PRICE OF BEING DALIT IN INDIA!

• (Relevant For Sociology Syllabus: Paper 1- Stratification And Mobility & Paper 2- Caste System)
•   (Relevant For GS Syllabus: Paper1- Poverty And Developmental Issues)

• First of all let me be very clear that I do not support caste-based society further I have become of the opinion, especially after reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, that all human sapiens are identical there may be some difference here and there!!
• Whatever has happened in Hathras, UP, is it the first time or last time? We must ask this question to ourselves because as a constitutional democracy which confers equal rights upon its citizens, are we really a civilized society?
• Hathras incident once again has fired the old debate of Caste. I aware and personally know some people who genuinely do not believe in the caste moreover are atheist but I’m also friendly with the people who have ‘Garv’ of the caste they have born into.
• Fair enough, everyone has the freedom to leave his/her life according to his or her thinking! The problem here is who has decided this caste system? Moreover, why one must follow it? Yes, it is discriminatory, no doubt, additionally, it is decided by the birth if one born into the so-called upper caste then he gets all the privileges and perks of his caste and if one born into a so-called lower caste, he must silently bear the maltreatment, without raising his/her voice, why?
• Therefore, when the Bhabhi of Hathras victim says that “we are Dalits and that’s our sin…” which overtly reflects her disappointment and helplessness that now as born into a Dalit family she must bear everything that too silently, that’s the price of being Dalit in India, isn’t it?
• It is not only the feelings of bhabhi of Hathras’s victim but if you ask every oppressed person would say the same thing, a Muslim might also say the same thing, because Dalits and Muslims are the most discriminated communities in our country, if you are aware of the current affairs you won’t disagree with me, I am sure of that!
• Back to the square one, how long are we going to believe in this so-called caste system? Importantly why a person who has born into a so-called lower caste he must bear the humiliation? Are we paying him for the humiliation? We all know how they are ridiculed: category people, Sarkar ke Jamai, people without merit and what not!
• Sometimes I just wonder how these so-called ‘formerly untouchables’ have survived for years? Today at least some people can stand by them but imagine for hundreds of years how many Hathras had happened without any punishment? Shockingly some people do not believe that there was untouchability in our country and shamelessly demands evidence! To give them equality what we have done we have given them reservation and that’s it.
• But we have not accepted them as a part of our society, for us, they are still untouchables! This is the land of Buddha, Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar we say it very boastfully but we rarely walk on the path shown by them.
• In every government offices there are photographs of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar they function as a constant reminder of their ideas but everything else we have made them very symbolic, aren’t we? Importantly we must seriously ponder upon that how long a section of our society would bear all the humiliation thrown at them? What if they reacted? There would be total anarchy and chaos, we must think of these consequences for the harmonious society.