Ruling combine dominated by upper caste Hindus.
“While the UPA has focused on bettering the lot of the Dalit community, it is dominated by upper caste Hindus, very few of whom are genuinely concerned about the plight of dalits,” the American Embassy said in a cable sent under the name of Ambassador David Mulford on June 22, 2005 (35177: confidential), and accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks.
‘Little upward mobility’
“This ensures that dalits will continue to be an oppressed, discriminated group in India. Although the GOI [Government of India] has passed legislation and established government bodies to administer these laws, it has failed to attack the root of the problem,” the cable said. “There are success stories, but acts of violence and prejudice against dalits, combined with government negligence, persist and there is little upward mobility among the dalit population.”
The Embassy wrote that without a broader, more comprehensive approach to teaching tolerance and equality early in primary schools, it is unlikely that the social acceptance of caste-based discrimination will fade any time soon.
“The increasing dominance of the private sector in the economy could also result in greater economic polarization if there is no mechanism in place to combat job discrimination.”
Embassy interlocutors reported that after one year of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule, limited government efforts to improve the socio-economic status of dalits have shown little success. “Government reservation laws do not extend to the private sector, the largest and fastest growing segment of the economy. Most experts believe the key to ending discrimination is a comprehensive education campaign starting at the primary level to teach acceptance of dalits, a topic completely absent from India's public school system.”
Failure to organise
“Despite the political success of dalits such as current Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ram Vilas Paswan, dalits' failure to organize at the national level has limited their ability to demand equal rights. Until the Indian majority increases pressure to change the status quo, many dalits will remain trapped below the poverty line in manual labor jobs with few mechanisms for upward mobility,” the cable went on.
(This article is a part of the series "The India Cables" based on the US diplomatic cables accessed by The Hindu via Wikileaks.)
Keywords: Cable35177, The India Cables, WikiLeaks, Cablegate, UPA government, Dalits, caste discrimination
Some body have commented that some few dalits are taking benefits of reservation from generation to generation. In this the reservation came into being after independence and now the 1st generation of dalits are going to be benefitted from reservation but already people are making falls propoganda for creamy layer.
Regarding the news in wikileks it is clearly mentioned on the their web sites: The cable very clearly shows in the start that whatever is in the cable are the views of "business, political, academic and media contacts" Mulford met and talked. Here are the Indian anti-dalit journalists are giving falls/wrong information to defame the Dalit leaders to wikileaks for wrong publicity.
'While the UPA has focused on bettering the lot of the Dalit community, it is dominated by upper caste Hindus, very few of whom are genuinely concerned about the plight of dalits.'I don't think that this is a correct assessment. Dalits are still what they are not because the so-called 'upper-caste ruling Hindus' in the govt. despise them, but because everyone is opportunistic. One only needs to look at the dalit leaders like Paswan or Lalu Yadav. Everyone is busy carving a secure future for themselves. It's preposterous to think that some of the highly educated cabinet members - whatever their other character flaws might be - still harbour medieval mentalities !! They are - like almost everyone else in politics - are worried only about themselves. I am not denying that a considerable fraction of general populace does harbour the mentality, but cabinet leaders - I don't think so.
Ain't it funny that US diplomats can understand India better than some of Indians? LIP SERVICE is an apt word for the attitude of successive govts towards the oppressed sections of society. Reservation as a tool was built on lines of affirmative action (US) but the results have been vastly different. In India, it's marred with societal apathy and political opportunism. Somehow it has become a monster now (Jat and Gurjar agitations) which can deepen the already existing divisions in society. Nevertheless there are inherent defects in reservation which need to be addressed so that the benefits are accrued to the needy. Ultimately society has to change its attitude towards its own people.
It's unfortunate that the international community seems to be more concerned and aware about the situation of dalits in India than the Indian government and opposition parties. Shame on us that our internal matters are openly discussed and interfered by countries like U.K (who has recognised the CASTE discrimination of more than 2 lakhs dalits as racial prejudice happening in U.K by none other but Indians (high caste) themselves) and U.S. Please stop this from happening give dalits their all constitutional, social, political, economic rights genuinely, so that India can emerge as role model for the world.
Today, the dalits are facing many problems on social, economic, and political fronts even after 63 years of nation's independence. Generally dalits are voting for Congress. Congress government ruled India for nearly 55 years after independence. Congress is appointing a few dalits in high posts to appease dalits. But, this is not enough to empower all dalits. Now, dalits have to introspect.
Dalits need to organize themselves all over India under a common umbrella irrespective of their sub-castes and language.Only with the development of this solidarity can they fight for their Rights,Self-respect and Individuality.Otherwise the general apathy of the government at the centre will only ensure that the dalits continue to remain "the oppressed and disadvantaged section" of the Indian society.
When non-dalits agitate against reservations for Dalits in institutions of higher education and government services, the media generally joins the protestors. The media singles out Dalit leader Mayawathi for criticism of her method of governance even as the same method used by others is condoned. However it occassionally carries a report on the travails of Dalits to clear is conscience. As regards the government, it realises which side the toast is buttered at the time of elections in areas where Dalits can Swing votes. No problem, it decides.Some freebies should take care of tha problem, woudn't they? The US diplomat however wanted his government to know about the plight of Dalits in Gandhiji's own country. By the way, the Government will ask whether anybody has certified this reoprt as authentic!
If we really want to see the change in India then any kind of reservation and policy provided by govt. should reach to the people who actually deserve it (financially week portion) rather than already existing financially, socially and culturally sound dalits who are taking benefits from generations to generations and not giving chance to deprived part of our society those who even dont know about their rites and entitlements.
Lesser growth of Dalits and Tribal region is the main reason of India's growth is so slow, this is basically due corruption, poorest is victim of corruption, this is leading to wide spread dissatisfaction among the poorer Indians.
America knows more about India than we do, I guess...
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