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

…

“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

…

“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

…

“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

…

“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.

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*

…

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.

Drawing caste

These are pictures taken at an art show organised by Save the Children at Gulmohar Park, Ahmedabad, on Children’s Day in 2010. Children have portrayed the various forms of discrimination they see and face in these drawings.

The description is a set of questions that follow after this 13-year-old artist says how ashamed he feels when he is made to sit separately during the mid-day meal. "What if I was not a a dalit?"

This drawing is by a 15-year-old child labourer who picks cotton. It shows a Patel family inside the temple, while the Solanki family is standing far away.

The Patels have bigger and sturdier houses, while the Solankis have smaller ones. The well is full of water but out of reach for the Solanki community, whose women go far away to fetch water

These pictures are from vmallya’s Flickr photostream.