01-11-2020 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
NEWS
01-11-2020 to 15-11-2020
19
Need to reflect : Why 80% Dalit girls faced
sexual abuse, 90% ‘considered’ suicide
In a major revelation, top Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan has said that between 75 and 80 per cent girls, who come to study
at the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), founded by Macwan about two decades ago off Ahmedabad to offer alternative training
options to manual scavenging and other caste based occupations, have experienced sexual violence or harassment.
Speaking a virtual seminar organized
by the Impact and Policy Research
Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi, Macwan
said, girls particularly experience sexual
abuse in their villages when go for
defecating in the open. Most of the girls
who come to study at DSK are Dalit
and are from poor background.
Giving a specific instance of interaction
with girl students at DSK, Macwan
said, “During a session I raised a question
to whether anyone of them had ever
thought committing a suicide.
To my utter surprise almost
90% of them raised their hands,
which speaks volumes about
the trauma that youth go
through.” Claiming that our
schools have failed to fight the
trauma Dalit children, especially
girls, undergo, Macwan told
the researchers participating in
the seminar about the need to
“capture the impact of caste and gender
prejudices in the minds of young people,
and investigate social reasons as to
why suicide rates have doubled in the
last decade.” Macwan, who was speaking
on “Heinousness of many Hathras
amidst the Pandemic — Voluntarism,
the Way Ahead for Combating Caste
and Gender-based Violence”, wondered
why those at the very top of the power
structure failed to condemn the manner
in which the Hathras victim’s family
was treated even after the gangrape
incident on September 14 and her subsequent
death a fortnight later.
“Her body was forcefully burnt by
the power wielders knowing fully well
how to destroy crucial evidence that
would reveal the crimes”, he said, stating,
this stood in sharp contrast to “the
right of respectful burial was awarded
to dreaded terrorists and the convicts of
the heinous crimes as that of Nirbhaya.”
According to Macwan,
very unfortunately, even the
head of the Indian state,
President Ramnath Kovind,
though a Dalit, “hasn’t spoken
a word condemning the incident.”
Further, “There are 680
elected representatives at state
and national levels who are
Dalits, and their eerie silence
to speak against the brutal
incidents of caste violence including
Hathras is very disturbing.” Given this
framework, said Macwan, political
reservation to the scheduled castes is
proving to be “futile, as it has become
more of personal benefits and has not
generated any equality in society or
impacted the lives of the Dalits.” He
wondered whether suspension of political
reservation would bring about any
change.
There is news that in UK,
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled
(17/10/2020) 50 Pence ‘Diversity coin’
to celebrate Britain’s diverse history and
recognise the profound contribution
minority communities have made to the
shared history of the country. The coin
carries the message “Diversity Built
Britain”. This is in the backdrop of the
campaign led by ‘We too built Britain’
group. The release of the coin is the
beginning of the series which will honour
the country’s ethnic minorities.
There can be a detailed elaboration as to
how different ethnic minorities have
lived and made Britain their home. A
significant number of these are from
South Asia, including India.
The real import of this is the backdrop
of the thesis of ‘Clash of civilizations’
by Samuel Huntington, as per
which the present era is the one where
after the collapse of socialist Soviet
union, the clash is along the lines of civilizations.
Different religions will be in
conflict as per this thesis. “It is my
hypothesis that the fundamental source
of conflict in this new World will not be
primarily ideological or primarily economic.
The great divisions among
humankind and the dominating source
of conflict, will be that the cultural.
Nation states will remain the most powerful
actors in world Affairs, but the
principal conflicts of global politics will
occur between Nations and groups of
different civilizations. The clash of civilizations
will dominate global politics.
The fault lines between civilizations
will be the battle lines of the future.”
This theory dominated the global
scene particularly in the aftermath of
9/11 attack on World Trade Centre.
Diversity in Nation Building :
Contributes or Hinders?
Osama bin Laden called 9/11 jihad and
George Bush launching the attack on
Afghanistan used the word Crusade,
while Tony Blair, the then UK PM,
attributed ‘divine reasons’ for the
attacks on the countries of West Asia.
This theory did provide an ideological
cover for the attacks on different
countries by US and allies. It was primarily
driven by lust for control over oil
resources. The ‘Clash theory’ provided
cover for the violations done by
American axis always out to control
global resources, earlier in form of
direct colonization and now as imperialist
forces, influencing global economy
with an eye on oil resources. At ideological
level the best response to this
thesis came from the then President of
India, Dr K.R. Narayanan, who stated
that ‘civilizations don’t clash, it is barbarisms
which clash’.
The United Nation at that time was
led by Kofi Annan, who was the
General Secretary. He went on to
appoint a high level international committee,
cutting across different religions
and nations to come up with an understanding
of the world today and to recommend
the measures to restore the
amity of civilizations, cultures and people
of the of the World. The report (Mid
N o v 2 0 0 6 )
(http://www.unaoc.org/repository/report
– Ram Puniyani
.htm) is a landmark in more ways than
one.This committee came out with a
brilliant document, ‘Alliance of
Civilizations’.
There is not much awareness about
this global study, which aptly describes
the role of migrations, building of
nations by diverse communities through
alliances at multiple levels.
Talking of India, diversity has been
the hall mark of this society from long.
Christianity entered India, right in first
century. Already different religious traditions,
Jainism Buddhism were present
here. Islam came in 7-8 Century from
Malabar Coast through Arab traders and
later many of those who were victims of
Varna-Caste system embraced Islam
through Sufi saints. The Muslim
invaders coming from North West were
more for reasons related to power and
wealth. Buddhism had spread in various
South East Asian countries. Indians also
migrated to different parts of the World
mostly for economic purpose, employment
or greener pastures. UK has abundant
number of them, Similarly
America and Canada, now Australia has
lot of migrants from India. Earlier many
Indians did migrate to Caribbean’s,
Mauritius, and Ceylon among other
places.
The migrating communities have no
monolithic approach in the countries of
their migration. Most of them do maintain
their nostalgia for the country of
their origin, while relating to the societies
of their migration in different
ways. Today you will see a large numbers
of Indians in West Asia, particularly
in Gulf region. Here in India the sectarian
elements uphold the Non
Resident Indian’s nostalgia for India,
they also look down upon minorities
(Muslims and Christians) as foreigners.
There is an infinite diversity within the
Hindu fold itself. Indian culture has
been a total mix of diverse sections of
society, each contributing in their
unique ways. All our Literature, Art,
Architecture is a mix of contributions
from multiple streams.
India’s diversity has been multi-factorial
and at different layers. Different
communities have been living and celebrating
this diversity. Religious festivals
have been one of the strong platforms
for community interactions. In the area
of religions Bhakti and Sufi traditions
have upheld the diversity. While ‘melting
pot model’ of cultural integration
does apply partly, the main expression
of diversity has been a ‘salad bowl’
model where different components are
visible and still are thick part of the
whole. Our literature for example not
only mirrors the reality of society, it also
tells us the diversity which has been
prevailing here. We can learn this from
so many literary giants and see this
diversity of our culture. The same diversity
formed the base of freedom movement
of India, which gave space to each
of these components of diversity.
In contrast to those who were part of
national movement, the communal
streams went for monolithic concepts,
like ‘Urdu-Muslim-Pakistan’ and
matching ‘Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan’.
The leasers of freedom movement went
on to uphold this diversity as a strength
to coin phrases like ‘Unity in Diversity’.
One of the paramount leaders of freedom
Movement, Jawaharlal Nehru,
went on to express the same as a celebration
in his magnum opus, ‘Discovery
of India’.
Today we do need to learn from the
UK example where role of minorities is
recognised, appreciated and upheld.
One needs to give the similar acceptance
for diversity, to pave the path of
peace and progress.