HISTORICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES ON DALIT MOVEMENTS IN INDIA LOKESHWARI (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 2020
The Dalit movement in the familiar sense of organized resistance of the ex-untouchables to caste oppression may not be forced beyond colonial times however in a wider séance of the strange of lower castes against the hegemony of Brahmanical ideology to grasp certain generalities of the Dalit movement this paper will try to present a hypothesis that predominant alibies that the contemporary Dalit movement tens to reflect , are basically acquired from circumstances that brought it into existence.
Dalit Movements in Contemporary India: Issues and Challenges
Vidyasagar University Journal of History, Volume VIII, 2019-2020, Pages : 120-131, 2020
Traditional Indian society was founded on Varna and Jati, as is commonly known. This system has a long history and has experienced significant modifications throughout time, yet caste continues to be a prominent institution in our socioeconomic , religious, and political structures after 75 years of India's independence. The idea of untouchability has been the most perplexing and troubling aspect of the caste system. While Dalit movements in colonial India attempted to dismantle the upper castes' elite history by concentrating on Dalit history, heritage, epistemology, and worldview; Dalit movements in the postcolonial time attempted to construct and recreate the pan-Indian Dalit identity through a variety of identity politics and social-political movements. With the above backdrop, the article tries to explore some of the contemporary Dalit movements in India and examines its deep relation to the Bhim Army, Rohith Vemula case and Koregaon Bhima incident which not only influenced the contemporary Dalit movements in India but also have contributed for arousing Dalit consciousness for a pan-Indian dalit identity, organisation and movement. The paper also vividly examines the issues and challenges in the path of Dalit movements in the 21 st century under the impact of neoliberal globalisation.
Dalit means all those people of different castes and sub-castes who were traditionally subjected to individual discriminations on grounds of untouchability, and categorized as the untouchables, downtrodden, exterior classes, depressed classes or Scheduled Castes. "The organizational or institutional efforts made by Dalit leaders for the liberation of the downtrodden masses could be termed as Dalit movement. It is a movement of protest against untouchability, casteism and superstitions. It aims at the uplift of the Dalits to the level of non-Dalits". It stands for acceptance of a new social order based on equality, liberty, and social justice and social, economic, cultural and political development of the Dalit." It is the movement to regain self-respect and equal human status in the society.
National Movement and Dalit Struggle: A Sociological Perspective
Quest Journals Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 2024
During the foreign rule in the country, different sections of the society, distressed by their colonial policies, took part in the movements against them for various reasons. The aspirations of each section of the country during the movement and the subsequent success were also different. Amidst all this, there were many groups of the Dalit class living in the country, some of which were completely opposed to the foreign rule, for which they were continuously fighting, while the initial goal of some was to end the exploitative, inhumane untouchability and caste system prevalent in the then society Which historically had become an integral part of the Indian social system as a cultural element. In the presented research article, the individuals and groups of the Dal it class who struggled against the foreign power and also made efforts under the law and order of the British Government to eradicate the social evils prevalent in the country like untouchability, casteism etc. and for the socioeconomic and political upliftment of the Dalits. Efforts to be made for this have been discussed. Through this article, an attempt has been made to establish that the revolutionaries and social reformers of the Dalit class have not yet got the respectable place they deserve in the history of the Indian mainstream, rather their contributions are being underestimated and erased.
History of Dalits Development in India -An Assessment
International Academic Journal of Accounting and Financial Management, 2016
Indian society is depicted by an extensive level of structural inequality, stratification and hierarchy related to caste, ethnicity, religion, class, identities of other group and organizations of social omission. Ithas been a historical belief that the caste system started with the Aryans coming to India around 1500 BC. Out of the several cultures, which have abundantly grown in India, the literary records belonging to the Indo-Aryan culture are not the first. Caste has a part to play at all stages of an Indian's financial life, in school, university, the labour market, and finally as he becomes older. The substantial proof shows that there has been convergence in education, line of work, revenue, and availing of public resources across the caste groups in the decades just after independence was attained. A significant proportion of India's Dalit women encounter verbal abuse, physical violence, sexual harassment and assault, domestic violence and rape. They also do not have access to proper education and employment. The constant denial of their basic human rights leads to a deficiency in education, food, healthcare, and economic possibilities, thus strapping the Dalits in eternal slavery to the upper castes. Therefore, this research paper gives more importance to assess the historical development of Dalits in India and Tamil Nadu.
Dalit Movements in India: Role of Social Reformers and its effects
Abstract - The human rights violation in India country is one of the major problems since centuries. The socio- economic milieu of Indian society is inherently hostile towards protection of human rights of Dalits. It is the caste and Varna system of social stratification which promotes the societal violation of Dalit human rights. The rule laid down by the Hindu law giver, Manu, is that there are only four Varna’s of Hindus and there is not to be fifth Varna. The four Varna’s are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras. Gandhiji and others in their campaign against un- touchability contended that untouchables and scheduled Tribes fall under the fourth Varna namely Sudras on the basis of Manu’s law of stratification. Dr.Ambedkar has pointed out that this theory is not acceptable because Manu speakers of untouchables as varn-baya which means those outside the Varna system. The four clsses of Hindus are called Savarnas while those outside the four classes like the untouchables are called Avarnas. Manu has stated in his smiriti that the develling’s of the Chandals shall be outside the village, that they must be made ‘apapatras’ and their wealth shall be dogs and donkeys, their dress shall be the garments of the dead, they shall eat their food in broken dishes and black iron shall be their ornaments, they must wander from place to place and they shall not sleep in villages and towns at nights. It is well known that in villages the untouchables live in separate localities, while other castes live in the main village. It cannot, thus be denied that untouchables are not part of Hindu society and they must remain separate and segregated.
Transformation of the Caste System and the Dalit Movement
2005
This thesis analyzes the history of caste system and explains the theories of the birth of caste in Indian civilization. After defining the caste system in historical and cultural manner, examines the birth and spreading of Dalit movement or low caste mass movements during the 19th and 20th century with the influence of British rule.
As per the 15th Indian Census conducted in 2011, 201 million people belonging to various Dalit communities were recorded, forming 16.6% of the total Indian population of approximately 1.2 billion. Dalits are officially known as Scheduled Castes and popularly known as 'former untouchables'. Caste is birth-based, 'constructed by religion and divided by occupation'. Even though independent India in 1949, gave full citizenship to Dalits and abolished the practice of untouchability, Dalits still face exclusion, widespread discrimination, and extreme poverty in modern India. Rising atrocities against Dalits incited Dalit activism. In Bombay 1972, the Dalit Panther movement was founded by Namdeo Dhasal. The Dalit Panthers were inspired by the Black Panther movement that rose in America in 1960s and 1970s against the exploitation of the Black community. Even though the Dalit Panther Manifesto was published in 1973, it is the most popular document by the Panthers that lay out their mission and demands for the entire Dalit community. The demands stated in the Manifesto correspond to the immediate needs of Dalits, even today. So, this essay includes a textual analysis of the Dalit Panther Manifesto within a historical, religious and political framework. This essay addresses the following two questions: How was the political atmosphere in the post-Independence period unsuccessful in delivering the promise of democracy, socialism and secularism, to the Dalits? To what extent is the current political scenario favourable or unfavourable for Dalits' liberation?
Dalit Uprising: from Rohith to Una
The Dalit movement has had a radical legacy of anti-caste resistance against Hindutva and brahminical hegemony in colonial and post-colonial India. Dalit resistance emerged during the struggles in the colonial period based on the strong modern universal values of liberty, equality and fraternity; these were led by radical Dalit-Bahujan intellectuals like Jyotirao Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar. In short, after the long struggle for resistance of the anti-caste move-ment it has achieved to some extent self-respect and dignity. But the question of caste-based discrimination is still haunting the Dalits and their social experiences.