equal by law, unequal by caste - International Dalit Solidarity Network

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282 Wisconsin International Law Journalis “abysmally low,” at 8.73 percent, 8 percent, and 2.77 percentrespectively. 138 The 2001 population census reveals that the literacy gapbetween Dalits and non-Dalits remains significant at 54.7 percent forDalits as compared to 68.81 percent among other groups. 139Discrimination in schools and the resulting drop-out rates forDalit children are intimately linked to child labor. 140 Illiteracy results in alack of gainful employment options for Dalits. Even educated Dalitsface discrimination in the labor market, as seen through the systematicexclusion of Dalits from jobs that they are considered too “impure” orunintelligent to perform. Selective inclusion of Dalits in variousemployment sectors still results in unequal treatment in the payment ofwages, in different terms and conditions applied to their work (includingthe number of hours worked), in discriminatory treatment in theworkplace, and in the prevalence of compulsive or forced work governedby traditional caste-related obligations. 141There are an estimated 40 million bonded laborers in India, ofwhom 15 million are children. 142 The vast majority of these laborers areDalits or tribal community members. 143 Bonded labor is sustained by thecaste system, in particular through the traditional expectation of freelabor and/or inadequate remuneration for work, and by the lack of Dalitownership of land. Bonded labor also results from indebtedness toemployers or moneylenders on whom Dalits must rely because ofinadequate wages 144 and because of the reluctance of institutionalagencies to lend to the poor in general and to Dalits in particular.Landlessness—encompassing a lack of access to land, inability to ownland, and forced evictions—constitutes a crucial element in thesubordination of Dalits. 145 When Dalits do acquire land, their right to138 Id. at 96-97.139 Id. at 97.140 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, SMALL CHANGE: BONDED CHILD LABOR IN INDIA’S SILK INDUSTRY 44(2003), available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/india/india0103.pdf (last visited Aug. 14,2008).141 Thorat et al., supra note 101.142 BROKEN PEOPLE, supra note 21, at 139.143 HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 86. According to one estimate 83.2 percent of bondedlaborers belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. NHRC REPORT, supra note 110, at 64.Almost all bonded children interviewed for a 2003 Human Rights Watch report on bonded childlabor in the silk industry were either Dalit or Muslim. HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 86.144 Id. at 86.145 Id. at 11.[S]evere lack of access to fixed sources of income like agricultural land arising out ofthe historical process of denial of right to property for a long duration and heavy
Vol. 26, No. 2 Equal by Law, Unequal by Caste 283own property—including the right to access and enjoy it—is routinelyinfringed. 146As a result of their poverty and discriminatory treatment, Dalitsalso fare poorly in health indicators. Over half of India’s Dalit childrenare undernourished, 18.5 percent are classified as “severelyunderweight,” 147 while 8.8 percent die before their fifth birthday. 148Dalits are often refused admission to hospitals, access to healthcare, andmedical treatment. 149 Those who do gain access frequently receivediscriminatory treatment. In addition, caste-based occupations thatDalits are made to perform, such as manual scavenging 150 and forcedprostitution, 151 frequently expose Dalits to serious and sometimes fatalhealth hazards.a. Liberalization and the Incredible Shrinking Indian StateBeginning in 1991, and under the direction of the InternationalMonetary Fund (“IMF”) and World Bank’s Structural AdjustmentProgramme, India’s New Economic Policy introduced dramatic shifts inmacroeconomic policy and aggressively pursued the privatization ofindustries and the liquidation of policies and controls in economicplanning and regulation. 152 While these reforms may have ushered in anera of astounding progress in the areas of technology, infrastructure,machinery, space, and even nuclear research, much of this progress hasmeant little to Dalits; most continue to live in grinding poverty, lackingdependence on low earning casual wage labour in agriculture seems to be primarilyresponsible for chronic poverty among the [Schedules Castes].Chronic Poverty and Socially Disadvantaged Groups, supra note 134, at 54.146 HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 11.147 INDIAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE, NAT’L FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY [NFHS-3] 270 (2007), available at http://www.nfhsindia.org/NFHS-3%20Data/VOL-1/Chapter%2010%20-%20Nutrition%20and%20Anaemia%20(608K).pdf. See also Human Poverty andSocially Disadvantaged Groups in India, supra note 91, at 34.148 See id. (“The IMR [Infant Mortality Rate in 2000] for the [Scheduled Castes] at all-India levelwas 83, which was considerably higher than the non-[Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes].”).149 See Human Poverty and Socially Disadvantaged Groups in India, supra note 91, at 34 (“Thus, ascompared to non-SC/STs, persons not having access to public health services was higher by 7percent points for SCs, and 16.4 percentage points for the STs respectively.”).150 See Part II.C.4, supra.151 See Part II.C.3, supra.152 Anand Teltumbde, Globalization and the Dalits, available at http://www.ambedkar.org/research/GLOBALISATIONANDTHEDALITS.pdf. Other hallmarks of this policy were a devaluation ofthe rupee and the removal of price controls and import restrictions.
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