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

Appendix I
Overview of the Forms/Sites in which Untouchability is being Practised in Rural India, by Degree of Prevalence 492
More than 50% of
Villages
45-50% of Villages 30-40% of Villages 25-30% of Villages 20-25% of Villages 15-20% of Villages 10-15% of Villages Less than 10% of
Villages
• Denied entry into
non-Dalit houses
• Prohibitions
against food
sharing
• Denied entry into
places of worship
• Ill-treatment of
women by other
women
• Denied access to
water facilities
• Ban on marriage
processions
• Not allowed to sell
milk to
cooperatives
• Denied barber
services
• Denied laundry
services
• Ill-treatment of
women by non-SC
[scheduled caste]
men
• Denied work as
agricultural
labourer
• Cannot sell things
in local markets
• Denied visits by
health workers
• Separate seating in
‘hotels’
• Denied access to
irrigation facilities
• Separate utensils
in ‘hotels’
• Discriminatory
treatment in police
stations
• Separate seating in
Self-Help Group
• Denied entry into
police stations
• Denied carpenter’s
services
• Denied entry into
PDS [Public
Distribution
System] shops
• Denied access to
restaurants/ hotels
• Forced to stand
before upper-caste
men
• Paid lower wage
rates for same work
• Ban on festival
processions on
roads
• Denied home
delivery of letters
• Segregated seating
in schools
• Denied entry into
private health
clinics
• No access to
grazing/fishing
grounds
• Tailor refuses to
take measurements
• Buying of pots from
potter
• Separate drinking
water in schools
• Discriminatory
treatment in post
offices
• Cannot wear
new/bright clothes
• Shops: No touching
in transactions
• Denied access to
public
roads/passage
• Denied entry into
PHCs [Primary
Health Centers]
• Not allowed to use
umbrellas in public
• Schools: SC
students and non-
SC teacher
• Schools: SC
teachers and non-
SCstudents
• Denied entry into
panchayat [village
council] office
• Ban on wearing
dark glasses,
smoking, etc.
• Schools: SC
teacher and non-SC
student
• Public transport:
No seats/last entry
• Separate lines at
polling booth
• Denied entry into
polling booth
• Cannot use
chappals [slippers]
on public roads
• Discriminatory
treatment in PHCs
[Primary Health
Centers]
• Denied
access/entry to
public transport
• Separate times at
polling booth
• Discriminatory
treatment in private
clinics
• Compulsion to seek
blessing in
marriages
• Forced to seek
upper caste’s
permission for
marriages
• Cannot use cycles
on public roads
• Denied
entry/seating in
cinema halls
492
Reproduced from: Shah, et al., Untouchability in Rural India, p. 65 (Table 2.1). The survey investigated the extent and incidence of untouchability in different spheres of life in
contemporary rural India. It examined 565 villages in 11 major states of India, including the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala in south India; Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan in central and western India; Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in north India; and Orissa and Bihar in eastern India. The states selected account for
77 percent of India’s total Dalit population and cover a substantial and representative portion of India’s territory and overall population. See Ibid., pp. 48-49.
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