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Question
Elaborate on state and non-state initiatives addressing caste and tribal discrimination.
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Solution
- The Indian state has had special programs for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes since even before Independence.
- Reservations involve the setting aside of some places or ‘seats’ for members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes in different spheres of public life.
- Caste Disabilities Removal Act of 1850, which disallowed the curtailment of rights of citizens due solely to a change of religion or caste.
- 93rd Amendment is for introducing reservation for the Other Backward Classes in institutions of higher education.
- The Constitution abolished untouchability (Article 17) and introduced the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.
- From the pre-Independence struggles and movements launched by people like Jyotiba Phule, Iyotheedas, Periyar, Ambedkar, and others to contemporary political organisations like the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh or the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti of Karnataka, Dalit political assertion has come a long way.
- Dalits have also made significant contributions to literature in several Indian languages, especially Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi.
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Assertions of tribal identity are on the rise. This can be laid at the door of the emergence of a middle class within the tribal society. With the emergence of this class, in particular, issues of culture, tradition, livelihood, even control over land and resources, as well as demands for a share in the benefits of the projects of modernity, have become an integral part of the articulation of identity among the tribes. There is, therefore, a new consciousness among tribes now, coming from its middle classes. The middle classes themselves are a consequence of modern education and modern occupations, aided in turn by the reservation policies.
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