Qaisar Mansoor
The Hindu caste system, in which identity and status are ascribed at birth, dates to an ancient Sanskrit text called the “Manusmriti” (The laws of Manu), and uses a doctrine of purity and pollution to classify people into four varnas or castes.
At the top are the Brahmins (priests), followed by Kshatriyas (soldiers/administrators) and Vaishyas (merchants), with Shudras (servants/laborers) at the bottom. Dalits are beyond the scope of this system, which considers them “untouchables.”
Dalits are facing systematic oppression at the hands of upper caste Hindus in India even in this civilized world of 2022.
Indian Dalits have been enduring oppression for centuries and they are considered ‘untouchable’ under the Indian caste system. It said the Indian society has miserably failed to integrate Dalits and 75 years after India’s independence from the British rule, discrimination against the minority community is still rampant in the country and they are forced to perform most menial jobs. It pointed out that the Indian government has not only failed to eradicate th caste system, it has also entrenched and modernized it.
Dalits are subjected to various forms of caste discrimination and brutal violence. They are not even allowed to enter temples in upper caste neighbourhoods while the women belonging to the community have long been victims of sexual violence by upper caste Hindus.
The international community should come forward to save Dalits from persecution by upper caste Hindus and it must raise its voice against inhuman caste system in India.
According to a report only 7 percent Brahmans are ruling India and the demand for caste based census by the 70% population of India is growing. It said the last caste census was done in 1931 when India was under British rule and a similar exercise was carried out in 2011, but it never saw the light of the day.
The report said, the political parties including Janata Dal United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Smajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are demanding caste census and claiming that the so-called upper castes have occupied disproportionate share in jobs and access to higher education.
It quoted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a strong advocate of caste census, who said that enumeration of population of each caste group would help the government to formulate more accurate welfare programs.
The report maintained that quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs) also called Dalits 15 percent and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) 7.5 percent are based on caste and tribal identities and this reservation is not based on their share as per their population.
The report said, the BJP has categorically stated in Parliament that it won’t undertake a caste-based survey. “Despite the fact, caste-based census is the need of the hour in India, the Supreme Court has dismissed the case on the request of BJP government that it is not possible to carry out caste-based census. The absence of fresh caste census data means that the caste estimates of 1931 are being projected for formulating welfare policies in 2022” it added.
