The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights
is part of a wider struggle to abolish "untouchability" and 'cast out caste'.
"Untouchability" and caste discrimination continue to be a brutal reality for
for the 240 million Dalits living in India today, this despite the fact that more than
half a century has passed since India was born as a "democratic" and independent
state.
Due to their status as "untouchables", Dalits are subjected to gross human
rights violations on a routine and systematic basis. India's version of apartheid and
racism, caste discrimination and "untouchability" affect every facet and
dimension of Dalits' daily lives - economic, social, cultural, civil and political.
Untouchability is the basis for frequent violence against Dalits, including murders,
attacks, rapes and arson; also, denial of basic needs such as water and access to public
places such as hotels and temples; encroachment and dispossession of land; wage
discrimination; infringement of right to vote and run for elections; discrimination in
schools and high levels of illiteracy and drop-out rates; de-humanising living and working
conditions; impoverishment and malnourishment;
For example, Dalits are denied to take water from the public wells in villages. In hotels
they are made to eat and drink out of separate "unclean" vessels especially
reserved for them. They are not allowed to sit on a bus or must give up their seat in
deference to an "upper" caste person; Dalit hamlets are segregated from the
caste Hindu hamlets, the latter possessing all basic amenities such as electricity,
drinking water, roads, and drains, while the former is deprived of the same.
The bulk of bonded labour, child labour and devadasis (temple prostitutes) in India comes
from the Dalit community. Dalits form the backbone of the agricultural labour force and
unorganised labour sector, which are denied even basic minimum wages.
When Dalits defy practices of "untouchability" and resist caste oppression, they
are murdered, attacked, raped, paraded naked, publicly humiliated and their homes and
property are destroyed. These atrocities, as these acts of violence have come to be
commonly known, are perpetrated by caste Hindus in order to brutally suppress their
resistance and "teach them in their place" within the social hierarchy, mediated
by caste and "untouchability." Atrocities against Dalits have become so
alarmingly commonplace in recent years, that the Indian Government was compelled to pass
legislation in 1989 known as the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act.
Origins and Objectives of the Campaign
In October 1998, 78 Dalit and human rights activists from across the country, concerned
about the frequent atrocities and the blatant lack of implementation of the SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, met in Bangalore to discuss a programme of action.
We were anguished that though our nation had just completed her 50th year of independence,
the prevalence of "untouchability" continued unabated in many parts of the
country, in spite of our Constitutional and International commitments to the contrary. In
conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we
called for an urgent national campaign to highlight Dalit Human Rights and to uphold that
"Dalit Rights are Human Rights."
The Campaign is an expression of hope as well as anguish - hope that we Dalits can
re-establish our lost humanity and dignity and security of life. hope that we Dalits have
the capacity to transform our pain and struggle into power for achieving justice,
equality, and dignity regardless of caste, gender, religion, race, ethinicity, etc. Our
efforts are to establish ourselves as daughters and sons of this soil - since this is our
soil - and to assert our aspirations for self governance with Dalit leadership in order to
bring about a change of power equations in the economic, cultural and political orders.
Dalit movements have been fighting "untouchability", casteism and economic
exploitation since the 1920s. A central tenet in their consciousness and ideology has been
that the untouchables are part of the original inhabitants of India, i.e. the Adi or
indigenous peoples. This is an identity which is being actively and even aggressively
re-affirmed today, amidst both national and international efforts to establish Dalit
identity and to empower the powerless Dalits in their struggle for emancipation. Needless
to say, we are at a crucial and important juncture where Dalits are voicing their urge for
liberation. On this occasion we fondly remember our great leader Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and
leaders like Mahatma Jotiba Phule and E. V. R. Periyar who have made historical
contributions towards the abolition of the "heinous crime of untouchability"
from the face of this country. We carry on the great march that they led decades ago.
It is to be stressed that the Campaign is not an effort to subsume, replace or negate
on-going efforts of Dalits and others in various mass movements, people’s
organisations, labour unions, etc. Rather, it is an effort to galvanise and martial all
these movements into a representative body that can collectively organise, educate,
agitate and demand for an end to untouchability and casteism once and for all in both the
government and civil society.
Today the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights is a platform led by Dalit human rights
activists, both women and men, with support and solidarity from movements and
organisations committed to women, labour and human rights, as well as academicians,
intellectuals and other people’s organisations and institutions throughout the
country who work to protect and promote the human rights of Dalits.
The campaign seeks solidarity from all sympathetic and sensitive citizens both from Asian
countries, where the system of caste continues to marginalise the Dalits, as well as the
international community. It addresses the governments of the particular countries as well
as the International Human Rights bodies and the United Nations.
