The marginalized communities of India

I know of a person who was trodden upon for his caste from birth. He bore the worst kind of cruelty at the hands of his kin, the kind of cruelty that is justified for the wrong reasons. But he did not relent to their flawed ideals.

In him, something grew. A tiny flame, hungry for knowledge. Hungry to know more, to do more. Restless with a fervent desire to break through the ropes that society used to hold him back. And all because he was a Dalit? 

Shunned, denied a spotlight, deemed untouchable. He was the same person who changed the very image of the law in our country, the same person who fought for Dalit rights in India, and if he haven't given him away yet, you probably know him as the father of our constitution himself, Dr. B.R Ambedkar.

Before I start, I would like to define marginalization for the purpose of this article. Marginalized persons are the people who are forced to the periphery or the edge of society. This, in turn, robs them of the facilities and opportunities enjoyed by the non-marginalized sections of society.

As a country, we always strive for development. Development is always broadly conceived in terms of mass participation. Marginalization deprives a large majority of people across the globe from participating in the development. There are many factors that induce marginalization. Allow me to break down the baseline issues of marginalized communities to show you how atrocious their treatment truly is.

Caste-based marginalization is one of the most serious human rights issues in the world today, casting a negative impact on more than 260 million people, most residing in India. 

Scheduled castes are placed at the bottom of the traditional caste system. As a rule, they were forced to perform so-called “unclean” occupations and therefore have been labeled, till date, as impure, unclean, and untouchable. They choose to identify themselves as “Dalits”.

There are 1108 scheduled castes that have been listed by the Constitution. Their problems are varied, and have detrimental effects, a few of which are:

1. The people belonging to scheduled castes were, and in rural areas, still are, barred from village meetings, worship, temples, schools, and banned from using common wells and tanks.
2. Not given proper reward for their service, they were even denied property of their own. They aren’t free to choose an occupation; cleaning the streets, removing dead cattle, and undertaking heavy agricultural work was pushed on to them. They are forced to be dependent on others for their livelihood and survival. 
3. Education was withheld from these castes. They were not allowed to use public educational institutions or houses of worship.

Scheduled tribes are officially accepted as disadvantaged and included in accordance with article 342 of the Indian constitution. They are entitled to many incentives and reservation policies. Some statistics to pay attention to when it comes to scheduled tribes are:

1. The literacy rate of the scheduled tribes at 41.1% in the 2001 Census is far below the national literacy rate of 64.84%. Their children suffer from high dropout rates and low female literacy.

2. Compared to other population groups, there is a high infant mortality rate and malnutrition among scheduled tribes, who also suffer from geographical and social exclusion, high poverty rates, and a lack of access to the appropriate administrative and judicial mechanism.

3. They live in very poor and unhygienic conditions. Most of them live in half-starved conditions because of hunting bans and forest depletion. To make ends meet, they take loans and being unable to repay them, choose bonded labor.

4. 42% of tribal children are malnourished and 50% of all malaria-related deaths are tribal people.

5. Their lands are snatched under the pretext of building railways, roads, markets, hospitals, etc. as well as forest regulations and policies.

Other minorities.

People with disabilities have had to battle against centuries of biased assumptions, harmful stereotypes, and irrational fears. The stigmatization of disability resulted in the social and economic marginalization of generations with disabilities and like many other oppressed minorities, this has left people with disabilities in a severe state of impoverishment for centuries. The proportion of the disabled population in India is about 21.9 million. The disabled face various types of barriers while seeking access to health services. Basic infrastructure for disabled people is not available in India.

Being a widow is still a stigma in our society. Most of the time, widows have no sources of income, and no work to earn from. Especially in rural areas, the widow is looked down upon and no longer accepted by the people. Lack of economic independence has an impact on their access to food, clothing, and healthcare. Healthcare of the elderly is a major concern for society as aging is often accompanied by multiple illnesses and physical ailments. Very often, old people are mistreated and taken advantage of.

Another group that faces stigma and discrimination is the LGBTQ+ community. Individuals who are identified as having same-sex sexual preferences are ostracized by their own families and left only with limited support structures and networks of community that can provide care and support. Their needs and concerns are excluded from various health policies, schools, and programs.

Marginalization has a detrimental effect on the people it impedes, and it hinders the progress of the country as well. As long as even one-third of the country is still socially and/or economically disadvantaged, as long as division festers among the people, as long as equality does not reign, the country cannot, and will not, rise to its full glory.

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Great people like BR Ambedkar prove to us that the only difference between them and us is the name we give ourselves. They too are warm bodies, with blood pumping through them, a brain to utilize for the betterment of India, and a heart to feel all the emotions that we do [including all the other organs, but that is a very long list].

Co-authored and co-edited by Avantika Sanyal.

She also did the research for this article.

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