By Fatima Zehra for TwoCircles.net
The recent suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student of the University of Hyderabad sparked outrage across India and resurrected the buried injustice and caste discrimination against Dalits and other low status communities in India which has been in practice since time immemorial. At the moment, the nation is busy investigating the victim’s true caste identity rather than holding the institution guilty for following discriminatory practices. Moreover, the intelligence reports have also been successful in claiming that the victim was not Dalit.
The Indian constitution banned the practice of untouchability under article 17, though the ‘Hidden Apartheid’ of discrimination against Dalits and low caste communities persists. The Scheduled Tribes/ Scheduled Caste (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989 was also introduced to combat discrimination against Dalit and Adivasi communities though the dignity of such backward sections of the society remains tattered.
Even after 69 years of Independence, the fate of such low caste communities remain imprisoned. 160 million Dalits continue to face egregious caste discrimination and are subjected to bonded labor, hate crimes and violation and are often unlawfully detained. The existence of such legal provisions has not been successful in the upliftment of this vulnerable crowd.
On scrutinizing the societal niche, it has been revealed that elite educational institutions continue to serve as hubs for the promotion of discrimination against various minority communities. With increase in discriminatory practices at work as well as at public places, Dalits are being made one of the most vulnerable communities in India .They remain tied in chains and shackles of political conflict and economical complications. The existence of the Hindu hierarchical class structure is responsible for such classification of communities on the basis of profession, the product of it being, destruction and detriment of humanity.
Dalits will continue to be oppressed until we erase out the hierarchy of castes from every nook and corner of our society as well as our minds. Changing the constitution is not enough, we have to change our mindset.
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Fatima is a student of Delhi Public School, Bangalore.