Ruchira pages 2 - 79

Reading 1: Social stratification

Social stratification — the presence of social groups which are ranked one above the other,
usually in terms of the amount of power, prestige, and wealth their members possess.

- Those belonging to a particular stratum will have some awareness of common identity or
common interests which distinguishes them from other strata
- Ex - The Indian Caste system

It is possible for social inequality to exist without social stratification.

- Ex - sociologists argue that contemporary western society, particularly the USA, is not
stratified by class, but rather has been replaced by a continuous hierarchy of unequal positions.
While there previously did exist class stratification in the USA based on occupation and
prestige, there now exists an unbroken continuum of occupational statuses which have varying
degrees of prestige and economic reward.
- Hierarchy of social groups has been replaced by a hierarchy of individuals

There is a tendency for each social stratum to develop its own subculture in consonance with its
norms, attitudes, and values which distinguish them as a social class.

- Distinctive working-class and middle-class subculture exist within industrialized societies,

owing to their common struggle.
- Members of the lowest stratum tend to develop a fatalistic attitude towards life if circumstances
are unchangeable, this attitude is passed on generationally. - sees luck and fate as more potent
relief than individual effort.

Social Mobility - Potential for movement of individuals between strata in society.

- Societies with little opportunity for movement between strata are described as “closed”. ex -
capitalist industrial society
- Societies with ample opportunity for movement between strata are considered “open”. ex -
caste based systems

“Life Chances” refers to the chances of attaining what is deemed desirable by society. This can
range from staying alive to viewing fine arts

“Natural” Inequalities

Many societies justify their inequalities and stratification on a biological basis. For example
Caucasians claimed superiority over African Americans, and justified racial oppression.
While African Americans have scored lower than Caucasians on IQ tests, sociologists conclude
that environmental and not only natural factors have led to these results. Deprivations of being
at the lowest strata would lower a person’s IQ. Researchers also argue that IQ tests largely
measure white-middle class knowledge which only measures a small range of mental abilities.

Biological differences become biological inequalities only to the extent that they are defined as
such.

- Old age is perceived differently amongst the Australian Aboriginals and modern western
society

Reading 2: B.R Ambedkar constituent assembly speech

Primary questions:
→ Apprehension: will India lose its freedom again?
→ What will the Indians choose: creed or country?
→ How long shall Indians live a life of contradictions? (their political and social values)

→ There have been times when Indians have betrayed on another – Gulab Singh (commander) sat in
silence and did not save the Sikh kingdom, Jaichand invited Mahommed Gohri to invade India and fight
against Prithvi Raj and a few maratha noblemen and Rajput kings supported to Moghuls while Shivaji
was fighting for the liberation of the Hindus.

India’s democracy:
→ Parliaments or parliamentary procedures are not new to India.
→ Buddhist “Sanghas” (political assemblies) were nothing but parliaments. They had rules regarding
seating arrangements, motions, resolutions, counting of votes etc.
→ Buddha probably adopted these practices from the political assemblies functioning in his country at
that time.
→ It is easy for democracy to give way to dictatorship.

Things needed to be done in order to maintain a democracy:

→ Firstly, one must hold fast to the constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic
objectives. The bloody methods of revolution must be abandoned. Since constitutional remedies
are available, it does not make sense to employ methods such as civil disobedience, non-
cooperation and satyagraha. These methods are the “Grammar of Anarchy”

→ Secondly, John Stuart Mill said that one must not “lay their liberties at the feet of even a
great man, or to trust him with power which enables him to subvert their institutions”.
Gratefulness must have a limit. Daniel O’Connel (Irish patriot) states that “no man can be
grateful at the cost of his honor”. Bhakti or hero worship is bound to end up in eventual
dictatorship.
→ Thirdly, we must not be content with a mere political democracy. There must be a demand
for a social democracy as well.

Social democracy:
→ A social democracy is a way of life where the union-trinity of liberty, equality and fraternity are
recognized. These principles cannot be divorced from one another.
→ Fraternity: this refers to a sense of brotherhood giving unity and solidarity to social life. In the article it
is substantiated by James Bryce’s On American CommonWealth.
→ Indian society lacks equality. There exists a huge disparity between the wealthy and poor.
→ Starting 26 January 1950, there shall be a life of contradictions. While the principle of “one man one
vote” is recognized in the sphere of politics, in the sphere of our economic and social life, we shall
continue to deny “one man one value”.

A great delusion:
→ Indians believing that they are a nation are fostering a great delusion. The sooner it is identified that
we are not a nation in the social and psychological sense of the word, the faster we can work towards
becoming one.
→ The United States had an easier time identifying itself as a nation since there exists no caste.
→ Castes are inherently anti-national. They bring about a separation in social lives, generate apathy and
antipathy between caste and class and demote fraternity (which can only exist when there exists a nation).
→ The monopoly of political power has deprived the downtrodden castes of betterment. The urge for
self-realization can devolve into a class war. Lincon states that “a house divided against itself cannot
stand for too long”.

With great power comes great responsibility :

→ Ambedkar states that here onwards, we cannot push blame onto the British.
→ The correct way of serving the country is to enshrine the principle of – for the people, of the people
and by the people.

Reading 3: What is a social movement?

Social movement:
→ Social movements are key forces of social change. They are guided purposely and strategically by the
people who join them. They mobilize and do their business mostly outside established political and
institutional channels.
→ They are typically resisted by the forces that favor the status quo
→ They represent efforts by citizens to create a more just and equitable world. Movements can also be
pushed by grievances.

Mid 2000s: ushering protests

→ In 2011, Time magazine selected “the protester” as its person of the year. This was partly because
movements in opposition to repressive regimes exploded that year in North Africa and the Middle East.
The Mubarak and Ben-Ali regimes were brought down by mass movements of political opposition.
→ In Syria, the opposition movement spiraled into a civil war.
→ Protests also took place in several western countries. These include the Occupy movement in Spain
and anti-austerity protests in the UK, Ireland and Greece. Their reasons included the complicity of the
political elite and faults regarding economic policies.

Cultural shifts caused by social movements:

→ The gay rights movement has worked for decades to fight discrimination, promote equality and change
attitudes about homosexuality and marriage.
→ 20 years ago, the Clinton administration passed the defense of marriage act with no opposition. Today,
the public opinion on homosexuality has changed drastically.
→ This change in public view is attributed to the gay rights campaigns.
→ Each movement has its political, cultural and organizational elements.
→ This movement has a political dimension as it fights against legislation such as proposition-8 in
California. The cultural dimension included changing ideas about marriage, sexuality and gendered
performances.

The study of social movements:

→ According to Charles Tilly, a social movement’s basic analytical dimensions are:
(a) The groups and organizations that make it a collective action.
(b) The events that are a part of the action repertoire.
(c) The ideas that unify the group and guide the protest.
→ Studying one element usually drags one into the other 2 elements involuntarily.

→ Research shows that movement groups and organizations do not stand alone but rather are linked in
network structures through overlapping memberships, interrelations among members and contacts among
leaders.

→ The “structural sphere” of a movement is its relatively fixed network relations among groups,
organizations and individual participants that characterize the movements.
→ Through interlinkages, resources are mobilized. A general movement is characterized by the
persistence of multiple groups over the course of time.

→ Social movements are funneled by ideologies, goals, values and interests. Individuals are bonded
together by a “collective identity”.
→ The thought patterns (cognitive schemata) that guide the interpretation of events for participants,
bystanders and elites and are different from vague norms is known as “collective action frames”.
→ Analytical scope of a movement’s ideas fall into the “ideational-interpretative sphere”.

Performative approach:
→ Tilly developed the performative approach to social movements. An emphasis on the performance of
the movements rather than the protest events also follows cultural sociology’s basic insight of social
action as theater.
→ Performances are strongly symbolic since they speak more than their actual content. (songs, street
protests, demonstrations, marches etc.)
→ These performances have an audience that interprets, influences and acts upon what they understand.
Viewing a social movement as a performance puts it in its full context of its actors and the various
audiences, and broadens the way we study social movements by situating them in dynamic relationships.

(Refer to diagram on page 20 of the module - three analytical spheres of a social movement)

→The intersection exists between the three spheres:

(a) Structural sphere: relationships including informal ones and networked ones
(b) Ideational-interpretative sphere: values, ideologies and identities
(c) Performative sphere: Collective action by actors

Reading 4: Dynamics of Social Movements, Revolution, and Social Transformation

→ The success of the 2011 Arab Spring protests have been an inspiration for rebellions across North
Africa and the Middle East.

Historical background:
→ Slave rebellions in Ancient Rome and peasant revolts in medieval Germany have developed
spontaneously without any prior preparation in terms of organization, strategy and tactics.
→ In the transformation from feudalism to capitalism in Europe and elsewhere, a variety of social
movements have come to challenge existing states and have transformed them to serve the interests of the
victorious classes that have succeeded in taking state power.
→ The labor movement was a stance against capitalism being promoted by the new ruling classes in
Europe and North America.
→ Many of the benefits that laborers have gained are a result of struggles. Workers taking state power
during the Great Depression led to constructions of new societies across the globe.

Factors leading to the emergence of social movements:

→ Social movements emerge due to a variety of reasons: racial and gender oppression, religious
persecution, human rights abuses, environmental degradation and wars.
→ Exploitation and oppression remain the most popular factors. The resilience of the oppressed can be
seen in the slave rebellions of Africa, the Caribbean and the US South.
→ Workers have taken the lead to become a powerful force to confront capital and its repressive force,
the capitalist state. The conditions leading to the rise of social movements can be divided into two
categories: objective and subjective.

Objective conditions:
→ Prevailing class structure of society (a dominant and oppressed class)
→ Political structure and the nature of the state
→ Existing social and economic conditions

Subjective conditions:
→ Emergence of leading figures, organizations and political parties
→ Response of the government and dominant classes
→ Level of class consciousness among the oppressed

→ The objective conditions that set the stage for social inequalities must ultimately confront, mass
movements are thus able to coordinate their efforts and develop strategy and tactics to succeed in their
struggle for power.

Sherman and Wood’s pre-requisites for a social movement to emerge:

→ Social structural conditions must lead to certain stresses and strains between classes or
other groups in society. This can be a result of general decay or an economic/ political crisis.
→ Objective economic, political or social deprivation resulting from the structural conditions. The crisis
is affecting an important segment of society leading to a decline in the standard of living.
→ The objective deprivations must lead to conscious feelings of deprivation, which will crystalize
into an ideology (awareness + gravity of the situation = formation of an ideology)
→ The ideology must lead to organization and mobilization of the discontented group.
→ The ability of the dominant class to control decreases. The crisis leads to a weakened social control.
→ Precipitating events can lead to the emergence of social movements.

→ They further state that social movements flow from prevailing societal structure. Social and political
institutions play a vital role in supporting and justifying societal arrangements.

Albert J. Szymanski in his book The Capitalist State and the Politics of Class provide
more insight into the emergence of social movements:
→ Felt oppression: economic and political repression must become intolerable.
→ Decline of the dominant class’s ideological hegemony: the masses become bitter. The dominant
classes become cynical alongside adopting methods like manipulation and repression to salvage their rule.
Internally, they become divided and demoralized.
→ The failure of non-revolutionary solutions: nationalism, facism, liberal reform and social democracy
are useless solutions.
→ Efficient organization and adoption of scientific strategy and theory by social movements:
(a) Creation of masses that can mobilize into a united front
(b) Realistic analysis of the causes causing oppression
(c) Proposal for historical alternatives
(d) Tactics to bring about change and transformation

Movement organization, strategy and tactics:

→ The success or failure of a movement is determined by organization articulated through strategy or
tactics.
→ They key elements of success include:
(a) Motivation
(b) Resources (sustains the movement)
(c) Internal cohesion and support (movement begins to take on it’s political character)
→ A movement becomes “reformist” or “revolutionary” when the roadmap for how it wants to get there
is laid down.
Reformist movements: work within the system for piecemeal changes, short term changes that
bring in long term improvements.
Revolutionary movements: large scale structural changes that challenge the power of
established social, economic and political forces linked to the dominant classes.
→ Social movements do not develop in a vacuum but are the outcome of social problems generated in the
context of existing societies that are class based.
→ Almost every social movement and countermovement carries a “class character”, some issues ignore
the class lines.
→ Issues such as racial and ethnic oppression, patriarchy, dictatorship and human rights abuses lead to
mobilization of all segments of society.

Social movements in the 20th and early 21st century:

→ Full blown revolutions of this day and age include: Industrial workers of the world (IWW), civil rights,
anti-war and Occupy Wall Street.
→ Mass mobilization, protests, uprisings and revolutions have been the mainstay of social rebellion over
the course of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Historical cases of the early to mid 20th century:

→ IWW (industrial workers of the world)
(a) Led by William Haywood, Joe Hill and Mother Jones (influenced by Marxist and anarcho-
syndicalist ideologies). This ideology essentially advocates for the abolition of bosses.
The workers alone should decide what affects them.
(b) Radical enough to advocate for the abolition of money to transform the global capitalist
system
(c) The very basis of capitalism was challenged by organizing several laborers across the
country as “One Big Union”.
(d) The conservative counterparts (American Federation of Labour) concentrated on short
term gains.

→ Mexican and Russian revolutions:

(a) Mexican revolution (1910): first great peasant revolt. It had a major impact on all
subsequent revolutions.
(b) Russian revolution (1917): It was the first workers revolution of the 20th century.

→ Movements in the left came close to toppling capitalist states. The ruling classes responded with their
own fascist regimes in Italy, Germany and Spain.
→ The momentum continued during the great depression and in its aftermath. These included the
Chinese, Vietnamese, Cuban and a few other revolutions.

Historical cases of the mid to late 20th century:

→ 1960s saw a surge of civil rights, women’s, anti-war, peace, student, environmental and other
progressive movement protests.
→ Regalism in the United States and Thatcherism in the U.K alongside right wing power in Chile,
Argentina and many other places lead to a lull in these protests during the 1970s and 1980s.
→ The end of the radical social movements of the previous period was marked by the rise of anti-
communist counter revolutionaries in Europe.
→ The postmodern rebellion of Chiapas:
(a) It erupted merely 3 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991).
(b) It was led under Comandante Marcos via the Zapatista National Liberation Army.
(c) This was Mexico's response to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
which would devastate the small farmers.
(d) This was the first organized mass struggle against neoliberal globalization in Latin
America.

→ The world social forum (WSF) and other similar forums lead efforts to build global solidarity focused
on issues related to the effects of neo-liberal globalization. The first meeting took place in 2001 and since
then they meet annually.

→ Protests against power being concentrated in the hands of a few transnational corporations were
successful in Quebec, Genoa, Barcelona etc. This derailed the WTO meetings in Seattle and corporate
efforts to impose policies on people.
→ This peaked when 15 million people stood against America’s invasion of Iran.

Recent movements:
→ The economic crisis of 2008-2009 has devastated many countries. Greece, Spain and Portugal have
experienced a debt crisis.
→ People are fighting against the austerity measures imposed on them.
→ People from North Africa and The Middle East are determined to take back their country from the
dominant classes.
→ The 2011 Arab Spring inspired a period of mass rebellion in Egypt, Yemen, Libya etc.
→ The Occupy Wall Street Movement was inspired from the Arab Spring and became a symbol of
struggle against big banks, corporations and the dominant class (top 1% of the population)

Reading 5: Engaging with Caste: Academic discourses, Identity Politics and State Policy

→ Caste has been prevalent in South Asian regions for a very long time.

Colonial or western ideas of caste:

→ They simplified the diverse and often contested realities of “native” social order. Colonizers converted
caste into neatly marked groups.
→ “Orientalist” writings made cast a hierarchical system (varna). The order of the varnas were:
Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.

Systematic theory of caste:

→ Not all colonial observers agreed on the nature of the Indian caste system.
→ The beginning of the systematic theory can be seen in the writings of C. Bougle. In an 1908 essay, he
stated that caste is not merely “occupational specialization”.
→ He stated that there are 3 primary features of a caste system:
 (a) Hereditary occupation
(b) Hierarchy
(c) Mutual repulsion
→ Caste contained hereditary groups separated from each other in certain respects (caste endogamy,
eating together etc.) but interdependent in certain aspects (traditional division of labor).
→ Caste = hereditary specialization of occupations + differential rights.
→ The occupations were placed in an hierarchical order leading to social inequality.
→ Inequality and the element of pollution were important features.
→ Different groups in a caste system repel each other rather than isolate themselves.

→ Theorizing Indian social order helped make sense of a puzzling reality. The notion of caste hierarchy
seeped into the administrative system for classifying native communities and determining their qualities
and traits.
→ In an attempt to understand caste, they also made it more rigid. It was assumed that everyone belonged
to one caste or another.

“Other of the west”:

→ Modern western societies were governed by the idea of equal citizenship.
→ Caste was a peculiar feature. There was no possibility of change emerging from within. This helped
the colonizers present themselves in a better light. Almost to say that colonial rule is benefitting India.
→ Radical thinkers like Marx and Engels were influenced by such views and stated that colonial
intervention was a blessing.
→ The influence of colonialism played an important role in influencing the development of professional
sociology and social anthropology.
→ Even when the shift from “book” to “field” views were considered, the categories through which a
majority of them imagined India invariably remained the same. The village became an entry point for
understanding society.
→ Hinduism became synonymous with Indian culture since it was assumed that the caste system was
fundamental to our social structure.

→ Caste became a single term of synthesizing India’s diverse forms of social identity, community
and organization. The dominant textbook view of caste has continued to be based largely on the
classical colonial understanding of “Hindu India”.

Book view of caste:

→ According to the dominant view of caste, it is both an institution and ideology.
(a) Institutional: provided a framework for arranging and organizing social groups in terms of
their statuses and positions in the social and economic systems.
(b) Ideology: system of values that legitimized and reinforced the existing structures of
social inequality. It provided a worldview around which a typical Hindu organized their
life.
→ Closed system: caste was the epitome of traditional Indian society. Generations after generations lead
similar lives doing similar work.
→ Open system: the western world was projected to be open where occupations had choice. An
individual had the privilege of mobility.

→Ghurye’s 6 features of the Hindu caste system:

(a) Segmental division of society
(b) Hierarchy
(c) Restrictions on feeding and social intercourse
(d) Civil and religious disabilities and privileges of different sections
(e) Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation
(f) Restrictions on marriage
→ Caste was not merely an occupation specialization. It had features of a social structure, normative
religious behavior and provided a fair idea of an individual’s life.

The difference between varna and jati:

→ The popular understanding stated that there were only 4 varnas. However, the actual number of caste
groups was large. In each linguistic region there were 200 caste groups further divided into 3000 smaller
units.

Dumont’s structuralist approach to caste:

→ According to Dumont, class was an ideology promoting hierarchy.
Hierarchy: a principle of social organization based on ideas of “pure” and “impure” where the
former prevailed.
→ There are “essential principles” which may not be apparent. Invoking Max Weber, he described his
theory of caste as an ideal type.
→ He emphasized on the specific relationship between status and power in Hindu society. In the West,
power and status normally went together but in the caste system there lay a divergence. The principle of
social organization was superior to power. Status encompassed power.

→ Extensions of Dumont’s works can be attributed to scholars such as Moffat and Srinivas.

Sanskritization (fits into Dumont’s structuralist approach):

→ Introduced by Srinivas, it is the process by which a “low” Hindu caste or other group changes its
customs, rituals, ideology and way of life in the direction of a high and frequently twice born caste.
Sanskritization = LARPing
→ This is to claim a higher position in the caste system.

→ The idea of caste has been deeply embedded in the modern Indian self-image. It is a mirror reflection
of the orientalist and colonial images of India.
→ In the name of modernization the West is presented as an “ideal”.

→ Not only did theorizations of caste simplify inequality, they rarely looked at it critically. A classical
case of how the West views “other cultures”.
→ Even something like the practice of untouchability was not seen critically.
Caste and the institutionalization of Democracy:
→ Post-independence sociologists produced a very different account of caste.
→ Caste could revive itself by seeping into modern institutions such as democracy.
→ Ghurye noticed that the attack on Brahmin dominance did not signify the end of caste.

M.N Srinivas – caste shall not disappear with modernization:

→ Caste was experiencing a “horizontal consolidation”.
→ The last 100 years have seen an increase in caste solidarity. There is a decreased interdependence
between different castes living in a region.

→ The process of horizontal consolidation was helped by British representational politics.

→ Local self governing bodies gave backward classes new opportunities. In order to take advantage of
these, caste groups entered into alliances with one another.
→ There came an element of competition with horizontal consolidation. It impacted the vertical solidarity
of caste.
→ Dumount and Srinivas speculated on similar lines of thought: castes did not disappear with economic
and political change. The logic was merely altered.
→ There was a change from “structure” to “substance”. I have understood jack - check page 38 of
the module.

→ In the 1960s, sociologists began to talk about caste and politics in a different way. The discussion
shifted from a predominantly moral or normative concern about the corruption that caste brought into
democratic political process to a more empirical process of interaction between class and politics.
→ Democracy changed caste equations.
→ Power shifted from the ritually pure upper castes to the middle level dominant castes.
→ With the introduction of Universal Adult Franchise, the numbers became a determining factor.

Caste associations (agents of social mobility):

Different focuses of social anthropologists v. political sociologists.
→ Political sociologists focused on the possible roles of caste associations in democratic politics.
→ Llyod and Susan Rudolf stated that caste has taken on the features of an association.
Membership is not purely ascriptive; “birth” as a condition is necessary but not sufficient.
→ There are other possible ways of identifying one’s self besides birth.
→ Robert Hardgrave in his study of the Nadars of Tamilnad argues that the caste association of
Nadars worked like a pressure group and played a role in upward mobility.
→ Rajni Kothari argued that politics does not get caste ridden. Rather, caste gets politicized.
→ Caste federations went on to become flexible organizations and began to accept different members. It
joins hands with various voluntary organizations and political parties.
→ Over the course of time, a federation becomes a distinct political group. (Kothari)

Reading 6: Dalit movements

Harijans: a pejorative term:

→ Coined by Gandhi in the year 1933.
→ The term “dalit” is preferred over “harijan”. They are also called avarna, panchama, antyaja or
namashudra in different parts of the country.

Typologies and issues:

→ Dalit issues in the colonial and post colonial period are confined to untouchability. The other issues are
the same as those of agricultural laborers.
→ Ghanshyam Shah classifies dalit movements into two categories:
(a) Reformative: they try to reform the caste system to solve the problem of untouchability.
This category is further divided into bhakti movements, neo-vedantic movements and the
sanskritization movements.
Bhakti: worshiping God through devotion and personal communication. All bhakts are equal
before God. After the 15th century, the movement developed two traditions: saguna (believing in
mostly Vishnu or Shiv, subscribing to the varnashrama dharma, preaching equality) and nirguna
(formless universal god).
→ Originally born to oppose Brahmanical hierarchical order, it was adopted by urban dalits in the early
20th century since it allowed for the salvation of all.

Neo-vedantic movements: Initiated by hindu religious and social reformers – attempted to

remove untouchability by taking them into the fold of the caste system. The founder of Arya
Samaj (Dayanand Saraswati) goes on to say that the caste system was created for the good of
society. Says some bullshit about how any shudra can become a Brahmin and vice versa.

Neo vedantic movements played an important role in developing anti-caste or anti-Hinduism

dalit movements. Examples: Adi-Dharma, Self-respect movement and Adi-Andhra.

(b) Alternative: it attempts to create an alternative socio-cultural structure by conversion to

some other religion or by acquiring education, economic status or political power. This
category is further divided into the conversion movement and the religious and secular
movement.

→ Ghanshyam Shah proposed another classification system in the context of Dalit identity and
ideology.
(a) Movements with cultural consensus
(b) Competing ideology and non-Hindu identity
(c) Buddhist Dalits
These are based around religious ideologies
(d) Counter ideology and dalit identity
Based on class.

Adi-movements:
→ The Adi-Andhra’s movement aim was to have untouchables constituted as a quam or distinct
religious community. The movement made its mark in the 1930s. This movement proved that
the dalits were capable of mobilizing for their own benefit.
→ Nandini Gooptu states that the colonizers had the belief that untouchables had a separate
racial origin. They believed that the caste system originated from the Dravidian and Aryan
interactions.
→ Adi movements were never a full blown attack on the caste system.

Satnami Path:
→ Ghansidas, the founder of the Satnami Path in Chhattisgarh threw Hindu gods and goddesses in the
rubbish heap and rejected the discriminatory caste social order.
→ Over time, Satnami Path became a part of mainstream Hindu order.
→ The brahmanical symbols originally rejected by Ghansidas became a part of the 20th century Satnami
Path.

The section of untouchables who could improve their economic condition, by abandoning or
continuing their traditional occupations, initiated strugrles for higher status in the caste
hierarchy. They justified it by inventing suitable mythologies.

Most untouchables have however are still treated like untouchables at their residences. The
Shanars and Nadars of Tamil Nadu, and the Iravas of Kerala have managed to break the line of
untouchability.

According to the SNDP Yogam (Association for the Maintenance of Dharma, an Irava
association), their lower caste status was due to their low social and religious practices. They
could attain equality through emulating higher caste practices like worshipping brahmminical
gods. The SNDP Yogam also sought to develop the economic strength of the Iravas, propagate
a self help ethic, and sanskritize the norms and customs of the Iravas.

Ambedkar’s Anti-Caste Movements

Major untouchability movement in 1920s in Maharashtra. He saw politics as a means to

achieve social and economic equality.

Organized the Independent Labor party to protect the rights of the laboring class - dominated
by Mahars. It did not make much of an impact. Their political movement overrode efforts to
claim religious rights, failed to represent class or labor, and became more of a caste association
in politics.

Ambedkar also formed the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) to look after reservation of jobs
and political positions. This later was converted to the Republican Party which was to have a
broader base by including SCs, STs, and backward castes.

The dalits demanded an electorate in the 1930s, whcih caused conflcit among the leaders.
GAndhi did not think untouchability was a political issue. Trilok Nath said that the Poona Pact
led the Scs to feel “politically cheated”.
In the 1930s, Ambedkar concluded that the only way to achieve equality was to renounce
Hinduism; he instead recommended Buddhsim. “You have nothing to lose but your religion.” In
19556, Ambedkar and many followers, mainly Mahars, converted to Buddhism. Wilkinson and
Thomas say that while there wasn’t any difference socially or occupationally, they did become
more militant.

The Maharashtrain Dalits launched the Dalit Panthers movement in the early 1970s. The
movement condemned dominant culture and tried to build an alternative one. This was mostly
done through literature, but this was not read by the dalit masses at the time. Sharmila Rege
said that the movement ignored Dalit women.

Harijan laborers in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Maharashtra and
Uttar pradesh participated in land grab movements and struggles for higher wages.
Organizations like the Rural Community Development Association (RCDA), the Harijan
Laborers’ Association, Agricultural Workers’ Association, the Rural Harijan Agricultural
Development Association and Association of Rural Poor helped organize and mobile masses for
issues related to wages and untouchability, which led to the “conscientisation” of the oppressed.
A concept from Brazilian leader Paulo Freire, it means when the oppressed gain consciousness
about their socio-economic conditions which keep them oppressed.

The activists also realized that only inlcuidng harijans was breaking the unity of the agricultural
laborers and this included marginal farmers.

Dalits were enthusiastic about Ambedkar’s vision for Dalit identity, putting up his statues no
matter how low their income was.

The statues or pictures of Ambedkar stood for the values of education, success, contribution to
politics of India, courage, and empowerment through contribution to India.

There were several movements where the dalits would leave their villages and demand for
allocation of separate land from the government. In a successful movement in Gujarat, the
Dalits had declared that the did not want to be pitied and wanted the respect they deserved.

Organization and Leadership

Mark Juergensmeyer, in his study of Adi Dharma, said that while the vision for the movement
was of unity, the movement was split into the educated leadership and illiterate followers. The
movement showed signs of breakage due to these differences.

Ambedkar was undoubtedly the most important leader in the Dalit movement. According to
Zeillot, Ambedkar planned his program around bringing the Dalits from a state of
‘dehumanization’ and slavery to equality through education and exercise of political and legal
rights.
However, he also needed to bring to light the differences that were apparent in the lives of Dalits
and other higher castes to show the discrimination they faced. He thus advocated for separatist
policy which accentuated caste distinctions to create a society where caste identities would not
matter (eventually).

Mangoo Ram was a leader of the Adi Dharma movement. He was not a pious man but fulfilled
the role of a religious broker, by making religious symbols and ideas more accessible.

Participants

Though economic differences between the harijan communities are ignored, scholars point out
the differences in the SCs socially and economically. The leaders of such movements come
from such economically better communities.

The Mahars have been very active in the movement and were able to break traditional notions,
which Zelliot says, is due to the small gap between the elite and the masses.

Conclusion

The dalit movements have been dominated by the middle class however, thy have not been
successful in getting it to the regional level.

The movements have forced academic scholars to review Indian culture, traditions and norms.
The movements have also built up pressure on the ruling classes. But some scholars feel that
the Dalits have been reduced to a pressure group and have lost their revolutionary edge.

Reading 7: The Political and Social in the Dalit Movement today

2007 is the most significant year in the history of the Dalit movement – rise in Dalit assertion.

Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh saw many Dalits converting to
Buddhism & the BSP won in UP.

Essential task of modern social movements: dignified social and political identity of Dalits.

Conflicting relationship between the identity given to Dalits and the ones they've created for
themselves.

The non-Dalit identities form narrow and exclusive cultural narratives which are often based in
prejudice. These identities are spread among the people to create a single cultural identity,
which is used to preserve traditional domination. The imaginary political Hindu, the modern
liberal secular citizen, the Marxist proletariat, parochial Dravidian are some of these modern
entitlements that aim to create a “common universal identity” that surpasses all internal division
due to religious, class and social status.

The Dalit political discourse legitimizes their thirst for political power.
The two types of political discourse (to understand the aspirations of modern Dalits):

1. Rejection of the political domination by the “manuvadis” became the mantra of the new Dalit
political ideology.

2. Ambedkarite Buddhists challenged the regressive model of social system and were hopeful
of a modern social order based on human values. This alternative religious identity helps them
create new cultural symbols.

Recent transformations: the Dalits who converted to Buddhism and the BSP win under the
leadership of a Dalit woman.

Ambedkar and the Dalit Identity

Dalits have struggled with the identity given to them, and constructing an alternate one.
Ambedkar was successful in formulating a separate Dalit identity.

Demonstrated that the exploitative relationship between “untouchables” and other Hindus was
due to the Brahminic counter-culture which destroyed the Buddhist civilization and enslavement
of the Buddhist population.

-He believed that any reform in Hinduism was impossible and hence criticized the Bhakti
movements and reformists.

- In 1936, in response to questions about Dalit political and social identity, he took two actions -
he converted to Buddhism, and he founded the Independent Labor Party. The reason for it lies
in his understanding of the social and political nature of India.

Secularism: Important for Ambedkar

- He noted that religion as a political identity was dangerous in a multi-religion country like India.

- Ambedkar knew that introducing a separate religion for Dalits would be dangerous for India's
secular polity, but he also thought that Hinduism's impure view of Dalits was responsible for
their undignified social status.

-He wanted to use Buddhism not only to even out social inequalities but also to establish
concrete moral norms.

Morality as a Common Signifier

Like Machiavelli, Ambedkar established a relationship between religion and politics using
morality.

Dalits were not allowed a proud legacy of cultural past, social relationships of dignity, and liberty
to acquire the fruits of labor that religion as a social identity usually gives. These were acquired
through the COI.

He respected the individual liberty, human rights, and scientific progress of the West. He
imagined that the same principles were present in Buddhism as well. He saw Buddhism as a
social doctrine that would bridge the new political ideals to the norms under which the Dalits
were living.
Ambedkar put great emphasis on the goals of social transformation.

Even though he had vowed to devote his life to Buddhism, he recognized his influential position
in society and thus started the Republican Party of India (RPI). Societal reforms via the COI
became his primary task. Thus, his party never constructed a political agenda or ideology but
rather revolved around social change. He aspired to bring about change through non-violent,
collective cultural resistance. Post-Ambedkar movements in Maharashtra and UP have not
maintained his ideals.

Dalit-Buddhist Movement in Maharastra: Limitations

Dalits in Maharashtra created a new culture around Buddha by putting up statues everywhere.
Buddhist literature also became part of the Dalit life with revolutionary songs, plays, and
autobiographies.

It freed the Mahars from the inferiority they held in their own consciousness.

The movement succeeded socially, culturally, and economically. The Buddhist movement only
failed politically as leaders post-Ambedkar failed to assert themselves as the heirs of his socio-
political legacy.

RPI and Dalit Panthers

RPI was grasped very quickly by the self-interested Mahars. This led to the eventual refusal of
non-Mahar Dalits to be represented or led by them.

The RPI failed to mobilize the power of backward castes, non-Mahar Dalits and Muslims against
the Congress, and mostly worked against the original ethos.

In attempts to remain visible in politics, they also formed alliances with the Congress which
made them further negligible in politics and a stooge (a subordinate used by others to carry out
unpleasant routine work) to elites.

The Dalit Panthers had a radical socio-political program. But conflict between the two most
dynamic and popular leaders - Dhasal and Dhale - over the importance of Buddhism in the
social transformation. The movement broke into two factions. Dhasal took the Marxist class
perspective and Dhale used the Ambedkarite Buddhist model to bring social change.

The movement suffered from a direct attack by militant Hindutva forces, lack of infrastructure,
and lack of a sound political vision.

The Buddhist movement post Ambedkar has lost significance, and now only a small collection of
intellectuals, bureaucrats and politicians use Buddhist symbols for personal interests or to
criticize other politicians.

The Buddhist movement has whittled down to faith-based organizations with enthusiasts of
questionable interests and non-Dalit Buddhist organizations who disregard the importance of
the Buddhist conversion movement entirely.

The RPI and Dalit Panthers tried to utilize the newly created Buddhist identity, but
overestimated its political power.
The BSP and the New Dalit Political Ideology

BSP under the leadership of Kanshi Ram has brought significant change in the Dalit masses by
bringing social ideology, political strategy, and an umbrella identity with a futuristic vision.

The BSP from the beginning had a vision to work for the down-trodden people in society.

Ambedkar knew that the Dalits were oppressed and ostracized not only socially, culturally, and
economically, but also politically. Therefore, he made the capture of political power a main
objective.

-Kanshi Ram coined the category 'Bahujan' to overturn the perception that the deprived classes
were submissive bearers of political power. The Bahujan identity rejects formulations based on
class, religion and secularism, as it legitimizes the power of the upper castes over the rest.

Democratic Political Alliance

Alternative conceptualization of a political party.

Social identity replaces class identity and gives autonomy to each cultural, social and religious
group before forming the alliance.

The Bahujan identity does not believe in the total submission of the deprived communitarian
identities to become one nor does it believe in a complete submission of the political elite for
Dalit agenda to prevail.

Bahujan identity is an alliance of India's deprived classes under the leadership of the most
exploited castes in India, the Dalits.

BSP mobilizes its large target voters by promising that power is the key through which social,
political, economic and cultural problems can be solved.

“Dalitness” is the core of the party, and they aim to overthrow the social, cultural, political and
economic domination of the higher castes.

Limitations of the BSP as a Social Movement

Firstly, the BSP can stay in power due to a community which has been condemned by Bahujans
to be shrewd and greedy for power. This can dilute the important issues of social justice, law
order and secularism.

Secondly, in its thirst for power, the BSP might forget its primary aim to empower the Bahujans.

Openness to non-Bahujans while trying to capture “sarvajan” could tempt manuvadis to seize
control over them again.

-The overemphasis on political power as the only route underestimates the control of social and
cultural forces in society. Even Ambedkar has warned against using only political power as the
way to achieving emancipation.

Tenets of Social Movements

The social movements of India's deprived classes are based on 3 tenets.

1. Social movements identify the basis of the exploitation by identifying the exploiter and
exploited parties. In India, caste categories of impure and pure become the base of
categorization.

2. In an oppressive social society, the movement challenges the domination of the oppressed in
all arenas of civilization.

3. The social movement imagines an alternative model for a better society.

A self-conscious dignified social identity, commitment to end the oppressive social order and a
hope for the establishment of an equal society are the basic tenets.

BSP as a social movement: BSP’s new mantra was to acknowledge every group’s credential
through their political representation. They located the Brahmin and Baniya castes as marginally
represented and thus it became their sole credential to be led by the BSP. This violates the first
principle of the democratic social movement on which India’s proletariat should have emerged.

Social and Political Agenda of Dalits

The Buddhist movement and the BSP go forward with different alternatives for social change
and are often antagonistic of each other.

The Buddhist movement was not successful in providing a political solution to the non-Buddhist
communities. The BSP was successful in providing Dalit leadership but did not provide a
suitable social environment for the Dalits.

Ambedkar was convinced that Buddhism had a moral doctrine with 2 objectives:

1. Politically, it would be helpful for the Dalits to create a non-communal political ideology and
be a good socio-political and cultural alternative to the existing perceptions of violent political
identities.

2. Socially, conversion would radically change the socio-cultural relationships in Indian society.

Buddhism would de-caste Hinduism. Conversion would facilitate a peaceful social

transformation as the nation progresses, as the Hindu system was bound to crumble with the
scientific stability of Buddhism and the irrationality of Brahminism.

Limits of Nominal Instrumentality

Caste has become a benchmark for political mobilizations to get political power.

Caste identity has a lot of social, cultural, and economic baggage that comes with it and hence
needs to be dealt with a sense of equal status, fraternity, and moral courage; otherwise, they
will get dominated by those in superior social statuses.

The Dalits acknowledge the BSP for achieving great political power, however, it must succeed
in changing the Dalits' social, cultural, and economic status.

The BSP also forms alliances with other caste-based groups, which goes against their ethos.
Social morality always changes, and the government constantly tries to legitimize society’s
demands - political socialization. But when the government imposes its own ideal of what is
good without proper political socialization, it faces opposition from the conservatives.

The modern nation-state generated hope that the modern constitution would bring about moral,
social, and economic change, thus changing the country's backward ways. However, this hope
never materialized in India for the following reasons:

1. Those who believe in the state's reforming tendency underestimate the conservatives' power.

2. The state, a democratic polity, does not have the power to bring about that much radical
change

3. They undermine the capacity of social movements to articulate and aggregate demands of
the public to the state.

Ambedkarite Dynamics

He knew the contradictions between modernity and the autonomy of conservative values in
society. He had 2 strategies to fight this:

1. Religious conversion would challenge the hegemony of the social elites.

2. In pursuing political power, the Dalits could create alliances with other marginalized groups
and establish social order.

Buddhist conversion movement argues for annihilation of caste and instead an ideology based
on social justice and equal opportunities. It constructs a positive fraternal and rational ethos
culture and symbolizes a reconstruction of society to bring “social democracy” into the limelight.
It necessitated a moral religion in the public domain.

Only the Mahar and the Mang castes have succeeded in using the Buddhist conversion
movement, but the other castes were left out of this purview.

Conclusions

The post-Ambedkar movements focused on political democracy by not giving importance to

Buddhism's socio-political and cultural notions. The objective of social democracy was sidelined
for political democracy.

Modern democracy ascertains the following 3 problems with Dalit politics:

1. It has a blurred, narrow, and power-centric view of the community's social, cultural, and
economic status.

2. It operates in the hierarchy circles without breaking the pure-impure dichotomy.

3. Upholds a strict and non-compromising attitude on the issues of leadership.

Reading 8: UN Conference against Racism: Is Caste Race?

The third UN World Conference against Racism (WCAR) focuses on the causes and
consequences of manifestations of racism. Dalit groups have decided to present their
manifestations at the conference. However, the Indian government has said that it will defeat
any movement to internationalize the issue of the caste system.

The government asserts that international organizations are unnecessary when dealing with
internal issues. The government has also been sensitive to SC and ST issues and has passed
multiple pieces of legislation to help them. The government also says it shouldn’t be discussed
at a conference about race.

Dalit groups have argued that the Hindu chauvinists would not want the problems of Hinduism
to be highlighted and hence fight the representation of caste issues. The ruling upper classes
are at stake.

Dalit activists have put forward 6 reasons why the issue should be discussed.

(1) One of the core themes which will be discussed is the issue of descent and occupation-
based discrimination. The government argued that caste was only social while race was
biological, but this argument is not realistic as caste is hereditary as well.

(2) Dalit groups have also refused to accept that caste is restricted to India. It is seen in Nepal
and Bangladesh as well. Japanese, Korean, and Nigerian communities see similar treatment.

(3) The non-governmental committee and the Asia-Pacific regional NGO coordination
committee of the UN conference have already agreed that the Dalit issue violates human rights
and should be discussed.

(4) India has ratified multiple Human Rights agreements. Thus, Dalit groups say India's
performance must be monitored through international organizations.

(5) Despite 76 years of independence, caste prevails as an issue. These conferences give the
Dalit groups a chance to raise awareness of the government's inability to take further action to
eradicate it.

(6) The UN is also a world government, and when human rights are grossly violated, the
citizens have no recourse but to take the issue to international communities to pressure the
state.

UN and Caste Discrimination

UN's committee has said that caste fits the conference theme.

They've instructed India to take actions like conducting thorough investigations, punishing those
responsible, giving reparations, campaigns to educate the Indian population on human rights,
and education programs to combat discrimination against marginalized communities.

The committee considered the widespread poverty, caste system, son preference, violence
against women, and gender disparities as bug hurdles to implementing the convention and is
concerned with the continuing discrimination Dalit women face even after the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The committee recognized the discriminatory nature of caste and placed it on a level similar to
race. The central issue is not whether caste is a race or race is a caste. Rather, it is whether
caste is a form of discrimination. Caste-based discrimination falls within Article 1 of the
Convention, which includes discrimination based on descent.

An author writing in the Hindu compared the two and called caste discrimination much worse.
Even in cases of natural disasters, relief immediately went to high caste areas but did not move
into Dalit areas. The inequality faced by Dalits is not only personal but also institutional. Racial
and caste groups also are endogamous. Both are social stratifications supported by social
institutions. In both race and caste theories, there is an attitude that the culture of the so-called
superior groups is better. What is the difference made between the upper castes in India and
the white race in Europe?

A group of 40 academicians, jurists, and representatives of civil society organizations from Dalit
communities agreed that caste-based discrimination was worse than racial discrimination.

Regardless of how many laws come out, the system permeates social life. It’s seen in separate
cups, different canteen use times, etc. They cannot enter temples and can't use the same taps.

“Inflicted by birth, sanctified by religion, glorified by tradition”

Caste and Race in the Indian Constitution

The COI recognizes caste in terms of race.

Article 15 - outlaws discrimination on any grounds

Article 16 - equality of opportunity; specifies caste as a ground of discrimination par with race.

Article 17 - abolition of untouchability; acknowledges the effect of caste-based discrimination as

equal to racial discrimination.

Article 23 - prohibits forced labor.

Article 29 - fundamental rights of minority groups.

Articles 331, 332, and 338 acknowledge caste discrimination as a form of racial discrimination.
Article 341 shows that castes are equated with race, and caste-based discrimination is more
than racial discrimination.

The Removal of Untouchability Act, 1955. which was amended and renamed to the Protection
of Civil Rights Act 1976.

A 9-judge bench defined caste as "nothing but a social class - a socially homogeneous class. It
is also an occupational grouping, with the difference that its membership is hereditary. One is
born into it. Its membership is involuntary. Even if one ceases to follow that occupation, still he
remains and continues to be a member of that group."

The Position of the UN

-International Convention on Civil and Political Rights; International Convention on Social,

Economic, and Cultural Rights; CERD, CEDAW, and International Labor Organization ignored
caste-based discrimination due to lack of awareness. They have, in recent years, acknowledged
them.

The first explicit reference was in the CERD report 1996.

One of the major obstacles to the recognition of caste-based discrimination was the language of
the UN. Being dominated by the West, the concepts are Euro-centric.

There was a need for the UN to become more inclusive of the issues in the East as well.

The Indian government, however seems to be working with other governments to stop
discussions on caste. The Western governments want to block discussions on colonialism in
Africa and racism of Israel towards other Arab countries. Hence, they will support blocking the
caste issue.

Reading 9: The Race for Caste

India had previously had a feel-good feeling at race conferences as India has been a stalwart of
freedom with many racial activists getting inspiration from Gandhian ideology. But India is
suddenly getting condemned for an internal practice upheld all along - caste.

Advocacy's Update - a book on human rights. Many movements like the Gandhian movement,
have failed, but they remain important. They are supplemented with the NGO as an agency and
interpreter.

So how does one fight the state? Change the discourse because the domain is not of reform but
of rights. The Dalit movement must become a human rights movement.

Advocacy Update's main and simple argument is that Caste and caste-based treatment has an
effect similar to racial treatment and hence should be included in those discussions and should
be treated with the same severity by the International Convention for Elimination of Race, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

The word Dalit was made by Jotirao Phule. It comes from the word “dal” which means broken or
crushed. In the Dalit journey, words are most important, names are crucial. Originally only used
for the Mahars in Maharashtra, it became a generic term for poor peasants, tribals, landless.
The names that they were eventually called by include: avarnas, chandalas, achchuts, pariahs,
untouchables, unapproachables, outcastes, exterior castes, ex-untouchables.

Prakasam: "Their identity was defined by the upper castes and the Dalits internalized this
identity."

Principles of the caste system: hierarchy, separation, interdependence.

Step one: changing the perception of the names and classification assigned to Dalits.

Step two: recognizing the relationship between hereditary occupations, pollution, and
powerlessness.

Step three: a structural resonance between race and caste.

Three (?) key terms determine segregation: pollution or dirt (they were associated with the
lowest and dirtiest of occupations, their touch was considered polluting, dirt also legitimized the
sexual abuse of Dalit women).

South Africa had apartheid as an official state ideology while India was constitutionally
responsible for the welfare of Dalits.

When the Dalits realized that fighting at state level was not enough, they knew they had to fight
the state due to their lack of political will and the internalization of caste practices.

The politics of guilt, attempted by Gandhi through naming Dalits Harijan, did not work. Gandhi's
politics robbed the Dalits of their legacy and prized possession, their anger. The state played at
the politics of humiliation which became a politics of waiting. The Dalits had to play a politics of
embarrassment to counter the state. To do so, one must master the politics of definitions and
procedures.

The first step was to fight for rights, a timely strategy due to the resurgence of democracy in
Africa and Europe. Everybody was ready to recognize rights, but there were 3 obstacles:

1. Fragmentation of the Dalit problem into gender poverty and other issues (issues of poverty
dissolved into development issues, and the sexual violence of Dalit women became a gender
issue).

2. The status of India as a democratic welfare state reduced the Dalit problem to seem
temporary and internal.

3. The scholarly world had reduced the Dalit issues to a problem of ethics and a
subcontinental issue, rather than an international problem.

The Kurds and Chiappas in Mexico, when faced with a similar problem of an entity that seems
to be a well-wisher but is really a bigger obstacle, turned to the internet and websites to make
an online community and rally support. India prefers public forums.

Step four: enter the politics of rights. We start with simple definitions because definitions can be
used to prove caste's position as a permanent, international problem concerning human rights.

The argument for human rights has two major challenges: first, the arguments that say that
human rights are not international and that values are antithetical to Asian values. Secondly,
there is also the effort to see caste as part of a civilization problem. The Dalit claim to modern
rights is criticized. The state’s approach to rights has been individualistic. However, Advocacy
Update says that Dalit human rights are distinct due to their group nature. Activists soon realize
that the best way is to argue the consequences.

The claim to entry to the International Convention's agenda is on two points: caste is similar to
race because history says so and we feel so. But these arguments are weak until the third
element of the legal text is used - descent.

Advocacy Update admits that efforts at the grass root level were not enough to mobilize public
opinion.
Dalit activists are clear that the discourse of caste being a cultural difference is not accepted.
The Asian Legal Resource Centre has said that the discourse created by the State seems
hegemonizing, dominant and oppressing.

But Dalit critique of the State seems naïve. Solutions like reservation seem hurried and
mechanical.

Andre Beteille has said that caste is not race and his words cannot be shrugged off due to his
credentials and intentions. Martin McWan's work 'Caste may not be race' moves between
system and the lifeworld, between lists of atrocities.

Ambedkar at the Round Table Conference of 1930-31 demanded that the lower castes would
not accept any self-rule constitution if they were not guaranteed equal rights and citizenship.
Ambedkar’s take was resented by many dominant leaders, who urged that the issue of the
untouchables was internal and could wait for after independence. Politics of waiting and politic
of right spaces.

An internal solution is when constitutional, democratic, and legal spaces are used to solve a
problem of their volition. Thus, the United Nations World Conference against Racism is an
internal mechanism as it was ratified by India of its own volition. Terrorism and undemocratic
methods fall under external solutions. Thus, appealing to international action is not an external
solution.

Yet how would Dalits react to well-wishers who think that a solution could have been worked out
within India's democratic system?

Dalits were the first to realize the link between globalization and the politics of human rights.

There are serious problems in McEwan’s paper as it fails to account for the diachrony (change
in events through time) which is necessary to understand the nature of the change. For
example, Advocacy Update uses the term Dalit from a politics of pain, but Dalit as a category
has a more variegated history.

Reading 10: Durban Review Conference and Caste-based Discrimination

- Caste based discrimination—prohibited by into law, discrimination on the basis of work and
descent

- HR violation mostly in S. Asia but also in Japan, Yemen, Some African nations and diaspora

- Hidden apartheid—segregation, modern-day slavery

- Must be taken up not only during the Durban conference but by all relevant UN human rights
bodies

- Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA) does not refer explicitly to caste-based
discrimination—provisions recognise racism and xenophobia on the basis of descent
- United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reaffirm that caste falls
under the aegis of the Race Convention

- Need to address the lack of a political will in some of the countries with the most engrained
caste systems

- RECOMMENDATIONS

- Discrimination based on work and descent—recognized as an expression of contemporary

manifestations of racial discrimination under the existing DDPA;

- Persons affected by this form of discrimination, including “untouchability”, explicitly

acknowledged as subjected to perennial and persistent forms of discrimination and abuse

- The Review Conference should include a reference to CERD General Recommendation No.
29, affirming the Committee’s interpretation of “descent” in article 1(1) of the ICERD—
recommend this framework as a basis for framing national government policies in affected
countries;

- Tackle the causes and consequences of this kind of discrimination—regret the continued lack
of political will in countries with the most ingrained caste systems;

- All States Parties should have National Plan of Action to implement the DDPA —
implementation should be ensured by special monitoring mechanisms involving the rights
holders to ensure accountability and transparency;

- The Durban Review Conference should recommend follow-up on the work that the former
Sub-commission had carried out on discrimination based on work and descent, in particular the
draft principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of this form of discrimination, and
promote the use of this framework;

- Discrimination against Dalit women and children should be recognized as falling under the
consideration of multiple forms of discrimination and corrective measures should be initiated at
all levels accordingly in all affected countries;

- Disaggregated data should be made available on the number of people affected by caste or
descent based discrimination in all affected countries;

- All UN agencies and other international agencies should ensure adequate focus on the issues
of social equity and education with special emphasis on unique features of discrimination and
exclusion, due to prevalence of this form of discrimination.

- Caste-based discrimination was not addressed in the DDPA adopted by the World Conference
Against Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban, South
Africa.

- Outcome document from 2001 refers to discrimination based on descent in several paragraphs
—with CERD’s interpretation of the term and subsequent practice means that caste-based
discrimination considered as a form of discrimination to be reviewed in the Review Conference.
- Despite non-recognition officially, caste and related forms of discrimination reached
international prominence and media exposure during WCAR and the preceding NGO Forum—
high degree of organization and visibility of the Dalit caucus.

- Caste may not be race but there is still discrimination on this ground.

- The argument that such discrimination cannot be equated with racism isn’t cause for its
rejection as a Human rights violation by Un mechanisms

- CERD affirms that the descent limb of article 1 of the convention includes casteist
discrimination and analogous forms of inherited social exclusion

- Gen Recommendation 29 on ‘descent-based discrimination’ (22 August 2002)

- Committee confirmed its consistent view that para 1, Article 1 does not refer solely to race—its
meaning and application can compliment other prohibited grounds of discrimination

- Reaffirmed that descent-based discrimination includes discrimination against members of

communities based on social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited
status which nullify/impair their equal enjoyment of human rights

- CERD practices confirm this view in several country reviews

- UN treaty body committees such as CESCR, CEDAW, CAT and CRC address caste
discrimination when reviewing state reports—caste discrimination falls within their purview as
well

- Special Rapporteur on racism has extensively addressed discrimination on grounds of caste

and other systems of inherited status as implicit in his mandate

- Other UN Special Procedures have also on several occasions expressed concern about caste-
based discrimination in reports and communications with governments.

- In a comprehensive study mandated by the former Commission on Human Rights (resolution

2005/109), the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has
prepared draft principles and guidelines to effectively eliminate “discrimination based on work
and descent”, which refer to any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on
inherited status such as caste, including present or ancestral occupation, family, community or
social origin, name, birth place, place of residence, dialect and accent.

Reading 11: Judicial Atrocity

- Bogey issue of PoA Act is an atrocity against Dalits and adivasis in itself—seeks to generalise
one case to rewrite a law—transfer judicial functions to police—prevent the immediate arrest of
perps—makes the act toothless

- Judgement further exposes D&As to casteist oppression—emboldens perpetrators of atrocities

- Bench—AK Goal, UU Lalit, Appellant Subhash Kashinath Mahajan against Bom HC, declined
to quash PoA complaint against A by an SC employee
- Judgement—in case of a PoA complaint against a public servant, arrest only to b made after
approval of the appointing authority, and non-public servant after approval from senior SI of
police (purportedly to stop misuse of the provision)

- Encroachment upon the legislative power of the Parliament by the judiciary

- Art 17 abolishes untouchability but it persisted, Untouchability (Offences) Act enacted in 1955,
didn’t curb atrocities due to legal loopholes

- Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran assassinated in Paramkud TN for defying caste-based

interdicts on Dalits—led to Ramanathapuram riots of 1957

- 1960s, land reform legislation and green revolution created a class of wealthy farmers from the
populous Shudra caste band—Dalits became a rural impoverished proletariat

- Class contradiction between Dalit farm labourers and capitalist farmers unleashed a new wave
of caste-based atrocities on Dalits

- Kilvenmani, 1968: 44 dalits, mainly women and children brutally massacred by landlords—
murders, rapes, lynchings, brutalities erupted across the country

- Killing of Arikatla Kotesu, a Dalit boy, in Kanchikacherla, 1969, killing of 10 Adivasis by

Indravalli police, Andhra Pradesh, 1978, massacres of SCs in Belchi, 1979, Kafalta, 1980, UP—
SC groom murdered for riding on horseback for his wedding, Bachhdas killed in Mandsaur
district, MP, 1982, 15 STs killed by police firing at Banjhi, Sahibganj, erstwhile Bihar (now
Jharkhand).

- Punishments from PCRA were inadequate—less than equivalent IPC offences

- Needed a more comprehensive and punitive Act in the wake of Dalit indignation—protect SCs
and STs from violence from other communities—PoA act

- Bal Thackeray and others like him raised bogey issues of Act misuse since its genesis

- Misuses of any law is pervasive on the part of resourceful people—applies to state as well
when it blatantly violates not just ordinary laws but the Constitution as well

- Many people charged and incarcerated as Maoists and Naxalites by police—blatant misuse of
law—Arts 14 and 21 violated when bail refused to these cases

- Since PoA Act implemented, NCRB data on atrocities against Dalits risen consistently—
50,000+—six atrocities per hour

- Non-dalit community grudge + agrarian crisis in rural India against perceived state
appeasement of Dalits intensified w PoA—atrocities on the slightest provocation

- State administrative machinery controlled by local politicians from perpetrating communities

dismissed crimes

- Police would not register charges, obstruction, don’t register unless there is social pressure,
fail to apply appropriate sections, weaken the case during investigation, handled shoddily by
prosecutor, lower court judge, even if well-meaning, will have to acquit the accused—abysmally
low conviction rate—roughly single digit across states

- April 2012, then Union of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Mukul Wasnik lamented
that conviction rates were 3-8% and pendency in court were 80-90%

- 2017, The Hindu—94% cases in TN in the past six years result in acquittals—post exposure
statistics jumped 20% but half the cases are registered under IPC

- SC judgement cites NCRB data saying 5347 false SC cases in 2016 and 912 for Sts, 15638
cases decided by courts, 11024 resulted in acquittal or discharge, 495 withdrawn 4119
convictions—how do false cases reach trial stage if investagted by responsible police officers?

- Are false cases frivolous? Sans evidence? Parameters for acquittal, but if large numbers of
genuine cases end in acquittal, the false case category is beyond comprehension

- Social activist Vajibhai Patel of the Council for Social Justice, Ahmedabad exposed the poor
set of PoA implementation in Gujarat

- Analysed 450 judgements since 1 April 1995 in the special courts in 16 districts of Gujarat

- Shocking pattern behind case collapse—negligent police investigation coupled with hostile
public prosecutors

- 95% cases result in acquittals due to technical lapses in investigation and the 5% because of
the government flouting court directives

- Policemen give false evidence to protect the accused and prosecutors mislead the courts

- PoA specifies that cases under it are to be investigated by a police officer no lower than the
rank of DySP. Acquittals happen just because investigation done by a lower ranked officer, or if
victim’s caste certificate was not attached with the complaint

- S. 4 of the Act, a non-SC/ST public servant wilfully neglecting his duties under PoA is
punished w imprisonment for 6-12 mo. Even though the court passes strictures against such
police officers in 95% of cases studied by the CSJ, the GoGJ doesn’t punish them, but gives
them promotions

- This shows the reality of PoA implementation, which is analogous across the country—not a
single public servant from the police, PP and judiciary has been punished though they are all
negligent

- Courts decline to apply —crime not committed due to victim’s caste

- Infamous caste crime Khairlanji, court declined to see caste angle and apply PoA

- Jajjhar, 2002—5 dalits mob-lynched by Vishva Hindu Parishad—PoA not applied, accused
‘didn’t know the caste of victims’—entire village knew

- Single pretext can effectively neutralise PoA

- Judges expect perp to shout out that they’re doing it because of caste while committing crimes
(jeez)

- Judgement infirmities— violates Constitution—seeks to rewrite the Act, domain of parliament.

Sc can only advise the Parliament if it finds any law violative of the Constitution, but cannot
rewrite the law or associated rules/regulations

- Appellant gets bail and invoking Art 14 & 21 is uncalled for

- If under the act even humiliating an Sc person by his caste name constitutes an atrocity, what
is the priori criteria for deciding the truth/falsehood of a case

- Appellant’s prayer is to quash the case against him, not the Act—judges cannot generalise a
particular instance without adequate backing

- After FIR and chargesheet, judge must adjudicate the veracity of the facts of the case—how
can police perform a judicial function?

- Judgment brought all Dalit Rams (Ram Vilas Paswan, Udit (Ram) Raj,

- and Ramdas Athawale)—busy

- playing Hanuman to the BJP—an opportunity to show their concern for their constituency.

- Never opened their mouth at the Modi government’s persistent attacks on Dalits (reduction in
scholarships and privatisation of higher education)

- Clutch this issue because it is against the judiciary—None of them intervened in the agitation
of the students of TISS, Mumbai who have raised these issues.

- In all probability, this judgment will be reversed either through judicial review or legislation of
Parliament, but not without claiming political windfall by the BJP in this election year.

Misconstruction of the Anti-atrocities Act’s Misuse

- “Final reports”—official term for closed cases under the PoA—are they justified?

- Popularly accepted that the Act is misused by SCs against UCs, but no acknowledgement of
its misuse by UCs using SCs as proxy

- Legal proposition are to be accepted not because of ratione imperii, but because of imperio
rationis (not reason of power, but power of reason)—Pierre Bourdieu says it is difficult to find
pure reason or pure power

- People obey the court because they have to—Mahajan judgement the culmination of a
discourse that portrayed the PoA as more misused than used—relied on 3 HC judgements that
were more illustrative than exhaustive and the 2016 NCRB report, Crime in India
- No other academic/government study on misuse of PoA quoted—article attempts to prove
NCRB data irrelevant—making it reliant on pure judicial acknowledgements

- Starkly contrasts judgement on reservations in promotion (M Nagaraj & Ors v UoI & Ors, 2006)
—emphasises importance of statistics

- False cases constitute a major part of final reports—final report of a state in north India,
commissioned by the state govt and approved by the police department

- Study aims to find if final reports are justified or not—498 cases, 602% ‘of a civil nature’,
3.41% “mistake of fact”, 89.36% “false”

- Misuse of PoA hinges on these false cases—figures under IPC are compared to PoA, pattern
in false cases is opposite to that of ‘true but insufficient evidence’

- False—IPC 3.67%, PoA 13.58%—true but insufficient—IPC 19.86%, PoA 4.92%

- Rate of filing of chargesheets in the court is inversely proportional to the income of the
accused, Indian police are typically weak towards the strong and strong towards the weak

- False cases under caste neutral legislation appear fewer compared to those under an Act
dealing with the weak and the marginalised

- True but insufficient evidence creates a safe passage for the accused with police benefit of
doubt, but the at stops this—scope for sensationalism If only the number of false cases is
looked at w/o context

- Registration of cases can be seen as suspicion, chargesheet ad accusation and judgement as

conviction/acquittal—false case not even a suspicion, but police opinion that a case is not true

- It can be suspicion with relevant IPC sections applied and action recommended—47 of 461
final reports recommend IPC application for lodging false cases—in practice, police imposed
them only on 10% of false cases, although all of them would attract the sections

- If one is entitled to the presumption of innocence at the trial stage, complainant is fully entitled
to the presumption of innocence at the stage of false case in the final report—presumption of
innocence holds , charge of misuse cannot hold

- Final reports classified as justfied, not justified or inconclusive (interview data of accused,
complainant, witnesses and final police record)

- Justified—police rightfully concluded final report, not justified—exact opposite, inconclusive—

not enough data to comment

- Justified doesnt mean that nothing happened, it means there was no violation of substantive
justice—wrongs may be committed staying well within the right side of the law—complainants
son abdicated land in favour of accused by signing documents after people got him drunk and
lured him with the promise of taking him to Italy—little police intervention possible in such cases

- 42 justified, 29 not justifies, 2 inconclusive—40% of ‘false’ cases are false—power differential

of perp and victim significant in deciding whether a case is categorised as false
- 7 cases of misuse—incident probably didnt happen, but complainant was a pawn or UC rivalry
in 2 cases

- UCs misuse the Act to settle scores using SC/STs as proxy

- 461 reports, 6 districts—57 such cases, relevant IPC sections invoked for false cases against
complainant, no final report recommended action against abettor

- UCs misuse tha ct due to their power imbalance, they are trusted with enforcing the law—
complainant is on the wrong side of the law, weak position of the complainant forces them to
allow the case to die

- In a case of a road built through land allotted but unoccupied, villagers alleged it had become
‘common’, victim owed compensation by govt for building road without verification, no ambiguity
—land belongs to complainant, but no proactive measure against the offenders—administrative
structure bias mimics that of the social structure

- In an instance where a Dalit sweeper was abused and threatened with removal for the village
with no fault, the panchayat removed his hut in the encroachment—but the encroachment was
because he was landless—legal wrong helped police wash their hands of the incidents—a legal
win for the victim would be an economic loss, which they cannot afford—the case collapses
directly or indirectly

- Rajinama/samhauta/samjhai compounds the case tho PoA is non compoundable—cited as

evidence of misuse—if true no one would compound it, but people are forced

- 81 cases mention rajinama, explicitly/implicitly—15/71 resulted in one—not justified, 8/29

cases—not per se injustice, but illegal as the offence is non-compoundable—rajinama under
duress illegal and unjust—suggested by villagers/policemen, sarpanch, village elders—
compulsion to stay in the village

- Only 42.31% of plaintiffs, accused, witnesses aware of PoA—only one complainant talked
about compensation—35.21% complainants dont know their cases have become final reports—
dubious allegation that false cases are filed for compensation, may not get compensation from
lodging a case but will definitely incur the wrath of UCs on whom they are dependent

- First choice, voluntary/forced is to register a case through the court, not the police SI—
indicates the distance

- SSP has a busy schedule and may not do due diligence before approving/witholding arrest
order

- PoA has no specific guidelines regarding arrest—arrest not a must post FIR—SSP approval
will only cause delays like the committal procedure would delay cognisance by sessions court

- Untouchability abolished by Art 17—but caste system prevails, justified by Rig Veda,
Manusmriti, protected under freedom of religion as essential parts of Hinduism

- Actual/potential stratified-cum-identities cannot be abolished, their sharp edges must be

removed—PoA is one such legal measure, there needs too be legal measures against indirect
discrimination
Misuse of PoA Act

- Toned down PoA based on incorrect facts and faulty logic—FIR filing and arrests impossible in case of
caste atrocities w/o remedy to SCs/STs against discrimination and violence

- S. 18 toned down—no FIR w/o preliminary inquiry, no arrest w/o written permission of the appointing
authority if the accused is a public servant, and SSP if non-public servant

- Court relied on BR Ambedkar’s Constituent Assembly speech calling caste anti national as they cause
separation in social life, generate jealousy and antipathy—different context entirely—caste in a singular
number is an unreality, castes only exist in the plural—annihilation of the totality of castes, ie the entire
caste system

- Not only notional—a fundamental social reality, of which violence against SC/STs is a brutal
manifestation

- An egalitarian constitution needs to eradicate the graded inequality of the caste-ridden social order—
establish equality and fraternity—Ambedkar urged for eradication of the social and economic inequality in
Indian society

- PoA a furtherance of Art 14, 17, 21—laws brought about social transformation in the 19th and 20th
centuries—criminal law curbing deviance through deterrence—fear used to ensure change in social
attitudes—Art 17 abolishes untouchability, makes it illegal—Untouchability (Offences) Act to criminalise,
later the Protection of Civil Rights Act, then PoA—due to inadequacy of pre existing in protecting life and
property of SC/STs

- Demand by SC/Sts for justice is not an assertion of caste nor is it tantamount to casteism, it is a claim
for equality from the most underprivileged strata of society—claim against caste humiliation/violence is
not an act of perpetuating casteism

- Indira Sawhney v UoI—Art 16(2)—prohibits casteist discrimination—caste rearing its ugly head, a threat
to secularism and national integrity, quoted without context—no logical connection to ‘checking the false
implication of innocent citizens along caste lines’

- Judicially acknowledged that Act is abused by vested interests against political opponents in elections,
to settle property, monetary, seniority and employment disputes— relied upon two high court decisions in
Dhiren Prafulbhai Shah v State of Gujarat (2016), and Sharad v State of Maharashtra (2015) to
substantiate the “judicial acknowledgement”

- Counsel against the appellant contended the where the law is clear, no guidelines need be issued by the
court—PoA amendment bill stated that there were procedural hurdles such as non-registration of cases,
delays in investigation, arrests and chargesheet filing, delays in trial and low conviction rates—atrocities
against SC/STs continue necessitating amendments

- Court ignored this and only relied on NCRB data—even though number of atrocities increased in 2016—
a number of the trials under the act the same year were pending from the previous, only a fraction of trials
are completed, a smaller fraction of which result in conviction—Court only looked at cases found to be
‘false’ post investigation, ignore increase in rate of atrocities and low conviction rate

- Maharashtra polic had informed govt that there was no substance to the claim of widespread misuse—
doesn’t look into the reasons for acquittal of the accused

- Police refuse to register complaints/FIRs or use PoA provisions, counter cases/false cases filed by
perpetrators in collusion w police, no immediate arrests, not all witnesses cross-examined/interviewed, no
protection to victims and families during investigations—counter case investigations get done faster than
PoA investigations

- Testimonies of victims/witnesses not corroborated with chargesheet, vital info deliberately left out to
weaken vcases, non-etablishement of fast-tracking trough special courts, non-appointment/poor capacity
of special public prosecutors, delays in trials due to parties not appearing in court, arguments taking up
time, courts being overburdened, lengthy investigations—hardly any public servants convicted under S4
for neglect of duty

- SC judgement by larger bench—National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights v UoI—National Campaign

on Dalit Human Rights seeking direction from court due to non implementation of PoA—acknowledged
failure on part of the authorities in complying, attitude defeats object of the Act

- Mahajan makes anticipatory bail mandatory under PoA—Section 18 of the same act expressly exempts
the operation of Section 438 of the CrPC that allows for anticipatory bail.

- In the State of Madhya Pradesh v Ram Krishna Balothia (1995) case, the Supreme Court held that
Section 18 of the PoA Act does not violate Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution—the exclusion of
Section 438 of the CrPC from the PoA Act had to be viewed in the context of the prevailing social
conditions—perpetrators of such atrocities are likely to threaten and intimidate victims and prevent or
obstruct the prosecution of offenders, if they are granted anticipatory bail.

- In Mahajan, “ Exclusion of anticipatory bail has been justifi ed only to protect victims of perpetrators of
crime. It cannot be read as being applicable to those who are falsely implicated for extraneous reasons
and have not committed the offence on prima face independent scrutiny.”

- To support its argument the Court cited provisions of the TADA Act; UAPA, MCOC and NDPS

- in special legislations like TADA Act, MCOCA and others, the impact of release of persons on bail was
considered by the legislature not only at the stage of grant of anticipatory bail, but even post-arrest at the
stage of grant of regular bail—tried to identify an ambiguity vis-à-vis anticipatory and regular bail in the
PoA Act to allow for the provision of anticipatory bail.

- “Theoretically, it is possible to say that an application under Section 438 of the Code may be rejected by
the Court because of express restrictions in Section 18 of the Act but the very same court can grant bail
under the provisions of Section 437 of the Code, immediately after the arrest. There seems to be no
logical rationale behind this situation of putting a fetter on grant of anticipatory bail whereas there is no
such prohibition in any way for grant of regular bail. It is, therefore, all the more necessary and important
that the express exclusion under Section 18 of the Act is limited to genuine cases and inapplicable where
no prima facie case is made out.”

- The reason for denial of anticipatory bail in atrocity cases is justified because the legislation stands on a
different footing as compared to other criminal laws—S3 offences denigrate members of Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the eyes of society—prevent them from leading life of dignity and self-
respect—committed to humiliate and subjugate members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes—
keeping them in a state of servitude—constitute a separate class and cannot be compared with offences
under the Penal Code.

- Amendments to PoA, 2016—victim to be heard in respect of bail, discharge, conviction, release, parole,
sentence of accused—double check on regular bail

- Vilas Pandurang Pawar v State of Maharashtra (2012) and Shakuntla Devi v Baljinder Singh—no
absolute bar to anticipatory bail in absence of prima facie case, despite S18 validity
- Manju Devi v Onkarjit Singh Ahluwalia—there is justification for an apprehension that if the benefit of
anticipatory bail is made available to the persons who are alleged to have committed such offences, there
is every likelihood of their misusing their liberty while on anticipatory bail to terrorize their victims and to
prevent a proper investigation. It is in this context that Section 18 has been incorporated in the SC/ST Act.

- Mahajan—anticipatory bail can be granted (i) if no prima facie case is made out, (ii) it is a case of patent
false implication, or (iii) if the allegation is motivated for extraneous reasons—latter 2 new reasons—
completely opposed the essence of the 2 judgements they sought to clarify—case decided per incuriam,
last 2 grounds not explained—what if the courts opinion of the case is wrong, esp if they do not do a
critical analysis of evidence on record?

- When a statutory provision is clear and not ambiguous, the court should not interpret it in such a manner
that it loses its original meaning—purposive interpretation of PoA only fulfils the legislative purposes of
the act—should be within limits, cant cross line b/w construction and legislation—purpose read is foreign
to the actual purpose

- Preliminary enquiry by DySP—caste atrocities need immediate action, FIR sets criminal law machinery
in motion—police can’t refuse to register a complaint, if this happens, aggrieved may send info to the SI
by post, but FIRs remain unregistered, officers do nit register unless directed by the DSP, registered FIRs
not registered under PoA, delay used to pressurise victims to take back complaints

- Law should not result in caste hatred—what about the phenomenon of filing robbery cases against
D&As to suppress atrocity complaints?

- All PoA offences are cognisable in Mahajan, but court takes away police discretion to arrest in PoA
cases w/o higher authority’s permission, even if reasonably convinced w credible info—violation will result
in disciplinary action and contempt of court charges

- No remedy to SC/STs—complaints will most likely be declared “frivolous” or “motivated” at the end of
the preliminary enquiry by the DSP and result in non-registration of FIRs.

- Mahajan judgment has rendered this right of the SCs and the STs to be held ransom to the mercy of
senior police officers.

- If the culprit is not arrested, or he is set free on bail, or after the conviction he is given the benefit of
Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, it results in boosting the courage/impunity of upper castes in general
and perpetrators in particular in committing further crimes against SCs and STs.

- We have the most egalitarian Constitution, but the regime that operates it has sustained a society that is
the most inegalitarian.

- To name a few violent crimes against Dalits in post-independence India: Kilvenmani (44 Dalits burnt
alive in Tamil Nadu, 1968), Belchi (14 Dalits burnt alive in Bihar, 1977), Karamchedu (six Dalits murdered,
three Dalit women raped and many more wounded in Andhra Pradesh, 1984), Chunduru (nine Dalits
massacred and dumped in a canal in Andhra Pradesh, 1991), Melavalavu (an elected Dalit panchayat
leader and fi ve Dalits murdered in Tamil Nadu, 1997), Kambalapalli (six Dalits burnt alive in Karnataka,
2000), Jhajjar (five Dalits lynched near a police station in Haryana in 2003), Khairlanji (four members of a
Dalit family brutally murdered by villagers in Maharashtra, 2006), Sunpedh (two Dalit toddlers were burnt
alive in Ballabhgarh, Haryana, 2015),

- there is no logical connection between the authorities cited by the Court and the conclusion of misuse of
the PoA Act—The Court made its argument with a prejudiced perception of the functioning of the act—
failed to recognise the overall non-implementation of the PoA Act and the reasons for low conviction and
high acquittals therein.
Reading 13: Adivasi: A Contentious Term to denote Tribes as Indigenous Peoples of
India

In India, Adivasi is used more commonly by NGO circles, activists of “mainland” Indian, and
tribals of central India.

The term Adivasi has a political meaning, as it is used to show their excluded position and
subaltern status. The term is said to empower the tribals by focusing on their resistance,
protests and struggles.

“Scheduled Tribes” is an administrative term to administer constitutional benefits and does not
match the ambit of Adivasi (Adivasi being much larger).

However, the COI refers to the STs as “Anusuchit Jana Jati” instead of Adivasi.

One of the main reasons to claim aboriginal status is to get land rights and control over natural
resources. However, Hindutva forces call the “vanvasi” and force an image of “primitiveness”.
Gandhains also considered them “vanyajati”.

Anthropologists and sociologists remaining indifferent or passively supporting the use of Adivasi
jeopardizes the rights of those living outside the heartland, because:

1. Imposing Hindi as the national and official state language reeks of North Indian
chauvinism.

2. Not all tribals are aboriginals of the place where they reside.

3. Tribes are not the only groups to claim aboriginal status. Dalit intellectuals have claimed
it as well.

The term Adivasi was used to refer to tea plantation laborers and thus some groups preferred to
be called their own name, finding it insulting.

The term Adivasi remains a generic name in East and North-East India for migrant tribal
laborers and small peasants from central India.

In most places in North Bengal and North-East India, Adivasis are considered to be
encroachers. Example: Naxalite uprising in the late 1960s. The Tribes in Arunachal Pradesh are
peeved by the encroachment of land by Chakma refugees, who have an indigenous identity
internationally.

The tribal situation in India is extremely heterogeneous and cannot be put under a unified
approach.

The UN Working Group definition of “indigenous people” has a European bias. Tribes not
residing in territories not externally categorized are not considered indigenous. This leaves out
many European tribal communities.

Similarly, improper use of the term Adivasi could leave out deserving communities.
In India, some tribal NGOs in Jharkhand, Delhi and Chhattisgarh have links with European
Indigenous people’s Movement groups, who try to push the use of Adivasi as a concept. They
also do this in North-East India, which is causing serious ethnic conflicts.

Usage of Adivasi in the schedule could lead to competition of jobs and depleted natural
resources. Additionally, the adivasis were brought in by the British and hence there would
massive resentment from the local people of losing land to the British partners.

Reading 29 & 30: Disability Module

I. Nandini Ghosh - Interrogating Disability

- Academic discipline of disability studies resulted in establishment of Western scholars

problematising disability as discrimination

- Personal and institutional processes of exclusion - theoretical approaches have looked at

ableism and construction of disabled as ‘other’

- Disability studies emerged in West in 60s and 70s through efforts of disabled ppl and their orgs
- shift in focus from medical to socio-political problem due to discrimination

- Approaches to studying disability - strict social, minority group (where pwd are distinct minority,
disability as culture (unique cultural heritage group - for eg deaf

How to define disability?

Medical Model

- Many different conditions - physical, mental, psycho social, and sensory impairments are
considered disabilities

- The way one defines disability - whether a strictly medical definition or a moral or religious one
- impacts the way pwd are treated and policies around

- Strongest definition today - medical, limitation in functioning, - post WW2 etc , spurt in medical
research - disability came to be known as a deficit in functioning

- The label of abnormal and othering of pwd - focus by medical approach on restoring disabled
ppl back to ‘normal’

- Power play between the doctor and the disabled - administrative tags to enable control over
access to financial + other assistance

- Also attaches a stigma and aggravates dependency on professional care givers

- Medical model completely ignore the environment as obstructive, treating it as an invariable to
which disabled ppl must adapt and conform

- Denial of common social experiences - presumption of physical inferiority and non recognition
of social and structural sources of disability

- Medical model criticised by disabled ppl themselves as it ignores the lived experience of
disabled people - experience of stigma, exclusion and dependency

- Denial of common social experiences + effort to naturalise the bodies of pwd through
procedures

Social model

- Developed out of the pwd movement in Europe and US in 70s - disability not as an outcome of
body pathology but socially produced by patterns of exclusion

- Creation of -ve social identity for pwd - sense of deviancy or abnormalcy

- Prototypical portrayals of disabled people - super cripple and emotionally stunted stereotype

- Social construction of physically impaired people is based on how society organises its basic
material activities

- Good for remedying the injustice faced by pwd - recognised appropriate individual intervention
in lives of pwd

- Able to bring about structural changes in developed countries as well as strong minority
identity - access to public facilities, provisions for education employment etc

- Rejection of lived experience of impairment - denial of value of appropriate intervention -

attempt to shift focus from functional limitations

- Proposes a link between body and culture - but the material body disappears from discourse

- The social model tries to look at the constraints that social fabric places on pwd and not on the
impairments themselves.

- Despite popularity of social model, medical model still very influential - UN Standard Rules on
equalisation of oppurtunities, WHO

- UN Convention clearly spells out the need to promoting, protecting, and ensuring freedoms
and rights (full and equal) for pwd

- Who are pwd - long term physical, mental and intellectual or sensory impairments which may
affect full and effective participation in society

- Alternate social model needs to incorporate the various medical aspects that impact the life of
a pwd

- Disability can therefore be seen embedded in a particular social context and then interpreted in
terms of oppression in context of other markers - gender, caste, class, sexuality
State Policies, Disability discourse, Quality of life of pwd

- Attitude of state has always been charity and welfare - first started off as school for visually
impaired or orthopedically impaired

- Constitution as guaranteer of welfare and rights for all - anti discrimination - however pwd
considered different made evident by Article 41 - state shall within limits of economic capacity
make effective provisions for securing right to work, education etc for cases of unemployment,
old age, sickness and disablement

- Reluctance of govt to formulate policy on disability - socio cultural assumptions about disabled
- token inclusion, apathy and neglect

- First Planning Commission 1951 - defined disability as lacking in one or more physical senses,
suffering from movement difficulties - v strong medical bias - therefore policy and fund allocation
sus with ‘rehabilitation’ of pwd becoming top priority - restorative surgery type stuff

- Lack of adequate data about pwd in india - due to biased terminology used in census
operations (totally crippled, totally blind etc) - leaving out mental disability and hearing disability

- Due to increasing pressure from activists and UN - hurriedly enacted the PWD (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act), - PWD Act, 1995

- Above defined disability primarily in medical terms, ignoring social perceptions about disability
- thus categories of mental illness are dependent on certification by medical professionals -
indicative of control exerted

- Many conditions are ones that need inclusive attitude not medical intervention

- The Act treats disability like some civil right with provisions dealing with creation of barrier free
environment

- Forward looking act that endorses medial model by keeping intact the process of identification
of disabled people, requiring identification, certification by panel of medical profs

Programmatic interventions for PWD

- Act has ignored definitions of disability advocated by social model which lay more stress on
barriers faced + press for structural change

- People have been overlooked, sidelines due to the stipulation that disabled people will receive
benefits depending on degree of their disability - this is ignorance of impact on individual

- Disabled people rights being compartmentalised bureaucratically w little coordination -

education and employment health under two ministries

- PwD act mandates education for pwd until 18 yrs of age but does not take responsibility for
integrating students w disabilities in regular schools
- Simultaneously running both inclusionist and segregationist policies by promoting special
schools

- Most schools have not been able to remove architectural barriers - majority of schools in india
are not trained to handle disabled children despite RTE being granted to ALL children till 14

- Employment - reservation not implemented properly w posts only being filled in lower ranks

- Concept of identified jobs or jobs for pwd is in itself problematic as it ignores the different
capabilities of pwd

- Serious lacuna in PWD Act - very few penal provisions for non implementation, no time bound
actions or obligations, no procedure specified - lots of states citing lack of funds as reason for
non implementation

- Need for a model based on acknowledgment of mutual dependence as a common human

condition, ethical caring communities where individual worth is not measures in terms of

- Many disabled people also use their condition as a way to build image of helplessness thus
gaining power - leveraging status and using victim card - complexities of reality - therefore
important to view disability in a social context

Emerging discourse : contradictions and contestations

- PwD, 1995 - criticised severely for overtly privileging medical definitions of disability

- With signing and ratifying of UNCRPD - disability activists demand new legislation

- UNCRPD introduced a dynamic shift in realm of disability rights from welfare approach to right
based approach - that means pwd will be seen as subjects rather than objects of a system

- Rights of PwD, 2011 (bill) - focus on legal capacity, equality and dignity of disabled - guided by
principles of inherent dignity, autonomy, equal opportunity, accessibility, respecting differences,
acceptance for all, evolving capacities of children with disabilities

- Diffrent from 1995 act as it moves away from purely medical model to incorporate socio legal
problems - charity to right based

- Law changed due to demand from diverse sector of people - new law is very good news and
landmark

- But still even within the disability discourse there is the assertion of physical disability over
mental, intellectual or hearing disability

- Major debate - defining disability - medical definition is good for ID and then doing support on
basis of degree of need but ignores the social oppression as that can be quantified grading -
therefore new law tries to incorporate both perspectives
- Lobby of specialst profs all of whom are non disabled emerged strongly in first few drafts of bill
- therefore focus on education and educator training - most drafters were either specially abled
or been involved in running orgs

- Inclusive education - specialist profs were agaisnt since it would involve the interference of
various special methods of inclusion for each disability

- UNCRPD - legal capacity as the right to be persons before law and exercise will - this debate
is important in context of severe disability - most parents of such kids were completely opposed
to them being granted legal capacity in contract with guardianship given under national trusts
act - parents not in favour of ward being capacity due to danger and fear of risk to both
themselves and property

- On the other hand, disabled people were most vocal for legal capacity as it had been sth they
were not granted for very long

- Debate around issue of whether india should have one comprehensible law for all disabled or
a range of laws depending on type of disability

- UNCRPD essence not followed in entirety - spirit diluted to a great extent

Conclusion

- Is disability relational - relation between person and his/her environment

- Change in term from disabled to differently abled conveys hope like terminology changed from
underdeveloped to developing countries

- Many international organisation and most institutions look at/define disability on the concept of
normality and how it is sth disabled want to achieve

- But object of disability movements has been to chow that the real disability lies in
discrimination and prejudice

- State policies have started to reflect this^ but its a difficult situation with respect to practicality
of welfare needs and the need of the welfare state to fight rising costs of social security

- In the end, disability is whatever politicians and welfare authorities call it

- Sen’s capability approach : defining disability as a lack of capability - thereby giving it a wide
ambit - everything that a person is generally capable of given the resources - thus 3 factors
come into play (i) nature of impairment (ii) resources available (iii) environment

- Deprivation as occurring threefold - examining full capability of person and choosing the level
of impairment on this more holistic basis

- Need to recognise disability as a multifaceted phenomena

II. The Models Approach in Disability Scholarship : An Assessment of its Failings

Medical, moral/religous, social

- Medicalisation of disability has been identified to be restrictive - all practices that identify it as
deficit or disease condition that can be cured or fixed come under the medical approach

- Disability rights movement propose the social model, or alternative the strong social model
(Marxist style), individual model or deficit model

What the social model and theories of medicalisation has served as its purpose:

- Enable disability as a category of politics - many have embraced the social model and the
medial model has played an important role in putting disability on the social movement map

- To change law and policy from an orientation that focused on addressing only individual with
disability to more focus on structural factors - barriers (social, physical). UNCRPD is good
instance of such initiative - refrain from defining disability in biomedical terms as it puts onus on
pwd - these laws alongside rehabilitation measures, focus on improving social factors that
aggravate pwd circumstances - guide to disability law

- Models approach imp role in furthering rights based approach - enabled pwd to be decision
makers in their stakeholder situations - socio political and identity category - public life
participation of pwd - check the advance of eugenic practices, end dehumanising psychiatric
treatments, intro to ethical medical procedures

- Models approach has facilitated the emergence of disability as a non negative category -
category of diversity - disability minors identity aimed to move beyond rights based framework to
one that demand sociocultural id. Eg - deaf community assertion as a linguistic minority

Critiques of models approach (?)

- Tom Shakespeare - one of the problems with social model is its assumption that it is correct
and indispensable, unchanging - one of the only areas of academia that maintains allegiance to
to Marxist orthodoxy

- Distinction between biological and social disability is conceptually and empirically very difficult
to sustain - intertwined in many cases. Eg - impairments due to poverty + malnutrition where
treatment not available due to control or poor income

- Further, sometimes social structures make biological disability - for eg the IQ level deemed to
be low intelligence is a social construct

- Social expectation may cause impairments - dyslexia not an impairment until society demands
literacy - in such situations removing physical barrier not sufficient

- Aimi Hamraei - criticises disability studies for not theorising models approach enough - DS
does not go beyond articulating situated knowledge - interested in putting models framework
within broader conversation history + pol sci
- Assumption that progress from moral to medical to social will take place is flaw - prohibits it
from looking at situations where the moral and medical are mixed or otherwise

- Both Shakespeare and Hemri’s critique is imp - demonstrate limits of models approach within
western context - but still do not grasp the complexity of Indian context - there is an assumption
that culturally different contexts can be studied in western epistemology

- Cannot assume that everyone will have moral, medical and social - the term global south
although may refer to economically similar, ppl still have their peculiar ways of going about
things

- Indian contract as culturally different in its engagement with disability related concepts -
impairment, illness, medical diagnosis, family etc - relevant to investigate relationship between
culture and disability. Eg ; karma

Formulating a cultural critique of the models approach

- Medical model research (classified) - dependence of research on biomedical categories

treated as fixable and affected person exists as an entity whose voice is undervalued and to
whom treatment is administered

- Notion of deficit or tragedy associated with individual affected

a. Insights from disability fieldwork:

- Not easy to id/classify phenomena as part of medical model since respondents do not use
biomedical data to identify themselves

- Observation of ways in which disabiltiy is invoked by official orgs and institutions vs how
people use the term - therefore categorisation is limiting

- Medical practitioners are quick to morally judge pwd - as carelessness - poor education, poor
information - visiting of shamans

- Social structural factors are rarely id’d as factors that cause - poverty, unemployment -
medicine dismisses these causes as ‘immoral’

- Many feel that that inability to take care of oneself, improper sexual relations, pwd’s family
suffering is self inflicted - failings of the individual and family

- Respondents also stated views that were directly in contradiction with their relations with pwd -
in personal interactions ppl did not blame pwd for their untimely medical intervention but rather
attributed it to god, fate or lack of resources

- Veena Das + Addlakha - notions of personhood are situated not at personal level but at
intersection family and state - looked at gossip and rumour - find the names used for women
with disfigured faces, psychiatric illness as limiting

- Parents of woman w disfigured relationships forego other kinship ties to give her as ‘normal’
life as possible
- Agency of disabled person not located at a personal level but at societal level

- Key method of models approach is to give primacy to voice of pwd - studies emphasise that
the voices alongside the social interactions need to be looked at

b. Historical research and medical model

- Leprosy as an illustration for how categorisation does not help - only way to make leprosy
socially acceptable would be through process of medicalisation as a disease since it has moral
stigma attached for v long

- Leprosy in india - Ayurveda had distinguished 18 types initially but then this took a moral turn
later where religious realm dominated - christian narrative of the leper as an innocent sinner
who would be saved by salvation - this used a tool of conversion - casting of other customs as
villainous to leprosy

- Leprosy as an evil condition and the leper as the despised one

- Public health view of leprosy - malady of uncivilised or partially civilised races and its main
cause is personal uncleanliness - moral tone so much so that medical and moral have become
intertwined

- Gandhi and others intervened with actual science and were against measures like sterilisation
of leprosy affected personas and segregation based on sex - he wanted proper medical
research to be done

- Dif forms of treatment that were not not necessarily medical - do they fall under medical model
or is that restricted to only biomedical treatments

c. A plural medical context

- What constitutes the medical approach - unlike Western context where alternative medicine is
more recent, India has had Ayurveda, unani and siddha - their epistemological foundations are
different from western medicine

- Alternate medicine conceptualise human body as a system of relationships defining functions

which manifest themselves through structure

- These forms do not conceive the duality of body and mind or separate systems like skeletal,
reproductive etc - all is intertwined

- Organ is not a useful entity within Siddha practice - prana or air flowing through body and
intellect or thought

- Ayurveda - vata, pitta, kapha - disease as an imbalance of the Doshas (those which can impair
or get impaired) - diagnosis in Ayurveda aimed at knowing root cause rather than just knowing
symptoms - personalised treatment with holistic sense of who the patient is
- Therefore the social and medical are not so far apart as these forms look at context and
individual - social is intrinsic to medical

- Charge levelled often - not scientific and rational - evidence of moral and religious model

- Moral indicates ethics - bone docs of Rajasthan - decent, affordable treatment without
exploitation of patient - charity model

- Systems are also community based - where one is born into a certain community to practice

Conclusion : it is necessary to have a reforming knowledge and omit, add and change
understanding with added sensitivity and research even if it means challenging the established
foundation of DS

Research should not be restricted by medical, moral and social categorisations - voices of pwd
as well as actions and conduct

Reading 38: Ecological Conflicts and the Environmental Movements

Part I. SITES OF STRUGGLE

Nature based conflicts increased intensity and frequency - competing claims over resources like
water, forest, land etc - rights of victims of ecological degradation - new dimension to Indian
democracy

- New Delhi as capital witnesses a lot of struggle - May 1990 saw unprecedented events -
demonstrations and counter demonstration in a single week regarding the construction of the
Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river - dharna by peasants and tribals

- Assurance by then govt that the man project will be reviewed - but Gujarat politicians counter
demonstrated since benefit was going to them - govt then changed stance and fully committed
to the project

- Narmada Bachao Andolan - began a 250 km march from Rajghat to Kevada - stalemate lazing
with Gujarat policemen who refused to let them enter the state

- Gandhian Baba Amte leader of the movement - group of protesters to emphasis non violent
nature - kept getting topped by police

- Fasting by Medha Patkar - perhaps the most important leader - they were later persuaded to
give up due to unrelenting nature of govt

- Narmada conflict is charged with wide spectrum of social conflicts - third category to social
conflicts that are generally agricultural or industrial

- Hardly documented, poorly understood - opponents of dam were sustained by meagre

contributions of individual and NGOs - pro dam endorsed and given help by Gujarat govt
- Issues of distributive justice, economic efficiency and sustainability all raised at once

Forests - for whom and for what?

- Orgins of Indian environmental movements can be traced to Chipko Andolan - 1973,

Himalayas - peasants of Mandal effectively thwarted felling of trees by threatening to ‘Hug them’

- Resentment of state forest policies - which consistently favour external commercial enterprises
at expense of peasant needs and livelihoods

- Wave of movements coordinated by Gandhian and left wing activists - powerful statement
against violation of customary rights

- Forest conflicts have a sharper political edge - tribes in central india are very economically
dependent on forests - take-over of large patches of forests is a political watershed repping
expansion of state power, social watershed altering traditional patterns of resource use,
ecological watershed in emergence of timber as an imp commodity

- Bitter resentment of the takeover forests by state govt as it represented an unacceptable

infringement on their right to subsistence - access to forest produce - throughout colonial period
as well

- Post independence, process only accelerated - economic development implies more intensive
use of resources leading to inevitable environmental degradation

- One difference between forest conflicts pre and post independence - earlier conflicts came out
of claiming abundant resource, now it is rapidly dwindling

- Defence of customary rights - control of woodland must revert to communal hands, contrast
between subsistence orientation and commercial orientation - Pluck and plant eucalyptus
movement

- State has diverted raw material away from artisans - reed worker in Kerala, bamboo in
Karnataka - most areas forest dependent artisan are yet to be politically organised

- For decades tribals collecting non wood forest resources have been exploited by merchants -
tendu leaves

- Coordinated opposition to draft forest bill - act that sought to strengthen the punitive powers of
the forest dept

Dams and damned

- Space vacated by forest quickly taken up by dams - dfireernt river valley project like Silent
Valley , Koel Karo, have been subject to bitter controversy

- Economic perspective - cost benefit ratio derived by govt to justify dams overvalue the benefits
and undervalue costs

- Ecological perspective - water logging, submergence of forest, wildlife - unacceptable costs of

dams - spread of waterborne diseases
- Social implication are most popular - forcibly uprooting people

- Now it is very common to oppose dams as the cons are well known - cultural, psychological,
economic

- Mulshi satyagraha - opposition to damn near Bombay by Tata - first damn built submerged
farmer lands and no compensation given. When they came to mulshi, they ran into trouble -
strong protest in Pune. Resistance to dam split into 2 factions - Brahmin landlords who were
concerned with compensation and the peasant who were totally opposed

- Actual compensation never reached farmers, only landlords - movement collapsed due to
might of state and company against them

- Origins to mulshi movement : strong sense of wrong and deep feeling of resentment among
peasantry due to no consent or consultation, suspicion and distrust in both govt and co,
reluctance to part with land due to extreme productivity, reluctance to part with ancient heritage
land and worship places, natural reluctance to emigrate

- Project promoters: 1.5 lac horsepower created, saving 525k tons of coal, saving of coal would
result in correspond saving of fuel, wagons saved and utilised elsewhere, water once used can
be directed for agricultural purposes, give work to 300k labourers, more suburban lines for
Bombay

- On the one side, the interests of subsistence oriented peasants, on the other, the interests of
urban centres and industry - easy to portray one as progressive other as backward

- Suffering of displaces ppl for the greater good of the nation - pro dam argument

- Reluctance to move and unwillingness for nation building comes from lived experience - rate of
compensation, promise of land elsewhere rarely fulfilled, new place unfmailriaty, hostile
surroundings etc

- The Narmada river valley project - one of the greatest planned environmental disasters - 30
major dams - 2 major already built

- Medha patkar was eventually looking how to resettle and was on that team but when she
realised that there was no land to resettle in, she opposed dam itself

- Varied repertoire of Narmada movement - blockade of roads, public meetings, hunger fast,
demonstration at capital

- What distinguishes Narmada movement - activists groups in 3 states, tenacity in face of govt,
despite peaceful protest multiple instances of harassment and jailing are seen, covered in print
media, international connections - Japan environmental NGOs have convinced their govt not to
advance money
Silent Valley hydroelectric project in the state of Kerala. No human community was to be
displaced but it did involve submerging one of the last surviving patches of rain forest in
peninsular India. Opposition to the project was led by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, an
organization dedicated to popular science education, which has a wide reach and influence in
Kerala. This Marxisant movement of school and collegeteachers built up an unlikely
collaboration with wildlife conservationists. Eventually, the desire of the Prime Minister of the
day, Indira Gandhi, to enhance her image among the international conservation community
appears to have been critical in the government’s decision to shelve the project (D’Monte,
1985).

Struggles in the sea

- Artisanal fisherfolk who depend on living resources - clash between them and modern trawlers
- at its most intense in the south of Kerala

- Major changes in ecology and economy due to introduction of trawlers - rapid increase in fish
landing followed by subsequent decline

- Facing the brunt of direct competition from trawlers - which gave rise to strikes, processions
and violent clashes with trawler owners

- They wanted : restriction on trawlers movement, ban on them during monsoon season - which
was breeding season - a partial ban was once imposed and it saw an increase in fish numbers

- Ganga Mukti Andolan - fisherfolk being taxed by two families claiming hereditary rights over
water

Mines and misery

- Most known mining conflict - Doon valley - intensification of limestone mining since 47 has led
to deforestation, drying up water resources, erosion and debris of previsouly cultivated fields

- Two sides to anti mining : retired officials and executives (Friends of the Doon) + hotel owners
worried about tourist inflow due to degradation - characterised as NIMBY environmentalists (not
in my backyard) preoccupied with protecting landscape from overcrowding and defacement

- The other side - villagers more directly affected - sit ins - both sides collaborated and it
resulted in PIL in SC leading to closure of most mines

- Height of controversy - one of the NIMBY activists said to move mining to the interiors of the
mountains where no tourists go

- Kumaon - heritage of social movements - struggle committees - independent protests against

open mining like sit ins, fasting etc

- BALCO movement - Orissa gandhamardan hills, balco was given permission - however halted
later

- As in the Himalaya, bauxite extraction in Gandhamardan led quickly to deforestation, erosion,

and the pollution of water sources. Blasting operations were perceived as a threat to the
region’s ancient temples, which are visited by pilgrims from long distances. Characteristically,
protest originated in a series of petitions being sent to senior officials and politicians. When this
had no effect, students and social activists began forming village committees. A three day strike
in front of the Block Development Office in October 1985was followed two months later by a
blockade which prevented BALCO vehicles from proceeding up the Gandhamardan plateau to
the mines. Private vehicles carrying materials for BALCO operations were also .blockedand
unloaded.

Polluter does not pay principle

- With air and water being free and industries having the agency to do itv the fuck they want to
pollute - it is left on the state to pass legislation to check this pollution

- India - pollution control legislation is in the statute books, but with administrative efficiency and
honesty of lamentably low standards, industrial pollution has gone largely unchecked. In its
executive functions, the Indian state apparatus alternates between being ‘soft’ and ‘predatory’;
in the first incarnation, laws are not enforced, while the second allows offenders to buy official
compliance.

- Most notorious polluters - rayon factories - The Gwalior Rayons factory on the Chaliyar river in
Kerala was closed for seven years after a spirited movement, led by the KSSP

Conflicts in context

two particular movements stand out for their symbolic importance to the Indian environment
debate. Chipko movement and the Narmada Valley Project. both have relied - quite remarkably
- on non-violent forms of protest. In each case, folk knowledge and anguish have forced
ecologists and economists to reconsider the efficacy of dominant forms of resource use widely
justified as ‘scientific’

PART 2 - INTERPRETING INDIAN ENVIRONMENTALISM: tactics and theories

What is the environmental movement?

- Material, political and ideological expression - material is wide ranging struggle over natural
resources. Conflicts are set in opposition one side from social groups who have gained
disproportionately from economic development whilst being insulated from ecological
degradation and other hand poorer farmers, peasants, tribes act

- Political expression - organisation of social action by victims of environmental degradation is

three pronged - process of organisation and struggle to prevent the destructive practices,
promoted message through use of skilful means, environmental rehabilitation - these means
have only been taken up outside the frame of formal party politics

- Through the process of struggle, development of an incisive critique of process itself has
emerged - major questions regarding economic planning, neglect of ecological considerations
as the default setting - public debate on development options constitutes the ideological
expression

Organising for action

- Communities that have resisted have done so following the general rubric of satyagraha - non
violent but potent - parallel with gandhianism

- Variety of protest forms - pradarshan which is a collective show of strength (procession,

meeting near a site where speeches may be made), dharna is a sit down strike which aims to
stop economic activities, gherao where a key authority figure is surrounded by protesters and
heckled, rasta roko or roadblock which is more for general disgust with state since blocking
changes of communication may not be directly cause related, jail bharo Andolan which is
deliberately courting arrest which would release swift release due to numbers, bhook hartal
which is fast unto death by some widely respected popular leader

- Other popular methods used - sangharsh yantra in Narmada movement and jal samadhi or
water burial were you choose to immerse yourself in the rising waters of dam

Communication and education

- Coverage of protests - singing of newspaper articles, sympathetic journalism - print medias

important role in reporting, interpreting conflicts

- Oral communication is also important and cannot be underestimated - KSPP performed plays
and sung songs for raising awareness

- Activity combining discussion and practical action is called eco development - padayatra
(walking tours) - to raise awareness and recognition for places in threat

- Objectives of padayatra : widen peoples awareness of the link between water and life, to form
a network, to pressurise the govt into making sustainable policy, assess the damage done
already, revive and propagate traditional water conservation practices

Ecological restoration

- With states manifest inability to restore degraded many voluntary NGOs have taken it upon
themselves to organise afforestation, soil and water conservation - adoption of environmentally
sound tech

- Chipko movement - Dashauli Gram Swarjya Mandal

- Anna Hazare returned to the village on retirement from the army in the mid- 1970s, he found
that food production reached barely 30 per cent of its requirements. Quickly locating the
problem as insufficient retention of rainwater, he organized villagers into building a series of
storage ponds and embankments (nalluh bandhs) along the low hills surrounding the village.
Very quickly, run off was reduced and aquifers recharged, and the ground- water table rose
considerably.

Ideological trends in Indian environmentalism

- Struggle, publicity and restoration constitutes bedrock of environmental movement

- For environmentalists have insistently claimed that the intensification of natural resources
conflict is a direct consequence of the resource- and capital-intensive pattern of economic
development, modelled on the Western experience, followed since independence.
- widespread agreement within the environmental movement as regards the failures of the
present development model, but no consensus on plausible alternatives

- Three distinct perspectives :

- a. crusading gandhian relies heavily on moral idiom in its rejection of the modern way of life -
origin of problem as consumerism and materialism - scriptures for traditional reverence - reject
socialism as a Western concept: this leads some among them to gloss over inequalities in
traditional Indian society, and others even to justify them. - global thinking and acting

- b. Marxist trend - political and economic terms - unequal access rather than question of values
- rich destroy nature for profit and poor do it simply to survive - science as an indespensable ally

- c. Appropriate technology - lies in between the two polarisingly different views above - strives
for a synthesis of agriculture and industry, big and small units, western and eastern tech
traditions - sufficiently influenced by Marxism to acknowledge pervasiveness of inequality, but
have rarely shown the will to challenge social hierarchies in practice. - micro scale

- Thinking within state agencies - scientific conservation and wildnerness protection -

documentation of extent etc (BB Vohra’s work on land and water degradation) - do not have
popular following otherwise but are used in state policy

1st and 3rd World Environmentalism

- Western notion that poor countries and poor people are not interested in environmentalism
and how it is an upper class thing

- Indian context and reality is in direct contradiction of this notion

- Western economist - environmentalism is ‘a natural product of a rising real standard of living.

We have simply reached the point where, for many Americans, the next item on their acquisitive
agenda is a cleaner environment. If they achieve it, it would make all of the other goods and
services more enjoyable’

- Therefore is environmentalism a post industrial or postmodern worldview - no because poor

countries and poorer communities within them have shown strong interest - Brazil, Malaysia,
Kenya, India

- Two very different economic trajectories - in the case of western countries, the environemenal
issues cropped up post industrialisation - but in india it is happening simultaneously

- the social origins of the environmental impulse in the Indian case is that environmental
degradationdirectly threaten survival and livelihood options - environmental conflicts in the
West have characteristically emerged out of threats to health and leisure options.

- In advanced industrial societies, environmental protection, have somewhat displaced

economic conflicts as the motivating factor behind collective action; while in the
‘developing’world, environmental conflict is, for the most part, only another form of economic
conflict.
- The contrast can be seen in approach to protest - the west uses ltigitation, media and lobbying
- we use tree hugging, demonstration very physical direct acts

- the role of scienceand scientists. In the US, scientists have played a key role: In India,
scientists (and social scientists) have played a severely circumscribed role in the environment
debate. Rather, journalists, Gandhians and environmental activists themselves have been in the
forefront.

- environmental degradation has been, in terms of its human consequences, a far more serious
issue in India, as in most of the Third World generally.

Reading 39: Chipko and Appiko movements:

- Impact of media coverage

- negative impact on chipkko movement

- created rifts within movement by distorted coverage

- Covered first by HINDI PRESS

- ANUPAMA MISHRA, freelance journalist

- coverage in english media attracted international attention

- gandhian tradition of non-violence in protection of natural resources

- coverage by journalists like sunderlal bahuguna etc increased the reach of the movement in
states like batsar(chattisgrah), raj, hp, karnataka, kerala and orissa

- media trued using the DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY, creating two strains of the movement

- the hill women v the leaders of movement like bahuguna and chandi prasad bhatt

- the women essentially launched the movement, however portrayed otherwise, leading to
sidelining of thwe women

- both sides claimed the movement to be autthentic from their side

- media was lazy to source info from remote area, wanted to focus on key leaders

- national, int/ positive coverage

-district and vernacular/ negative

-local media made villains, blamed the movement for halting infrastructural works

- similar pattern in apikko movement in south india

- reason behind subsequent criticism- local media loses charm after the movement garners int
and national attention

- basically they grow petty as they realize the lack of their worth and importance for the
movement.

- these movements raised questions on models of development

- inspired other mov. like anti-dam, mining etc

- questions of political economy of natural use were seen as antii- development

FACTS

-hill women in garhwal region of himalyas in 1973

- meeting called in chamaul distric, reni village to address the felling of trees and discuss ways
to stop it

- gaura devi, old woman made a call too embrace the trees

- axe men ordered to fell ash trees/ used to make cricket bats

- idea of non violent protest appealed to women facing hardships

Economy of himalyas dependent on

- biomass

- fuel wood and fodder (main link for farming system/provides manure for crops/nutritio to family)

women had to now walk more to find fuel and fodder as trees were cut for timber

sarvodaya activists helped the launching of movement

movement garnered internation support due to its non violent nature and gandhian theme and
participation of women. this deviated from the emerging ecological trends in the west

THREE PHASES- 1)ECONOMIC 2)ECOLOGICAL 3)REGENERATION

1st phase-
-contractor system used to get timber be stopped

-believed that only contractors got the profits

-logging- economic activity in himalyas to provide supply of timber to industries in gangetic plain

-system of labor run co-operatives be set up where profit goes to labor from logging

- assumed that local worker- more caring to forests

-twin objectives- economic justice and ecological prudence

-socialistic goal

- govt allowed this set up

- brought about employment opportunities to hill people who were giving the work of logging

-legal min. wages plus other welfare schemes

- small scale industrial unites, brought income to local people

large scale timber extraction went on

still had to walk long

women were ignored as economic solution provided by volunteers and state

concerns to conserve forest overlooked

2nd phase

-in hevanlal valley of tehri district

- women challenged the 1st phase started the ecological one

- late 1970's- tying sacred thread of rakhee as form of protest

- efforts to convince women about the commercial benefits of timber

- activists- fighting for economic benefits

-women-prosperity through conservation of resources like forests

realization by activists about the grass root experience of people

villagers relying on biomass, water resources for their dev.

change in perspective

this phase was toughest time

demand- prohibition on felling of trees

forest policy- change from commercial objective to ecological one

demand granted- moratorium on felling of trees above 1000 m in himalyas

3rd phase

women halted the deforestation

responsibility for regeneration in barren land

MAHILA MANGAL DALS

spontaneous action to bring back greenery

watchwomen to take care of forests

planting of indigenous trees

also help by regeneration of local species

SOCIAL FENCING- village livestock not allowed to graxe inside the forest

Controlled nature of fuel and fodder extraction

all households of village contribute

- spread to himachal pradesh

- accomplished the greening of barren himalayas w/o help of aid from financial institution or any
external financing

- bcs of active participation and decentralised control of natural resources

ecological philosophy, sustained action by hill women,

-media helped spreading message also

-chipkko songs and

- himalaya padyatra of 4870 km from kashmir to kohima

APIKKO(hug the trees in kannada) MOVEMENT

-sahyadri mountain range or western ghats

-biodiversity hotspot

-tropical forest

-diverse flaura and fauna species

-catchment of major rivers/ irrigation to large deccan plains

- monoculture teak and eucalyptus to meet commercial revenue

-replaced the forest

-negative impact on local economy

- lack of biodiversity and tree cover caused drying up of water

-scarcity of biomass

-decrease in agriculture yields

FACTS

youth club in sirsi taluka, karnataka wrote to forest officials about conversion of forest to teak
plantation

-recieved unsatisfactory reply

-invited bahuguna, inspired by chipkko movement

-launched apikko in kelase forest, near salkan village in sept, 1983

demand- halt the felling of forests to convert into monoculture plantations

movement posed threat to gov. policy

hardships and conflict over resources led to spread of movement

from kogadu nin the south to south kanara and shimoga districts

POSITIVE IMPACT OF LOCAL VERNACULAR MEDIA

-put pressure on gov

-spread awareness

-created legends in mind of people(kannada maazines and news)

gov accepted demands

realization by activists- timber concession to wood industries

removal of even two trees per hectare causes large scale damage

DEMAND for moratorium of felling of green trees in natural forests in western ghats

Gov. changed forest policy bcs

-grass root action and pressure from diverse groups

PHILOSOPHY OF APIKKO MOVEMENTS:

of conservation and regeneration

establishing a harmonious relationship bw man and nature whilst protecting forests

SLOGAN COINED BY APIKKO IN KANNAD- ULISU BELASU BALASU meaning save,

regenerate forests and rational use of tropical forest

Constant threats to scarcely existing forests through infrastructural projects like power plants,
railways and dev schemes like dam

The Forests provide food and water security to forest dwellers and ppl near ghats.

to protect their interest and forests

-grass root action

-awareness among locals

-direct action

BELASU

focus on reviving indigenous species

FIVE F SOECIES- FRIT, FODDER, FUEL FOOF, FERTILIZER, FIBER

emphasis on growing non timber forest produce

forestation as substitute to existing logging activity(helping w income and employment)

BALSU

evolve methods to use w/o harming resource base

ways like alt energy resources-

installing saving stoves, solar devices and biogas plants

help in carrying out sustainable harvesting of non timber forest produce

ART AND LITERATURE

yakshagana-dance drama

MEDIA AND THE MOVEMENT

- Media's role in globalization since 1990s altered coverage of people's movements.

- Proliferation of local editions restricted news coverage, confining it to districts.

- Local struggles lost wider coverage due to narrowed news scope.

- Chipkko and Appiko Movements were initiated by local forest dwellers, gaining spontaneous
support.

- Utilized media and local communication methods for spreading message.

- Impactful in influencing forest policies at regional and national levels