjab demands a serious enquiry. Yet another feature that distinguished the Dalits of Punjab from their counterparts in other parts of the country is their community wise heavy concentration in some pockets of the state. Dalits in Punjab have been categorized into 38 castes. Out of these 38 castes more than 80 percent of the total Scheduled Castes (SCs) population belongs to two major caste groupings of Chamars (leather working castes) and Chuhra (sweepers). These two caste groups consist of four castes Mazhabi (30.7%), Chamar (25.8%),

Ad-Dharmi (15.9%), and Balmiki (11.1%). The Chamar caste group includes: Ad-Dharmi, Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasias, and Ravidasias. The Chuhra caste group clubs together Balmiki, Bhangi and Mazhabi castes. The Chamar caste group is largely confined to the Doaba sub-region of the Punjab (comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, and Nawan Shahr districts lying between two rivers, Beas and Sutlej). And the Chuhra caste group is mainly concentrated in the smaller Majha region and the much bigger Malwa region of the state. At the district level, Mazhabis are largely concentrated in Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Faridkot, Mansa, and Bhatinda districts of Punjab. Apart from their heavy concentration in the Doaba subregion of Punjab, Chamars are also numerous in Gurdaspur, Rupnagar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Sangrur districts. Among the Chamar caste group, Ad-Dharmis far outnumber other SCs in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts in rural as well as urban settings. Mazhabis in the Chuhra caste group outnumber other SCs in Faridkot and Ferozepur districts (for more details see Gosal 2004: 26-39). Though, traditionally they have been condemned as polluted and impure because of their occupational contact with animal carcass and hides, Chamars are basically chandravanshi by clan and are also considered as the highest caste among the SCs in Punjab (Deep 2001:7). The Ad Dharmi and Chamar of the Chamar caste group are not only numerically preponderent in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab, they also happened to be the most resourceful caste in comparison to the all other castes among the SCs of Punjab. Chamars and Ad Dharmis of this sub-region are ahead of the all other Dalit castes in almost all spheres. Ad Dharmi Chamars are on the top of virtually every parameter education, urbanisation, jobs, occupational

change, cultural advancement, political mobilization, etc. (Puri 2004:4). The famous Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s also emerged in this very region of Punjab. In the early 1930s, some of Ad Dharmi Chamars established a prosperous leather-business town (Boota Mandi) in the outskirts of Jalandhar city. Ad Dharmi Chamars of the Boota Mandi were among the early supporters of the Ad Dharm movement. Seth Kishen Dass, a leather business tycoon of the Boota Mandi, who won the 1937 Assembly election from Jalandhar constituency in Punjab, financed the headquarters building of the Ad Dharm Mandal in jalandhar city. Nowadays, this building houses Guru Ravidass High school and Sewing Centre. It is again from this caste group of the sub-region that maximum emigration took place to Europe, North America, and the Middle East. The Ad Dharmies abroad have not only excelled in business and skilled labour professions, they also established a strong networking of social organizations, International Dalit Conferences, Ravidass Sabhas and Ravidass Gurdwaras throughout Europe and North America. II Sikhs, Jats and Caste Punjab is a Sikh majority state. The Sikhs constitute 63 per cent of its total population. About 72 per cent of the Sikhs in Punjab live in villages. In villages caste, as occupational division of labour, constitutes an integral part of routine social life (Kaur 1986: 229). Although Sikh doctrine does not assign any place to the institution of caste, the same is not true in its social practice (Puri 2003: 2693). In the Punjab Censuses between 1881 and 1931, more than twenty-five castes were recorded within the Sikh

community,

including

Jats,

Khatris,

Aroras,

Ramgarhias,

Ahluwalias, Bhapas, Bhattras, Sainis, Lobanas, Kambohs, Ramdasias, Ravidasias, Rahtias, Mazhbis, and Rangretas (Verma 2002:33). Out of these, eleven castes two agrarian castes (Jat and Kamboh); two mercantile castes (Khatri and Arora); four artisan castes (Tarkhan, Lohar, Nai, and Chhimba); two outcastes groups (Chamar and Chuhra); and one distiller (Kalal) remain the principal constituents of the Panth (McLeod 1996: 93-4). The Outcastes groups of the Sikh community, popularly known as Dalit Sikhs, are divided into two segments: Mazhbis and Ramdasias7. The Dalits whose profession is scavenging and cleaning are called Mazhbis.Mazbi means nothing more than a member of the scavenger class converted to Sikhism (Ibbetson1883, rpt.1970:294). Some of the Sweepers who embraced Sikh religion are also called Rangretas. However, in spite of Mazhbis and Rangreta Sikhs meticulous observance of the Sikh religious principles, they are not considered equals by the upper caste Sikhs. The upper caste Sikhs refused to associate with them even in the religious ceremonies (Ibid.). In other words, even after converting to Sikhism, they were not relieved of the taint of hereditary pollution. The other segment of Dalit Sikhs consists of Ramdasias, also known as Khalsa Biradar. They are chamars who have converted to Sikhism. Most of them are Julahas (weavers). They are often confused with Ravidasia chamars who are mostly engaged in the profession of leatherwork (Ibid: 300). Mazhbis/Rangretas and Ramdasias are not equal to the Jats, Khatris and Aroras within Sikhism. Even their status is also lower to Ramgarhia, Ahluwalia and Bhapa (trader caste) Sikhs.Thus, the change in the caste titles of the Dalits after their conversion does

not make any difference to the dominant castes. The dominant castes continued to identify them by their earlier titles Chuhars and Chamars. Though the Mazhibs or Rangretas abandoned the occupation of scavenging, they still are classed with Chuhras (Ibettson [1883] 1970:268-69). As far as Dalits themselves are concerned they too continued to observe caste among them even after their conversion to Sikhism. Within Sikhism, Ramdasia Sikhs considered themselves superior to the Mazhbi and Rangreta Sikhs. Although Ramdasias and Ravidasias have originated from Chamars, the former [Sikh] considered them superior to the latter [Hindu] (Ibid: 297, 302). In the Sikh caste hierarchy, the Jats claim to occupy the top position (Singh 1977:70). To quote Pettigrew, an Anthropologist who did intensive fieldwork on the Sikh Jats, All Jats alike are brought up to be proud irrespective of what they possess in terms of education, wealth or power. No Jat defines himself as subservient and none can actually be trampled upon (Pettigrew 1978:20). Mostly concentrated in villages, the Jats are primarily landowners and agriculturists and are also widely considered to be the backbone of the Punjab peasantry. So close has become the connection of the Jatts with peasant-agriculture in the Punjab that, besides being a caste-name, the word Jat can mean an agriculturalist and Jataki similarly can mean agriculture(Habib 1996:97). By virtue of their hold on the land they are popularly known as the dominant peasant caste in the state. The Jat might be employed as a school teacher, or service in the military but he sees his primary role as that of an agriculturist; his connection with land is what he holds most dear and what identifies him (Kaur 1986:233). They have also diversified into transport business and

considered employment in the armed forces highly prestigious. Jats in Punjab are also considered the backbone of the Sikh community. Although all ten of the historic Sikh Gurus belonged to the Khatri caste, traditionally the majority of their followers have come from the Jat caste (Kaur 1986:225). In the Misl (military bands) system of the eighteenth century the leadership was largely under the control of the Jats and eventually it was a Jat misld r, Ranj t Singh, who secured total ascendancy (McLeod 1996:18). The overwhelming majority of the Jats (since 1962) in the leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the main political party of Sikhs, made it virtually a Jat political party" (Puri 2004a:10). Sikhs are identified by their appearance based on the five symbols (a Kirpan [steel dagger], a Kara [steel bangle], Kachha [short breeches], a kanghha [comb], and kesh [uncut hair]) that they wore in accordance with the Rahatnama (the Sikh code of conduct). However, Sikh Jats are generally liberal in observance of the Rahatnama. The majority of them trim their beard, cut their hair, and many often smoke or chew tobacco. They rarely visit Gurdwaras (Kaur 1986: 222-23). In spite of their lackadaisical approach towards the Khalsa discipline, Sikh Jats in their own eyes and in those of others remained Sikhs. For others castes it is very different. If a Khatri shaves he is regarded as a Hindu by others and soon comes to regard himself as one (McLeod 1996: 98). The Sikhs who strictly followed Rahatnama belong to the lower class of north Punjab (Singh 1953: 179). The Khalsa symbols were considered to be associated with the influx of Jats into the Sikh religion during the eighteenth century (McLeod 1996; Pettigrew 1978:25). However, with the passage of

time, they (symbols) became permanent part of the Khalsa discipline in 1699. Since these symbols were part of the Jat cultural patterns much before the entry of Jats into Sikhism, their adherence by the Jats could not become an identification mark of their being Sikhs. Even before they became Sikhs they used to keep uncut hair, wore a thick Kara, and the turban, as a measure of protection in warfare. Hence, the importance of these symbols did not make much difference to them after their becoming Sikh. So, in their case it was not the adherence to these symbols that made them look like Sikhs. They remained Sikhs even without wearing these very symbols sometimes. In other words, the entry of the Jats into Sikh religion did not dilute their caste identity. On the contrary, it got further strengthened. Jats considered themselves as the savior of the Sikh religion who defended it militarily throughout its entire turbulent history. In the words of Pettigrew, Each Jat felt tremendous pride that it was his section of the community that had built up the military organization which led to the establishment of Sikh rule in the Punjab. He felt that prestige lay with the Jats because of this (Pettigrew 1978:41, emphasis in original).The Jats often treated other castes as timid and incapacable of defending themselves. They called Aroras Kiraar (coward), and commonly applied the term Bhapa (which carries a perceptible degree of opprobrium) to Khatris and Aroras who migrated from the Pothohar areas (McLeod 1996:100; and Pettigrew1978: 41). The Jats are generally considered to be of Indo-Scythians stock, and are said to have settled in the Indus valley, especially in central Sind, in the seventh century (Habib 1996:94). They were ruled over by the Brahmana dynasty of Chach that imposed harsh constraints on them (Ibid: 95). Their appearance became apparent

in Punjab by the beginning of the 11th century (Ibbotson [1883] 1970:97; and Habib 1996:95). The entry of the Jats into the Province of Punjab must have based on their migration from the Sind (Habib 1996:95). However, for a period of four hundred years between the 11th and the 16th there is no account of them in the chronicles of Punjab. The absence of the Jats in the chronicles for such a long period simply shows their insignificance in the Punjab society. Alberuni, whose historical account covered the period of 11th century, designated them as cattle-owners, low Shudra people (quoted in Ibid). They were known as people of an unfeeling temper and hasty disposition; who were free from the dichotomies of small or great and rich or poor. References to them began to surface again after a long gap of four centuries in the in-I-Akbar and its record of Zamindar castes, compiled about 1595 (Ibid: 96). During the four centuries of their incognito the Jats must have expanded and metamorphosed from a pastoral to an agricultural community in Punjab (Ibid). This was, probably, also the period during which cultivation expanded substantially in Punjab. The introduction of the Persian wheel, reiterated Irfan Habib, was the main driving force behind the critical change in the agricultural situation of the Punjab (ibid: 98). The expansion of cultivation in the province of Punjab might have led to the massive shift among the Jats from pastoral to settled agricultural community. It is safe to say that it might have also elevated their social status in the political economy of the rural society of the state. It would not be out of the context to say that what Green Revolution was to the post 1960s Punjab, the introduction of the Persian wheel was to the Punjab of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. In both the cases, it was the Jat community that remained the main beneficiary of the

transformation process in the rural settings. But, how the pastoral Jat community transformed into a settled agricultural community and established its control over the land? This question cannot be answered simply by asserting that since the pastoral Jats were tending cattle, and cattle are generally reared with the agriculture so they adopted the agricultural profession. Agriculture is not merely a profession; it is also an asset that bestows on the owners of the land a special status of Zamindar. Jats hold on the agricultural land, probably, made them an important community. In the sixteenth century when many of the Jats turned to cultivation, they were not only entirely peasants but, in so many localities of the Punjab, also Zamindar (Habib 1996: 99; see also Ibbetson [1883] 1970:103). Infact, it was their hold on the land that became a marker of their Jat identity. Jat and the profession of agriculture, thus, became synonymous. However, their improved economic conditions failed to push them up on the caste scale within the Hindu social order. Thus to escape the oppressive and suffocating structures of Hindu social order the Jats of Punjab embraced Sikhism a newly emerged religion, free form the hierarchies of caste and gender.(Habib 1996:99; see also McLeod 1996:13). They saw in this new religion a hope and a promise to win over the dilemma of the incommensurability between their improved economic position and humiliating social status. Since Jats constituted a large segment of the population of the Punjab, their entry into the Sikh religion quickly made them the preponderant community. Infact, the large-scale entry of the Jats into the Sikh religion, had not only expanded the base of this new religion, it had also seriously impacted its social outlook. It introduced elements of militancy and caste in its organization. The militant outlook of the Panth

(Sikh community) especially after the martyrdom of the fifth Guru Arjun Dev is generally attributed to, what McLeod called the preponderance of the Jat cultural patterns within Sikhism. The preponderance of such patterns also turned Jats into a dominant caste within the very religion that purged them of the taint of their lower caste status. In the due course of time they came to be known as the dominant caste in whole of the state.So much so that the Punjabi culture and identity is seen in terms of Jat culture and identity only (Jodhka 2006:13). In the words of Grewal, Although due to the present agricultural crisis in Punjab this community is in an unfortunate and painful condition, but still if anybody asks who is most powerful in Punjab, we would have to acknowledge that these directionless, Jatt Sikh families of Punjab, that is committing suicide [sic], are the ruling class here (Grewal 2006:16). The transformation of the Jats from the pastoral community into an agricultural one, and their allegiance to the Sikh religion revealed an interesting case of the empowerment of a lower caste community and the role of religion in that regard. Infact, what the Jats were fighting for in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dalits of Punjab seems to have been struggling for the same over the last few decades in the contemporary Punjab. They have been fighting for an equal share in the sources of power in the state and for a respectable status in the society. Though they have received some progression over the years in their economic status due to the constitutional affirmative action and ventures abroad, their lower social status remained intact. Unlike the lower caste Jats of the 17th and 18th centuries, they failed to overcome their social disability by embracing Sikhism. The Mazhabis of Punjab is

a case in point. The Mazbis take the pauhl, wear their hair long, and abstain from tobacco, and they apparently refuse to touch night soil, though performing all the other offices hereditary to the Chuhra caste.... But though good Sikhs so far as religious observance is concerned, the taint of hereditary pollution is upon them and Sikhs of other castes refuse to associate with them even in religious ceremonies (Ibbetson [1883] 1970: 294). However, there is one major factor that distinguished the Dalit case from that of the Jats in the formative years of their struggle for the improvement of their social status. Jats were cultivators, landowners, nonchalant and a martial race. They also outnumbered other communities by their numerical strength within the Sikh religion. Moreover, the contradiction between the principal communities of the Khatris the community to which all the ten Gurus belonged and also the one, which provided the initial following to the Sikh religion and the Jats, was never sharp. Whereas the Jats remain a rural community heavily committed to agriculture, the Khatris are essentially urban-based and a mercantile community (McLeod 1996:98). To quote McLeod, Unlike the Jats the Khatris have never shown any interest in Sikh identity as a means of enhancing social or ritual status (Ibid: 99). Nor the markers of new identity ever provoked them. But in the case of the Dalits in Punjab, the situation is entirely different. Dalits in Punjab are posited in direct confrontation with the Jats over the struggle for social justice and dignity. Unlike the Jats of the eighteenth century whose opponent (Khatris) were in no

way directly entangled with them in their profession (agriculture), some of the Dalits of Punjab are still tied with the Jats in the sector of agriculture. It is in this context that that the Jats, the landholders, and the Dalits, the landless agricultural workers, find themselves in a situation of direct confrontation. But there are many Dalits in the state who have improved their economic conditions by dissociating from their caste occupations and distancing them from the profession of agriculture. Some of them have joined Government services, went abroad, and established their own small-scale servicing units [carpentry, barber, blacksmith shops etc. (for details see: Ram 2004a: 5-7). In this case they have not only improved their economic status, but have also liberated them from the subordination of the Jat landowners. Now, they feel no longer obliged to respect their erstwhile masters (Jats) in the feudal way. Thus their changed economic relation has not only improved their economic status, it also propelled them to aspire for a commensurate social status. This is what that pitted them against the Jats, who take it hard to digest any such attempt, which would press them to dilute their dominant position in the rural society of Punjab. The Dalitss struggle for equal social status, thus, has led to the violent caste conflicts between them and the Jats in the state, and has all the probability of escalating into many more such conflicts in the near future. III Jats and Caste Discrimination Caste discrimination in Punjab is unique in comparison to its observance in other parts of the country. The Brahminical tradition of social stratification, as discussed above, has never been so

effective there. The word Brahmin did not carry a sacerdotal connotation in Punjab. It was used, rather, derogatorily. The down play of the Brahmins in Punjab by the Sikh Jats might have diminished the purity-pollution practice to the benefits of Dalits (Sabherwal 1973:256). However, it did not in any way help the Dalits to improve their socio-economic status. The centre of power in Punjab revolves around the axle of land. Much of the land is owned by the Sikh Jats. Although Scheduled Castes in Punjab constitute high proportion of the population (29%) in comparison to the all India average of 16.3%, their share in ownership of land is negligible. Their being landless forced them to depend on the land-owning castes in the absence of alternative jobs in the agrarian economy of rural Punjab in the pre green revolution phase. Since cultivation required the services of the Dalits in its various operations, it was not feasible to strictly follow the system of untouchability based on the principle of purity-pollution. It does not mean that the Dalits were not discriminated in Punjab. They were very much discriminated. However, the context of their discrimination was different from that of the many other parts of India. The practice untouchability in Punjab was based the scheme of keeping the Dalits bereft of land ownership and political power in the state. Dalits were forced to confine to their lowest status in the villages of Punjab lest they dare to ask for a share in the power structures (Puri 2003: 2698). In other words, despite the absence of the purity-pollution syndrome, the presence of the deep asymmetrical structure of power in the agrarian village economy of Punjab has subordinated the Dalits to the land-owning upper castes (Jodhka 2002: 1815). The villages in Punjab like the rest of the country are divided

into upper caste and Dalit settlements. Dalit settlements are located, invariably, on the side towards which the dirt of the village flowed. Dalits were not allowed to build pucca (concrete) houses because the land on which they lived did not belong to them. In the villages, Dalits were often involved in the unclean occupations - carrying and skinning dead animals, scavenging and working as attached laborer Siris. Now a day, such type of work, is performed on non-jajmani basis. In Malwa region, there are many Dalits who still have been working as Siris. According to a latest study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had dalits working as Siris (Jodhka 2002: 1816). Another study found six Jats working as Siris with other Jats in a village in the district of Sangrur (Singh 2001:3). However, the situation is entirely different in the Doaba region of Punjab where the majority of the Dalits have dissociated themselves from such types of menial works. Although Dalit had interaction with Jat-Sikhs, being agricultural laborers and siris, they used to keep their own tumblers and plates to take meals or tea or water from the upper caste Sikhs. The upper castes Sikhs are a separate identity and like the upper caste Hindus they also follow the ideology of a graded human society. The Sikhs may take food with the Dalit-Sikhs in Gurdwaras, but they have no bond of fraternity with them (Singh 2002:333). To quote Singh again, the impact of Hinduism and caste is visible on the adherence of Guru Nanak and they monopolized Sikhism and could not accord an equal social status to the lower caste Sikhs in Punjab (Ibid.). Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their counterparts in the Hindu religion. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation

grounds in the Shamlaat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. In such a recent case the dominant caste persons of the village Todder Majra of the Mohali district of Punjab grabbed the cremation ground land of the Dalits in the village (Desh Sevak, 2 January 2005). This shows that the social position of the Dalit Sikhs in Punjab is no better than that of other dalits in elsewhere within Hinduism in the country (Ibid: 334). Dalits Sikhs did not get equal treatment in the Gurdwaras of the upper caste Sikhs. Mazhabis were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities (Pratap Singh 1933: 146-47, 156-57 cited in Puri 2003: 2697). Dalit Sikhs were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and the members of the four-fold varnas were instructed not to mix with them (Oberoi cited in Ibid). Evidence of untouchability against the dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of Gurmatas (resolutions) adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee from 1926-1933 (Ibid.). Although removal of untouchability figured in the Singh Sabha movement, no strenuous effort was made in that direction. It was not surprising. For the Jats, who composed 70 % of the Akalis, and other high castes, caste equality or removal of untouchability was contrary to their disposition for social domination and hierarchy (Ibid.). This has forced the dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras, which in turn has further led to the strengthening of the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs8 (Ibid: 2700; Jodhka 2002: 1818; Muktsar 1999 and 2003). Moreover the observance of caste prejudices against the dalit Sikhs has compelled them to search for alternative cultural spaces in a large

number of deras, sects, and dargahs of Muslim Pirs and other saints (Puri 2003: 2700). However, for the last few decades the Dalits of Punjab have discovered the right remedy to cure their wounded psyche in the famous Dera Sant Sarwan Dass situated at village Ballan in the Jalandhar district of Doaba Punjab (Rajshekar 2004:3). This Dera, popularly known as Dera Ballan, has become a paragon of Ravidass movement in Northwest India. It has been playing a leading role in promoting cultural transformation and generating social consciousness among the Dalit of the region. The dera has a library on its premises, publishes a tri-lingual weekly, distributes free Dalit literature, honors Dalit scholars, runs a model school, and a hospital for the service and upliftment of the downtrodden. It made concerted efforts for the construction of a separate Dalit identity. The saints of Ballan developed their own religious symbols, flags, prayers, dress, salutations and rituals of worship. Of all the major contributions that the Dera Ballan mad, the construction of a mammoth Temple of Shri Guru Ravidasss Birthplace at Seer Goverdhanpur in the vicinity of Varanasi city is the most significant. This temple has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for the Dalits as the Mecca for Muslims and the Golden Temple for Sikhs. IV Social Exclusion and Violence in Colonial Punjab The Dalits of Punjab faced stiff opposition and became victim of physical violence at the hands of the dominant castes during their struggle for dignity and equality in the colonial period. They were, said an eyewitness, Chased everywhere and hounded out of

bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una(Pawar 1993:77). They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis (Chumber 1986: 51). In Layalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted Shudranand from the dais of the Achhuts (Dalits) public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the Jat-Sikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Sikh Jats had compelled the Achhuts to record themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid: 54-56). In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-i-

Hussain, on the request of Mangoo Ram9 that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had a tough time proving to the Lothian Committee that they were neither Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the Hindus. Likwise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal (Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of Achhut Mandal (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab. According to them the untouchables were the backward class of Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the performance of Shuddhi. Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab. Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to

pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52). Thus Dalits were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights in the colonial period. Social Exclusion and Violence in Contemporary Punjab Atrocities on the Dalits continued even after India became independent. Moreover, the frequency and magnitude of such atrocities increased after the 1960s in the wake of the Green Revolution in Punjab. Over the last few years rarely a day passed when Dalits are spared of a social boycott by the Jats in the villages of the state. After the much-publicised violent conflict in the village Talhan, Punjab has witnessed a large number of similar cases. The pattern of conflicts in all such cases often remained the same. In almost all the conflicts social boycott was imposed on the Dalits who were asserting for equal rights in the structures of power at the village level. Pandori Khajoor village in Hoshiarpur district, village Bhattian Bet in Ludhiana district, Talhan, Meham and Athaula villages in Jalandhar district, Patteraiwal village in Abhor district, Jethumajra and Chahal village in Nawan Shahr district, Aligarh village near Jagraon in Ludhiana district, Domali and Chak Saboo villages in Kapurthala district, Abuul Khurana village near Malout in Mukitsar district, Dallel Singhwala, Kamalpur and Hasanpur villages in Sangrur ard Jhabbar village in district of Mansa are among the most prominent cases of Jat-Dalit conlicts in the state. In the following section Talhan and Meham conflicts are taken up for a brief discussion to analyse the

underlying

causes

of the caste-based

oppression in

the

contemporary Punjab. In both these cases the issue of contention was dispute over the control of local religious sites. In the case of Talhan the Dalits were denied participation in the managing committee of the Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh, whereas in the case of Meham the Dalits were forced to vacate their hold on the Udasi Dera of Baba Khazan Singh. Both of the cases fall in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab. Talhan The Talhan conflict was based on the issue of Dalit representation in the management committee of the Gurdwara Shaheed (martyr) Baba Nihal Singh. The Dalits were denied access to the management committee of this Gurudwara in village Talhan. The Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh was built on the tomb of Baba Nihal Singh, a local carpenter (backward caste) who died while laying Gandd (wooden wheel) at the base of a well. Since Baba Nihal Singh was popular for his expertise and died while working for the public cause in the village, his death was not considered an ordinary event. The fellow village people in the area declared him a shaheed. They constructed a small smadh (tomb) in this memory, at the place where he was cremated. Another smadh was also built nearby in the memory of Harnam Singh, an aide of shaheed Baba Nihal Singh, who for years cared for his smadh. To celebrate the martydom of Baba Nihal Singh, area villagers started organising an annual fair at the smadh. The popularity of shaheed Baba Nihal Singh began to attract a large number of devotees. The devotees brought offerings, mostly in cash. Subsequently, the smadhs were converted into shrines. In due course, another structure a Gurdwara was raised between the smadhs and the

Sikh holy book was also placed there. The whole site, including the two smadhs, thus, turned into Gurdwara. The primary motive behind the conversion of the Smadhs into a Gurdwara was widely seen as an effort to grab the large amount of money received as offerings at the smadhs by the Jats of the village and the adjoining areas. The Jats of Talhan (25%), who control most of the agricultural land in the village and until recently enjoyed unquestioned domination in the social and political life of the village, established their control over this Gurdwara through the office of the Gurdwara management committee. This committee manages a huge annual amount of money, approximately 50 million rupees ($1.1 million), which the Gurdwara receives in offerings from Punjabi diaspora and local devotees (Philip 2003). While there may be a difference of opinion on the exact amount of the offerings, as A. J. Philip has put it, There is an agreement that the coffers in the Gurdwara have been overflowing with cash. Small wonders that anybody who is some body in the village wants to be a member of the Gurdwara management committee (Ibid.). Despite being a majority in the village, the Dalits of Talhan (72%) were kept out of the membership on the Gurdwara management committee. The numerically predominant Dalits, majority of who are landless, have achieved a considerable degree of mobility and autonomy over the last few decades. They have diversified into non-agricultural employment and found employment abroad. Their numerical strength, have also added to their importance in the electoral politics of the village. Consequently, they started vociferously demanding a share in the structures of power at different levels of Punjabi society, which

hitherto have been dominated by the landholding castes, particularly the Jats. These demands for a share in the local power structure led to Jat-Dalit clash in Talhan. The Dalits of Talhan employed every available method to seek entery into the Gurdwara management committee. They requested the Jats of the village to give them their due share in the membership of the committee in accordance to their population in the village. The Jats refused. Then, in 1999, the Dalits approached the local administration and the court of law. But the dispute still remained unresolved. However, the Dalits continued their efforts to acquire the membership in the committee. This ultimately led to a fight between the Jats and the Ad Dharmies in January 2003. Subsequently, the Jats publicly announced a social boycott of the Ad Dharmies. The non-Dalits residents of Talhan were asked to severe their social and economic ties with the Dalits. Jats stopped visiting the shops run by the Dalits in Talhan. They also banned the entry of the Dalits in their fields. They were not allowed to use the fields even for latrines, thus forcing them to defecate in open, by the side of the village roads. To fight against the social boycott and for representation in the committee, the Dalits organized a Dalit Action Committee (DAC) under the leadership of L. R. Balley, a prominent Ambedkarite of the region. The DAC organized sit-ins and hunger strikes in the village and Jalandhar city. Repeated appeals by the DAC to the Punjab government for legal action against the boycotters failed to move the administration (Singh Prabhjot 2003). On 5th June 2003, the conflict took a violent turn. And soon it snowballed into the adjoining areas. Boota Mandi, a suburban of Jalandhar city, became the epicenter of the violence. It was here that an Ad

Dharmi, Vijay Kumar Kala, fell victim to the police firing, an event that suddenly propelled Thalan and Boota Mandi onto the national scene. Talhan and Boota Mandi were virtually converted into a garrison. And the village was sealed off for a couple of days. The pressure of Dalit assertion compelled the government to solve the conflict without further delay, so that it would not turn into a serious political issue with wider implications. Moreover, it also cautioned the government to take necessary steps to prevent the victimization of Dalits in other parts of the state, lest they replicate Talhan. Although the district administration and police controlled the violence, it took the contending parties 18 days to reach a compromise, and another two months for the agreement to come into effect. Eventually the Dalits of Talhan succeeded in securing representation in the Gurudwara management committee. Though Talhan conflict was a case of local Dalit upsurge, it has set a historic precedent in Punjab through Dalit assertion (for more details see Ram 2004b: 906-12). Meham Meham conflict is another case of recent Jat-Dalit

confrontation, and a vindication of the existence of the institution of caste in Punjab. The village Meham has total population of 1967 out of which 893 (45%) belong to the Dalits. Most of the Dalits belong to the Balmiki caste. The Ad Dharmi, another Dalit caste, constitutes 20 percent of the total population (Judge 2006:14). The Sikh Jats are also about 20 percent of the total population of the village. Jats, Balmikies and the Ad Dharmies each have their own Gurdwaras. In fact the Jats have two Gurdwaras. The Baba Khazan Singh Udasi

Dera (the cite of dispute) is the fifth shrine in Meham. As has been the case in majority of the villages in the Doaba subregion of Punjab, the Dalits in Meham have also diversified into various non-cultivation professions. This has not only helped them abandoned their customary caste based

occupations but also liberated them from the dependence on the lands of the Jats. However, despite the fact of the Dalits dissociation from their hereditary professions and their distancing from the agriculture they failed to raise their social status in the eyes of the Jats. This has led to tensions between them. Though the context of the Meham conflict is different from that of the Talhan, the patterns and forms of the oppression of the Dalits are same in both of the cases. In Talhan, the Jats denied entry to the Dalits in the management of the Gurudwara. Whereas in Meham, the Sikh Jats forcebly took over the control of the Baba Khazan Singh Udasi Dera that was being looked after by the Ad Dharmies of the village for the last six decades. They replaced all the Udasi symbols with that of the Khalsa, and also objected to the offerings of liquor and the distribution of the same as a prasad among the devotees at the Dera as it violates the Sikh code of conduct. The Ad Dharmi retorted back by saying that the tradition of offering liquor at the smadh in the Dera is in no way violate the Sikh code of conduct as the Dera was never a site of Sikhism. They reiterated that the issue of Sikh code of conduct entered into the Dera in 2003 when the Sikh Jats of the village placed Guru Granth Sahib on the premises of the Dera. Moreover, the presence of the mazaars (graves) in the precincts of the Dera ruled out the

possibility of its being a Gurudwara. In the Talhan conflict, Dalits also raised the same argument over the dispute of the grave of Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. Another reason of the Jats control of the Dera could be the rising cost of the land in the state and the tremendous increase in the donations and offerings at the Dera over the last few years due to massive emigration of the Punjabis from the Doaba sub-region to Europe, North America and the Gulf (Kali 2003). However, unlike in Talhan, the timely intervention of the police brought the Meham conflict under the control and the dispute is referred to the court. For the time being the Dera is placed under a government receiver who has been assigned the task of the management of the shrine. The conflicts in Talhan and Meham reflect the underlying layers of tensions between the hitherto all powerful and dominant Jats, and the newly emerged economically independent class of the Dalits. Whatever be the causes of these conflicts, it is clear that the Dalits in Punjab, especially in Doaba, had achieved a state of consciousness to assert for their rights. In contrast, the Sikh Jats, who have thrived amid the meek silence of the Dalits, are finding it difficult to grapple with the surging Dalit consciousness. Given the rising level of social consciousness among the Dalits, the dominant castes are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to ignore their demands for a share in the socio-economic structures of power at the local level. Conclusion What I have attempted to argue in this article is that contrary to the popular view of the casteless character of the Sikh society in Punjab, caste discriminations are very much part of its social set

up. However, what distinguished them from that of the other parts of India is their indifference to the purity-pollution syndrome. Instead, landlessness and the preponderance of Jat cultural patterns prove to be the fundamental cause of the discrimination and the oppression of the Dalits in the state. In Punjab, Sikh Jats constitute dominant caste. Their domination, however, is not rooted in the graded system of caste hierarchy. They became dominant because of their hold over the land, and their numerical preponderance in Sikh religion coupled with their martial nature. Dalits in Punjab, for various historical reasons, were deprived of land, and their entry into Sikhism could not relieve them of the taint of their lower status. Their landlessness, obviously, made them subservient to the land owning castes, majority of which happen to be Sikh Jats. However, the improved economic condition of the Dalits coupled with their rising social and political consciousness over the years has led to sharpening of contradiction between them and the Jats in Punjab, especially in its Doaba sub-region. In fact, Punjab has entered into a volatile situation wherein Jats and Dalits have entangled themselves in a whirlpool of old mindsets versus rising social consciousness. This in turn has resulted into a series of violent JatDalit clashes in the state. What weaves the Jat-Dalit conflicts in Punjab together despite the difference in the issues and the locations of occurrences are the similarities of the nature and the pattern of their emergence. They invariably involve demands of Dalits for a respectable social space in the socio-political structures of power in the villages of Punjab commensurate to their improved economic conditions. Such moves of the marginals find staunch critics among the Jats who often view Dalit assertion as a form of

challenge to their dominant status in the village society. Despite the fact that agriculture has ceased to exist as a profitable profession for the last few years, land is still considered as the most essential status symbol in rural Punjab. Though many dalits have benefited from constitutional affirmative action, spread of education, social welfare measures and ventures abroad, a vast majority of them still are landless, very poor and vulnerable. While many dalits have abandoned their caste-based occupations and have also distanced themselves from the employment in the agricultural fields, their social status in the rural economy remained marginal, precisely because of their landlessness. In rural Punjab, land determined social status. It is a fact. Dalits did not own land, is another fact. It is also a fact, that dalits have achieved a significant awareness and political consciousness over the last seven decades in the history of Dalit mobilization in Punjab. Now, they cannot be coerced any more to remain confined to the periphery. The contradiction between old mindsets based on proclivities of caste prestige and honor, and the emerging Dalit consciousness for equal share in the power structures of the rural society is fast becoming a fault line between the Jats and the Dalits of Punjab. The ever-increasing number of caste conflicts in the villages of Punjab is a clear testimony to the emerging dissension between the Jats and the Dalits. Dalits have begun vociferously demanding a share in the structures of power at different levels of Punjabi society, which hitherto have been dominated by the Jats. Given the intensity of this consciousness on the parts of the Dalits, the Jats are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to ignore such Dalit demands without resorting to pressure tactics or force. This, in turn, often led to caste clashes between Jats and Dalits. A manifestation of Dalit assertion, these clashes have sharpened the

issue of Dalit human rights and have emboldened the downtrodden to actively engage themselves in the political process in the state for the realization of these rights. Notes
1

Ad Dharm movement came into existence in 1925. It aimed at

emancipation of the Dalits and their empowerment through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration and political assertion. It was the first movement of its kind in North India that brought together the downtrodden to fight for their cause. It laid the foundation of Dalit consciousness and assertion in Punjab. Mark Juergensmeyers seminal work is the pioneer study of this movement (Juergensmeyer 1988; see also Ram 2004).
2

According to a recent study, the number of such Deras has

exceeded one hundred in Punjab (Qadian 2003). Since the publication of this study many more Ravidass Deras have been established in the state. In the year 2005 alone, the saints of Ballan have laid down the foundation stones of12 Ravidass Deras (calculated from the Begumpura Shaher [Jalandhar] weekly).
3

The Ad Dharm movement helped forge unity among the different

Dalit castes in the state by bringing them together into the fold of Ad Dharm (an ancient and indigenous religion of the natives of India). This movement specifically focused on the ethnification of Dalit identity in the region than on treading the path of Sanskritization to move up the caste hierarchy, as was the case with the Adi Hindu movement (Jaffrelot 2003:149; and Chandra 1999:159). The Ravidass Deras provided the Dalits of Punjab the much-needed cultural space to connect them to their lost cultural heritage. These Deras also provided them the bare minimum of the

infrastructure that required for the ethnification of their newly conceived Dalit Punjab.
4

cultural space. All these efforts helped

significantly in the generation of the Dalit consciousness in

However, the main concern of these movements was to transform

the attitudes of the individuals rather than striking hard on the asymmetrical structures of the society (Grewal 1994: 116). The socio-religious movements had never taken up the issue of disproportionate landholdings that has been the crucial cause of social inequalities and economic deprivations of the Dalits in the state. Whatever small impact the saints and the socio-religious movements were able to bring in the minds of the people faded away with the passage of time.
5

Social boycotts, a form of social exclusion, involve a ban on the

entry of the Dalits in the fields /agricultural lands of the Jats. Social boycott involves severe deprivations of the landless Dalits who are dependent on the lands of the Jats for fuel, fodder and even to answer the call of the nature. The Jat landowners used to employ social boycott, during the wheat harvesting seasons in the early 1970s, as a weapon of suppression against the landless agricultural laborers who demanded hike in their wages. Nowadays, it is being used in the villages of Punjab by the Jats against the agitating Dalits who ask for equal participation in the formal and informal institutions of power at the local level. In the words of Judge, It is the means to remind them that despite their improved conditions, they continue to be low caste (Judge 2006:12).
6

The rise of militancy in Sikhism in the sixteenth century was

generally attributed to the martial nature of the Jats (Habib 1996:100; see also McLeod 1996:12) The ranks and leadership of the Khalsa from this period onwards were deeply predominated by the Jats so much so that the history of the Sikh religion that follows came to be known as the history of the Jat section of the Sikh community (Pettigrew 1978:26). For counter arguments on this theme see: Singh (ed.) 1986, especially the sixth part; and Singh 1985). In the rural areas of Punjab, one often heard a Jat saying that he would survive even if cut half when suggested to take medicine in case of sickness.
7

In Islam Chamars are known as Mochies, and Chuhras are called

Musallis and Kutanas. In Christianity Chuhras are named Massihs or Isais. Some of the Chamars who joined Arya Samaj came to be known as Chaudhary and Mahashas (Judge 2006: 6).
8

Dalits have separate Gurdwaras in about 10,000 villages out of a

total of 12, 780 villages in Punjab (Dalit Voice, Vol. 22, No. 17 September 1-15, 2003, p. 20). A survey of 116 villages in one Tehsil of Amritsar district showed that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in 68 villages (Puri 2003: 2700). Yet another fieldstudy of 51 villages selected from the three sub-regions of Punjab found that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in as many as 41 villages (Jodhka 2002:1818); see also Muktsar 1999; and Muktsar 2003: 21-22.
9

Mangoo Ram (18861980) was one of the founders of Ad Dharm

movement. Born in a Chamar family, in village Mugowal, Dist. Hoshiarpur, Punjab, he immigrated to America (1909) where he came in close contact with the Gadhar Party (a militant nationalist organization). After his return in 1925, he organized Scheduled

Castes in Punjab against the system of untouchability. During the Roundtable Conferences in London (1930-32) he sent telegrams in support for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as the leader of the untouchables in India instead of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1946, he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and remained in legislature till 1952. On 15 August 1972, Prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi honored him with a Tamra Patra and pension (Rs 200 per month) for the services he rendered in the Gadhar Party for Indias freedom. References Ahir, D.C. (1992). Dr. Ambedkar and Punjab. Delhi: B.R. Publications. Ambedkar, B.R. (1995). Annihilation of Caste. Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika. 3rd Edn. Bakshi, Ram Pandit. (n.d.). Mera Jiwan Sangharsh (Punjabi). Punjab Pradesh Balmik Sabha. Chandra, Kanchan. (1999). Post-Congress Politics in Uttar Pradesh: The Ethnification of the Party System and its Consequences, in Ramashray Roy and Paul Wallace (eds.), Indian Politics and the 1998 Election: Regionalism, Hindutva, and State Politics. New Delhi: Sage. Chumber, C. L. (1986). Interview with the Editor of Adi-Danka (in Punjabi). Kaumi Udarian, Vol. 1, No. 2. January, pp. 49-52. Deep, Dalip Singh (2001). Sadhan Main Ravidass Sant: Jiwan Ate Vichar (Sant Ravidass among the Saints: Life and Thought).

Patiala: Punjabi University. Desh Sevak (Chandigarh), Panjabi Daily. Gosal, R. P. S. (2004). Distribution and Relative Concentration of Scheduled Caste Population in Punjab, in Harish. K. Puri (ed.), Dalits in Regional Context. New Delhi: Rawat. Grewal, J. S. (1944). The Sikhs of Punjab. New Cambridge University of India.New Delhi: Foundation Books. Habib, Irfan. (1996). Jatts of Punjab and Sind, in Harbans Singh and N. Gerald Barrier (eds.), Punjab Past and Present: Essays in Honour of Dr Ganda Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University. Hindu (Madras), National Daily. Ibbetson, Sir Denzil. (1970, rpt. 1883). Punjab Castes. Punjab: Languages Department Punjab. Jaffrelot, Christophe. (2003). Indias Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low Castes in North India. Delhi: Permanent Black. Jodhka, Surinder S. (2006). The Problem, Seminar 567 (ReImagining Punjab), November, pp.12-16. --------------------- (2002). Caste and Untouchability In Rural Punjab. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 37, No. 19, May 1117, pp. 1813-1823. ______________. (2003). Caste, Occupation divide gets sharper in Punjab: Agrarian Technology has Reshaped Social Relations, The Tribune, July 18.

___________ And Louis Prakash. (2003). Caste Tensions in Punjab: Talhan and Beyond, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 38, No. 28, July 12-18, pp. 2923-26. Judge, P. S.(2006). Dalit Assertion in Punjab: Examining New Trends and Emerging Dilemmas, paper presented in a seminar Conditions of Marginal Groups in India organized by the Centre for Social Studies, Surat, 5-6 July. Juergensmeyer, Mark. (1988). Religious Rebels in the Punjab: The Social Vision of Untouchables. Delhi: Ajanta. _______. (2000). Ad Dharm Movement, in Harish K. Puri and Parmjit S. Judge (eds.), Social and Political Movements: Readings on Punjab. Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat. Kali, Des Raj. (2003). Nurmahal Vich VI Talhan Bannan di Udeek Kar riha Parshashan (Administration is waiting for a Talhan like situation to emerge in Nurmahal), Rozana Nawan Zamana (Jalandhar), August 29. Kaur, Ravinder. (1986). Jat Sikhs: A Question of Identity, Contributions to Indian Sociology (n.s.), Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 22139. Mcleod, W.H. (1996). The Evolution of Sikh Community.Delhi: Oxford University Press. _________. (1986). Punjabis in New Zealand: A History of Punjab Migration 1890-1940. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University. Muktsar, Gurnam Singh. (1999). Every Jati has separate Gurdwara Even as Sikhs are Busy with Khalsa Fete, Dalit Voice,

June 16-30. _______________. (2003). Sikhs Divided into 3 Warring Camps: Upper Castes, Jats and Dalits, Dalit Voice, August 1-15, pp. 2122. Palshikar, Suhas. (2004). Revisiting State Level Politics, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, Nos. 14-15, pp. 1477-80. Pawar, I.D. (1993). My Struggle in Life. Chandigarh: Author Publisher. 3rd. edn. Pettigrew, Joyce. (1978). Robber Noblemen: A Study of the Political System of the Sikh Jats. New Delhi: Ambika Publications. Philip, A.J. (2003). All in the Name of Almighty: The Caste Divide at Talhan, the Tribune. Piplanwala, Babu Hazara Ram. (1986). Lothian Committee and Ad Dharm Mandal. Kaumi Udarian. Vol. 1, No. 2, January, pp. 10-15. Puri, Harish K. (2003). Scheduled Castes in Sikh Community: A Historical Perspective. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.38, No. 26, June 28-July 4, pp. 2693-2701. .(2004). Introduction, in his Dalits in Regional Context. Jaipur: New Delhi. (2004a). Dalits of Punjab, International Newsletter (Waterford, CT.), Vol.9, No. 1, February, pp.1&9-11. Rajshekar, V. T. (2004). A Silent Socio-cultural Revolution Sweeps Punjab: Ravidass Saints Gain Millions of Followers,

Dalit Voice (Bangalore), Vol. 23, No. 13, July 1-15, pp.3-5. Ram, Ronki (2004). Untouchability, Dalit Consciousness, and the Ad Dharm Movement in Punjab, Contributions to Indian Sociology (NS), Vol. 38, No. 3, September-December, pp. 323-49. (2004a). The Dalit Sikhs, Dalit International Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 3, October, pp.5-7. (2004b). Untouchability in India with a Difference: Ad Dharm, Dalit Assertion, and Caste Conflicts in Punjab, Asian Survey, Vol. XLIV, No. 6, November/December, pp. 895-912. Saberwal, Satish. (1976). Mobile Men: Limits to Social Change in Urban Punjab. New Delhi: Vikas. ______. (1973). Receding Pollution: Intercaste Relations in Urban Punjab, Sociological Bulletin. Vol. 22, No.3, September, pp. 234-59. Sain, Chattar. (1985). Ghadri Taun Ad Dharmi: Babu Mangoo Ram Ji Mugowalia (Punjabi).Souvenir. 1985: Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary. New Delhi: 41. Kundan Nagar. pp. 35-37. Sharma, Reeta. (2003). Flames of Caste, The Tribune, June 21. Singh, Balwant. (2002).The Suffering People. Saharanpur: Ambedkar Mission Publication. Singh, Gurdev [Ed.]. (1986). Perspectives on the Sikh Tradition. Patiala: Siddharth Publications. Singh, Jagjit. (1985). Perspectives on Sikh Studies. NewDelhi:

Guru Nank Foundation. Singh, Khushwant. (1953).The Sikhs. London: George Allen Unwin. Singh, Indera Pal Singh. (1977). Caste in a Sikh Village, in Harjinder Singh (Ed.), Caste among Non-Hindus in India. Delhi: National Publishing House. Singh, Manjit. (2001). Economic Change and Dalit Identity in Rural Punjab: A Note, Paper presented at the Seminar on Liberalisation, Dalits and the State, organized by the Department of Sociology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, May 3-4. (2005), Introductory Remarks, Circulated at the National Seminar on Future of Rural Development in the North West India, organized by the Department of Sociology, Panjab University Chandigarh, February 24-25. Singh, Prabhjot. (2003). Mazaar That Sparked Violence, The Tribune, June 10. Tandon, P. (1961). Punjabi Centuary (1857-1947). New York: Harcourt, Brace and World. Thorat, Sukhadeo. (2006). Paying the Social Debt, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLI, No. 24, June 17-23, pp.24322435. Verma, Archana B. (2002). The Making of Little Punjab in Canada: Patterns of Immigration. New Delhi: Sage. . Virdi, S. L. (2003). Bharat De Dalitan Di Asseem Dastan Da

Dastavej (Punjabi), Begum Pura Shaher, August 11. pp. 2-11. _____. (2003a).Punjab Che Zimindaran Atey Dalitan Vichkar Takrar Dalit Chetna Da Prateek (Punjabi), Begum Pura Shaher, August 18, pp. 6-7. Yadav, Y. (1999). Electoral politics in the Time of Change: Indias Third Electoral System, 1989-99, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35, Nos. 34-35, August 21-27/28-September 3, pp.2393-99. Thi is very special article by Dr. Ronki Ram for

www.ambedkartimes.com on its successfully completion of one year. (September 1st, 2007) LAL SINGH DIL IS NO MORE

LAL

SINGH

DIL

(APRIL 11,1943 - AUGUST 14, 2007) Lal Singh Dil, Radical Dalit poet, left an indelible mark on the ongoing struggle for equality, social justice and freedom. Dil bade us all adieu at DMC hospital, Ludhiana, where he took his last breath at 8 p.m. on 14 August 2007. Dil was born on 11 April 1943 at his maternal village. After doing his matric from Samrala, he studied for a year at A.S. College; Khana. He also did Junior Basic Training for two years. However, the hard economic conditions did not allow him to continue his studies. Though he was forced to discontinue the study formally, he did not cease to read his surroundings. He kept on reflecting on the exploitative system till his last moment. The method that he chooses for his analysis as well as struggle was poetry. He was one of the most popular and serious poets of the Naxal Movement in Punjab of the late 1960s. He was in the forefront of the Naxal Lehar and fell victim to inhuman torture during his arrest in 1969. He remained in jail for a long period of time. It was during his imprisonment that his first collection of radical poetry published in 1971 entitled Satlej De Hawa". His poetry immediately became an icon of the revolutionary struggle in Punjab as well as of the sorrows and sufferings of the poors and Dalits in the state. After his release from the jail he went underground where he spent about 15 years of his active life. He did all sorts of labour to keep his struggle going on. He did not ask any help from any quarter and gave much to the society. He kept on writing and penned two more books: "Buhat Saren Suraj" (1982), "Sathar"

(1997) and an autobiography "Dastan". His entire poetry is available in Nag Loke" collection. Dil was a very fine comrade. He never liked to receive fame. He was happy to work incognito. He used to often present in many of the progressive programmes in different parts of the state, but no one had found him ever making any effort to make his presence felt. He believed in action rather in self propagation. He did never complained of about his personal concerns. He was a reticent but full of burning volcano within. He wanted to see radical transformation taking place in his very life time and an end to the sufferings of the poors and the Dalits. Let us all resolve to continue his struggle till the goal is achieved that will be the right tribute to the departed spirit. Ronki (INDIA). POSTED ON AUGUST 15, 2007 Ram (Dr.),

Dept. of Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Dr. Ronki Ram has finished this knowledgeable article "Capital Versus and Labour: Crisis for of

Globalisation, Governance" years.

Marginalised

after

reasearching

three

www.ambedkartimes.com Thanks to Dr. Sahib and very proud of him. CAPITAL VERSUS LABOUR: GLOBALISATION, GOVERNANCE MARGINALISED AND CRISIS OF

Dr. DEPARTMENT PUNJAB OF

Ronki POLITICAL

Ram SCIENCE CHANDIGARH

UNIVERSITY,

ronkiram@yahoo.co.in The process of globalisation essentially operates in the asymmetrical real world fragmented into developed and developing regions/states; core and periphery; rich and poor people; and privileged and the marginalized groups. Given such a wide range of heterogeneities, its impact on all of them could not be uniform. The impact of the process of globalisation is generally perceived as inversely proportional to ones placement in the socio-economic scale. This study attempts to explore how and in what way the process of globalisation affected the marginalised sections of the society and how it was linked with the crisis of governance. Globalisation is one of the few concepts in social sciences, which has suddenly acquired a vast currency in almost all of its disciplines. It has led to the creation of a large body of literature encompassing varied definitions, interpretations, and explanations. The term globalisation has been employed to refer to different

processes, structures, interactive networks, rhetoric, and discourses. Each one of these perspectives has further been categorised into a large number of issue areas with specific set of rules, norms and episteme. Such a plethora of varied contents of globalisation, and its multi-dimensional connotations, has produced enormous shades of meanings with an equally wide range of contexts (Rangarajan 2003). The present study is confined to one such context. That context refers to pro capital and anti labour postulates of the process of globalisation. This paper also intends to highlight that as a process, globalisation is a continuation of a system of capital accumulation and exploitation that started with the onset of imperialism (from about 1870 to 1914, for details see Abdelal and Segal 2007; Patnaik 2004). Furthermore, although globalisation had become the defining feature of the international economy at the beginning of the 21st century, it remains considerably less globalised and integrated in comparison with that of the pre-1914 era (Gilpin 2001:3; see also ORourke and Williamson 2000; McGrew 2005:216). However, this aspect of the phenomenon of the process of globalisation is often left untouched and its current pattern is significantly exaggerated and thereby fundamentally misrepresented because globalists fail to locate it in its proper historical context (McGrew 2005:216; see also Hoogvelt 2001). However, it should not be construed that the contemporary literature on the process of globalisation contains nothing essentially new. What makes a major difference between the age of imperialism and that of the process of globalisation is the pace of speed with which the events have been taking place in them (Rangarajan 2003). Recent developments in the field of communication infrastructures, informatics technology and transportation have restructured the equation of time and space to

the extant that local now remains no longer local (Pauly 2005: 176-203). As Anthony McGrew observes, Although, geography still matters it is nevertheless the case that globalisation is associated with a process of time-space compression literally a shrinking world in which the sources of even very localised economic developments, from price rises to corporate restructuring, may be traced to economic conditions on another continent (McGrew 2005:210 emphasis in original). The shrinking of the world, and the recasting of geography, have become possible with the tremendous rise in the magnitude of the speed with which the events have been unfolding in the contemporary world that would have been unimaginable only a 100 years ago (Armstrong 1998: 466). The study speculates that the pace of the speed varies in its impact -ranging from capital to labour -- and has something to do with the heightened level of exploitation of the marginalised. Globalisation, Dalits and the State The central theme of the paper focuses on how the process of globalisation has affected the lives of the marginalised, who had, hitherto, been looking forward towards the State for some support to stand on their own feet. Since the very logic of globalisation is based on the idea that the welfare state is a hindrance in the way of the global market, it is presumed that the marginalised need not be supported by the state at all as they used to be earlier. This has further deepened marginalisation and exclusion of the marginal groups and communities that were traditionally vulnerable and excluded (Rangarajan 2003). The rapid pace of transformation in the context of the market forces in the contemporary world has not only heightened the exploitation of the marginalised, but also severely limited the possibilities of their emancipation. Globalisation may have opened up enormous opportunities but one has to map the

emphasis on the opportunities. In fact, in the asymmetrical world in which we live, such opportunities open many doors for the haves by further marginalising the interests of the have nots. The global disparity obtains between countries and regions gets translated into classes and categories within them. Indeed, it is reflected at the individual level too (Oommen 1999). Capital and the Marginalised In this way, the process of globalisation has favoured the capital and, ignored with impunity, the labour. In comparison to the ultra mobile capital, labour flows are stagnant, geographically extensive and reflect an almost mirror image of capital flows insofar as they become primarily South to North (McGrew 2005:216; see also Held et al. 1999; Castles and Miller 2002; Chiswick and Hatton 2003). For instance, in the 1970s and 1980s, the outflow of labour from India was primarily confined to the Middle East countries, and in the early 20th century to the then emerging new colonies of the erstwhile British Empire under the rules of the indentured labour laws. In the opinion of Chiswick and Hatton, the outward mobility of labour primarily emanated from the developing countries only (Chiswick and Hatton 2003:74). Even from these countries it is the skilled labour that moves more frequently from South to North as against the unskilled. As far as the unskilled labour is concerned, it remains immobile and stagnant. Although, the pontiffs of the fast expanding caravan of globalisation are over optimistic about the emergence of integrated distance labour markets and the consequent birth of the common wage rates the world over, especially in the sector of the skilled labour, there is no general consensus about the equity of flows between capital and labour (McGrew 2005:216; Silver 2003; Galbraith 2002; Firebaugh 2003; Lindert and Williamson 2003). The opportunities

for the poor, socially excluded, tribal people, women, disabled and other vulnerable groups have shrunk and marginalisation of certain sections among these groups has been intensified through the process of Special Economic Zones and arbitrarily deprivation of land and displacement. The destruction of Mcdonalds, which was under construction in rural southwest France in August 1999, under the poster child fame leadership of Jose Bove, and the recent incidences of violence on the poor peasants at Nandigram in India, vividly highlight the fast emerging contradictions between capital and labour (Birchfield 2005:581-82). 'Marginal' a very loose term has been employed by different scholars to include different communities, individuals and social groups under its rubric. Broadly speaking, it encompasses the deprived sections of the society who have been subjected to social exclusion, economic deprivation and political isolation. It also includes gender, since the women are denied equal opportunities and rights (Bhattacharya [ed] 2004; Sivaraman 2000). In the context of the Indian society, it comprised some of Dalits them (literally, designated grounded/oppressed/broken

constitutionally as Scheduled Castes), tribals (Indias indigenous peoples legally known as Scheduled Tribes), economically deprived groups/individuals (officially termed as Backward Castes), women, disabled and other vulnerable groups. Dalits is the politically correct nomenclature for the ex-untouchables who traditionally have been placed at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste hierarchy and were contemptuously called by different names like Shudras, Atishudras, Achhuts, Antyajas, Chandalas Pariahs, Dheds, Panchamas, Avarnas, Namashudras, Adi-Dravida, Ad Dharmis, Mazhabis, Harijans, Depressed Classes and Scheduled Castes. The Dalit is a broad term that incorporates the Scheduled Castes, the

Scheduled Tribes, and the Backward Castes. However, in the current political discourse, it is mainly confined to the Scheduled Castes and covers only those Dalits who are classified as Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists but excludes Muslim and Christian Dalits (Moliner 2004:2). Dalits v/s Upper Castes Poor In the present paper, the term marginal (marginalised) has been used to refer to the labourers belonging to the categories of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the economically Backward Castes and also the poor upper castes. The marginal belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, economically Backward Castes and the poor upper castes fall in the category of economic deprivation whereas the Scheduled Castes belong to the category of the socially excluded and segregated groups. A labourer along with his being subjected to economic deprivation might be a victim of social exclusion depending on his caste status. The case of a labourer belonging to an upper caste is different from that of the lower caste. In the case of the former he might be economically deprived but in no way socially excluded and segregated, as is the case of those labourers who belong to the Dalit/ Scheduled Castes category of the Hindu social hierarchy. In the case of the Scheduled Castes, it has been found that along with their economic deprivation they have also been suffering invariably from social exclusion. The process of globalisation impacts these different categories differently (Teltumbde 2004: 5). How the process of globalisation influences the caste based social divisions and their consequent economic repercussions is an important theme to be taken up a bit more seriously. The Dalits have been excluded from social, economic and

political rights including the right to education and employment, other than the traditional forced and customary undignified labour, precisely because of their birth in the untouchable castes. They also suffered from social exclusion because of their geographical segregation. They were forced to live on the outskirts of the villages towards which the wind blew and sewage flowed. Their houses were dirty, dingy, dark, and unhygienic where poverty and squalor loomed large (for a detailed description see Madhopuri 2004). Until 1990, there had been some improvements in the lives of the Dalits in terms of education and employment opportunities, increase in wages, fall in poverty, access to land, water, health, education, housing and other resources owing to the States affirmative action. However, the trend was reverted and sidelined with the onset of the economic reforms under the process of globalisation. The economic policy in India has undergone a major transformation since the beginning of the early 1990s, under the paradigm of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation. One of the main concerns of this new paradigm is to facilitate the process of the roll back of the welfare State and prepare the space for the operation of the unrestrained market forces and open international trade. This promarket and capital stance of the process of economic globalisation has led to the widening of the gap between the privileged few and the large mass of the marginalised, and among them the Dalit labourers, daily wage workers and workers in the informal sector suffer the most. It is pertinent to quote in this context Harish K. Puri, In fact the process of development tended to further marginalize some categories of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Judged by even the government statistics on all parameters of jobs, literacy, access to drinking water,

medical facilities, housing and even cremation of the dead, this vast segment of Indian people remained abysmally deprived and oppressed (Puri 2006:10). It has led to discontentment and disillusionment among the marginalised people of the society to who the main slogan of the World Social Forum Another World is Possible appeals the most, perhaps because they feel that it opens up the perspective of a world without exploitation and exclusion (A Report from Mumbai Resistance 2004 and the World Social Forum: 6; see also Asia Gears up against Globalisation: 1-2). World Social Forum aims at not only building up a movement against the exclusion of the poor and the powerless from the mainstream political system, it also lobby for their inclusion (Green and Griffith 2002:54; see also Varadarajan 2006). Although, both the Scheduled Caste and the non-Scheduled Caste labourers have been relegated to the periphery by the forces of the market in the process of globalisation, it did not affect them uniformly. In fact, the process of globalisation has never been uniform in its effects across all regions or economies. Since globalisation is an uneven process, it generates a distinctive geography of inclusion and exclusion such that the notion of a worldwide or global economy is less geographically inclusive than that of a planetary or universal economy (McGrew 2005:210). The way the process of globalisation affects the life of a Scheduled Caste worker differs significantly from that of the non-Scheduled Caste one. In a caste-based society, social rank plays an important role in determining one's economic status. In a system of graded social hierarchy, lower social status and economic backwardness seems to be coterminous.

The process of globalisation has further aggravated this vicious equation of social and economic backwardness. The logic of economic globalisation favours the rich, who can invest and multiply capital. Such favoured rich are mostly found among the socalled traditional upper castes who have monopolised land and other economic sources in the country. It has made them prominent in the newly carved out vast private space of the open market. In other words, it has led to an alliance between the forces of the market and the upper castes -- much to the disadvantage of the marginal and the lower castes. Since the implementation of the new economic reforms, the numbers of jobs have been reduced in the public sector. This, in turn, has led to an increase in unemployment and poverty. The increase in unemployment among the Dalits is most discernible in relation to the constitutional space that signifies their current mode of existence. This space basically comprise (sic) the provision of reservations in the state-aided educational institutions and in the employment of government and public sector companies. Despite the dismal record of their implementation, there is no doubt that these provision (sic) have played a crucial role in the advancement and progress of dalits. Globalisation has variously constrained this space without affecting any change in the constitution (Teltumbde 2004:5). In the first decade of the new economic reforms in India, the ratio of both unemployment and poverty increased from 28 per cent in 1989 to 48 per cent in 1992. Since Dalits constitute the bulk of the poor and unemployed, they have suffered most (Jogdand 2002). Their chances of acquiring jobs in the high-tech industry at home as well as in the multinational corporations have been getting curtailed since the beginning of the process of globalisation in India. The system of primary and elementary education in the rural and urban settings has

been subverted almost totally. Since, majority of the rich upper caste send their wards to the private/convent/public schools, government schools have been reduced into dysfunctional centres of learning for the poor Dalits. It is simply out of the reach of the matriculates of such neglected government schools, where hardly any infrastructure and teachers are available, to be able to compete for admission in the countrys prestigious Information Technology (IT) or management schools. Moreover, since the background of a majority of Dalit undergraduates is in Arts and Humanities, it becomes difficult for them to meet the job requirements of the multinational corporations. Even if some of the Dalits aspire to compete in the technology driven new job market, it would be, perhaps, out of their reach to acquire the requisite qualifications at exorbitant rates from the various engineering and management institutes. The increasing cost of education on the one hand and drying up of the motivation for education because of no-job prospects created by globalisation on the other is fast proving the reservation in education meaningless (Teltumbde 2004:5). Moreover, another way through which the process of globalization has been affecting the lives of the Dalits rather more severely is the transformation of their traditional hereditary occupations into lucrative profit seeking competitive avenues where they find themselves incapable of competing with the so called upper castes who until very recently used to consider such professions as polluting (Kumar 2002: 81-82). In other words, when the occupations of sewage disposal, scavenging and raw hides were performed in the Jajmani (hereditary system of asymmetrical reciprocity and patronage between landlords and occupational experts) set up bereft of profit incentive, Dalits were condemned and forced to take them up. But when the same occupations became

profit-generating businesses, Dalits find themselves at odd in their own tested fields. It is in this context that the process of globalization perpetuates the system of caste and inequality albeit in a new form. Instead of liberating them, it further pins them down. Earlier they were excluded and were condemned as shudras because of their closeness to the sewages, now it excludes them by way of defeating them in the profit oriented open market system of the neoliberal economy. In fact, this market is open only for those who have the capital to play the profit game on the chessboard of its unrestrained competition. In this new profit driven game of the process of globalization, Dalits normally starved of capital stand disqualified. Yet another way through which the process of globalization severely affects the lives of the Dalits is the accentuation of the phenomenon of their exclusion from land. Significant parts of the vast majority of them who live in villages are landless labourers. Only a small number of them are cultivators with marginal holdings (Teltumbde 2004:5). The large-scale landlessness on the part of the Dalits led to their dependence on the upper caste land owning communities, which in turn further deepened the caste based inequalities with the burden of asymmetrical class structures. The neo-liberal economic policies adopted under the regimes of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation widen the already existing caste and class divisions between the Dalits and the dominant castes. As Harish K Puri argues, The most worrying issue now related to the economic future of the lower castes and lower class people in the context of the ruling ideas and forces of neoliberalism because it spelled a virtual paradigm shift. The states welfare role of positive intervention, which was the

mainstay of Nehruvian and Ambedkarite framework, had given way to market rationality (Puri 2006:11). In fact, the forces of neo-liberal economy have not only scuttled the post-1945 Keynesianism or social democratic agenda of state social welfare, they also substituted it with corporate farming to cater to the requirements of the global market, and Special Economic Zones to serve the purpose of the mega commercial centers under the control of the privileged few. Thus to put the above discussion succinctly, it can be said that the contemporary process of globalisation severely deprives the Dalits of the advantages of the new opportunities made available in the realm of capital and precludes the benefits of the hard earned constitutional affirmative action. However, it does not mean that poverty is found only in the developing countries and among them within the lower strata of the society. Poverty also afflicts those who live in the developed world and also those who enjoy higher social status in the developing world. To quote Dipak Basu, In the United States, about 12 million people are homeless, one third of the people cannot afford primary health care, 20 per cent of the people are below poverty line, about 23 per cent of the people are illiterate with no security of either job or of life (Basu 2002). However, it makes a lot of difference to be a poor and at the same living in a developing world and also belonging to a low caste. For instance, in Punjab, a poor Scheduled Caste landless agricultural labourer is distinguished from a poor but dominant caste landless agricultural labourer (landless peasant labourer) by the fact that he, along with his being economically deprived, also suffers from social exclusion. In the case of a Scheduled Caste landless agricultural worker, his being deprived of land is to a large extent related with his social rank. This, in turn,

also gets reflected in his economic status. In a broader context, the landlessness of the Scheduled Caste community has serious implications on its economic life. It has generally been observed that during a clash over wages between an agriculturist on the one hand, and landless but dominant caste agricultural labourers and landless Scheduled Caste agricultural labourers on the other, the agriculturalist imposes social boycott on the landless Scheduled Caste agricultural labourers in order to deny them an access to his green fields for fodder as well as to answer the call of nature in a rural setting. This does not apply on an equal scale to the landless dominant caste agricultural labourers, who lag behind their peer group economically, but enjoy a similar status socially. Amusingly enough, the agricultural labourers belonging to higher castes treated their fellow labourers of Scheduled Castes as social untouchables (Chowdhry 1976: 464-65). The prestige system of social status also affects the lives of the members of the poor upper castes in its own unique way. The upper caste poor have often found that their so called higher social status turns out to be a hurdle in their way to take up those jobs which are usually undertaken by the lower caste people. The spate of suicides among the farmers in Punjab is a case in point. These hapless farmers were Jats by caste, which is a dominant caste in Punjab similar to the Brahmins in other parts of the country. Whatever be the reasons behind the act of their suicides, social prestige was an important factor in almost all the cases. Though in majority of the suicide cases the burden of indebtedness was the obvious factor, it was not the sole factor. The factor that pushed them to such a disastrous act was that they did not dare to face the blot of bankruptcy in a social system in which they enjoy a higher rank (Iyer and Manick 2000; Bhalla et al. 1998;

Shergill 1998; Sidhu 1991; Singh 1993; for an excellent review of agrarian crisis and suicides by farmers in different states in India see also Ahlawat 2003; Lochan and Rajiv 2006; Suri 2006; Jodhka 2006; Mishra 2006a; Mishra 2006b; Rao and Suri 2006; Mohanakumar and Sharma 2006; Sridhar2006). In the following section an attempt has been made to delineate the meaning of globalisation with reference to capital and labour.

I Variants of Globalisation Globalisation, as referred to in the beginning of the paper, has been embellished with various meanings. It has been projected as a 20th century wonder, which contains immense potentialities for the elimination of poverty, hunger and disease. The European Commission in its Annual Economic Report for 1997 defined globalisation as the process by which markets and production in different countries are becoming increasingly interdependent due to the dynamics of trade in goods and services and flows of capital and technology. It is not a new phenomenon but the continuation of developments that have been in train for some considerable time (European Commission 1997: 45). In this context, it is primarily associated with a process of intensifying worldwide economic integration (McGrew 2005:209). However, this political-economycentric view of globalisation when juxtaposed with the one grounded within the wider social science literature presents a more complex picture. It is also projected as an era of universalisation and intensification of transnational flows of images, people, commodities and capital (Deshpande 2003:152). Though the process of globalisation is often referred to interchangeably with the notions

of

liberalisation,

internationalisation,

universalisation, de-

modernisation,

westernisation,

Americanisation,

territorialisation, or supra-territorialisation, none of these terms, argues Scholte, captures its distinctive features (McGrew 2005: 209; see also Scholte 2000; Scott 1997:5; Abdelal and Segal 2007). Looked at through the prisms of political economy, cultural theory, political analysis, international relations, and urban sociology, globalisation resonates differently in the different contexts (Nasstrom 2003). Given the complex nature of its subject matter, the phenomenon of globalisation is prone to give rise to methodological disputes about its apt analysis (Rosenberg 1995). The recent discussion within sociology and political science has been careful to distinguish globalisation theory from the theory of modernisation on the one hand and from accounts of colonialism on the other. The concept of globalisation should not act simply as a synonym for a new phase of modernisation or for Westernisation, (Scott 1997:3). The theory of globalisation needs to be saved from being slipped into a trap of reductionist or determinist that ... appear to reduce divergent aspects of a complex process to some set of fundamental causes or to some single societal sub-system (e.g., the economy) (Scott 1997:3). Globalisation needs to be understood as a multidimensional, rather than singular, process and free from the disciplinary boundaries of a particular field. Equally important is to rescue it from the prevailing myths and rhetoric about its inevitability and irresistibility (Scott 1997:1; McGrew 2005:3). New v/s the Old Globalisation is not a new phenomenon, as it is claimed widely. In effect, it is the replication of the political and economic imperialism of the 19th century (Harshe 2002: 1407). Moreover, in

the 19th century the world was more integrated than is the case today (Gilpin 2001:3). Equally important is to critically analyse the objectives of the process of globalisation. The process of globalisation is not something that has come into operation on its own as a beneficial God gifted natural source. It is, perhaps, a well planned and well regulated project aimed at building a uniformed global market for the benefit of a limited number of individuals/corporations. Its sole aim is to accumulate capital, which by its very logic creates dens of poverty, disease and squalor in the periphery, and wealth in the core of the globalising world (Wade 2005: 291-316). In order to comprehend such diabolic posture of the phenomenon of globalisation, it needs to be distinguished as an ideology and as a paradigm. As an ideology, globalisation creates a sense of false consciousness in the periphery. It makes its appearance as beneficial through various popularly projected images. At the same time, it also builds up the logic to subdue any opposition to its upward surgence. It emphasises that poverty and low economic growth were the results of keeping oneself out of the reach of globalisation. As a paradigm, globalisation provides an epistemological outlook for the understanding of the world. This epistemological outlook has assigned the prefix New to the already existing asymmetrical world. The fact, however, is that it is not the existential world that has really become new or newly ordered under the spill of globalisation. What the paradigm of globalisation was able to do under the prefix New is that it has succeeded in projecting the same old world as new in a particular way that favours capital over labour. This paradigm of presenting the old world in the form of something new emanates from a perspective, held by the privileged few, to scan the uneven structures of the existing world in such a manner as to project them

as new, ordered, global, interdependent, and homogeneous. Such a paradigmatic approach in looking at the so-called changing trajectories of the world has more to do with the concrete processes of economy and politics rather than with its projected abstract realities. However, in the domain of political economy, it is not always essential to stick to apparent realities. On the contrary, the projected realities have usually been taken as given; realities that favour capital and the metropolis and deprive labour and the periphery. Such realities in fact are not generally acceptable realities at all. (Explain more clearly) It is so because they emboss the fabricated and artificial homogeneous world on the real and the existing asymmetrical world. This is another way of subjugating the marginal, the other. The marginalised are subjugated through the mirage of the promised /imagined new world. The imagined world has been made more real than the actual real world is. The real world is not the one where we live, but the one we have been told about. The panacea to all our maladies, we are told, lies in getting assimilated quickly into this New world the globalising one. It is also said that poverty, failure of the State, and ethnic insurgencies in Asia, Africa and elsewhere are not the outcome of the specific factors grounded in the colonial structures of these continents or in their own current specific domestic situations, but because of their refusal to open themselves to the currents of the global market. In the words of Abdul-Raheem, Western ideologues insist that we must imagine and organise society in accordance with their values and systems without providing space to any alternative ideology. In this hegemonic scheme, the rest of us are seen as non-starters, or at best late comers, whose only destiny is to follow the path already trodden by the West" (Abdul-Raheem 2000:15). There is nothing sacred about

regimes and institutions as sermonised by the Western think tanks. What democracy, globalisation, free market, and multilateral institutions mean to them does not equally apply to the poor South (Manchanda 1997). Nor, is the rich North seriously interested in the genuine proliferation of the principles of liberalism and democracy. In the name of democracy and free market economy regimes, the continents of Asia, Africa and South America were rather further subjected to what Abdul-Raheem characterised as "recolonisation" (Abdul-Raheem 2000: 15). No doubt the world has changed, but the governing principles of world politics have not. It is Realpolitik, which still regulates the transactions among the states and also among the non-state managers of today's world. The emergence of the process of globalisation and the triumph of free market over the planned economy do not imply that politics based on the pursuance of national interest and power has given place to communitarianism and welfare. It is claimed that [t]he process of globalisation has produced much that is new in the world's economy and politics, but it has not changed the basic ways capitalism operates. Nor has it aided the cause of either peace or prosperity (Magdoff 1992: 39).

Contrary to the repetitive claims, the post-Cold War world is very much the same intransient world of power games and shrewd diplomacy. The so-called New world is the old place where one has to move cautiously in the given hard-core choices, and in an environment of no permanent friends and foes. How does one then understand the United States support to the non-democratic Sheikhdom in the Middle East and to the authoritarian states of South East Asia, whereas United States, itself, stands for democracy not only within but internationally also. Democracy as a value is not as important as its use for the promotion of national interests. "It

seems that the West only prefers a democratic outcome that does not, as the Americans say, upset the applecart" (Abdul-Raheem, 2000: 19). To quote Abdul-Raheem further [t]hat means democracy with a western veto (Ibid.). Any democratic process that helps raise genuine political aspirations, finds no support from the West if such a process is likely to adversely affect the status of the West. Thus, in order to qualify for a democratic status one needs to fulfill the expectations of the West. It does not matter much even if you are a despot or a dictator provided you do not create any difficulties for the West. In the Southeast Asia, lack of democracy and gross abuse of human rights do not seem to have affected the growth of capitalism, whereas the Gulf States with their abundant oil wealth can dispense with democracy and human rights altogether. Otherwise, why would America and the so-called Allied powers have gone to war in the Gulf only to restore feudal family rule (Ibid: 18). Given a choice between democracy and promotion of national interest, the latter gets a priority over the former. That is what the law of power politics advocates. It needs to be taken with a pinch of salt that free trade is the most important natural torchbearer of the 21st century. The moot point is who does the process of globalisation favour? How does globalisation operate in an unequal and anarchic world? What safeguards, if any, are available to the excolonial societies and the marginalised to defend themselves against the system of domination, embedded in the logic of a world structured on the principles of power politics? In fact, the process of globalisation legitimises the right of the advanced capitalist states and their citizens to dominate the rest of humanity. It affirms the right of the capital to move around the globe but restricts the freedom of labour (people). Those who desire a global humanity must, therefore, struggle to humanise the globe, such that free human beings can live, work or settle anywhere they wish?" (Ibid.)

It is in this context that we need to take up the issue of the process of globalisation in the context of the marginalised in the periphery. Rampant violence, narcotic terrorism, mounting debts, political apathy and indolence, subordination to market, controlled print and electronic media, ecological devastation, marginalisation of the State, nepotism, corruption, the ever increasing rise in the internal civil strife leading to mass killings, and exodus are a few issues of crucial concern relating to the marginalised in the periphery.

II Globalisation Problematique The purpose of the paper is not to prescribe solutions, but to problematise the impact of the process of globalisation on the societies in the periphery and the marginalised. The term periphery is used here to reflect on the weaker sections of the under-developed and developing countries of the Afro-Asian world. However, even in this very part of the asymmetrical world, the interest of the miniscule minority converges more conveniently with that of the core of the rich North rather than with that of their fellow beings in the poor South. Thus, it is in this context that the term periphery needs to be taken into consideration while evaluating the impact of globalisation on the socio-economic and political life of the marginal people divided on caste/class lines within the non-Western world. The purpose here is not to provide a blueprint, but to problematise the issue. What we often deal with in the name of globalisation is less of a phenomenon and more of an ideology and a paradigm. Such an aberration always keeps one away from understanding the real causes of poverty and exploitation induced by

the process of globalisation in the periphery. Capital, Labour and Globalisation The system of globalisation is not accountable to the people whom it affects. Since the State, which draws sustenance and legitimacy from the citizens in the geographically determined boundaries, begins fading in the face of the surging forces of globalisation, it often finds excuses to exempt itself from its legal responsibility towards the betterment of its populace, especially the marginalised. Public policy, based on the State supported social protection, gave way to deregulation, privatisation, cuts in states social welfare schemes (e.g. Public Distribution System [PDS] in India), restrictions on labour unions, flexible labour markets, strict laws and quotas restricting immigration to the countries of the North. Such anti-people policies are not only encountered by the people of the developing world, the political establishments in the countries of the developed world equally adhere to them. In this context, it is appropriate to reproduce here what Amiya Kumar Bagchi says: The rules of the game in the globalisation process changed drastically from the 1970s. The European and United States capitalists thought that they must teach the workers a lesson they must break the trade unions and put an end to the post-war welfare states of Europe. Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, was a pioneer in this worker bashing. Around 1985, I happened to be at a meeting with Sir Alan Walters, one of the chief economic advisors of Margaret Thatcher. We were talking about the failure of big strikes in Britain during Thatchers regime. Sir Alan said roughly, I told Margaret Thatcher, kick the workers, and go on kicking them till they are down, and

kick them even when they are down A similar strategy was pursued by the United States Government during Ronald Regans presidency. As a result, the real wages of an average American worker today is lower than it was in 1979 (Bagchi 2004: 7).

Such anti-labour policies do not only characterise the governments in Europe and the United States, but even the governments and leftof-centre parties in Japan, and Australia have been talking the same language (Wade 2005:292). Furthermore, through the international financial mechanism of the Multilateral Economic Organisations (MEOs) like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), these anti-labour policies are extended to the domestic realms of the developing countries (Ibid). The most startling case of non-accountability on the part of the forces of globalisation is the callousness on the part of the Union Carbide with regard to the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. According to Harish K Puri, Much of the information is hidden from the public. Inspection of the plant by the Indian government officials was evidently casual; and most likely corrupt. And we know the cost. Over 10,000 were killed by the leakage of the deadly gas; over 200,000 were injured and sick, including those born later. Invariably most of these who became victims happened to come from the low class caste workers and their families. And, even after 22 years of struggle for justice the culprits have not been punished (Puri 2006:15). The question of justice, of late, has come up as the most important contentious issue of globalisation. Some of the leading exponents of

the process of globalising have now started echoing the concern that in its failure to deliver a more just global economic order, globalisation may hold within it the seeds of its own demise (Higgott 2000:131). James Wolfenson, President of the World Bank reiterated in his address to the Board of Governors of the Bank in October 1998 that in the absence of greater equity and social justice no amount of money could provide us financial stability. Ethan Kapstein expressed similar views when he underlined the fact that any economic system widely viewed as unjust will not endure for long. Of course, these views are not new. They were put forward much earlier when the present system of globalisation was not even conceived of. Adam Smith put on record in his Wealth of Nations that no society could survive or flourish if great numbers lived in poverty (quoted in Higgott 2000:131). If the contemporary process of globalisation sincerely aims at strengthening the need for strong governance, then contrary to the pro-capital policies of its neoliberal lobbying centres of London and Washington, it has to remove all barriers to the movement of people in search of work and to make stringent efforts towards the formation of a single market for both capital and labour (Jha 1999). The system of justice, which we are familiar with, is understood within the Westphalien cartography of clear lines and stable identities(ibid). Westphalien justice presumes a stable political order, based on legitimate political authority, having a clearly demarcated social space. Since with the concretisation of the process of globalisation, the territorial boundaries of politics are becoming unbundled, to borrow Ruggie's evocative phrase, it becomes inevitable that the conceptual images of justice conceived in the boundaries of politics fixed by territoriality will become similarly unbundled (ibid). The conventional accounts of justice

have failed to address the changing nature of social bond. The system of globalisation is not a social bond at all. It is a blatant system of profit seeking and self-propagation. It has not been brought out by a contractarian agreement among the multitudes of large number of so-called fading states. The system of globalisation has come to be confronted by the people of Afro-Asian world who have yet to become citizens in real terms (Ram 2001). Before the people of impoverished states could win the battle of their subsistence against their native monopoliser and rent-seeker, they have suddenly been exposed to the big doyens over whom they have no system of pressure. In an era of consumer driven globalisation, it is not in the fitness of things to quote Karl Marx who even after one and a half-century sounds fresh in his contents and analysis of the economic structure of the society. To quote him in detail: The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists, it has drawn from under the feet of industry the national ground on which it stood. All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction, the products of distant lands and climes. In place of the old local and national seclusion and selfsufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal

inter-dependence of nations. And as in material, so also in intellectual production. The intellectual creations of individual nations become common property. National one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and more impossible, and from the numerous national and local literatures, there arises a world literature (Marx and Engels 1848:37-38).

This system of global relations of production, of exchange and of property has become, to quote Marx again, like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells" (ibid: 39). However, what makes Marxs analysis of the ever-widening reach of the bourgeoisie society unique is its class character articulated by him in the following words: In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working class, developed a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market (Marx and Engels 1848:40).

Thus, the formation and augmentation of capital is the essential condition for the existence and furtherance of the bourgeoisie that lay at the foundation of the process of globalisation. The current process of globalisation does not paint a different picture. The basic rules of its grammar remain the same (see also Omvedt 2001). However, what makes a difference, as far as the

status of the labour versus capital is concerned is that, to quote Marx once again, The modern labourer, on the contrary, instead of rising with the progress of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth (ibid: 45).

He (labourer), in fact, has been completely abandoned in the labyrinth of uselessness. Globalisation thrives on services and information technology. Agricultural, industry and manufacturing are no longer important avenues for it. Finance capital, capital generated through stock markets and capital earned on the use of information industry has ultimately replaced the capital generated by the labour. This, in turn, has further led to marginalisation of the already marginalised section of the society (Patnaik 2004). History played a trick with Marx. He expected revolution on the basis of his capital analysis of the bourgeoisie society in the industrial world of Germany or England, and not in an agriculturally dominated society of Russia. However due to Lenins intervention, the revolution in Russia became successful at that time. For Marx, proletariats contain the force of transformation of the bourgeoisie society into socialism. In the manifesto of the Communist Party, he clearly mentioned that the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie. Since capital knows no boundaries and expands further and further, in search of its expansion it becomes imperative for the proletariats of all the countries to get united to oppose the

march of such capital. The manifesto ends with the following words The proletarians have nothing to loose but their chains. They have a world to win. In reality, workers belonging to different countries failed to emerge into a global body. On the other hand, capital succeeded in forging a global network. The success of the capital has been celebrated with the end of the history thesis. In the absence of a radical alternative to the arbitrariness of the global capital, the future of mankind seems to zero-in on barbarism. One may venture into formulating that in the face of the end of history emerges the clash of civilisations. Efforts are being made now at the global level to tackle the crisis of communal global terrorism. However, such types of symptoms of the disease are quite early signs of the maturing evil of accumulation of capital on the one hand, and poverty on the other. From the Seattle protests of 1999 to the annual conclaves of the World Social Forum, surcharged street demonstrations and shouting of anti globalisation slogans represent deep smouldering embers of the severe crisis that the process of globalisation faces today.

III

Globalisation and the Crisis of Governance To manage the crisis of globalisation, efforts are now being made, since the second half of 1997, to politically legitimise, democratise and socialise the process of globalisation (Higgott 2000:133). Is it feasible, at least theoretically, to socialise the process of globalisation? To socialise globalisation seems to be tantamount to saying to socialise capital. However, capital by its very nature intrinsically defies any such attempts. It is basically based on the

process of capital generation through the appropriation of surplus values generated by the labourers. And, the grammar of capitalism tells us that a surplus value is the value of labour that is denied to a labourer. Thus, the capital and the utopia of its equal distribution are basically antithetical to each other. In the words of Scott, not only is globalisation thought not to be tied to any substantive notion of the Good Society, it may, according to its critics, even preclude any discussion of what such a society might look like (Scott 1997:6). According to the Human Development Report 1997 published by United Nations Development Programme, The greatest benefits of globalisation have been garnered by a fortunate few. A rising tide of wealth is supposed to lift all boats, but some are more seaworthy than others. The yachts and ocean liners are rising in response to new opportunities, but many rafts and rowboats are taking on water- and some are sinking. The ratio of global trade to Gross Domestic Product has been rising over the past decade, but it has been falling for 44 developing countries, with more than a billion people. The least developed countries, with 10 per cent of the world's people, have only 0.3 per cent of world trade half their share of two decades ago.

The metaphor of the rising tide lifting all boats fails to take off when applied in the context of the effect of the globalisation on the developing countries. In the developing world the tides of the neoliberal economy had ended up knocking over some of the smaller boats. It has increased the divide between the rich and the poor countries and further widened the gap between the rich and the poor in the Third World countries. The number of poor in Africa has doubled, said Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz in a

lecture on Making Globalisation Work in Chennai recently (Stiglitz 2007). According to the 1999 version of the Human Development Report, the income gap ratio between the 20 per cent of the world's population in the richest countries and the 20 per cent in the poorest grew from 30:1 in 1960 to 60:1 in 1990 and 74:1 in 1995. The poorest 20 per cent of the world's population account for only one per cent of the total global Gross Domestic Product and 40 per cent of the world's population lives in absolute poverty. The number of people with income of less than $ 1 a day increased by almost 100 million to 1.3 billion between 1987 and 1993 (Reddy 1999). In the past 18 years, the per capita income has declined in more than 100 countries. In a large number of countries, life expectancy is still 40 years. The external debt burden of the developing countries totals $2.2 trillion, according to 1999 estimates. Of this, two-thirds is public debt. The net material worth of the world's 200 richest persons increased from $ 440 billion to more than one trillion in just four years: 1994-1998 (Oommen 1999). Global inequalities in income have increased alarmingly in the last hundred years. More than 30,000 children die every day from preventable diseases. Some 90 million children are excluded from primary education. About 790 million people are hungry and 1.2 billion live on less than one dollar a day (Raj 2002). The above statistics shows that the global spread of capital failed to reduce the contradictions between the poor and the rich nations. Although a handful of third world countries, benefiting from the globalisation process, have made noteworthy progress in industrialisation and trade, the overall gap between core and periphery nations has kept on widening (Magdoff 1992:2). The exploitative and inequitable stance of globalisation became factually clear in the last few years. The Washington Consensus (WC) based neo-liberal project of globalisation came

under severe attack on its durability in the wake of the financial crisis that hit Asia in the second half of 1997 and soon spread to Latin America and Russia in early 1998 (Williamson 2003). Another factor that accounted amongst the significant sources of backlash against the unbridled nature of globalisation project was the failure of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to establish the multilateral argument on investment. The battle of Seattle was yet another factor that jostled globalisation from its very roots (Higgott 2000:135-136). Along with these events of crisis revelation of globalisation, another factor which affected the ever surging march of globalisation is the development of a perception that global liberalisation brings with it increased inequality (ibid: 136). The above cited events and perceptions led to the lowering of the image of globalisation from its status of inevitability to its self-demise. This also led to the end of the orthodox Washington Consensus backed model of globalisation, based on economic liberalisation that dominated the period between 1980 and 1990, and resulted in the emergence of a 'Post Washington Consensus' (ibid: 137). The Post Washington Consensus is a response to the challenges to the process of globalisation. It aims at rectifying the pitfalls of economic liberalisation by introducing the system of global governance (for an excellent review see Parkash and Jeffrey [eds.] 1999), what Stephen Gill calls a constitution for global capitalism (quoted in Higgott 2000:137). The project of globalisation of 1980s and the early 1990s did not have any place for ethics. It was based on purely the free market principle of profit and maximising self-interest. The idea is that capitalism, left to itself, can recover from any crisis and any public intervention can only make things worse. Thus any public actions are nothing but

distortions of the system which must be minimised (Basu 2002). The Post Washington Consensus model has been trying to bring ethical dimensions into the theory of globalisation. The attempt on the part of Post Washington Consensus to bring ethical content into the theory of globalisation was not merely a tactical move to forestall the simmering revolt against economic liberalisation. According to Edwards there is genuine concern for bringing in recognition of the importance of tackling ethical questions of justice, fairness and inequality (Higgott 2000:137). The Post Washington Consensus, thus, distinguished itself from the Washington Consensus by the concepts of civil society, social capital, capacity building, governance and transparency, a new international economic architecture, institution building and safety-nets as against the Washington Consensus mantras of liberalisation, deregularisation and privatisation. Taming the Neo-liberal Economy The immediate question that comes to mind is that whether the Post Washington Consensus would make some efforts for setting an agenda to help the marginalised. Is it possible that the mere chanting of the names of civil society, social capital, and governance etc. can facilitate the change for the betterment of the neglected lot of the society? The Post Washington Consensus fails to chart out the parameters through which the marginals can be brought into the purview of the civil society, which, as in the case of India, has still not become inclusive in its character and scope. How can capital translate the higher statuses into instruments of improvement for the downtrodden when their own kith and kin feel shy and fearful to openly divulge their caste identity in the highly inequitable hierarchical structures of the Indian society? Nothing concrete can be expected for removing the tears from the hapless faces until and

unless something can be done in the form of structural transformation for dismantling the market based system of domination on one hand, and the varna based system of social hierarchy on the other. In fact, for India the crisis is not only confined to the forces emanating from the sphere of the market. It is equally severe, perhaps more, as far as its caste based social order is concerned. The market and the caste when combined make a deadly concoction for the crisis managers to tackle effectively. In the absence of an egalitarian alternative to the structures of domination, the human face of globalisation based on global governance makes no difference for the marginalised who continue to be afflicted in the gas chambers of gender, caste and class. The market has failed to liberate them. Moreover, it has further pinned them down. They are not welcomed in the sphere of market as equal partners of profit. In other words, the market too practices untouchability, albeit in a different form. They feel alienated in their own world of creation. How strong can the global market be, in the long run? It will not survive until and unless the question of the marginals is addressed amicably. As Abdelal and Segal argue, The challenge is to sell the benefits of ongoing globalisation to a wary public, to make sure those benefits materialise, and then to ensure they are distributed more equitably (Abdelal and Segal 2007:1045). In fact, the question of equitable distribution of resources is closely related with the issue of the immediate and amicable redressal of the cause of the marginals and the socially excluded (Green and Griffith 2002: 68). They need not be provided with only cheap articles of provision of minimal use as have been popularly done in some Indian states. What seems to be essential is to empower them, to enhance their buying capacity in the real sense of the term, to dismantle the structures of economic and social

dominations, and to remove the stresses of globalisation. If we are not concerned of the stresses of globalisation, ideological countercurrents will emerge. Globalisation is not a bed of roses. There is a need to be watchful, always, warned Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister George Tong-Boon Yeo at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit in Bangalore (The Hindu, March 19, 2007). In other words, a balance needs to be created between the forces of market and the principles of social justice. It is in this context that the contemporary process of globalisation, the crisis of governance, and the issue of empowerment of the marginalised pose a common and serious challenge to the policy makers which have to be addressed amicably at the earliest.

Acknowledgement Different versions of this paper were presented at seminars: Globalization and The Underprivileged: Perceptions, Fears and Consequences, organized by Department of Sociology, Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut; Globalisation and Political Economy of North-West India, organized by Department of Political Science, SGGS College, Chandigarh; Globalisation, Social Institutions and Values, organized by Dev Samaj College for Women, Chandigarh; Justice to Weaker Section of the Society, organized by Chandigarh Peoples Welfare Forum and Punjab and Haryana High Court Advocates Committee on Judicial Accountability, Chandigarh; and at a Workshop, The Empowerment of Dalits and Women, organized by Ambedkar Center, Department of Sociology, P. U. Chandigarh. Comments and observations received from the scholars helped significantly in improving the arguments presented in this paper. My thanks to Harish K Puri, Paramjit Singh Judge, and K.C. Sulekh

discussions with who helped me further revise the draft. I am equally grateful to Seema, Sahaj and Daksh who facilitated my long sittings in the study away from home. However, for any fault or error, the responsibility lies entirely with the author. References:A Report from Mumbai: Resistance 2004 and the World Social Forum. 2004: Revolutionary Worker # 1232, March, <http://rwor.org/a/1232/awtw ns-mumbai.htm> (January 26 2007).

Asia

Gears

Up

Against:

Globalisation,

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================================================ ============================= SOCIAL CATASTROPHE IN THE MAKING: RELIGION, DERAS AND DALITS IN PUNJAB RONKI RAM (DR.) DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in The recent violent clashes between the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda (established in 1948 with its headquarters in Sirsa, Haryana) and different groups of Akalis as well as a spate of other social

conflicts between Jats and Dalits in the state seem to have acquired an utmost importance in the current political history of Punjab. The importance of such conflicts surpases the much talked about shortterm politics of revenge and throws a critical light on their much deeper socio-religious roots steeped into the so-called casteless Sikh society in Punjab. On the one hand, it lay bare the dormant structures of social discrimination that permeates the fabric of the Sikh society and on the other, points towards the neo-conservative Sikhs anxiety of dwindling Sikh-Khalsa identity in the state. In fact, the recent Akalis-Dera Sacha Sauda row over the mimicking of iconography of the tenth Master of the Sikhs by Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, the current head of the Dera, seems much to do with the prevalence of the doctrinally rejected system of caste hierarchy among the Sikhs. Since majority of the followers of various Sacha Sauda type Deras come from the dispossessed sections of the society who at one point of time had embraced Sikhism in the hope of elevating their social status and fortune, their almost exodus from Sikhism towards alternative socio-spiritual space provided by such Deras invite the hostility of the clerics of the mainstream established religious order who interpret it as a serious challenge to the dwindling Sikh-Khalsa identity. Moreover, the frequent politicisation of the Deras makes the issue further complicated. The persistent attempts made by the various Sikh organizations during the recent Akalis-Dera crisis to win over their disgruntled Dalit Sikh followers are a clear case in point. This paper intends to problematise the recent Akalis-Dera crisis by contextualising it into the larger Dalit question in Punjab and its implications for the religion based politics of the state. Punjab has the distinction of housing the countrys largest proportion of Scheduled Castes (SCs) population (29 per cent) belonging to

different religions and castes. There are total of 38 castes among the SCs in the state. Out of these 38 castes, two belong to Sikh religion. The SCs who belong to Sikh religion are known as Mazhabi and Ramdasis or Ramdasia Sikhs. Mazhabis were Chuhras (sweepers) who converted first to Islam from Hinduism, and later to Sikhism. Ramdasias were Julahas (weavers) before their conversion to Sikhism. Ramdasia Sikhs are mostly confined to the Doaba and Malwa sub-regions of the state and majority of them are Sahajdhari Sikhs those who do not observe the Khalsa outward manifestation. Kanshi Ram, founder of the Bhaujan Samaj Party (BSP), was a Ramdasia Sikh. Ramdasias are also known as Khalsa Biradar. Mazhabis, the devout Sikhs, are mostly concentrated in the Majha (between Beas ans Ravi Rivers) and Malwa (south of the Sutlej River, also known as Cis-Sutlej during the British period) subregions of Punjab the battlefield of recent violent clashes between the Akalis and the Premis (literally lovers, a traditional metaphor for devotees of the Sufi and Bhakti orders) of the Dera Sacha Sauda. It is also in the Malwa sub-region, the heartland of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), that the Dera Sacha Sauda turned the tables on the SAD by helping the beleagured congress win 37 out of its total 65 seats in the recent vidhan Sabha elections. In terms of numbers, Mazhabis are the most numerous Sikh caste among the SCs of Punjab (who account for 30.7 per cent of the total SC population in the state as per 19991 census), followed by Chamars (25.8 per cent), Ad Dharmis (15.9 per cent), Balmikis Chuhras and Bhangis (11.1 per cent) to mention only the major castes. In the 2001 census their population was recorded at just a little over 22 lakhs (31 cent of the total SC population of the state). They are also the most deprived section of the SCs of Punjab with the lowest literacy rate (42.3 per cent) and majority of them are agricultural workers (52.2 per cent). Many of them have also been working as Siris (attached labourer).

Though the Siri system has ceased to exist in the state, but in the Malwa region some of the Mazhabis still work as Siris. According to a field-based study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had Dalits working as Siris. Mazhabis embraced Sikhism in the hope of gaining social equality, but even in Sikhism the spectre of untouchability kept on haunting them. They were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities. As late as 1920s they were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and members of the upper castes were instructed not to mix with them. Evidence of untouchability against Dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of resolutions adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) from 19261933. Although the Sikh reformers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries preached in favour of removing untouchability, no strenuous efforts were made in that direction. Social opprobrium continues to afflict the Mazhabis and other Dalits. Some of them were of the opinion that Jats treat them as badly in the Gurdwaras as they treated them in their farmlands. In spite of their meticulous observance of Sikh religious principles, they are not considered equal by the dominant Sikh caste, which refused to associate with them, even in religious ceremonies. They continued to face discrimination in the Gurdwaras and are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their Hindu counterparts. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation grounds in the Shamlat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. They were also denied proportionate representation in various religious and local social structures in the state. It is the Jats, the dominant peasant caste in the state, who

hegemonised over all the Sikh organizations: Gurdwaras, Sikh Deras, SGPC, and SAD. Dalits are often heard of complaining that if Jats refused to consider them equal even after deaths by denying them the right to burn in a common cremation ground then why should they expect from us that we should continue with their mainstream (read Sikh) religion. This has forced the Dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras that strengthened the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs. Caste divisions get further reinforced in the segregated lives that Dalits live in away from the mainstream villages. Their settlements are contemptuously called Thhattis or Chamarlees. Thhattis or Chamarlees are invariably located on the side toward which the sewerage of villages flows. Madanjeet Singh observes Notwithstanding the media images of Punjabs prosperity, the region has become the ghetto of caste apartheid. It is against this backdrop of blatant social exclusion that a large number of Dalits have been veering away from the mainstream Sikh religion and enrolling themselves into various forms of Deras in Punjab whose success partly lies in the relationship between Dalit resistance and religious rebellion. Of late, the Dalits of Punjab have mustered enough strength to challenge the dominant caste and its exclusive hold on the mainstream Sikhism. At least from among the Mazhabis and Ramdasias Sikhs, a strand of thought has begun to emerge that rebels against the exclusionist and reactionary tendencies that have continued to linger contrary to the mission and ideas of the gurus. In fact, it was the Mazhabis and Ramdasias who constituted the core of the Bhaniarawala phenomenon and the Talhan crisis respectively. Again it was the Mazhabis and Ramdasias Sikhs of the Malwa region of the Punjab who figured most in the Sacha Sauda crisis recently. Another probable cause

behind the large-scale Dalit followings of the Deras in Punjab could be the absence of a strong Dalit movement of the sort of the famous Ad Dharm led by legendary Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia during the first half of the 20th century. Had the Ad Dharm movement continued in full swing, it could have curtailed the swift flow of the Dalits towards the mushrooming growth of the Deras in Punjab? In fact, it could have even precluded the emergence of such a large number of Deras. In the absence of a strong Dalit movement and with the emergence of caste structures within the Sikh organizations despite the clear Panthic strictures against it, Dalits were but helpless to seek refuge in those organistions and Deras that promise them social equality and dignity. However, the phenomenon of Deras is not new to Punjab. Rather it was as old as the very process of the evolution of the Sikh faith. Different sects and Deras that emerged at different intervals during the evolution of the mainstream Sikh religion were primarily the outcome of the disgruntled and unsuccessful attempts of the fake claimants to the title of Guru. Bidhi Chand, the dissenter, made first such an attempt during the Guru-period (1552-1574) of third Guru, Amar Dass. He formed the Handalis sect, instituted the worship of Niranjan, the bright God and declared himself as the Prophet or Handal. The Handalis endulged in anti-Panthic activities and collaborated with Muslims in the destruction of Sikh properties and documents. They were penalized and dispossessed by Ranjit Singh, the first Maharajah of the Sikh Empire. During the fifth Guruperiod of Arjan Dev (1581-1606), Dhirmaliye and Mine sects were organized in opposition to the main religious Sikh body and they established their Deras along the Sutlej River. These sects were led by no else a person than by the elder brother (Prithi Chand) of Guru

Arjan Dev himself, who also claimed to be Guru. Massandis was another sect that also cropped up during the Guruship of Arjan Dev. The Massandis (from the Masand exogamous gotra of the Khatri trading caste) were personal agents of Guru Arjan who he employed for collecting the offerings for the annual assembly of Sikhs. Later on when they indulged in the anti-Panthic activities, the Guru denounced them publicly. The descendants of Ram Rai, son of the Guru Har Rai (1644-1661), also organized a sect known as Ramraiyas during the Gurus-period. They dissented against the main body of the Sikhs, built a Dera at Dehra Dun (Uttar Pradesh) and attributed Guruship to Ram Rai. Apart from these early sects and Deras of the Gurus times, there were many more sects and Deras that cropped up at different intervals on the long and tortuous journey of the consolidification of the Sikh religion. Some of the more prominent among them were Nanakpanthis, Udasis, Sewapanthis, Nirmalas and the Nihangs also known as Akalis or Shahids. What distinguished the contemporary Deras from their counterparts during the Guruship period of the ten Masters is that in the case of the former their founders were/are not related to the Gurus of the mainstream Sikh body nor they claim Guruship over and above the ten Masters. Even in the recent case of Dera Sacha Sauda crisis, its chief had to render a written apology for mimicking the iconography of the tenth Master. However, one factor that seems to draw a similarity between the earlier and the contempopary Derasd is the presence of the institution of Human Guruship in all of them that goes against the very basic spirit and tenets of mainstream Sikhism. According to a latest study conducted by the Desh Sewak, a daily published from Chandigarh, there would be more than 9 thousand of such Deras in the total 12 thousand villages of Punjab.

Among them the most popular Deras are of Radha Soamis sect, Sacha Sauda, Nirankaris, Namdharis, Divya Jyoti Sansthan, Bhaniarawala, and Ravidasis. Almost all of them have their branches in all the districts of the state and in other states of the country as well. Some of them are very popular among the Punjabi Diasporas and have overseas branches in almost all the continents of the world. These Deras claim to be only spiritual organizations and deny formulating any new religion. They said to believe in the oneness of God and do not adhere to a particular faith, though the heads of some of them (Sacha Sauda and Radha Soamis) wear turban and has long beard in the Sikh style. People belonging to various religions like Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity etc can become their members and they need not to relinquish their previous religious identities. Despite their non-sectarian claims some of these Deras are adhered to along caste lines. There is a close connection between the memerbership of some of them and the particular caste groups. When some caste members are persuaded to join a particular sect offering certain advantages, usually in terms of upward mobility, others of the same caste may also follow. In some cases, of course, the factor of hereditary descent or assumed hereditary descent from the founder of the sect is involved. Namdharis, Bhaniarawala and Ravidasis Deras are of special interest in that they mostly draw on the affliations of those caste groups to which the founders of these sects belonged. In the case of the Namdharis, it was primarily members of the Ramgharia caste, actually a section of the Tarkhan Sikh caste, who were part of this sect. Bhaniarawala Deras are strongholds of the Mazhabis. In the Ravidasis Deras, again a very large majority of their followers belonged to the two main castes Chamars and Ad Dharmis of the Dalits in Punjab.

There is a general impression that 80 per cent of the people of Punjab are affiliated with one or the other type of Deras. These Deras can be categorised into Sikh and non-Sikh ones. The non-Sikh Deras (like Sacha Sauda, Radha Soamis, Divya Joyti, Nirankaris, Bhaniarawala) enjoy a large number of followings among the Dalits [SCs and Other Backward Castes (OBCs)] in the state. Thereby, these Deras are also called Dalit Deras. About 70 per cent followers of Sacha Sauda are Dalits. Among its upper caste devotees a large number come from landless farmers or small time cultivators and shopkeepers who feel alienated by the powerful and moneyed leaders of Sikh organizations such as the SGPC. Among the followers of the Radha Soamis sect the estimated strength of the Dalits is more than 50 per cent and majority of them hail from Dalit concentrated districts of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, and Hoshiarpur of the Doaba sub-region of Punjab. Similarly among the Deras of the Divya Jyoti Sansthan headed by Ashutosh the participation of the Dalits is much more in comparison to that of the upper castes. The vast majority of the followers of Nirankaris also come from the non-Jats city dwellers castes. Namdhari Deras attract a large number of its followers from the Ramgarhia community originally Tarkhan (carpenter) caste, a Backward Caste in Punjab. As far as Jats are concerned majority of them are the followers of Sikh Deras.It is generally believed that almost all the Sikh Deras are headed invariably by Jat Sikhs. It is rare that the head of a Sikh Dera would be a non-Jat Sikh. Even if there would be one he could not be a Dalit at all. At most Dalit Sikhs participation in Sikh Deras is confined only to the narration of the Sikhs sacred texts and performing of Kirtan (musical rendering of sacred hymns). Those who perform Kirtan are known as Raagis, and the professional narrators of the sacred texts who read it in a stylized manner are

popularly known as Granthis. Majority of the Raagis and Granthis are Dalit Sikhs. Very few Jat Sikhs take up such professions. Bhai Mardana, a Marassi (lower caste), used to play the rabab (musical instrument) for Guru Nanak, the first Master of the founder of the Sikh faith. In the Sikh Deras, Sikh code of coduct is strictly followed and only Gurubani of Guru Granth Sahib is recited. Whereas in the non-Sikh Deras though Gurubani from Guru Granth Sahib is recited but at the same time other sacred texts are also referred to. In non-Sikh Deras idol worship and devotion towards human Guru is not an anathema like that in Sikh theology. It is precisely due to the presence of such non-Sikh traditions (human Guruship) in such Deras that the phenomenon of non-Sikh Deras came to be known what Meeta and Rajivlochan call alternate guru movement in Punjab. This alternate guru movement in Punjab with its loose syncretistic practices throws a formidable challenge to Sikh-Khalsa identity separate from the Hindu. For the neo-conservative Sikhs the Sikh-Khalsa identity has always been under a challenge and is particularly locked in an existential struggle with its two main adversaries: modernity and apostasy. Modernity is considered to be corrupting the young Sikhs who become lackadaisical in their observance of the Khalsa principles advocated by the tenth Master. Though Bhindranwala tried to assert the Sikh-Khalsa identity by taking up cudgel with a dissident sect of the Nirankaris and preaching hatred against the Hindus, but that could not preclude the move of the Dalits towards non-Sikh Deras. These Deras, in fact, pose a more serious challenge to the mainstream Sikhism. It is argued that Dalit Sikhs desertion of the Panth and their entry into various non-Sikh Deras is directly related to the over all control of Jats on the various Panthic organizations. Since all the important

Sikh/Panthic organizations are under the conrol of the Jats and they are adamant not to share their management with Dalits, Dalits were forced to build their own separate religious organizations or to take refuge in non-Sikh Deras in the state. The followings of these Deras seem to far exceed that of the Golden Temple-based clerical establishment. It is in this context that confrontration between Deras and the mainstream Sikhism assumes great significance. These Deras, in fact, represent the disillusions of the dispossessed who at one point of time in their life embraced Sikhism in order to escape the taint of untouchability that was adhered to them in the Hindu social order. However, since their conversion into Sikhism failed to liberate them from the scar of the untouchabilty, they turn towards no-Sikh Deras that offer them perhaps better place. In other words the entry of Dalit Sikhs into various non-Sikh Deras in Punjab represent their social dissent and disillusionment with the Sikh religion Their social dissent propels them to seek a sense of personal worth by getting enrolled into one or other of such Deras. The dynamics of dissent and seeking personal worth through affliations with the Deras is what that made these Deras very popular and consequently brought them into steep confrontation with the long established mainstream Sikh religion in Punjab. In a recent case of confrontation between the Akalis and the Premis of the Dera Sacha Sauda, the Akalis tried to suppress the dissent through the use of violence and with the help of the state machinery. The Akalis also tried to win back some of their lost followers to the Dera Sacha Sauda, as most newspapers have reported, through forceful re-coversion. But social dissent cannot be simply wiped out either by re-conversion or by the sheer use of force legitimate or otherwise. Forceful suppression of social dissent

rather turns it more aggressive. The very Sikh religion is a case in point. It rose in opposition to the rotten evils of caste and gender discrimination, and mindless religious persecution. The dispossessed soon joined its ranks. Untold atrocities against the Gurus and their followers failed to dampen its spirit. Instead, it got further strengthened. However, of late the evil of caste system against which it launched a tirade became its achilles heel. The sheen of its egalitarian agenda started becoming dim. It is at this juncture that the non-Sikh Deras enters into socio-religious territories of Punjab. They took on the same agenda of egalitarianism rather more vigorously that used to be an integral part of Sikhism in its pre Misl period. The promise of true egalitarianism pushed both Hindu and Sikh Dalits towards these Deras who feel alienated by the apartheid that pervaded rural Punjab. Since majority of their followers belonged to Dalits of different nomenclatures, these Deras came to be identified alongwith the traditional caste divisions in the state. It seems that all the non-Sikh deras are known as Dalit Deras and the Sikh Deras are called Jat Deras. Thus, it is safe to say that caste underscores the very composition of the various Sikh as well as non- Sikh Deras in Punjab. Thus the real bone of contention in the recent clashes between Akalis of various nomenclatures and the Premis of the Dera Sacha Sauda in Punjab is not just over religion, but caste, which exploded the myth of casteless Sikh society in the state on the one hand and challenged the hegemony of the Sikh-Khalsa identity on the other. The violent clashes in Punjab are more about identity confrontation between Jats (a former marginal community that has successfully overcomed its lower social status) and Dalits (a contemporary marginal community that failed miserably to do the same). They, in fact, reveal what the Dalits seems to have been

struggling for over the last few decades in the contemporary Punjab, probably used to bother the Jats also earlier in the state in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, what makes the case of the Jats as an ex-marginal community rather different from that of the Dalits was their being a clean Shudra and free from the taint of untouchability. On the contrary, Dalits were known as unclean shudras whose very touch and sigh were considered to be polluting precisely because of their occupational closeness to the polluting articles. Another factor that might have helped the Jats to overcome their lower status was their corporate social mobility affected through their group conversion into Sikh religion. Moreover yet another factor that might have helped them improve their social status was the absence of sharp contradictions between them and the then upper caste community of the Khatris in the state. Khatris, unlike Jats in the case of social mobility of Dalits, did not oppose the Jats in their attempts towards upward social mobility. On the contrary, the impoving socio-economic position of the Jats perhaps suited Khatris the most in their commercial interests. However, in contemporary Punjab Dalits find themselves in quite different situation from that of the Jats duing the formative period of their social mobility. First of all, Dalits case differs clearly from that of the Jats in the sense that major gap lies between the shudra status of the Dalits and that of the Jats. Though Jats were considered Shudras and lower Vaishyas in the medieval times, their social ranking was still much higher in comparision to that of the Dalits who were further pushed down on the social scale of the Hindu caste hierarchy. Jats were Shudras because of their profession, so were the Dalits. But the profession (agriculture) of the Jats was placed on a higher scale in the Hindu caste hierarchy in comparision to that of the Dalits, who were considered polluted as

well as polluting because of their professional closeness to the carrion, human excreta and leatherwork. Enough references are available in the literatures on social mobility indicating the importance assigned to the profession of agriculture for uplifting the status of the marginalized groups. So much so that some of the Dalits opted for agricultural labour work in order to escape the social taint caused by their polutted professions. Thus inspite of the Jats and Dalits being both Shudras they belonged to two different status groups within the same broader category (Shudras) in the Hindu social hierarchy. The Jats of Punjab are primarily an agriculture community. There is no consensus among the scholars about their origins and social rankings. However, they were considered to be egalitarian in their social dealings among themselves. Social hierarchies were alien to them. So was the gender discrimination. They were neither artisans nor menials. Since they were primarily first pastoral and then agriculturalists, they cannot surely be clubbed together with the categories of the artisans and the menials who were distinctly characterized by the ancillary nature of their hereditary professions to agriculture. Jats were also known as pagans who fall beyond the pale of the Hindu religion. Their placement within the Varna system is also disputed. Since every profession that involves physical work is generally consigned into a lower status within the Brahminical Social Order (BSO), the profession of agriculture was not an exception. In fact, in the BSO polughing was considered to be below the status of the upper castes. An upper caste often prefers to die of starvation than to touch the plough that lowers his social status in the rigid caste hierarchy. The fourth Varna (the lowest), popularly known as Shudra, consisted primarily of the artisan and the menial castes. Similarly there is no doubt about the profile of the first

(priest), second (soldiers), and the third (traders) Varnas. However, as far as Jats (agricultural caste) were concerned they were not clearly categorized in the Varna order. Their erstwhile social exclusion was based more on the unique social traditions and customs that they followed than on the polluting nature of their profession. Another factor that made the life of the Dalits further miserable was the fact that they were deprived of land ownership. So in an agrarian economy they were forced to depend for their livelihood by working on the land of some one else. That posited them in direct confrontation with the Jats the dominant land owning caste in Punjab. Unlike the case of Jats versus Khatris in the eighteenth century, the Dalits in contemporary Punjab are entangled with the Jats in a face-to-face contradiction in the sector of agriculture. Their relationship with the Jats is that of landlords versus landless agricultural workers. Despite their largest proportion in the population of the state in the country (29 percent [2001 census]), they own just 2.34 percent share in the agricultural land, the lowest in the country. Their share in the trade, industry, financial sector, health, and religious establishments in the state is also almost negligible. It is in this context that the Jats (the landholders), and the Dalits (the landless agricultural workers) find themselves in a situation of direct confrontation. However, there are many Dalits in the state who have improved their economic conditions by dissociating from their caste occupations and distancing them from the profession of agriculture. They have strengthened their economic position through sheer hard work and enterprise. Although the constitutional affirmative action played an important role in the upliftment of the Dalits in general, the monopoly of the Punjabi Dalits of the leather business in the famous Boota Mandi in the Doaba sub-region of the state and their

ventures abroad turned out to be of crucial importance in overcoming their economic hardships. Some of them have established their own small-scale servicing units [carpentry, barber, blacksmith shops etc. In addition, they have also been politicized to a large extant by the socio-political activities of the famous Ad Dharm movementand of the various Ravidass Deras (religious centers dedicated to the teachings and philosophy of Guru Ravidass). In this case they have not only improved their economic status, but have also liberated themselves from the subordination of the Jat landowners. Consequently, their improved economic circumstances propelled them to aspire for a commensurate social status, which they seek through their memberships of the alternate non-Sikh Deras. Thus armed with the weapon of improved economic conditions and sharpened social consciousness, the Dalits in Punjab mustered enough strength to ask for a concomitant rise in their social status. They also turn towards various Deras that help them in seeking new and respectable social identity they are terribaly in need of. However, the Jats interpreted such Dalit assertion as a challenge to their long established supremacy in the state and also to their SikhKhalsa identity that in turn sharpened the contradictions between them and the Dalits. This has led to a series of violent caste conflicts between the Dalits and the Jats in Punjab over the last few years. Such conflicts are in no way a manifestation of communalism in the state. They are, In fact, signs of emerging Dalit assertion, which has all the possibilities of snowballing into a serious violent conflict. THIS ARTICLE WAS POSTED ON www.ambedkartimes.com , JUNE 12, 2007 ================================================

============================ MAYAWATI AND THE SECOND SOCIO-CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN UTTAR PARDESH RONKI RAM (DR.) PANJAB UNIVERSITY CHANDIGARH (INDIA) ronkiram@yahoo.co.in Mayawati, the BSP supremo, sworn in as 40th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on May 13, 2007. This is the second socio-cultural revolution in the history of Uttar Pradesh where during the medieval Bhakti movement Guru Ravi Dass, an untouchable poet-saint of very high repute, convinced the Brahmins that it was not caste but ones deeds which are important. Brahmins and Rajput Kings prostrated before him and Ranis and Maharanis of the then rulers and the rulers themselves became his followers. It seems that history was repeating itself when Brahmins and Thakurs among others were touching the feet of BSP supremo Mayawati during the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet at Lucknow. Once again Mayawati has proved that hollow prestige based on birth when put on trial in the democratic court of social justice failed to stand any more. But proving that is much easier said than done. Guru Ravi Dass fought a relentless battle against his tormentors who were adopting all fair and foul tactics to prevent him from entering into the mainstream of the social space. He unleashed a frontal attack on the long tradition of social oppression and untouchability. He took the battle right into the capital of the Brahmanical Social Order (BSO) and lay bare its fraudulent social

structure. He employed Bhakti (loving devotion) as a method of protest against social exclusion. In his Bhakti he laid emphasis on compassion for all and absolute faith in God. His method was very daring and noble. He choose to challenge his tormentors by adopting the iconography of their dress code as a symbol of revolt which was not only highly objectionable but was equally deadly for a Shudra of his times. He rejected all forms of religious rituals and sectarian formalities. He challenged the tyranny of Brahmins and defied them by wearing Dhoti (cloth wrapped around the waist), Janeue (sacred thread) and Tilak (sacred red mark on forehead) that were forbidden for the untouchables. Though he attired himself like an upper caste, he did not hide his caste. He continued with his hereditary occupation of making/mending shoes. While adopting the prohibited dress and symbols of the upper castes, and at the same time sticking to his hereditary occupation he, probably, tried to show how lower castes could achieve their human rights without compromising with their separate Dalit identity. His Bhakti method of social protest reflected the democratic and egalitarian traits of his social philosophy. When challenged in their own estate and even in their own fiefdom of Bhakti, Brahmins had no option but to participate in a debate on the shastras thrown open by the Kashi Naresh (King). As Chandrabhan Prasad argues, Ravidass genius found no match. The pandits turned pale, bending before the saint in recognition of his greatness. The saint rode the royal chariot through the lanes of Kashi, the King standing by his side. That was the Dalits first war of independence. Kashi was secured. The cow belt Brahmins never recovered from the shock, and were forced to reconcile to the Dalits cerebral superiority. History was repeated on May 13, 2007. The place was Lucknow, the current capital of power in UP. And the star of the battle was

Mayawati. To be more precise this time the battle was not around the shastras but about the numbers in the game of electoral politics. To win in such a fierce modern battle is to prove ones metal. And more so when you have been fighting while sharing the chariot with the ones who were very recently sitting in your opposite camp. Mayawati did very well. She proved her metal and turned victorious. She has reinforced the cerebral superiority of the Dalits once again. It is in this context that her grand success in the recently concluded assembly election in Uttar Pradesh can be considered as the second socio-cultural revolution in the heartland of the varnashram order. Mayawati has provided a single-party government after more than 16 years breaking the whirlpool of coalition politics in UP. In fact, Mayawati put an end to coalition politics and ushered into an era of "Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim-ThakurVaishya-Bhumihar-OBCs" sarvjan combined rule. This new form of "combined rule of sarvjan" under the leadership of the Dalits is certainly an advancement not only over the tight rope walk of the coalition system that India has been experiencing for the last many years, but also a new beginning of the coming of the marginalized into the center stage of power politics. Mayawati's Dalit-Brahmin thesis and her emphasis on "sarv samaj" coupled with the social engineering formula would facilitate in laying down parameters for the mitigation of the gap between what Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar said "political equality and social and economic inequality" in India. In other words, this new system of sarvjan combined rule would certainly help in deepening of the roots of democracy in India and inculcating positive feelings among the downtrodden that they too matter in this land where they were for centuries kept socially excluded, politically marginalized and economically deprived. Now they feel encouraged to come forward

not to plead or ask for favors because they were neglected but because they are able to provide leadership to safely steer the ship to its destination. It was vividly clear from the oath taking ceremony dais where Smt. Mayawati was occupying the front seat followed by Pandit S.C. Mishra, general secretary of BSP. Is it not really a revolution in Brahmin dominated social set-up in India where they have agreed to not only sit behind Dalits but also to touch their feet? Imagine this even a few years before! Mayawati is absolutely right when she said that behind her great victory lays the philosophy of Phule, Naryana Guru, Periyar, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and Babu Kanshi Ram. In fact, it is she who tried to put this philosophy into action and translated it into reality. Whether the Savarnas were falling at the feet of Mayawati out of gratitude or of political expediency is not the point. The real point is that by putting the Brahmins and Thakurs in line and commanding respect, Mayawati has been able to evaporate the Laxman Rekha of Varnashramdharma. She has set the ball of self-respect and dignity of the so-called Avarnas rolling. She has brought the Savarnas and Avarnas on a single platform, of course, led by her. What is even more important is that she achieved all this through democratic way without firing a single shot. And people of all sorts (read castes) stood by her in her battle against social repression and jungle rule. In fact, this is not in any case less than a social revolution. This revolution needs to be replicated in other parts of the country too, if India really wants to shine as a world power in near future. If India wants to march ahead, social exclusion has to be ended first. Untouchability is not a problem of the Shudras only; it is a number one problem of the entire Indian society. It needs to be tackle immediately. Baba Sahib Dr. B.R. Ambedkar sounded a grave warning on November 25, 1949 in the Constituent Assembly on the

completion of the Draft Constitution: On the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so labouriously built up. Mayawati has fired the first shot. The struggle has to continue. Posted on May 15th, 2007 ================================================ ============================ BSP Supremo Mayawati sworn in as 40th Chief Minister of the state Uttar Pardesh

On May 13, 2007 BSP supremo Mayawati sworn in as 40th Chief Minister of the State (UP) that is going to play a decisive role in the forth coming presidential election. She has privided a single-party government after more than 16 years breaking the whirlpool of coalition politics in UP. In fact, Mayawati put an end to coalition politics and ushered into an era of "Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim-ThakurVaishya-Bhumihar-OBCs" sarvjan combined rule. This new form of "combined rule of sarvjan" under the leadership of the Dalits is cetrtainly an advancement not only over the tight rope walk of the coalition system India has been experencing for the last many years, but also a new begining of the coming of the marginalized into the centre stage of power politics. Mayawati's Dalit-Brahmin thesis and her emphasis on "sarv samaj" combined with the social engineering formula would facilate in layingdown parameters for the mitigation

of gap between what Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar said "political equality and social and economic inequality" in India. In other words, this new system of combined rule would certainly help in deepening of the roots of democracy in India and inculcatinig positive feelings among the downtrodden that they too matter in this land where they were for centuries kept socially excluded, politically marginalized and economically deprived. Now they feel incouraged to come forward not to plead or ask for favours because they were neglected but because they are able to provide leadership to safely steer the ship to its destination. It was vivdly clear from the oath taking ceremony dias where Smt. Mayawati was occupaying the front seat followed by Pandit S.C.Mishra, general secretary of BSP. Is it not really a revolution in Brahmin dominated social set-up in India where they have agreed to not only sit behind Dalits but also to touch their feet! Imagine this even a few years before! Here Mayawati is absolutely right when she said that behind all this the philosophy of Phule, Naryana Guru, Periyar, Dr. Ambedkar, and Babu Kanshi Ram has been playing the determinant role. And it is she who has put it into action and translated it into reality. In her 49-member Ministry 19 Ministers are of cabinet rank, 21 ministers of state (independent charge)and 9 ministers of state. The caste composition of her cabinet is: three Brahmins, one Muslim, one Thakur, one Bhumihar, one Vaishya, four Scheduled Casdtes and eighy OBCs.Cabinet ministers are: Naseeruddin Siddiqui, Ramveer Upadhyaya, Inderajit Saroj, Lalji Verma, Thakur Jaiveer Singh, Sukhdev Rajbhar, Swami Prasad Maurya, Ved Ram Bhati, Laxmi Narain, Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, Babu Singh Kushwaha, Jai Narain Rai, Phagu Chauhan, Nakul Dubey, Daddoo Prasad, Narain Singh, Sudhir Goel, Ram Prasad Chaudhary and Dharam Singh Saini.

We all wish her success in her endeavours, Ronki Ram (Dr.)

Panjab University, Chandigarh (India), Cell:+91 987 286 1290

Poted on May 13, 2007 ================================================ =========================== RESURGENCE OF DALITS: DELHI IS NOT FAR Dear Jai Bheem! Congratulations The victory of the BSP in UP has shown the way to power to those who were being denied for centuries. Power game has its own grammer. It seems the followers of Babu Kanshi Ram are now not too late to master it. BSP supremo, Mayawati has proved it. She has meticulously worked out the dynamics of number game. She has not only convinced her own people that united they win and divided they loose, but has also established her credentials among the dwijas who uptill very recently were opposed tooth and nail to the coming of Dalits in to the public sphere. What is even more important is that the people of UP are convinced that if any political party can provide them relief from the mounting atrocities of the erswhile establishment it is the BSP under the strong leadership of the Madam Mayawati. They reposed confidence in her leadership and brought her into power to bring rule of law as well as justice in the All,

beleaguered state of UP. Many are keeping the fingers crossed as to how Madam Mayawati would be able to make a balance between the Dalit emancipatory agenda of the BSP and the political expedency of her power politics. It seems, given her acumen and dexterity in politics, she would be able to tell the world that Dalits are now come of age and that Delhi is not too far from them.Once again Congrats to all of you. Ronki Ram (Dr.),

Dept. of Political Science,Panjab University, Chandigarh, India Cell: +91 987 286 1290. Posted on May 11th, 2007

============================================= ====================== SPECIAL ARTICLE ON 27TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY BABU MANGOO RAM AND EMANCIPATION OF THE DALITS RONKI RAM (DR.) DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH. (INDIA) E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in> Babu Mangoo Ram, a renouned revolutionary and founder of the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab was born at Mugowal, a village in the district of Hoshiarpur, on 14th January 1886. His forefathers were practising the occupation of tanning raw hides. However, his father, Harnam Dass, had abandoned the traditional caste-based occupation of tanning and preparing hides, and taken up

the profession of selling the tanned leather on commercial basis. Since the leather trade required the knowledge of English language to read the sale orders, he was eager to have Mangoo Ram receive education to free him from the begar (forced labour), which he had to do in lieu of English orders read for him by the upper caste literates. Initially, Mangoo Ram was taught by a village Sadhu (Saint), then after studying at different schools he joined a high school at Bajwara, a town few miles away from his home. Being a chamar, he had to sit separately from the other upper caste students. In fact, he used to take a gunny bag from his home for sitting in a segregated place outside the classroom. In 1905 Mangoo Ram left the high school to help his father in leather trade. For three years he helped his father develop leather trade into a thriving business. However, in 1909 he left for America to follow into the footsteps of his peer group in the Doaba region. Interestingly enough even in America Mangoo Ram had to work on the farms of a Punjabi Zamindar who had settled in California. In other words, even in America he had to experience the same relations of production as back home in India. How a shudra immigrant worker, who works on the land of an Indian upper caste landlord settled abroad, feels and experiences work conditions and its resultant relations of production is an altogether a separate question. However, while in California, Mangoo Ram came in close contact with the Ghadar Movement - a radical organisation aimed at liberating India from the British rule through armed insurrection. In fact, he participated in the weapon smuggling mission of the organisation. He was arrested and given the capital punishment but was saved from the death sentence by a chance as someone else in his name was executed. The news of his supposed death reached his village. According to the tradition of his community, his widow, named Piari married his elder brother. Mangoo Ram, on reaching

India, remarried and had four sons from his second wife named Bishno. After his return from abroad where he spent as many as sixteen years, Mangoo Ram did not find any change in Indian society that was still infested with the disease of untouchability. He said While living abroad, said Mangoo Ram, I had forgotten about the hierarchy of high and low, and untouchability; and under this very wrong impression returned home in December 1925. The same misery of high and low, and untouchability, which I had left behind to go abroad, started afflicting again. I wrote about all this to my leader Lala Hardyal Ji that until and unless this disease is cured Hindustan could not be liberated. In accordance with his orders, a program was formulated in 1926 for the awakening and upliftment of Achhut qaum (untouchable community) of India. Having settled in his native village, he opened up a school for the lower caste children in the village. Initially, the school was opened up, temporarily in the garden of Risaldar Dhanpat Rai, a landlord of his village. Later on, Lamberdar Beeru Ram Sangha, another landlord of the same village, donated half-acre land for the purpose of formally opening up the school. The school had five teachers including Mangoo Ram. One of the teachers of the school was a Muslim, Walhi Mohammad and one was Brahmin, who was later on converted into a Shudra. The conversion ceremony comprised of an earthen pot (Douri), which contained water mingled with sugar balls (Patasha) and stirred with leather cutting tool (Rambi). Thus the prepared sweet water considered as holy was given to Brahmins to

baptize them into Shudras (Interview with Chatter Sain, 27 April 2001). Now a days, the school land has been declared as Shamlat (common land), and no remnants of the building exist except the old dilapidated structure of the well meant for drinking water in the school. It was in that school that the first official meeting of the Ad Dharm movement was held on June 11-12, 1926. There is another version about the school that traced its origin to the support provided by the Arya Samaj. However, given his close association with the Ghadar movement in California, Mangoo Rams relationships with the Arya Samaj was not as close as that of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudranand. Moreover, his personal experience of being treated as an equal in America, particularly by his fellow Ghadarites, inculcated in him an intense desire and inspiration for equality and social justice. This led him to lay the foundation of the Ad Dharm movement to streamline the struggle against untouchability. Soon he emerged as a folk-hero of the dalits who started rallying around him, particularly in the dalit concentrated areas of the Doaba region. However, after a while the Ad Dharm organisation got factionalised resulting in a split in 1929 into two groups: one headed by Vasant Rai and the other by Mangoo Ram. There emerged two independent organisations: the Ad Dharm Mandal with its office in Jalandhar was headed by Mangoo Ram and the All Indian Ad Dharm Mandal with its headquarters in Lyalpur was headed by Vasant Rai. The All India Ad Dharm Mandal got disbanded and merged with the organisation led by Dr Ambedkar in 1933 and after some years the same fate fell on Ad Dharm of Mangoo Ram, who closed the office of the Ad Dharm Mandal and changed its name to Ravidass Mandal. However, close associates of the Ad Dharm movement contested this observation. They said that Ad Dharm Mandal was not changed into Ravidass Mandal. In fact, later on, Ravidass School was opened up in the premises of the Ad

Dharm Mandal building. So it was Ravidass School, which merely came to occupy the space of the Ad Dharm Mandal building rather than its being taken over by Ravidass Mandal. (Interviews with: late Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 29, 2001; K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P) Pb. (retd.) Chandigarh, April 28, 2001). The Vasant Rai group of the Ad Dharm Mandal was thoroughly soaked into the ideology of the Arya Samaj. In fact this group was lured back by the Arya Samaj. Although the Arya Samaj dominated section of Ad Dharm Mandal withdrew itself from the Mangoo Rams group in 1929, the latter played an active part in the politics of Punjab for a period of two decades from 1926 to 1952. Mangoo Ram set a clear agenda for the emancipation of the Dalits and their upliftment. The agenda was: restore their lost indigenous religion and provide them with a sense of self-respect and dignity. The method to achieve this agenda was: cultural transformation and spiritual regeneration. Mangoo Ram was not in favour of embracing any other existing religion. He was in favour of strengthening the Adi (the original) religion of the indigenous people of this country. His views on Hindu religion were very clear. He was of the opinion that since Dalits were not born Hindu where is the need to leave that religion and to embrace some other one. Mangoo Ram thought it appropriate to empower Dalits by carving out a separate Dalit identity on the basis of their indigenous religious strength (Ad Dharm). In the poster announcing the first annual meeting of Ad Dharm Movement, Mangoo Ram devoted the entire space to the hardships faced by the untouchables at the hands of the caste Hindus. He also made an appeal to the Achhuts to come together to chalk out a program for their liberation and upliftment while addressing the

Chamars, Chuhras, Sansis, Bhanjhras, Bhils etc. as brothers, he said, We are the real inhabitants of this country and our religion is Ad Dharm. Hindu Qaum came from outside to deprive us of our country and enslave us. At one time we reigned over Hind. We are the progeny of kings; Hindus came down from Iran to Hind and destroyed our qaum. They deprived us of our property and rendered us nomadic. They razed down our forts and houses, and destroyed our history. We are seven Crores in numbers and are registered as Hindus in this country. Liberate the Adi race by separating these seven crores. They (Hindus) became lord and call us others. Our seven crore number enjoy no share at all. We reposed faith in Hindus and thus suffered a lot. Hindus turned out to be callous. Centuries ago Hindus suppressed us sever all ties with them. What justice we expect from those who are the butchers of Adi race. Time has come, be cautious, now the Government listens to appeals. With the support of sympathetic Government, come together to save the race. Send members to the Councils so that our qaum is strengthened again. British rule should remain forever. Make prayer before God. Except for this Government, no one is sympathetic towards us. Never consider us Hindus at all, remember that our religion is Ad Dharm. The way, the leaders of Ad Dharm chose to restore dignity and freedom to the untouchables was to completely detach them from

Hinduism and to consolidate them into their own ancient religion Ad Dharm - of which they had become oblivious during the age-old domination by the alien Hindus. In fact, the task of the revival of their ancient religion was not an easy one by virtue of the fact that during a long period of persecution at the hands of the Savarnas, the untouchables had forgotten their Gurus and other religious symbols. In fact they were never allowed to nurture an aspiration to have their own independent religion. They were condemned as profane and were declared unfit to have their own theology. Thus to revive Ad Dharm was tantamount to developing an altogether a new religion for the Achhuts. Mangoo Rams appeal that the Dalits were the real inhabitants of this land made an enormous psychological impact on the untouchables who were treated as, even inferior to animals in Indian society. The appeal inspired them to come out of their slumber and fight for their freedom and liberty. The Ad Dharm provided a theological podium to sustain and reinforce the new Dalit identity. For centuries, they were bereft of any identity and remained in the appendage of the hierarchically graded Hindu society. Before 1920s, especially before the rise of Ad Dharm movement, the untouchables in Punjab hardly envisaged the idea of seeking a separate identity. The growing communal politics and resultant unrest within Punjab in the 1920s coupled with the emergence of Dalit organisations in different parts of the country, offered them a good opportunity to carve out such an identity. In the pre-partition Punjab, untouchables constituted one-fourth of the total population. Since scheduled castes did not have their separate religion, they were being counted as Hindus. In a system of communal representation, Muslim leaders were thinking that the Achhuts, who were never considered as equal by the caste Hindus, should be separated from them and equally divided between the Hindus and Muslims.

It was not only Muslims who alone had such an approach, even the Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus also wanted to absorb them into their respective religion for political benefits. In the absence of any other alternative open to them, a large number of the Achhuts of Punjab converted into Christianity (especially the chuhras of Sialkot and Gurdaspur), Sikhism (in Sialkot and Gurdaspur), and Islam (Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore division). Consequently, the Hindus in the province had been reduced from 43.8% in 1881 to 30.2% in 1931 while the Sikhs increased from 8.2% to 14.3% and the Muslims from 40.6% to about 52% and in the British territory the population of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims in 1931 was 26.80%, 12.99% and 56.4% respectively (Census of India, 1931, Vol. xvii, Punjab Part i, p. 291). Obviously, it alarmed the Arya Samaj to put an end to the conversions of Achhuts lest it turned out as a political suicide for Hindus. Lala Lajpat Rais Achhut Udhar Mandal at Lahore, Swami Ganesh Dutts Antyaj Udhar Mandal at Lahore and Lala Devi Chands Dayanad Dalit Udhar Mandal at Hoshiarpur came up in response to these conversions. As a matter of fact, the Arya Samaj started Shuddhi campaign to bring the converted Achhuts back into the Hindu-fold. This also brought the Arya Samaj into confrontation with the Sikhs and the Muslims. In a famous incident in 1900, Sikhs rebelled at the Arya Samajs practice of publicly shaving lower caste Sikhs and offering them Shuddhi. It was at this stage that Ad Dharm entered into the volatile territories of communal politics in Punjab. The emancipatory project launched by Mangoo Ram inspired the

lower castes to make efforts for their upliftment. Ad Dharm posited emphasis on the social equality of the Dalits and stressed on creating social and cultural awakening amog them. Ad Dharm movement aimed at securing a distinct identity for the dalits, independent both of the Hindu and Sikh religions. Sikhs and Hindus treated the dalits discriminately. But at times of counting their strategic strength they project the dalits as if they belonged to them. The central motif of the Ad Dharm movement was to highlight that untouchables constitute a qaum (Community), a distinct religious community similar to those of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and that the qaum had existed from time immemorial On this account the Ad Dharm movement resembles the other Adi movements, which consider the low castes as the original inhabitants of India who had been subjugated by the Aryans. The Aryans, they allege came from outside and established their rule and made them subservient to them. The Ad Dharm movement aimed at making the dalits realise that they have three powers: Communal pride (Qaumiat), Religion (Mazhab) and Organisation (Majlis). All these three powers of the untouchables were lying buried under the burden of untouchability. Mangoo Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm movement exhorted the untouchables to come forward to assert for their rights through building on these three main sources of their power. During the 1931 census, Ad Dharm movement succeeded in registering a large number of low castes in Punjab as Ad Dharmis separate from Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the 1931 Punjab census, a total of 418,789 persons reported themselves as Ad Dharmis almost equal to that of the Christian population of the region. Since the center of the Ad Dharm movement was in Doaba region, nearly eighty percent of the lower castes of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts reported themselves as Ad Dharmis (ibid.:77). It

was for the first time in the history of lower castes that they had come forward to officially declare themselves as separate and independent of the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religions. This was, perhaps, the beginning of the dalit assertion in North India. It got further impetus in the first election that took place in 1937 after the promulgation of the Government of India Act of 1935. Ad Dharm Mandal contested election in all the eight reserved seats and won all except one. In the 1945-46, Punjab Legislative Assembly elections on the eve of independence Ad Dharm also registered its presence by contesting in alliance with the Unionist Party. Mangoo Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm was one of the elected candidates. Ad Dharm movement was instrumental not only in helping the lower castes to get registered as a distinct religion in the 1931 census and providing them the platform to enter into the State Legislature, it also went a long way in bringing a cultural transformation in their life. In fact, Ad Dharm movement, as has been mentioned above, aimed at facilitating a cultural transformation in the life of lower castes that, under the impact of the centuries old system of degradation, had actually internalised a sense of being low and polluted. Mangoo Ram wanted to liberate them from such a state of mind and also to inculcate in them the feeling of dignity and self respect whereby they could start thinking about them as equal to the so-called twice-born people. Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 lists a number of moral principles and duties, which the followers of the Ad Dharm are required to adhere to for creating spiritual regeneration and cultural transformation in their lives. Among the most important moral principles and the duties mentioned in the report are: The basic principles listed in the Report are: (1) The essential teachings of the Ad Dharm will always be the same: no one can

change them. They can stay alive and persist only through the help of a guru. (2) Every man and woman belongs to the faith, but they may not know it. To live without a guru is a sin. (3) A guru should be someone who truly and rightly knows the teachings of the previous masters. He should be able to distinguish between falsehood and truth. He should be able to bring peace and love within the community. (4) Everyone should be instructed by the lives of previous masters; progress comes from following the masters examples. The practices of previous masters should not be abandoned. This leads to progress. (5) There should not be any discrimination in regard to eating with other castes. (6) Ad Dharmis should abstain from theft, fraud, lies, dishonesty, looking at someone elses wife with bad intentions, using anything which brings intoxication, gambling, and usurping other persons property or belongings. All of these things are against the law of nature and therefore the law of Ad Dharm. (7) Every Ad Dharmi has the duty to teach his children current knowledge and also to teach them to be obedient to the present king. (8) Every Ad Dharmi should read the Ad Prakash and act upon it. This is a foremost duty. (9) Ad Dharm does not believe in the caste system or any inferiority or superiority of this sort. (10) To learn and seek knowledge, and to learn and seek progress is compulsory for every man and woman. The twelve duties mentioned in the Report are as follows: (1) to publicize and propagate Ad Dharm. (2) To take pride in Ad Dharm. (3) To promote the use of name of the community and to use the red mark, this is its sign. (4) Ad Dharmis should try to retrieve any property of fellow Ad Dharmi that has been usurped. (5) We should distinguish among Hindus, Ad Dharmis, and other communities of India. (6)Those books, which have created the problem of untouchability and led to discrimination - books such as the Laws of Manu and other Shastras should be completely boycotted and

abandoned. (7) We should celebrate the festivals of our gurus and follow our faith to the utmost. (8) Abandon idolatry. (9) Receive education for ourselves and others in the brotherhood. (10) Boycott those who curse us as untouchables or discriminate against us. (11) Bring all demands of Ad Dharmis before the government. (12) Abandon expensive marriage and practice of child marriage. The fifty-six commandments included in the Report are: (1) Each Ad Dharmi should know everything about the faith. (2) For the betterment and salvation of ones body physical and spiritual one should recite the word soham. (3) Each Ad Dharmi should remember Guru Dev for half an hour each morning or evening. (4) When Ad Dharmis meet, their greeting should be jai Guru Dev. (5) We should be true followers of the founders, Rishi Valmiki, Guru Ravi Das, Maharaj Kabir, and Bhagwan Sat Guru Nam Dev. (6) a guru is necessary, one who knows about previous gurus and has all the capabilities of being a guru. (7) The wife of a guru should be regarded as ones mother, the gurus daughter as ones sister. (8) Devotion to ones wife should be a part of ones faith, for therein lies salvation. (9) Every Ad Dharmi should abstain from theft, fraud, lies, dishonesty, and usurping the property of others. (11) One should not cause someone else heartache. There is no worse sin than this. (12) Every Ad Dharmi should enthusiastically participate in Ad Dharmi festivals and rituals. (13) There should be equally great happiness at the birth of both boys and girls. (14) After the age of five, every boy and girl should be given proper religious teaching. (15) Extravagant expenses at weddings are useless. Every marriage should be conducted according to rituals of our tradition. (16) Ad Dharmis should marry only Ad Dharmis. To marry someone outside Ad Dharm is not legal, but if someone does marry an outsider, he or she should be brought into the faith. (17) All Ad Dharmis, both men and women, should be obedient to their parents.

(18) After the death of both parents it is the duty of each Ad Dharmi to cook food and distribute it among the poor. (19) The dead should be cremated, except for those under the age of five, who should be buried. (20) Ad Dharmis do not follow any other law except their own. (21) In the Ad Dharm faith only one marriage is allowed, but a husband may marry after the death of his wife. Also, if the first wife does not bear children, the husband may take another wife, provided he has the consent of the first wife. If this happens, the first wife remains a legal wife, with all the rights she had before. (22) Ad Dharmis should marry their children to the Ad Dharmis of the surrounding areas. (23) A girl should be more than twelve years old at the time of the marriage. The boy should be four years older than the girl. (24) It is illegal to receive money for a bride; on the other hand, there should not be a dowry. Those who sell their daughters commit a very great sin. (25) Offerings and sacrifices for prayers should be given only to those holy men who are Ad Dharmi and who have shown themselves to follow Ad Dharmi principles religiously. (26) It is necessary for each Ad Dharmi to provide primary education to both boys and girls. (27) The girls should be educated especially in household work such as sewing and needlework. (28) Young girls and boys should not be sent out to cut grass and gather wood. (29) It is the duty of parents not to allow young widowed daughters to remain in their household, because a young widowed daughter is a cause of disgrace. (30) If an Ad Dharmi widow with children wants to hold a commemoration of her deceased husband, but cannot afford it, then the Ad Dharm Mandal of Jullundur and its members will help her. (31) It is not good to cry and beat oneself at a death or funeral. To do so is to anger Guru Dev. (32) Among the Ad Dharmis sons and daughters should receive an equal inheritance. (33) To eat the meat of a dead animal or bird is against the law of Ad Dharm. (34) To use wine or any other intoxicants is a

sin, except in the case of sickness. (35) It is legal to eat food offered at noon Ad Dharm marriages, but the food should be decent, and not leftovers. (36) Cleanliness is important. It guaranteed good health. (37) It is forbidden to practice idolatry and worship statues, and one should not believe in magic, ghosts, or anything of the sort. (38) All Ad Dharmis should forget notions of caste and untouchability and work toward the unity of all people in the world. (39) Each Ad Dharmi should help a fellow Ad Dharmi in need. (40) One Ad Dharmi must not work at a place where another Ad Dharmi works until the first Ad Dharmi has been paid his wages. (41) If Ad Dharmis enter into a dispute with one another, they should attempt to come to some agreement by themselves or within the community. If no agreement is accomplished, they should refer the case to the Ad Dharm Mandal, Jullundur, and the Executive Committee will take action. (42) Ad Dharmis should open shops and business in every village. (43) Every Ad Dharmi should be a missionary for the faith. (44) Ad Dharmis should call themselves such and register in the census as Ad Dharmi. (45) A Red turban on the head is mandatory, for it is the color of our ancestors. (46) Every Ad Dharmi should work hard for the progress and peace of the community. (47) Ad Dharmis hould organize themselves into cadres called martyrdom cells. They should work hard on the Ad Dharms projects. (48) Each Ad Dharmis hould separate himself form Hindus, Sikhs, and members of other religions. (49) Each Ad Dharmi should be a good citizen, a patriot loyal to the present government, and should follow the law of the land. (50) Ad Dharmis have the obligation to consider the Ad Dharm Mandal of Punjab, city of Jullundur, as their rightful representative, and to recognize that the programs of the AD Dharm are for their benefit. (51) It is the duty of every Ad Dharmi to trust the Ad Dharm Mandal of Jullundur, and to share its work. (52) All local branches of the Ad

Dharm should be certified by the Ad Dharm Mandal of Jullundur, and those, which are not certified, should not be considered genuine. (53) All Ad Dharmis should save their fellow Ad Dharmis from fraud and selfishness on the part of other communities. If such a situation arises, the Mandal should be informed. (54) Each Ad Dharmi should report any difficulty concerning the community to the Mandal in Jullundur. (55) Ad Dharmis should subscribe to the qaums newspaper, Adi Danka. They should receive it regularly, read it regularly, a nd help support it regularly. (56) Anyone violating the laws of the Ad Dharm or of the guru, or who insults these laws in one way or another, will be liable to punishment, even the greatest punishment being banished from the community. The main emphasis of these commandments, principles and duties, in the opinion of Babu Mangoo Ram, was to strengthen the social, cultural and religious life of the Dalits so that it could help them build Dalit Solidarity and empowerm. ===================================== Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar and Nationalism Dr. Ronki Ram ronkiram@yahoo.co.in DEPTOF POLITICLE SCIENCE,

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH-14 (INDIA) Dr. Ambedkar was an iconoclastic social reformer who at the very formative years of his career realized what it meant to be an untouchable and how struggle against untouchability could be

launched. The social reform movement of the caste Hindus could not win him to its side because of his existential understanding of the pangs of untouchability. The issue of untouchability, for social reformers, was a mere problem. This problem was exterior to them in the sense that it affects only the untouchables. They themselves had never experienced the sinisterous blows of untouchability. Though they were sympathetic to the cause of Dalits, but they belonged to the camp that imposed this inhuman system of social segregation on the Dalits. Baba Sahibs analysis of the origins of the untouchability and his action plans for its eradication were different from the approach and practice of the caste Hindu social reformers. What distinguished Baba Sahib from the other social reformers was that he looked at the problems of the Dalits from below, from a vantage point of the deprived and oppressed. This perspective led him to think differently from the dominant stream of social and political thought of his time. His major works on: Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development; Annihilation of Caste; Who Were the Shudras; The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? are testimonies to his independent and original thinking. He smashed the mythological basis of untouchability and laid bare its economic roots. He built a strong case against the Janam (birth) thesis of the untouchability which foreclosed all the ways for Dalit emancipation. He exhorted its victims to oppose it tooth and nail. He said, It is disgraceful to live at the cost of ones self respect. Self-respect is most vital factor in life. Without it, man is a mere cipher. To live worthily with self-respect one has to overcome difficulties. It is out of hard and ceaseless struggle alone that one derives strength, confidence and recognition. He drew a distinction between merely living and living worthily. For living a

worthy life, Ambedkar said, society must be based on liberty, equality and fraternity. For Ambedkar, social tyranny is more oppressive than the political tyranny and a reformer who defies society, is a much more courageous man than a politician, who defies government Ambedkar was one who defied society. In the beginning of his social reform crusade, he tried to get respect and equality for the Dalits by bringing reforms within the social set up of Hinduism. He continued his struggle for empowerment of the Dalits by seeking changes within the fold of Hinduism till 1935. When he realized that the salvation of Dalits was not possible while living within the fold of Hinduism, he started his scathing criticism and tirade against Hinduism and ultimately sought the emancipation of Dalits and its empowerment from outside the Hindu religion. Hence his conversion to Buddhism. For Ambedkar the issue of Dalit liberation was the foremost issue and he emphasized that Dalits themselves have to come forward for its realization. Thus, Ambedkar provided a subaltern perspective to see clearly the chameleon of Indian casteridden social set-up deceptively appearing in crimson colors and the ways to guard the interests of the Dalits.

Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar made stringent efforts to transform the hierarchical structures of Indian society for the restoration of equal rights and justice to the neglected lot by building up a critique from within the structure of Indian society. His was not a theoretical attempt but a practical approach to the problems of untouchability. He tried to seek the solution to this perennial problem of the Indian society not by making appeals to the conscience of the usurpers or bringing transformation in the outlook of the individual by begging but by seeking transformation in the

socio-religious and politico-economic structures of the Indian society by continuous and relentless struggle against the exploitative system where he thought the roots of the untouchability lay. He thought that until and unless the authority of the Dharam Shastras is shaken which provided divine sanction to the system of discrimination based on the caste hierarchy, the eradication of untouchability could not be realised. He was of the opinion that untouchability emanated neither from religious notions, nor from the much-popularised theory of Aryan conquest. On the contrary, it came into existence as a result of the struggle among the tribes at a stage when they were starting to settle down for a stable life. In the process, the settled tribes employed the broken tribesmen as guards against the marauding bands. These broken tribesmen employed as guards became untouchables. Dr. Ambedkars views on Indian nationalism in opposition to the dominant discourse of Hindu nationalism as represented by Raja Rammohan Roy, B.G. Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Golvalkar and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on the one hand, and Communist-secular-socialist nationalism represented by M.N. Roy, R. P. Duta, T. Nagi Reddy and E.M.S. Namboodripad on the other, are not only distinct but also original. Hindu nationalism in essence aims at strengthening the Brahamanical supremacy in the postcolonial India. The communist-secular-social nationalism though based on abolition of class, its ideologues like that of the Hindu nationalism also belonged to the upper-castes and were myopic to the Dalits tribulations. Dr. Ambedkars conception of nationalism articulated and synthesized the national perceptions and aspirations of the downtrodden. Ambedkars alternative form of nationalism, popularly known as Dalit-Bahujan-nationalism incorporated the

subaltern philosophy of Jyotirao Ramaswami Naicker.

Phule and

Periyar

E.V.

It constructed an anti-Hindu and antiIt aimed at

Brahamanical discourse of Indian nationalism.

establishing a casteless and classless society where no one would be discriminated on the basis of birth and occupation. Within the DalitBahuhjan framework of Indian nationalism, Ambedkar built up a critique of pre-colonial Brahmanism and its asymmetrical social set up based on low and high dichotomy of graded caste system. This system of inegalitarianism led to the process of exploitation by the unproductive Brahamanical castes of the various productive castes. Ambedkars understanding of the question of the identity and existence of the nation was based on his incisive analysis of the oppressive character of the Hindu community. Since the dominant Hindu discourse of Indian nationalism remained indifferent towards removal of the caste system; and the economic analysis of the communist secular socialist school also failed to highlight the issue of caste in its mechanical interpretation of class, Ambedkar himself an untouchable and victim of untouchability formulated his own framework from the perspective of the untouchables for the understanding of the system of caste and untouchability. The foundations of dalit-Bahujan nationalism lie in this framework developed by Ambedkar. It aimed at restructuring the Indian society into a casteless and classless and egalitarian Sangha (Ilaiah 2001: 109). Annihilation of caste was its central theme. Caste for Ambedkar was nothing but Brahmanism incarnate. Brahmanism is the poison which has spoiled Hinduism (Ambedkar 1995: 92). Ambedkar realised that any form of nationalism whose roots were steeped into Hinduism could not be a solution to the problem of dalits. Any discourse of nationalism bereft of annihilation of caste was just not acceptable to him. The agenda of annihilation of caste

was so important to him that it became a central point of his struggle against colonial rule. In the first Round Table Conference, he minced no words in criticizing the British government for its failure to undo untouchability. Swaraj without extinction of caste had no meaning for Ambedkar. In his undelivered speech to the Jat Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore, he said, In the fight for swaraj you fight with the whole nation on your side. In this, you have to fight against the whole nation and that too your own. But it is more important than swaraj. There is no use having swaraj, if you cannot defend it. More important than the question of defending swaraj is the question of defending Hindus under the swaraj. In my opinion, only when the Hindu society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend itself. Without such internal strength, swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step towards slavery. Thus, it was Ambedkars subaltern perspective, which distinguished his conception of swaraj from that of the protagonists of the various shades of the national freedom movement. In his editorial in the Bahishkrit Bharat, Ambedkar wrote on 29 July 1927 If Tilak had been born among the untouchables, he would not have raised the slogan Swaraj is my birthright, but he would have raised the slogan Annihilation of untouchability is my birthright. ================================================ ====

Guru Ravidass, Dera Sachkhand Ballan And Dalit Consciousness in Punjab

RONKI RAM (DR.) ronkiram@yahoo.co.in DEPTOF POLITICLE SCIENCE,

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH-14

Guru Ravidass: Prophet of Dalit Consciousness Guru Ravidass, one of the famous untouchable saintpoets of the 15th-16th century, is by far the most revered among the scheduled castes, especially Chamars, Chambhars, or Charmakars of northwest and central India. Although they occupy the very bottom of the social hierarchy, the Cham rs and other Untouchable groups who worship Guru Ravidass do not passively accept their inferior status. Their worship of Ravidass is the manifestation of a dissident socioreligious ideology. The mere mention of his name evokes a sense of confidence and self-respect among them. So much so that a large number of them prefer to be identified as Ravidassia rather than be known by their customary caste titles colored with derogatory connotations. Although in the past Ravidass low status may have presented a problem, his present-day admirers strive to affirm it, not deny it. They are popularly known as Ravidassia Dalits or Ravidassi Adharmis. In Punjab some of them are often confused with the Dalit Sikhs. Guru Ravidass is known as a leading star of the Bhakti movement, especially the nirguna sampradaya or

sant parampara (sect or tradition of devotees of a formless God) of the later medieval centuries in Northern India. He was a cobbler, saint, poet, philosopher and social reformer. Together with Namdev and Kabir, Ravidas is one of the few Bhaktas to cross language barriers and become important in several parts of India. His popularity can be known from a variety of names attributed to him by his followers in different regions and languages. He is known as Raidasa, Rohidasa, Ruidasa, Ramadasa, Raedasa, Rohitasa, Rahdesa, Rav Das and Rab Das. His poetry has universal appeal. It is full of radical fervor and boundless love for the formless God. Although the poetry of Ravidass is rich with references to the adoration of and longing for God, it also gave significant space to the hope for a better world and a fight against exploiters, power-holders and oppression going on under the name of religion. His poetry reflected his vision of the social and spiritual needs of the downtrodden and underlined the urgency of their emancipation. He, therefore, is regarded as a messiah of the downtrodden. They revere him as devoutly as Hindus revered their Gods and Goddesses, and Sikhs their Gurus. They worship his image and showed their faith in his spiritual power. His hymns were recited every morning and night, and his birthday was celebrated as a religious event. They raise slogans like Ravidass Shakti Amar Rahe (the spiritual power of Ravidass live forever) during his birth anniversaries. Ravidass was born in Chamar caste, also known as Kutbandhla, one of the Scheduled Castes in Uttar Pradesh. Chamars are known by their profession of leather and tanning. They were oppressed and their touch and sight were considered polluting by the upper castes. Ravidass revolted

against this inhuman system of untouchability. He adopted Bhakti as a mode of expression for his revolt. His Bhaktibased method of revolt was very novel and daring. It was novel because of its emphasis on compassion for all and absolute faith in God. The principle of compassion for all reflected the egalitarian traits of his social philosophy and struggle. His concept of the absolute faith in the formless God showed the apathy of the elites of his times towards the plights of the downtrodden for whose emancipation he had to seek refuge in no one else but God. His method was daring in the sense that he choose to imitate the Brahmins in order to symbolize his revolt which was not only highly objectionable but was equally deadly for a Shudra of his times. He challenged the tyranny of Brahmins and defied them by wearing Dhoti (cloth wrapped around the waist), Janeue (sacred thread) and Tilak (sacred red mark on forehead) that were forbidden for the untouchables. Though he attired himself like an upper caste, he did not hide his caste. He continued with his hereditary occupation of making/mending shoes. He, probably, tried to show that while adopting the prohibited dress and symbols of the upper castes, the lower castes could still keep their identity intact. Thus Ravidass provided an alternative model for the emancipation of the Dalits much (six centuries) before the articulation of the concept of sanskritization. What made the image of Ravidass a catalyst in the emergence of Dalit consciousness was his being a Shudra and at the same time a saint of very high repute. The process of sanskritization facilitated the ambitious lower castes to improve its position in the local caste hierarchy by pretending to look like the higher castes

that enjoy great prestige in the hierarchically organized Brahminical social order. Since the caste is given and cannot be changed, the lower castes were left with no option but to imitate the culture of the upper castes. What made the emancipation project of Ravidass different from that of the sanskritization was his emphasis on acquiring social respect without crossing over the caste boundaries. He did not want to pretend to appear like an upper caste to ride the bandwagon of social prestige. On the contrary, he exhibited his protest against the social oppression by putting on the prohibited dress and symbols of the upper castes. By imitating the appearance of the upper castes he did not want the lower castes to abandon their caste to climb up the ladder of the caste hierarchy as in the process of sanskritization. The lower castes need not to be assimilated into the fold of higher castes. They had to, rather, assert for their human rights by challenging the caste hierarchy while being firm in their very caste group. He wanted to dismantle the norm of varnashram dharma (fourfold division of Hindu society based on graded rank system in caste hierarchy) by showing that lower castes were not beyond the pale of spiritual knowledge on the one hand and on the other that Brahmins were in fact hollow figures pumped up with false pride and hypocrisy. In fact, he used caste to cut the steel frame of caste based social order the only way of Dalit emancipation. Thus, Ravidass gave a new meaning to Bhakti by projecting it as a method of social protest against the centuries old entrenched structures of Brahminical domination. He rejected all forms of religious rituals and sectarian formalities. He also commented graphically on the

cursed and abject living conditions of millions of fellow downtrodden. Some scholars were of the opinion that though the devotional songs and hymns of Ravidass reflected the sufferings of the downtrodden, they lack the reformatory zeal and bitter condemnation of Brahminism and caste system that animated the poetry of Kabir and Tukaram. Though there is a difference in tone between the poetry of Kabir and Ravidass, both convey the same message. The poetry of Ravidass is known to be full of humility and devotion. But at the same time it is equally imbibed with reformatory zeal and concern for the downtrodden. Instead of bluntly snubbing the arrogance of higher castes, he undertook to raise the dignity of his own caste and profession, so that the higher castes could come to realize the shallowness of their self-imposed superiority. He advocated self-help for eliminating sufferings of the Dalits. His vision for self-help is clearly reflected in one of the legends about his refusal to make use of a Paras (a mythical stone that turns iron into gold) to get rich. He lent purity and respect to kirat (manual work), which also found special mention in the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikh faith. In fact, Ravidasss life and poetry provided a vision to the downtrodden to struggle for their human rights and civic liberties. The Bhakti approach of Ravidass was a non-violent struggle for the emancipation and empowerment of the Shudras. Though he combined humility with Bhakti, his concept of formless God reflected an altogether different picture. Ravidasss God was not humble at all in the typical sense of the term. He was graceful. He was not indifferent to the downtrodden. His God was rather bold who was not

afraid of anyone. He elevated and purified the so-called untouchables. Aaisee lal tujh binu kaunu karai. Gareeb niwaaju guseea meraa maathai chhatar dharai neecho uooch karai meraa govind kaahoo te na darai [refrain My Beloved, besides you who acts like this? Protector of the poor, my Master. You hold a royal umbrella over my head]. Ravidass further said Meri jaati kut bandhlaa dhor dhouwanta nithi baanaarasi aas paasaa. Ab bipar pardhan tihi karih danduouti tere naam sarnaaie Ravidass daasaa [My Caste is Kutabdhal , I cart carcasses constantly around Benares. Now Brahmans and headmen bow down before me, Ravid s the servant has taken refuge in Your Name. It is in this context that his non-violent struggle based on Bhakti assumed special importance for the emancipation of the Dalits. He did not only adopt nonviolence in his struggle against the social oppression, but also motivated the oppressors to abandon the path of violence. His low caste but high spiritual status posed a challenge to the Brahminical structures of domination. The traditional Brahminical institution of varnashram dharma failed to confront Ravidasss pragmatic and revolutionary reasoning based on equality, dignity and fraternity. Instead, the Brahmins attempted to undermine his low caste profile by appropriating him in the Hindu fold. They concocted stories to project him as a Brahmin in his previous life. According to one of such stories, Ravidass was a Brahmin in his previous birth. But due to his bad habits of meat eating and the untouchable status of his co-wife he had to be born as a Chamar. Another story tells that Ramananda, his so-called Guru, cursed him in his previous life to be born in a family of untouchables on account of his accepting

offerings from a local money lender who had dealings with leather workers. This itself indicates the degree of puritypollution behaviours observed even by Brahmin ascetics. Moreover, this account also reinforces conventional opinions of Chamars as being extremely polluting. Ramanand curses his disciple not for taking food directly from chamars, but from a person who merely does business with them. Yet even such indirect contact is enough to render the food impure. The story does not end here, however. It further informs that the baby Ravidass refused to accept the milk of his low caste mother. He accepted the milk of his mother only when Ramanand supposedly reminded him of his misbehavior in the previous life. Another story about his cooption in the Brahminical fold narrates that he had a golden sacred thread under his skin, though it was invisible on his body. When Brahmins declined to eat while sitting in the same row with him during a feast given in his honor by Jhali, the queen of Chittor, he left the room. But as they sat to dine, they found an image of Ravidass appearing at the side of each of them. The story also tells that he cut open his chest and revealed the sacred thread that lay within a clear proof of his being a real Brahmin. Thus challenged by the surging popularity of Ravidass, among the lower and upper castes alike, Brahmins knitted layers of mythological narratives about his mythical high caste in his previous life. This was done, probably, to preclude the lower castes from rallying around his name. Yet another device adopted by the twice born to diminish his popularity was to present him as a Guru of the Chamars only. This was the final masterstroke to minimize his influence on the society as a whole. Though Ravidass was

himself a chamar, his egalitarian social philosophy won him many disciples among the upper castes too. Jhali, Queen of Chittor; Mirabai, Rajput princes and daughter-in-law of King of Mewar, Sangram Singh; Prince Veer Singh Dev Vaghela of Rewa of Madhya Pradesh; and Prince of Kanshi were the most prominent among them. Dalit activists and academics condemned the process of Brahminisation of Ravidass. They ridiculed the so-called Brahminical narratives and interpretations about Ravidass and also refused to accept Ramanand as his Guru. Ravidass never mentioned the name of Ramanand in his most authentic bani recorded in Adi Granth. Instead he mentioned the names of saint Jaidev, saint Namdev and saint Kabir. Some radical Dalits claim that his Guru was Sardanand, and emphasize his ability to defeat Brahmins time and again in debates. Thus the process of Brahminisation had not only failed to assimilate Ravidass in the fold of the upper castes, it further strengthened the bond of the Shudras with him. The latter took pride in being known as Ravidassias with Ravidass becoming the paragon of their struggle for social equality and dignity. Ravidass envisioned an egalitarian model of state for ensuring human rights and civil liberties for all alike. He called his ideal state as Begumpura (free from sorrows). In his ideal state no one would be discriminated against on the basis of caste and religion and everyone would be free from the burden of taxes and worries of food. His ideal state would be free from the graded system of caste hierarchy. There would be no segregated colonies for the downtrodden and they would be free to move around without caste prejudice. In other words, in Begumpura the evil of

untouchability would cease to exist. Though Begumpura was an ideal state as visualized by Ravidass, it was not a mere figment of his mind. In fact, its articulation was based on indepth understanding of the socio-economic and political conditions prevailing during his lifetime. He lived during the period when Shudras were doubly oppressed by their political masters along with the members of higher castes; and by the Brahmins, the custodians of Hindu religion . He had no hope from any quarter regarding the improvement of the conditions of the downtrodden. In one of his hymns he thus articulated Dardu dekh sab ko hasai, aaisee dasaa hamaaree. Ast dasaa sidi kar talai, sab kirpa tumhari. [Everyone laughs seeing my poverty, such is my state. The eighteen perfections are in the palm of my hands, all through Your grace]. In fact, his entire poetry echoed a loud protest against slavery on the one hand and boundless love and devotion to the formless God on the other. He believed that God created all human beings and resided in all of them. If the same God pervaded the entire humanity, then it is foolish to divide the society on the basis of caste. He thus condemned the division of mankind on the basis of caste. He said, Jo ham shehri so meet hamara [whoever is my fellow citizen, is my friend] . It is in this context that the egalitarian social philosophy of Ravidass expressed in the mode of poetry became the manifesto of the Dalit consciousness in Punjab. The establishment of a large number of Ravidass Deras by the Dalits in Punjab and in other parts of India over the last few years is a case in point. Ravidass became very popular among the Punjabi Dalit diasporas as well, who have also constructed Ravidass shrines in order to assert their separate caste identity.

The number of Ravidass Deras has been multiplying very fast. It has taken the form of a sort of a socio-cultural movement for the emancipation of the Dalits. Led by the saints of Dera Sach Khand Ballan, this movement is silently sweeping the Punjab countryside offering a new hope to the untouchable, particularly the Chamars. It has generated a sense of confidence in them and provided them an opportunity to exhibit their hitherto eclipsed Dalit identity. The movement of Ravidass Deras reflects the fast changing socio-cultural scene of Punjab where the once powerful and revolutionary Sikh religion is failing to meet the needs of the oppressed who discovered the right remedy to cure their wounded psyche in the Ballan experiment. The secret of the success of this movement lies in the strategy of the saints of Ballan to sells Dr Ambedkars socio-cultural revolution packed in an ingenious religious capsule. Ravidass Deras are, perhaps, the only religious centers where religious and political figures (Ravidass and Ambedkar) are blended and projected publicly. These Deras thrive on the elements of social protest expressed in the poetry of Ravidass and the teachings of Ambedkar. These Deras, in fact, have been functioning as missions to sensitize the Dalits and to facilitate their empowerment. In order to look different from the shrines of Hindu and Sikh religions, and to distinctly project their separate religious identity, Ravidass Deras have formulated their own religious symbols, ceremonies, prayers, and rituals.

Dera Ballan: The Centre of Spirituality and Social Service

Dera Ballan (situated at village Ballan, seven miles North of Jalandhar city on the Pathankot road) is popularly known as Dera Sant Sarwan Das. Sant Pipal Das, father of Sant Sarwan Das (February 15,1895-June 11,1972), founded it in the beginning of the twentieth century. Sant Sarwan Das lost his mother (Shobhawanti) when he was only five years old. His father left home in search of truth. He took the child, Sarwan Das, with him on this mission. It was during the course of wandering that they reached the place where Dera Ballan is now situated. Pipal Dass found that place most suitable for spiritual pursuits. The place, in the outskirts of village Ballan, was a thick forest. The father-son duo spent days in the forest and took shelter in a mud house in the village during nights. Later on, a landlord (Hazara Singh) of village Ballan donated some land to them in the forest where they built a thatched hut to begin with. It soon became the goal of pilgrimage for lower caste and other villagers from all over central Punjab, and from its inception it was a center for the veneration of Ravi Das. It shot into prominence during the Ad Dharm movement. It was instrumental in bringing social consciousness among the Dalits of Punjab. Mangoo Ram, the founder of the Ad Dharm movement visited the Dera Ballan and sought its support in popularizing the image of Ravidass among the Dalits of Punjab. The association of the Dera with the Ad Dharm movement further becomes clear from the fact that Sant Sarwan Dass, the then head of the Dera Ballan (October 11,1928-June 11,1972), offered juice to Mangoo Ram to open his fast-unto-death undertaken by him as a counter measure to that of Mahatama Gandhis fast against the communal award in 1932. Although this

movement petered out after the first general election in independent India, deras such as that of Sarwan Das remain popular destinations for pilgrimage in the Punjab. Dera Ballan also hosted the mammoth Dalit conference (13th December, 1970) organised by Mangu Ram Jaspal, namesake of the famous Mangoo Ram, to revive the Ad Dharm movement. It was during this conference that the legendry Mangoo Ram and many other prominent leaders of the Ad Dharm movement commended the contribution of saints of Dera Ballan towards the emancipation and empowerment of Dalits. Sant Sarwan Das received early education from his father and learnt Sanskrit from Sant Kartanand of nearby village Kishangarh. He was in his early thirties when Sant Pipal Das died (1928). By that time he had already become a known figure not only among the people of Ballan but also of the neighboring villages. However, what distinguished him from other holy men of his time was his devotion and veneration for Ravidass. The dissemination of Ravidass Bani (philosophy in the form of poetry) was one of his missions. Ravidass appealed to the lower castes for many reasons. He belonged to the Chamar caste and was probably the pioneer in the field of Dalit literature. The fact that Sant Sarwan Das was a chamar himself and a follower of the faith of Ravidass made him and his Dera instantly popular among the Chamars who consider Ravidass their spiritual mentor. Sant Sarwan Dass was an emissary of Guru Ravidass in the true spirit. Under his stewardship, the dissemination of the teachings of Ravidass became one of the most important missions of the Dera Sach Khand Ballan. He himself laid

down foundation stones of various Ravidass Deras and sponsored construction of rooms in the Shri Guru Ravidass High School [Jalandhar], Arts and Crafts Training College [Jalandhar], Shri Guru Ravidass Technical College [Phagwara], Primary school [Raipur- Rasoolpur], Bhagwan Ravidass Ashram Nirmala Chowani [Haridwar], and High School [Village Ballan]. The Dera Ballan has meticulously kept sant Sarwan Dasss legacy of spreading the Bani of Guru Ravidass with zeal till date and has actually accelerated its efforts in this direction manifold in India and abroad. It has taken the message of Guru Ravidass to virtually every corner of India and abroad, and has generated a sense of cohesive belongingness among the Dalits. The construction of Guru Ravidass Mandirs (Temples) in Seer Govardhanpur (Varanasi), Hadiabad (Punjab), Sirsgarh (Haryana), Pune (Maharashtra), Haridwar (Uttranchal), and Una (Himachal Pradesh) is a clear indication of the concerted efforts of the Dera Ballan towards the popularization of the social egalitarian philosophy of Ravidass. The participation of the saints of Dera Ballan in sant sammelans (congregations of saints) organized by the devotees of Guru Ravidass in different places in Punjab and outside showed their deep concern for the propagation of the Bani of Ravidass. The saints of Ballan also regularly visited their devotees abroad in order to enlighten them of the Bani of Ravidass. In year 2005, the present head of Dera Ballan, sant Niranjan Dass accompanied by sant Ramanand, visited Greece, Italy, Spain, Holland, and Germany from March 20 to May 31; and U.S., Canada and U.K. from July 1 to August 31. His latest

journey to EuropeItaly, Greece Germany, Holland and England) was during April-May 2006. This was his 4th international religious visit to Italy and probably 14th to U.K. Sant Garib Dass, predecessor of Sant Niranjan Dass, also visited England six times, America four times, and Canada two times. The Dera has prepared a number of cassettes, compact discs (CDs), and video compact discs (VCDs) of the Bani of Ravidass for wider circulation among its followers. Some of the most popular cassettes are: Mission Guru Ravidass Ji (Mission of Guru Ravidass), Kanshi wich chan chariya (Moon in Kanshi), Begampura Shaher Ka Nau (City Named Begumpura), Rabb Dharti Te (God on the Earth), Satguru Da Updesh (Sermon of the Guru), Kanshi Ballan Wich Farak Na Koe (No Difference between Kanshi and Ballan), Har ke Naam Bin (Without the Name of God), Amrit Bani Shri Guru Ravidass Ji (Immortal Bani of Guru Ravidass), Duniya de Loko Nek Bano (Become nice, Peoples of the World), Jai Satiguru Ravidas (Victory to Guru Ravidass), Darshan Satguru de Kar Lau (Be face to face with the Guru), Begumpur de Wasia (Residence of the Begumpur), Guru Da Jehrey Nam Japde (Those who Remember the Name of the Guru), and Ban ke Messiah Aya (Came as a Messiah). Eh Janam Tumhare Lekhe (This Life is for You), Begampure Diyan Raunkan (Festivities of Begumpura), Shri Guru Ravidass Amrit Bani Dohae' (Couplets of the Immortal Bani of Guru Ravidass), and Satsang Mahina Cheet (company of the saints in first month of the Hindu calendar) are some of the most popular VCDs. The six-volumes set of Amrit Bani of Guru Ravidass Ji is the most popular among the CDs. They are available at Dera Ballan on nominal rates and are also given as souvenir

to the devotees. During one of my visits to the Dera Ballan, Sant Surinder Dass Bawa was kind enough to gift me a set of these cassettes (based on the information culled from various volumes [2003-2005] of Begum Pura Shaher, Trilingual weekly publication of the Dera Ballan). The Dera has also composed a Gurbani programme based on the Bani of Sant Ravidass. The program is called Amrit Bani: Shri Guru Ravidass ji. It is being telecast every Friday, 6.00 6.15 a.m. and every Saturday, 7.00 7.15 a.m. on D.D.1 channel of Jalandhar Doordarshan since October 13, 2003. This is the first program of its kind. This program has a unique importance for the Dalits who in the past were forbidden to read and listen the sacred text. Now they feel proud of projecting their religion on national television network at par with the other mainstream religious bodies. It has contributed significantly in building their self-esteem and confidence that in turn has sharpened their social and political consciousness. ( Primary education and healthcare were the two other main concerns of Sant Sarwan Dass, which further strengthened the surging popularity of the Dera Ballan among the Dalits. He encouraged Dalit children to study and helped them financially. He opened an informal primary school within the premises of the Dera. He taught the poor children Panjabi and trained them in reciting Gurbani (sacred text of Guru Granth Sahib) correctly. He used to feed them with rice pudding and fried loafs on every Sunday a diet that was really a luxury for the poor Dalit children in order to boost up their mental faculties and physical strength. There is a general belief among the followers of Dera Ballan

that whosoever was taught by Sant Sarwan Dass became an officer in Government service. He used to denounce those parents who did not educate their children as their enemies. He urged the poor people to educate their children so that they could earn their livelihood in a respectful way and help their families and community to lead a dignified life. All the chiefs of the Dera who followed him made concerted efforts towards the fulfillment of these vital concerns for the upliftment of the downtrodden. In fact, they turned these concerns into the missions of the Dera Ballan. To fulfill one of these missions, Dera Ballan founded Sant Sarwan Dass Model School at Hadiabad (Phagwara) in April 2004 to provide quality education to the Dalit children on nominal fee. The school is housed in a magnificent building equipped with modern instruments and materials, and has its own fleet of buses for the conveyance of the students. The medium of instruction in the school is English. What distinguished this school is that along with formal education in different streams of knowledge, students are also informed about the missions of Guru Ravidass and Dera Sach Khand Ballan. Thus, this school does not only provide quality education in a Dalit friendly environment, but also acts as an agency for generating Dalit consciousness. Sant Sarwan Dass had also established an Ayurvedic medical center in the Dera for the benefits of the downtrodden who could not afford treatment and medicine in the market. His noble endeavor at the Dera was expanded into a full-fledged hospital (Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Hospital) at Dehpur-Kapoor village Adda Kathar on the Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar road (district Jalandhar). Sant Garib

Dass, the then chief of Dera Ballan, founded the hospital in 1982. A humble beginning was made with a small dispensary in 1984. Soon after, it expanded into a two hundred-bed hospital equipped with latest medical technology. The hospital is famous for its expertise in surgery in the region. A team of doctors from U.K. held a 10-days (March 16-25, 2005) medical camp in the hospital. The camp had the sanction of Medical Council of India, Department of Health, UK, and British Medical Association. The camp got wide coverage in the western print media that brought the hospital on the international map. The detailed account of the camp was carried in two publications: Trust News of Calderdale and Huddersfield National Health Service (NHS) and the Evening Courier. It provided round the clock emergency services, and has its own chemist shop, which provided medicines at reasonable rates. For the convenience of the patients and their attendants indoor catering facilities and spacious retiring halls are also provided. Very nominal fee is charged from the patients to partially meet the hospital expenditure, which is about 2.5 million rupees per month. At a time when public health services have almost turned dysfunctional, Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Hospital has come out as a great relief for the downtrodden who are incapable of fending for them. Moreover, since 1977 the saints of Ballan have been regularly organizing free eyes operation camps in the Dera in the month of February every year with the support of Swarn Dass Banger, a non-resident Indian (NRI) settled in England. Swarn Dass Banger has also donated 10 million rupees for the construction of Sant Sarwan Dass Memorial Eyes Hospital in the village Ballan near the Dera. Swarn Dass

Banger has also donated 2.5-acre prime land adjacent to the Dera where a mammoth Satsangh Bhawan (religious congregation hall), centrally air-conditioned with a capacity of accommodating 50000 people at a time, is under construction. Seth Brij Lal Kaler, another NRI from England, has also donated 10 million rupees to the Dera Ballan Sant Niranjan Dass, the present chief of Dera Ballan, laid the foundation stone of the Eyes Hospital on November 10, 2004. The provision of excellent medical facilities in the rural sectors of Punjab made the Dera Ballan an exceptional religious site for the downtrodden, where spiritual and social services are combined together. Another important feature of the Dera Ballan that brought it in the forefront of the cause of the Dalits upliftment was its deep interest in literary activities. The Dera has a very rich library on its premises. The library contains books on the life and philosophy of Ravidass, Baba Sahib Ambedkar, Bhakti movement, the Ad Dharm movement, Dalit literature, and the missions of the Dera Ballan. All the writings and speeches of Baba Sahib Ambedkar are available in the library. The books are made available to the readers on nominal charges and even free of cost. Some of the books are also given to the devotees as a souvenir along with the framed calendar prints of the Dera Ballan and Ravidass temple (Seer Goverdhanpur) with the images of Guru Ravidass and B.R. Ambedkar embossed on them. Mark Juergensmeyers book, Religious Rebels in the Punjab: The social Vision of Untouchables (Delhi: Ajanta, 1988) is one of the books that are widely distributed among the devotees. This seminal work of Juergensmeyer is a

pioneer study of the Dalit movement in Punjab. This book also documents important information about the Dera Ballan. The Dera also publishes, and sponsors books on Dalit literature. In addition, the Dera also confers honours on Dalit scholars in acknowledgement of their literary contributions towards the upliftment of the downtrodden. Till now, it has honored forty-four such Dalit scholars with gold medals. In addition, the Dera has also been publishing a 12 page trilingual (Panjabi, Hindi, and English) weekly 'Begum Pura Shaher' since August 15, 1991. This weekly was founded by Sant Garib Dass, fourth head of the Dera Ballan, to highlight the problems of the downtrodden and to educate them about the missions of Guru Ravidass. 'Begum Pura Shaher, the sole mouthpiece of the Dalits who were highly underrepresented in the mainstream print and electronic media, has become a source of social consciousness and a symbol of self-respect among them. The Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Academy (Indian Dalit Literary Academy) honored its chief editor, Sant Ramanand, with the 20th National Dalit Literary Award (2004) for the contribution it made in the field of journalism for generating Dalit consciousness in the region. The Academy has also organized a two days National Dalit Introspection Camp (9-10 June 2006) at the Dera Ballan to discuss the commonalities among the thoughts, missions, and objectives of Buddha, Ravidass and Ambedkar. Among the prominent participants who attended the Camp were Dr. Mata Parsad, former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Babu Parmanand, former Governor of Haryana, Dr. Satya Narayan Jatiya, former central minister of social justice and member of parliament of India, Chanderpal Sallani, former member of parliament of India, Bavanrao Gholap, former social

welfare minister of Maharashtra and member of the State Legislative Assembly, and Dr. J. S. Sabar, chair Guru Ravidass, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The participation by such a large number of renowned personalities in the Dalit Introspection Camp a rare occasion of its kind at a religious site lend credence to the missions of the Dera Ballan for the upliftment of the Dalits. In a hierarchically structured society based on the caste system of low and high, the literary chapter of the Dera Ballan proved to be of immense importance in building confidence among the downtrodden who were often discriminated in the mainstream literary circles. Of all the major contributions made by the Dera Ballan, the construction of a mammoth Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir (Temple of Shri Guru Ravidasss Birthplace) at Seer Goverdhanpur, a locality in the city of Varanasi, is the most significant. The saints of Ballan traced the birthplace of Ravidass to a location in the village Seer Goverdhanpur, on the outskirts of Varanasi, near the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Sant Hari Dass of Dera Ballan had laid down the foundation stone of the temple in 1965 (June 14). The construction of the temple was completed in 1994. Babu Kanshi Ram, the BSP supremo, performed the ceremonial installation of the golden dome atop the temple. K.R. Narayanan, the then President of India, performed the opening ceremony of the huge monumental gate on the way to the temple, on July16, 1998. Dalits from India and abroad helped build the temple. This temple has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for Dalits as the Mecca for Muslims and the Golden Temple for Sikhs. Every year on the anniversary of Ravidasss birth, the temple attracts millions of devotees from India and abroad. The Dera Ballan made special arrangements for the pilgrimage of of Ravidass devotees to

their Mecca at Seer Goverdhanpur (Varanasi). Special trains were arranged from Jalandhar city in Punjab to Varanasi especially for attending the celebrations of the birth anniversary of Ravidass at Seer Goverdhanpur. This temple serves an important purpose in reminding the Dalits of the cultural revolution led by Ravidass in Varanasi, the headquarters of Hindu religiosity. Its unique contribution lies in symbolizing a Dalit history of struggle for equality and dignity, and a vision for the future. In the land of castes and religions, the Temple of Shri Guru Ravidasss Birthplace has become an important cultural-religious site for the assertion of distinct identity for the Dalits where they can move about with their heads high and without the fear of being measured on the scale of caste hierarchy. In fact, this temple has turned out to be a center of spirituality,social service and Dalit empowerment.

AD-DHARM MOVEMENT AND DALIT CONSCIOUSNESS IN PUNJAB

Dr. Ronki Ram E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in> Punjab has been a site of invasions, conflicts, agitations and martyrdoms. It has also been a boiling cauldron for various social and political movements. Its history is rich with innumerable instances of peoples upsurge against the tyrant systems. However, what makes the case of Punjab, a unique, is that its tirades against the system of oppression and violence remained always progressive

and secular. They were not against a particular caste or community but against systems of tyranny and oppression. It is interesting to note that in all of the struggles and movements, the contribution of the lower castes and the untouchables was second to none. The share of these deprived sections of the society was equally tremendous in the sphere of Bhakti movement. One can quickly count the names of Dhanna, Sadna, Sain and Ravidass who were among the prominent stars of the Bhakti movement. Their share is equally remarkable in the struggles of the Khalsa against the then system of oppression and injustice. The popularity of the Rangrtas (scavengers converted to Sikhism) has been established by a rhyme Rangreta Guru Ka Beta (the Rangreta is the son of Guru). This rhyme is attributed to the Rangretas on account of the valorous act of bringing the severed head of Guru Teg Bahadur from Delhi to Anandpur Sahib, the seat of 9th and 10th Master of the Sikh faith by a Rangreta Sikh named Jeeta. Yet another movement which rose in the 1920s in the Doaba region of Punjab brought together all the Scheduled Castes (then known as Depressed classes) on a single platform to fight against the system of social oppression, economic deprivation and political indifference. Though this movement laid the foundation of dalit consciousness in Punjab, it could not succeed in getting the serious attention of scholarship. However, Mark Jurgensmeyers pioneer work (Juergensmeyer 1988) remained the only reference to the share of Punjab in the Adi Movements in India. This movement is known as Ad Dharm movement. It draws its inspiration from the Bhakti movement, especially from Kabir, Ravidass and Namdev. It also assigns equal importance to the teachings of Valmiki. What makes this movement the most relevant case for study is its being a purely low caste character and its fight against social structures of

domination. Ad Dharm was the only movement of its kind in the North-Western region of the country that aimed at securing a respectable place for the scheduled castes through cultural transformation and political assertion rather than seeking patronage from above. Another important feature of this movement was that it intended to bring social transformation and spiritual regeneration in the lives of the downtrodden. Although, this movement ceased to exist in its vehement form after the first general election in independent India, its emphasis on social transformation and political assertion against structures of social inequality and oppression continues to attract the Ad-Dharmis and other scheduled castes of Punjab. At present, the movement finds its sustenance in Punjab through the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ambedkarite organizations. Ad Dharm Movement: The Genesis The beginning of the 20the century witnessed a series of political developments, which among others led to the formation of Adi movements in different parts of the colonial India. The main objective of these movements was to liberate the downtrodden, poverty-stricken-oppressed classes, contemptuously branded as untouchables, from the most oppressive and obnoxious practice of Untouchability meticulously observed by the Savarna Hindus, and to bring the former at par with the socio-cultural level of the twice born so that they could lead a life of dignity with a sense of equality. The Ad Dharm movement was one of them. Although, the abolition of Untouchability was also on the agenda of the protagonists of social reform movements (Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj and Singh Sabha), they wanted to achieve it without changing the basic structure of caste system

(Manuqu 2003:5). Since these movements were operating on the social reform front of the nationalist struggle, they could not totally devote themselves to the removal of Untouchability. The immediate goal of the nationalist movement was to liberate the country from the British imperialism. Hence, [t]he ultimate result was that neither the Nehru Ian secularism nor Gandhi an Ramraj could provide an Indian identity that was libratory for the dalit and low castes... (Omvedt 1994: 92; see also Suresh 1998: 364). The most virulent opposition to the system of caste emanated from the lower caste movements. For these movements, the immediate important issue was caste domination, not Western hegemony; social emancipation, not political autonomy. The struggle against imperialism and other such issues were of secondary importance (Kothari 1998: 50-51). These anti-caste movements, of course, constitute an inseparable ...part of the broader revolutionary democratic movement in India, alongwith the national movement and communist-and socialist-led working class and peasant movements (Omvedt 1994: 13; see also Kshirsagar 1994: 2-3). The main exponents of these movements were, among others,

Jyotiba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, Naraynaswami Guru in Kerla, Achutananda in U.P. and Mangoo Ram in Punjab. The present paper confines to the Ad-Dharm movement in Punjab. It aims at exploring the social situations and political configurations in

colonial Punjab during the 1920s which led to the rise of this movement. Another objective of the study is to document the present status of the movement in Punjab. It would be appropriate to focus on certain aspects relating to the rise of this movement in 1926 and its so called demise in 19461. What were the circumstances in which the Ad Dharm movement was originated? Who were its protagonists? What objectives did they seek to achieve? What were the tactics and strategies they adopted for the realization of these objectives? Whether such objectives sharpened the struggle against social oppression or led to blunt the very struggle itself? Was it really a struggle against social oppression or only a ploy to gain some incremental change for meager benefits? To whom the Ad Dharm considered its sympathisers and also its adversaries? What status did such sympathisers and adversaries hold in the socio-economic and politico-administrative setting of the Indian society? What is its present status? What are its goals and objectives? And how it intended to realise them? Ad Dharm: Socio-Political Settings Ad-Dharm movement was born out of a volatile social and political background in the early 20the century. Although, the similar sociopolitical situations were prevalent throughout the length and breadth of the country, the presence of various communal organisations in Punjab makes the case of the latter a peculiar one. The communal organisations like Arya Samaj, Christian Church, Sikh Khalsa Diwan and the Ahmadiyya movements were active in their endeavors to promote their respective communal interests. It was exactly during this period of socio-political uncertainties that the British government passed the Land Alienation Act of 1900,

Indian Counsel Act of 1909 and The Government of India Act of 1919. These acts provided further impetus to the ongoing competition among the various communal organisations (Mohan 1992: 164-8). Although, the Land Alienation Act of 1900 was aimed at preventing the transfer of land from the hands of agriculturist castes into the non-agricultural money-lending castes, it has by its very nature debarred many castes to own land. Untouchables, who were already kept deprived of land according to the Varna-Vivastha system of the Hindu caste hierarchy, were now legally debarred from land ownership (Puri 2003:2695). The system of separate electorates introduced in 1909 and 1919 further exacerbated the communal and separatists stance of politics (Tanwar 1999: 29). It brought serious implications in the province of Punjab where Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had their respective political organisation to strive for their vested interests (Malhotra 1976:7488). Since Scheduled Castes did not have their own organisation to articulate and defend their interests, they became the center of attention of all the communal organisations. Each of these organisations was trying to woo them on its side to secure an edge over the others in terms of numbers. This was, perhaps, the first time in the history of the Scheduled Castes that their numerical strength became important in the calculation and formulation of social and political forces. The provision for separate electorate also raised their expectation to enter into political arena as an independent force rather than to be used, by the Arya-Samaj, Congress or Alkalis, as a pawn on the chessboard of electoral politics. Moreover, the adoption of the removal of Untouchability by the Indian National congress as an integral part of its policies in 1917 provided a further impetus to the scheduled castes in their efforts to seek a respectable place in the Indian society. The California based

Ghadar Movement was another important political development which fascinated the youths of Punjab who were eager to bask in an egalitarian system free from discrimination and colonial tutelage. These revolutionaries exhorted the people to rise (Malhotra 1970:21) The Babbar Akali movement was yet another significant political development that catapulted Punjab into the vortex of revolt against injustice and foreign rule. In addition, another important social and political movement that swept the cities and countryside of Punjab was the loud appeals of Arya Samaj to restructure the Indian society on the basis of equality and social justice. Ghadar movement and the Babbar Akali movements were revolutionary and militant movements in comparison to the nonviolent and passive postures of the Indian National Congress and Arya Samaj. Interestingly enough, the Ad Dharm movement, particularly, some of its key protagonists had close affiliation with the Arya Samaj before they became active in the movement. Obviously, the rise and growth of the Ad Dharm had to be deeply influenced by the AryaSamaj. The Arya Samaj had provided young untouchables with ideas of social equality not only by allowing them to attend its schools but also by creating service organizations such as the Dayanand Dalit Udhar at Hoshiarpur and Achhut Udhar at Lahore (Juergensmeyer 2000: 222). The trio that initially conceived the idea of the Ad Dharm movement consisted of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudra Nand. They were also active in the Arya Samaj Movement. Vasant Rai had worked with the Arya Samaj as a teacher before taking up with

the Samajs orthodox Hindu opposition, the Sanatan Dharm (Juergensmeyer 1988:38). Swami Shudra Nand was a missionary of the Samaj and Thakur Chand, though a dalit like Vasant Rai and Shudra Nand was called pundit because of his association with the Arya Samaj. They were either pracharaks (preachers) or Updeshaks (missionaries) of the Arya Samaj. Even after their absorption into the newly formed Ad Dharm movement Arya Samaj offered them important role in the movement to lure them back. Mention may be made here that they quit the Ad Dharm movement and returned to the Samaj.2 Mangoo Ram And Ad Dharm Mangoo Ram literally took the movement to the doorsteps of the untouchables in the Doaba region and soon emerged as a cult figure of the dalits in Punjab. He was born at Mugowal, a village in the district of Hoshiarpur, on 14th January 1886. His forefathers were practicing the occupation of tanning raw hides. However, his father, Harnam Dass, had abandoned the traditional caste-based occupation of tanning and preparing hides, and taken up the profession of selling the tanned leather on commercial basis. Since the leather trade required the knowledge of English language to read the sale orders, he was eager to have Mangoo Ram receive education to free him from the begar (forced labour) which he had to do in lieu of English orders read for him by the upper caste literates. Initially, Mangoo Ram was taught by a village Sadhu (Saint), then after studying at different schools he joined a high school at Bajwara Kalan, a town few miles away from his home.3 being a Chamar, he had to sit separately from the other upper caste students. In fact, he used to take a gunny bag from his home for sitting in a segregated place outside the classroom. In 1905 Mangoo Ram left the high school to help his father in leather trade. For three years he helped

his father develop leather trade into a thriving business. However, in 1909 he left for America to follow into the footsteps of his peer group in the Doaba region. Interestingly enough even in America Mangoo Ram had to work on the farms of a Punjabi Zamindar4 who had settled in California. In other words, even in America he had to experience the same relations of production as back home in India. How a Shudra immigrant worker, who works on the land of an Indian upper caste landlord settled abroad, feels and experiences work conditions and its resultant relations of production is an altogether a separate question. However, while in California, Mangoo Ram came in close contact with the Ghadar Movement - a radical organisation aimed at liberating India from the British rule through armed insurrection. In fact, he participated in the weapon smuggling mission of the organisation. He was arrested and given the capital punishment but was saved from the death sentence by a chance as someone else in his name was executed (Ahir 1992:2). The news of his supposed death reached his village. According to the tradition of his community, his widow, named Piari married his elder brother. Mangoo Ram, on reaching India, remarried and had four sons from his second wife named Bishno.5 After his return from abroad where he spent as many as sixteen years, Mangoo Ram did not find any change in Indian society which was still infested with the disease of Untouchability. He said While living abroad I had forgotten about the hierarchy of high and low, and Untouchability; and under this very wrong impression returned home in December, 1925. The same misery of high and low, and Untouchability which I had left behind to go

abroad started afflicting again. I wrote about all this to my leader Lala Hardyal Ji that until and unless this disease is cured Hindustan could not be liberated. In accordance with his orders, a program was formulated in 1926 for the awakening and upliftment of Achhut qaum (untouchable community) of India.6 Having settled in his native village, he opened up a school for the lower caste children in the village. Initially, the school was opened up, temporarily in the garden of Risaldar Dhanpat Rai, a landlord of his village. Later on, Lamberdar Beeru Ram Sangha, another landlord of the same village, donated half-acre land for the purpose of formally opening up the school. The school had five teachers including Mangoo Ram.7 Now-a-days, the school land has been declared as Shamlat (common land) and no remnants of the building exist except the old dilapidated structure of the well meant for drinking water in the school. It was in that school that the first official meeting of the Ad Dharm movement was held on June 1112, 1926. There is another version about the school which traced its origin to the support provided by the Arya Samaj (Juergensmeyer 2000: 224). However, given his close association with the Ghadar movement in California, Mangoo Rams relationships with the Arya Samaj was not as close as that of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudra Nand. Moreover, his personal experience of being treated as an equal in America, particularly by his fellow Ghadarites, inculcated in him an intense desire and inspiration for equality and social justice. This led him to lay the foundation of the Ad Dharm movement to streamline the struggle against Untouchability. Soon he emerged as a folk-hero of the dalits who started rallying around him, particularly in the dalit concentrated areas of the Doaba region. However, after a while the Ad Dharm organisation got factionalised resulting in a split in 1929 into two groups: one headed

by Vasant Rai and the other by Mangoo Ram. There emerged two independent organisations: the Ad Dharm Mandal with its office in Jalandhar was headed by Mangoo Ram and the All Indian Ad Dharm Mandal with its headquarters in Lyalpur was headed by Vasant Rai.8 The Vasant Rai group of the Ad Dharm Mandal was thoroughly soaked into the ideology of the Arya Samaj. In fact this group was lured back by the Arya Samaj. Although the Arya Samaj dominated section of Ad Dharm Mandal withdrew itself from the Mangoo Rams group in 1929, the latter played an active part in the politics of Punjab for a period of two decades from 1926 to 1952.9 Mangoo Ram set a clear agenda for Ad Dharm movement. The agenda was to create a new religion for the lower caste. Lower castes were treated shabbily by the Hindus who for political motives considered them as part of their religion. Arya Samaj was making frantic efforts to bring the Shudras back into the Hindu fold who had proselytised into Islam, Christianity and Sikh religion (Malhotra 1976: 74-88; Sharma 1985). Arya Samaj and the Christian church were not the only organisations which were trying to win over the lower castes. Sikhs and Muslims were equally interested in bringing them into their respective religions. Mangoo Ram thought it appropriate to intervene at this juncture to espouse the cause of Dalits by carving out a separate identity of their own. In the poster10 announcing the first annual meeting of Ad Dharm Movement, Mangoo Ram11 devoted the entire space to the hardships faced by the untouchables at the hands of the caste Hindus. He also made an appeal to the Achhuts to come together to chalk out a program for their liberation and upliftment while addressing the Chamars, Chuhras, Sansis, Bhanjhras, Bhils etc. as brothers, he

said, We are the real inhabitants of this country and our religion is Ad Dharm. Hindu Qaum came from outside to deprive us of our country and enslave us. At one time we reigned over Hind. We are the progeny of kings; Hindus came down from Iran to Hind and destroyed our qaum. They deprived us of our property and rendered us nomadic. They razed down our forts and houses, and destroyed our history. We are seven Crores in numbers and are registered as Hindus in this country. Liberate the Adi race by separating these seven crores. They (Hindus) became lord and call us others. Our seven crore number enjoy no share at all. We reposed faith in Hindus and thus suffered a lot. Hindus turned out to be callous. Centuries ago, Hindus suppressed us, sever all ties with them. What justice we expect from those who are the butchers of Adi race. Time has come, be cautious, now the Government listens to appeals. With the support of sympathetic Government, come together to save the race. Send members to the Councils so that our qaum is strengthened again. British rule should remain forever. Make prayer before God. Except for this Government, no one is sympathetic towards us. Never consider ourselves as Hindus at all, remember that our religion is Ad Dharm.12 The way, the leaders of Ad Dharm chose to restore dignity and freedom to the untouchables was to completely detach them from Hinduism and to consolidate them into their own ancient religion -

Ad Dharm - of which they had become oblivious during the age-old domination by the alien Hindus. In fact, the task of the revival of their ancient religion was not an easy one by virtue of the fact that during a long period of persecution at the hands of the Savarnas, the untouchables had forgotten their Gurus and other religious symbols. In fact they were never allowed to nurture an aspiration to have their own independent religion. They were condemned as profane and were declared unfit to have their own theology. Thus to revive Ad Dharm was tantamount to developing an altogether a new religion for the Achhuts. Mangoo Rams appeal that the dalits were the real inhabitants of this land made an enormous psychological impact on the untouchables who were treated as, even inferior to animals in Indian society. The appeal inspired them to come out of their slumber and fight for their freedom and liberty. The Ad Dharm provided a theological podium to sustain and reinforce the new dalit identity. For centuries, they were bereft of any identity and remained in the appendage of the hierarchically graded Hindu society. Before 1920s, especially before the rise of Ad Dharm movement, the untouchables in Punjab hardly envisaged the idea of seeking a separate identity. The growing communal politics and resultant unrest within Punjab in the 1920s coupled with the emergence of dalit organisations in different parts of the country, offered them a good opportunity to carve out such an identity. In the pre-partition Punjab, untouchables constituted one-fourth of the total population. Since scheduled castes did not have their separate religion, they were being counted as Hindus. In a system of communal representation, Muslim leaders were thinking that the Achhuts, who were never considered as equal by the caste Hindus, should be separated from them and equally divided between the Hindus and Muslims.13

It was not only Muslims who alone had such an approach, even the Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus also wanted to absorb them into their respective religion for political benefits. In the absence of any other alternative open to them, a large number of the Achhuts of Punjab converted into Christianity (especially the Chuhras of Sialkot and Gurdaspur), Sikhism (in Sialkot and Gurdaspur), and Islam (Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore division) (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d.:23). Consequently, the Hindus in the province had been reduced from 43.8% in 1881 to 30.2% in 1931 while the Sikhs increased from 8.2% to 14.3% and the Muslims from 40.6% to about 52% and in the British territory the population of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims in 1931 was 26.80%, 12.99% and 56.4% respectively (Census of India, 1931, Vol. xvii, Punjab Part i, p. 291 as quoted in Malhotra 1976: 75). Obviously, it alarmed the Arya Samaj to put an end to the conversions of Achhuts lest it turned out as a political suicide for Hindus. Lala Lajpat Rais Achhut Udhar Mandal at Lahore, Swami Ganesh Dutts Antyaj Udhar Mandal at Lahore and Lala Devi Chands Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal at Hoshiarpur came up in response to these conversions. As a matter of fact, the Arya Samaj started Shuddhi campaign to bring the converted Achhuts back into the Hindu-fold (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d.:23). This also brought the Arya Samaj into confrontation with the Sikhs and the Muslims. In a famous incident in 1900, Sikhs rebelled at the Arya Samajs practice of publicly shaving lower caste Sikhs and offering them Shuddhi(Juergensmeyer 1988: 27). It was at this stage that Ad Dharm entered into the volatile territories

of communal politics in Punjab. There was no one to welcome it (Virdi April 2001:10). However, they received some support from the British government as it had helped in weakening the growing unity in the country (Chandra et al 1989: 290-291 and 408-410). Anyhow, The Ad Dharmi pugnacity before independence, then, was both social and political; the latter would no doubt have brought at least to high-caste minds thoughts of imperialist divide and rule (Saberwal 1976:71). Dominant Castes, Violence and Ad Dharm The Ad Dharm faced stiff opposition and its followers fall victim to physical violence at the hands of both Hindus and Sikhs. In fact, the Ad-Dharmis were beaten up when they organised meetings. They were [c]hased everywhere and hounded out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una (Pawar 1993:77). They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two Chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis (Chumber 1986: 51). In Lyalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting14. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted

Shudra Nand from the dais of the Achhuts public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the JatSikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Jat-Sikhs had compelled the Achhuts to record themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid.54-56). In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-i- Hussain, Chief Commissioner, on the request of Mangoo Ram that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village15. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had tough time at the Lothian Committee16 to prove that they were neither Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the Hindus. Likewise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month ) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu

representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal (Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of Achhut Mandal (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab. According to them the untouchables were the backward class of Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the performance of Shuddhi. Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab. Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52). In addition, insinuations and condemnations were also hurled at the Ad Dharm Mandal by the various religious groups in a bid to scandalise the movement. The leaders of Ad Dharm were alleged to have hob-nobbed with the Muslims during the crucial time of communal representation where Hindus and Muslims were juxtaposed against each other. The Ad-Dharms political alliance with the Unionist Party during the Punjab Assembly elections, first in 1937 and then again in 1945-46 was an eye sore both for the congress and the Hindu Sabha17. The Hindu leaders did not like the Ad Dharmis growing links or secretly in the 1937 election who ... gave them cars for their campaign. In public association with the British government. In fact, the Ad Dharmis were supported by the British

meetings, they would attack the various aspects of Hindu society, and if this led to violence, the government used to protect them (Saberwal 1976:7071). As regards the Ad Dharms closeness to Muslims, it was more of political expediency rather than a blind alliance. It was, in fact, Mangoo Ram, who categorically said no to the mandarins of partition (Chumber 1986:52; Sain 1985:37). But on the issue of communal representation for the Achhuts, he showed keen interest in its implementation for the Achhuts. When Gandhi sat on fastunto-death at Poona against the separate electorate for untouchables, Mangoo Ram followed suit declaring Gandhi if you are prepared to die for your Hindus, then I am prepared to die for these untouchables. On this Mangoo Ram was accused of being a casteist. The rift between the liberal Gandhian and radical untouchables was not healed, however, since each continued to perceive the other as an obstacle to achieving intercaste harmony. Gandhi thought the untouchables militant separatism was reinforcing the concept of caste and the untouchables thought Gandhi was trying to whitewash existing differences and to deny untouchables their legitimate base of power. Both the perceptions were to some extent correct (Juergensmeyer 2000:230). Gandhi pleaded on behalf of the Shudras and tried to live like a Bhangi among them to experience what hardships they faced. But Mangoo Ram was one of them. He was a Chamar who experienced the pangs of untouchability. Thus, his response to the epic fast

against separate electorate was not merely pragmatic but also an existential one. When Dr. Ambedkar compromised with Gandhi and the Poona Pact was signed, Mangoo Ram rang up Dr. Ambedkar in an angry mood and expressed his anguish as to why he agreed to the Pact. Dr. Ambedkar said that he had to sign the Poona Pact on human grounds to save the life of Gandhi (Moon 19991:88). The Ad Dharmis perceived that the scheduled castes had lost much more than what they gained in the Poona Pact (Chumber 1986: 51). That is why Mangoo Ram continued his fast even after the Pact was signed. He broke his fast only after the declaration was made by the government that eight seats were reserved for the untouchables in Punjab. The fast undertaken by him continued for 28 days from 20th September to 17th October, 1932 until the Pact was received at Jalandhar. Mangoo Ram used to say those people (Hindus) who had humiliated us for thousands of years how we could trust their promise (Mugowalia 1986: 35). Thus the followers of Ad Dharm movement were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights. In spite of all types of pressures and hardships, the Ad Dharmis succeeded in registering Ad Dharm as a separate religion for the lower castes in Punjab in the 1931 census.

Ad Dharm And Dalit Identity A close study of the objectives set forth by the Ad Dharm founders and the methods adopted by them shows that they endeavored to establish a religious identity for the lower castes than building up the subaltern consciousness. The Ad Dharmis wanted to remove the stigma of untouchability from the face of their community and secure equal rights and respect for the lower caste people. However,

the methods and ways adopted by the Ad Dharm leaders ended up with creating another religion. The Ad-Dharmis were asked to salute each other in the name of Jai Guru Dev (Victory to the divine guru) and in response to that the reply was Dhan Guru Dev (blessed be the divine guru). These greetings were meant to differentiate them (the untouchables) from the other religious communities having their own specific nomenclatures to accost each other within their own social circles. For example, the Hindus address each other by Namaste, Sikhs by Sat Sri Akal and Muslims by Salaam (Juergensmeyer 1988: 53). The salutation of Jai Guru Dev and Dhan Guru Dev as a response to that provided a separate identity to the Ad-Dharm, a new religion of Shudras. Sant Ravidass was projected as a spiritual preceptor and Guru. Bhagwan Satguru Namdev, Maharaj Kabir and Rishi Valmiki were also included in the theology of Ad Dharm. The Sanskrit phrase sohang18 (I am that) was adopted as a mantra by the new religion, Ad Dharm. It is still being used in the wall calendars showing Guru Ravi Dasss picture. As far as the salutations are concerned, they have become memorabilia of the Ad Dharm movement. The protagonists of the Ad Dharm movement also strived to provide their new religion with a sacred book called Ad Prakash, the original light. The purpose of such a move was to institutionalise the newly created religion. Mangoo Ram expressed his will among his closest circle that on his death only the sacred couplets from the Ad Prakash should be chanted. So after his death, only the Ad Prakash was recited on the death ceremony. At that time only a hand written copy of the Ad Prakash was available. Subsequently, Sant Isher Dass of village Nandgarh of District Hoshiarpur compiled the holy book19. Thus the Ad Dharm movement provided a new sense of identity to the untouchables which they lacked earlier. In fact, the

Ad Dharm developed into a qaum (a community) similar to those of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. The Ad Dharm made substantial contribution to the social and political life of dalits in Punjab. It tried to generate awareness among the Dalits for bringing a cultural revolution in the society perforated with the evil of low and high caste dichotomy. Although, a large number of social organisations had sprung up since the early twenties for the benefits of the untouchables, all of them were patronised by the upper castes and failed to bring any significant change as far as the trajectories of varna system and caste configuration of the Indian society were concerned. Given the obnoxious contents of the social taboos and the anti-dalit social practices, it was adventurous for the untouchables to think about forming an organisation to fight for the cause of social liberation. Why Ad Dharm had to project Dalits as a separate qaum with an independent religion was not only a sociological issue but had deep political undercurrents in an in egalitarian social system where some people were excluded from the mainstream on the basis of their birth. Interestingly enough, their being untouchable was more pronounced in terms of denying them the benefits of facilities available in the civil society and less in terms of seeking their menial services. However, with the introduction of the adult franchise the untouchables have no longer been untouchable so far as their votes are concerned. But they are hardly encouraged to aspire for the seat of power. The game of numbers has made it imperative for the Hindus to have claim on the untouchables. Even in the instruction guide for the 1931 census mention was made that [A] ll Chuhras who are not Muslims or Christians,

and who do not return any other religion, should be returned as Hindus. The same rule applies to members of other depressed classes who have no tribal religion (1931 Census, Punjab, Vol. 20, Chap. 11, p. 289, as quoted in Juergensmeyer 1988:73) The emancipator project launched by Mangoo Ram inspired the lower castes to make efforts for their upliftment. The scope of the project, as vividly enunciated in the resolution passed in the first meeting of the Ad Dharm posited emphasis on the social equality of the Dalits and stressed on creating social and cultural awakening rather than merely seeking jobs and other benefits from the government. The Ad Dharm Report20 listed ten basic principles and twelve duties of the Ad Dharm organisation and fifty-six commandments to be followed by the Ad Dharmis. The main emphasis of these commandments, principles and duties was on the cultural, social and religious aspects of the life. The Report also includes twenty-five resolutions passed in the first Ad Dharm Conference in 1926. The government was requested to provide special schools and scholarships for the untouchable children (resolutions 7, 10, 11); proper representation in elected bodies and government departments (resolution 17); to eliminate rayit-namma and not to apply the Land Alienation Act to the untouchables (resolution 13). The Ad Dharm Mandal led by Mangoo Ram was able to raise the religious and organisational status of the untouchables beyond imagination21. The new constitution of independent India , adopted on 26 January, 1950, incorporated special provisions for Dalits to raise their social status and to help them to come at par with the rest of the society. In fact, the voice for such special provisions were first raised by the Ad Dharm in 1926 and subsequently documented in its report in 1931. In 1950, Mangoo Ram requested his qaum to relieve him of active social

service life and called upon young Ad Dharmis to come forward to take the flag of dalit liberation.22 However, for two decades, i.e. from 1950 to 1970, Ad Dharm movement remained dormant for reasons best known to its leaders. In fact, most of the Adi movements in different parts of the country ceased to play an active role in the post-colonial India until 1970. Some of their leaders either joined the Congress or, for some time, carried out their political struggle under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar. Some scholars believed that the Ad Dharm movement was eventually absorbed into Dr. Ambedkars Scheduled Castes federation and finally transformed into the Republican Party of India (Ahir 1992:5; and Saberwal 1976:68). It has also been said that in 1946 the Ad Dharm Mandal handed over the charge of political struggle to Dr. Ambedkars Scheduled Castes Federation and confined itself to the social and religious matters affecting the Scheduled castes (Juergensmeyer 1988:153). However, facts do not support such an analysis. After the 1937 Punjab Assembly elections, in which the Ad Dharm won all but one reserved seats, the low lying factionalism within its organisation came onto the surface. The main factional confrontation was between Seth Kishan Das and Master Gurbanta Singh. Seth Kishan Das was a rich man of the famous Boota Mandi, 23 whose financial support to the Ad Dharm Mandal was no secret. He was also in the good books of Mangoo Ram, President of the Mandal. Master Gurbanta Singh was an Arya-samaji turned congress sympathiser who had also served Ad Dharm at one time as a General Secretary. He projected himself as a real representative of the untouchables being one of them as a poor man. Whereas, Seth Kishan Das, a wealthy leather merchant, in his view, could not empathise with the poor untouchables. He contested 1937 Punjab Assembly election as

a congress nominee from the Jalandhar reserved seat against Seth Kishan Das who was supported by the Ad Dharm Mandal. Master Gurbanta Singh was defeated by Seth Kishan Das with a big margin. This further widened the gulf between them. In the meantime, Seth Kishan Das formed the Achhut Federation, a Punjabi version of Dr. Ambedkars Scheduled Castes Federation. Mr. Gopal Singh Khalsa, an M.L.A. from the Ludhiana reserved seat, joined him as a VicePresident. Seth Kishan Das formed Achhut Federation without taking Mangoo Ram into confidence that, in turn, got enraged by his behaviour. Master Gurbanta Singh exploited this opportunity and stepped into the Ad Dharm Mandal. He managed to come closer to Mangoo Ram. However, Master Gurbanta Singh had also formed Ravidass Naujawan Sabha and carried out for some time Ravidass Jaikara, as the publication of the Sabha. Bhagat Singh Mal, Pritam Singh Bala, Karam Chand Shenmar were some of the prominent members of the Ravidass Naujawan Sabha. He, in fact, reportedly wanted to emulate Mangoo Ram by forming an organisation and a publication to match Adi Danka, the weekly newspaper of Ad Dharm24. In the 1946-47 Punjab Assembly election, Mangoo Ram put his weight behind Master Gurbanta Singh who was a congress nominee against Kishan Das of the Achhut Federation. This time, Master Gurbanta Singh defeated Seth Kishan Das. However, by now the leadership of the Ad Dharm Mandal got scattered into different political segments, thanks to the allurement of political offices. Mangoo Ram himself got elected to the Assembly with the support of the Unionist Party from the Hoshiarpur constituency. The Ad Dharm Mandal building, which was constructed with the financial support of Seth Kishan Das, came under the control of Master Gurbanta Singh who eventually became the custodian of its property and Chairman of Ravidass High

School. A cursory glance at these developments in the Ad Dharm conjured up a pessimistic image about the Ad Dharm movement as if it had ceased to exist in the late forties. But what one needs to keep in mind while analysing the scope of the movement, is that movement is too big a phenomenon to be confined within the boundaries of a compact organisation or a political party. Political organisations and political parties may branch out from the domain of a movement. And the movement may for some time go into a gestation period to resurface again. Hardly if ever, does a social movement sustain a uniform ally high level of mobilised action. It alternates between periods of intense activity and relative calm, during which period it may devote itself to organisational problems. Therefore, a period of relative calm need not apply its dissipation (Mukherji 1977:47) The Achhut Federation and the emergence of an articulate dalit leadership which eventually joined the congress was, in fact, the product of the Ad Dharm movement. The coming up of the Achhut Federation and joining of the congress party by some of the Ad Dharmis should not be interpreted as the demise of the Ad Dharm movement. Even when the movement was in low ebb, Mangoo Ram and his associates like Sant Ram Azad and Chanan Lal Manak remained steadfast on the principles and sustenance of Ad-Dharm movement. Rejuvenation Even in 1970 when efforts were made by Mangu Ram Jaspal,

another Ad Dharmi of the Doaba region who had returned from England to settle in Jalandhar, to revive the movement, the veteran Mangoo Ram promptly came forward to help resuscitate the movement. Some other distinguished Ad Dharmis, who remained loyal to the movement even during its gestation period, wrote series of articles in the Ravidass Patrika of the new Ad Dharm movement. The new Ad-Dharm movement got resurged and revamped on December 13, 1970 under the banner of Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation. There were striking similarities between the Ad Dharm Mandal and the Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation. As a matter of fact, Mangoo Ram commented that were back to where we were in 1925' (Juergensmeyer 1988:263). Until the objective conditions or contradictions which initially propelled the movement were altered or resolved, the goals and ideology remained intact to reemerge at the slightest opportunity. ...[w]hen the existing structures in a society show certain inconsistencies with reference to the achievement of certain goals or when the goals themselves are inconsistent with the needs of the constituents of the system, objective conditions for their manifestation is (sic) prepared. When these conditions lead further to maturation collective mobilisation may take place in response to general discontent. ... Such mobilisation for collective action continue to persist until such times as when the objective conditions change in a direction so as to render the continuance of such a collective mobilisation redundant. Such a situation may arise when the collective mobilisation has achieved its

major objective, or when the major objective of the movement 1977:42). The main objectives of the Ad Dharm movement were to carve out an independent identity for the untouchables and to blot out the stigma of untouchability. Although, the Ad Dharm movement played an effective role in mobilising dalits on these vital issues, the shift in the then political arena, induced by the electoral system, forced the movement to adjust itself with the changed political scenario. As the majority of the Ad Dharm leadership got involved in the electoral process to gain political power25, it eventually diluted its emphasis on the goals of removal of untouchability and the construction of a separate identity. As a result the objective conditions remained unchanged. In spite of legal provisions enshrined in the new constitution, the traditional authority structures of hierarchy resisted and stalled the process of transformation. Mangoo Ram said: ... our people in the government are still treated like slaves. They fear their superiors and high caste people. (Juergensmeyer 1988: 258). In other words, the evil of untouchability has not been eradicated from the complex social structure of the society. Physical untouchability has given way to the mental untouchability26. Moreover, the goal of constructing a communal identity for the untouchables by developing a separate religion, though partly achieved in the 1931 census, was rolled back in 1932 by the Poona Pact. Henceforth, from the status of a religion, Ad Dharm was reduced into a category of caste27. So, instead of elevating the status itself becomes irrelevant (Mukherji

of the untouchables, it had a negative impact on the dalit mobilisation. A new caste was added to the already long list of Scheduled castes. Chamars were further categorised into Chamars and Ad Dharmis. The new Ad Dharm movement in the seventies was organised against this background. It pledged to revive the spirit of social and cultural transformation, as ignited by Mangoo Ram in the 1920s. Efforts were also made to keep away from the vicissitudes of power politics which had marred social and cultural stances of the original Ad Dharm movement. The Ad-Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation reiterated on the importance of communal identity of the Ad Dharmis as a separate qaum. In fact, the revived movement was more theological. Religion was employed as a rallying point for harnessing the allegiance of the untouchables. The construction of Ravidass Temple in Benares and highlighting the Ravidass temple (Dera Sach Khand) in village Ballan near Bhogpur town of Jalandhar was the focal point of the new Ad Dharm movement. The first conference of the revived movement was held at a religious place Dera Sach Khand Ballan. It focused on the renewal of the qaumi identity. However, in due course some material demands were also included. Land reforms and raising the income limit from Rs.3600 to 6000, for defining poverty, were among the most important demands in this regard (Juergensmeyer 1988: 261). The revived Ad Dharm movement attempted to widen the scope of Ad Dharm religion by including in its fold, the Chuhras (sweeper caste), Mazhbi Sikhs, Ramdasias, and the Ambedkar Buddhists. In order to enlist the support of the Chuhras, who got estranged from the Ad Dharm, (Saberwal 1976:68) Valmiki, the patron saint of the sweeper caste, was assigned special importance in the revived movement.

Although the Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation adopted the well-tried-out formulae of dalit mobilisation, it could not succeed in eliciting the same level of response. The practice of untouchability, the most important structural factor (Oommen 1977:16) in mobilising untouchables in 1920s, has been bridled to a significant extent. Moreover, the articulate leaders of the Scheduled castes were co-opted in the congress system which operated like an umbrella to incorporate various shades of political orientations and organisations. Moreover, what the Ad Dharm was aspiring for during the British regime, the congress delivered the same in the post colonial phase. Even Mangoo Ram had acknowledged it and said Dhanwad karna congress raj wala chotte waddhe da bhaid mitta ditta. Mahatama Gandhi ji bauhat upkar kitta girian kauman nu saath mila ditta. (Thanks to the congress regime for bridging the gap between the lower and the higher. Mahatama Gandhi ji did a lot of social service to bring the downtrodden at par with the other communities) 28. However, before the revived Ad Dharm movement lost in the whirlpool of militant fundamentalism in Punjab in the 1980s, fresh efforts were made to keep the struggle alive by publishing souvenirs, journals, and weekly news bulletins to glorify the various aspects of the movement. In January 1985, the Mangoo Ram Mugowalia Souvenir Committee released a souvenir29 in commemoration of the 99th birth anniversary of Mangoo Ram. The purpose of the souvenir was to generate awareness among the scheduled castes about the protagonists and sympathisers of the Ad Dharm Mandal. Moreover, as a sequel to the Adi Danka of the 1920s and Ravidass Patrika of the 1970s, a Punjabi monthly named

Kaumi Udarian was launched from Jalandhar in December 198530. It endeavored to give wide coverage to the different aspects of the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s and its contemporary relevance. In January 1986, a special issue of the Kaumi Udarian was published on the birth centenary of Babu Mangoo Ram. Likewise on 12 January 1997 the Bahujan Samaj Bulletin (a weekly newspaper of the Bahujan Samaj Party) also focused on various themes of the Ad Dharm movement. It was, in fact, through the columns of souvenirs, journals and news bulletins that many of the rare official documents of the Ad Dharm Mandal were made public. In addition, on 14 April 1986, the Ambedkar Mission Society, Punjab, posthumously honored Babu Mangoo Ram with the title of Kaumi Messiah (saviour of the community). The important factor which distinguished the revival of the Ad Dharm movement in the 1980s, particularly under the BSP, was that it laid less emphasis on the appeal of religion to seek support for the movement. It is politics which has now acquired the centre stage pushing religion into the background. No doubt the movement right from the very beginning had shown interest in gaining political power for purposes of bringing about the basic social transformation31 as witnessed during the Assembly elections in 1937 and 1946-47. The Ad Dharmis found it convenient to use religion as a strategy to political power. However, the real objective of the Ad Dharm movement was to create an egalitarian social structure where Ad Dharmis would be proud of their community and feel free to aspire for equal opportunities. With an aim of achieving the same objective, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has become active in Punjab since 1985. Of late the Party has claimed that the ideology of Ad Dharm has become the spine, heart , brain, eyes, feet, and arms of the struggle of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Bulletin 12 January 1997:8). In 1996, it won three

of the thirteen parliamentary seats and recorded leads in as many as seventeen assembly constituencies in Punjab (Verma 1999). Kanshi Ram, founder of the BSP, was elected to Lok Sabha (1996) from the Hoshiarpur constituency , wherefrom 50 years ago Babu Mangoo Ram, founder of the Ad Dharm movement, got elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1946. More interestingly, it was again in Hoshiarpur that the BSP celebrated 75th year of the AD Dharm movement on 28 February 2001. On this occasion, Kanshi Ram in his address exhorted the Bahujan Samaj to follow the principles of the Ad Dharm movement of which the BSP has, now, become the torchbearer. The pamphlet32, issued by the BSP, also emphasised that the Party had taken forward the mission of the Ad Dharm movement. It reiterated that although Dr. Ambedkar tried to give political freedom to the downtrodden by granting them the right to vote in the constitution, but in actual practice it could not be realised fully. Further, the Pamphlet stressed that the Manuite regimes have conspired to deprive the dalits of their hard earned rights by proposing to amend the constitution. The BSP, which drew inspiration from Ad Dharm and Dr. Ambedkar, strongly condemned such moves and sought support in its tirade against the Manuite government. Simultaneously, the efforts have also been made to revive the spirit of the Ad Dharm movement abroad. Begumpura Times Quarterly, a bilingual publication of the Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl. Wolverhampton, U.K. (Started in 1999) has carried a series of articles on various aspects of the Ad Dharm movement and the steps taken for its revival. The Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl. also celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of the Ad Dharm movement at Shri Guru Ravidass Community Centre, Wolverhampton, on 11 June

2000. Earlier, on 25 July 1976, it celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Ad Dharm in U.K. where Babu Mangoo Ram was invited as the chief guest and also honored with a pension of Rs. 1000 per month (Sain, 1985:37). In India, the Platinum Jubilee function of the movement was organised at the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar on 11 June 2000. On this occasion, Mr. Chumber released the report of Ad Dharm Mandal 1931 (in Punjabi and Hindi) 33 which included the names of 500 members and 55 missionaries of the Mandal. The purpose of publishing the names of the members and missionaries was to acknowledge their contributions to the upliftment of the dalit community and also to generate an active interest among the younger generation of their families. The report also made a call to the scheduled castes to record Ad Dharm as their religion in the 2001 census as was done in the 1931 census. A similar appeal was made by the Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl., U.K. Mention may be made here that the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s had also received support from the immigrant Ad Dharmis settled in New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore, U.K. etc. (McLeod 1986:110: see also Manak 1985:8). As the ideology and principles of the Ad Dharm movement greatly influenced the dalits of the Doaba region, most of the immigrants who supported the movement from abroad also hailed from this very region. The present BSP, under the leadership of Kanshi Ram, which claims to fight for the rights of dalits in the framework of the Ad Dharm movement, has high hopes from the Doaba region. Moreover, given the significant number of Scheduled Castes in Punjab (28.31% as per 1991 census), there is a possibility of the emergence of alternative dalit politics. The Impediments

What stumbled the dalits in Punjab to emerge as a political alternative despite their numerical strength is that they have not been able to consolidate themselves as a homogeneous group. In fact, they form a conglomerate of thirty-seven distinct dalit castes34 with different sub identities and diverse religious affiliations. The rules of the caste grammar treating one caste as superior to another are equally followed by the scheduled castes in the state. A study based on the field work has found that 76.6 percent of the dalit respondents ranked Ad Dharmi at the top of the hierarchy of the scheduled castes in Punjab. Being conscious of their superior status the Ad Dharmis practice endogamy to maintain their distinctness from the other dalit castes. Further, the study reported that 91.6 percent of the Ad Dharmis had married within their own caste (Kamaljot 1996: 33-35). Another empirical study reveals that among the Valmikis and the Ad Dharmis in Punjab there exists a substantial measure of active caste consciousness which further precluded them forging unity to fight out the socio-economic and political backwardness (Saberwal 1973: 256). According to 1981 census, in terms of their numerical strength the Mazhabis, the Sikh counterparts of Valmikis also known as Chuhras, were 13,66,843; Chamars (also called Ramdasias, Ravidasies etc.) 12,21,145; Ad Dharmis 6,80,132; Valmikis 5,32,628; Dumnas 1,24,929; Bazigars 1,20,250; Meghs 78,405; Bawarias 62,624; Sansis 61,986; and Kabirpanthis 56,888 followed by rest of the scheduled castes in varied smaller denominations (Jodkha 2000: 400-401; see also his 2002). Out of the thirty seven castes, the Punjab government declared thirteen as the Depressed Scheduled Castes. Seven of these thirteen Depressed Scheduled Castes are identified by the Punjab government as the De-notified Tribes or the Vimukta Jatis who were declared by the colonial administration as Vagrant and Criminal tribes. These thirteen

castes together constituted only 11 percent of the scheduled caste population (ibid : 394). Chamars, Mazhabis, Ad Dharmis and Valmikis together constitute nearly three-fourth of the total scheduled castes population of Punjab. Apart from above, the factor of economic inequalities among the dalits in the state is no less significant. The Ad Dharmis of the Boota Mandi in Jalandhar who control the leather industry are the richest among the scheduled castes of Punjab. Moreover, a group of scheduled castes has established its hold over the surgical tool manufacturing units in the Jalandhar town. Likewise, a small number of scheduled castes households also own cultivable land (around 0.40 percent of the total holdings in Punjab) which makes them different from most other dalits whose mainstay of livelihood depends on the income as manual and landless labourers. Similarly, some sections of the scheduled castes, particularly the Chamar and Ad Dharmis have acquired administrative positions in the state administration. The above analysis shows that dalits of Punjab constitute a motley group of castes, economic strata and religious identities. Besides, the dalits lack an all-Punjab leader to mobilize them across religious and regional variations. It was precisely because of these intra-dalit cleavages that they could not emerge as a cohesive force to reckon with in the politics of Punjab. In the absence of a common platform, some of the dalits and their local elites seek their salvation through different political outfits including the Congress and the Akali Dal. Conclusion What we have tried to argue above is that the dalit consciousness is a consciousness of seeking justice and equality which was born in the early 20the century. Another aspect of dalit consciousness which

needs to be underlined is that it has never been an exclusive domain of dalits only. Intermittently it continued to receive inputs from nondalit quarters as well. Be it a phase of Bhakti movement, Sufis, Indian renaissance or of national freedom movement, there is an ample proof of efforts being made by non-dalits in the direction of eradication of untouchability. However, almost all of them thought it appropriate to take measures for the removal of untouchability without doing away with the in egalitarian social structure. This has led to a sharp division between the orientation of the dalits and the higher caste protagonists of social reform movements. The rise of Ad Dharm movement and Gandhi-Ambedkar dispute are testimonies to such polarization between the dalits and the twiceborn. This division in turn further strengthened the process of consolidation of dalit consciousness in a framework of we and others. The issues of caste and untouchability instead of emerging as a common social problem with a unified response across the length and breadth of Indian sub-continent have taken on a path of confrontation and antagonism. Dalit consciousness grew along these fault lines. Indian freedom struggle failed to provide an environment for the emergence of a politics based on consensus and common concerns. This was probably the main reason for the continuance of the ideology and principles of the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab through the efforts of the BSP. More curiously, dalits became victim of their own dalit consciousness, which instead of transcending caste and caste based hierarchies strengthened caste identities. Until very recently they (dalits) were condemned as untouchable because of their being low caste, now they have been given favours constitutionally, too because of their being low caste. Hence as far as the social status of dalits is concerned no significant change has really taken place. The blatant untouchability of yesteryears got transformed into a subtle

form. Once a Scheduled Caste succeeded to raise his economic status by making use of reservation, he absolutely finds no avenues to concomitantly raise his social status also. He then desperately seeks new identities in borrowing religions and sometimes even borrowing respectable sub-caste titles. Such borrowed identities haunt him incessantly because his new incarnation failed to get recognition in the hierarchical social set up. It is in this context that the contribution of the Ad Dharm movement becomes crucial. It helped the scheduled castes to seek social recognition through the process of cultural transformation on the one hand and spiritual regeneration on the other. It carved out a new identity for them. It gave them a new name: Ad Dharmi. The very title of Ad Dharmi instills in the minds of the scheduled castes a sense of pride. It reminds them of their pristine rich heritage. It also realised them as to how they were deprived of freedom and liberty and made subservient to the twice born. The Ad Dharm movement succeeded in raising the consciousness of the downtrodden people of the Doaba region of Punjab in particular and of the entire state in general. It gave them gurus to believe in, a qaum to belong to and a sense of history to relate with. It envisions them the possibility and potentiality of a social change whereby the scheduled castes could think and make efforts to improve their lot. The process of cultural transformation and spiritual regeneration started by the Ad Dharm movement under the leadership of Mangoo Ram continued to reverberate the cities and villages of Punjab into the 21st century through different platforms and political formations. Notes

[I am grateful to Professor P.S. Verma for meticulously going

through the various drafts of this paper. His scholarly comments and incisive criticism helped in improving the arguments raised in the paper. To late Chanan Lal Manak, I.D. Pawar, K.C. Shenmar, K.C. Sulekh, Chattar Sain, C.L. Chumber and Sant Baba Surinder Das I owe a special debt for helping me in locating and providing source material on the Ad Dharm movement. My thanks to Professors: H.K. Puri, Paramjit Singh Judge and Late Pradeep Kumar who provided critical inputs in preparation of the draft. My special thanks to Seema Goel for helping me in various ways in the preparation of the paper. However, for any fault or error, the responsibility lies entirely on the author]. <!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Some of the close

associates of the Ad Dharm movement, however, did not approve the closure of the movement in 1946. They were of the opinion that Ad Dharm continued to play an important role for the upliftment of the untouchables even after 1946. In 1946 Mangoo Ram got elected to the Punjab Assembly and remained there to espouse the cause of the Ad Dharmis till the first general elections in independent India. By that time, Mangoo Ram had grown fairly old. According to Chanan Lal Manak, a close associate of the movement, Ad Dharm could not produce any one of the caliber of Mangoo Ram to replace him. The rank and file of Ad Dharm was more interested in their individual vested interests rather than in the upliftment of the Dalits as a community. However, Mangoo Ram till his death did not surrender the Herculean task that he had taken on his shoulders for the dalit consciousness and their upliftment. Interviews with Ishwar Das Pawar, Chandigarh, April 23, 2001; Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 1, 2001; and Chattar Sain, son of Mangoo Ram, Garshankar (Distt. Hoshiarpur), April 27,

2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]--> Interviews: Chanan Lal

Manak, Jalandhar, May 1, 2001; K.C. Sulekh, Chandigarh, July 1, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Interview with Chattar

Sain, son of Mangoo Ram, Garshankar (Distt. Hoshiarpur) April 27, 2001; see also Ram 1971: 4). <!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[if !supportLists]-->6. panth <!--[endif]-->Sain, n.3. <!--[endif]-->Ibid. <!--[endif]-->A signed pamphlet by Meri Walon Sandesh

Mangoo Ram in the name of his qaum, entitled Panjab De Achhut Nu Vadhai: (Congratulations to the Untouchable Brotherhood of Punjab: My Message ), reproduced as such in Monthly Kaumi Udarian(Punjabi), vol. 1, no. 2, January 1986, 24(Jalandhar, ed. C.L. Chumber). <!--[if !supportLists]-->7. <!--[endif]-->One of the teachers of pp. 23-

the school was a Muslim, Walhi Mohammad and one was Brahmin, who was later on converted into a Shudra. The conversion ceremony comprised of an earthen pot (Douri) which contained water mingled with sugar balls (Patasha) and stirred with leather cutting tool (Rambi). Thus the prepared sweet water considered as holy was given to Brahmins to baptize them into Shudras (Sain, n.3). <!--[if !supportLists]-->8. <!--[endif]-->The All India Ad Dharm

Mandal got disbanded and merged with the organisation led by Dr Ambedkar in 1933 and after some years the same fate fell on

Ad Dharm of Mangoo Ram, who closed the office of the Ad Dharm Mandal and changed its name to Ravidass Mandal (Juergensmeyer 2000: 232). However, close associates of the Ad Dharm movement contested this observation. They said that Ad Dharm Mandal was not changed into Ravidass Mandal. In fact, later on, Ravidass School was opened up in the premises of the Ad Dharm Mandal building. So it was Ravidass School which merely came to occupy the space of the Ad Dharm Mandal building rather than its being taken over by Ravidass Mandal. Interviews with: late Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 29, 2001; K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P) Pb.(retd.) Chandigarh, April 28, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->9. <!--[endif]-->In 1952, Mangoo Ram

was offered a ticket by the Congress to contest the assembly elections as its nominee. As he refused to contest the election on the Congress ticket, it was given to Kartar Singh of village Ligari of Hoshiarpur District. (Sain, n.3). <!--[if !supportLists]-->10. <!--[endif]-->Mugowal Zila

Hoshiarpur De Ad Dharm Skool da Wadda Bhaari Diwan: Pehla Salana Jalsa Muwarka 11-12 June Aittwar, Somwar 1927 Mutabak 30-31 Jeth 1984 (Mugowal, Hoshiarpur District, in the Ad Dharm School: First Annual Huge Public Meeting, 11-12 June, Sunday-Monday 1927, as per the Local Calendar 30-31 of the first month of the Year 1984). However, in various writings about Ad Dharm the year 1926 is referred to as the year of the First Annual Meeting of the Ad Dharm. Reproduced as such in Monthly Kaumi Udarian (Punjabi), vol. 1, No. 2, January 1986, pp 21-22. <!--[if !supportLists]-->11. <!--[endif]-->Swami Shudra Nand and

Babu Thakur Chand. <!--[if !supportLists]-->12. <!--[endif]-->The text is in the form of

poetry (in Punjabi), translated by the author and Seema Goel. <!--[if !supportLists]-->13. <!--[endif]-->However, no record is

available to substantiate this thesis (Juergensmeyer 1988:23). <!--[if !supportLists]-->14. <!--[if !supportLists]-->15. <!--[if !supportLists]-->16. <!--[endif]-->Manak, n.8. <!--[endif]-->Ibid. <!--[endif]-->The Lothian committee

(Indian Franchise committee) was constituted in December 1931 under the Chairmanship of the Marquees of Lothian, C.H., and Parliamentary under Secretary of State for India. It consisted of 18 members. Dr. Ambedkar was one of them. The committee began its work, of hearing the views of the parties concerned and the provincial franchise committees constituted by the respective Provincial Legislatures, at Delhi on 1st February 1932. It conducted its enquires in Lahore on 31st March and 1st April, 1932. Ad Dharm Mandal and Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal represented the depressed classes of the Punjab before the committee. The Ad Dharm Mandal delegation consisted of eighteen members including Mangoo Ram (President) Hazara Ram Piplanwala (General Secretary), Hans Raj (Vice-President), Ram Chand Khera (Editor, Adi Danka), Pt. Hari Ram and Sant Ram Azad (Ahir 1992:8-9). <!--[if !supportLists]-->17. <!--[endif]--> In 1937 Assembly

elections in Punjab eight seats were reserved for the scheduled castes. Ad Dharm contested on all seats with the help of Unionist Party. Ad Dharm candidates won seven seats. One seat (Hoshiarpur) went to Congress candidate, Moola Singh who

defeated Hazara Ram Piplanwala of Ad Dharm with a margin of seven votes (Manak May 1971: No. 8). <!--[if !supportLists]-->18. <!--[endif]-->As spelt on the top of the

letter pad of Ad Dharm Mandal. One such letter is in the possession of K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P.) Punjab (retd.) on which Mangoo Ram gave him testimonial. K.C. Shenmar has kindly passed on the photocopy of the testimonial to the author. <!--[if !supportLists]-->19. <!--[endif]-->Ad Prakash Granth

contains 1248 pages which include hymns of Guru Ravidass, Maharishi Valmiki and Kabir, apart from many other Adi Gurus (Banta Ram, Joginder Bains, Shri Ad Prakash Granth Trust, Hoshiarpur; Sain, n.3). <!--[if !supportLists]-->20. <!--[endif]-->The report of the Ad

Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 was published on May 15, 1931 in Urdu. Mark Juergensmeyer and Surjit Singh Goraya translated it into English (Juergensmeyer 1988). C. L. Chumber translated it into Hindi and Punjabi (Chumber 11 June 2000). The Hindi and Punjabi translation include the name of the five hundred members of the Ad Dharm Mandal and its fifty five missionaries which were not included in the English translation. <!--[if !supportLists]-->21. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Shenmar, IG(P) Punjab (retd.), Chandigarh, April 28, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->22. <!--[if !supportLists]-->23. <!--[endif]-->Pamphlet, n.6 <!--[endif]-->Boota Mandi, also

known as Ramdasspura, is situated on Nakodar road in Jalandhar. It has been inhabited by Ad Dharmis who had come from different villages to settle there for leather works and trade.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->24.

<!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Shenmar, Chandigarh, July 9, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->25. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Sulekh, Chandigarh, July 12, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->26. <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C.

Shenmar, Chandigarh, July 14, 2001. <!--[if !supportLists]-->27. <!--[endif]-->Ad Dharmi is one of the

thirty seven castes listed as Scheduled Castes (Census of India 1991, section 17, Punjab). <!--[if !supportLists]-->28. <!--[endif]-->Pamphlet, n. 6, cf

(Juergensmeyer 2000:232, fn. 21). <!--[if !supportLists]-->29. Nagar, Delhi). <!--[if !supportLists]-->30. <!--[endif]-->Jalandhar was the head <!--[endif]-->Souvenir, 1985: Babu

Mangoo Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary (41, Kundan

quarter of the Ad Dharm Mandal. Adi Danka and Ravidass Patrika were also published form there. <!--[if !supportLists]-->31. <!--[if !supportLists]-->32. <!--[endif]-->n. 10, p. 22. <!--[endif]-->The pamphlet was made

available to the author by C.L. Chumber. <!--[if !supportLists]-->33. <!--[endif]-->The Report of the Ad

Dharm Mandal 1926-1931, translated by C.L. Chumber in Hindi and Punjabi and circulated through Adi Dharm Weekly (Jalandhar), 11 June 2000. <!--[if !supportLists]-->34. <!--[endif]-->Thirty-seven Castes are:

Ad-Dharmi, Valmiki (Chura, Bhangi), Bangali, Barar (Burar of Berar), Batwal, Bauria (Bawria), Bazigar, Bhnajra, Chamar (Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidassi), Chanal, Dagi, Darain, Deha (Dhaya, Dhea), Dhanak, Kabirpanthi (Julaha), Khatik, Kori- koli, Marija (Marecha), Mazhbi, Megh, Nat, Od, Pasi, Perna, Pheera, Sanhai, Sanhal, Sansi (Bhedkut, Manesh), Sansoi, Dhogri (Dhangri, Siggi), Dumna (Mahasha, Doom), Gagra, Gandhila (Gandeil), Sapela, Sareta, Sikligar, Sirkiband, (Census of India 1991, Series 17Punjab).

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on Caste in Partha Chatterjee. ed., State and Politics in India. Delhi: O.U.P. Kshirsagar, R.K. 1994. Dalit Movement and its Leaders. New Delhi: M.D. Publishers. Maddar, Madan Lal. December 1985. Politics of Ad-Dharmis in Punjab before Independence (in Punjabi). Kaumi Udarian, Jalandhar Vol. 1. No. 1. pp. 7-10. Malhotra, S.L. 1970. Gandhi and the Punjab. Chandigarh: Panjab University Publication Bureau. __________. April-June 1976. Hindu Politics and Untouchability in the Punjab: 1900-1935. The Social Sciences Research Journal. Chandigarh. Vol. 1. No. 1. pp. 74-88. Manak, Chanan Lal. 11 May, 1971. Ad Dharm Bare (About Ad Dharm). Ravidass Patrika, Jalandhar. No. 8. Manuqu, Chanan Singh. February 10, 2003. Bharat Samaj Ek Thahriya Hoyaya Dhancha(Static Structure of Indian Society). Begumpura Shaher. Jalandhar. No. 41. p. 5. Mayor, A.C. 1960. Caste and Kinship in Central India: A Village and its Region. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. McLeod, W.H. 1986. Punjabis in New Zealand: A History of Punjab Migration 1890-1940. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University. Mohan, Kamlesh. March-July 1992. Constructing Religion and Caste & Manipulating Identities (19th to early 20th Century). Social Sciences Journal. Vol. 1. No. 1-2. Under New Series. pp. 139-176.

Mohan Lal, Lala. July 20, 1935. Punjab Harijans and CarrionEating. Harijan. Garland edn. Vol. III. No. 23. p. 183. Moon, Vasant. (1991). Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol. 9, Government of Maharashtra: Education Department. Mugowalia, Chatter Sain. January 1986. Mahatama Gandhi Banam Babu Mugowalia (Mahatama Gandhi versus Babu Mugowalia). Kaumi Udarian, Jalandhar Vol. 1, No. 2. pp. 19-20 & 35. Mukherji, Partha Nath. March 1977. Social Movement and Social Change: Towards a Conceptual Clarification and Theoretical Framework. Sociological Bulletin. Vol. 26. No. 1. pp. 3859. Omvedt, Gail. 1994. Dalits and the Democratic Revolution. New Delhi: Sage. Oommen, T.K. March 1977. Sociological Issues in the Analysis of Social Movements in Independent India. Sociological Bulletin. vol. 26. No.1. pp.14-37. Pawar, I.D. 1993. My Struggle in Life. Chandigarh: Author Publisher. 3rd. edn. Piplanwala, Babu Hazara Ram. January 1986. Lothian Committee and Ad Dharm Mandal. Kaumi Udarian. Vol. 1, No. 2. pp. 10-15. Puri, Harish K. 2003. Scheduled Castes in Sikh Community: A Historical Perspective, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No. 26, June 28-July 4, pp. 2693-2701.

Quigley, Declan. 1999. The Interpretation of Caste. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Raghavan, V. 1966. The Great Integrators: The Saint Singers of India. New Delhi: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Govt. of India. Raheja, Gloria, Goodwin. 1988. The Poison in the Gift: Ritual, Presentation, and the Dominant Caste in a North Indian Village. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ram, Banta, Bains, Joginder. 1985. Shri AD Prakash Granth Trust. Anandgarh. Dr. Mahilanwali Hoshiarpur. Ad Dharm, Ad Prakash Granth, Ad Dharmi Qaum. Souvenir. Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary. New Delhi :41. Kundan Nagar. pp. 19-20. Ram, Mangoo. 6 April 1971. Meri Videsh Yatra and Mera Jiwan Birtant (My Foreign Travels and My Life Story). Ravidass Patrika., p. 4. Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931. 11 June 2000. (Trans. Hindi). C.L. Chumber. Adi Dharm. Weekly. Jalandhar. pp.1-54. Robb, Peter. 1997. Introduction: Meanings of Labour in Indian Social Context, in Peter Robb. ed., Dalit Movements and the Meanings of Labour in India. Delhi: OUP. Saberwal, Satish. 1976. Mobile Men: Limits to Social Change in Urban Punjab. New Delhi: Vikas. ________________. September 1973. Receding Pollution:

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Sain, Chattar. 1985. Ghaddri Taun Ad Dharmi: Babu Mangoo Ram Ji Mugowalia (From Ghadrite to Ad Dharmi: Babu Mangoo Ram Ji Mugowalia). Souvenir. 1985: Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary. Delhi: 41. Kundan Nagar Delhi. pp. 35-37. Sarkar, Sumit. 1983 Modern India: 1885-1947. Delhi: Macmillan. rpt. 1998. Sharma, S.K. 1985. Social Movements and Social Change: A Study of Arya Samaj and Untouchable sin Punjab. Delhi: B.R. Publ. Shrirama. 1999. Untouchability and Stratification in Indian Civilization, in Michael, S. M. ed., Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values, pp. 39-67. New Delhi: Vistar. Srinivas, M.N. 1962. Caste in Modern India and other Essays. Bombay: Asia Publishing House. Suresh, V.1998. The Dalit Movement in India, in T.V.

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No. 2. pp. 10-15. Dr. Ronki Ram

Department of Political SciencePanjab University, Chandigarh E.mail:ronkiram@yahoo.co

DALIT ASSERTION AND CASTE CONFLICTS IN PUNJAB Dr. Ronki Ram Department of Political Science Panjab University, Chandigarh. E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Untouchability lives within boundaries. The boundaries are made of Hindu sacred texts known as 'Dharam Shastras'. Untouchability ceases to exist as and when these boundaries are dismantled. This is what Ambedkar emphasised in his proposed inaugural speech at the 'Jat-Pat Todak Mandal' of Lahore in 1936. However, he was never allowed to deliver his speech precisely because of its anti-Dharam Shastric contents. Much water has flown since then, particularly after the independence, down the lanes and by-lanes of Indian social structures. But the curse of untouchability and caste related problems has not been totally exorcised. Although the blatant observance of purity-pollution principle has scaled down to a considerable extent after the adoption of Indian constitution, in political space it has taken an altogether a new shape. Caste has

never been so assertive in Indian politics as it is today. This has, in turn, led to caste violence in various parts of the country. Punjab is no exception. It has recently witnessed serious caste clashes in rural as well as in urban settings of its Doaba region. Although caste and untouchability is prevalent throughout the country but it has never been monolithic and unilinear in its practice. Every region has its specific and unique characteristics. In order to understand the phenomena of caste and untouchability one needs to give due importance to the cultural specificities of the different regions. This study is a modest attempt to understand the phenomena of untouchability and caste violence in Punjab. The article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the sources of untouchability, caste and domination and the state of untouchability in Punjab. It also reflects briefly on the role of the upper caste social reformers in the eradication of untouchability. It is proposed that untouchability has not only been articulated in the sacred Hindu texts but has also received popular support in the writings of Orientalists and British scholar-administrators. In the second part, Ad Dharm movement and the rise of dalit consciousness in Punjab is discussed. In the last part, an attempt has been made to document and analyse caste violence in Punjab. I Untouchability and Burdens of History Before taking up the issue of dalit consciousness, it may be pertinent to probe into the genesis of the logic of a society based on the hierarchical grading of caste. What makes such a probe a difficult task is the most complex character of the Indian Society. In fact, it would be appropriate to call Indian Societies rather than a

singular Indian Society. The term Indian Societies is used to refer to academic trifurcation of India into pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial. Pre-colonial India is referred to as pre-modern and preBritish India (Quigley 1999: 123). As far as colonial and postcolonial categories are concerned, their analysis is relatively unproblematic. It is more so in reference to post-colonial than the category of colonial India. Colonial India turns problematic when one takes up the issue of Mughal rule in India. Whether India during the long spell of Mughal rule should be considered as another colonial India, although in a different sense from that of British colonial India, or simply to be studied as a part of the category of pre-colonial India is altogether an independent research theme with significant bearings on the question of caste. However, the precolonial India invites more polemics and methodological complexities than one can think of by its customary use. The very prefix pre is vague and indeterminate when juxtaposed with the term colonial in relation to mapping out historical stretch of India's past. The word colonial has fixed historical as well as administrative connotations which lend it authenticity in reference to time and territory. So colonial India is both temporally and spatially demarcated. It has its objective beginning as well as its stipulated pin-pointed end. But the same is not all about the pre-colonial India. The most controversial about the pre-colonial India is its historical life. This is most apparent in the current debate on the periodization of Indian history. ...It has long been maintained that the Indians were an a-historical people, since there was no recognizable historical writing from the Indian tradition similar to that from Greece and China (Thapar [1992] 2000: 19-20).

Another equally important issue pertaining to pre-colonial India is who were its original inhabitants and to which racial stock did they belong to. This issue has come to assume most important place in the debate on the origin of caste in India (Kosambi 1998: 80-109; Majumdar 1998: 16-32). The main contributions to the debate are different interpretations in the writings of orientalist, European sociologists and anthropologists, dalit scholars, and non-dalit academics (Fuller 1997; Gupta 2000; Schweitzer 1989). Ironically, this debate did not assign equal status of academic merit to the early Indian historical tradition. "Traditional Indian historical writing with its emphasis on historical biographies and chronicles was largely ignored" (Thapar [1992] 2000: 2). Since there has been no authentic historical writing to map out the periodization of ancient Indian history, mythical narratives and fairy tales constitute the historical tradition of pre-colonial India popularly known as the Itihasa-purana tradition. The Itihasa-purana tradition of premodern history of India has serious implications in interrogating (Gupta 2000) and interpreting (Quigley 1999), the institution of caste in Indian society. Although in [t]he historiographical pattern of Indian past, which took shape during the colonial period in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...[t]raditional Indian historical writing...was largely ignored (Thapar [1992] 2000: 2). But the institution of caste and the large body of ancient text, otherwise pejoratively referred to as mythical, reflecting on the origin of caste, remain the most reliable literature for the writings of orientalists. Whatever seemed alien to the European perspective of contemporary India was often visualized as a survival

from earlier times and the presumed continuity was imbued with historical authenticity. More frequently the social institutions from the past were believed to persist virtually unchanged into the present and made it legitimate for those studying contemporary Indian society to concern themselves with the text of earlier periods (Ibid.: 23). This approach leads to represent caste as a permanent, timeless and `traditional' socio-cultural institution which in fact did not exist in ancient Vedic India (Gupta 2000: 204). Descriptions of caste are almost as old as recorded history itself. Greek scholars travelling with Alexander the great in 4th century BC not only commented on it but had themselves been made aware of its existence by the accounts of even earlier Greek adventurers into associated northwestern with India. Persian Greeks expeditions

subsequently connected with the Seleucid court and the Bactrian small kingdoms that succeed Alexander rendered accounts of it. So did Chinese-Buddhists pilgrims centuries later and European travellers during the mercantilist age. British civil servants during the Raj wrote volumes on India's dominant social structure. And what is remarkable of course is how consistent such descriptions were over more than two millennia (Gould 1987:2-3). In fact, what has provided permanency to caste which did not exist in the pre-colonial Vedic India was the wide spread currency of the theory of Oriental Despotism (Wittfogel 1970). The central themes of this theory were the unchanging nature of society, absence of

change, self-sufficient village communities, divine origin of the King, absence of private property in land and the despotic orientation of governance. Inevitably, the major historians of the late nineteenth century in India, who also happened to be the administrators, assumed the correctness of the theory as a pre-condition to their understanding of the Indian past (Thapar [1992] 2000 : 7). The long historical time span of pre-British India was projected as being static with no transformation in its social patterns, political processes, and economic transactions. If there were any change it was "an occasional change of dynasty" (Ibid.: 14).Social fabric of the society remained static. So strong was the pre-conception of the unchanging character of Indian society that the generalizations based on the sources of Vedic period (1000 BC) were considered adequate for the pre-colonial period upto the eighteenth century AD (Ibid.:55). The presumed static nature of pre-colonial Indian society helped caste structure to remain intact over such a long period of time. Who were the beneficiaries of the above discussed system of the immutability of caste ensconced in a static social system? As far as the internal social set up of the Indian society is concerned, it was the pure castes as against the untouchables (Polluted and who can pollute others) who stand benefitted from this peculiar arrangement. It also went a long way in favour of British rulers who garnered tremendous support from this system in the form of Aryan theory to legitimize their rule. The theory of Aryan race equally benefited the new middle class elite in India who accosted the British taking over

of India as "a reunion of parted cousins, the descendants of two different families of the ancient Aryan race" (Keshab Chander Sen as quoted in Ibid.: 87). Even this in turn further differentiated the new middle class elite from the lower classes who, in accordance with the logic of Aryan theory were believed to be non-Aryan (Ibid.: 29). Caste as a socio-cultural institution enjoyed the most favoured status of being commented upon across the millennia by the authors of Dharmasastras (Shrirama 1999); foreign travellers and pilgrims (Dahlquist 1962; Beal 1957; Weeler and Macmillan 1956; Kaul 1979; Woodcock 1966; McCrindle 1877; Legge 1886; Sachuau 1964); and offices of the rulers who came to rule this sacred and fabulous land, at different intervals during the last two millennia, popularly known as India. Amongst the various commentators on caste two deserve serious consideration by virtue of their significant contribution not in terms of understanding the institution of caste but helping it further getting entrenched in the Indian society. Dharmasastra literature constitutes the earliest legal commentary on the institution of caste which led to its ancient consolidation in the form of legally sanctified system of stratification. To quote Emile Senart "...`Hindu society is regulated by religious custom and the law-books are essentially collection of religious precepts'" (1930:91 as quoted in Beteille 1997:155). The second group of commentators consisted of orientalists and British officials, popularly known as 'scholar administrator' "who had long and extensive experience in the Indian Civil Service and had not found their arduous activity incompatible with scholarship" (Bougle 1971: IX). They had contributed to the collection of Census data and produced seminal works on caste and tribes in India (Hutton 1946; Ibbetson 1883; Nesfield 1885; Risley 1891, rpt. 1908; and

Senart 1896, rpt. 1930). According to Andre Beteille [c]olonial administrators wrote a great deal about caste, and much of what they wrote was biased as is indeed the case with official writing anywhere. For a hundred years they set about identifying, enumerating, describing, classifying and ranking the different castes and communities in the subcontinent. The decennial censuses played some part in bringing to public attention the division and ranking of castes. It is for this reason that it was decided not to enumerate castes in the censuses after the new Government took office on Independence ( Beteille 2002). Ancient Indian historiography, as constructed by orientalists and British officials, was motivated by colonial designs (Dirks 2002: 8, 28-42). Colonial historiography gave birth to a pre-colonial India which lacked social and historical change and had neither historians nor historical records. In other words, a timeless India became a pre-colonial India which had come to assume peculiar connotations suitable to alien rulers as well as to the emerging Savarna new middle class elites (Fuller 1997: 4-12; Quigley 1999: 12-20; Thapar [1992] 2000: 23-59). Similar attempts had already been made in the ancient times through the writings of Dharmasastras and Smritis. The main postulates of the Dharmasastra discourse and the colonial discourse were to project hierarchical structure of Indian society based on the unchanging principle of purity/impurity in consonance with disjunction between

status and power (Dumont 1988). Thus the Dharmasastra tradition and the colonial discourse came together to provide theoretical inputs to the institution of caste based on the opposition of pure and the impure. Dalits were born out of this discourse. Caste and Culture of Domination Here caste is taken as a category of a social set up, organized for the purpose of providing comforts, and socio-economic and political advantages at one end; and squalor, subjugation and humiliation on the other. Although social divisions of such kinds may not be ruled out across different civilizational and cultural settings the world over, but the magnitude in which such distinctions and segmentations are internalized in Hindu civilization is a unique case in its own form (Bougley 1971; Risley 1891, rpt. 1908; and Senart 1896, rpt. 1930). What makes it further a distinguished case to be analysed rather more analytically, is the contextual distinctness of the category caste in the Indian society. The social set up based on its hierarchical structure is precolonial which makes it different from various other core issues clinging to the bosom of colonial and post-colonial Indian polity and society. Although caste was not the only institution to reflect on the social organization of pre-colonial India, as there were many other political institutions (Heesterman 1985; and Hocart 1950), caste has come to assume the status of dominant explanatory framework for the understanding of hierarchical structure of Indian society (Inden 1986; 1990; Dirks 1987; Quigley 1999). In fact the caste in Indian context is not only the theme of society, it is also, rather more significantly a theme in polity, ideology and economy. As far as economy is concerned a protracted debate is on in India on classcaste frontiers. For the Marxists, class provides a rational platform

for the analysis of social, political and economic settings of society. Whereas caste obfuscates such an analysis, nevertheless, class-caste framework is an important issue (Gould 1987: 29-72; Gupta 1981; D'Souza 1967:192-211) but of scope of the paper we could not take it further. Manusmriti sets the tenor of divisive society which in a downward spiraling affect led to the extreme social segregation of a part of our society and further reduced it into pariah and asprustha. Kingsley Davis rightly said ...the Hindu social order ... is the most thoroughgoing attempt known in human history to introduce absolute inequality as the guiding principle in social relationships. Such an attempt cannot completely succeed, any more than an attempt to introduce absolute equality . (Davis 1951:170). But caste has become an integral part of Hindu society which in turn occupies a prominent space in the cultural milieu of Indian subcontinent so much so that even other religious communities could not but get soaked into the inegalitarian mode of Hindu caste structure (Ibid: 165-66). The Mazhbis of Punjab is a case in point. The Mazbis take the pauhl, wear their hair long, and abstain from tobacco, and they apparently refuse to touch night- soil, though performing all the other offices hereditary to the Chuhra caste .... But though good Sikhs so far as religious observance is concerned, the taint of hereditary pollution is upon them and Sikhs of other castes refuse to associate with them even in religious ceremonies(Ibbetson [1883] 1970: 294).

Even the conversion of a Shudra into Muslim religion hardly relieves him of his humiliations (Ibid.: 300; see also Bagha 2001:19; and Hutton 1963:39 & 204). Moreover, in the initial years of proliferation of Christianity in Punjab, the curse of caste on the shudras remained unabated. It was they (shudras) who had to approach the missionaries for converting them into Christianity than the other way round as in the case of upper caste (Juergensmeyer 1988: 184). Christian missionaries thought of the lower castes "...as beyond the reach of the method they preferred - intellectual arguments and moral persuasion" (Ibid.). What came in the way of the missionaries not to make use of moral persuasion and intellectual argument as methods of approaching and winning the confidence of lower castes seem to be probably the prejudice on their part that the lower castes were really incapable of rational orientation and unamenable to moral appeal. To quote Juergensmeyer ...lower caste requests for conversion not only baffled the missionaries but embarrassed them: they saw no sensible or moral reason for keeping the lower caste out, yet feared that allowing them in would sully the Church's reputation. In a brisk exchange of letters between the mission field and various denominational head offices, a number of missionaries warned about the consequences of `raking in rubbish into the Church' (Ibid.:184). The indignation of being a shudra continued to follow the entry of lower caste into the Church. The upper caste converts were distinguished by the title of `Convert'..."whereas recruits from the lower caste were known as mass movement Christians or simply Christian" (Ibid.:187). To quote him further

it was only these lower caste Christians who adopted foreign names such as Samuel, Paul Masih... and the like; upper caste converts retained their ties to the caste system by continuing to use their Hindu or Sikh names Ibid.: 187-88). In other words, the adoption of foreign names by the lower castes has doubly affected the identity of these converts in the sense that they could be easily singled out by the natives as belonged to the shudra caste by virtue of their new names which only low caste had taken on. As far as the Christian missionaries were concerned, they could also, by the same logic of foreign names, easily identify who was shudra convert. Another way of distinguishing the upper caste converts from that of the lower caste was the mechanism of sitting arrangement in the Church, whereby the upper caste converts were allowed ... "to sit at the front of the Church so that they would use the communion implements first, before they became polluted by the Christians of lower castes" (Ibid.: 188; See also Chandra et al 1999: 448). The British rulers and their predecessors did not consider it appropriate to take measures to improve upon the social conditions of colonial India. On the contrary, the main thrust of colonial state was on maintaining law and order rather than social transformation in the colonial settings (Suresh 1998: 94). Colonial rule attempted to restructure the

brahminical caste into anglicized neo-brahminism and created structures to sustain the essential caste relations in a modified form. While it attempted to break several brahminical practices like `Sati' and the prohibition of widow re-marriage by introducing new laws, it did not attempt to break the caste system

(Ilaiah in Chatterjee 1998: 268). Max Muller, a great orientalist was of the opinion that (c)aste cannot be abolished in India, and to attempt it would be one of the most hazardous operations that were ever performed in a political body. As a religious institution caste will die; as a social institution, it will live and improve (Muller 1869). However, the overall proliferation of modernization

irrespective of its underlying ideology led to the germination of awareness among the deprived groups as a result of which caste conflicts became a regular feature of Indian social set up, especially in Maharashtra, South India and Northwest India.

Untouchability and Power Dynamics

Untouchability has invariably remained attached with the notion of power in its varied dimensions. The concept of power in India needs to be seen in a peculiar sense as far as its socio-political and economic aspects are concerned. Power was seen as a sacred category. Its sacredness depends ultimately on something which has to be excluded from the purview of its sacred boundaries. Power sails between the boundaries but its affects are felt within the boundaries. Untouchability has provided - in a metaphorical sense the building blocks for such boundaries. For a dalit to cross such boundaries amounts to committing blasphemy. They were simply asked to be continuously shut within their ghettos. In fact it was the sacred facade of power which led to the evolution of untouchability

rather the other way round. Untouchability is the offshoot of power. The sacred structure of power led to its institutionalization. It was not that untouchability provided stanchion to power. Untouchability has been projected as antithetical to power. Since untouchability is profane, it can not be the custodian of power; power being a sacred. In other words, the structure of power which emerged in India keeps no space at all for the dalits to share that power. Their position somewhere resembled that of the slaves in Aristotle's Athens. Hence they have to be condemned to bear the shocks of power. In such a unique sacerdotal notion of power one need not be an entrepreneur of power. One needs to be a custodian of purity and sanctity. In ancient India the Brahmin held the key to power by way of projecting himself as the epitome of purity. Interestingly his purity has something to do with his projection of himself as a person who voluntarily abnegates (Schweitzer 1989; Thapar 2000 : 876-945; Gupta 2000). The more the renouncer you are the more purer you would be. More the purer you are the more powerful you would be. The institution of "Raj Purohit" in ancient India is a case in point. Even in contemporary India one can find such a phenomenon in existence where Gurus, Saints, and Babas shower blessings for the acquisition of power. What these Babas have been doing in India the Pope used to do the same in the West until the Treaty of Westphalia. But Pope need not be the renouncer in the similar sense as the sacred men in India used to be. The sacred connotation of power and its being surrounded by purity and abnegation was so powerful that even the efforts on the part of the dalits to break the fetters of untouchability required them to put on the mask of purity emanating from abnegation. Tukaram, Chokhamela, Ravidass, Balmiki, to name only the most prominent, were the dalit renouncers who made significant contribution for the amelioration of the down trodden. In other words, even the

sufferers of untouchability had to follow the route similar to that of upper castes to fight against their odds. These dalits turned renouncers and gurus were the progenitor of the voice of protest and reforms against hierarchy based on purity-impurity. They were the initiators of the dalit consciousness. Their voice was heard not because of their being the leaders of the dalit community but for their being renouncer and so holy-men. Untouchability in Punjab Untouchability in Punjab is unique in comparison to its observance in other parts of the country. The Brahminical tradition of social stratification has never been so effective there. The word Brahmin did not carry a sacerdotal connotation in Punjab. It was used, rather, in a derogatory sense (Saberwal 1976: 10; Tandon 1961: 77). The Jat-Sikhs, who otherwise have been Shudra as per the Varna system, considered themselves socially superior to the Brahmins. Brahmins, whereas in rest of the country, enjoyed the highest status in the Hindu caste hierarchy. The down play of the Brahmins in Punjab by the Jat-Sikhs might have diminished the purity-pollution practice to the benefits of dalits (Saberwal 1973:256). However, it did not, in any way, help the dalits to improve their socio-economic status. Punjab is a Sikh majority state. The Sikhs constitute 63 per cent of its total population. Among them the percentage of JatSikhs is the highest. About 72 per cent of the Sikhs live in rural Punjab. Although Sikhism does not assign any place to the institution of caste in its doctrinal principle but the same is not true in its social practice (Puri 2003: 2693). Caste as occupational division of labour was, and is, very much a part of village life (Kaur 1986: 229). Sikh religion is not an exception. In the Punjab censuses

between 1881 and 1921 there were more than twenty-five castes within Sikh community (Verma 2002:33). Among the Sikhs, JatSikhs, Khatri Sikhs, Arora Sikhs, Ramgarhia Sikhs, Ahluwalia Sikhs, Bhapa Sikhs, Bhattra Sikhs, Ramdasia Sikhs, Ravidasia Sikhs, Rahtia Sikhs, Mazhbi Sikhs, and Rangreta Sikhs are some of the most distinct caste communities. The Jat-Sikhs in Punjab substituted the Brahmins. The Jat is in every respect the most important of the Pnjab peoples. The Jat of the Sikh tracts is of course the typical Jat of Pnjab, Politically he ruled the Pnjab till the Khalsa yielded to our arms. Ethnologically he is the peculiar and most prominent product of the plains of the five rivers. And from an conomical and administrative point of view he is the husbandman, the peasant, the revenue-payer par excellence of the Province. But as a rule a Jat is a man who does what seems right in his own eyes and sometimes what seems wrong also, and will not be said nay by any man. The Banya with his sacred thread, his strict Hinduism, and his twice-born standing, looks down on the Jat as a Sudr. But the Jat looks down upon the Banya as a cowardly spiritless money-grubber, and society in general agree with the Jat. (Ibbetson 1883, rpt. 1970: 102-103).

Jat-Sikhs are primarily agriculturists and land-owners. They are mostly concentrated in villages. They have also diversified into transport business and considered employment in the armed forces as prestigious. The Jat might be employed as a school teacher, or

service in the military but he sees his primary role as that of an agriculturist; his connection with land is what he holds most dear and what identifies him (Kaur 1986:233). Jat-Sikhs are the backbone of the Punjab peasantry (ibid.). Although all the ten Gurus belonged to the Khatri caste, they found majority of their followers in the Jat caste (Ibid.: 225). According to 1881 census, 66% of Sikhs were Jats followed by Ramgarhias (6.5%) and Chamar Sikhs (5.6%). Khatris share was only 2.2% (Mcleod 1976: 84 as cited in Ibid.). Although Sikhs are prominently identified by a set of diacritical features which they are supposed to follow according to Rahatnama ( the Sikh code of conduct), the Jat Sikhs do not always observe them strictly. Majority of them trim their beard, cut their hair, and many often smoke or chew tobacco; very few wear the kirpan (steel sword), kachh (knee length drawers), karra (steel bangle or bracelet) and kangha (comb). They rarely visit Gurdwaras (Kaur 1986: 222-23). Majority of the Jats are non-baptised Sikhs. However, the baptised ones faithfully observe all the injunctions mentioned in the Rahatnama. Jat-Sikhs are generally liberal in observance of Rahatnama. In spite of their lackadaisical approach towards the Khalsa discipline, Jat Sikhs in their own eyes and in those of others remained Sikhs (Mcleod 1976: 98). The Sikhs who strictly followed Rahatnama belong to the lower class of north Punjab (Singh 1953: 179). Within Sikhism, dalit Sikhs are divided into two segments. The dalits whose profession is scavenging and cleaning are called Mazhbis and Rangretas. Mazhbis and Rangretas were chuhras who converted to Sikhism (Ibbetson 1883, rpt. 1970:294). Of course a Mazbi will often have been returned as chuhra by caste and Sikh by religion; Mazbi means nothing more than a member of the scavenger class converted to Sikhism (Ibid.). Mazhbi Sikhs are

almost confined to the Majha sub-region of Punjab. They make good soldiers and some of the regiments in British army were wholly composed of Mazhbis. The Rangreta are a class of Mazbi apparently found only in Ambala, Ludhiana and the neighbourhood, who consider themselves superior to the rest.The origin of their superiority, , lies in the fact that they were once notorious as highway robbers! But it appears that Rangretas have very generally abandoned scavengering for leather work, and this would at once account for their rise in the social scale (Ibid.). Their popularity in the Sikh religion has been established by a rhyme Rangreta, Guru ka Beta (the Rangreta is the son of the Guru), attributed to them on account of their valorous act of bringing the severed head of Guru Teg Bahadur from Delhi to Anandpur Sahib, the seat of the 9th and 10th Masters of the Sikh faith. However, in spite of Mazhbis and Rangreta Sikhs meticulous observance of the Sikh religious principles, they were not considered equal by the other Sikh castes who refused to associate with them even in the religious ceremonies (Ibid.). In other words, even after converting to Sikhism they were not relieved of the taint of hereditary pollution . The other segment of dalit Sikhs consists of Ramdasias and Ravidasias. They are chamars converted to Sikh religion. Religious conversion also changes the caste name. In some cases a change of religion is also accompanied by a change of occupation (Ibid: 294). A scavenger is known as chuhra in Hinduism; Musalli and Kutana in Islam; and Mazhbi and Rangreta in Sikhism. A leather-worker is known as chamar in Hinduism; Mochi in Islam and Ravidasia in Sikhism. Weaver chamar is known as Julaha in Hinduism; Paoli in Islam; and Ramdasia in Sikhism. Ramdasias are also known as

Khalsa Biradar. The Ramdasias are confused with Raidasi or Rabdasi chamars. The former are true Sikhs, and take the Pahul. The latter are Hindus, or if Sikhs, only Nanakpanthi Sikhs and do not take the Pahul; and are followers of Bhagat Rav Das or Rab Das, himself a Chamar. They are apparently as true Hindus as any Chamar can be, and are wrongly called Sikhs by confusion with Ramdasias. (Ibid.: 300). Most of the Ramdasias are Julahas (weavers). Whereas Ravidasia Sikhs are mostly engaged in the profession of leather work. Though there is a wide distinction between the Ravidasias, typical leather workers (Chamars) and the Ramdasias, typical weavers (Julahas), yet they are connected by certain sections of leather-working classes who have taken to weaving and thus risen in the social scale (Ibid: 296). Ramdasia (weavers) and Ravidasia (leather worker) are probably of the same origin. However, the distinction between them has arisen from divergence of occupation. The Mazhbis, Rangretas, Ramdasias and Ravidasias are not equal to the Jat-Sikhs, Khatri Sikhs and Arora Sikhs within Sikhism in terms of their status. Even their status is also lower to Ramgarhia Sikhs, Ahluwalia Sikhs and Bhapa Sikhs (trader caste). Thus the poison of caste has also penetrated into the religion of the followers of Guru Nanak as well (Singh, Balwant 2002: 332). Moreover caste hierarchy is also being practiced among the dalit Sikhs. Ramdasia and Ravidasia Sikhs are considered superior to the Mazhbi and Rangreta Sikhs. Although Ramdasias and Ravidasias originated from Chamars, the former considered them superior to the latter (Ibbetson 1883, rpt. 1970: 297, 302). The evolution of Sikh community proceeded through a complex dynamics of interaction between religious principle, tribal cultural patterns of the dominant caste of Jats and their power interests. This

resulted in the evolution of a Sikh caste hierarchy, distinct from and parallel to that of Hindu caste system (Puri 2003: 2693). However, what makes caste discrimination in the Sikh community different from that of the Brahamanical social order is the absence of purity-pollution frame of relations. The centre of power in Punjab revolves around the axle of land. Much of the land is owned by the Jat-Sikhs. Although Scheduled Castes in Punjab constitute high proportion of the population (28.3%) in comparison to the all India average of 16.32%, their share in ownership of land is negligible. They cultivate only 0.4 per cent of all the landholdings occupying 0.72 per cent of the total cultivated area of the state (1991 census and All India Report of Agricultural Census 1990-91). Their being landlessness forced them to depend on the land-owning castes in the absence of alternative jobs in the agrarian economy of rural Punjab. Since cultivation involves dalits in its various operations, it was not feasible to strictly follow the system of untouchability based on the principle of purity-pollution as was observed in rest of the country. It does not mean that the dalits were not discriminated in Punjab. They were discriminated by the JatSikhs. They were forced to remain confined to their lowest status lest they dare to ask for a share in the power structures (Puri 2003: 2698). Untouchability did exist in Punjab and its practice was tied with the scheme of keeping the dalits away from land ownership and political power in the state. Thus dalits in Punjab, though relatively spared from the overt impact of purity-pollution syndrome, the asymmetrical structure of the agrarian rural economy has made them subordinated to the land-owning upper castes. In fact the Scheduled Caste population of the region has been comparatively more vulnerable in the economic structure of the village (Jodhka 2002: 1815).

The villages are divided into upper caste and dalit settlements. Dalit settlements are located, invariably, on the side towards which the dirt of the village flowed. Dalits were not allowed to build pucca (concrete) houses because the land on which they lived did not belong to them. The residential land on which they lived was claimed to be owned by the Jat-Sikhs (Virdi 2003: 2 &11). Till 1952, the dalits along with other non-agricultural castes were deprived of landownership by the Punjab Land Alienation Act (1901), even if a few of them have the means to purchase the land (Puri 2003: 2695). In the villages, dalits were often involved in the unclean occupations. Such occupations were like carrying and skinning dead animals, scavenging and working as attached labourer Siris. Although such type of works, now-a-days, are performed on non-jajmani basis. In Malwa region, there are many dalits who still have been working as Siris. According to a latest study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had dalits working as Siris (Jodhka 2002: 1816). However, the situation is entirely different in the Doaba region of Punjab where the majority of the dalits have dissociated themselves from such types of menial works. Although dalit had interaction with Jat-Sikhs, being agricultural labourers, and siris, they used to keep their own tumblers and plates to take meals or tea or water from the upper caste Sikhs. Many of the lower castes like Chamars and Chuhras converted to Sikhism in the hope of social equality. Even in Sikhism, the specter of untouchability kept on haunting them. The upper caste Sikhs are a separate identity and like the upper caste Hindus they also follow the ideology of a graded human society. The Sikhs may take food with the dalit-Sikhs in Gurdwaras, but they have no bond of fraternity with them (Singh Balwant 2002: 333).

To quote him further, the impact of Hinduism and caste is visible on the adherence of Guru Nanak and they monopolised Sikhism and could not accord an equal social status to the lower caste Sikhs in Punjab (Ibid.). Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their counterparts in the Hindu religion. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation grounds in the Shamlat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. Therefore the Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are in no better position than the other dalits within Hinduism(Ibid.: 334). Dalits Sikhs did not get equal treatment in the Gurdwaras of the upper caste Sikhs. Mazhabis were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities (Pratap Singh 1933: 146-47, 156-57 cited in Puri 2003: 2697). Dalit Sikhs were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and the members of the four-fold varnas were instructed not to mix with them (Oberoi cited in Ibid). Evidence of untouchability against the dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of Gurmatas (resolutions) adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee from 1926-1933 (Ibid.). Although removal of untouchability figured in the Singh Sabha movement, no strenuous effort was made in that direction. It was not surprising. For the Jats, who composed 70 % of the Akalis, and other high castes, caste equality or removal of untouchability was contrary to their disposition for social domination and hierarchy (Ibid.). This has forced the dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras which in turn has further led to the strengthening of the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs1 (Ibid.: 2700; Jodhka 2002: 1818; Muktsar 1999 and 2003). Moreover the observance of caste prejudices against the dalit Sikhs has compelled

them to search for alternative cultural spaces in a large number of deras, sects, dargahs of Muslim Pirs and other saints2 (Puri 2003: 2700). Punjab has been a stronghold of pirs and saints, who vehemently campaigned against the system of segregation on the basis of birth. They preached unity of mankind. Farid and Bulle Shah of Sufi tradition, and Ravidass, Kabir, Nanak and Dhanna of the Bhakti tradition played a prominent role in diluting the substance and practice of untouchability in the state. Social reform movements led by the Arya Samaj, Singh Sabha and Chief Khalsa Dewan further bridled the impact of untouchability in Punjab. However, even these movements and saints could not succeed in stamping out the roots of the evil of untouchability in Punjab. The saints have never carried on a campaign against caste and untouchability. They were not concerned with the struggle between men. They were concerned with the relation between man and God. They did not preach that all men were equal. They preached that all men were equal in the eyes of God a very different and a very innocuous proposition which nobody can find difficult to preach or dangerous to believe in (Ambedkar 1995 3rd edn.: 109). The religious and social reform movements were primarily concerned with the humane and civic sense of society by transforming and elevating the individual rather than striking hard on the asymmetrical structures of the society (Grewal 1994: 116). The issue of disproportionate landholdings which has been the crucial cause of social inequalities and economic deprivations had never been taken up by the social and religious movements. In other words, the agency was prioritised over the structure. The persistence of inegalitarian structure, with the passage of time, had led to the evaporation of social and moral reforms brought by these movements. The principles and social code of conduct formulated

by such movements got routinised into hard-shell traditions and rules to be strictly obeyed by the followers. These movements themselves in turn got routinised into new religious orders or political organisations. Religion has become exclusive and been paraded as an index to the deep rooted social divisions based on economic differentiation. The followers of Nanak, Ravidass and Kabir are not only Nanakpanthis, Ravidasias and Kabirpanthis in the strict each other. sense of the term, they also represent a distinct social and economic class different from

Untouchability and Upper-caste Social Reformers The period of revival of art, literature and Vedic secular learning, popularly known as Indian renaissance, sets a new era for the development of rational and scientific outlook as far as social customs, traditions and religious notions about the regulation of community life were concerned. The nineteenth century witnessed a cultural-ideological struggle against the backward elements of traditional culture, on the one hand, and the fast hegemonizing colonial culture and ideology on the other (Chandra et al 1989:87). In fact, the Indian renaissance was not simply a revivification of India's past but a response to the intrusion of external forces as well. Moreover, its leaders had to deal with the new conditions created by modern science and technology (Bishop 1982: 1). Literature abounds on various issues of social importance being taken up during the Renaissance period in our society. Widow remarriage, tirade against Sati and caste were more prominent among them. Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) is considered as the

protagonist of social reform movements in India. The other prominent figures of such movements were Dwarka Nath Tagore (1794-1846), Davinder Nath Tagore (1817-1905), Keshav Chander Sen (1838-1884), Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar (1820-1891), Swami Dayanand (1824-1883), Swami Vivekanand (1863-1902), M.G. Ranade (1842-1901), B.G.Tilak (1852- 1920), Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) and Shri Aurbindo (1872-1950). It is interesting to note that all of them belong to the Savarna castes (Khare 1984: 4). Their perceptions about the caste system and its resultant structure of untouchability are a view from above. None of them had experienced the pangs of being a Shudra. Their understanding of the evil of untouchability was thus based upon articulation and formulation of a problem external to their very being rather as their own problem. Although Raja Ram Mohan Roy endeavoured to remove the evil of casteism first through an association called Atmiya Sabha and then through an organization called Brahmo Samaj but nowhere in his writings he cared to envisage a clear programme for the removal of hierarchical caste system. Rajaji and his Brahmo Samaj "...continued to identify, if not with `Hinduism' as such, with an Aryan `Golden Age'..." (Omvedt 1994: 91). Questioning the logic of caste system and its anti-progress stance, Gopal Krishna Gokhale said, The classes of the West are a perfectly elastic institution, and not rigid or cast-iron like our castes. Mr. Chamberlain, who is the most masterful personage in the British Empire to-day, was at one time a shoemaker and then a screw-maker. Of course, he did not make shoes himself, but that was the trade by which he made money. Mr.Chamberlain today dines with Royalty, and mixes with the highest in the land on terms of absolute equality. Will a shoe-maker ever be able to rise in India in the social scale in a similar fashion,

no matter how gifted by nature he might be? A great writer has said that castes are eminently useful for the preservation of society, but they are utterly unsuited for purposes of progress. And this I think is perfectly true. If you want to stand where you were a thousand year ago, the system of castes need not be modified in any material degree. If, however, you want to emerge out of the slough in which you have long remained sunk, it will not do for you to insist on a rigid adherence to caste. Modern civilization has accepted greater equality for all as its watchword, as against privilege and exclusiveness, which were the root-ideas of the old world (Gokhale 1920: 900-901). Though Gokhale echoed a loud concern for the downtrodden, he did not make any concrete effort for the eradication of untouchability (Weiner 2001: 200). B.G. Tilak while speaking in the first Depressed Classes Conference held in Bombay on 25 March 1918, said "(i)f a God were to tolerate untouchability, I would not recognize him as a God at all" (Varma 1995-96: 213). However, he showed his inability to work for the cause of Shudra precisely because of the priority he accorded to the attainment of Swaraj (Ibid.). For him, given the foreign rule in India, any effort in the direction of social reforms would rather further strengthen the grip of Britishers. Tilak was not against social reforms per se. It was out of sheer expediency that he had to defer social reforms till India achieved political freedom. M.G. Ranade's position in relation to political freedom versus social reforms was totally opposed to that of Tilak. He considered that reactionary and dogmatic features of Indian social set up provided an easy passage to alien conquerors as well as hindrances in our way to get India liberated. Accordingly, he gave priority to social reforms over Swaraj. It was on this issue of political freedom versus social reforms that Indian National

Congress got divided between moderates and extremists. It seems that the real issue of difference among the moderates and extremists was not one of social reforms but the modus operandi of winning freedom. For both of them social reforms constituted an important agenda. But what social reforms they wanted to bring into the social body of India is a question relevant for dalit discourse. Both moderates as well as radicals did not want to overthrow the Hindu social system as such. What they wanted was to "lop off diseased overgrowth and excrescences and ... restore vitality and energy to the social organism" (Ranade as quoted in Omvedt 1994:90). Hinduism of a Vedic age was their reference point. Social evils in their view were the late entry. These evils were based on Brahmanic superstitious traditions which had defiled the post-Vedic social fabric of Hindu religious system (Tripathi 1994: 3-8 and Reincourt 1961: 31-55). Thus for the twice born leaders of the freedom struggle the issue of Untouchability could be taken only within the framework of Hindu social system by purging it off its post-Vedic popular Hinduism, based on superstitions. Even Mahatma Gandhi who was steadfast in his determination for the eradication of untouchability (Chandra et al 1989:87-88, 230-234 and 290-295; Malhotra 1979:34-44; and Sarkar 1983: 328-330) did not seek its realization in the dismantling of caste system. Gandhi was not against caste as such.... (His) point was not to abolish caste but to make caste system horizontal, not vertical in the sense of inegalitarian and exploitative, with untouchability even unapproachability as the ultimate consequence (Galtung 1992: 3 and see also Suresh 1998: 362). He advocated moral revolution or change in the outlook at the individual level within the unchanged social structure (Robb 1997:

1). For the Arya Samajist the answer to untouchability lies in the assimilation of the Shudras into the Hindu social system wherein all Hindu castes are considered as descendants of Vedic Aryans (Omvedt 1994:91). II Ad-Dharm Movement and Dalit Consciousness in Punjab Although the abolition of untouchability was also on the agenda of the protagonist of social reform movements, they wanted to achieve it without changing the basic structure of caste system. Since these movements were operating on the social reform front of the nationalist struggle, they could not totally devote themselves to the removal of untouchability. The immediate goal of the nationalist movement was to liberate the country from the British imperialism. Hence [t]he ultimate result was that neither the Nehruvian secularism nor Gandhian `Ramraj' could provide an Indian identity that was liberatory for the dalit and low castes... (Omvedt 1994: 92; see also Suresh 1998: 364). "Understandably the most virulent opposition to caste came from lower caste movements" (Chandra et al 1989:88). For these movements, the immediate important issue was caste domination, not western hegemony; social emancipation, not political autonomy. The struggle against imperialism and other such issues were of secondary importance (Kothari 1998: 50-51). The main exponents of these movements were, among others, Jyotiba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, Naraynaswami Guru in Kerala, Achutananda in U.P. and Mangoo Ram in Punjab.

It was against this background that the main framework of dalit movements and their ideologies were conceptualized and formulated. The objective of the dalit movements was to liberate the downtrodden, poverty-stricken-oppressed classes, contemptuously considered as untouchables, from the most oppressive and obnoxious practice of untouchability observed meticulously by the Savarna Hindus, and to bring the former at par with the socio-cultural level of the twice-born so that they could lead a life of dignity with a sense of equality. These anti-caste movements of course, constitute an inseparable part of the broader revolutionary democratic movement in India, along with the national movement and communist - and socialist - led working class and peasant movements (Omvedt 1994:13; see also Kshirsagar 1994: 2-3). Ad Dharm movement in Punjab3 is one of the anti-caste Adi movements of the 1920s in India. Ad Dharm draws its inspiration from the Bhakti movement especially from Ravidass, Kabir and Namdev. Ad Dharm also assigns equal importance to the teachings of Balmiki. What makes this movement the most relevant case for the study of dalit assertion is its being purely a low caste character and its tirade against the structures of social domination. Ad Dharm was the only movement of its kind in the North-Western region of the country that aimed at securing a respectable place for the Scheduled from above. Ad Dharm movement aimed at securing a distinct identity for the dalits, independent both of the Hindu and Sikh religions. Sikhs and Hindus treated the dalits discriminately. But at times of counting their strategic strength they project the dalits as if they castes through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration, and political assertion rather than seeking patronage

belonged to them (Piplanwala 1986: 10-15; Ahir 1992: 9-11). The central motif of the Ad Dharm movement was to highlight that untouchables constitute a qaum (Community), a distinct religious community similar to those of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and that the qaum had existed from time immemorial (Juergensmeyer 1988: 45). On this account the Ad Dharm movement resembles the other Adi movements4 which consider the low castes as the original inhabitants of India who had been subjugated by the Aryans. The Aryans, they allege came from outside and established their rule and made them subservient to them. The Ad Dharm movement aimed at making the dalits realise that they have three powers: Communal pride (Qaumiat), Religion (Mazhab) and Organisation (Majlis) (Ibid.:46). All these three powers of the untouchables were lying buried under the burden of untouchability. Mangoo Ram5, the founder of Ad Dharm movement exhorted the untouchables to come forward to assert for their rights through building on these three main sources of their power. During the 1931 census, Ad Dharm movement succeeded in registering a large number of low castes in Punjab as Ad Dharmis separate from Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the 1931 Punjab census, a total of 418,789 persons reported themselves as Ad Dharmis almost equal to that of the Christian population of the region. Since the center of the Ad Dharm movement was in Doaba region, nearly eighty percent of the lower castes of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts reported themselves as Ad Dharmis (ibid.:77). It was for the first time in the history of lower castes that they had come forward to officially declare themselves as separate and independent of the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religions. This was, perhaps, the beginning of the dalit assertion in North India. It got further impetus in the first election that took place in 1937 after the

promulgation of the Government of India Act of 1935. Ad Dharm Mandal contested election in all the eight reserved seats and won all except one. In the 1945-46, Punjab Legislative Assembly elections on the eve of independence Ad Dharm also registered its presence by contesting in alliance with the Unionist Party. Mangoo Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm was one of the elected candidates. Ad Dharm movement was instrumental not only in helping the lower castes to get registered as a distinct religion in the 1931 census and providing them the platform to enter into the State Legislature6, it also went a long way in bringing a cultural transformation in their life. In fact, Ad Dharm movement, as has been mentioned above, aimed at facilitating a cultural transformation in the life of lower castes who, under the impact of the centuries old system of degradation, had actually internalised a sense of being low and polluted. Mangoo Ram wanted to liberate them from such a state of mind and also to inculcate in them the feeling of dignity and self respect whereby they could start thinking about them as equal to the so-called twice-born people. Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 lists a number of moral principles and duties which the followers of the Ad Dharm are required to adhere to for creating spiritual regeneration and cultural transformation in their lives. Among the most important moral principles and the duties mentioned in the report are : Ad Dharmis should abstain from theft, dishonesty, looking at someone elses wife with bad intentions, intoxication, using anything and which usurping brings other gambling,

persons property or belonging. Texts like the Law of Manu which treat untouchables as slaves should be banned and removed. All the

untouchable brotherhood should forget about castes and quarrels and get along together. They should not fight with each other rather all untouchables should start eating together and have social relations with each other. All girls and boys of untouchable brotherhood should have compulsory primary education. The girls should be educated especially in household work such as sewing and needle work. Young girls and boys should not be sent out to cut grass and gather wood. Ad Dharmis should abandon expensive marriage and the practice of child marriage. There should be equally great happiness at the birth of both boys and girls. It is illegal to receive money for a bride. Ad Dharmi should marry their children to the Ad Dharmis of surrounding areas. All Ad Dharmis should be obedient to their parents. It is not good to cry and beat oneself at a death or funeral. To eat the meat of a dead animal or bird is against the law of Ad Dharm. Cleanliness is important. It guarantees good health. It is forbidden to practice idolatory and worship statues, and one should not believe in magic, ghosts or anything of the sort. All Ad Dharmis should forget notions of castes in untouchability and work towards the unity of all people in the world. Each Ad Dharmi should separate himself from Hindus, Sikhs and members of other religions (Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal 1926-1931, trans. (Hindi) Chumber 2000: 1-54; (English) Juergensmeyer 1998: 290-308).

Thus through the moral codes of conduct, the Ad Dharm movement tried to bring a sense of self respect among the lower castes of Punjab. It also made efforts for forging unity among the different lower castes by bringing them together in the fold of Ad Dharm, a new and distinct religion for the dalits. However, Ad Dharm was not a new religion in the real sense of the term because the protagonists of the Ad Dharm movement consider Ad Dharm as an ancient and indigenous religion of the original inhabitants of this region. All these, multifarious efforts of the Ad Dharm movement in the field of politics, religion, and culture helped in the rise of consciousness among the dalits who started asserting for their rights and share in the power. All this had led to a series of violent caste conflicts in the pre-partitioned Punjab between the dalits and upper castes. The main reason behind the caste conflicts was not the factor of communalism rather it was a sense of assertion on the part of the marginal who woke up from their slumber of impotence to ask for their rights. This in turn has challenged the dominant positions of those who were in the command of the things till date. They staged violent opposition to the dalits seeking their share in the power. In the next section, an attempt has been made to document the caste clashes during the Ad Dharm movement in Punjab.

III Dalit Assertion and Caste Violence The Ad Dharm faced stiff opposition and its followers fell victim to physical violence at the hands of both Hindus and Sikhs.

In fact, the Ad Dharmis were beaten up when they organised meetings. They were [c]hased everywhere and hounded out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una (Pawar 1993:77).

They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis (Chumber 1986: 51). In Layalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting14. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted Shudranand from the dais of the Achhuts public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the Jat-Sikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Jat-Sikhs had compelled the Achhuts to record themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid.:54-56). In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi

women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-i- Hussain, Chief Commissioner, on the request of Mangoo Ram that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village15. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had tough time at the Lothian Committee16 to prove that they were neither Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the Hindus. Likwise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month ) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal (Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of Achhut Mandal (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab. According to them the untouchables were the backward class of Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the performance of Shuddhi. Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab.

Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52).

In addition, insinuations and condemnations were also hurled at the Ad Dharm Mandal by the various religious groups in a bid to scandalise the movement. The leaders of Ad Dharm were alleged to have hob-nobbed with the Muslims during the crucial time of communal representation where Hindus and Muslims were juxtaposed against each other. The Ad Dharms political alliance with the Unionist Party during the Punjab Assembly elections, first in 1937 and then again in 1945-46 was an eye sore both for the congress and the Hindu Sabha. The Hindu leaders did not like the Ad Dharmis growing links or secretly in the 1937 election who ... gave them cars for their campaign. In public meetings, they would attack the various aspects of Hindu society, and if this led to violence, the government used to protect them (Saberwal 1976:7071). association with the British government. In fact, the Ad Dharmis supported by the British

As regards the Ad Dharms closeness to Muslims, it was more of political expediency rather than a blind alliance. It was, in fact, Mangoo Ram, who categorically said no to the mandarins of partition (Chumber 1986:52; Sain 1985:37) But on the issue of communal representation for the Achhuts, he showed keen interest

in its implementation for the Achhuts. When Gandhi sat on fastunto-death at Poona against the separate electorate for untouchables, Mangoo Ram followed Suit declaring Gandhi if you are prepared to die for your Hindus, then I am prepared to die for these untouchables. On this Mangoo Ram was accused of being a casteist.

The rift between the liberal Gandhian and radical untouchables was not healed, however, since each continued to perceive the other as an obstacle to achieving intercaste harmony. Gandhi thought the untouchables militant separatism was reinforcing the concept of caste and the untouchables thought Gandhi was trying to whitewash existing differences and to deny untouchables their legitimate base of power. Both the perceptions were to some extent correct (Juergensmeyer 2000:230).

Gandhi pleaded on behalf of the Sudhras and tried to live like a Bhangi among them to experience what hardships they faced. But Mangoo Ram was one of them. He was a Chamar who experienced the pangs of untouchability. Thus, his response to the epic fast against separate electorate was not merely pragmatic but also an existential one. When Dr. Ambedkar compromised with Gandhi and the Poona Pact was signed, Mangoo Ram rang up Dr. Ambedkar in an angry mood and expressed his anguish as to why he agreed to the Pact. Dr. Ambedkar said that he had to sign the Poona Pact on human grounds to save the life of Gandhi7 Mangoo Ram continued his fast even after the Pact was signed. He broke his fast only after the declaration was made by the government that eight seats were reserved for the untouchables in Punjab. The fast

undertaken by him continued for 28 days from 20th September to 17th October, 1932 until the Pact was received at Jalandhar. Mangoo Ram used to say those people (Hindus) who had humiliated us for thousands of years how we could trust their promise (Mungowalia 1986: 35). Thus the followers of Ad Dharm movement were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights. (Moon 1991:88). The Ad Dharmis perceived that the scheduled castes had lost much more than what they gained in the Poona Pact (Chumber 1986: 51).

Caste Violence: Talhan and Boota Mandi

The case of caste violence in Talhan8 and its consequent effect in Boota Mandi9 is a case of dalit assertion. Why caste violence in Talhan spilled over into Boota Mandi? It needs to be addressed for the analysis of caste violence in Talhan, in particular, and of dalit assertion in Punjab, in general. It requires a detailed account of Boota Mandi township and of other factors that provides a background for the dalit consciousness in Punjab. The dalits, who for centuries have been subjected to humiliation and untold miseries, now refused to submit themselves to the similar instances of violation of their human rights. Since independence they have earned new economic position with hard work and have also acquired political consciousness to guard their interests. Although the contribution of constitutional affirmative action in terms of reservations in education, jobs and legislation have played a significant role in the upliftment of the dalits, the case of Ad Dharmis in village Talhan and Boota Mandi is a unique one.

Ad Dharmis of Talhan village overcame their poverty and squalor through ventures abroad. Whereas the Ad Dharmis of Boota Mandi also known as Ramdaspura, have been a story of self made riches by their entrepreneurship in the trade of leather. In fact Boota Mandi township, in the vicinity of Jalandhar city on the Nakodar road, is a vivid example of the dalit upward mobility from the adjoining villages. Boota Mandi and Dalit Consciousness Boota Mandi was brought on the map of dalit politics by the two main sub-castes- Kaler and Mahey- of the Ad Dharmis who were forced to leave their ancestoral villages under hostile social and economic conditions. The Kaler and Mahey Subcastes came to this place which provided them an access to military contracts in the Jalandhar Cantonment for supplying leather for Boots. The name Boota Mandi cropped-up from the leather trade established by Seth Kishan Das and Mr. Sundar Das. Seth Kishan Das belonged to the Kaler sub-caste. Kalers were tenant cultivators in village Nangal, five miles away from the Boota Mandi. They migrated to this suburb of Jalandhar city to try their luck in leather trade. Mr. Sundar Das belonged to the Mahey sub-caste whose ancestoral village was Dhanal, four miles away from the Boota Mandi. Almost all the Kaler and Mahey families from village Nangal and Dhanal, respectively, joined Seth Kishan Das and Mr. Sundar Das in the newly established leather trade in Boota Mandi. Later on many other sub-castes of the dalits from various villages in the vicinity of Jalandhar also came to Boota Mandi after learning about the success of the recently established business of leather trade by the Kalers and Maheys. Seth Kishan Das, a Chamar turned Ad Dharmi during the famous dalit movement spearheaded by Babu Mangoo Ram a former Gadharite, preferred to utilise his wealth for raising the

social and political consciousness of the Ad Dharmis in this part of the country. He financed the headquarters building for the Ad Dharm in Jalandhar. Now-a-days Ravidass High School and Sewing Training Centre for girls is being run in that building. He was also the one who pioneered to give a practical shape to the call of Baba Saheb, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for the establishment of AllIndia Scheduled Castes Federation. He became the founder president of the Punjab unit of the All-India Scheduled Caste Federation. Baba Saheb Ambedkar took dinner at his residence at Boota Mandi on October 27, 1951 during his Punjab tour. In fact, the residence of Seth Kishan Das had become a meeting place of all the prominent dalit personalities of Punjab (Ramdasspuri n.d.: 68). During his Punjab tour, Baba Saheb Ambedkar addressed large gathering of masses at Jalandhar (October 27, 1951), Ludhiana (October 28, 1951) and Patiala (October 29, 1951). In Jalandhar at Ramdaspura (Boota Mandi) Ambedkar addressed a gathering of lakhs of people in the evening of October 27, 1951 (Balley 1971:382). In Ramdaspura(Boota Mandi), where Ambedkar delivered about two hour long lecture, Ambedkar Bhawan was constructed in 1972 as a memorial to perpetuate sacred memory of the Messiah of the downtrodden. Ambedkar Bhawan has become a centre of dalit activities. The road, leading to Boota Mandi, on which it is situated is named as Dr. Ambedkar Marg (Nakodar road). Another factor that played a significant role in raising the dalit consciousness in Punjab in the 30s and early 50s was the contribution of two weekly papers, Adi Danka and Ujala. Adi Danka was published by Ad Dharm Mandal, Jalandhar. Ram Chand Khera, an Ad Dharmi, was its editor. Adi Danka was the official weekly of the Ad Dharm, published both in Urdu and Punjabi. Gurdass Ram Aalam, Sant Ram Azad, Chanan Lal Manak, Sansar Chand, Charan

Singh Saffri and Bhagat Ram Mandhali were among the prominent contributors to Adi Danka (Sain 1985: 36). Gurdass Ram Aalam and Chanan Lal Manak set the trend of radical dalit poetry in Punjab through the columns of this weekly. It succeeded in bringing enthusiasm and consciousness not only among the Ad Dharmis of Punjab but also among those who had settled abroad (Manak 1985: 8). However, it was discontinued in the mid 40s when the Ad Dharm movement became dormant. During 1930s, Ravidass Jaikara, another Punjabi weekly was also published from Jalandhar. Master Gurbanta Singh, a prominent Ad Dharmi of Doaba, who won the Assembly elections in 1946 with the support of Ad Dharm, was its editor10. After the closure of Adi Danka, Ujala was launched. Its first issue was released on April 14, 1948, on the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar. Ujala was the only dalit paper of its kind published by Kartara Ram Madhas, a prominent Ambedkarite of the Boota Mandi (Sulekh 1994: XXV). K.C. Sulekh, General Secretary of the Punjab unit of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, was its editor. He was the pioneer journalist amongst the Dalits who has the privilege to work under the direct guidance of Baba Saheb Ambedkar (Balley 2003:3). Sulekh11 has also translated Ambedkars book Mr.Gandhi and The Emancipation of The Untouchables in Urdu in 1946 (Sulekh 1994: XXIX). Ujala was published in Urdu but later on many issues were brought out in Punjabi also. Ujala was the only voice of the dalits at that time in North India amidst the upper caste controlled press. It brought an awakening in the dalit consciousness through carrying out Ambedkars philosophy and views of the prominent dalits (Sulekh n.d.: 108). After K.C. Sulekh joined Government service, Mr. Leal of Boota Mandi took the charge of editorship of Ujala in 1952. Ujala was followed by Hamara Jeewan, Bheem Patrika, Ravidass Patrika and Kaumi Udarian. Hamara Jeewan and Ravidass

Patrika both were Punjabi weeklies and published from Jalandhar. Hamara Jeewan was launched immediately after the Ujala was established. Mota Singh, General Secretary of Punjab unit of Scheduled Castes Federation of India (1946-48), was its editor. Ravidass Patrika was started in 1970s by an NRI Ad Dharmi, Mangoo Ram Jaspal12, who left England to settle in Jalandhar. Bheem Patrika, a vernacular monthly paper, and Kaumi Udarian a monthly journal in Punjabi were also published from Jalandhar. Bheem Patrika was founded by Lahori Ram Balley13 in 1958. Kaumi Udarian was launched in December 1985. C. L. Chumber, also an Ad Dharmi, was its editor. In fact all these publications followed in the footsteps of Ujala which had become not only an exemplary mouthpiece of the dalits in Punjab but also a centre of dalit social activists and literary personalities. Thus Boota Mandi virtually became the vibrant nerve centre of all types of activities, social, religious, political and literary, for the dalits. Seth Kishan Das's progeny carried on meticulously the process of dalit consciousness initiated by him through actively participating in the political arena of Punjab politics. His grand-son, Mr. Avinash Chander contested Parliament and State Assembly elections. Mr. Sundar Das's son Mr. Khushi Ram also served as councillor in the Jalandhar Municipal Committee. The present Mayor Mr. Surinder Mahey is his grandson. A casual visit to the Boota Mandi convinces one that this town presents a vivid impression of a particular community's stronghold and success. The Ad Dharmi community has proudly established centres of Ambedkar and religious places of Guru Ravidass and Buddh Vihars. They have also established education centres, libraries and community centres in the name of Ambedkar, Buddha and Ravidass. One of the Mohalla (residential area) in the Boota Mandi has been

named as Siddhartha Nagar. All these names evoke a sense of an independent identity which the lower castes in the Doaba region of Punjab were in search of since the beginning of the Ad Dharm movement. Guru Ravidass, Dera Sach Khand Ballan and Dalit

Consciousness

Guru Ravidass has been projected as the spiritual master of the Ad Dharmis. He was revered as devoutly as Hindus revered their Gods and Goddesses and Sikhs their Gurus. However, Ad Dharmis did not subscribe to the philosophy of reincarnations as is believed by Hindus. They simply believe in the spiritual power of Guru Ravidass. They raise slogans 'Ravidass Shakti Amar Rahe' (the spiritual power of Ravidass live forever) during the Ravidass jayanti. The figure of Ravidass, the fifteenth Century poet-saint became the icon of dalit assertion in Punjab. It was during the Ad Dharm movement that the image of Guru Ravidass has been systematically projected to shape the newly conceived cultural space for the Ad Dharmis (Omvedt 2003: 192). Boota Mandi took the lead in that regard. What made the image of Ravidass a catalyst in the emergence of dalit consciousness is his being belonging to one of the lower castes. He was born in Chamar caste, also known as Kutbandhla, one of the Scheduled Castes in Uttar Pradesh. Chamars are known by their profession of leather and tanning. They were oppressed and badly treated by the upper castes. Ravidass revolted against the system of untouchability. He rejected the caste system based on the hereditary principle of higher and lower status. He revolted against the tyranny of Brahmins and defied them by

wearing Dhoti (cloth wrapped around the waist), Janeue (sacred thread) and Tilak (sacred red mark on forehead) which were forbidden for the untouchables. He advocated the method of self help for eliminating sufferings of the dalits. His vision for self help is expressed in on eof his hymns as So kat jane peer prai ja ke untre darad na pai (only the sufferer knows where it hurts, the mere observer has no idea). He envisioned an egalitarian model of state(Begumpura), where no one would be discriminated on the basis of caste and religion and everyone would be free from the burden of taxes and worries of food. Ravidass said Aesa chahun raj me, jahan mile saban ko unn, ouch neich sab sam wase, Ravidass rehe parsan (I want a kingdom where everybody has enough to eat, higher and lower live together in harmony and Ravidass shall be happy). His aproach was unique. He used Bhakti and sacred hymns as a medium for raising the consciousness of the downtrodden against the system of oppression. He was a protagonist of equality, oneness of God, human rights and universal brotherhood. He condemned the division of mankind on the basis of caste. He said that all human beings were created by God and God Himself resides in all of them. If the same God pervades the entire humanity, it is then foolish to divide it in the name of caste. He said, tohee mohee mohee tohee antar kaisa. He neither identified with nor patronised any particular caste. He said that who believed in oneness of mankind and did not believe in caste was his friend (Jo ham shehri so meet hamara). He said He visited North India twice and met Guru Nanak Dev first at 'Chuharkana', now known as Nankana Sahib and at Sant Ghat of Kali Bein in Sultanpur Lodhi. Forty hymns and one couplet of Guru Ravidass have been inscribed in Guru Granth Sahib (Jassi and Suman 2000: 25, 28). His popularity is being kept alive in Punjab among the lower castes through the network of shrines and pilgrimage centres popularly known as deras

constructed in dedication to his memory. One of the most famous such deras is in village Ballan, seven miles North of city of Jalandhar on the Pathankot road. It is known as 'Dera Sach Khand', Ballan. An equally famous Ravidass dera14 is in village 'Chak Hakim', near the town of Phagwara. These two Ravidass deras shot into prominence during the Ad Dharm movement. The spiritual space of these deras was also utilised for the creation of cultural orientations and social consciousness among the dalits. Thus the deras dedicated to Ravidass "not only provided foci for spiritual life, they functioned as lower caste centres as well" (Juergensmeyer 1988:84). Dera Sach Khand Ballan has taken specific initiatives in the direction of cultural transformation and social consciousness of the dalits in Punjab. The dera has a library on its premises and also sponsors a vernacular weekly 'Begum Pura Shaher' published from Jalandhar. The dera distributes free literature on Ravidass and on the dalit issues. In the Begum Pura Shaher a detailed account of deras dedicated to the philosophy of Guru Ravidass is being serialised to document the rising consciousness among the dalits in the region. The main contribution made by the Dera Sach Khand Ballan in the direction of raising the dalit consciousness is the construction of a mammoth Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir at Seer Goverdhanpur, Varanasi. Sant Sarwan Dass of Dera Ballan took the task of spreading the ideals of Guru Ravidass among the lower castes. He made strenuous efforts to make Bani (a spiritual poetry) of Ravidass popular among the dalits and made them to understand its inherent meaning. Sarwan Dass thought the job to be incomplete until the place where Guru Ravidass gave the sermon of 'Begum Pura' was traced out. He made great efforts in locating the place where Ravidass was born. Sant Sarwan Dass

assigned the task to a selected group of people under the guidance of Sant Hari Dass. The group went to Varanasi, surveyed the area near the Banares Hindu University. A location in the village Seer Goverdhanpur, on the outskirts of Varanasi, near BHU, is confirmed as the birthplace of Guru Ravidass. The plot of land was purchased and foundation stone of Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir was laid on Monday, June 14, 1965 by Sant Hari Dass alongwith a large number of devotees of Dera Ballan. The lower caste people from within the country as well as abroad helped in various ways in the construction of the temple. They did so in the name of Guru Ravidass, whom they consider the harbinger of their identity. Help for the construction of the temple came from the devotees of the Ravidass residing in U.K., Canada and other foreign countries15. They were keen to see the project completed and contributed in their respective individual capacities. The first phase of the temple was constructed by year 1972. For managing the affairs of Ravidass temple, "Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Public Charitable Trust" was constituted with the headquarter at Dera Sach Khand Ballan, Jalandhar and its branch office was established Varanasi. at Janam Sach Asthan Khand Mandir Ballan Seer also Goverdhanpur, Dera

coordinates the ecclesiastical affairs of the various other Ravidass deras in India and abroad. However, all the major Ravidass institutions in India and abroad have separate Trusts to manage their affairs. In the United Kingdom, the trust was named Shri 108 Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Trust (Regd.), U.K. It was at the request of the UK Trust that a huge monumental gate in the memory of Guru Ravidass was raised at Lanka Crossing in Varanasi city on the way to the Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir. The second phase of the construction of mandir was completed in 1994 and the ceremony of

installation of Golden Kalash atop the mandir dome was performed by Babu Kanshi Ram in the presence of the then incharge of the Dera Sach Khand Ballan, Sant Garib Dass on April 7, 1994. The monumental gate approaching the mandir at Lanka Crossing was inaugurated by the then President of India K.R. Narayanan on July 16, 1998. The Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir at Seer Goverdhanpur has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for dalits as Mecca for the Muslims and Golden temple for the Sikhs. The Ravidass Janam Asthan Public Charitable Trust encourages the publication of literature about Ravidass. The dera at Ballan also helps the poor dalit students by sponsoring them monetarily. It is also constructing Sant Sarwan Dass Model School at Hadiawad in Phagwara where poor children will be provided free education. In addition, the dera honours dalit scholars for literary contributions for the upliftment of the downtrodden. Till now, it has honoured fifteen such dalit scholars with gold medals (Bahadur 2003:3). It has acquired a unique importance among the dalits of the Doaba region who look forward to it for spiritual guidance, public utilities and advice for managing their cultural spheres. The dera is running a two-hundred bed hospital at Kathar, on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road, where poor patients get free medical aid. It costs the dera about Rs. twenty-five lakh every month (Kauldhar 2003: 5 & 8). All this has contributed significantly in building dalit consciousness and strengthening the dalit identity in the region. Every year on the Ravidass Jayanti, the dera makes special arrangements for the pilgrimage of the devotees of Ravidass to their Mecca at Seer Goverdhanpur. Special trains are arranged from Jalandhar to Varanasi exclusively for Ravidass Jayanti celebrations. Such spiritual cum cultural activities further provides impetus to the process of the rise of dalit consciousness initiated during the Ad Dharm movement and subsequently carried on by the social and

political efforts of the wealthy Ambedkarites of the Boota Mandi. It is against this background of dalit consciousness generated over a period of six decades in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab that caste violence in Talhan and its repercusions in Boota Mandi could be understood in a proper perspective. Talhan: The Conflict Violence started in Talhan on June 5, 2003 after a five month long drawn conflict between Jat-Sikhs and Ad Dharmis. The conflict was on the issue of dalit representation in the management committee of a local smadh turned Gurdwara. However, Boota Mandi became the epicentre of violence. It was in Boota Mandi that an Ad Dharmi, Vijay Kumar Kala, was killed in the police firing which suddenly brought Talhan and Boota Mandi on the national scene. Since Boota Mandi has become a hot bed of dalit activities from the Ad Dharm movement onwards, it is nave to expect that the radical Ambedkarites of this township, to whom Dr.Ambedkar once said, chop off the hands and smash the heads of those who molest your women folk (Sulekh 1994: XXI), could remain indifferent to the plight of their brethren in the adjoining rural areas. Talhan is situated at a distance of fifteen kilometers from the Jalandhar city and about twenty kilometers from the Boota Mandi. It is one of the big villages in Doaba. Its population is about 10,000. Dalits constitute majority of the population (72%). The rest of the population is of Jat Sikhs and other communities such as Ramgarhias [Carpenters], Lohars [Blacksmiths], Jheers [water carriers], chhimbas [tailors] and kumhars [potters] (Philip 2003; Sharma, Reeta 2003; Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924: Judge 2003). Almost all the dalits are Ad Dharmi scheduled castes (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). They are largely clean-shaven and worship

Guru Ravidass. However, they also swear by Sikhism (Sandhu 2003). The village distinctly exhibits prosperity. Huge and stylish houses in Talhan witness richness of the inhabitants of the village who have emigrated in large numbers to Europe, North-America, and the Gulf. The literacy level in the village is as high as 95%. The village has a senior secondary government school (ibid.). There are three main Gurdwaras in the village along with the Smadh turned Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh. The main three Gurdwaras reflect on the caste divisions in the village which follows a religion that forbids division on such lines (ibid). Jat Sikhs have their own Gurdwara. There is a also a Gurdwara of Ramgarhias. Dalits too have their separate Gurdwara constructed in the name of Ravidass. These Gurdwaras are not simply a place for worship and religious congregations of the respective caste communities. In fact, they are an index of the assertion of caste identities (Jodhka 2001; 2002; Jassi 2003: 6). Each Gurdwara has its own management committee. However, as far as the Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh is concerned, the management committee has become a bone of contention between the Jat Sikhs and Ad Dharmis of the village. The committee of this Smadh turned Gurdwara is dominated by land-owning Jats from Talhan and the adjoining villages. Though dalits constitute majority of the population in the village, none of them has ever been included in the management committee. Whereas other caste communities of Talhan and adjoining villages in the area are granted representation in the financially rich management committee. The committee manages an annual amount of about Rs. Five crore that the smadh of Baba Nihal Singh receives in the form of offerings from its rich NRI and local devotees (Sharma, Reeta 2003; Philip 2003; Sandhu 2003). There may be a difference of opinion on the exact amount of offerings. But there is an agreement that the coffers in the Gurdwara have been over

flowing with cash. Small wonder that anybody who is a somebody in the village wants to be a member of the Gurdwara Management Committee (Philip 2003). The richness of the Gurdwara is visible from the mammoth building in which it is housed. The building has spacious air-conditioned halls. One of such halls has a capacity of simultaneous recitation of Guru Granth Sahib by as many as fiftyfive Granthis (professional readers of the holy Granth) in one go. The Gurdwara has a well-appointed Kotha Sahib (resting room) for Guru Granth Sahib where tranquility is disturbed only by the purr of the air-conditioners (ibid). The annual offerings of the smadh turned Gurdwara is spent on development work of the village done under the supervision of the management committee. Dalits allege that Jats spend more money on their own areas. Money is spent discriminatly. The electricity and water bills of the Jat households, it is alleged, were paid by the management committee from the money collected at the smadh (Sandhu 2003). However, the version of the Jat Sikhs member of the committee gives entirely a different picture. They claim that a large amount of the money is spent on the maintenance of the Gurdwara and on various development activities undertaken for the whole village. Moreover, the members of the committee claim to have given Rs.2.5 lakh to the dalits for the construction of Ravidass Gurdwara (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). Irrespective of such claims and allegations, the fact is that dalits of Talhan have never been granted membership in the management committee of the Gurdwara. Although Jat Sikhs have monopolized the

management committee in spite of their being in minority in the village vis--vis the dalits, Baba Nihal Singh himself did not belong to the Jat Sikh community. He was a Ramgarhia Sikh of Tarkhan (carpenter) caste, which is a backward caste in Punjab. He was an

ordinary person, who practiced his caste occupation. He also used to lay Gandd (wooden wheels) at the base of the wells in order to maintain a natural flow of ground water in the wells. His expertise in laying Gandd earned him fame during his life time. His fellow villagers admired him for his professional dexterity. He did not live in Talhan. He belonged to a village called Dakoha near Talhan. He died while laying a wooden wheel in a well near Talhan. Since Baba Nihal Singh was popular for his expertise in laying the Gandds and died while performing his job, his death was not considered as an ordinary event. Rather it was considered as a martyrdom, by the villagers of the area. Thus from Baba Nihal Singh he became Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. Shaheeds (martyrs) are not only the ones who die for the country while fighting in the battle field. Those who die while functioning for public utilities are also known as Shaheeds. In Punjab Shaheeds are remembered and venerated. Smadhs (tombs) are raised in their honour on the place where their bodies are laid to rest and annual fairs (melas) are organized in their honour. Since Baba Nihal Singh was remembered as a Shaheed, a smadh was also built on the place, near Talhan, where his body was laid to rest. To celebrate his martyrdom, villagers of the area started organizing a annual fair at the smadh. After the death of Harnam Singh, an aide of Baba Nihal Singh who used to take care of the smadh, another smadh was also built in his name near the smadh of Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. The popularity of Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh attracted a large number of devotees, who brought offerings mostly in cash. Subsequently smadhs were converted into shrines. In due course an other structure was raised in the middle of smadhs and Guru Granth (Holy Book of Sikhs) was placed there. Since Sikh religion forbids worshipping smadhs, the placing of Guru Granth in between the smadhs was, in fact, contrary to the basic tenets of Sikhism. The main motive behind the construction of a

Gurdwara in-between the smadhs was to, perhaps, grab the large amount of money received in the form of offerings at the smadhi by the dominant upper caste of the village and the adjoining areas (Anand 2003: 5). If the Jat Sikhs put their claim on the smadh by converting it into a Gurdwara with help from some outside Sikh religious organisations, how can they legitimately convince the dalits not to ask for a share in the committee simply because they do not belong to the Jat Sikh community. Ad Dharmis revered Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh almost as much as Jat Sikhs and used to participate in all the events at the Gurdwara with same enthusiasm (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). However, when the dalits asked for a fair representation in the committee, it evoked a stony, if not violent response from the Jats (Philip 2003). Dalits could not have come forward for demanding a representation in the committee had the Gurdwara been not become a symbol of power by virtue of its economic strength on the one hand and spiritual popularity on the other. Recently there has been a strong tendency among the dalits to demand a share in the structures of power at different levels of the society which have earlier been dominated by the land holding castes particularly the Jats (Sharma, Reeta, 2003). Ad Dharmis demand for a share in the committee is also rooted in that tendency. Now demands of the dalits for a share in the socio-economic structures of power could not be wished away either by evoking purity-pollution principle or by the blatant use of muscle power. Dalits have become wise enough to escape the traps of theocratic mechanisations and rituals adopted by the upper castes to keep them away from the power. Ad Dharmis of the Talhan village vehemently refuted the arguments of the Jat Sikh members of the committee of Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh that they could not be given membership simply because of their not following the Sikh

Maryada (code of conduct) properly. Ad Dharmis retorted back if clean-shaven Jats could become members of the committee, why could not they (Jodhka and Louis 2003: 2924). Caste violence in Talhan did not erupt suddenly. It has a history of protracted conflict between the dalits asserting for their right and the Jat Sikhs who have been finding it difficult to adjust with the changed social and economic conditions. The conflict started in Talhan a few years ago on the demand of the dalits for representation in the management committee of the Gurdwara Baba Nihal Singh. They approached the court in 1999. Filing cases and counter cases could not help resolve the conflict. The conflict took a new turn on January 20, 2003 when the Jat Sikhs publicly announced a social boycott of the Ad Dharmis. On the preceding day there was a fight between the Jats and Ad Dharmis on the eve of the election of the management committee. The Ad Dharmis who were demanding representation in the committee were beaten up and chased away by the Jats with the help of the police (Jodhka and Louis: 2925). They also tore down the portrait of Sant Ravidass. A few days earlier, the management committee also terminated the services of 39 dalit women who used to prepare Langar [food prepared in large quantity for free distribution] (Judge 2003). Ad Dharmis organised a Dalit Action Committee (DAC) under the leadership of Lahori Ram Balley, a prominent Ambedkarite of Abadpura near Boota Mandi, to fight against their social boycott and for representation in the management committee of the Gurdwara. DAC organized dharnas and hunger strikes at Ambedkar Chowk in Jalandhar City and village Talhan. Ad Dharmis of Boota Mandi also participated in the dharnas and strikes. A team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes visited Talhan on February 5, 2003 and confirmed the social

boycott. The team ordered that Kewal Singh and Bhupinder Singh be externed from the village for 6 months (Grewal 2003). Additional Director, Social Welfare Department, Punjab, also provided documentary evidence of the social boycott of the dalits (ibid 2003). The DAC demanded that the Commissions directive be obeyed and legal action under Section 295 A, IPC and Section 3, 9, 10 and 14 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, be initiated against those named in the FIR dated February 7, 2003 (Grewal 2003). In spite of all the efforts of DAC the informal social boycott of the dalits continued that started about four months ago. On May 17, 2003 DAC staged a protest by showing black flags outside the venue of the divisional meeting of the senior police and civil officers being chaired by the Chief Secretary against the failure of the state government to resolve the issue pertaining to the alleged social boycott of the dalits in Talhan (The Tribune 18.6.2003). Even after the above mentioned meeting of the senior officers the conflict in Talhan continued unabated. On May 27, 2003, DAC in its memorandum threatened (t)ill now our struggle has been peaceful, but if the Punjab government does not understand our peaceful overtures, we will resort to direct action for which preparations are being made (Grewal 2003). Although on June 3, 2003 a compromise was worked out between the contesting parties through the efforts of the officers of the district administration, it could not last even for two days. It was against this backdrop that violence erupted in Talhan on June 5 and quickly snow-balled into Boota Mandi. The site of the beginning of the violence was the Mazaar (grave) of Sufi Pir Baba Fateh Shah Qadri. The Mazaar is located in the North-west of Talhan. It is about a kilometer from the

Smadh Baba Nihal Singh. It has three graves, a tomb and a small structure where a Muslim family lives (Singh, Prabhjot 2003). At the Mazaar a mela is organised, every year on June 5, by an emigrant Jat Sikh from Talhan. People of all the castes of Talhan and of adjoining villages participate in the mela (Ibid.; Balley 2003a:11). It was at the mela where violence erupted at 2.00 p.m., on June 5, and continued unabated for six hours. Thereafter, it was followed by violent clashes in Boota Mandi and other nearby towns like Phagwara and Kartarpur. It is alleged that the violence was caused by the Jat Sikhs, who asked the dalits to leave the mela (Balley 2003a:11). Some reports say that the clash was sparked-off, when dalit boys passed comments at Jat-girls singing devotional songs on the stage at the mela (Judge 2003). Whatever be the cause of the violence, at least it is clear that dalits have now achieved a state of consciousness which not only empowered them to say a firm no to their hitherto tormentors but also encouraged them to ask assertively for equal share in the structures of power. Whereas the Jat Sikhs who have, till recently, been thriving at the meek silence of the dalits, are obviously finding it difficult to digest the emerging dalit assertion. Although the violence was controlled by the district administration and police, it took eighteen days for a compromise to take place between the contending parties. Curfew remained clamped, in sensitive areas, in Talhan and Boota Mandi during all these days. On June 13, police arrested five members of the DAC and an equal number of persons belonging to Jat Sikh community, including Kewal Singh and Bhupinder Singh against whom an FIR was registered on February 7,2003. After the arrests, negotiations started between both the parties at the PAP Complex, Jalandhar, under the leadership of ADG Police, D.R. Bhatti. A compromise

was worked out. In fact, it was the same compromise that was signed on June 3, 2003, but could not be implemented because of the violence on June 5. In the compromise, it was agreed that two dalits would be included in the committee. However, a condition was attached that they should have Sikh Saroop(Sikh appearance). The other terms of the compromise included the withdrawl of all the cases related to Talhan clash, public apology with the Bhog (completion of recitation of Sikh holy book) of the Adi Granth for social boycott and scrilege of Guru Ravidass. The agreement was signed by both the parties. On June 16, the arrested persons were released. On June 22, all the clauses of the agreement were fulfilled in the presence of the sangat (gathering of people at a religious place) gathered at the smadh of Baba Nihal Singh. However, it took almost two months for the agreement to, actually, get implemented. On August 17, 2003 one of the two dalit nominees, Amarjit, was unanimously elected as the vice-secretary of the Sehajdhari committee of the Jat dominated Management committee of the Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. The Sehajdhari committee is a decision making committee. It comprises all office bearers of the management committee. Amarjit was elected after he obtained Sikh Saroop. He has taken Amrit (Holy water) at the historic Gurdwara at Anandpur Sahib on August 13, 2003 and has grown a flowing beard (Singh, Varinder : 2003). Though the Jat Sikhs were adamant on the Sikh Saroop of the dalits for inclusion in the committee, a Jat, who was president of the committee for many years, did not keep such a saroop. It seems that the adamant attitude of the Jat Sikhs towards the dalits was, in fact, a face saving strategy in view of the indomitable fight put up by the dalits during the Talhan conflict for securing justice and dignity. The pressure of the dalit assertion has also compelled

the Government to solve the Talhan imbroglio without further delay, so that it could not turn into a serious political issue having wider implications. Moreover the rise of dalit assertion has cautioned the Government to take necessary measures to prevent the victimisation of dalits in other parts of Punjab lest they replicate Talhan. Mention may be made that during the Talhan crisis and after the recent Panchayat elections in Punjab as well, in as many as fourteen villages the cases of social boycott of the dalits were successfully resolved by the Government (Balley 2003a:11; Virdi 2003a:6-7). Thus Talhan has created a history in Punjab. It has set an example of dalit assertion. Talhan was not a case of caste problem as has been popularly projected. Nor it was solely caused by the allurement of the wealth at the smadh. In fact it was a case of dalit assertion against caste domination and untouchability in Punjab. It sharpened the question of dalit human rights and civil liberties in Punjab. The dalit assertion that has come on the surface during the Talhan crisis contains the seeds of dalit emancipation in the real sense of the term. It is in this context that Talhan has become an important case for the understanding of the violation of the human rights of the dalit in the rural settings of Punjab which boasts of a caste free society.

Conclusion What we have argued above is that untouchability is rooted in the legal and literary discourse of Dharam Shastra literature. It got further reinforced by the rationalistic discourse of the Orientalists. However, in Punjab, the impact of the Brahmanical principle of purity-pollution and of the Varna Vyavastha has never been so strong as in many parts of India. Although the ritualistic and ceremonial underpinnings of untouchability were weak in Punjab, owing to the cultural specificities of the region, the gravity of social

oppression and economic deprivation of the dalits has never been weak. Untouchability in Punjab was more associated with the asymmetrical structures of the agrarian rural economy than with the syndrome of purity-pollution. The seeds of dalit consciousness were sown in Punjab in the early 1920s. The Ad Dharm movement provided the necessary background for the rise of dalit consciousness in the colonial Punjab. After 1940, the Punjab unit of All India Scheduled Castes Federation and the Punjab unit of Republican Party of India carried on the legacy of the Ad Dharm movement. The process of politicization of the dalits in Punjab and their empowerment has also been promoted by the social, cultural and spiritual activities undertaken by Ravidass deras, especially Dera Sach Khand Ballan in Jalandhar district in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab. Dalit consciousness has never been an exclusive domain of dalits only. It continued, intermittently, to receive support from non-dalit quarters as well. Be it a phase of Bhakti movement, Sufis, Indian renaissance or of national freedom movement, there is an ample proof of efforts being made by non-dalits in the direction of amelioration of untouchability. However, almost all of them, thought it appropriate to take measures for the removal of untouchability without doing away with the inegalitarian social structures. This has led to a sharp division between the orientation of the dalits and the upper castes protagonists of social reform movements. The rise of Ad Dharm movement and GandhiAmbedkar dispute are testimonies to such polarization between the dalits and the twice born. This division, in turn, further strengthened the process of proliferation of dalit consciousness in a dichotomous framework of we and others. The issue of caste and untouchability, instead of becoming a common social problem with

a unified response across the length and breadth of Indian subcontinent has taken on a path of confrontation and antagonism. Dalit consciousness grew along these fault lines. Indian freedom struggle failed to provide a conducive environment for the peaceful resolution of caste based conflicts in the post colonial India. Talhan caste conflict, in fact, is not the first of its kind as has generally been reported both in the media and academia. Caste violence, in colonial Punjab, during the Ad Dharm movement is a case in point. Ad Dharmis were subjected to physical violence and sever hardships. Their only fault was, they dared to assert for civil rights. In fact, whenever, the oppressed raised voice for emancipation from social oppression and economic deprivation, they faced stiff and violent opposition from those who were in command of economic resources and bracketed with higher social status. They may be Brahmins, Rajputs or Jats. It does not make much of a difference. What is important is not a particular caste, but the economic set up of the concerned region and the resultant configuration of social forces and relations between the dominant castes and the dalits. In the case of Punjab, Jat Sikhs constitute dominant caste Their domination, however, is not rooted in the graded system of caste hierarchy. They became dominant because of their hold over the land. Dalits in Punjab, for various historical reasons, were deprived of land. Their being landlessness, obviously, made them subservient to the land owning castes, majority of whom happen to be Jat Sikhs. Although employment opportunities were created for the dalits under the system of caste based reservation since the promulgation of the constitution of independent India, their social status has not been raised accordingly in the rural Punjab where majority of them reside. In addition, inspite of, the progressive stance of Sikh religion which forbids division of mankind on the basis of parochial and ascriptive values, Punjab

could not succeed in overcoming the reactionary and obscurantist tendencies of caste based social setup. Although agricultural has ceased to exist as a profitable profession for the last few years, land is still considered as the most essential status symbol in rural Punjab. Though many dalits have benefited from constitutional affirmative action, spread of education, social welfare measures and ventures abroad, a vast majority of them still remained very poor and vulnerable. While many dalits have abandoned their caste based occupations and have also distanced themselves from the employment in the agricultural fields, their social status in the rural economy remained marginal, precisely because of their landlessness. Moreover, their increasing hold on the electoral structures of power at the grassroots has not yet converted into their empowerment. Reservation in the Panchayati Raj institutions failed to improve their lot significantly. Although they were elected to reserved posts of Sarpanches and Panches in village Panchayats, even in some cases from the general seats as well given their numerical strength, they were not allowed to function independently and fearlessly. In many cases, Government had to intervene to help them assume the elected offices. In rural Punjab, land determined social status. It is a fact. Dalits did not own land, is another fact. It is also a fact, that dalits have achieved a significant awareness and political consciousness over the last seven decades in the history of dalit mobilization in Punjab. Now, they cannot be coerced any more to remain confined to the periphery. The contradiction between old mind sets based on proclivities of caste prestige and honour, on the one hand, and the emerging dalit consciousness for equal share in different social structures of power, on the other, is fast becoming crucial. The rise of a large number of separate dalit Gurdwaras and community centres, and the ever increasing number of caste conflicts in the

villages of Punjab is a clear testimony to the surging dalit assertion for equal rights and dignity. It is in this context that Talhan caste conflict cannot be seen as a sporadic case of spontaneous violence. In fact, it alludes to a deep-rooted crisis born of general neglect and violation of human rights of the downtrodden in Punjab which needs serious attention for its peaceful redressal. Notes: [This is a revised and enlarged version of the paper presented at the International Dalit Conference, Vancouver, Canada, May 15-18, 2003. I thank Prof. P.S. Verma for extremely helpful discussions in the course of formulating different parts of the paper. My thanks to Late Prof. Pradeep Kumar who helped me in understanding the different dimensions of dalit politics. I also acknowledge the critical inputs from the participants of the International Dalit Conference, especially Dr. K.P. Singh, Prof. John C.B. Webster, Mr. Chander Bhan Prasad, Dr. Ambrose Pinto S.J., Prof. Eleanor Zelliot, Dr. Laxmi Berwa, Mr. Jai Pal Birdi, Mr. Chanan Chahal and Mr. Arun Kumar, in helping me refine the arguments considerably. To Late Chanan Lal Manak, K.C. Sulekh, Lahori Ram Balley, G.S. Bal, K.C. Shenmar, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, I.D. Pawar, Chatter Sain, C.L. Chumber, Dr. Som Nath Bharti, and Sant Surinder Dass Bawa, I owe special debt for providing me source material on the Ad Dharm movement. Long discussions with Professors Harish K. Puri, P.S. Judge and the seminarians of the Wednesday Seminar, Deptt. of Sociology , Panjab University, Chandigarh, helped me sharpen my formulations. To Seema Goel, I owe a special debt for helping me in various ways in preparation of this draft. However, for any fault or error, the responsibility lies entirely on the author].

1.

Dalits have separate Gurdwaras in about 10,000 villages out of a total of 12, 780 villages in Punjab (Dalit Voice, Vol. 22, No. 17 September 1-15, 2003, p. 20). A survey of 116 villages in one Tehsil of Amritsar district showed that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in 68 villages (Puri 2003: 2700). Yet another field-study of 51 villages selected from the three sub-regions of Punjab found that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in as many as 41 villages ( Jodhka 2002:1818); see also Muktsar 1999 ; and Muktsar 2003: 21-22.

2. Some of the most important Deras are: Radha Soami Satsang Beas; Sacha Sauda, Sirsa; Dera Wadbhag Singh, Una. Dera of Piara Singh Bhaniarwala is an emerging sect of the followers of Piara Singh Bhaniarwala who considered himself a holy man. There are many such persons who considered themselves spiritual and have established their deras all over Punjab. They command a large number of followings among the dalits. For details see Puri 2003: 2700. 3. Ad Dharm movement came into existence in 1925. Ad Dharm was a movement against the system of untouchability. It aimed at emancipation of the dalits and their empowerment through cultural transformation, spiritual regeneration and political assertion. It was the first movement of its kind in North India where the downtrodden were brought together to fight for their cause. It laid the foundation of dalit consciousness and assertion in Punjab. Mark Juergensmeyers seminal work is the pioneer study of this movement (Juergensmeyer 1988). <!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[endif]--> Adi movements

appeared in 1920s in different parts of India. Adi Dravida movement in Madras, Adi Andhra in Andhra Pradesh, Adi

Karnataka in Karnataka and Adi Hindu in Uttar Pradesh (Mendelsohn and Vicziany 1998:.3, 215-16; Juergensmeyer 1988:24-25 & 274). 5. Mangoo Ram was one of the founders of Ad Dharm movement. He was born on January 14, 1886 in a Chamar family, in village Mugowal, Dist. Hoshiarpur, Punjab. His father had a business of selling hides. In 1909, Mangoo Ram immigrated to America where he came in close contact with the Gadhar Party (a militant nationalist organization). On his return home in 1925, he started organizing Scheduled Castes against the system of untouchability and founded the Ad Dharm movement. In January 1928, he led a deputation of 150 prominent Ad Dharmis to the Simon Commission and gave memorandum for equal rights for the dalits (Manak 1985:6). In 1932, he also met the Lothian Committee at Lahore and pleaded that dalits were neither Sikhs, Hindus, Christians or Muslims. They were, in fact, the indigeneous people of India. Their religion is AD Dharm. He also sent telegrams during the Roundtable Conferences in London (1930-32) pledging Ad Dharm support for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as the leader of the untouchables in India instead of Mahatama Gandhi. In 1946, he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and remained in legislature till 1952. On 25 July 1976, he was invited as a Chief Guest by Ad Dharm Brotherhood, UK, of the Ad Dharm Golden Jubilee celebrations. Ad Dharm Brotherhood, UK, honoured him with a pension of Rs. 100 per month which he received till his death (Sain 1985:37). On 15 August, 1972, Prime minister of India , Indira Gandhi honoured him with a Tamra Patra and Rs. 200 pension per month for the

services he rendered in the Gadhar Party for Indias freedom. He died on April 22, 1980.

6.

In 1937 Assembly elections in Punjab, eight seats were reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Ad Dharm contested on all seats with the help of Unionist Party. Ad Dharm candidates won seven seats. One seat (Hoshiarpur) went to Congress candidate Moola Singh, who defeated Hazara Ram Piplanwala of Ad Dharm with a margin of seven votes. For details see Manak 1971.

7.

B R Ambed????

8. Talhan is a village. It falls in Jalandhar district in Doaba subregion of Punjab. Doaba is the central part of Punjab. It consists of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahar. 9. Boota Mandi is a suburb of Jalandhar city, on Nakodar road. Ad Dharmis constitute majority of its population. 10. Ravidass Jaikara was discontinued for sometime and again revived in 1963 by Ch. Jagjit Singh, son of Master Gurbanta Singh. At present it is being published Mr. Jagat Singh. 11. K.C.Sulekh is a commited and dedicated Ambedkarite. He is endowed with sharp insights and critical mind. He wields an incisive pen. He is a prolific writer and a critical commentator on dalit issues. He met Dr. B.R.Ambedkar many times. When Babasaheb addressed a mammoth gathering at Jalandhar in October 1951, K.C. Sulekh was the incharge of the stage from where Babasaheb delivered his from Jalandhar. Mr. Surinder Kumar Banger is its editor and is published by

lecture. He also accompanied him during his Punjab tour to Ludhiana and Patiala. 12. Mangoo Ram Jaspal is an NRI Ad Dharmi of village Haryana near Hoshiarpur, Punjab. He returned from England and got settled in Jalandhar in 1970. He took active interest in reviving the Ad Dharm movement in Doaba region of Punjab and convened a Conference on December 13, 1970 at Dera Sach Khand Ballan and revived Ad Dharm Mandal as Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation. 13. Lahori Ram Balley is a renowned Ambedkarite of Doaba region of Punjab. He embraced Buddhism. He played a significant role in popularizing B.R. Ambedkars writings in North India. Under his Bheem Patrika publication he did not only publish Babasahebs writings in English but translated them in Hindi and Punjabi. He also wrote extensively on Ambedkar and Buddhism. His contribution in the agitation of Republican Party in Punjab in 1964 is well known. 14. Sant Hiran Dass of this dera established Ravidass Sabha in 1907 and published his collection of Ravidasss poems under the title Rae Das Ki Bani [Allahabad: Belvedere Press, 1908]. For details see Mark Juergensmeyer 1988: 87. 15. Ad Dharmis abroad have established Guru Ravidass Sabhas wherever they have settled. They gather at these Sabhas quite often. Such gatherings are not only confined to religious activities, political matters and issues relating to dalitconsciousness and emancipation are discussed seriously. Following organizations have given Millennium Awards to Sant Niranjan Dass, the present head of Dera Sach Khand Ballan. Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, 282, Western Road, Southall, Middlesex, London; Shri Guru Ravidass Temple,

Sacramento, California, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Pittsburg, California, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Bay Area Fremont, California, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Vancouver, Canada Shri Guru Ravidass Temple, 61-01, Broadway Woodside, New York-11377,USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Marg, Astoria, New York, USA; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, (Medway) Strood Kent, UK; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, The Lane (Ash Burnham Rd.), Bedford MK 40 IED UK (Jassi and Suman 2001:19-20). Recently on May 25, 2003 Shri Guru Ravidass International Oganisation for Human Rights (regd.), Italy, has invited Head of Dera Sach Khand Ballan and Sant Ramanand on the 626 Birth Anniversary of Guru Ravidass (Begumpura Shaher, No. 16, August 18, 2003: pp. 4 & 9).

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From

Servitude

to

Assertion:

Ambedkars Subaltern Approach to Nationalism And Dalits Liberation Ambedkar and Dalitisation of Untouchables:

Dr. Ronki Ram

E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Traditionally, according to the Hindu code of conduct, the untouchables were placed at the bottom of the caste hierarchy and were known by different names in different parts of the country. They were called Shudras, Atishudras, Chandalas, Antyajas, Pariahs, Dheds, Panchamas, Avarnas, Namashudras, Asprusthas, etc. etc. The hierarchical and inegalitarian structure of Indian society came into existence during the period of manusmriti. The manusmriti set the tenor of social discrimination based on birth. This, in turn led to economic degradation and political isolation of the untouchables now popularly known as Dalits. Dalits are the poor, neglected and downtrodden lot. Their social disabilities were specific, severe and numerous. Their touch, shadow or even voices were considered by the caste Hindus to be polluting. They were not allowed to keep certain domestic animals, use certain metals for ornaments, eat a particular type of food, use a particular type of footwear, wear a particular type of dress and were forced to live in the outskirts of the villages towards which the wind blew and dirt flowed. Their houses were dirty, dingy and unhygienic where poverty and squalor loomed large. They were denied the use of public wells. The doors of the Hindu temples were closed for them and their children were not allowed into the schools attended by the children of caste Hindu. Barbers and washer men refused their services to them. Public services were closed to them. They followed menial hereditary occupations such as those of street sweepers, scavengers, shoe makers and carcasses removers.

Generally the term dalit includes those who are designated in administrative parlance as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes. However, in common political discourse, the term dalit is so far mainly referred to Scheduled Castes. The term Scheduled Caste was used for the first time by the British officials in Government of India Act, 1935. Prior to this, the untouchable castes were known as depressed classes. Mahatma Gandhi gave them the name Harijans meaning children of God. Gandhi himself did not coin the name. He borrowed the name from a Bhakti movement saint of the 17th century Narsinh Mehta. The name Harijan became popular during 1931 amid conflicts between Gandhi and Ambedkar on the issue of guarantying communal political representation to the dalits. Gandhi took this move as a step towards the disintegration of Hindu society. By terming the untouchables as Harijans, Gandhi tried to persuade caste Hindus to shed their prejudices against the achchutas i.e. untouchables. The purpose to adopt this new nomenclature of Harijan for the untouchables was to induce change in the heart and behaviour of the Hindus towards untouchables. At the same time, it was hoped that this new name would be accepted by the untouchables who would too try to cultivate the virtues which it connotes. To quote Gandhi probably, Antyaja brethren would lovingly accept that name and try to cultivate the virtues which it connotes may the Antyaja become Harijan both in name and nature (Gandhi 1971: 244-5). The term Harijan got further recognition as an emancipatory nomenclature in the formation of Harijan Sewak Sangh, an organisation established for the purpose of upliftment of the dalits under the aegis of the Congress. A weekly Harijan was also started by Gandhi to provide voice for the cause of the downtrodden. However, Ambedkar did not find any substance in the change of name for the redressal of the structural hindrances that

stood menacingly in the way of the their all around amelioration. To him it did not make any difference whether the downtrodden were called achchuta or Harijan, as the new nomenclature did not change their status in the social order [Shah 2001a: 21]. The term dalit was used by no less a person than Ambedkar in his fortnightly called Bahishkrit Bharat (Guru 2001: 100). Though Ambedkar did not popularise the word dalit for untouchables, his thoughts and actions have contributed to its growth and popularity. The word dalit is a common usage in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and many other Indian languages, denoting the poor and oppressed persons. It also refers to those who have been broken, ground down by those above them in a deliberate way (Shah 2001b: 195-196). It includes all the oppressed and exploited sections of society. It does not confine itself merely to economic exploitation in terms of appropriation of surplus. It also relates to suppression of culture way of life and value system and, more importantly, the denial of dignity. It has essentially emerged as a political category. For some, it connotes an ideology for fundamental change in the social structure and relationships (Shah 2001a: 22). The word dalit indicates struggle for an egalitarian order (Zelliot 2001a: 232) and provides the concept of pride to the politically active dalits (Zelliot 2001 b: 130). The word dalit gained currency through the writings of Marathi writers in the early 1970s. Dalit writers who have popularised the word have expressed their notion of dalit identity in their essays, poems, dramas, autobiographies, novels and short stories. They have reconstructed their past and their view of the present. They have expressed their anger, protest and aspiration (Shah 2001a: 22). Dalit is a by-product of the Ambedkar movement and indicates a political and social awareness. Ambedkar adopted a

different approach and philosophy for the emancipation of Scheduled Castes. He wanted to liberate the dalits by building an egalitarian social order which he believed was not possible within the fold of Hinduism whose very structure was hierarchical which relegated the dalits to the bottom. Initially, he tried to seek emancipation of the dalits by bringing transformation within the structure of Hinduism through his efforts for opening the temples for the dalits and multi-caste dinners. However, Ambedkar came to realise soon that such an approach would not bring the desired result for the amelioration of the inhuman condition of the dalits. He asserted that the dalits should come forward and fight for their own cause. He gave them the mantra educate, organise and agitate. He did not have faith in the charitable spirit of the caste Hindus towards the untouchables as it failed to bring any change in the oppressive social order. Ambedkar did not have any faith in Mahatmas and Saints whose main emphasis was not on the equality between man and man. Their philosophy, according to him, was mainly concerned with the relation between man and God. Baba Saheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, himself a dalit, made efforts to transform the hierarchical structures of Indian society for the restoration of equal rights and justice to the neglected lot by building up a critique from within the structure of Indian society. His was not a theoretical attempt but a practical approach to the problems of untouchability. He tried to seek the solution to this perennial problem of the Indian society not by making appeals to the conscience of the usurpers or bringing transformation in the outlook of the individual by begging but by seeking transformation in the socio-religious and politico-economic structures of the Indian society by continuous and relentless struggle against the exploitative system where he thought the roots of the untouchability lay. He

thought that until and unless the authority of the Dharam Shastras is shaken which provided divine sanction to the system of discrimination based on the case hierarchy, the eradication of untouchability could not be realised. It was his subaltern perspective, a perspective from below which helped him to come to the conclusion that untouchability emanated neither from religious notions, nor from the much-popularised theory of Aryan conquest. He believed that it came into existence as a result of the struggle among the tribes at a stage when they were starting to settle down for a stable community living. In the process, the broken tribesmen were employed by the settled tribes as guards against the marauding bands. These broken tribesmen employed as guards became untouchables. However, Ambedkar could not provide answer to the problem as to why only these broken tribesmen were confined to the one part of the village in the setting towards which the wind blew and the dirt of the village flowed. Ambedkars tirade against untouchability was a tirade to make these people conscious of their rights, and to prepare them to agitate and win their rights. Dalit Liberation: Subaltern Approach With the entry of Ambedkar into the Indian political arena during 1920s, the issue of social reforms achieved a new dimension. He was of the opinion that until and unless the downtrodden themselves came forward to fight their own battle, no one else could alleviate their grievances. No one else could know better than them about their own state of affairs. Ambedkar impressed upon the people to understand their own affairs themselves. Self-awakening, he believed, could provide them necessary strength to fight against evils in society. Ambedkar (started) exorcising the spirit of despair from the minds of dumb millions who had been forced to live the lives of sub-human beings. Here was a liberator preaching them the

grand universal law that liberty is neither received as a gift; nor begged for a charity it has to be fought for. Self-elevation is not achieved by the blessing of others but only by ones own struggle and deed. Those inert, dormant masses lacked courage and needed a vision and a mission. Ambedkar was now inspiring them to do battle for their human rights. He was driving them to action by acting himself Ambedkar was displaying energy by his own action; arousing their faith by showing faith (Keer 1971: 73-74). Although low-caste protest movement which started with Jyotirao Phule in the 19th century continued in western India with leaders like Vithalji Ramji Shinde, Shivram Janba Kamble, Gangaram Kishnajee and others, they could not pull out the victims of the Brahmanical system of social gradation from their forced ghettos to fight for themselves. However, the movement started by Jyotirao Phule was more nearer to the real goal of dalit liberation than that of the movements led by the Brahmin liberal reformers like Ranade, Gokhale and Karve who concentrated more on inducing reforms in the different settings of Hindu dominated society rather than its total transformation. It was Dr. Ambedkar who provided for the first time to the dalits a system of struggle which they could consider as their own. Although Phule had done the same before him in the 19th century, yet Phule like him did not belong to the untouchable caste. Phule was born in Mali-Kunbi caste broadly considered Shudra but not untouchable, while Ambedkar was born in the Mahar community which is an untouchable caste. Another factor which distinguished Ambedkar from Phule was that the latter studied at local mission school but had no opportunity available to study abroad. Ambedkars stays abroad during his higher education exposed him to English political institutions, liberal democracy and the system of rule of law, which cultivated in him a faith in parliamentary democracy as the best means for achieving the socio-

economic liberation of the under- privileged sections of the Indian society. He was equally concerned with the cause of the freedom of India from the colonial rule. Ambedkar said I will demand what is right full for my people, and I will certainly uphold the demand for swaraj (Ibid. 145). However, Ambedkar was always concerned to highlight the cause of the downtrodden and ever ready to redeem the same. At the first Round Table Conference, he said that One fifth of the total population of British India was reduced to a position of worse than that of a serf or a slave. He then declared to the surprise of all that the untouchables in India were also for replacing the existing government by a government of the people, for the people and by the people. He said that this change in the attitudes of the untouchables to British Rule in India was surprising and a momentous phenomenon. And justifying his stand, he observed with a rise in his voice and a glow in his eyes: when we compare our present position with the one which it was our lot to bear in Indian society of pre-British days, we find that, instead of marching on, we are marking time. Before the British, we were in the loathsome condition due to our untouchability. Has the British government done anything to remove it? Before the British, we could not draw water from the village well. Has the British government secured up the right to the well? Before the British, we could not enter the temple. Can we enter now? Before the British, we were denied entry into the police force. Does the British government admit us into the force? Before the British, we were not allowed to serve in military. Is that career now open to us? To none of these questions can be given an affirmative answer. Our wrongs have remained as open sores and they have not been righted, although 150 years of British rule have rolled away (Ibid. 149-150). He continued of what good is such a government to anybody. We must have a government in which the men in power will give their undivided allegiance to

the best interests to the country. We must have a government in which men in power, where obedience will end and resistance will begin, will not be afraid to amend the social and economic code of life which the dictates of justice and expediency so urgently call for (quoted in ibid.: 150). So from the above it is clear that for Dr. Ambedkar, political freedom was as important as the social transformation of Indian society. In his speech delivered at Bombay on 12 June 1951, Ambedkar said that the Scheduled Castes should come forward to cooperate with other communities in strengthening the newly won freedom. But at the same time he cautioned his fellow beings to keep in view the interest of their community. He was sure that the Scheduled Castes could not capture political power by joining the Congress. To win, guard and promote the interests of the untouchables, he emphasized that they should consolidate themselves under their own political party (Bakshi 1992: 60). Ambedkar was of the firm belief that howsoever, the caste Hindus worked hard for the welfare of the untouchables they did not know their mind. That was why he was fundamentally opposed to any organisation started by the caste Hindus for the upliftment of the Depressed Classes (Keer 1971: 43). His principal objective was to achieve a respectable place of existence for the downtrodden sections of the society to which he himself belonged. But at the same time he was also not ready to compromise with the cause of the Indian Freedom. He too wanted swaraj but the contents of his conception of swaraj were more versatile than that of the Savarna leaders of the Indian Freedom movement. He accepted the responsibility of framing a constitution for independent India. He said, I feel now that it was the golden opportunity for me and my community. By framing the constitution, I convinced the Hindus,

who were abusing me and my party for the last twenty years as antinationalist, that they were entirely wrong. We are as staunch a nationalist organisation as any other (quoted in Bakshi: 1992: 60). However, Ambedkars joining of the Congress government created a great amount of confusion among the Scheduled Castes. In clarification of his joining the government he said, I have joined the central government but have not become a member of the Congress and have no intention to do so. I was invited by the Congress to join the central government and I had joined it unconditionally. I shall come out any time. I think it is useless to stay there. Our condition is such that it is necessary that our men should be in the administrative machinery. There is no fear of just legislation, but even good laws may be badly administered and if the government is composed of persons who are by tradition against the interests of the Scheduled Castes, then there can be no hope for us (quoted in ibid.: 62). It was his subaltern perspective which made him to think practically that the administration was unsympathetic to the Scheduled Castes because it was completely run by the officers who were relatives of the oppressors or were known to them. Had these officers belonged to the Scheduled Castes they would have given proper protection to their brethren. He was of the opinion that the high caste tyranny and oppression could be averted only if more of the Scheduled Castes could find places in the administration. This could be achieved by being inside the government rather than by sitting outside. Ambedkar, a firm believer in the parliamentary form of government, impressed upon the Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes, who together formed majority of the population of the country, to come forward to capture political power in the system of adult franchise. He said, People do not seem to buck up courage because they are overwhelmed by the belief that the Congress government is there for ever. I said, this is a wrong impression. In a

popular democracy, no government is permanent and not even the government established by the two of the tallest congressmen, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel. If you organise, you can even capture that government (quoted in ibid. 66). Ambedkar was not only a visionary; he tried his level best to translate his vision into a practical reality. With the purpose of breaking the ladderless multi storied tower of Hindu society he formed the Independent Labour Party in 1936 so as to have a broad alliance of peasants, workers and Scheduled Castes. In 1942, he formed another political party for defending the interests of the Scheduled Castes. That party was known as Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF). Although the SCF could not make a significant mark in the electoral politics, it provided an alternative to the dalits to think about capturing the political power by organising themselves into a political organisation. After the death of Ambedkar, his close associates formed the Republican Party of India (RPI) in deference to the wishes of their mentor and saviour. Ambedkar hoped that the Republican Party would be a vehicle for all who sought to achieve the great goals surpassing the narrow confines of the Scheduled Caste Federation (Omvedt 2001: 150). It shows that Ambedkar wanted to consolidate the downtrodden into a significant political force to guide them to achieve a dignified place in the Indian society. During his long journey of political struggle, he had come to realise that the issue of dalit liberation and empowerment could never be genuinely taken up by the caste Hindus. The dalits themselves have to come forward to take up the herculean task of their emancipation and empowerment. He had no hopes from the caste Hindus to get any help in such a project. He was greatly disillusioned after his experiences of Mahad agitation in 1927 where inspite of the resolution of Bombay State Assembly to

declare all public places open to untouchables, the high caste Hindus violently resisted the untouchables attempt to drink water at the public pond. Yet, in another struggle to seek special rights for the Scheduled Castes during the Round Table Conferences, in the form of special electorate, Ambedkar was opposed tooth and nail by Mahatma Gandhi. Although Ambedkar succeeded in getting communal award for the benefits of Scheduled Castes, yet finally he had to compromise under moral duress due to Mahatma Gandhis fast-unto-death. The clash with Gandhi not only shook Ambedkars faith in the legal method of redressing grievances, but also convinced him of the futility of striving for equality by remaining within Hinduism. Ambedkar now opened that Hinduism was incapable of reform on its own and that the untouchables must ready themselves to fight their battle for equality alone (Doctor 1997: 125). Moreover, even during his earlier attempts three temple satyagrahas to seek equality within Hinduism, Ambedkar failed to get any support from Gandhi or the Indian National Congress. As said earlier his efforts to join the popular Ganapati festivals in Bombay also proved futile. So, were his attempts to arrange inter-caste dinners and to organise a public ceremony for making the low-caste put on the sacred thread (Zelliot 1986: 163). The failures of all these attempts to bring reforms in the system of Hindu religion demonstrated to Ambedkar, that the untouchables were not really a part of Hindu society and would never be accepted as equals by the Hindus within that framework (Verma 1999: 2806). In other words, the project of dalit liberation through reforms in Hindu religion failed to yield any result. In the face of such failure, Ambedkar was forced to leave the Hindu religion. At the Yeola Conference, in Nasik district, on October 13, 1935 Ambedkar said that unfortunately he was born a Hindu untouchable and it was beyond his power to prevent that. But he declared that it

was within his power to severe ties with that religion. He thundered, I solemnly assure you that I will not die a Hindu (Keer 1971: 253). Twenty years after, in October 1956 he converted to Buddhism. With this declaration of Ambedkar, the struggle of dalit liberation entered into a new phase: fighting against the oppressive structures of Hinduism from outside. This new form of dalit struggle which distinguished itself from the pre-1935 struggle of Ambedkar for transformation of the Hindu religion from within, shocked the Hindu community out of complacency and at the same time provided an opportunity to the untouchables to grasp their own future (Zelliot 1986: 165). Dr. Ambedkar realised that caste and Brahminic Hinduism reinforce each other and discriminate against the downtrodden sections of the society. He said in 1946, To the untouchables, Hinduism is veritable chamber of horrors (Lobo 2001: 243). He traced the genesis of the oppressive nature of the caste dominated Indian society to the sacred shastras of the Hindus who guarded them so closely that if any one except them read or heard them he would commit an act of sacrilege. Manusmriti sanctioned severest punishment for such a sacrilegious act. Ambedkar quotes from Manusmriti, If the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the Veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and if he utters the Veda, then his tongue should be cut-off; if he has mastered the Veda his body should be cut to pieces (Thorat and Deshpande 2001: 73). According to Ambedkar the Vedas, smritis and shastras were all instruments of torture used by Hinduism against the untouchables (Lobo 2001: 243). In fact it was Ambedkars subaltern perspective which pierced through the shastras to reveal their true face. He emphasized in his Annihilation of Caste that the smritis and

shastras were not the embodiment of religion but a system of rules to deprive the untouchables even of their basic needs and deny them equal status in the society. Ambedkar distinguished between rules and principles. Rules are practical and based on prescription. But principles are intellectual and are useful methods of judging things. Rules seek to tell an agent just what course of action to pursue. Principles do not prescribe a specific course of action. Rules are commands and tell what to do and how to do it, whereas principles provide man a reference point to his conscience to guide his course of action. This difference between rules and principles, according to Ambedkar, make the act done in pursuit of them different in quality and in content. Performing an act under the command of a rule and in the light of a principle, as a guide of conscience, are two different things. The principle may be wrong but the act is conscious and responsible by virtue of the fact that such an act has been performed by an individual by making use of his critical abilities. The rule may be right but the act performed thereof is mechanical. A religious act may not be a correct act but according to Ambedkar must at least be a responsible act. To permit of this responsibility, religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It can not be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules it ceases to be religion, as it kills responsibility which is the essence of a truly religious act (Ambedkar 1995: 88). On the basis of a discussion around the distinction between rules and principles in reference to religion, Ambedkar comes to conclusion that what is called Religion by the Hindus is nothing but a multitudes of commands and prohibition. He said, the Hindu religion, as contained in the Vedas and smritis, is nothing but a mass of sacrificial, social, political and sanitary rules and regulations, all mixed up. Therefore, he said that there should be no hesitation in saying that such a religion must be destroyed and there is nothing irreligious in working for the

destruction of such a religion that discriminates against its own people whom it bracketed as untouchables. The most notorious aspect of these bunch of rules and codes of ordinances, masquerading as religion, is that they are made immutable same for all generations, iniquitous not the same for one class as for another, and were invested with the character of finality and fixity. Religion, in the sense of spiritual principles is conspicuous by its absence in them. In other words, what the Hindu call religion is, in fact, not a religion in a true sense of the term. It is really Law or at best legalised class ethics (ibid. 89). Ambedkar exhorted the untouchables to tear the mask and find in it the hidden conspiracy against them which projected the code of conduct as a religion. He opined that once the people come to know that what Hindus called religion is not a religion but a law, they could urge for its amendment or abolition because law can be changed but not religion. One can leave religion but cannot change it because, said Ambedkar, the idea of Religion is generally speaking not associated with the idea of change (ibid. 90). It is in this context that Ambedkars decision to leave Hinduism and his conversion to Buddhism becomes self-explanatory as a step for dalit liberation. The above discussion shows that what Ambedkar was against was a religion of rules not religion in itself. Had he been against religion he could not have had embraced Buddhism. Ambedkar said I agree with Burke when he says that True religion is the foundation of society, the basis on which all true civil governments rest, and both their sanction, Consequently, when I argue that these ancient rules of life be annulled, I am anxious that its place shall be taken by a religion of principles, which alone can lay claim to being a true religion (ibid.: 90). Ambedkar wanted to raise religion in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity. In

short, his religion could not be against the principles of democracy. He said, I am no authority on the subject. But I am told that for such religious principles, as will be in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity is, may not be necessary for you to borrow from foreign sources and that you could draw for such principles on the Upanishads (ibid.: 92). An other aspect of Dr. Ambedkars subaltern approach for the emancipation of dalits and their empowerment was his distinct formulation of Indian nationalism in opposition to the dominant discourse of Hindu nationalism as represented by Raja Rammohan Roy, B.G. Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Golvalkar and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on the one hand and Communist secular socialist nationalism represented by M.N. Roy, R. P. Duta, T. Nagi Reddy and E.M.S. Namboodripad on the other. Although the protagonists of Hindu nationalism differed in many ways from each other, in essence they strengthen the Brahamanical hegemony in modern India. The communist secular social nationalism though based on abolition of class, its ideologues like that of the Hindu nationalism belonged to the upper-caste and upper-class background. Kancha Ilaiah put these two streams of Indian nationalism on a single platform by emphasizing that though they appear to be antagonistic in their discourses of transformation; the social forces that were engaged in this discourse did not differ in their roots of existence and formation. In caste/class term, they belong to the Brahamanical upper and middle class. Though their consciousness appeared to be antagonistic to each other, their being and self remained Hindu. This was one of the main reasons why the Marxists and socialists schools failed to problematic and critique Hinduism and Brahmanism (Ilaiah 2001: 109). Dr. Ambedkars conception of nationalism articulated and

synthesized the national perceptions and aspirations of the downtrodden. Ambedkars alternative form of nationalism, popularly known as dalit-Bahujan-nationalism also incorporated the subaltern philosophy of Jyotirao Phule and Periyar E.V. Ramaswami Naicker. It constructed an anti-Hindu and antiBrahamanical discourse of Indian nationalism. It aimed at establishing a casteless and classless society where no one would be discriminated on the basis of birth and occupation. Within the dalitBahuhjan framework of Indian nationalism, Ambedkar built up a critique of pre-colonial Brahmanism and its inegalitarian social set up based on low and high dichotomy of graded caste system. This system of in egalitarianism led to the process of exploitation by the unproductive Brahamanical castes of the various productive castes. Ambedkar understands of the question of the identity and existence of the nation was based on his incisive analysis of the oppressive character of the Hindu community. By arguing for the rights and basic needs of the dalits, he challenges the assumptions of both nationalist politics and indigenous communitarian politics (Verma 1999: 2804). Since the dominant Hindu discourse of Indian nationalism remained indifferent towards removal of the caste system; and the economic analysis of the communist secular socialist school also failed to highlight the issue of caste in its mechanical interpretation of class, Ambedkar himself an untouchable and victim of untouchability formulated his own framework from the perspective of the untouchables for the understanding of the system of caste and untouchability. The foundation of dalit-Bahujan nationalism lies in this framework developed by Ambedkar. It aimed at restructuring the Indian society into a casteless and classless and egalitarian Sangha (Ilaiah 2001: 109). Annihilation of caste was its central theme. Caste for

Ambedkar was nothing but Brahmanism incarnate. Brahmanism is the poison which has spoiled Hinduism (Ambedkar 1995: 92). Ambedkar realised that any form of nationalism whose roots were steeped into Hinduism could not be a solution to the problem of dalits. Any discourse of nationalism bereft of annihilation of caste was just not acceptable to him. The agenda of annihilation of caste was so important to him that it became a central point of his struggle against colonial rule. In the first Round Table Conference, he minced no words in criticizing the British government for its failure to undo untouchability. Swaraj without extinction of caste had no meaning for Ambedkar. In his undelivered speech to the Jat Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore, he said, In the fight for swaraj you fight with the whole nation on your side. In this, you have to fight against the whole nation and that too your own. But it is more important than swaraj. There is no use having swaraj, if you cannot defend it. More important than the question of defending swaraj is the question of defending Hindus under the swaraj. In my opinion, only when the Hindu society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend it. Without such internal strength, swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step towards slavery (ibid. 97). Thus, it was Ambedkars subaltern perspective which distinguished his conception of swaraj from that of the protagonists of the various shades of the national freedom movement. In his editorial in the Bahishkrit Bharat a fortnightly, on 29 July 1927, Ambedkar wrote, If Tilak had been born among the untouchables, he would not have raised the slogan Swaraj is my birthright, but he would have risen the slogan Annihilation of untouchability is my birthright.

Conclusions

Dr. Ambedkar was an iconoclastic social reformer who at the very formative years of his career realised what it meant to be an untouchable and how struggle against untouchability could be launched. The social reform movement of the caste Hindus could not win him to its side because of his existential understanding of the pangs of untouchability. The issue of untouchability, for social reformers, was a mere problem. This problem was exterior to them in the sense that it affects only the untouchables. They themselves had never experienced the sinister us blows of untouchability. Moreover, though they were sympathetic to the cause of dalits but nevertheless, according to the social framework of the Indian society, they belonged to the opposite camp which practiced this inhuman system of social segregation based on sheer birth. Although Ambedkar dedicated his book Who Were Shudras to Phule, the precursor of non-Brahmin anti-caste movement, he did not approve the movement as a harbinger of dalit liberation. In a message given to the Satyashodak magazine, on the 16th Satyashodak Social Conference, Ambedkar said, The nonBrahmins have effaced the memory of Jyotiba Phooley completely. Not only that but that class has shamelessly betrayed his philosophy (quoted in Kuber 1987: 119). According to Ambedkar the non-Brahmin leaders failed to germicide the virus of caste among themselves. He criticized that many of them tried to emulate Brahmins and failed to abandon Brahmanical practices. They did not cease to employ the card of caste in politics. Marathas began to preach their superiority and the distinction between Marathas and non-Marathas became clear in all the party programs. Even in educational conferences of the non-Brahmins, the untouchables were seated away from others for fear of being polluted (ibid. 119). There was no hope for untouchables in such a movement.

It was against this background of total despair and in the absence of untouchables own political philosophy and independent platform that Ambedkar entered into social and political space of the colonial India as a true representative of the dalits. His analysis of the origins of the untouchability and his action plans for its eradication were different from the approach and practice of both the caste Hindu social reformers and the non-Brahman anti-caste movements. Reflecting on the original contribution of Ambedkar in the rise of the dalit movement in India, Omvedt writes, It is impossible to conceptualize the dalit movement in India in the absence of Ambedkar, it is equally difficult to imagine, sociologically, Ambedkar coming of any other region than the Marathi-speaking areas of British presidency (Omvedt 1984: 139). If Omvedt considered the tradition of anti-caste movement in Maharashtra as a catalyst for the organisation of dalit movement by Ambedkar, Zelliot underlined the untouchable status of Ambedkar as the main factor for his meteoric rise as the leader of untouchables (Elliot 1996: 160). Of the two, the tradition of anti-caste movement in Maharashtra; and his untouchable status, it seems the latter played a more prominent role in the evolution of Ambedkars subaltern approach for the emancipation of dalits and their empowerment. What distinguished his subaltern approach was that it looked at the problems of the dalits from below, from a vantage point of the deprived and oppressed. This perspective led him to think differently from the dominant stream of social and political thought of his time. His, Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development, Annihilation of Caste, Who Were the Shudras? and The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? are a testimony to his independent and original thinking. In these seminal works Ambedkar

smashed the mythological basis of untouchability and laid bare its economic roots. He built a strong case against the Janam (birth) thesis of the untouchability which foreclosed all the ways for dalit emancipation. He exhorted its victims to oppose it tooth and nail. He said, It is disgraceful to live at the cost of ones self respect. Self respect is most vital factor in life. Without it, man is a mere cipher. To live worthily with self-respect one has to overcome difficulties. It is out of hard and ceaseless struggle alone that one derives strength, confidence and recognition (quoted in Jatava 1965: 15). He drew a distinction between merely living and living worthily. For living a worthy life, Ambedkar said, society must be based on liberty, equality and fraternity. In an ideal society there should be many interests consciously communicated and shared. There should be varied and free points of contacts with other modes of association. In other words, there must be social endosmosis. This is fraternity, which is only another name for democracy. Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen (Ambedkar 1995: 57). For Ambedkar, social tyranny is more oppressive than the political tyranny and a reformer who defies society, is a much more courageous man than a politician, who defies government (ibid: 75). Ambedkar was one who defied society. In the beginning of his social reform crusade, he tried to get respect and equality for the dalits by bringing reforms within the social set up of Hinduism. He continued his struggle for empowerment of the dalits by seeking changes within the fold of Hinduism till 1935. When he realised

that the salvation of dalits was not possible while living within the fold of Hinduism, he started his scathing criticism and tirade against Hinduism and ultimately sought the emancipation of dalits and its empowerment from outside the Hindu religion. Hence his conversion to Buddhism for Ambedkar the issue of dalit liberation was the foremost issue and he emphasised that dalits themselves have to come forward for its realisation. Thus, Ambedkar provided a subaltern perspective to see clearly the chameleon of Indian casteridden social set-up deceptively appearing in crimson colors and the ways to guard the interests of the dalits. References: Ambedkar, B.R. (1995), Annihilation of Caste, (Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika). Bakshi, S.R. (1992), B.R. Ambedkar: Statesman and

Constitutionalist, (New Delhi: Anmol Publications). Doctor, Adi H. (1997), Political Thinkers of Modern India (New Delhi: Mittal Publications). Gandhi, M. K. (1971), Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 47 (Delhi: Publication Division). Guru, Gopal (2001), The Language of DalitBahujan Political Discourse, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Ilaiah, Kancha (2001), Dalitism Vs Brahmanism: The

Epistemological Conflict in History, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.) Dalit Identity and Politics (New Delhi: Sage). Jatava, D. R. (1965), the Political Philosophy of B.R.Ambedkar

(Agra: Phoenix). Keer, Dhananjay (1971), Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 3rd Ed.). Kuber, W.N. (1987), B.R. Ambedkar (New Delhi: Publication Division, Govt. of India). Lobo, Lancy (2001), Visions, Illusions and Dilemmas of Dalits Christians in India, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Omvedt, Gail (1994), Dalit and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Sage). Omvedt, Gail (2001), Ambedkar and After: The Dalit Movement in India, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics (New Delhi: Sage). Shah, Ghanshyam (2001a), Introduction: Dalit Politics, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Shah, Ghanshyam (2001b), Dalit Movements and the Search for Identity, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Thorat, S.K. and Deshpande, R.S. (2001), Caste System and Economic Inequality: Economic Theory and Evidence, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage). Verma, Vidhu (1999), Colonialism and Liberation: Ambedkars Quest for Distributive Justice, Economic and Political

Weekly, Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, Sept. 25 October 1. Zelliot, Eleanor (1986), The Social and Political Thought of B.R. Ambedkar, in Thomas Pantham and Kenneth L. Deutsch (eds.), Political Thought in Modern India, (New Delhi: Sage). Zelliot, Eleanor (1996), From Untouchables to Dalits: Essays on Ambedkars Movement (Delhi: Manohar). Zelliot, Eleanor (2001a), Dalit Traditions and Dalit Consciousness in Niraja Gopal Jayal and Sudha Pai (eds.), Democratic Governance in India, (New Delhi: Sage). Zelliot, Eleanor (2001b), The Meaning of Ambedkar, in Ghanshyam Shah (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics, (New Delhi: Sage).

Suggested Readings Ambedkar, B.R. (1916), Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development (reprint, Jalandhar: Bheem Patrika Publications,1977). Ambedkar, B.R. (1936), Annihilation of Caste (reprint, Jalandhar, Bheem Patrika Publications, 1995). Ambedkar, B.R. (1946), Who were the Shudras? (Bombay: Thacker and Co.). Ambedkar, B.R. (1948), The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? (New Delhi: Amrit Book Co.).

Baxi, Upendra (1995), Emancipation as Justice: Babasaheb Ambedkars Legacy and Vision, in Upendra Baxi and Bhikhu Praekh (eds.), Crisis and Change in Contemporary India (New Delhi: Sage). Bharill, C. (1977): Social and Political Ideology of B.R.Ambedkar (Jaipur: Aalekh Publishers). Gore, M.S. (1993), The Social Context of an Ideology: Ambedkars Political and Social Thought, (New Delhi: Sage). Kuber, W.N. (1973), Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: A Critical Study (New Delhi: Peoples Publishing House). Omvedt, Gail, (1994), Dalit and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Sage). Rajasekhariah, A. M. (1971), B.R. Ambedkar, Politics of Emancipation (Bombay: Sindhu Publications). Zelliot, Eleanor (2001): From Untouchables to Dalits: Essays on Ambedkars Movement (Delhi: Manohar), 3rd edn.

I am grateful to Mr. K. C. Sulekh for his scholarly comments and to the anonymous referee for his seminal suggestions. DR. RONKI RAM Department of Political Science Panjab University, Chandigarh-( india ) pIN-160014. Ph:(R)+91-172-2541290 (cell):09872861290 E-

mail: ronkiram@yahoo.co.in