By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net,
Waltham, Massachusetts: Economic conditions of Dalits have improved in the last sixty years but the gap between Dalits (Scheduled Castes) and higher continues continue to persists, argued Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat of Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. Prof. Thorat was giving the opening lecture at the two-day Symposium on the Annihilation of Caste: The Unfinished Legacy of Dr B.R. Ambedkar which began here on Saturday. The symposium is being organized by the Center for Global Development and Sustainability in Brandeis University.
Prof. Thorat who is the former chairman of University Grants Commission and co-founder of Indian Institute for Dalit Studies talked about the contribution of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar for the rights of the Dalits.
In his more than an hour-long lecture Prof. Thorat summarized Dr. Ambedkar’s pioneering work in understanding the origin and nature of the caste system. “Annihilation of caste was core of Ambedkar’s intellectual and political thought,” said Prof. Thorat.
Prof. Thorat giving the opening lecture
According to Ambedkar, caste system has roots in Hindu philosophy and is based on the principle of inequality. The isolation and exclusion that is inherent in this system restricts social intercourse which produces ascending scale of hatred and descending scale of contempt. The immense economic inequality results in massive poverty and depravation.
Economic foundation of the caste needs to be dismantled by redistribution of agricultural land and giving ownership of lands to the landless tenants.
Giving data Prof. Thorat said that 23% of all Hindus are former untouchables or Dalits and 48% are OBCs which means that two-third of Hindus are of lower caste. Quoting National Sample Survey of 2012, Prof. Thorat listed the level of depravity among Dalits- in agriculture, in private enterprises, and education.
Given that there was no share in agricultural land holding and private enterprises before but in post-independence India this share, thanks to reservation, has gone up to at least one third of dalits having either lands or involved in private enterprises, suggests that there is some reduction of caste discrimination in some areas but gap persists, opined Prof. Thorat.
Graduate student Nilambar Nayak giving the welcome address
Earlier, Laurence Simon, Director of the Center for Global Development and Sustainability under Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University welcomed the participants to the symposium and said caste discrimination persists in India even though there are laws against it. This is not just an Indian problem and needs to be addressed at the global level.
Graduate student Nilamabar Nayak in his address said that this symposium is an excellent platform to discuss and develop tools of advocacy to end caste discrimination.
Agenda for tomorrow:
10 a.m. Welcome: Rajesh Sampath
10:10 a.m. Welcome from PhD student representative Tanoj Meshram
10:15-noon The Political and Philosophical Roots of Ambedkar’s “Annihilation of Caste” (1936) and its significance for addressing social exclusion in contemporary democratic India
Rajesh Sampath: On the Philosophical Critique of Caste
Sukhadeo Thorat: Reading The Annihilation of Caste to understand social and economic inequality in India past and present; Ambedkar’s critique of Gandhi
Andreas Teuber: B.R. Ambedkar and John Dewey
12-12:45 a.m. Lunch on the terrace
12:45-1:30 p.m. Film on caste
1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Ambedkar in comparative perspective
William A. Darity, Jr.: African-American Civil Rights and the Anti-Caste movement in India
Laurence Simon: Paulo Freire and B.R. Ambedkar: In Comparative Perspective
Rajesh Sampath: Gustavo Gutierrez and the Theology of Liberation
Open discussion
3 p.m. Tea
3:15-4 p.m. The challenge ahead: Open discussion led by Tanoj Meshram and Gary Tartakov
4-4:15 p.m. LR Simon and S. Thorat: Concluding remarks
Symposium on the Annihilation of Caste: The Unfinished Legacy of Dr B.R. Ambedkar