Untouchability exists

Instead of denial, urban India should seek social reform

If the extent of untouchability still being practised in India - by over a quarter, as brought out by the India Human Development Survey II - appears shocking, then it is a reflection on the way in which complacent assumptions hold sway over public discourse, dominated by urban, educated and mostly upper-caste Indians who prefer to imagine caste has faded away. Since the survey has been conducted by two institutions with high reputation, National Council of Applied Economic Research and University of Maryland, the published summary findings should form the basis for asking, with some urgency, why Indian society has made such poor progress in the six decades since independence. The first point to note is that passing laws to ban an abhorrent social practice is taking merely the first step in a long journey that has to have at its forefront social leaders. Most will agree that enlightened social leaders are fewer today than in the run-up to independence. There, in itself, lies the partial answer to why so little progress has been made in the years since.

While it is not surprising that the practice is still most prevalent among Brahmin and Jain households (the two groups follow similar social practices), it is prevalent to a significant degree among groups whose social systems automatically disallow it and who are themselves among its victims. A good 23 per cent of Sikhs practise it - a phenomenon that was revealed through the battles being fought between orthodox Sikhism and the various Dalit Sikh-focused "dera" cults. This is in spite of the fact that Sikhism has been founded by gurus with a strong social reform agenda. Islam similarly does not allow caste identities and what is more, many in India have converted to Islam to escape the discrimination faced by lower castes. Still, 18 per cent of Muslim households practise untouchability. Only five per cent of Christians are guilty of the practice - although even here, some parts of the country feature separate cemeteries for Dalit Christians.

Perhaps the most disturbing is the fact that OBCs (other backward classes) and Scheduled Castes (the broad rubric under which untouchables come) also practise untouchability. The OBCs, in particular, have returned a shockingly high count of 33 per cent, second only to Brahmins. The fact is that social conflict is high between groups that are immediately next to each other at the lower end of hierarchies, particularly when they are all not economically well off. The urge among those who have made good economically to adopt upper-caste social traits is an unfortunate facet of social mobility in India.

It is undeniable that climbing out of poverty and moving into cities make for a decline in discriminatory practices. But the reality is that well-educated upper-caste Indians still dominate virtually every section of public life, including the communist movement. In the end, every urban Indian who claims to be "beyond caste" must accept that they are, in fact, not so - and they must change their social behaviour to be as inclusive as possible. Organisations, whether commercial or social, must go the extra mile to ensure diversity of caste and creed in the composition of their staff. Caste exists. It will persist unless addressed. And if it is not addressed, then India has a dangerous reckoning in its future.