08-14-2006, 09:09 PM
Dalits still face atrocity, says Arjun
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 10
Regretting that the society chooses to pretend that atrocity against the marginalised people is a thing of the past, HRD Minister Arjun Singh today pointed out that in doing so we are exposing ourselves to great danger.
Speaking at the release of a book, ''Untouchability in Rural India'', he said, âthere is a feeling now among some sections of the society that these things are of the past, why bother, why take action, this is the greatest danger to the society when such feelings permeate. This danger should be met nowâ.
The book, which lays open the caste-based segregation that perpetuates even in the present day India, has been authored by Ghanshyam Shah, Harsh Mander, Sukhdeo Thorat, Satish Deshpande and Amita Baviskar.
Referring to the book, Shah, one of the authors, said while he did agree that untouchability had declined to some extent, the change was small and insignificant. He said the labour market still was the witness to extreme discrimination.
âAll Dalits do not suffer equally, the educated ones who have government or private jobs are less discriminated than those who are agricultural workers and scavengers. Our argument is that along with culture and dignity, the economic aspect of the Dalits makes them the poorest of the poor,â Shah said.
Noted film maker Shyam Benegal, who was also present on the occasion, shared case studies of discrimination against the marginalised in India, which he was witness to during the making of his films.
Prof. T.K.Oomen, echoing the views that society turns an indifferent eye towards atrocity being committed against the Dalits, said the society suffered from âcognitive blackoutâ, he said, people had a peculiar ability to not see what they did not want to.
UGC Chairman Prof. Thorat regretted the contradiction, he said, ''on the one hand the Constitution promised equality and on the other hand we have practices like untouchability''.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 10
Regretting that the society chooses to pretend that atrocity against the marginalised people is a thing of the past, HRD Minister Arjun Singh today pointed out that in doing so we are exposing ourselves to great danger.
Speaking at the release of a book, ''Untouchability in Rural India'', he said, âthere is a feeling now among some sections of the society that these things are of the past, why bother, why take action, this is the greatest danger to the society when such feelings permeate. This danger should be met nowâ.
The book, which lays open the caste-based segregation that perpetuates even in the present day India, has been authored by Ghanshyam Shah, Harsh Mander, Sukhdeo Thorat, Satish Deshpande and Amita Baviskar.
Referring to the book, Shah, one of the authors, said while he did agree that untouchability had declined to some extent, the change was small and insignificant. He said the labour market still was the witness to extreme discrimination.
âAll Dalits do not suffer equally, the educated ones who have government or private jobs are less discriminated than those who are agricultural workers and scavengers. Our argument is that along with culture and dignity, the economic aspect of the Dalits makes them the poorest of the poor,â Shah said.
Noted film maker Shyam Benegal, who was also present on the occasion, shared case studies of discrimination against the marginalised in India, which he was witness to during the making of his films.
Prof. T.K.Oomen, echoing the views that society turns an indifferent eye towards atrocity being committed against the Dalits, said the society suffered from âcognitive blackoutâ, he said, people had a peculiar ability to not see what they did not want to.
UGC Chairman Prof. Thorat regretted the contradiction, he said, ''on the one hand the Constitution promised equality and on the other hand we have practices like untouchability''.