Caste Discrimination against India's “Untouchables” - Human Rights ...

overwhelmingly landless and engaged in agricultural work, and thus uniquely susceptible to
forces that push them into migrant labor 428 (see Section VIII(D)(1)(a)).
e. Discrimination in Higher Education
Caste bias erodes Dalit students’ right to education even in institutions of higher education.
In September 2006 allegations of caste-based discrimination and intimidations surfaced at
the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, India’s premier medical institute. In written
complaints submitted to the director of the Institute, two first-year Dalit students
complained of casteist remarks and various forms of harassment and intimidation from
senior upper-caste students. 429 The complaints were accompanied by a memorandum
signed by 40 students, recounting similar incidents of harassment and intimidation. 430
Similarly, Dalit doctors at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital have written about a “biased
attitude towards reserved category junior residents.” 431 The incidents of caste-based
discrimination in institutions of higher learning are illustrative of the depth and breadth of
anti-Dalit sentiment in education, and show that such biases transcend the rural/urban
divide and affect the entirety of the education system, from elementary schools to
universities.
f. Discrimination against Dalit teachers
Like Dalit students, Dalit teachers also face rampant discrimination; they too are segregated
for purposes of food and water consumption. 432 Discrimination against Dalit teachers has at
428
Ibid.
429
In the complaint, one of the students recounts the nature of the harassment he suffered at AIIMS:
I have been subjected to mental and physical torture from my very first day in this institute...I was abused on my caste and...in
the last few days my room had been locked from outside because of which I was unable to attend classes.
Abantika Ghosh, “Dalit students ‘abused’ at AIIMS,” The Times of India, September 12, 2006.
430
Ibid.
431
As a member of Medicos Forum for Equal Opportunities said:
Students and doctors of the reserved category are now being forced to stay in isolated groups and are increasingly feeling
unsafe in an environment where there is discrimination and a failure of the local administration and the Health Ministry to
redress specific instances of caste discrimination.
Bindu Shaja Perappadan, “Reserved Category Medicos Facing Discrimination,” September 19, 2006,
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/16/stories/2006091616430400.htm (accessed February 7, 2007).
432
“Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for Dalits in India: Case Study on Primary Education in Gujarat,” Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs, p. 17. In the village of Kumbhana in Gujarat, for instance, a Dalit teacher named Jignasha was told by the
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