Meeting the Dalits

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By John Eichrodt, EUU Member at Large

In 2012, I was invited by my friend, Agnes Muller, to visit a Dalit project she was supporting in Tamil Nadu in S.E. India. My wife Cornelie and I went in the month of January, before it became too hot. We lived for several weeks with the Dalits at their Campus Center in Thalakulam, Tamil Nadu. The center had been established in 2004 by one of the major Dalit leaders R. L Rosario.

Agnes Muller, President of A.S.I.A. with a student at the Center

Who are the Dalits?

Our month’s stay at the center was enough time to discover who the Dalits were, to meet them as a community and as persons.

We quickly discovered that the Dalits were genuinely pleased to have our visit. They immediately accepted and trusted us.  Why? Because we had come to stay with them in their community, to see them, to touch and be touched by them.  Our very presence made them visible to the outside world beyond India.

For thousands of years, they have been denied visibility as persons. For thousands of years, they have struggled incessantly to be recognized as human beings just like other persons in the four castes.  For thousands of years, they have suffered the inhumane condition of being outcasts from birth to death.

The cause can be attributed to the religious curse that separates them from Hindu spiritual life and thus from any possibility of having dignity as a person. Today, they are labeled Dalits because they are considered broken, impure, and untouchable. This status is permanently branded on their various identity cards.

India achieved independence in 1947.  Its new Constitution prohibited caste-based discrimination.  Since then, there have been and continue to be major efforts at all levels to reduce and eliminate caste-based discrimination in Indian Society. Yet, caste-based discrimination is so culturally entrenched that many of the 240 million Dalits in India continue to face discrimination with its unbearable consequences especially in rural areas:

  • Their conditions of work and life are amongst the worst in the world,
  • Dalit children are broken at an early age with no hope for a dignified future,
  • Women, men and children are humiliated, ignored, and subjected to violence and inhumane treatment. More than 20 000 atrocities committed against Dalits are reported each year,
  • Dalit women, children, and men have little or no access to health services,
  • Dalit children and youth rarely have equal access to schools, good education, or vocational training,
  • They must accept undignified jobs like manual scavenging, working the sewers…,
  • Housing is denied in villages, so they are banished to external slums without access to urban facilities like the post office,
  • They are physically, culturally, socially, economically kept separate from Indian For example, they can be punished for walking on village land, for drinking from the village well or for even entering a local restaurant or bar,
  • Women are more often abused because they are seen as non-humans, more vulnerable with less protection,
  • Inter-caste marriage can be punished even by public burning,
  • Dalits have difficult access to the system of justice for the protection of their rights as well as to government services for their welfare,
  • Dalits have to avoid being seen or touched at all by persons from other castes, making it difficult for them to function in society.

The role of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in the efforts to emancipate the Dalits

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Long before Independence, caste discrimination was recognized as a major social problem in India.  Ghandi was at the forefront of initiatives for major social reform. However, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is today recognized as the major historical leader of the Dalit movement.

A Dalit himself, he earned degrees in law, economics and political science at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. With these, he became active in the events leading to Indian Independence. He wrote volumes on social and economic reform including some dealing more specifically with the emancipation of the Dalits. He supervised the drafting of the Indian Constitution which prohibits caste discrimination. His core political philosophy was to seek reform through planning, organization, education, and participation. Since Independence, his philosophy has been a major driving force behind the multitude of initiatives and programs devoted to Dalit emancipation throughout India.

The creation of the Dalit Center in Tamil Nadu

The Dalit campus center where we stayed was built in 2004 at the initiative of the Dalit leader R.L. Rosario, himself an Ambedkar disciple. In fitting tribute to Dr. Ambedkar, it was named P.O.P.E. for People, Organization, Planning, and Education. It consists of a boarding school for disadvantaged Dalit children, a vocational training center, and a field hospital that includes the training of Dalit health assistants.

Today, the center also supports multiple programs including Dalit personal development, cultural and sport activities, disaster relief, legal protection, land reform, women’s rights, care for the elderly, education and training in democracy and governance, the promotion of social justice, advocacy, international outreach and relations with the human rights council through the OHCHR. When possible, the center works with other government services. Its program activities tend to be highly focused, pilot projects that can also serve as models in each field of activity.

Twelve years after having been invited to visit the Dalit project, I can say how fortunate I have been to be able to continue working with the staff at the Dalit center, with Rosario, the president of P.O.P.E, and Agnes Muller, the president of A.S.I.A.

In March 2024, the EUU Social Action Committee approved a grant to finance the training of a Dalit health assistant for one year at the Dalit Health Center. At the P.O.P.E. campus, this may be seen as recognition: recognition that the Dalits exist as persons on par with other humans who have inherent worth and dignity. I am touched that we, the EUU, have reached out to the Dalits in solidarity.

 

Here are some references for further information and study: