How Casteism Still Prevails In India

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar rightly said, “Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.”

Its 2020 and startlingly castism still prevails in India in many forms. For ages, the caste has commanded almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group occupying a specific place in this intricate hierarchy.

Rural communities have long been arranged based on castes - the upper and lower castes almost always inhabited in isolated colonies. The Shudras or the lower cast were made to feel inferior and segregated in every possible way. They were not allowed to enter in public places like temples, use the river, share a common well and even the kids were made to sit far away from the upper cast children in the schools. And there was no concept of inter - cast marriages. The practice of untouchability was very prominent at that time. The low-class people could not even dare to touch the public properties which belonged to the upper caste people. If they did so they had to face the ignominious consequences of doing so. The low-classed people were always referred to as " Dalits". They were not employed in other jobs. They had to continue to work as sanitation workers as manual scavengers, drain cleaners, garbage collectors and sweepers of roads.

According to the Indian Constitution, castism was banned in India in 1948. A law was passed which enshrined discrimination against cast, creed, race etc. Yet, the system recapitulates to have functioned in India with devastating social effects. No fewer than 4 Dalit women are raped by non- Dalits. The recent case of rape in Hathras of a Dalit woman by non-Dalit men is a dreadful example of continuity of casteism in India. The young woman from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh was bruised, gang-raped by upper cast men of her village, tortured, was strangled, a gash in her tongue, brutalised and suffered a cervical spine injury. According to a report, it is said that she was collecting fodder on a farm near her house. When a group of men attacked her from behind. She was dragged by a dupatta which was around her neck. Which seemingly caused the spinal damages.

Yet another atrocious example is of the existence of the horrific Devadasi practice. According to this, girls born of the Devadasi casts are forced to leave their home at the age of 12. And hade to consecrate their lives to the temple. But this is not the true definition of this practice. These girls had to have lifelong sanctioned prostitution. According to which any man from the upper caste can use them.

The most threatening is the subversive untouchability. Which has still not vanished from the Indian households. The glasses, plates and even restrooms of these servants are separated. The persistence of servants using segregated utensils. Making them sit on the floor. Not making them sit at the dining table with the “family”. Having separate utensils are all ways, which are never missed to make them feel their inferiority. It is, however, predestinated, unique and scandalous to India.