 SETTING THE
OUTCAST FREE Father Lourdu Swami - is the Executive Secretary for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India on the Commission for Dalits (Outcasts). In our society there are 200 million dalits which is the Hindu word for outcasts. These outcasts are mainly rag pickers, street-children, land-less labourers and bounded labourers. You find many of these bounded labourers in southern India. These are people who work for a landlord who owns the land. They can’t pay him back they bound themselves to him until they can pay him. In effect, these people become like slaves to their owner. This system of outcasts is rooted in our history. In 1500 BC the indigenous people of India were invaded by Aarians. They subjected the indigenous people into slavery and kept them during their rule as outcasts, as untouchables. This stigma has lasted over the centuries, even until today. Various emperors and rulers over our land have ostracised a huge percentage of our people. Many of these people are socially untouchable , economically poor, educational illiterate and politically powerless. Although they can vote they have no leadership in the political structures. They are a most suppressed and exploited people. The majority of dalits live in south India. Our commission has taken the dalits and the adivasi (tribal people) and given them a voice. These tribal people have also been treated as outcasts. For centuries they have been living in the forests and have become isolated from the society within which they live. They are now treated as marginalised people. Again you find many of these in south Dahar. Our commission offers a voice and tries to give support to many such people through the diocesan structures throughout our land. We believe in animation, which means motivation for these vulnerable people . We believe in training them so that they become conscious of their rights, aware of the problems that they face and the historical suppression and exploitation of them as a people throughout their history. The aim is to make them into a peoples movement so that they can gain their human dignity, equality and justice. We see training as important so that they can gain respect and self-confidence so hopefully they will find themselves employment. Through training we are giving them this independence so that they can employ themselves and not be slaves to others. Training is seen as a road to leadership. Equally, we focus on education. Part of our commission’s aim is to enable the dropouts of our society to enter education and disco ver their potential. We believe in coaching our students so that they can complete their education. This education is given so that they will be able to find jobs and intensive coaching is so crucial for employment. Within the dalit community 40% are semi-professional. There are 200 million dalits in our society according to the g overnment statistics of 1991 and the estimated statistics for April 2001 don’t show much change. Some dalits manage to break their cycle of repression and 8 % of them have managed to reach some of the highest public offices in our nation moving through to our president. Another 10% become managers and leaders in their community, with a further 12% becoming clerks and accountants. A further 22% become manual labourers. Nevertheless, over 50% are still land-less peasants, Jobless and not counted as important. That means there are over 100 million dalits in our society who are utterly and completely marginalised and isolated, living in the most unthinkable conditions. The government’s own national statistics suggested that 50% of this community are living below the poverty line and are struggling for survival. 67% of this 50% are illiterate. There is a difference between the poor and the marginalised here in Asia than in the West. For example, in Europe if you are economically poor you can with the help of others make yourself equal and often get out of the situation of desolation. Dalits, however, will always carry the stigma and be looked on as socially untouchable because of their birth. Nevertheless, our President has given us hope. I myself am a dalit. I was born into an illiterate family and lived in the slums. Thanks to the Christian missionaries I was able to receive an education, an education that led me to seminary and for the last 20 years I have functioned as a priest. As a dalit I am reaching out to other dalits within our society. In recent years we have gleaned a lot of inspiration from President Narayanan, he himself being a dalit and trying to irradicate the dalit stigma that still exists in Indian society. He is trying to make all Indians accept each other as equals, as brothers and sisters. |
