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Who Are Dalits?
The word 'Dalit' is used to identify the roughly 250 million people in India who are found at the bottom of the Indian social structure called the caste system and are otherwise also commonly known as 'untouchables'.
The word 'Dalit' is of recent coinage and came into use from the 1970s onwards when the Dalit Panthers, a revolutionary group approriated this word to idenity themselves with dignity as opposed to the derogative names that are traditionally used to identify them. continued
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Dalit Bahujans
The term and concept of Dalit-Bahujan (meaning combined Dalit society irrespective of sub-caste) is a concept that was invented and acted upon successfully by the late Kanshi Ram.
One of the biggest problems that stand in the way of Dalit unity is the existence of sub-castes among them, which of course again is concurred to be a Brahminical ploy to keep them divided. continued |
Dalit Castes
Just as the caste system broadly categories Indian society into four castes and the outcastes, it also further categories every one of the four castes and outcastes into sub-castes .
As a result you have over 3000 sub-castes among the four castes and the sub-castes. continued |
Scheduled Castes
“Scheduled Castes” is the legal and constitutional name collectively given to the Sudra and the untouchable Dalit communities who have traditionally occupied the lowest status in Indian society and the Hindu religion.
Today, discrimination on the basis of caste and untouchability is outlawed, and these groups are recognized by the Indian Constitution to be especially disadvantaged because of their past history of inferior treatment, and are therefore entitled to certain rights and preferential treatment. continued |
Scheduled Tribes
The Scheduled Tribes in India, also referred to as Adivasis (original inhabitants), are spread across the central, northeast, and southern regions of India.
These various tribes resided in India long before the Aryans had arrived roughly in 1500 B.C. continued |
Other Backward Castes
When the British were in India, for effective adminisitrative purposes, they made lists of Indian communities, using the terms' castes' and 'tribes'. The term caste was used for Jats (sub-caste) and also for Varnas (main castes).
Tribes were those original inhabitants who did not accept the caste system and withdrew into the forests and mountains. These lists were used by the Indian governments to create lists of communities for affirmative action. continued |
Casteism among Dalits
In the absence of a cohesive and unified perspective, the Dalit movement has also failed to emerge as a strong political force largely because the Dalits are divided into hundreds of Dalit castes and sub-castes.
Further, among the Dalit sub-castes, approxuimately 56 % of Dalit population comprises of 20 dominant sub-castes. These dominant castes are presently the recipients of most of the benefits provided to the Dalits by the affirmative action for them them enshrined in the constitution. continued |
Dalit Statistics
According to the 2001 Census there were about 168.6 million Dalits in India and they constituted about 16.8% of the entire population of India.
The 2001 Census is now complete. The total population as risen to over one billion, but we do not know yet the precise Dalit head count in the country.
However, the common conjecture is that there are roughly about 250 million Dalits in India. continued
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