Humanize India- A People's Initiative against Untouchability and All Forms of Discrimination based on Caste, Colour and Gender
India suffers from various social ailments and some time they reach disquieting proportions.Untouchability, caste system and gender violence are the root of this ailment. We decided to make a beginning for this on 26 January 2013 at Maghar, a town in UP where Kabir, the 15th Century mystic poet, is buried. We request your support and participation in the Initiative.
India's modern constitution came into being on 26 January 1950, which gave equal rights to all its citizens irrespective of their caste, gender and religion. All human beings were equal accordingly; yet even after 62 years in operation, Indian society is still fragmented in different identities of caste and religion.
The problem would have solved if all the equal castes had joined all other against ones who were exploiting them. Baba Saheb Ambedkar knew this when he described the Indian social order as based on 'graded inequality' where each caste is actually sitting on the head of others and reveres those in the ascending order and looks down upon in deep contempt at those in descending order.
Baba Saheb Ambedkar, the father of Indian constitution had warned that though politically we had achieved equality but if there was no equality in our social life then the very edifice of democracy would be endangered. And it is in this context that we have to realize how a great constitution is being failed by the forces which are status-quoists.
Our villages have not changed. Everywhere the caste panchayats are playing dominant role. They deny the very existence of individual and therefore absolutely deny them right to choice and select their own partners. In the name of culture they impose old caste prejudices and legitimize violence against Dalits and women, which cannot be tolerated in any modern democracy. But unfortunately, organized voices have not come forward. The voices of dissent must come in from the communities themselves.
Despite different laws in the country, untouchability persists in different forms. In schools, the dalit boys and girls are still forced to sit at the end. The discrimination in mid-day meals is a known fact.One of the major sources of untouchability in India is the issue of manual scavenging. There is no other country in the world where such a crime against humanity is committed and that too without any socio economic compulsion. It is worse than racial apartheid faced by the native Africans.
There are still about seven lakh seventy thousands manual scavengers in the country according to the Ministry of Social Justice and Welfare. Though this figure is not accepted by social activists yet whatever is the number, it reflects the failure of India as a state which has signed all the major international treaties on human rights and against racial discrimination.
Untouchability is a direct outcome of caste system or Varna Vyavastha and is the worst form of discrimination, which is divinely sanctified in the religious text. Yet, the crude fact is that while Islam may not philosophically speak on caste system yet there are castes among Muslims too. Dalit Christians too face discrimination at all levels including inside churches. In many parts of India, the Dalit or backward community Muslims do not have the right to bury their dead ones along with the upper caste Muslims.
The violence against Dalits or Untouchables intertwines with the superstitions prevalent in society – in fact a lot of the killings in the name of witchcraft are actually caste-based violence targeting a Dalit victim in the name of witchcraft. It is also being used to deny women their right in inheritance and time has come to expose these tricks used to misguide our people.
As you know, untouchability and caste discrimination violate Article 14 of the Indian constitution which talks of equality as well as Article 17 which abolished untouchability formally. Various International Covenants too talk about Equality of Human Beings. The UN Declaration on Human Rights also talks of 'all human being born equal irrespective of their caste, religion, race and nationality'. If despite of these provisions, untouchability and caste discrimination is being practised in different forms then, it is time to speak up and stand against such practices.
It is important to understand that the issue of caste discrimination and untouchability cannot be confined to Dalits only and that we need a humanist response engaging people from all walks of life who believe in equality of human beings. Uttar Pradesh is the land of great Sufi saints, revolutionary writers and political empowerment of Dalits.
Those of us who have been working against caste system, untouchability and human rights feel that the time has come for India to launch a full-fledged battle against such undignified customs of our society.
A few of us have decided to start a campaign against the same, to mobilize people's opinion and highlight the issue further so that we all can fight against this menace of untouchability and discrimination based on caste. And it was apt to call it 'Humanise India Campaign'. It is a campaign against hatred, discrimination and untouchability. India needs to prove that it is a civilized society and it will have to come out unambiguously against all forms of discriminations based on caste, gender, ethnicities, religion or region.
Therefore our People's Initiative to Humanise India, starts from Maghar, a historical place where Saint Kabir went to die against all the advice of Brahmins who warned him of going to hell if he chose to die there. Kabir spoke against caste system and talked of the importance of equality of human beings.
Hence to mark the importance of anti-caste struggle, we begin our renewed struggle from Maghar on republic day 2013; that is in turn to strengthen our republican constitution. The Yatra will be touching Kushinagar, Chauri Chaura, Deoria, Mau, Azamgarh, Ghazipur, Sarnath, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Faizabad, Ayodhya and culminate at Lucknow around the second week of February.
Details of the yatra are as follows:
Our Aim: It is not that we are doing this for the first time. But unfortunately in India, we have never seen a people's initiative against Untouchability and all forms of discrimination. Our focus has majorly been on the governance and law frame work but that is an easy escape route too. It is important to take this battle with the communities who are victims as well as who consider themselves to be superior. Our aim is to start this journey to make people believe that they are not alone and that this heinous crime against humanity must not have any space in the society.
The aim is to strengthen and renew people's initiatives against untouchability and caste system. It will help the local people understand their rights and fight it vigorously. Hopefully, it will put pressure on the so called powerful people too.
We wish to clarify that Uttar-Pradesh has been the land of many revolutionaries and hence we are beginning it from the places which are significant to anti caste movement in the country. But this will not culminate in 15 days alone. We will take this battle further in other parts of the country and we hope to carry the torch in the entire country too in the future.
Time Period : The journey start on January 26th, 2012 and will culminate around February 10th in Lucknow
Our Team: The team will consist of about 20-30 regular activists. It will be a journey through Jeeps as we would like to cover maximum places in short time and have bigger impact.
Activities: Interaction with people, public meetings, street plays, short films, documentary shows, puppet shows and miracle exposure programmes.
The Major Stop-overs of the Initiative during the current phase:
- Maghar : Historical place where Kabir died.
- Kushinagar : Historical place where Buddha worked for over 20 years and died.
- Chauri-Chaura : Another historical place of Indian Freedom struggle
- Azamgarh : Birth place of Rahul Sankrityayan
- District Deoria
- District Mau
- Mohamdabad
- District Ghazipur
- Sarnath
- Ravidas Temple in Varanasi
- Jaunpur
- Sultanpur
- Ayodhya
- Faizabad
- Barabanki
- Lucknow
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Visit my blog at
www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
For information on the issues, movements and priorities of Scavenger community in India please log on to
www.swachchakar.blogspot.com
For information on civil society initiatives on Muslims in UP please log on to
www.rehnumaa.blogspot.com
For Social action, land rights, right to food and hunger issues support Social Development Foundation at www.thesdf.org
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