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Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups.
The term Dalit is for those called the "untouchables" and others that were outside of the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy. [6] [7] Economist and reformer B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) said that untouchability came into Indian society around 400 CE, due to the struggle for supremacy between Buddhism and Brahmanism. [8]
The Uthapuram caste wall, called by various names as the wall of shame, the wall of untouchability is a 12 ft high and 600 meter long wall built by dominant caste villagers reportedly to segregate the Dalit population in the Village of Uthapuram in Tamil Nadu. The village witnessed violence between Dalits and the dominant castes during 1948 ...
Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability is a graphic biography of Ambedkar created by Pardhan-Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam, and writers Srividya Natarajan and S. Anand. The book depicts the experiences of untouchability faced by Ambedkar from childhood to adulthood. CNN named it one of the top 5 political comic books. [168]
Article 15 of the Constitution of India prohibits discrimination based on caste and Article 17 declared the practice of untouchability to be illegal. [253] In 1955, India enacted the Untouchability (Offences) Act (renamed in 1976, as the Protection of Civil Rights Act). It extended the reach of law, from intent to mandatory enforcement.
Harijan Sevak Sangh is a non-profit organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 to eradicate untouchability in India, working for Harijan or Dalit people and upliftment of Depressed Class of India. [1] It is headquartered at Kingsway Camp in Delhi, with branches in 26 states across India. [2]
The rules of untouchability were severe, and they were very strictly enforced among Hindu communities by the time of the arrival of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. [17] Robin Jeffrey, who is a professor specialising in the modern history and politics of India, quotes the wife of a Christian missionary, who wrote in 1860 that:
The post-Independence era was marked by frequent instances of atrocities springing up across the country: for example, the assassination of the young, educated Dalit leader Emmanuel Sekaran in Tamil Nadu for defying the untouchability-based interdicts on Scheduled Castes (SCs, also called Dalits), which resulted in the Ramanathapuram riots of ...