Bridging the social divide ; a social responsibility…..
Within a day of the prominent reportage in The Hindu of existence of a fence separating the Dalits and other castes in a village in Krishnagiri District, the civil administration swung into action to swiftly remove the fence. The event is yet another significant day in the annals of social emancipation. The responsible role of a progressive media in the form of The Hindu’s prominent reportage, the uncompromising stand of a political party, the CPI(M) that has been steadfast and unequivocal on taking up social issues and the decisive intervention by the administration in swiftly removing the discriminative fence, made this possible. The fence crumbled under the combined weight and concerted action of all these progressive and democratic sections of the society. The dividing fence in a village in Krishnagiri has been removed. But, the scourge of caste and social discrimination remains rampant and well entrenched in our country.
The fact lies that majority of the dalits are subjected to innumerable inhuman forms of social discrimination. It begins at birth and continues till death. Forced to live in clusters away from the village mainstream, denial of permission to draw water from a common well, serving tea in separate tumblers often called “twin tumbler system”, restrictions in access to common pathways, differential treatment of dalit children at schools, denial of rights to hair cuts, denial of right to participate in religious functions in village temples, curtailment of entry into temples or having spaces earmarked specifying areas where dalits should confine while other dominant castes have darshan standing close to the deity, separate roads for funeral procession and separate cremation grounds are many but common cruel forms of oppression that dalits are forced to bear.
The reason why truce prevails at many places despite these inhuman demands of the dominant castes and discrimination is their economic dependence over the latter for their livelihood. Dalits constitute the majority of the poor and marginalized sections of the society. Assertions of natural justice and human rights have turned hostile witnessing violent clashes in the past. Such assertions are often described as caste clashes.
The general attitude of the administration is to decline the prevalence of social discrimination, oppression or untouchability. Any admission of prevalence is generally construed as administrative of their administrative failure. The truce and consequent tranquility that prevails across the country rests on the ignominy of the forced discrimination on the dalits.
No other nation is saddled with such a cruel form of social structure. The movement to eradicate the evil of social divide will be protracted one. After all, the system and the resultant divide has sustained through hundred of years and withstood and even flourished even under the British rule. The cynical and prejudicial social standards is a scar on the whole of the society. The hiatus of social divide that exists cannot be erased unless the responsible, democratic and progressive sections of the society respond to the challenge in one voice as in the instant issue. The entire civil society should unite to create a equitable, developed and secular India
N.Sekar,
A-1, Malar Apartments,
Johnsonpet, Salem
