"Untouchables" on the verge of India’s society – 160 million Dalits resist against discriminating Casteism

The representatives of over 160 million Indian are putting up a strong resistance against vague formulations in the draft final declaration concerning racist discrimination. According to information received by Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker International (GfbV) / Society for Threatened Peoples they are demanding, that the participators of the World Conference recognize them by explicitly noting them in the final declaration – similarly to the legitimate mention of Sinti and Roma – and by condemning the discrimination emanating from the system of castes of the Hindu Religion. These so-called "Untouchables", whose descent is traced back to the Adivasi, India’s natives, have to live at the very bottom of India’s caste system. The delegate of the Indian government, foreign secretary Omar Abdullah has already rejected the claim, giving the reason that discrimination against Dalit was not a case for the World Conference against Racism. Also, according to India’s constitution and various laws, unequal treatment of Dalit was prohibited for the state, it’s authorities and institutions.

But Theodor Rathgeber, expert for Indigenous Peoples at GfbV said on Thursday, that everyday discrimination of Dalit could easily be proved. Of the approximately three million slaves in today’s India, more than 80 percent come from Dalit familys. "It is not unusual for authorities to simply ignore laws intended to prevent discrimination against members of certain castes," criticized Rathgeber. For example: Twelve of the 29 Indian federal states haven’t passed a law which prohibits forcing Dalits to dirty work just because they are the lowest caste. Dalits represent the by far biggest part of India’s unskilled workers: 800,000 Dalits are employed as steet sweepers by Indian authorities.

It is also noticeable, that quotas of apprenticeship places, jobs and members in parliament, designated for Dalits by the constitution, are not fulfilled. These quotas are based on the population and Dalits should occupy 22.5 percent of these places. According to information provided by the state commission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, half of the designated places remain unoccupied, in the range of public services it's even 80 percent. In contrast, 70 percent of higher officials are members of the highest caste, whose members only represent 5 percent of the total population.