2015-16

Indian Society

T he family, caste, tribe and the market these are the social institutions that
have been considered in the last two chapters. In Chapters 3 and 4, these
institutions were seen from the point of view of their role in forming communities
and sustaining society. In this chapter we consider an equally important aspect
of such institutions, namely their role in creating and sustaining patterns of
inequality and exclusion.

For most of us who are born and live in India, social inequality and exclusion
are facts of life. We see beggars in the streets and on railway platforms. We see
young children labouring as domestic workers, construction helpers, cleaners
and helpers in streetside restaurants (dhabas) and tea-shops. We are not
surprised at the sight of small children, who work as domestic workers in middle
class urban homes, carrying the school bags of older children to school. It does
not immediately strike us as unjust that some children are denied schooling.
Some of us read about caste discrimination against children in schools; some
of us face it. Likewise, news reports about violence against women and prejudice
against minority groups and the differently abled are part of our everyday lives.
This everydayness of social inequality and exclusion often make them appear
inevitable, almost natural. If we do sometimes recognise that inequality and
exclusion are not inevitable, we often think of them as being deserved or justified
in some sense. Perhaps the poor and marginalised are where they are because
they are lacking in ability, or havent tried hard enough to improve their situation?
We thus tend to blame them for their own plight if only they worked harder or
were more intelligent, they wouldnt be where they are.
A closer examination will show that few work harder than those who are
located at the lower ranks of society. As a South American proverb says If
hard labour were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for
themselves! All over the world, back-breaking work like stone breaking, digging,
carrying heavy weights, pulling rickshaws or carts is invariably done by the
poor. And yet they rarely improve their life chances. How often do we come
across a poor construction worker who rises to become even a petty construction
contractor? It is only in films that a street child may become an industrialist,
but even in films it is often shown that such a dramatic rise requires illegal or
unscrupulous methods.

ACTIVITY 5.1

82

Identify some of the richest and some of the poorest people in your
neigbourhood, people that you or your family are acquainted with. (For
instance a rickshawpuller or a porter or a domestic worker and a cinema
hall owner or a construction contractor or hotel owner, or doctor It could
be something else in your context). Try to talk to one person from each group

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

to find out about their daily routines. For each person, organise the
information in the form of an imaginary diary detailing the activities of the
person from the time they get up to the time they go to sleep on a typical
(or average) working day. Based on these diaries, try to answer the following
questions and discuss them with your classmates.
How many hours a day do each of these persons spend at work? What
kind of work do they do in what ways is their work tiring, stressful,
pleasant or unpleasant? What kinds of relationship does it involve with
other people do they have to take orders, give orders, seek
cooperation, enforce discipline.? Are they treated with respect by
the people they have to deal with in their work, or do they themselves
have to show respect for others?
It may be that the poorest, and in some cases even the richest, person you
know actually has no real job or is currently not working. If this is so, do go
ahead and find out about their daily routine anyway. But in addition, try to
answer the following questions.
Why is the person unemployed? Has he/she been looking for work?
How is he/she supporting herself/himself? In what ways are they affected
by the fact of not having any work? Is their lifestyle any different from
when they were working?

Activity 5.1 invites you to rethink the widely held commonsense view that
hard work alone can improve an individuals life chances. It is true that hard
work matters, and so does individual ability. If all other things were equal, then
personal effort, talent and luck would surely account for all the differences
between individuals. But, as is almost always the case, all other things are not
equal. It is these non-individual or group differences that explain social
inequality and exclusion.

5.1 WHAT I S SOCIAL A BOUT SOCIAL

INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION?
The question being asked in this section has three broad answers which may
be stated briefly as follows. First, social inequality and exclusion are social
because they are not about individuals but about groups. Second, they are
social in the sense that they are not economic, although there is usually a
strong link between social and economic inequality. Third, they are systematic
and structured there is a definite pattern to social inqualities. These three
broad senses of the social will be explored briefly below.

SOCIAL INEQUALITY

83

In every society, some people have a greater share of valued resources money,
property, education, health, and power than others. These social resources

2015-16

Indian Society

can be divided into three forms of capital economic capital in the form of material
assets and income; cultural capital such as educational qualifications and status;
and social capital in the form of networks of contacts and social associations
(Bourdieu 1986). Often, these three forms of capital overlap and one can be
converted into the other. For example, a person from a well-off family (economic
capital) can afford expensive higher education, and so can acquire cultural or
educational capital. Someone with influential relatives and friends (social capital)
may through access to good advice, recommendations or information manage
to get a well-paid job.
Patterns of unequal access to social resources are commonly called social
inequality. Some social inequality reflects innate differences between individuals
for example, their varying abilities and efforts. Someone may be endowed with
exceptional intelligence or talent, or may have worked very hard to achieve
their wealth and status. However, by and large, social inequality is not the
outcome of innate or natural differences between people, but is produced by
the society in which they live. Sociologists use the term social stratification to
refer to a system by which categories of people in a society are ranked in a
hierarchy. This hierarchy then shapes peoples identity and experiences, their
relations with others, as well as their access to resources and opportunities.
Three key principles help explain social stratification:
1. Social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a function of
individual differences. Social stratification is a society-wide system that
unequally distributes social resources among categories of people. In the
most technologically primitive societies hunting and gathering societies,
for instance little was produced so only rudimentary social stratification
could exist. In more technologically advanced societies where people produce
a surplus over and above their basic needs, however, social resources are
unequally distributed to various social categories regardless of peoples innate
individual abilities.
2. Social stratification persists over generations. It is closely linked to the
family and to the inheritance of social resources from one generation to
the next. A persons social position is ascribed. That is, children assume
the social positions of their parents. Within the caste system, birth dictates
occupational opportunities. A Dalit is likely to be confined to traditional
occupations such as agricultural labour, scavenging, or leather work,
with little chance of being able to get high-paying white-collar or
professional work. The ascribed aspect of social inequality is reinforced
by the practice of endogamy. That is, marriage is usually restricted to
members of the same caste, ruling out the potential for blurring caste
lines through inter -marriage.

84

3. Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief, or ideology. No system

of social stratification is likely to persist over generations unless it is widely
viewed as being either fair or inevitable. The caste system, for example, is

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

justified in terms of the opposition of purity and pollution, with the Brahmins
designated as the most superior and Dalits as the most inferior by virtue of
their birth and occupation. Not everyone, though, thinks of a system of
inequality as legitimate. Typically, people with the greatest social privileges
express the strongest support for systems of stratification such as caste
and race. Those who have experienced the exploitation and humiliation of
being at the bottom of the hierarchy are most likely to challenge it.
Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they pertain
to differential economic resources alone. This however is only partially true.
People often face discrimination and exclusion because of their gender, religion,
ethnicity, language, caste and disability. Thus women from a privileged
background may face sexual harassment in public places. A middle class
professional from a minority religious or ethnic group may find it difficult to get
accommodation in a middle class colony even in a metropolitan city. People
often harbour prejudices about other social groups. Each of us grows up as a
member of a community from which we acquire ideas not just about our
community, our caste or class our gender but also about others. Often
these ideas reflect prejudices.
Prejudices refer to pre-conceived opinions or attitudes held by members of
one group towards another. The word literally means pre-judgement, that is,
an opinion formed in advance of any familiarity with the subject, before
considering any available evidence. A prejudiced persons preconceived views
are often based on hearsay rather than on direct evidence, and are resistant to
change even in the face of new information. Prejudice may be either positive or
negative. Although the word is generally used for negative pre-judgements, it
can also apply to favourable pre-judgement. For example, a person may be
prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste or group and without
any evidence believe them to be superior to members of other castes or groups.
Prejudices are often grounded in stereotypes, fixed and inflexible
characterisations of a group of people. Stereotypes are often applied to ethnic
and racial groups and to women. In a country such as India, which was colonised
for a long time, many of these stereotypes are partly colonial creations. Some
communities were characterised as martial races, some others as effeminate
or cowardly, yet others as untrustworthy. In both English and Indian fictional
writings we often encounter an entire group of people classified as lazy or
cunning. It may indeed be true that some individuals are sometimes lazy or
cunning, brave or cowardly. But such a general statement is true of individuals
in every group. Even for such individuals, it is not true all the time the same
individual may be both lazy and hardworking at different times. Stereotypes
fix whole groups into single, homogenous categories; they refuse to recognise
the variation across individuals and across contexts or across time. They treat
an entire community as though it were a single person with a single
all-encompassing trait or characteristic.

85

2015-16

Indian Society

ACTIVITY 5.2
Collect examples of prejudiced behaviour

from films or novels.

Discuss the examples you and your
classmates have gathered. How are
prejudices reflected in the manner a social
group is depicted? How do we decide
whether a certain kind of portrayal is
prejudiced or not?
Can you distinguish between instances of
prejudice that were intentional i.e., the film
maker or writer wanted to show it as
prejudiced and unintentional or
unconscious prejudice?

If prejudice describes attitudes and

opinions, discrimination refers to actual
behaviour towards another group or
individual. Discrimination can be seen in
practices that disqualify members of one
group from opportunities open to others,
as when a person is refused a job because
of their gender or religion. Discrimination
can be very hard to prove because it may
not be open or explicitly stated.
Discriminatory behaviour or practices
may be presented as motivated by other,
more justifiable, reasons rather than
prejudice. For example, the person who
is refused a job because of their caste may
be told that they were less qualified than
others, and that the selection was done
purely on merit.

SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Social exclusion refers to ways in which individuals may become cut off from
full involvement in the wider society. It focuses attention on a broad range of
factors that prevent individuals or groups from having opportunities open to
the majority of the population. In order to live a full and active life, individuals
must not only be able to feed, clothe and house themselves, but should also
have access to essential goods and services such as education, health,
transportation, insurance, social security, banking and even access to the police
or judiciary. Social exclusion is not accidental but systematic it is the result
of structural features of society.
It is important to note that social exclusion is involuntary that is, exclusion
is practiced regardless of the wishes of those who are excluded. For example,
rich people are never found sleeping on the pavements or under bridges like
thousands of homeless poor people in cities and towns. This does not mean that
the rich are being excluded from access to pavements and park benches, because
they could certainly gain access if they wanted to, but they choose not to. Social
exclusion is sometimes wrongly justified by the same logic it is said that the
excluded group itself does not wish to participate. The truth of such an argument
is not obvious when exclusion is preventing access to something desirable (as
different from something clearly undesirable, like sleeping on the pavement).

86

Prolonged experience of discriminatory or insulting behaviour often produces

a reaction on the part of the excluded who then stop trying for inclusion. For
example, upper caste Hindu communities have often denied entry into temples
for the lower castes and specially the Dalits. After decades of such treatment,
the Dalits may build their own temple, or convert to another religion like

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

Buddhism, Christianity or Islam. After they do this, they may no longer desire
to be included in the Hindu temple or religious events. But this does not mean
that social exclusion is not being practiced. The point is that the exclusion
occurs regardless of the wishes of the excluded.
India like most societies has been marked by acute practices of social
discrimination and exclusion. At different periods of history protest movements
arose against caste, gender and religious discrimination. Yet prejudices remain
and often, new ones emerge. Thus legislation alone is unable to transform
society or produce lasting social change. A constant social campaign to change
awareness and sensitivity is required to break them.
You have already read about the impact of colonialism on Indian society. What
discrimination and exclusion mean was brought home to even the most privileged
Indians at the hands of the British colonial state. Such experiences were, of course,
common to the various socially discriminated groups such as women, dalits and
other oppressed castes and tribes. Faced with the humiliation of colonial rule and
simultaneously exposed to ideas of democracy and justice, many Indians initiated
and participated in a large number of social reform movements.
In this chapter we focus on four such groups who have suffered from serious
social inequality and exclusion, namely Dalits or the ex-untouchable castes;
adivasis or communities refered to as tribal; women, and the differently abled.
We attempt to look at each of their stories of struggles and achievements in the
following sections.

5.2 CASTE AND TRIBE SYSTEMS JUSTIFYING AND

PERPETUATING INEQUALITY
THE C ASTE SYSTEM

AS A

DISCRIMINATORY SYSTEM

The caste system is a distinct Indian social institution that legitimises and
enforces practices of discrimination against people born into particular castes.
These practices of discrimination are humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative.
Historically, the caste system classified people by their occupation and status.
Every caste was associated with an occupation, which meant that persons
born into a particular caste were also born into the occupation associated
with their caste they had no choice. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly,
each caste also had a specific place in the hierarchy of social status, so that,
roughly speaking, not only were occupational categories ranked by social status,
but there could be a further ranking within each broad occupational category.
In strict scriptural terms, social and economic status were supposed to be
sharply separated. For example, the ritually highest caste the Brahmins
were not supposed to amass wealth, and were subordinated to the secular
power of kings and rulers belonging to the Kshatriya castes. On the other

87

2015-16

Indian Society

hand, despite having the highest secular status and power, the king was
subordinated to the Brahmin in the ritual-religious sphere. (Compare this to
the apartheid system described in Box 5.1)
However, in actual historical practice economic and social status tended to
coincide. There was thus a fairly close correlation between social (i.e. caste)
status and economic status the high castes were almost invariably of high
economic status, while the low castes were almost always of low economic
status. In modern times, and particularly since the nineteenth century, the
link between caste and occupation has become much less rigid. Ritual-religious
prohibitions on occupational change are not easily imposed today, and it is
easier than before to change ones occupation. Moreover, compared to a hundred
or fifty years ago, the correlation between caste and economic status is also
weaker rich and poor people are to be found in every caste. But and this is
the key point the caste-class correlation is still remarkably stable at the macro
level. As the system has become less rigid, the distinctions between castes of
broadly similar social and economic status have weakened. Yet, between different
socio-economic groupings, the distinctions continue to be maintained.
Although things have certainly changed, they have not changed much at
the macro level it is still true that the privileged (and high economic status)
sections of society tend to be overwhelmingly upper caste while the
disadvantaged (and low economic status) sections are dominated by the so
called lower castes. Moreover, the proportion of population that lives in poverty
or affluence differs greatly across caste groups. (See Tables 1 and 2) In short,
even though there have been major changes brought about by social movements
over more than a century, and despite changed modes of production as well as
concerted attempts by the state to suppress its public role in independent India,
caste continues to affect the life chances of Indians in the twenty-first century.

Race and Caste A Cross-Cultural Comparison

88

BOX 5.1

Just like caste in India, race in South Africa stratifies society into a hierarchy.
About one South African in seven is of European ancestry, yet South Africas
White minority holds the dominant share of power and wealth. Dutch traders settled
in South Africa in the mid-seventeenth century; early in the nineteenth century, their
descendants were pushed inland by British colonisation. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, the British gained control of what became the Union and then the
Republic of South Africa.
To ensure their political control, the White European minority developed the policy of
apartheid , or separation of the races. An informal practice for many years, apartheid
became law in 1948 and was used to deny the Black majority South African citizenship,
ownership of land, and a formal voice in government. Every individual was classified
by race and mixed marriages were prohibited. As a racial caste, Blacks held lowpaying jobs; on average, they earned only one-fourth what whites did. In the latter
half of the twentieth century, millions of Blacks were forcibly relocated to Bantustans
or homelands dirt-poor districts with no infrastructure or industry or jobs. All the

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

homelands together constituted only 14 per cent of South Africas land, while Blacks
made up close to 80 per cent of the countrys population. The resulting starvation
and suffering was intense and widespread. In short, in a land with extensive natural
resources, including diamonds and precious minerals, the majority of people lived in
abject poverty.
The prosperous White minority defended its privileges by viewing Blacks as social inferiors.
However, they also relied on a powerful system of military repression to maintain their
power. Black protestors were routinely jailed, tortured and killed. Despite this reign of
terror, Blacks collectively struggled for decades under the leadership of the African
National Congress and Nelson Mandela, and finally succeeded in coming to power
and forming the government in 1994. Although the Constitution of post-apartheid
South Africa has banned racial discrimination, economic capital still remains
concentrated in White hands. Empowering the Black majority represents a continuing
challenge for the new society.
I have fought against White domination and I have fought against Black domination.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live
together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for
and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Nelson Mandela, 20 April 1964, Rivonia T rial.

TABLE 1: PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION LIVING BELOW

THE POVERTY LINE, 1999-2000
CASTE AND
COMMUNITY
GROUPS

RURAL INDIA

URBAN INDIA

Spending Rs.327 or less

per person per month

Spending Rs.454 or less

per person per month

Scheduled Tribes

45.8

35.6

Scheduled Castes

35.9

38.3

OBCs

27.0

29.5

UC-Muslim

26.8

34.2

UC-Hindu

11.7

9.9

UC-Christian

9.6

5.4

UC-Sikh

0.0

4.9

UC-Others

16.0

2.7

ALL GROUPS

27.0

23.4

Note: OBC = Other Backward Classes; UC = Upper Castes, i.e., not SC/ST/OBC

89

Source: Computed from NSSO 55 th Round (1999-2000) unit-level data on CD

2015-16

Indian Society

TABLE 2: PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION THAT IS

AFFLUENT, 1999-2000
RURAL INDIA

URBAN INDIA

CASTE AND
COMMUNITY
GROUPS

Spending Rs.1000 or more

per person per month

Scheduled Tribes

1.4

1.8

Scheduled Castes

1.7

0.8

OBCs

3.3

2.0

UC-Muslim

2.0

1.6

UC-Hindu

8.6

8.2

UC-Christian

18.9

17.0

UC-Sikh

31.7

15.1

UC-Others

17.9

14.4

4.3

4.5

ALL GROUPS

Spending Rs. 2000 or more

per person per month

Note: OBC = Other Backward Classes; UC = Upper Castes, i.e., not SC/ST/OBC
Source: Computed from NSSO 55 th Round (1999-2000) unit-level data on CD

E XERCISE FOR TABLES 1 AND 2

90

Table 1 shows the percentage of the population of each caste/

community that lives below the official Poverty Line for 1999-2000.
There are separate columns for rural and urban India.
Table 2 is organised in exactly the same way except that it shows
the percentage of population living in affluence rather than in
poverty. Affluence is here defined as a monthly per person
expenditure of Rs.1000 for rural India and Rs.2000 for urban India.
This is equivalent to a family of five spending Rs.5000 per month in
rural India and Rs.10,000 per month in urban India. Please take some
time to study the tables carefully before you answer the questions
below.
1. What is the percentage of the Indian population that was
living below the poverty line in (a) Rural India and (b) Urban
India?
2. Which caste/community group has the highest proportion of its
members living in extreme poverty in a) rural and b) urban India?
Which caste/community has the lowest percentage of population
living in poverty?

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

3. Approximately how many times higher than the national

average is the poverty percentage for each of the lower castes
(ST, SC, OBC)? Is there a significant rural-urban difference?
4. Which caste/community has the lowest percentage of population
living in affluence in rural and urban India respectively? How does
this compare with the national average?
5. The affluent population of Upper caste Hindus is roughly how
many times larger than the percentage for the lower castes (ST,
SC, OBC)?
6. What do these tables tell you about the relative position of the
OBCs? Is there a significant rural-urban difference?

UNTOUCHABILITY
Untouchability is an extreme and particularly vicious aspect of the caste system
that prescribes stringent social sanctions against members of castes located at
the bottom of the purity-pollution scale. Strictly speaking, the untouchable
castes are outside the caste hierarchy they are considered to be so impure
that their mere touch severely pollutes members of all other castes, bringing
terrible punishment for the former and forcing the latter to perform elaborate
purification rituals. In fact, notions of distance pollution existed in many regions
of India (particularly in the south) such that even the mere presence or the
shadow of an untouchable person is considered polluting. Despite the limited
literal meaning of the word, the institution of untouchability refers not just to
the avoidance or prohibition of physical contact but to a much broader set of
social sanctions.
It is important to emphasise that the three main dimensions of untouchability
namely, exclusion, humiliation-subordination and exploitation are all equally
important in defining the phenomenon. Although other (i.e., touchable) low
castes are also subjected to subordination and exploitation to some degree,
they do not suffer the extreme forms of exclusion reserved for untouchables.
Dalits experience forms of exclusion that are unique and not practised against
other groups for instance, being prohibited from sharing drinking water sources
or participating in collective religious worship, social ceremonies and festivals.
At the same time, untouchability may also involve forced inclusion in a
subordinated role, such as being compelled to play the drums at a religious
event. The performance of publicly visible acts of (self-)humiliation and
subordination is an important part of the practice of untouchability. Common
instances include the imposition of gestures of deference (such as taking off
headgear, carrying footwear in the hand, standing with bowed head, not wearing
clean or bright clothes, and so on) as well as routinised abuse and humiliation.
Moreover, untouchability is almost always associated with economic exploitation
of various kinds, most commonly through the imposition of forced, unpaid (or

91

2015-16

Indian Society

92

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

under-paid) labour, or the confiscation of property. Finally, untouchability is a

pan-Indian phenomenon, although its specific forms and intensity vary
considerably across regions and socio-historical contexts.

BOX
Among the estimated 8 million manual scavengers in India is Narayanamma,
who work in a 400 seat public latrine in Anantpur municipality in Andhra Pradesh.
From time to time, after the women using the toilet file out, Narayanamma and her
fellow workers are called inside. There is no flush. The excrement only piles up at each
seat, or flows into open drains. It is Narayanammas job to collect it with her broom
onto a flat, tin plate, and pile it into her basket. When the basket is filled, she carries it
on her head to a waiting tractor-trolley parked at a distance of half a kilometre. And
then she is back, waiting for the next call from the toilet. This goes on until about ten in
the morning, when at last Narayanamma washes up, and returns home.
Ai, municipality come, clean this, is how most people call out to Narayanamma
and her fellow workers when they walk down the road.
It is as though we do not have a name, she says. And often they cover their noses
when we walk past, as though we smell. We have to wait until someone turns on a
municipal tap, or works a hand-pump, when we fill water, so that these are not polluted
by our touch. In the tea-stalls, we do not sit with others on the benches; we squat on
the ground separately. Until recently, there were separate broken teacups for us,
which we washed ourselves and these were kept apart only for our use. This continues
to be the practice in villages even in the periphery of Anantpur, as in many parts of
the state.
The Everyday Ordeal of a Dalit Scavenger

5.2

Source: Adapted from Mander 2001: 38-39.

The so-called untouchables have been referred to collectively by many names

over the centuries. Whatever the specific etymology of these names, they are all
derogatory and carry a strongly pejorative charge. In fact, many of them continue
to be used as forms of abuse even today, although their use is now a criminal
offence. Mahatma Gandhi had popularised the term Harijan (literally, children
of God) in the 1930s to counter the pejorative charge carried by caste names.
However, the ex-untouchable communities and their leaders have coined
another term, Dalit, which is now the generally accepted term for referring to
these groups. In Indian languages, the term Dalit literally means downtrodden
and conveys the sense of an oppressed people. Though it was neither coined by
Dr. Ambedkar nor frequently used by him, the term certainly resonates with
his philosophy and the movement for empowerment that he led. It received
wide currency during the caste riots in Mumbai in the early 1970s. The Dalit
Panthers, a radical group that emerged in western India during that time, used
the term to assert their identity as part of their struggle for rights and dignity.

93

2015-16

Indian Society

STATE AND NON-STATE INITIATIVES ADDRESSING C ASTE AND TRIBE

DISCRIMINATION
The Indian state has had special programmes for the Scheduled Tribes and
Scheduled Castes since even before Independence. The Schedules listing the
castes and tribes recognised as deserving of special treatment because of the
massive discrimination practiced against them were drawn up in 1935, by the
British Indian government. After Independence, the same policies have been
continued and many new ones added. Among the most significant additions is
the extension of special programmes to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs)
since the early 1990s.
The most important state initiative attempting to compensate for past and
present caste discrimination is the one popularly known as reservations. This
involves the setting aside of some places or seats for members of the Scheduled
Castes and Tribes in different spheres of public life. These include reservation of
seats in the State and Central legislatures (i.e., state assemblies, Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha); reservation of jobs in government service across all departments
and public sector companies; and reservation of seats in educational institutions.
The proportion of reserved seats is equal to the percentage share of the Scheduled
Castes and Tribes in the total population. But for the OBCs this proportion is
decided differently. The same principle is extended to other developmental
programmes of the government, some of which are exclusively for the Scheduled
Castes or Tribes, while others give them preference.

94

In addition to reservations, there have been a number of laws passed to

end, prohibit and punish caste discrimination, specially untouchability. One
of the earliest such laws was the Caste Disabilities Removal Act of 1850,
which disallowed the curtailment of rights of citizens due solely to change of
religion or caste. The most recent such law was the Constitution Amendment
(Ninety Third Amendment) Act of 2005, which became law on 23rd January
2006. Coincidentally, both the 1850 law and the 2006 amendment related to
education. The 93rd Amendment is for introducing reservation for the Other
Backward Classes in institutions of higher education, while the 1850 Act was
used to allow entry of Dalits to government schools. In between, there have
been numerous laws, of which the important ones are, of course, the
Constitution of India itself, passed in 1950; and the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. The Constitution
abolished untouchability (Article 17) and introduced the reservation provisions
mentioned above. The 1989 Prevention of Atrocities Act revised and strenthened
the legal provisions punishing acts of violence or humiliation against Dalits
and adivasis. The fact that legislation was passed repeatedly on this subject
is proof of the fact that the law alone cannot end a social practice. In fact, as
you will have seen from newspapers and the media, cases of discrimination
including atrocities against Dalits and adivasis, continue to take place all
over India today. The particular case mentioned in Box 5.3 is only

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

one example; you can find numerous others in the

newspapers and media.
State action alone cannot ensure social change. In any
case, no social group howsoever weak or oppressed is only a
victim. Human beings are always capable of organising and
acting on their own often against very heavy odds to
struggle for justice and dignity. Dalits too have been
increasingly active on the political, agitational, and cultural
fronts. From the pre-Independence struggles and
movements launched by people like Jyotiba Phule,
Iyotheedas, Periyar, Ambedkar and others (See Chapter 3) to
contemporary political organisations like the Bahujan Samaj
Party in Uttar Pradesh or the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti of
Karnataka, Dalit political assertion has come a long way.
(For an example of a contemporary struggle, see Box 5.3)
Dalits have also made significant contributions to literature
in several Indian languages, specially Marathi, Kannada,
Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. (See Box 5.4 which features a
short poem by the well known Marathi Dalit poet, Daya
Pawar.)

ACTIVITY 5.3
Obtain a copy of the
Constitution of India. You
can get it from your school
library, from a bookshop, or
from the Internet
(web address: http://
indiacode.nic.in/).
Find and list all the articles
and sections (laws) that
deal with the Scheduled
Castes and Tribes, or with
caste-related problems like
Untouchability. You can
make a chart of the most
important laws and put
them up in your class.

BOX 5.3
Gohana is a small, dusty town on the Sonepat-Rohtak highway of Haryana
with billboards promising progress Past the town square, Gohanas largest
dalit neighbourhood, Valmiki Colony, has risen from the ashes. On 31 August 2005, it was
looted and burnt by a mob of Jats after a Jat youth was killed in a scuffle with some
dalit youngsters. Dalits had fled their homes fearing attacks by Jats after the murder;
the patrolling police had chosen not to stop the mobs from torching 54 dalit houses.
The arson was the Jats way of teaching the dalits a lesson, said Vinod Kumar, whose
house was burnt. The police, administration and the government are dominated by
Jats; they simply watched our houses burn.
Five months later, the burnt houses have been rebuilt, their facades painted in bright
pink, red and green. Marble tiles with bright pictures of Valmiki adorn the facades of
every house, asserting the dalit identity of the residents. We had to return. It is our
home, said Kumar, sitting on a newly acquired sofa in the drawing room of his house
painted blue.
Kumar embodies the spirit of the dalits of Gohana. In his early 30s, he is not the scavenger
the caste society ordered him to be, but a senior assistant in an insurance company.
Most dalits have embraced education and stepped across the line of control of the
caste system. There are many of us who have a masters degree and work in private
and government jobs. Most of our boys go to school and so do the girls, he said. []
The young men of the Valmiki Colony are not the stereotyped, submissive,
suffering dalits that one would traditionally expect to encounter. Dressed in
95
imitation Nike shoes and Wrangler jeans, their body language is defiant. However,
the journey of upward social mobility remains tough for the vast majority of
D for Dalit, D for Defiance

2015-16

Indian Society

landless dalits in Haryana. Most boys drop out after high school because of acute
poverty, said Sudesh Kataria, an assistant engineer working for a multinational. He
has a diploma in electrical engineering from the Industrial Training Institute, Gurgaon.
Katarias best friend at ITI, a Jat, once invited him to a family wedding but insisted that
he shouldnt reveal his identity. At the wedding a guest asked me about my caste
and I lied. Then he asked me about my village and I told him the truth. He knew my
village was a dalit village. A fight broke out between the hosts and the guests how
can they let a dalit in? They washed the chair I sat on and threw me out, Kataria
recalls.
Kataria wants a new life for the dalits he campaigns throughout the villages of Gurgaon
with other educated dalits. Our people will rise, stronger and powerful. We need to unite.
And once we unite and fight back, there will be no Gohanas or Jhajjars. Not any more.
(Source: Adapted from an article by Basharat Peer, in Tehelka February 18, 2006)

The City
by Daya Pawar

BOX 5.4

THE OTHER B ACKWARD CLASSES

Untouchability was the most visible and

comprehensive form of social
One day someone digs up a twentieth century city
discrimination. However, there were a
and ends on this observation.
large group of castes that were of low
Heres an interesting inscription:
status and were also subjected to
This water tap is open to all castes and religions.
varying levels of discrimination short of
What could it have meant:
untouchability. These were the service
That this society was divided?
and artisanal castes who occupied the
That some were high while others were low?
lower rungs of the caste hierarchy. The
Well, all right, then this city deserved burying
Constitution of India recognises the
Why did they call it the machine age?
possibility that there may be groups
Seems like the Stone Age in the twentieth century.
other than the Scheduled Tribes and
Scheduled Castes who suffer from social
disadvantages. These groups which
need not be based on caste alone, but generally are identified by caste were
described as the socially and educationally backward classes. This is the
constitutional basis of the popular term Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which
is in common use today.

96

Like the category of the tribe (see Chapter 3), the OBCs are defined negatively,
by what they are not. They are neither part of the forward castes at the upper
end of the status spectrum, nor of the Dalits at the lower end. But since caste
has entered all the major Indian religions and is not confined to Hinduism
alone, there are also members of other religions who belong to the backward
castes and share the same traditional occupational identification and similar
or worse socio-economic status.

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

For these reasons, the OBCs are a much more diverse group than the Dalits
or adivasis. The first government of independent India under Jawaharlal Nehru
appointed a commission to look into measures for the welfare of the OBCs. The
First Backward Classes Commission headed by Kaka Kalelkar submitted its
report in 1953. But the political climate at the time led to the report being
sidelined. From the mid-fifties, the OBC issue became a regional affair pursued
at the state rather than the central level.
The southern states had a long history of backward caste political agitation
that had started in the early twentieth century. Because of these powerful
social movements, policies to address the problems of the OBCs were in place
long before they were discussed in most northern states. The OBC issue returned
to the central level in the late 1970s after the Emergency when the Janata Party
came to power. The Second Backward Classes Commission headed by
B.P. Mandal was appointed at this time. However, it was only in 1990, when
the central government decided to implement the ten-year old Mandal
Commission report, that the OBC issue became a major one in national politics.
Since the 1990s we have seen the resurgence of lower caste movements in
north India, among both the OBCs and Dalits. The politicisation of the OBCs
allows them to convert their large numbers recent surveys show that they are
about 41% of the national population into political influence. This was not
possible at the national level before, as shown by the sidelining of the Kalelkar
Commission report, and the neglect of the Mandal Commission report.
The large disparities between the upper OBCs (who are largely landed castes
and enjoy dominance in rural society in many regions of India) and the lower
OBCs (who are very poor and disadvantaged, and are often not very different
from Dalits in socio-economic terms) make this a difficult political category to
work with. However, the OBCs are severely under-represented in all spheres
except landholding and political representation (they have a large number of
MLAs and MPs). Although the upper OBCs are dominant in the rural sector,
the situation of urban OBCs is much worse, being much closer to that of the
Scheduled Castes and Tribes than to the upper castes.

ADIVASI STRUGGLES
Like the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes are social groups
recognised by the Indian Constitution as specially marked by poverty,
powerlessness and social stigma. The jana or tribes were believed to be
people of the forest whose distinctive habitat in the hill and forest areas
shaped their economic, social and political attributes. However, ecological
isolation was nowhere absolute. Tribal groups have had long and close
association with Hindu society and culture, making the boundaries between
tribe and caste quite porous. (Recall the discussion of the concept of
tribe in Chapter 3).

97

2015-16

Indian Society

98

A Dalit village

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

In the case of adivasis, the movement of populations from one area to another
further complicates the picture. Today, barring the North-Eastern states, there
are no areas of the country that are inhabited exclusively by tribal people; there
are only areas of tribal concentration. Since the middle of the nineteenth century,
non-tribals have moved into the tribal districts of central India, while tribal
people from the same districts have migrated to plantations, mines, factories
and other places of employment.
In the areas where tribal populations are concentrated, their economic and
social conditions are usually much worse than those of non-tribals. The
impoverished and exploited circumstances under which adivasis live can be
traced historically to the pattern of accelerated resource extraction started by
the colonial British government and continued by the government of independent
India. From the late nineteenth century onwards, the colonial government
reserved most forest tracts for its own use, severing the rights that adivasis had
long exercised to use the forest for gathering produce and for shifting cultivation.
Forests were now to be protected for maximising timber production. With this
policy, the mainstay of their livelihoods was taken away from adivasis, rendering
their lives poorer and more insecure. Denied access to forests and land for
cultivation, adivasis were forced to either use the forests illegally (and be harassed
and prosecuted as encroachers and thieves) or migrate in search of wage labour.
The Independence of India in 1947 should have made life easier for adivasis
but this was not the case. Firstly, the government monopoly over forests
continued. If anything, the exploitation of forests accelerated. Secondly, the policy
of capital-intensive industrialisation adopted by the Indian government required
mineral resources and power-generation capacities which were concentrated in
Adivasi areas. Adivasi lands were rapidly acquired for new mining and dam
projects. In the process, millions of adivasis were displaced without any
appropriate compensation or rehabilitation. Justified in the name of national
development and economic growth, these policies were also a form of internal
colonialism, subjugating adivasis and alienating the resources upon which they
depended. Projects such as the Sardar Sarovar dam on the river Narmada in
western India and the Polavaram dam on the river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh
will displace hundreds of thousands of adivasis, driving them to greater
destitution. These processes continue to prevail and have become even more
powerful since the 1990s when economic liberalisation policies were officially
adopted by the Indian government. It is now easier for corporate firms to acquire
large areas of land by displacing adivasis.
Like the term Dalit, the term Adivasi connotes political awareness and the
assertion of rights. Literally meaning original inhabitants, the term was coined
in the 1930s as part of the struggle against the intrusion by the colonial
government and outside settlers and moneylenders. Being Adivasi is about shared
experiences of the loss of forests, the alienation of land, repeated displacements
since Independence in the name of development projects and much more.

99

2015-16

Indian Society

In spite of the heavy odds against them and in the face of their marginalisation
many tribal groups have been waging struggles against outsiders (called dikus)
and the state. In post-Independence India, the most significant achievements
of Adivasi movements include the attainment of statehood for Jharkhand and
Chattisgarh, which were originally part of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh
respectively. In this respect adivasis and their struggles are different from the
Dalit struggle because, unlike Dalits, adivasis were concentrated in contiguous
areas and could demand states of their own.

In the Name of Development Adivasis in the Line of Fire

BOX 5.5

The new year brought death to Orissa. On 2 January 2006, police opened
fire on a group of adivasis, killing twelve and injuring many others. For the
past 23 days, the Adivasis had blocked the state highway at Kalinganagar, peacefully
protesting against the take-over of their farmlands by a steel company. Their refusal
to surrender their land was a red rag to an administration under pressure to expedite
industrial development in the state. The stakes were high not only this piece of land
but the entire policy of accelerated industrialisation would be jeopardised if the
government were to entertain the adivasis demands. The police were brought in to
forcibly clear the highway. In the confrontation that followed, twelve adivasi men
and women lost their lives. Many of them were shot in the back as they were trying to
run away. When the dead adivasis bodies were returned to their families, it was
found that the police had cut off their hands, the mens genitals and the womens
breasts. The corpses mutilation was a warning we mean business.
The Kalinganagar incident, like many horrors before it and after, briefly made the
headlines and then disappeared from public view. The lives and deaths of poor adivasis
slid back into obscurity. Yet their struggle still continues and by revisiting it, we not only
remind ourselves of the need to address ongoing injustice, but also appreciate how
this conflict encapsulates many of the key issues in the sphere of environment and
development in India today. Like many adivasi-dominated parts of the country,
Kalinganagar in Jajpur district of central Orissa is a paradox. Its wealth of natural
resources contrasts sharply with the poverty of its inhabitants, mainly small farmers and
labourers. The rich iron ore deposits in the area are state property and their
development means that Adivasi lands are compulsorily acquired by the state for a
pittance. While a handful of local residents may get secure jobs on the lower rungs of
the industrial sector, most are impoverished even further and survive on the edge of
starvation as wage-labourers. It is estimated that 30 million people, more than the
entire population of Canada, have been displaced by this land acquisition policy
since India became independent in 1947 (Fernandes 1991). Of these, almost 75 per
cent are, by the governments own admission, still awaiting rehabilitation. This process
of land acquisition is justified as being in the public interest since the state is committed
to promoting economic growth by expanding industrial production and infrastructure.
It is claimed that such growth is necessary for national development.
To these arguments has been added a new justification. Since 1990, the
100 Indian government has adopted a policy of economic liberalisation divesting
the state of its welfare functions and dismantling the institutional apparatuses
regulating private firms. Economic policy has been re-oriented to maximise foreign

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

exchange earnings, with concessions and subsidies given to Indian and foreign firms
to encourage them to invest in production for export. Kalinganagars iron ore attracted
increased interest due to the booming international demand for steel and spurred a
steel company, which had bought land from the Orissa state government, to start
work on a new steel plant by building a wall enclosing the factory site. It was the
construction of this wall that sparked off protests leading to the killing of adivasis. The
state government had forcibly acquired this land from them years ago by paying
them a few thousand rupees per acre. Since the meagre compensation did not enable
adivasis to invest in an alternative livelihood, they had continued to live in the area
and cultivate the land that legally no longer belonged to them (after acquiring the
land, the administration had not put it to any use). The move in December 2005 to
enclose this land directly deprived adivasis of their sole source of livelihood. Their
desperation was fuelled by anger when they learnt that the state government had
sold the aquired land to the steel firm at a price roughly ten times the compensation
amount paid to the original owners. Adivasis took to the streets, refusing to give up the
land that they survived on.
The struggle of adivasis in Orissa and its violent reprisal highlight how conflicts
over land and related natural resources remain central to the challenge of Indias
development. Kalinganagar is now marked along with Narmada, Singrauli, Tehri,
Hirakud, Koel Karo, Suvarnarekha, Nagarhole, Plachimada and many other sites, on
the map of environmental conflicts in India. Like the others, its contours too reflect the
deep social and political divides that characterise contemporary India.
To read more about the Kalinganagar issue see: Frontline, v. 23, n.1, Jan 14-27, 2006 or the Peoples Union
for Civil Liberties report at http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Dalit-tribal/2006/kalinganagar.htm

5.3 STRUGGLE FOR WOMENS EQUALITY AND RIGHTS

Because of the obvious biological and physical differences between men and
women, gender inequality is often treated as natural. However, despite
appearances, scholars have shown that the inequalities between men and women
are social rather than natural. For example, there are no biological reasons
that can explain why so few women are found in positions of public power. Nor
can nature explain why women generally receive a smaller or no share in family
property in most societies. But the strongest argument comes from the societies
that were different from the normal or common pattern. If women were
biologically unfit to be inheritors and heads of families, how did matrilineal
societies (as the Nairs of Kerala used to be, and as the Khasis of Meghalaya still
are) work for centuries? How have women managed to be successful farmers
and traders in so many African societies? There is, in short, nothing biological
about the inequalities that mark the relations between women and men. Gender
is thus also a form of social inequality and exclusion like caste and class, but
with its own specific features. In this section we will look at how gender inequality
came to be recognised as inequality in the Indian context, and the kinds of
responses that this recognition produced.

101

2015-16

Indian Society

The womens question arose in modern India as part of the nineteenth century
middle class social reform movements. The nature of these movements varied
from region to region. They are often termed as middle class reform movements
because many of these reformers were from the newly emerging western educated
Indian middle class. They were often at once inspired by the democratic ideals
of the modern west and by a deep pride in their own democratic traditions of
the past. Many used both these resources to fight for womens rights. We can
only give illustrative examples here. We draw from the anti-sati campaign led
by Raja Rammohun Roy in Bengal, the widow remarriage movement in the
Bombay Presidency where Ranade was one of the leading reformers, from Jyotiba
Phules simultaneous attack on caste and gender oppression, and from the
social reform movement in Islam led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.
Raja Rammohun Roys attempts to reform society, religion and the status of
women can be taken as the starting point of nineteenth century social reform in
Bengal. A decade before establishing the Brahmo Samaj in 1828, Roy undertook
the campaign against sati which was the first womens issue to receive public
attention. Rammohun Roys ideas represented a curious mixture of Western
rationality and an assertion of Indian traditionality. Both trends can be located
in the over arching context of a response to colonialism. Rammohun thus
attacked the practice of sati on the basis of both appeals to humanitarian and
natural rights doctrines as well as Hindu shastras.
The deplorable and unjust treatment of the Hindu upper caste widows was a
major issue taken up by the social reformers. Ranade used the writings of scholars
such as Bishop Joseph Butler whose Analogy of Religion and Three Sermons
on Human Nature dominated the moral philosophy syllabus of Bombay
University in the 1860s. At the same time, M.G. Ranades writings entitled the
The Texts of the Hindu Law on the
Lawfulness of the Remarriage of Widows
ACTIVITY 5.4
and Vedic Authorities for Widow Marriage
elaborated the shastric sanction for
remarriage of widows.
Find out about a social

102

While Ranade and Rammohun Roy

belonged to one kind of nineteenth century
upper caste and middle class social
reformers, Jotiba Phule came from a
socially excluded caste and his attack was
directed against both caste and gender
discrimination. He founded the
Satyashodak Samaj with its primary
emphasis on truth seeking. Phules first
practical social reform efforts were to aid
the two groups considered lowest in
traditional Brahmin culture: women and
untouchables. (See Chapter 3)

reformer in your part of

the country. Collect
information about her/
him.
Read an autobiography/
biography of any social
reformer.
Can you see any of the
ideas they fought for
existing today in our
everyday lives or in our
constitutional provisions.

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

103
103

Dalit women and girls

2015-16

Indian Society

ACTIVITY 5.5
Make a list of

professions in which
women are involved
today.
Can you think of any
educational field
where women are
barred today?
Perhaps the recent
discussion on women
in the Indian armed
forces may throw
some light on this.

As in the case of other reformers, a similar trend of drawing

upon both modern western ideas as well as the sacred texts
characterised Sir Syed Ahmed Khans efforts to reform Muslim
society. He wanted girls to be educated, but within the
precincts of their homes. Like Dayanand Saraswati of the Arya
Samaj, he stood for womens education but sought for a
curriculum that included instruction in religious principles,
training in the arts of housekeeping and handicrafts and
rearing of children. This may appear very stereotypical today.
One has to however realise that once rights such as education
for women were accepted it started a process that finally made
it impossible to confine women to only some kinds of
education.
It is often assumed that social reform for womens rights
was entirely fought for by male reformers and that ideas of
womens equality are alien imports. To learn how wrong both
these assumptions are, read the following extracts from two
books written by women, Stree Purush Tulana written in 1882
and Sultanas Dream written in 1905.

Stree Purush Tulana (or Comparison of Men and Women) was written by a
Maharashtrian housewife, Tarabai Shinde, as a protest against the double
standards of a male dominated society. A young Brahmin widow had been
sentenced to death by the courts for killing her newborn baby because it was
illegitimate, but no effort had been made to identify or punish the man who had
fathered the baby. Stree Purush Tulana created quite a stir when it was published.
Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born in a well-to-do Bengali Muslim
family, and was lucky to have a husband who was very liberal in outlook and

From Stree Purush Tulana 1882

BOX 5.6

Who are these women you give such names to? Whose womb did you take
your birth in? Who carried the killing burden of you for nine months? Who was the saint
who made you the light in her eye, How would you feel if someone said about your
mother, That old chaps mother, you know, shes a gateway to hell. Or your sister, That
so-and so-s sister, shes a real storehouse of deceit. Would you just sit and listen to
their bad words?
Then you get blessed with a bit of education and promoted to some important new
office- and you start feeling ashamed of your first wife. Money works its influence on you
and you begin to say to yourself, what does a wife matter after all? Dont we just give
them a few rupees a month and keep them at home like any other servant, to do the
cooking and look after the house? You begin to think of her like some female slave
youve paid for.If one of your horses died it wouldnt take long to replace it, and
no great labour needed to get another wife either. ..The problem is Yama
104 theres
hasnt got time to carry off wives fast enough, or youd probably get through several
different ones in one day!

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

BOX 5.7

From Sultanas Dream (1905)

What is the matter, dear? she said affectionately.

I feel somewhat awkward, I said, in a rather apologising tone, as being a purdahnishin
woman I am not accustomed to walking about unveiled.
You need not be afraid of coming across a man here. This is Ladyland, free from sin and
harm
I became very curious to know where the men were. I met more than a hundred
women while walking there, but not a single man.
Where are the men? I asked her.
In their proper places, where they ought to be.
Pray let me know what you mean by their proper places.
Oh, I see my mistake, you cannot know our customs, as you were never here before.
We shut our men indoors.
Just as we are kept in the zenana?
Exactly so.
How funny. I burst into a laugh. Sister Sara laughed too.

encouraged her education first in Urdu and later in Bengali

and English. She was already a successful author in Urdu
and Bengali when she wrote Sultanas Dream to test her
abilities in English. This remarkable short story is probably
the earliest example of science fiction writing in India, and
among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world.
In her dream, Sultana visits a magical country where the
gender roles are reversed. Men are confined to the home and
observe purdah while women are busy scientists vying with
each other at inventing devices that will control the clouds
and regulate rain, and machines that fly or air-cars.
Apart from the early feminist visions there were a large
number of womens organisations that arose both at the all
India and local levels in the early twentieth century. And then
began the participation of women in the national movement
itself. Not surprisingly womens rights were part and parcel
of the nationalist vision.
In 1931, the Karachi Session of the Indian National
Congress issued a declaration on the Fundamental Rights of
Citizenship in India whereby it committed itself to womens
equality. The declaration reads as follows:

ACTIVITY 5.6
Find out the names of

a
few
womens
organisations that
emerged both at the
national level and in
your part of the
country.
Find out about any
woman who was part
of a tribal or peasant
movement, a trade
union or one of the
many strands of the
freedom movement.
Identify a novel, a short
story or play in your
region which depicted
the struggle of women
against discrimination.

1. All citizens are equal before the law, irrespective of religion,

caste, creed or sex.
2. No disability attaches to any citizen, by reason of his or her religion, caste,
creed or sex, in regard to public employment, office of power or honour, and
in the exercise of any trade or calling.

105

2015-16

Indian Society

ACTIVITY 5.7
Divide your class into
groups. Each group can
chose a topic relating to
womens rights on which
they must collect
information from
newspapers, radio,
television news or other
source. Discuss your
findings with your
classmates.
Possible examples of
topics could be :
33 per cent reservation
for women in elected
bodies
Domestic violence
Right to employment
there are many
other topics of interest,
choose the ones
which interest you.

5.4

3.

The franchise shall be on the basis of universal adult

suffrage.

4.

Woman shall have the right to vote, to represent and

the right to hold public offices. (Report of the
Sub-Committee, Womans Role in Planned Economy,
1947: 37-38).

Two decades after Independence, womens issues

re-emerged in the 1970s. In the nineteenth century reform
movements, the emphasis had been on the backward
aspects of tradition like sati, child marriage, or the
ill treatment of widows. In the 1970s, the emphasis was on
modern issues the rape of women in police custody, dowry
murders, the representation of women in popular media,
and the gendered consequences of unequal development.
The law was a major site for reform in the 1980s and after,
specially when it was discovered that many laws of concern
to women had not been changed since the 19th century. As
we enter the twenty-first century, new sites of gender
injustice are emerging. You will recall the discussion of the
declining sex ratio in Chapter 2. The sharp fall in the child
sex ratio and the implicit social bias against the girl child
represents one of the new challenges of gender inequality.
Social change whether on womens rights or any other
issue is never a battle won once and for all. As with other
social issues the struggle is long, and the womens
movement in India will have to fight to defend hard won
rights as well as take up new issues as they emerge.

THE STRUGGLES

OF THE

DISABLED

The differently abled are not disabled only because they are physically or mentally
impaired but also because society is built in a manner that does not cater to
their needs. In contrast to the struggles over Dalit, adivasi or womens rights,
the rights of the disabled have been recognised only very recently. Yet in all
historical periods, in all societies there have been people who are disabled. One
of the leading activists and scholars of disability in the Indian context, Anita
Ghai, argues that this invisibility of the disabled can be compared to the Invisible
Man of Ralph Ellison. Ellisons novel of that name is a famous indictment of
racism against African Americans in the USA.

106

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see

me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in the circus
sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

hard distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my

surroundings, themselves, figments of their imagination. Indeed
everything and anything except me (Ellison, 1952:3).
The very term disabled is significant because it draws attention to the fact
that public perception of the disabled needs to be questioned.
Here are some common features central to the public perception of diability
all over the world

Disability is understood as a biological given.

Whenever a disabled person is confronted with problems, it is taken for
granted that the problems originate from her/his impairment.

The disabled person is seen as a victim.

Disability is supposed to be linked with the disabled individuals self
perception.

The very idea of disability suggests that they are in need of help.
In India labels such as disability, handicap, crippled,
blind and deaf are used synonymously. Often these terms
are hurled at people as insults. In a culture that looks up to
bodily perfection, all deviations from the perfect body signify
abnormality, defect and distortion. Labels such as bechara
(poor thing) accentuate the victim status for the disabled
person. The roots of such attitudes lie in the cultural
conception that views an impaired body as a result of fate.
Destiny is seen as the culprit, and disabled people are the
victims. The common perception views disability as
retribution for past karma (actions) from which there can be
no reprieve. The dominant cultural construction in India
therefore looks at disability as essentially a characteristic of
the individual. The popular images in mythology portray the
disabled in an extremely negative fashion.
The very term disabled challenges each of these
assumptions. Terms such as mentally challenged, visually
impaired and physically impaired came to replace the more
trite negative terms such as retarded, crippled or lame.
The disabled are rendered disabled not because they are
biologically disabled but because society renders them so.

ACTIVITY 5.8
Find out how different

traditional or mythical
stories depict the
disabled. You can
draw from any of the
innumerable regional
sources of folklore,
mythology, and
traditional storytelling
in India, or from any
other part of the
world.
Make a list of popular
sayings or proverbs
that show negative
attitudes towards the
disabled.

We are disabled by buildings that are not designed to admit us,

and this in turn leads to a range of further disablements regarding
our education, our chances of gaining employment, our social lives
and so on. The disablement lies in the construction of society, not
in the physical condition of the individual (Brisenden 1986 :176).

107

2015-16

Indian Society

108

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

The social construction of disability has yet

another dimension. There is a close relationship
between disability and poverty. Malnutrition,
mothers weakened by frequent childbirth,
inadequate immunisation programmes, accidents
in overcrowded homes, all contribute to an
incidence of disability among poor people that is
higher than among people living in easier
circumstances. Furthermore, disability creates
and exacerbates poverty by increasing isolation
and economic strain, not just for the individual
but for the family; there is little doubt that disabled
people are among the poorest in poor countries.

ACTIVITY 5.9
Have you seen the film Iqbal? If you
have not do try and see it. It is an
exemplary story of the grit and
determination of a young boy who
cannot hear and speak but who has a
passion for cricket and finally excels as
a bowler. The film brings alive not just
Iqbals struggles but also the many
possible concrete meanings of the
phrase differently abled.

Shastri Bhawan,
BOX
New Delhi
Dated: 15.06.2005
Sub: - Invitation of suggestions/ comments on Draft National Policy for
Persons with Disabilities.
1. According to the Census, 2001, there are 2.19 crore persons with disabilities in India
which constitute 2.13 per cent of total population. This includes persons with visual,
hearing, speech, locomotor and mental disabilities. Seventy five per cent persons
with disabilities live in rural areas.
2. A comprehensive legal and institutional structure has already been put in place
for the welfare of persons with disabilities. The Persons with Disability (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995 was enacted...
3. Rehabilitation of persons with disabilities requires multisectoral collaborative
approach of various central government ministries, state Governments, UT
administrations, members of civil society, organisations of persons with disabilities
and non-government organisations working for the welfare of persons with
disabilities so that better synergy in delivery of services is achieved. ...
Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,
Room No. 253, A-Wing, Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi-110001 Tele fax-011-23383853

5.8

Significantly, efforts to redress the situation have come from the disabled
themselves. The government has had to respond as the notification in the box 5.8
shows.
It is only recently with the efforts of the disabled themselves that some
awareness is building in society on the need to rethink disability. This is
illustrated by the newspaper report on the next page.
Recognition of disability is absent from the wider educational discourse. This
is evident from the historical practices within the educational system that continue
to marginalise the issue of disability by maintaining two separate streams one
for disabled students and one for everyone else.

109

2015-16

Indian Society

BOX
Describing the non-consideration of handicapped persons for Judge posts
as an exclusive policy of the higher judiciary, a senior jurist says by continuing
to ignore the handicapped, the judiciary is violating a statutory mandate. The High
Court building itself is far from disabled-friendly. All entrances to the actual court
complex are preceded by staircases and none of them has a ramp. Even to access
the limited elevator facility, one has to climb several steps.
The condition of the City Civil Court, where many handicapped or injured persons
come to depose before courts hearing accident claims cases, is worse. One can see
disabled, injured or old people being carried up the stairs by their companions, says
an advocate.
The Hindu Wednesday 2 August 2006.
Disabled-unfriendly Courts

5.9

In this chapter we have looked at caste, tribe, gender and disability as

institutions that generate and perpetuate inequalities and exclusion. However,
they also provoke struggles against these inequalities. Historically, the
understanding of inequality in the social sciences has been dominated by
notions of class, race and more recently, gender. It is only later that the
complexities of other categories like caste and tribe have received attention. In
the Indian context, caste, tribe and gender are now getting the attention they
deserve. But there remain categories that are still in need of attention, such
as those who are marginalised by religion or by a combination of categories.
More complex formations like groups defined by religion and caste, gender
and religion, or caste and region are likely to claim our attention in the near
future, as shown, for example, by the Sachar Committee Report on the Muslim
community.
In a country where half the children in the age group of 5-14 are out of
BOX 5.10
school how can there be space for children with disabilities, especially if a
segregated schooling is being advocated for them? Even if the legislation
optimistically tries to make education available to every disabled child, parents in a
village do not see this as instrumental in achieving any autonomy for their disabled
child. What they would prefer is perhaps a better way of fetching water from the well
and improved agricultural facilities. Similarly, parents in an urban slum expect education
to be related to a world of work that would enhance their childs basic quality of life.
Source: Anita Ghai Disability in the Indian Context, 2002:93

ACTIVITY 5.10

110

Read the quote above and discuss the different ways in which the
problems of the disabled are socially constituted.

2015-16

Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion

2. What are some of the features of social stratification?

3. How would you distinguish prejudice from other kinds of opinion or belief?
4. What is social exclusion?
5. What is the relationship between caste and economic inequality today?
6. What is untouchability?
7. Describe some of the policies designed to address caste inequality.
8. How are the Other Backward Castes different from the Dalits (or Scheduled
Castes)?

Questions

1. How is social inequality different from the inequality of individuals?

9. What are the major issues of concern to adivasis today?

10. What are the major issues taken up by the womens movement over its
history?
11. In what sense can one say that disability is as much a social as a physical
thing?

REFERENCES
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. The Forms of Capital, in Richardson, John G. ed.
Handbook of Theory and Research in the Sociology of Education. Greenwood Press.
New York.
Brisenden, Simon. 1986. Independent Living and the Medical Model of
Disability, in Disability, Handicap and Society. V.1, n.2, pp. 173-78.
Deshpande, Satish. 2003. Contemporary India: A Sociological View. Penguin
Books. New Delhi.
Ellison, R. 1952. Invisible Man. Modern Library. New York.
Fer nandes, Walter. 1991. Power and Powerlessness: Development Projects and
Displacement of Tribals, in Social Action. 41:243-270.
Fuller. C.J. ed. 1996. Caste Today. Oxford University Press. New Delhi.
Ghai, Anita. 2002. Disability in The Indian Context, in Corker, Marian. and
Shakespeare, Tom. ed. Disability/Postmoder nity: Embodying Disability Theory.
Continuum. London, pp. 88-100.
Ghai, Anita. 2002. Marginalisation and Disability: experiences from the third world,
in Priestly, M. ed. Disability and the Life Course: Global Perspectives. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge.
Giddens, Anthony. 2001. Sociology . 4th edition, Polity Press. Cambridge.

111

Jeffery, Craig, Jeffery, Roger. and Jeffery, Patricia. 2005. Br oken Trajectories: Dalit
Young Men and Formal Education, in Chopra, Radhika. and Jef fery, Patricia. ed.

2015-16

Indian Society
Educational Regimes in Contemporary India. Sage Publications. New Delhi.
Karna, G.N. 2001. Disability Studies in India: Retrospect and Prospects. Gyan
Publishing House. New Delhi.
Macionis, John J. 1991. Sociology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Mander, Harsh. 2001. Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives. Penguin India.
New Delhi.
Shah, Ghanshyam. Mander, Harsh. Thorat, Sukhadeo. Deshpande, Satish. and
Baviskar, Amita. 2006. Untouchability in Rural India. Sage Publications. New Delhi.
Shar ma, Ursula. 1999. Caste (Concepts in the Social Sciences Series). Open
University Press. Buckingham and Philadelphia.
Srinivas, M.N. ed. 1996. Caste: Its Modern Avatar. Viking Penguin. Delhi.
Zaidi, A.M. and Zaidi, S.G. 1984. A fight to Finish, in Annual Report of the Indian
National Congress 1939-1940. Vol. 11,1936-1938; and 12, 1939-1946,

Notes

112

2015-16