Many big temples were thrown open to Harijans as a result of his vehement protests. The Musalmans will never cease to be Musalmans by having separate electorates. He had several rounds of discussions with Dr Ambedkar. At last, a compromise formula was reached. Dr Ambedkar dropped his demand for separate electorates; in return, the depressed classes would get more seats — seats in the provincial legislatures, against the 71 allotted to them by the British.
But they would vote together with caste Hindus. The pact was approved by Gandhi and also by the British. He broke his fast on 26 September. The agreement is generally known as Yervada Pact or Poona Pact. The proposed format was later adopted by the Constitution of India and still forms part of our election process. Indeed, separate electorates for the depressed classes as originally demanded by Dr Ambedkar would have further isolated them. But the crucial terms of the pact — general electorates with reserved seats — have given Dalits profound influence in all constituencies.
India is marching from feudalism to post-modernism, and yet the outdated attitude persists. It is a democratic republic, but justice, equality, liberty and fraternity — the four basic tenets promised in the Preamble of the Constitution — are still absent. Economically and socially, we remain a deeply unequal society. Dalits continue to be oppressed and discriminated against in villages, in educational institutions, in the job market, and on the political battlefield.
Everyday, on an average, three Dalit women are raped, two murdered, and two Dalit houses burnt. Merchants and producers were called Vaishyas. Laborers were called Sudras. In addition to the varnas, there is a fifth class in Hinduism. It encompassed outcasts who, literally, did all the dirty work. Brahmins were considered the embodiment of purity, and untouchables the embodiment of pollution. Physical contact between the two groups was absolutely prohibited. Brahmins adhered so strongly to this rule that they felt obliged to bathe if even the shadow of an untouchable fell across them.
Although the political and social force of the caste system has not disappeared completely, the Indian government has officially outlawed caste discrimination and made widespread reforms. Particularly through the efforts of Indian nationalists such as Mohandas Gandhi, rules preventing social mobility and cross-caste mingling have been loosened.
Skip to main content. South Asia: India and Beyond. Search for:. The Caste System 8b. But four days of riots in Bombay earlier this week, sparked by the desecration of the statue of a lower-caste Hindu leader, seemed to show that discrimination continues 50 years after untouchability was outlawed.
The Bombay violence during which police shot dead 12 slum-dwellers is not an incident in isolation, according to a prominent scientist, Dr Sudhir Hindwan of the Centre for Policy Research.
Lower-caste Hindus comprise about 42 per cent of India's population. Bihar, the second-most populous province, has a huge Dalit population, with many Dalits working as bonded labourers. It is India's most lawless state, with the organised armies of feudal landlords unleashing terror on socially backward Hindus and landless farmers. THE other pressing problem facing India since independence has been its relations with its neighbours on the sub-continent who also gained independence in India and Pakistan have fought three wars since The two still dispute the northern Himalayan state of Kashmir and accuse each other of carrying out covert nuclear programmes and fuelling insurgency in each other's territories.
But, after a three-year freeze, there have been positive signs in recent months that relations between the archrivals are thawing, and senior diplomats say India and Pakistan are enjoying their best relations in 50 years. The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan met in March for the first official talks in three years. Their prime ministers met two months later as part of the continuing talks.
SETTING aside any discussions about the role of the Connaught Rangers in the Indian Mutiny or about de Valera and Gandhi and their influence on each other in the struggles for national independence, the Indian sub-continent has always had a romantic appeal for Irish people.
A surviving testimony to this romance and mystique is the "Hindu-Gothic" extravaganza built as the entrance gates and bridge at the Villiers Stuart estate at Dromana House, near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. In the past two centuries, India has attracted Irish people as adventurers, missionaries, military and colonial administrators, and politicians.
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