Human Rights Law and Theory Research Paper

Rangasaran Mohan
Section-C
Paper submitted to Prof. Alliya Anjum

Have the Dalits in India Achieved Emancipation?

This paper seeks to examine transition of caste-based discrimination in the form of

untouchability, from not being a human rights issue to how it has progressed over the years
into an international human rights issue, due to the efforts made by the Dalits (untouchables)
in India. Even though these efforts have resulted in certain positive changes, which shall be
discussed later in the paper, the issue that arises here is whether these efforts put in by the
Dalits have resulted in their emancipation.

The root of India’s standard of morality flows from religions, mostly, the Hindu religion. We
have seen the social oppression of a weaker section of the society in India since time
immemorial. The example of Sati can be taken into consideration, where a weaker section of
the society was made to sacrifice themselves due to the religious obligations which were
imposed upon them. Another example of social oppression lies in the case of Dalits. The
stratification of the Hindu society is based on four different varnas or classes. At the top of the
structure were the Brahmins i.e. the priests, Kshatriyas i.e. the warriors, Vaishyas i.e. the
farmers and artisans, Shudras i.e. the unskilled workers and the fifth and final class i.e. the
Dalits who were also known as the untouchables1. (Smith). They had no place in the social
structure.

For centuries, the Dalits have been subjected to a lot of discrimination in the form of
untouchability which has resulted in their exclusion from the society. Untouchability involves
ritual subordination of one group by another, often based on the premises of religious
scriptures2. (Bob) Essentially, it’s based on the idea that one group of people, is inferior to

1
Smith, Brian K. Varna and Jati. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd Edition. Encyclopedia of Religion, 2005.
2
Bob, Clifford. ""Dalit Rights Are Human Rights": Caste Discrimination, International Activism, and the
Construction of a New Human Rights Issue." Human Rights Quarterly 29.1 (2007): 168-169.
another, as in, they cannot command the same amount of respect as the groups superior to
them, nor can they avail the same rights as the groups superior to them. As said by Frank
Herbert, “all men are not created equal, and that is the root of social evil”, this can be related
to the situation of Dalits in India. It is not a question of privilege that caste system was ranked
based on a higher status which was earned per se, but the Dalits earned the status of an
“untouchable” by birth itself. Therefore, a human rights problem arises here. Every human has
the right to be treated equally to every other human, and deserve the same rights and dignity as
all the other human beings as enshrined in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

There has been a lot of Dalit activism in the past, starting from the 1980s till the late 1990s. In
the 80s till the early 90s, Dalit Activists strived to make caste based discrimination gain
recognition as a human rights issue on an international stage. They sought to increase
awareness of caste based reservations by talking to international media and various human
rights organisations. They also would form allies to that would pressurise the Indian
Government to take steps to curtail such caste based discrimination. The activists did gain at
least some recognition on an international stage. Even though that was the case, the Dalit
activists found no luck in convincing international organisations to adopt as human rights
issue3. In 1982, Dalit rights were brought to an international stage by an NGO called “Vision”
which was headed by Dr. Laxmi Berwa. The situation of the Dalits was compared to that of
the Jews during the holocaust as they are in a constant state of terror and humiliation4 (Joshi).
Several similar Dalit organisations took active part in the international meetings where they
tried to increase caste based discrimination awareness, which finally got recognised as a human
rights issue by the late 1990s. CERD gave it legitimacy under Article 1, where the word
“descent” was added as a meaning of the word “racial discrimination.” CERD also clarified
that the term “descent” was not solely to refer to race, but also covers the situation of the SCs
and STs in General Recommendation no. 295. (Committee on Elimination of Racial
Discrimination).

3
Supra n.2 @175-176
4
Joshi, Barbara R. UNTOUCHABLE! Voices of the Dalit Liberation Movement. Zed Books, 1986.
5
Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. "General Recommendation 29." 2002.
As per Article 9 of the CERD Convention, the state parties must undertake a responsibility to
submit a report to the Secretary-General of the UN regarding the steps taken to make the
provisions of the said convention effective. The report submitted by India signified that over
165 million were subject to caste-based discrimination. Such crimes against the so called
“untouchables” will not stop till the time the government takes an initiative to recognise this
problem at a national platform.

Even though Article 1 of the CERD Convention added the word “descent” to the provision, it
does not exhaustively cover the discrimination faced by the untouchables. The problem in India
is a different one as discrimination based on descent does not equate to the discrimination based
on caste. Untouchability is something that’s not in consonance with the idea of human rights.
It’s a dark spot on humanity6 (Human Rights Watch, Human Rights and Global Justice).

Article 3 of the CERD Convention stipulates that the state parties must condemn all forms of
segregation. In the case of Dalits in India, as per the report made by Human Rights Watch
referred to earlier, there is a lot of segregation between the Dalits and the rest in the aspects of
residence, schools and in access to public services. Also, such segregation was found in 565
villages and 11 states7. Even when it comes to basic amenities like drinking water, In India,
more than 20% of Dalits do not have access to safe drinking water. 48.4% of Dalit villages are
denied access to water source. Only 10% of Dalit households have access to sanitation (as
compared to 27% for non-dalit households), and most Dalits depend on the goodwill of upper-
caste community members for access to water from public wells8 (Johns). So, a question must
be raised to the State party regarding what steps are being taken to stop such acts of segregation.
The reason behind why the non-Dalit households are entitled to more access to sanitation while
the Dalit community is deprived of the same must also be asked to the respective state party.

Article 5(d)(iv) of the CERD Convention stipulates that no one can be discriminated and
everyone has a right to marry and they have a right to choose their spouse. In the case of Dalits

6
Human Rights Watch, Human Rights and Global Justice. "Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination Against
India's Untouchables." New York University, n.d., pp. 3-4
7
Id @6-7
8 Johns, Hannah. "STIGMATIZATION OF DALITS IN ACCESS TO WATER AND SANITATION IN

INDIA." National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) (n.d.): 1. Retrieved from http://idsn.org/wp-
content/uploads/user_folder/pdf/New_files/UN/HRC/Stigmatization_of_dalits_in_access_to_water_sanitation.p
df, last visited on 8.5.17, 21:20.
in India, the notion that Dalits can’t marry anyone from the upper class still sadly exists in our
society. The prohibitions on inter-caste marriage is one of the most prevalent problems in the
caste system in India. Article 5(e)(i) regarding the right to work in favourable conditions is also
violated as 1.3 million Dalits in India are forced to perform manual scavenging9 (International
Dalit Solidarity Network ), which is an act that involves removing of human excreta with bare
hands10.

We can notice from the above statistics that the Dalits are still being discriminated to this date.
Even though the CERD Convention mandates all the state parties to abide by the principles of
human rights, and prohibits discrimination on the basis race, colour, descent, or national or
ethnic origin, the Dalit community is still subjected to such discrimination. Unless the
government takes drastic measures to curtail such discrimination by taking upon them, the onus
to end such discrimination, the current situation of the Dalits in India will always be a perpetual
dark spot on humanity.

Even though the efforts of the Dalits have been commendable to raise awareness about caste-
based discrimination and bring it to an international stage, these efforts have unfortunately not
resulted in their emancipation.

9
International Dalit Solidarity Network . Manual Scavenging. n.d. 8 May 2017. <http://idsn.org/key-
issues/manual-scavenging/>.
10 "Human rights and manual scavenging" (PDF). Know Your Rights Series. National Human Rights

Commission. Retrieved 09-05-2017, 22:19.

Works Cited
Smith, Brian K. Varna and Jati. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd Edition. Encyclopedia of Religion,
2005.
Bob, Clifford. ""Dalit Rights Are Human Rights": Caste Discrimination, International
Activism, and the Construction of a New Human Rights Issue." Human Rights
Quarterly 29.1 (2007): 167-193.
Joshi, Barbara R. UNTOUCHABLE! Voices of the Dalit Liberation Movement. Zed Books,
1986.
Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. "General Recommendation 29." 2002.
Human Rights Watch, Human Rights and Global Justice. "Hidden Apartheid: Caste
Discrimination Against India's Untouchables." New York University, n.d.
Johns, Hannah. "STIGMATIZATION OF DALITS IN ACCESS TO WATER AND
SANITATION IN INDIA." National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR)
(n.d.): 1.
International Dalit Solidarity Network . Manual Scavenging. n.d. 8 May 2017.
<http://idsn.org/key-issues/manual-scavenging/>.