By TCN News,
Aligarh: Stating that there are no traces of untouchability in Islam, noted historian Professor Irfan Habib on Thursday said the ‘varna’ system prevalent in Indian society is a byproduct of economic disparities which could not be addressed during the Mughal Period as well.
“However, to give respect to people engaged in cleaning and scavenging jobs, Mughal emperor Akbar named them ‘Halalkhor’,” Habib said while delivering the keynote lecture on ‘Caste and Untouchability in Medieval Indian Culture’ here.
His lecture was part of a seminar on ‘Globalization and Disadvantaged Groups: Locating Untouchability in India’ organised by the Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU) Department of Sociology, a release said here.
Professor Habib pointed out that Keshav Chandra Sen was the first Indian reformer to raise voice against untouchability and said luminaries such as Jyotiba Phule, Dr B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi played an important role in eliminating untouchability.
“After Independence, the Safai Walas (cleaners) have been included among fourth grade employees with equal respectable salaries. (But) the war against untouchability and casteism is yet to be won.”
‘Globalization and Disadvantaged Groups: Locating Untouchability in India,’ a book by Dr C L Sonkar was released on the occasion. Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah, AMU Vice Chancellor, said untouchability can only be eliminated through proper education, the release said.
Dr Sonkar said the advocates of human equality have termed untouchability as a sin as it might have originated from the attitude to keep away from people involved in foul smelling jobs. “There should be no place for any division, temporary or permanent, to achieve an overall development of humanity, its security and conservation. Both physical and mental forms of untouchability are tormenting,” he said and lamented that approach based untouchability is replacing the material kind in modern society which is highly ruinous.