Caste Among Indian Muslims: Causes And Consequences

By Masood Alam Falahi

[Excerpts from the paper presented by Masood Alam Falahi in Columbia University, New York for “Caste and Contemporary India” conference on 17th Oct. 2009]

Published on the Pasmanda Muslim Forum here

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Prior to independence of India, it was common that low caste Muslims were not allowed to cook good foods and even not allowed to choose good names for their children.

Presently there are three major categories among Indian Muslims, (1) Asharaf (2) Ajlaf (3) Arzal. Among these categories there are many sub-castes and in every category there are low castes and upper castes like Hindu caste system.

* Some 25 years ago there was a sufi “Shah Masood” (pupil of famous sufi Shaikh Abdul Qadir Raipuria) in a village Behat of district Saharanpur. He never allowed low caste Muslims to make Pakka (with cement and brick) house in his village.

* In “ Atki” , “ Hind Paddi” villages of district Ranchi in Jharkhand, the Arzal Muslims used to eat in a separate line in marriage ceremony. The same condition is in Barabanki of U.P state . One of my casteist teacher narrated the same story of his village of Azamgarh district, UP.

* Dr. Azmat Siddiqi from Centre for Women Studies of Jmaia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, told in her speech that in her village “phoolpur” of Allahabd, U.P, ashraf don’t eat food from sweeper / halalkhor community. She was against casteism and once she ate with them. Her cousins boycotted her as she ate with Halalkhor community.
* Professor Imtiaz Ahmad told me the following incident in a meeting, even he writes it in one of his articles:

“We had a Lalbegi woman come to clean the toilets in our house. She was on the best of terms with my mother and would sit for hours together gossiping with my mother. Whenever my mother would offer her pan, she would wrap her hand with her dupatta to receive it. My mother used to drop the pan in her hand, making sure that her hand did not touch the Lalbegi woman’s hand. On occasions of marriage the family would come and sit in a corner and wait until all guests had eaten and left. It would then be given food in vessels they brought with them. They did not eat the food there, but instead took it with them to be eaten at home. On sacrificial eid the family was not given any portion of the meat. It was given the intestines which were kept aside for them. It is possible that some of these forms of discrimination have changed, but there is no evidence to show that they have disappeared.

Some evidence exists to show that there is discrimination against these Muslim castes in the religious spheres. I found during fieldwork in eastern Uttar Pradesh that members of these castes did not go to the mosque for prayers and if they went they had to stand in the back rows. It has been mentioned by many observers that such groups often have their own mosques. N. Jamal Ansari notes that ‘in certain areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar there are separate mosques and burial grounds’ for these castes (Paper presented at the seminar on Dalit Muslims organized by Deshkal Society, New Delhi, 2004). Establishment of own mosque would call for a level of prosperity for the groups as a whole. Whether they have attained such levels of prosperity is something on which very little information exists.”

* Once I visted Nakhas Mohallah (street) of Lucknow on 30th of September 2009. This is a Muslim area. I saw a small mosque with a small madrasa, written on the mosque “Masjid-e-Rayeen” ( Mosque of vegetable sellers). In front of this mosque there is an Imam barah of Imam Baqir, belongs to Shait sect of Muslim. This small masques shows that there is discrimination against the vegetable seller caste, so they made the separate mosque.

* Dr. Ghauth Ansari writes same cases of caste based discrimination in U.P. He also adds that even ‘low’ caste Muslims are not allowed to pray in the mosque some time. They pray out side the mosque.

* The former editor of “Qawmi Morcha” Daily (National Front, Urdu News Paper) (Banaras) Mr. Tajuddin Ash’ar Ram Nagri wrote a letter to me after reading my book. He wrote that before independence of India, Muslim sweepers were not allowed to enter into the mosque in Banaras, U.P.

* In “ Desna” village of Nalanda, low castes are not allowed to sit in the first row of the mosque. Even low caste like Ansari and kalal castes do not allow Pamariya caste to sit in the first row while offering Namaz in the “Pandara” village of Lohar Dagga district.

* In “Ouchwa” the village of Gorakhpur, Upper castes wash the mosque in case somebody from low caste Muslim enters into the mosque.

* The famous news paper “Tehelka” New Delhi reports in its issue dated 18 Nov.2006 AD:

“In Bihar, the Bakkho sub-caste- formally a nomadic tribe- is held by other Muslims to be untouchables despite Islam categorically forbidding any such division… when someone in an upper caste family dies; we go to his house to condole, like we would go to any other Muslim home. But when someone from our caste dies, the upper castes people never come for the same.”

* In Rampur Bariya village of Champaran District of Bihar, a low caste groom was insulted and beaten up by upper caste Muslims because he was sitting on horse. In the same village upper caste Muslims broke the mosque built by low caste Muslims. They also burnt their houses.

* In my village there is only one graveyard and every caste has specific place for burial purpose. I don’t know the exact reason. But there are various reports that upper castes Muslims don’t allow low caste Muslims to bury dead bodies in the common graveyard for community. This is the reason low caste Muslims have separate graveyards.

* In “ Mohabbat Pur” village of Vaishali District in Bihar, Jugal Khalifa died. His dead body was not allowed by Shaikh caste to be buried in the common graveyard as he was a Nat, a low caste Muslim. Police took action and arrested many of upper caste members then only his dead body got buried.

* This is not enough, even in some places the low caste Muslims are not considered as Muslims by upper caste people. I have seen in my district Sitamarhi, Bihar, Shaikh castes consider them only as Muslim and others as non muslims. They use the term “we Muslims” for themselves and for others ‘low castes’ and used to call them with bad names like Julaha, Dhuniya, Kujda, Kasai, Nai etc.

* In some places Upper caste Muslims are taking “badhuwa Mazdoori” (work without pay) by low caste Muslims. Sometimes they have abused their women. They are destroying their houses etc.
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Read more here

Segmented Schooling: Inequalities in Primary Education

A paper[pdf file] by Sonalde Desai, Cecily Darden Adams & Amaresh Dubey

India Human Development Survey, Working Paper No. 6, 2008.

The results reported in this paper are based primarily on India Human Development Survey, 2005. This survey was jointly organized by researchers at University of Maryland and the National Council of Applied Economic Research…Part of the sample represents a resurvey of households initially surveyed by NCAER in 1993-94.

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Indian society has long been stratified along the axes of caste, ethnicity and religion. A large number of studies report inequalities in various outcomes along the caste, ethnicity and religion. Not surprisingly, this inequality is reflected in educational attainment too. However, the precise mechanisms through which inequality in educational attainments manifests itself remains open to debate with a variety of hypotheses being advanced such as poverty, child labor, lack of access to schools, teacher discrimination and lack of parental interest in education.

Unfortunately, there is little empirical research examining these hypotheses. Nor are the processes through which social disadvantages manifest themselves, clearly articulated. This paper utilizes a newly collected nationally representative survey data from over 41,550 households to examine social inequality in children’s educational outcomes. The focus is on 8 to11 year old children’s reading and mathematical skills.

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While a variety of affirmative action programs are in place to bridge educational, occupational and income disparities between the dalits (Scheduled Caste), adivasis (Scheduled Tribe) and general populations, substantial educational disparities persist. Table 1, based on our past research (Desai and Kulkarni, forthcoming), shows that the dalits and adivasis as well as Muslims tend to lag behind Hindus and other religious groups. We have also found that a great deal of this inequality emerges in primary school with children from the marginalized groups dropping out before completing primary school. In fact, if these children manage to complete primary school, their likelihood of completing middle school is much closer to that of the other groups (Desai and Kulkarni, forthcoming). This suggests that primary school is an important site for the creation of educational inequality.

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Tables 5 and 6 show the basic distribution of these skills for urban and rural children and children of various social groups separately. Not surprisingly, reading and mathematical skills are higher for urban than for rural children. Social group differences are also clearly evident in these descriptive statistics. Even among children at the same grade level, children from upper castes and religious groups like Christian, Sikh and Jains do far better in their educational attainment than the four other groups, OBC or the middle castes, dalits, adivasis and Muslims.

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Females have lower reading levels than males – a finding that contrasts with most of the U.S. literature where girls have slightly higher reading scores than boys. The impact of social stratification on reading level is very large for this model. Other backward castes are about half as likely to attain any given reading level as upper castes, dalits are slightly more than one-third as likely (0.36 times as likely) and adivasis are only .32 times as likely.

Model 2 controls for current enrollment and completed education. As can be expected, the differences between different social groups diminish suggesting that at least some of the achievement differences are mediated through school enrollment and grade promotion between various groups. But surprisingly, this dampens inter-group differences at only a modest level. Muslims are 0.39 times as likely as upper caste Hindus to attain a given reading level in Model 1; after controlling for current enrollment and grade completed Muslim children are only about 0.47 times as likely to attain a reading level as upper caste Hindu children.

Models 3 and 4 add two basic socio-economic factors, urban residence and household economic status measured by the household ownership of consumer durables and housing assets. These two factors, particularly the household assests variable, dampen the relationship between social group and reading achievement substantially. But even so, dalits are only about 0.58 times as likely to achieve a given reading level as upper caste Hindus. Similar differences persist for other social groups.

The two variables controlling for adult education in Model 5 further reduce this relationship, although surprisingly this reduction is not very large. The number of years of completed education for the most educated adult in the household, and a dummy variable for literate adult in the household shows that higher level of household education helps diminish the negative impact of caste, ethnicity and religion on children’s reading achievements. However, even after all these controls are added, other backward caste children are 0.87 times as likely as upper caste children to attain higher reading scores and comparable proportions for dalits, adivasi and Muslims are 0.63, 0.79 and 0.64, respectively. It is important to note that even with these controls the negative effect of caste, ethnicity and religion persists.

We note that many of the variables that are included in our final model, Model 5, are themselves affected by caste, ethnicity and religion. Educational attainment in parental generation is also a function of social stratification. Additionally, the same school factors that result lower skill attainment for children may also affect their progression from one grade to another. So controlling for these factors, underestimates the impact of caste, ethnicity and religion on children’s skill attainment. But even so, substantial differences between children from different social backgrounds are obvious in the result we present.

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This suggests that the differences in educational attainment between people of different social strata are not simply due to difference in enrollment rates nor are they solely due to parental lack of education and resources. Even when children from disadvantaged groups attend school, they fail to learn as much as their peers. Qualitative research and anecdotal evidence provides a variety of explanations for these findings. Teachers typically come from higher castes and have very low expectations for children from marginalized groups. They are also more predisposed to seeing the behavior of these children as being problematic than that of higher caste children. In our survey, we also asked children if the teacher treats them nicely. We found that children were extremely reluctant to say that the teacher did not treat them nicely but even so, while 76 percent of the upper caste children responded that their teacher treated them nicely, only 66 percent of the dalit and 65 percent of the Muslim children felt that way.

***

Read the full paper[pdf file] here.

In the Name of Globalisation: Meritocracy, Productivity and the Hidden Language of Caste

Excerpts from a paper[pdf file] by Surinder S. Jodhka & Katherine S. Newman

From the Working Paper Series, Volume III, Number 03, 2009

Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi

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This Working Paper “In the Name of Globalization: Meritocracy, Productivity and Hidden Language of Caste” draws on interview data to analyse the attitudes of 25 employers/hiring managers in India’s organized private sector towards the caste and community attributes of their potential employees. It focuses on the role ascriptive qualities play in employer perception of job candidates, arguing that they persist despite a formal adherence to the importance of merit.

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Caste plays an important role in organizing the rural labor force. As Mr. Vincor explained, even the unions are structured by caste:

Nearly 450 workers [in the first plant] belong to the local dominant caste of Jats and another 250 to 300 come from another dominant caste of Ahirs. Around 100 to 150 would be from different backward castes. Our workers are also organized on caste lines. Trade Union elections are mostly on caste lines….

Jat group is arrogant. It does not listen to any one. Ahirs are tamed. Brahmans are more learned and they speak well, and SCs are not vocal.

These are not neutral observations. The social organization of caste provides a platform for collective grievances, and the firm has been on the receiving end of labor actions that can be more easily organized, given the caste lines in the workforces. “At times they are very aggressive,” Vincor complained. “We have seen a lot of bad phase, strikes and lock outs.”

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India Motors relies on hiring practices that promote a mix of castes rather than permitting the dominance of a single group. And they avoid those groups that management regards as oppositional in character, likely to refuse management dictates and threaten labor actions instead.

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Such a preferential policy often exists side by side with a bright line that excludes those who do not fit these stereotypical expectations. For Fitness Health, this clearly includes Dalits, who need not apply. “Among SCs,” the manager explains, “there is a lack of technical skills. And their attitude is unmatchable for the company.” Is this an unfair, an example of bigotry? No, she insists, We have no prejudices about SCs and Muslims. This is a mind set issue.

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In the Name of Globalisation
The language of meritocracy has spread around the globe along with the competitive capitalism that gave birth to it. Largely gone is the notion that patrimonial ties, reciprocal obligations, and birthright should guarantee access to critical resources like jobs. Those ascriptive characteristics continue to matter – now dressed up as “family background” rather than caste – hardly causes the managers we interviewed to skip a beat. They are convinced that modernism is the future of their firms and the future of the country. It calls for the adoption of labor market practices that the advanced capitalist world embraces and a blind eye to the uneven playing field that produces merit in the first place.

What are the consequences of this cultural shift, of the spread of a common language that resonates with moral precepts of fairness, level playing fields? Can one argue against meritocracy in the modern world? Two responses come to mind. First, as we have suggested in this paper, the belief in merit is only sometimes accompanied by a truly “caste blind” orientation. Instead, we see the commitment to merit voiced alongside convictions that merit is distributed by caste or region and, hence, the qualities of individuals fade from view, replaced by stereotypes that – at best—will make it harder for a highly qualified low caste job applicant to gain recognition for his/her skills and accomplishments. At worst, they will be excluded simply by virtue of birthright. Under these circumstances, one must take the profession of deep belief in meritocracy with a heavy grain of salt. Anti-discrimination law is required to insist on the actual implementation of caste-blind policies of meritocratic hiring and, we submit, to question common and accepted practices of assessing

*All company names have been changed and identifying details modified slightly to protect the privacy of the firm and that of our interview subjects.

Read the full paper here[pdf file].

Dalit Women Panchayat Presidents in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu

Excerpts from ‘Dalit Women’s Right to Political Participation in Rural Panchayati Raj: A study of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu’ by Jayshree Mangubhai, Aloysius Irudayam sj & Emma Sydenham

Published by Justitia et Pax, The Netherlands, Institute of Development Education, Action and Studies, India and Equalinrights, The Netherlands, 2008

Research done in Collaboration with Navsarjan Trust, Gujarat and Evidence, Tamil Nadu

Read the report here[pdf file].

“More and more Dalit women should contest the elections and get elected to the panchayat, and help the Dalit community become liberated from their bondage. Like the dominant castes, the Dalits should join hands with other Dalit sub-groups and stand together against the dominant castes. They should be able to work independently in the panchayats and stop being proxies for the dominant castes. We Dalits need to focus on our progress, throwing off our subordination.”

- Annammal, village panchayat President in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu

“Reservation has meant little difference other than formal elections: it has not meant any real change for women other than their ability to move outside the house.”

- Dalit women elected representatives, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat

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“In the patriarchal system, there are lots of struggles for women to win the election. And within the system, Dalit women have to struggle more than other women. It is very difficult for them to win the election because nobody believes that they have the ability to carry out panchayat works. Everyone plays politics with them and against them just because they – dominant castes and men – never want Dalit women to control the panchayat administration…. Men never accept women’s leadership and there is a need for specific attention to this by making proper use of the reservation policy as Babasaheb’s blessing to us. Dalit women have to reap the benefits of this opportunity by actively engaging themselves in creating models of leadership.”

- Lakshmiben, village panchayat President, Vadodara district, Gujarat

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“Being the majority, the dominant castes could not accept the idea of being under a ‘low’ caste Dalit leader. So, for namesake they made me, a Dalit, the President. The dominant caste Vice President and other dominant caste members took away from me all powers and responsibilities. I did not even convene a meeting. I went to the panchayat office only when I was asked to go… I functioned like this because I have no education and belong to a low caste. Though I was given training, I was in such a situation that I could not do anything at all. We cannot speak against the dominant caste men. Even the [government] officials do not care for us. When they come to the village or panchayat office, they do not force us to come and attend the meetings. They simply speak with the Vice President, deal official business with him and then leave the place. How can Dalits function well in such a situation?”

- Thilagam, village panchayat President, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu

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“As we are Dalits and women, we are forced to bear the brunt of double discrimination unlike our male counterparts… Other members of the panchayat do not give respect to us because we are born Dalit and female; they will even go to the extent of working against us. The dominant caste men do not let a Dalit woman function because of their wrong view that women are good for nothing, that they are simply proxies, that they cannot be permitted to involve in public life and if they do, then they are immoral women. They subject us to such discrimination precisely because they cannot bear the sight of a Dalit woman occupying a position of governance over them… In general we can say that Dalit women are forced to encounter more problems and more opposition than Dalit men, dominant caste men and women. That is to say, for a dominant caste woman, it is only her husband or a male member of her caste who can be a source of irritation, pressure and obstacles. But for a Dalit woman, such opposition comes from Dalit men, dominant caste men and women. She has to encounter three sources of obstructions. What is the reason? It is simply their anti-Dalit woman mindset; that is, these three sets of people are of the view that a Dalit woman is someone who need not be given any importance on any matter
and hence can easily be dispensed with, who is incapable of asserting herself, who is ever submissive and patient, whatever is done or happens to her.”

Dalit women elected representatives in Thirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu

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“Women’s participation, Dalit women’s in particular, in the panchayats is necessary so that society can develop. Only women will think about women’s issues. Only Dalit women can respond to and take a stand on Dalit issues and particularly on Dalit women’s issues. In as much as Dalit women’s participation is required, they also need to be given support and
guidance. Then only can they become capable representatives… Nothing is attainable without exercising authority, and my desire is to increase the confidence of Dalits to fight and gain authority and power in society for their development.”

- Ramilaben, taluka panchayat President, Vadodara district, Gujarat

“[Dalit women’s political participation] is necessary for the Dalit community and its development, because if a Dalit woman comes then she will work for the Dalit community and Dalit women. Other castes will never work for the Dalit community. Moreover, they will eat up the money which comes under Dalit grants.”

- Jasodaben, village panchayat President, Surendranagar district, Gujarat

***

Read the report here[pdf file].

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the fourteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

Comparative Contexts of Discrimination: Caste and Untouchability in South Asia

Excerpts from the paper by Surinder S. Jodhka & Ghanshyam Shah, Working Paper Series, Volume IV, Number 05, 2010
Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi

Read the full paper here
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Breaking ranks with the Government of India, the foreign minister of Nepal, Jeet Bahadur Darjee Gautam during a meeting of the United Nations in September 2009, welcomed the inclusion of caste based discrimination against Dalits as a case of human rights violation, to be treated at par with the racial discrimination. This move of the Nepalese government opened-up way for implementing the proposal mooted by the UNHRC to involve “regional and international mechanism, the UN and its organs” to complement national efforts to combat caste based discrimination.
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While caste indeed has a religious dimension and it finds legitimacy in religious texts of the Hindus, it is also a socio-economic system[1] which shaped local economies, social and cultural entitlements and political regimes. In other words caste was much more than an ideological system. The idea of caste and associated social and economic structures persisted with varied religious tradition of the South Asian region.
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Similarly, the Sinhala Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka seem to defy the theological position of their faith. Even when no one is “unclean” in the sacred meaning of the term, social anthropologists have documented the presence of caste like hierarchies, identification of occupations with social groups and even “outside untouchables” (Banks 1960; Leach 1960; Ryan 1993).
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However, it is the colonial constructs and theoretical models of caste that continue to dominate not only the popular but also academic imagining of caste. Even the leaders of nationalist movements in the subcontinent accepted this colonial common-sense on caste quite uncritically. Thus when the new states were formed, of India, Pakistan and even Sri Lanka, it was only India which had Hindu majority, recognised the need to deal with caste and untouchability and made provisions for the uplift of those who had been kept out of the system, the untouchable whom the colonial rulers had designated as Scheduled Castes.
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Though caste continues to be an important category of kinship and community classifications in Pakistan, Dalit question is a little more complicated there. Given that the term Scheduled Caste is still officially used for the “untouchable” communities of its small Hindu minority and that almost the entire Christian population of the country are converts from Dalit Chuhras of Punjab, caste question gets closely entangled with the minority question in Pakistan. However, quite like Bangladesh, caste and untouchability also exists among the Muslims of Pakistan. Though the mainstream Islamic ideology completely denies any place to caste in Pakistan, its presence, in the form of social intercourse, birth based occupation, segregation in residence and taboo in social relationship is very widely recognised and plays an important role in structuring kinship and political economy of the country (see Alavi 1972; Gazdar 2007). Popular categories with which Dalits of Pakistan are identified are not completely alien to Indians. For example Mochi (cobblers), Pather (brick maker), and Bhangi (sweeper) are mostly Muslims and considered “lower” castes on the basis of their family occupation, regardless of their religion. There are other titles, such as Musalman Sheikhs, Mussalis (both used for Muslim Dalits) and Masihi (Christians) universally refer to specific groups of people, also identified with specific occupation and used to segregate them from the rest as “untouchable” groups. It is not only the Dalits who are identified through caste names. Others too have caste names and maintain caste boundaries…

One of the most striking features of South Asia is the association of Dalit communities with certain types of jobs. For example, the cleaning of streets and latrines, dealing with dead animals, casual and bonded labour on land are almost everywhere identified with Dalit communities. Not only are these low status jobs, invariably they are also low paid jobs. Another common feature of Dalit life in these four countries is their residential segregation. They seem to be either living in segregated settlements away from the main village, or in the urban slums where living conditions are generally poor. The experience of untouchability and discrimination was also a shared reality but its details varied.
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The pre-colonial Sri Lankan state was built around caste-based privileges of the ruling elite and hereditary and mandatory caste services of the bottom layers in society. Unlike the Hindu caste system founded on the basis of religious notions of purity and pollution, the caste systems in Sri Lanka have relied more on a kind of secular ranking upheld by the state, land ownership and tenure, religious organisations and rituals, and firmly-rooted notions of inherent superiority and
inferiority. The official requirement and support to the caste systems has indeed eroded over the years but the state has also turned a blind eye to the deprivations caused by caste discrimination. The militant Tamil movement led by LTTE also imposed a ban on the practice of caste for consolidating Tamil identity, which only turned it into a kind of underground reality, not to be confronted openly through politics and policy.
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Dalits in Bangladesh also face discrimination in political sphere as well as in civic life. Many of them reported that they were not treated well even by the doctors and nurses in hospitals and clinics. They were also not allowed entry into their houses. The Hindu Dalits faced much more discrimination in religious life. They were not allowed entry into temples and were discouraged from participating in religious/community functions. Though in past some sections of Muslim Dalit
communities such as Lalbegi, Abdal and Bediya, (popularly known as Arzal), engaged in occupations such as toilet cleaning and garbage collection were often not allowed entry into mosques, there seemed to be no such restriction in place any longer. However, otherwise, the condition of Muslim Dalits did not seem to be any better than those of the Hindu Dalits. The number of Muslim Dalits complaining about practice of untouchability against them in tea shops was much higher (around 40 per cent) than the Hindu Dalits (around 15 per cent). Same was the case with having access to hotel rooms. Access to water from public and private sources was also denied to both categories of Dalits.
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Caste and religion have always been interwoven in complex ways. While Hinduism has often been seen, and rightly so, to provide a theological justification to caste hierarchy, the Pakistani state uses Islamic identity and ideology to completely deny the presence of caste in the social and economic life of country even when caste-based identities and caste related discrimination are quite rampant in the country, including among the Muslims. Such official denial of caste also works to the double disadvantage of the Hindu and Christian Dalits of Pakistan. While being members of a small religious minority, they confront a hostile majoritarian state and civil society; being Dalits they also remain marginalised within their own religious communities.
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Caste divisions and differences have perhaps not been as strong in countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Pakistan as they have been in India, or in some of its regions. However, unlike India, there has been no recognition of their special situation as socially excluded and deprived. Since the states in these countries do not recognise caste, they also do not collect data on their numbers and around variables of their economic status. In contrast the state policies have played a critical role in producing Dalit elite, which has played an important role in articulating Dalit aspirations and identity. No such process is visible anywhere else in South Asia. In this context Gellner’s  observation made about Nepal is worth quoting. Writing in 1995, Gleener observed:

… Nepalese state has so far taken no measures of positive discrimination in favour of those disadvantaged by the caste system, as have long been in place in India. Thus, in spite of the changes… it remains true that traditions, practices and ideas which have long been rendered controversial in India are still in Nepal relatively uncontested parts of everyday life (Gellner 1995:2).
…

Read the full paper here

Footnote [1] For example, some scholars stress that the origin of caste system lay in the nature of agrarian production and generous of surplus in early agrarian system (see Klass 1980; Yurlova 1989). Similarly, some others have pointed to primacy of the political in structuring caste hierarchies in India (see Raheja 1988; Quigley, D. 1993)

Caste discrimination in access to health care: A study of Dalit children

Namit Arora mentions here that ‘Dalit children routinely die due to discriminatory practices by ‘merit’ doctors’ and adds a reference to this paper [pdf] on ‘Access to Health Care and Patterns of Discrimination: A Study of Dalit Children in Selected Villages of Gujarat and Rajasthan’ by Sanghmitra S. Acharya from the Working Paper Series, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies and UNICEF, 2010. Excerpts follow…

From the foreword

…Employing a blend of public health and social exclusion approaches, this field-based study measured the degree of discrimination in health care for Dalit children in various spheres. The paper argues that the consequences of discriminatory practices severely limit Dalit children from accessing health services, and are attributable to the poor health and high level of mortality of Dalit children in the studied areas. The paper also reflects on discrimination differential between public and private sector health care. Highlighting inabilities of the present policy frameworks to deal
with caste and untouchability based discrimination in health care services, the study calls for developing safeguards and codes to check  discriminatory practices at all stages of service delivery.

This is part of a knowledge partnership between UNICEF and Indian Institute of Dalit Studies to unpack policy concerns of relevance to all children from the perspective of socially excluded communities.
…
Surinder S. Jodhka
Director, IIDS

Access to Health Care and Patterns of Discrimination: A Study of Dalit Children in Selected Villages of Gujarat and Rajasthan
Sanghmitra S. Acharya*

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Understanding the Universe of the Dalit Child

During childhood, Dalit children may not be exposed to the labels like caste or untouchability. However, parents and adults are anxious that the child should not be hurt by transgressing the existing caste boundaries in innocence, hence the child is fed with many instructions of ‘Do’s and Don’ts’- don’t go there, don’t enter such house, don’t enter the temple, don’t play with so and so, don’t play in a specific place, don’t touch something/someone, don’t sit around such a place, don’t argue with so and so, don’t back answer so and so, don’t fight with so and so – a whole lot of protective and preventive instructions more specifically to the girls, like don’t dress like this, don’t sit like this, don’t come in notice of dominant caste etc. There are certain do’s like – bow before so and so, say Namaste, stand when so and so comes, do services when demanded, do physical labour when demanded, do menial work, agree when in conflict, say good things about so and so, praise so and so. There are thus clear instructions of physical distance and geographic boundaries a Dalit child is taught to maintain.

…

Some Indicators for measurement of discrimination in various spheres

· Home visit- not entering the house, entering only the main entrance, not in the living quarters, not sitting in the house if entered, notconsuming any thing to eat when offered by the resident.
· Practice of Untouchability- giving the medicines in the hands without touching the hand or any other part of the body, keeping the medicine on floor or paper, on anything else but not directly on the hand.
· Information- no information, incomplete/incorrect information about health and immunization camps.
· Dispensing of medicine- in the hand, without delay; on the dispensing window sill, without delay; in the hand, after everyone else has been given; on the dispensing window sill, after everyone else has been given; not giving at all.
· Diagnosis- may be measured through the indicators such as time spend in asking about the problem; sympathetic tone of the providers; and use of derogatory words as identification markers, not touching the user while diagnosis.
· Laboratory test/x-ray- can be measured in terms of the time of the test/x-ray done, immediately as the turn comes or wait till everyone else’s tests/x-rays are done.
…

Discrimination in access to health care service can thus, be understood through three basic forms-
· Complete exclusion or complete denial of health care services
· Partial denial or selected exclusion of health care services
· Unfavorable inclusion or forced inclusion for certain services.
…

Two hundred dalit and 65 non-dalit children were interviewed from the 12 selected villages. In case of those aged below 12 years, their mothers were interviewed. About 6-10 In-depth interviews were held in each village. The respondents were mothers, children, Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) members, non-government organization (NGO)/ government organization (GO)/ self help groups (SHG) workers; Anganwadi workers; auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and health worker (HW). At least 2 Group Discussions and 1-2 Consultative Meetings were also held in each of the village. Life course analysis and Case Study of selected individuals were also done.
…

Most children experienced caste-based discrimination in dispensing of medicine (91%) followed by the conduct of the pathological test (87%). Of 1298 times that the 200 dalit children were given any medicine, they experienced discrimination on 1181 occasions. Nearly 9 out of 10 times dalit children experienced discrimination while receiving or getting the medicine or a pathological test conducted. While seeking referral about 63% times dalit children were discriminated. Also, nearly 6 in every 10 times dalit children were discriminated during diagnosis and while seeking referral.
…

It was observed that most of the discrimination was experienced by dalit children in the form of ‘touch’ 94% times, when they accessed health care. Duration of time spent between the provider and dalit children was the next most discriminating form. About 81% times dalit children were not given as much time by the providers as other children. The use of derogatory words and waiting at the place of care provisioning were the forms where less discrimination was experienced as compared to duration of interaction and touch. About 7 out of 10 times children were discriminated by doctors, lab technicians and RMPs vis-à-vis touch. This form was more vigorously practiced by pharmacists, ANMs and AWWs. They did not touch the dalit children for almost every time they interacted with them
…

The Dalit children in both the states wished that the providers should speak to them gently without using derogatory and demeaning words. Time spent with the provider was ranked fifth in both the states as far as the desired behavior from the providers was concerned. Being touched gently, without being offended, appeared low in their ranking among the children in both the states largely because they may not be visualizing it as important element in care giving
…

It is evident from the consultative meeting with the Panchayat members, teachers and other members of the village community that when there were elected members, officials, teachers and care providers from Dalit caste; and voluntary organisations sensitive to the issue of caste based discrimination in the area; more assertion among Dalits and less evidence of discrimination were noted. Villages where such sensitivity lacked, hooliganism, often backed by local political outfits was conspicuous. For instance a Dalit Doctor (lady) was forced to ‘go on leave’ due to alleged misconduct of a Dominant caste youth with claims of ‘political connections’ (Undkha). There were apprehensions about dalit providers which often led to unpleasant encounters. A PHC doctor from Dalit caste (Ranigaon) ‘satisfied’ Dalits, though the non-Dalits felt he was there because ‘the Sarpanch was also from Dalit caste’. His medicines were considered ‘not effective’, medicines are unavailable because ‘they sell’ them in the market. Acceptance of Dalit provider was also evident when the key villagers reflected sensitivity towards caste-based discrimination. Information about health camps were given adequately to dalit households. There were expectations that these important villagers would work towards bridging the gap between the Dalits and the non-Dalits.
…

*Samghmitra S. Acharya is Associate Professor at Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health, JNU, New Delhi. She wishes to acknowledge and express gratitude to Prof. P.M. Kulkarni, Prof G. Shah and Prof S.K. Thorat for their valuable suggestions while conducting the study on which the paper is based.
The entire paper [pdf] is available for download.

Caste and social capital

Excerpts from a paper by Vanneman, Reeve, James Noon, Mitali Sen, Sonalde Desai, and Abusaleh Shariff. 2006.“Social Networks in India: Caste, Tribe, and Religious Variations.”(pdf file), India Human Development Survey Working Paper No. 3, Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America. Los Angeles, CA.

The results reported in this paper are based primarily on India Human Development Survey, 2005. This survey was jointly organized by researchers at University of Maryland and the National Council of Applied Economic Research. The data collection was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health to University of Maryland. Part of the sample represents a resurvey of households initially surveyed by NCAER in 1993-94.

From the abstract
Using original data from a newly collected nationwide survey for 40,000 households in India, we examine variation in social capital in India across caste, tribe, and religion. Our primary measure uses a positional generator of social networks, counting how many ties the household has to persons in medical, educational, and governmental institutions.

Social capital is productive to the extent that it creates opportunities that would otherwise not be possible or would be more costly. It is the other in the relationship who provides the advantage (Portes 1998), the resources such as information and social support built up within social relations. Extensive research has documented the connection between social networks and economic outcomes, as well as the potential for social contacts to translate into social capital. Notably, Granovetter’s (1973, 1974) “strength of weak ties” theory illustrated the connection between social contacts and finding a job. The status and quality of the social contact appears to increase wages and occupational prestige (Lin 1999), supporting the argument that who you know is an important factor in explaining economic outcomes. People who have well-placed contacts benefit from the information and influence that these networks ties can provide. And those who hold key positions in low density social networks are advantaged because their position gives them better access to these resources (Burt 1992, 2000).
…

Social networks are important not only for their instrumental value but because they also express one’s standing in society. Others judge one’s importance in life largely by how important the people are that we associate with. High status associates confer high status and associating with low status groups will lower one’s own status (Milner 1994). These status dynamics generate incentives for social exclusion to avoid contacts with lower status groups. Nowhere has this been more institutionalized than in India where high caste interactions with the lowest castes were governed by “untouchability”. Network contacts with elite institutions should also reflect these status dynamics with lower status groups more excluded from significant interaction.
…

We test the following hypotheses:
1. The extent of network ties reflects a household’s position in the caste hierarchy.
2. Muslims and other religions have weaker social networks than high caste Hindus.
3. Wealth and education will explain only part of the caste and religious differences.
…
Results
Preliminary results for 40,449 households from a relatively early version of the data confirm that social capital does indeed vary as expected across caste, tribal, and religious boundaries…Brahmins have more network contacts than any other group. The remaining caste groups follow in the expected order. High caste Hindus have fewer contacts than Brahmins but more than other Hindus. OBC networks are substantially weaker than those of high caste Hindus, dalit networks are even weaker, and adivasi networks weaker yet. Of special interest here are the positions of non-Hindus, since they can sometimes be seen as outside the Hindu caste hierarchy. Christians, Sikhs, and Jains have excellent social networks, not significantly different from high caste Hindus. But Muslims are especially disadvantaged; their network ties are similar to dalits’ networks.
…

The advantage of Brahmins to other castes and religions is more pronounced in rural areas than in the urban setting, but is statistically significant in both places. This is true both before and after controls for education and economic position. Adivasis have especially weak networks in rural areas, again suggesting the possibility of geographic isolation. Muslims have especially weak networks in urban areas, smaller than even dalits’ or adivasis’
…

In urban areas, the social networks of scheduled castes and tribes may indicate some success of the reservation system. The contrast with the results for Muslims is striking. India has not had a similar program of reservations for religious minorities. In fact, in the past, adivasis or dalits who converted to another religion lost their reservation preferences.
…

On the other hand, the privileged position of Brahmins remains apparent, even after holding constant their higher education and wealth. This is an important finding in the Indian context. The Government of India has not conducted a full caste census since 1931. Surveys which collect information on caste in India tend to ask people whether they belong to one of the categories subject to affirmative action i.e. scheduled castes and tribes and, more recently, OBCs (other backward castes). But little distinction is made within the upper caste segment. These data are the only large scale survey in India to ask individuals to identify themselves as Brahmins. The Indian public discourse on affirmative action is full of complaints from upper castes that by allowing as many as 50 percent of the college seats and jobs to be reserved for lower castes, upper castes are now the discriminated against group rather than the privileged group. Thus, a persistence of Brahmin privilege in social networks – in spite of the fact that they form less than 5 percent of the population – is an important finding for India. Even in urban areas, Brahmins enjoy better access to schools, medical facilities, and the government than do other groups.

***

The full text and data are available here:  “Social Networks in India: Caste, Tribe, and Religious Variations.” (pdf file)

Caste in the diaspora

Excerpts from an essay titled The Persistence of Caste in India and the Diaspora by Moses Seenarine, published on his blog
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Although caste no longer function as important units in the former indentured colonies, it would be a mistake to say that caste is no longer important. The importance of Arya Samaj in the Caribbean attest to this fact.

…
In the indentured colonies, caste mobility was practiced by individuals or families through adopting sanskritized habits of a higher caste or varna within the system and not necessarily into a creolized noncaste world. However, a situation developed where claims of upper caste origins were viewed as dubious at best and outrightly fabricated in many instances. So, claims for upper caste status need to be qualified with actual knowledge of the Hindu scriptures, or accompanied by class advantages or political status.

As proof of this, claims for upper caste status by the middle class and upper class are taken more seriously than those made by members of the working class. Since, the number of jandi flags outside the house is co-related to caste status, with more flags translating to higher status, caste has become a consumer item which the middle and upper class can more easily afford. Over time, this process leads to class stratification, class endogamy, and the re-construction of caste among overseas Indians.

…

Permutations of Caste in the Diaspora
The Laws of Manu forbade the higher castes to reside outside the land of their birth, and this injuction is still observed by orthodox circles. This means that Brahmins cannot exist outside of India. Yet, in Guyana and the Caribbean, Indian national business families do not do socialize with the local Indian business elite, and do not see themselves as part of an Indian business community. For example, recently over 40 Indian businessmen in Georgetown met to address prolonged demonstrations in the capital, however not a single Indian national attended the meeting. Indian nationals almost always return to India to marry.

The Richmond Hill community in New York is the only community of its kind in the USA that has a concentration of several South Asian groups living together: Punjabi Sikhs, many of whom are followers the Guru Ravi Das, living alongside Indo-Caribbeans and Bangladeshis. This fast-growing South Asian enclave is a lower-class community, however there are also caste related issues operating here since both middle and lower class Indians and Pakistanis treat the majority of Bangladeshis, Indo-Caribbeans and lower-caste Sikhs in general either as “outcastes” or as somewhat “lesser Indians.”

As further evidence of this, South Asian women organizations in New York tend to be dominated by Indian and Pakistani women, and not surprisingly divided along issues of nationality, with Indians and Pakistanis on one side and Bangladeshis on the other. In these organizations, Bangladeshi and Indo-Caribbean women are never included in top leadership and decision making.

South Asian women groups do not even consider outreaching to Indo-Caribbean communities. The same is true for almost all South Asian groups, from the left to the right, from national to international based organizations. Of course, there has always been religious linkages, however it is always in the father/child mode and the child never grows up.
…

Read the full essay here

Moses Seenarine is part of the South Asian diaspora from the Caribbean. He has written a book titled Voices from the Subaltern: Education and Empowerment Among Rural Dalit (Untouchable) Women

Bhagwan Das: 1927-2010

- Vijay Prashad

First published on the INSAF site

Bhagwan Das (The historian of ‘his people’). His life was given over to the fight against caste and untouchability, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

During the monsoon season of 1991, I began my dissertation research in Delhi.

I always knew that the project was going to be hard: to write the history of the Balmiki community of North India. In graduate school at the University of Chicago I studied with Barney Cohn, who guided me deftly into the study of a “people without history”. Nothing about the Balmiki community was without history, but its absence in the archives made writing the history difficult. Unlike commercial communities whose archives resided in their transaction documents and unlike royal families whose archives slumbered in palaces and in war notes, the “untouchables” of India did not seem to have their own archives, and only rarely made an appearance in history books.

My work began in the National Archives of India, where my friend Prabhu Mohapatra led me into the Revenue papers. Here, in the margins, I found a lot of information on the Chuhra community of Punjab – the people whose hard labour made Punjab’s fields flower. I also went out to the various colonies where the Balmiki community lived: in the Bhangi colony on Mandir Marg and in the Old City, along its walls. One evening, near Kalan Masjid, a community elder handed me a slip of paper that had a name and a number written on it. He told me to call the number and go and see the man.

A few days later, I called the number and asked to speak to Bhagwan Das. In less than a minute a man came on the line. He spoke with what sounded vaguely like an American accent. Very courteously he asked me to see him a few days later. Bhagwan Das lived in a modest housing complex in Munirka. His unpretentious apartment was filled with books and magazines, all well read.

One of the first questions I asked him was about his accent. He laughed, a bit startled by my abruptness, and told me about his childhood near Shimla, in the Jutogh cantonment. English came to him not from the colonial overlords, but in the 1940s when he encountered U.S. airmen during his service on the Burma front during the Second World War. We chatted about the American troops, and he told me that he had befriended a few African-Americans among them. He was curious about racial discrimination and they were interested in his Dalit community (a U.S. air force report in the 1940s noted, “Native persons here are of a dark race and the Negro fails to respect their rights and privacy”; certainly the airmen that Bhagwan Das met did not respect his privacy, but they did honour his rights). These evenings in Bhagwan Das’ house were my apprenticeship.

Many scholars came through Bhagwan Das’ Munirka flat. He offered us his encyclopaedic knowledge and his kind wisdom. When I heard he had died on November 18, I was reminded of his calm intelligence and his kindness. Born in 1927 in the Jutogh cantonment, Bhagwan Das came of age in the shadow of B.R. Ambedkar, whom he met for the first time in 1943 in Shimla. Ambedkar drew him into the Scheduled Castes Federation and into working for him as a research assistant between 1955 and 1956. Finishing his law degree, Bhagwan Das went to work at the High Court. This was his job. His life was given over to the fight against untouchability and caste, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

Bhagwan Das helped found the World Conference of Religions for Peace (Kyoto, 1970), along with the remarkable American Gandhian, Homer Jack. In 1983, he spoke before the United Nations on the vice of untouchability. He pointed out that India has an enlightened Constitution, what many in his circle called “Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution”. Nevertheless, Bhagwan Das told the U.N., “Anything which the untouchables consider good for them is vehemently resisted and opposed. Whatever goes to make them weak, dispirited, disunited and dependent is encouraged.” It was a powerful presentation.

Bhagwan Das was also a leading figure in making sure that the Dalit issue was not seen only in its domestic context, but taken in an Asian and global framework. In 1998, he was central to the creation of the International Dalit Convention (Kuala Lumpur) and had a role in the Dalit presence at the World Conference Against Racism (Durban, 2001). I had presented a paper at the U.N. conference on Dalit oppression in the global context, a talk that greatly pleased him (it was later published in a volume in honour of Eleanor Zelliot, titled Claiming Power from Below, by Oxford University Press). At the time of his death, Bhagwan Das was working on a book on untouchability in Asia.

I went to see Bhagwan Das several times during the early 1990s. He had a remarkable memory: one day, in 1993 (as my notes tell me), he fired off a series of names of people I should meet: Kanhayya Lal, Bhagwan Din, Narain Din, Kalyan Chand, Shiv Charan, and so on. Each name came with a story. Bhagwan Das did not have to consult any paper or notes; he had their names and their biographies at his fingertips. It was exhilarating. What kind of idea was this that a “people have no history”!

Bhagwan Das was a living historian and his autobiography, Mein Bhangi Hoon (I am a Bhangi, 1976), provided a window into the life and lineage of one person who fought against the idea that he had no history. A part of his story is available from Navayana as In Pursuit of Ambedkar, 2010. I read his works eagerly. He also taught me how to create my archive. The state might have only put the Chuhra and the Balmiki into marginal notes; but the people were less dismissive of their own histories. In plastic bags, and wrapped in rope, under beds and in steel trunks, he said, there were documents galore; and indeed this was the case. The most precious papers that tell the history of the Balmiki community were not found in the National Archives but in the humble homes from northern Punjab to western Uttar Pradesh.

One day Bhagwan Das said to me, get out of Delhi. Go to Punjab. That is where the trick will be uncovered. He sent me to meet Lahori Ram Balley, the remarkable leader of Buddhist Publishing House at Phagwara Gate in Jalandhar. Lahori Ram told me the story of the Scheduled Caste Federation of Punjab and handed me an invaluable pamphlet by Fazul Hussain ( Achutuddhar aur Hindu asksariyat ke mansube, Lahore, 1930).

“IN PURSUIT OF Ambedkar” tells a part of Bhagwan Das’ story. The first volume of “Thus Spoke Ambedkar” was strongly criticised by the press, said Bhagwan Das. “We expected it and in fact welcomed the criticism,” he wrote in the second volume, “because we believe nobody kicks a dead dog.”

Lahori Ram had encouraged Bhagwan Das’ intellectual and political work. Both were followers of Ambedkar. In the 1960s, the two friends would publish a series of books of Ambedkar’s speeches, Thus Spoke Ambedkar (edited with superb) volume opened with a poem by Khalil Gibran, demonstrating the open-mindedness of these men. They were not bilious like those dominant caste intellectuals; nor were they prone to compromise. The first volume was strongly criticised by the press, Bhagwan Das recollected. “We expected it and in fact welcomed the criticism,” he wrote in the second volume, “because we believe nobody kicks a dead dog. All great ideas have to pass through three stages namely ridicule, discussion and finally acceptance.” They were at the first stage. The next was before them.

The generosity of Bhagwan Das and his friends never ceased to astonish me. Lahori Ram and Bhagwan Das also sent me off to meet the leaders of the Balmiki community in Jalandhar and Ludhiana, and later, in Shimla. The trick was here. I had not noticed it. They knew where they were leading me. It was the classic matter of the novice historian being led by the intellectual engagé.

Just outside Jalandhar, in a Balmiki-dominated village, I spent several nights. One went poorly. It was cold, and I was not keen on the bed. I went for a walk just before dawn. In the field I saw a light flickering, and went toward it. There I saw an old man lighting a set of lamps and placing them in a set of pigeon-holes. He was in what might have been a trance. I watched him, and then retreated. The next morning I asked him what he was doing. He told me about Bala Shah Nuri and Lal Beg, the preceptors of the Chuhras, the great faith of his people that had been obliterated in the 1930s. It was in this decade that the Chuhras had been force-marched into Hinduism and encouraged to forget their own religion and customs. This was the trick.

I went back to Delhi. Bhagwan Das knew I had found it out when I walked into his door (it must have been in March 1993). He handed me his book, Valmiki Jayanti aur Bhangi Jati, which laid out part of the story. Later, I found Amichand Pandit’s Valmiki Prakash (1936), which was a catechism for the Chuhras; and I found Youngson’s collection of Lalbeg songs in The Indian Antiquary (1906).

Bhagwan Das appreciated how we had together uncovered a forgotten story: how his community’s deep cultural traditions had been vanquished by the Hindu Mahasabha and conservative sections of the Congress – eager as they were to increase the numbers of “Hindus” against “Muslims”. It was a tragedy for the Chuhras, the Lalbegs, the Bala Shahis: they now became second-class Hindus. It is from this kind of reduction that human dignity shudders. It was also out of this history that Bhagwan Das followed Ambedkar to Buddhism; better a new religion that one loved than an enforced one that treated you as beneath contempt.

The generations before us loved poetry. It is something that we have lost to our own discredit. To make a point, and to do so in an unexpected way, they would often offer up a couplet or a line of poetry. It was very graceful. Bhagwan Das loved poetry. He particularly liked to talk with me about the verse of the Punjabi branch of the Balmiki community. It is from him that I grew to love the writings of Bhagmal ‘Pagal’, whom I would later meet in Jalandhar, and Gurudas ‘Alam’, whose poem from 1947 stays with me.

After one trip to Jalandhar, I brought back Alam’s Jo Mai Mar Gia (1975) for Bhagwan Das. We sat in the main room in his house, me drinking tea, and him reading out the poems. Here is Azaadi,

My friend, have you seen Freedom?

I’ve neither seen her nor eaten her.

I heard from Jaggu:

She has come as far as Ambala,

And there was a large crowd around her.

She was facing Birla with her back towards the common people.

In Jalandhar, I also met R.C. Sangal, the editor of Jago, Jagte Raho, from whom I got a stack of the papers. Bhagwan Das enjoyed the fact that the paper carried the verse of Baudh Sharan Hans and Alam (I also found Bodhdharam Patrika, another Ambedkarite newspaper that regularly carried poetry, including, from 1978, Alam’s great Chunav). The last time I met Bhagwan Das, we talked about poetry. I had thought to bring together some of these poets into a small volume. I was such a poor translator that I doubted my abilities. He was as encouraging as ever.

He called Ambedkar “an iconoclast and a revolutionary”. These words apply to Bhagwan Das himself, whose flat in Munirka was a stone’s throw from Jawaharlal Nehru University, but for me it was an intellectual haven like no other.

Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

Caste Discrimination in Britain

via the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance, UK

“The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) were commissioned by the government in early 2010 to carry out research into caste and caste discrimination in the UK. This has been completed and their results have been published in a Report on the GEO website. This report has found that caste discrimination is occurring in the UK and as such, it support and vindicates the research that ACDA carried out in 2009, when participants in the focus groups informed ACDA of the many instances of caste discrimination they had experienced. The then government had said that the ACDA examples were anecdotal but now that their own independent commissioned research has produced its own numerous examples, this government have had to accept that Caste Discrimination is occurring in the UK.

To download a copy of the NIESR Research Report click here to open the Report directly from the Government Equalities Office website. “

 

Excerpts from the report titled Caste discrimination and harassment in Great Britain by Hilary Metcalf and Heather Rolfe

National Institute of Economic and Social Research, December 2010

…
8.4. Public behaviour

Certain public behaviour was seen as offensive and harassing or stirring up caste discrimination. They all illustrate prejudice. Some may constitute harassment, although not as covered by the Act.

A number of the qualitative interviewees mentioned problems that they had in pubs. They reported other customers speaking loudly to laud their own caste (the cases reported were Jatt) or making derogatory remarks about low castes (using the words Chamar and Chura). The immediate problems with this reported by low caste respondents were, firstly, discomfort, offence and fear and, secondly, the development of arguments and violence, with either the respondent or others participating.

X was in a group in a pub. One of the group, a Jatt Sikh, started saying ‘bad things about untouchables’. The Jatt said that he knew X was a Christian and so probably an untouchable. This shocked X. (Case study 15)

X said the only other discrimination or harassment he had experienced was in pubs, with Jatt Sikhs taunting lower caste Indians or talking loudly about Jatts and Chamars. When this happens, his friends who are also Jatt Sikhs and he leave, to avoid trouble. (Case study 20)

…
8.5  Violence and criminal activity

Some of the incidents reported in the previous chapter, notably school bullying, and the incidents in pubs reported in this chapter resulted in violence. The qualitative interviews and the literature report violence and other criminal activity resulting from alleged caste discrimination and harassment. Whilst these alleged manifestations and consequences of caste prejudice fall outside the Act, they provide important contextual information about the nature, perceptions  and consequences of alleged caste prejudice, discrimination and harassment in Britain.

One of the women who had suffered perceived caste bullying at school reported that her locality was dominated by teenage gangs. For Asians, these were caste and religion-based and excluded low caste people. This made low caste teenagers more vulnerable. ACDA (2009) also said:

• ‘You get gangs in places like Southall and you get stabbings and it’s related directly to caste.’

One person in the qualitative interviews reported a burglary allegedly due to caste:

X set up her own radio station. It was criticised for promoting the Ravidassia community. She received telephone threats from, by their accent, Indians born in the UK. The radio station was burgled. Because of the threats and because nothing other than the radio station equipment was stolen, she believes this was to stop it broadcasting, i.e. that it was caste inspired. (Case study 6)

Obviously, if the purpose of this burglary was as alleged, it is unclear whether it was caste or religion inspired.
The issue of the police taking action was raised by a number of respondents. For example, one said:

X believed that, while the majority of fights within the Asian community involve caste, when people go to the police they don’t understand it, and don’t know that ‘Chamar’ is perceived as an insult and is inflammatory. (Case study 12)

Other reports of violence were related to inter-caste marriages and relationships, resulting in the low caste man being beaten up  (Chahal, undated;  Meeting on Caste and the Equality Bill – Committee Room 4a, HOL, 4th February 2010). At the extreme, pro-caste legislation organisations claim that  the majority of so-called honour killings related to hatred caused by the caste system (discussions with pro-caste legislation organisations; Meeting on Caste and the Equality Bill – Committee Room 4a, House of Lords, 4th February 2010 Minutes).

…