India's Caste Apartheid in Sharp Focus After Dalit Scholar's Suicide

[RiazHaq]

Haq's Musings: Dalit Death Shines Light on India's Caste Apartheid

"Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic"
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Father of India's Constitution

What Dr. Ambedkar said decades ago about the inherent inequality of Indian society continues to be true today. The latest manifestation of it is the suicide of a Dalit Ph.D. scholar Rohith Vermula in the southern Indian state of Telangana.


In 2015, the University of Hyderabad suspended 5 Dalit PhD scholars -- all members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) -- after reports that on Aug. 3, students from ASA attacked Susheel Kumar of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), from the ruling party BJP's student wing. A team of investigators from the university found these five students innocent, but they were still suspended after BJP Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya insisted on this action.

Smirti Irani, another ruling BJP minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, has also been accused of playing a role in suspension and the subsequent protest and death of the Dalit scholar in Hyderabad. She is also accused by the Opposition of lying about it.

India's rigid caste system assigns each individual to an occupation based on his or her birth. Such division have existed in other societies but these assignments are particularly rigid in Hindu society. It's extremely difficult for someone born to low-caste parents to pursue occupations reserved for higher castes. This has resulted in what the United Nations considers "Caste Apartheid".

The Hindu hierarchy is said to have evolved from different parts of the body of Brahma—the creator of the universe. Thus, the Brahmans, who originated from the mouth, are engaged in the most prestigious priestly and teaching occupations. The Kshatriyas, made from from the arms, are the rulers and warriors; the Vaishyas, from the thighs, are traders and merchants. The Shudras, from the feet, are manual workers and servants of other castes. Below the Shudras and outside the caste system, lowest in the order, the Dalits engage in the most demeaning and stigmatized occupations like scavenging, for instance, and dealing with bodily waste.

Women get the worst of both worlds under the system of Caste Apartheid. Women in India face discrimination and sexual intimidation, however the “human rights of Dalit women are violated in peculiar and extreme forms. Stripping, naked parading, caste abuses, pulling out nails and hair, sexual slavery and bondage are a few forms peculiar to Dalit women.” These women are living under a form of apartheid: discrimination and social exclusion is a major factor, denying access ”to common property resources like land, water and livelihood sources, [causing] exclusion from schools, places of worship, common dining, inter-caste marriages”, according to the UN Human Rights body.

In spite of the obvious devastating impact of caste discrimination, the Indian government continues to oppose the UN attempts to define it as racism. Paul Divakar, convener of the Delhi-based National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, says, "In a country that prides itself as being the world's biggest democracy, more than 200 million people from the Dalit communities suffer from caste discrimination."

The only minority group reportedly worse off than Dalits are Indian Muslims, according to Indian government's data. The Muslims of India suffer from widespread discrimination in education, employment, housing and criminal justice system.

Given the many ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines running through the length and breadth of India, there have long been questions raised about India's identity as a nation. Speaking about, the US South Asia expert Stephen Cohen of Brookings Institution has said, " But there is no all-Indian Hindu identity—India is riven by caste and linguistic differences, and Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar are more relevant rallying points for more Indians than any Hindu caste or sect, let alone the Sanskritized Hindi that is officially promulgated".

The ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines dividing India have only widened under the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India which has been engaged in a concreted campaign to accelerate total Hinduization of India. It does not augur well for the future of India as a secular, democratic and united nation envisioned by its founders.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Dalit Victims of Indian Apartheid

Disintegration of India

Hinduization of India Under Modi

Discrimination Against Indian Muslims

Haq's Musings: Dalit Death Shines Light on India's Caste Apartheid

 

[Tiger Genie]

simply a stupid article. India is NOT riven by caste and linguistic differences. The states were designed on the basis of language but Indians have excelled building unity out of that diversity. The three language formula has done wonders to the brain. As to castes, the number and extent of that problem is hugely exaggerated and exploited by politicians. Anyone who is capable of exercising their god given brain will look at it against the scale of the population and the problems caused by other issues - such as poverty, malnutrition, medical malpractice, legal lethargy, political corruption and lack of hygene. Ofcourse Pakistanis such as this guy salivate for any such wedge incidents to take a potshot at the so called Hindu nation. Where is this idiot when on a weekly basis shia and ahmadi are bombed by the other muslim caste called sunni ...or the vice versa? oh that's right, they call it sect and not caste. And ofcourse they will be very accommodating of one caste muslim renouncing his born belief and accepting the majority view.

 

[RiazHaq]

History tells us that India's caste system has proved to be far more enduring and much more resilient than any known insurgency anywhere in the world.

Haq's Musings: Dalit Victims of Apartheid in India

 

[Maira La]

simply a stupid article. ...As to castes, the number and extent of that problem is hugely exaggerated and exploited by politicians. ...

 

[Razia Sultana]

Haq's Musings: Dalit Death Shines Light on India's Caste Apartheid

"Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic"
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Father of India's Constitution

What Dr. Ambedkar said decades ago about the inherent inequality of Indian society continues to be true today. The latest manifestation of it is the suicide of a Dalit Ph.D. scholar Rohith Vermula in the southern Indian state of Telangana.


In 2015, the University of Hyderabad suspended 5 Dalit PhD scholars -- all members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) -- after reports that on Aug. 3, students from ASA attacked Susheel Kumar of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), from the ruling party BJP's student wing. A team of investigators from the university found these five students innocent, but they were still suspended after BJP Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya insisted on this action.

Smirti Irani, another ruling BJP minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, has also been accused of playing a role in suspension and the subsequent protest and death of the Dalit scholar in Hyderabad. She is also accused by the Opposition of lying about it.

India's rigid caste system assigns each individual to an occupation based on his or her birth. Such division have existed in other societies but these assignments are particularly rigid in Hindu society. It's extremely difficult for someone born to low-caste parents to pursue occupations reserved for higher castes. This has resulted in what the United Nations considers "Caste Apartheid".

The Hindu hierarchy is said to have evolved from different parts of the body of Brahma—the creator of the universe. Thus, the Brahmans, who originated from the mouth, are engaged in the most prestigious priestly and teaching occupations. The Kshatriyas, made from from the arms, are the rulers and warriors; the Vaishyas, from the thighs, are traders and merchants. The Shudras, from the feet, are manual workers and servants of other castes. Below the Shudras and outside the caste system, lowest in the order, the Dalits engage in the most demeaning and stigmatized occupations like scavenging, for instance, and dealing with bodily waste.

Women get the worst of both worlds under the system of Caste Apartheid. Women in India face discrimination and sexual intimidation, however the “human rights of Dalit women are violated in peculiar and extreme forms. Stripping, naked parading, caste abuses, pulling out nails and hair, sexual slavery and bondage are a few forms peculiar to Dalit women.” These women are living under a form of apartheid: discrimination and social exclusion is a major factor, denying access ”to common property resources like land, water and livelihood sources, [causing] exclusion from schools, places of worship, common dining, inter-caste marriages”, according to the UN Human Rights body.

In spite of the obvious devastating impact of caste discrimination, the Indian government continues to oppose the UN attempts to define it as racism. Paul Divakar, convener of the Delhi-based National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, says, "In a country that prides itself as being the world's biggest democracy, more than 200 million people from the Dalit communities suffer from caste discrimination."

The only minority group reportedly worse off than Dalits are Indian Muslims, according to Indian government's data. The Muslims of India suffer from widespread discrimination in education, employment, housing and criminal justice system.

Given the many ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines running through the length and breadth of India, there have long been questions raised about India's identity as a nation. Speaking about, the US South Asia expert Stephen Cohen of Brookings Institution has said, " But there is no all-Indian Hindu identity—India is riven by caste and linguistic differences, and Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar are more relevant rallying points for more Indians than any Hindu caste or sect, let alone the Sanskritized Hindi that is officially promulgated".

The ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines dividing India have only widened under the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India which has been engaged in a concreted campaign to accelerate total Hinduization of India. It does not augur well for the future of India as a secular, democratic and united nation envisioned by its founders.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Dalit Victims of Indian Apartheid

Disintegration of India

Hinduization of India Under Modi

Discrimination Against Indian Muslims

Haq's Musings: Dalit Death Shines Light on India's Caste Apartheid

I consider caste discrimination as the worst thing that happenned to India in her hitherto history. But calling it apartheid is a bit too much. Dalits have been provided with special constitutional privileges to get over the hundreds of years of inhuman discrimination. There are special laws to deal with crime against them. But have the constitutional provisions changed the mindset of all the people and changed their social status... perhaps no. there is indeed a lot of reform but still there is still a long way to go. The state has all the laws and machineries to deal with it but the mindsets of people can not be changed overnight. Same is the case about minorities. If anyone is facing any discrimination its only individual. The govt. and even private institutions can not discriminate on the basis of caste, religion, ethnicity or gender.
So use of such hard words like apartheid is unpalatable from a person whose country's constitution discriminates against minorities and have such medieval laws as blasphemy.

 

[RiazHaq]

How Severe Is Inequality in #India? We Just Don’t Know, Says Thomas Piketty. #Modi #BJP How Severe Is Inequality in India? We Just Don’t Know, Says Thomas Piketty - India Real Time - WSJ via @WSJIndiaIn New Delhi on Thursday, Mr. Piketty said India’s extremes of opulence amid destitution—“islands of California in a sea of sub-Saharan Africa,” in the words of economists Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen—are probably comparable to what prevails in Brazil and South Africa, where around 60% of national income goes to the top 10% of earners. The figure in France and Germany is around 35%, according to Mr. Piketty’s data. In the U.K., it’s 40%. In the U.S., nearly 50%.

Superstar economist Thomas Piketty filled several auditoriums with listeners when he spoke in New Delhi this week, many of them likely hoping to learn what the French scholar’s research on economic inequality around the world reveals about India, where wealth and deprivation are often on display in uncomfortable proximity.

His answer may have disappointed a few of them. “We don’t really know,” Mr. Piketty said. India’s government simply doesn’t release the requisite data.

For his book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” which became a surprise blockbuster when the English translation was released in 2014, Mr. Piketty mined decades of tax records to show that income and wealth inequality in the U.S. and Western Europe fell in the first half of the 20th century—and then rose spectacularly in the second.

He connects the latter shift to changes in various policies—income-tax rates, corporate-governance rules that affect executive compensation, minimum wages—and calls for remedial efforts, such as a global tax on capital, to dissipate the concentration of riches.

In New Delhi on Thursday, Mr. Piketty said India’s extremes of opulence amid destitution—“islands of California in a sea of sub-Saharan Africa,” in the words of economists Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen—are probably comparable to what prevails in Brazil and South Africa, where around 60% of national income goes to the top 10% of earners. The figure in France and Germany is around 35%, according to Mr. Piketty’s data. In the U.K., it’s 40%. In the U.S., nearly 50%.

But Mr. Piketty really can’t be certain about India, he said. The country’s government stopped publishing detailed statistics related to income tax in 2000. “It’s quite a unique case in history, where you have a decline in transparency and publication about income taxation.”

He continued: “I have been in touch with many people at all levels in India for the past 15 years to try to understand why this cannot change. Everybody tells me, ‘This will change in the next three months, six months.’ ”

Officials at India’s Finance Ministry said they couldn’t immediately comment.

Mr. Piketty acknowledged the sensitivities surrounding income tax in India, where administration can be patchy and evasion widespread. “Let me make very clear that nobody is asking for names,” he said. “We are talking of fully anonymous data. Today, we do not even know the number of taxpayers and amounts of income by income brackets.”

India doesn’t have an estate tax, so there aren’t any official data on inherited wealth either, Mr. Piketty noted.

The 44-year-old economist drew a huge, appreciative crowd at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he was speaking en route to the Jaipur Literature Festival. Even the overflow rooms overflowed with listeners. People crouched in aisles and stood on a lawn where a projector and screen had been set up.

Mr. Piketty lauded India, with its caste-based quotas at universities and government agencies, for at least attempting to help the disadvantaged gain access to education and jobs.

Overall, he said, “I hope Indian elites will behave in a more responsible way than Western elites did in the 20th century.” It took two world wars for some Western governments to use progressive taxes to fund public health and education, he said.

“In India, these reforms, to a large extent, are yet to come.”

 

[RiazHaq]

#Indian #Dalit woman survived in #India by hiding her caste identity. #DalitSuicide | PBS NewsHour How one woman defies caste discrimination in India | PBS NewsHour via @NewsHour

Growing up in India, Yashica Dutt feared that people would discover her true identity.

Then one day when she was 15, they did. She walked with her friend home as she did every day. Her friend’s mother invited her inside and offered her a glass of water. Sitting across from her friend’s parents in their drawing room, they asked about Dutt’s caste.

“I vividly remember thinking, ‘It’s now or never,’” said Dutt, now 29.

She looked down at the floor and told them she was a Dalit — a member of a group also referred to as Untouchables, which sits at the bottom of the caste system and makes up 16 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people.

Under such a system, Dutt would be deemed “unclean,” discouraged against sipping water from her friend’s glass or sitting next to her because her friend belonged to a higher caste.

“I knew I’d done something wrong,” she said. Moments later, she left.

The next time she saw her friend in class, her friend told Dutt that her parents forbade her from speaking to Dutt again.

Dutt said she was never hurt that way again because she “became really good at hiding” who she was.

In many ways, she defied Dalit stereotypes. Her skin color was fair. She spoke excellent English and did well in school. Generations back, her family name changed from Nidaniya, a name that revealed their traditional profession as scavengers, to Dutt, a more ambiguous surname.

And if anyone asked her caste again, Dutt followed her mother’s advice and told them she was Brahmin, a group that sits at the top of the caste system’s hierarchy.

She kept her secret for more than a decade. She worked in New Delhi as a journalist for the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest newspapers, before moving to New York City where she earned her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

But when an Indian doctoral student named Rohith Vemula recently killed himself to protest discrimination that he and other Dalits face across South Asia, Dutt couldn’t ignore who she was anymore. In what The Hindu newspaper reported to be his suicide note, Vemula wrote that, “The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility,” and added that “My birth is my fatal accident.”

Inspired by Vemula, on Tuesday Dutt declared that she was “coming out as Dalit” and asked other Dalits to share their stories on Facebook and on Tumblr.

Dutt isn’t alone. More than 130 academics from around the world signed an open letter following Vemula’s suicide on Jan. 17 decrying what they called the “most recent case of caste discrimination in Indian higher education” by administrators from Hyderabad University, who had suspended Vemula and four other Dalits from school and expelled them from campus housing.

---
But more than five decades later, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch criticized India’s failure to stop Dalit discrimination, which often resulted in Dalits being “denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions, and routinely abused at the hands of the police and of higher-caste groups that often enjoy the state’s protection,” according to a 2007 report.

---

“Caste-based discrimination goes back centuries, and it is very deeply entrenched in Indian society,” Bajoria said. “This will have to be battled at every level.”

Dutt, who still lives in New York and works as a journalist, doesn’t believe the caste system will end during her lifetime, but she said she thinks an open conversation about Dalit discrimination will help empower members of her community.

“It’s wrong to be quiet,” she said.

Today, I'm Coming Out As Dalit

How India Reacted To My Coming Out As Dalit

 

[Tiger Genie]

photoshopping and cut-paste skills cannot make up for barren mind. Numbers do not lie.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

The Dalitometers in the public spaces is the worst thing to happen. These new devices spot Dalits from a range of 80 meters! It has no place anywhere, let alone schools and colleges. The only solution left is to create Dalitstan - a free country for Dalits.
John Dayal can be the ad hoc Prime Minister of the State until elections decide the rulers.

Haq's Musings: Dalit Death Shines Light on India's Caste Apartheid

"Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic"
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Father of India's Constitution

What Dr. Ambedkar said decades ago about the inherent inequality of Indian society continues to be true today. The latest manifestation of it is the suicide of a Dalit Ph.D. scholar Rohith Vermula in the southern Indian state of Telangana.


In 2015, the University of Hyderabad suspended 5 Dalit PhD scholars -- all members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) -- after reports that on Aug. 3, students from ASA attacked Susheel Kumar of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), from the ruling party BJP's student wing. A team of investigators from the university found these five students innocent, but they were still suspended after BJP Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya insisted on this action.

Smirti Irani, another ruling BJP minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, has also been accused of playing a role in suspension and the subsequent protest and death of the Dalit scholar in Hyderabad. She is also accused by the Opposition of lying about it.

India's rigid caste system assigns each individual to an occupation based on his or her birth. Such division have existed in other societies but these assignments are particularly rigid in Hindu society. It's extremely difficult for someone born to low-caste parents to pursue occupations reserved for higher castes. This has resulted in what the United Nations considers "Caste Apartheid".

The Hindu hierarchy is said to have evolved from different parts of the body of Brahma—the creator of the universe. Thus, the Brahmans, who originated from the mouth, are engaged in the most prestigious priestly and teaching occupations. The Kshatriyas, made from from the arms, are the rulers and warriors; the Vaishyas, from the thighs, are traders and merchants. The Shudras, from the feet, are manual workers and servants of other castes. Below the Shudras and outside the caste system, lowest in the order, the Dalits engage in the most demeaning and stigmatized occupations like scavenging, for instance, and dealing with bodily waste.

Women get the worst of both worlds under the system of Caste Apartheid. Women in India face discrimination and sexual intimidation, however the “human rights of Dalit women are violated in peculiar and extreme forms. Stripping, naked parading, caste abuses, pulling out nails and hair, sexual slavery and bondage are a few forms peculiar to Dalit women.” These women are living under a form of apartheid: discrimination and social exclusion is a major factor, denying access ”to common property resources like land, water and livelihood sources, [causing] exclusion from schools, places of worship, common dining, inter-caste marriages”, according to the UN Human Rights body.

In spite of the obvious devastating impact of caste discrimination, the Indian government continues to oppose the UN attempts to define it as racism. Paul Divakar, convener of the Delhi-based National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, says, "In a country that prides itself as being the world's biggest democracy, more than 200 million people from the Dalit communities suffer from caste discrimination."

The only minority group reportedly worse off than Dalits are Indian Muslims, according to Indian government's data. The Muslims of India suffer from widespread discrimination in education, employment, housing and criminal justice system.

Given the many ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines running through the length and breadth of India, there have long been questions raised about India's identity as a nation. Speaking about, the US South Asia expert Stephen Cohen of Brookings Institution has said, " But there is no all-Indian Hindu identity—India is riven by caste and linguistic differences, and Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar are more relevant rallying points for more Indians than any Hindu caste or sect, let alone the Sanskritized Hindi that is officially promulgated".

The ethnic, regional, religious and caste fault lines dividing India have only widened under the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India which has been engaged in a concreted campaign to accelerate total Hinduization of India. It does not augur well for the future of India as a secular, democratic and united nation envisioned by its founders.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Dalit Victims of Indian Apartheid

Disintegration of India

Hinduization of India Under Modi

Discrimination Against Indian Muslims

Haq's Musings: Dalit Death Shines Light on India's Caste Apartheid

You have hit the nail on the head. These are tremors of the imminent break up of India that has been happening for decades. The break is not happening for some reason, but since you say so and with such conviction, I have no reason to doubt you. Dalitstan will come and wipe out the injustice done to the sub continent by the creation of a Zionist Hindu country in a subcontinent steeped in pure Islamic and Buddhist values.

 

[Tiger Genie]

@SarthakGanguly more like the nail hit his head.

 

[kalibr]

Most amazing part of this tragedy is that no one know why he committed suicide but politicians, media and award wapsi gang assumed that its because he was dalit.

 

[SrNair]

I consider caste discrimination as the worst thing that happenned to India in her hitherto history. But calling it apartheid is a bit too much. Dalits have been provided with special constitutional privileges to get over the hundreds of years of inhuman discrimination. There are special laws to deal with crime against them. But have the constitutional provisions changed the mindset of all the people and changed their social status... perhaps no. there is indeed a lot of reform but still there is still a long way to go. The state has all the laws and machineries to deal with it but the mindsets of people can not be changed overnight. Same is the case about minorities. If anyone is facing any discrimination its only individual. The govt. and even private institutions can not discriminate on the basis of caste, religion, ethnicity or gender.
So use of such hard words like apartheid is unpalatable from a person whose country's constitution discriminates against minorities and have such medieval laws as blasphemy.

Well OP is from a nation that still didnt even carried out basic land reforms .They still have that colonial jamindari system .But have enough time to talk about reforms in India .
On topic :Like the PM said a mother cant see her son again.But insensitive people have enough time to play pathetic politics .

@SarthakGanguly more like the nail hit his head.

bald head

 

[RiazHaq]

It's beyond ludicrous to compare any human rights issues in Pakistan with those in India. The numbers tell the story better.

Over 250 million people are victims of caste-based discrimination and segregation in India. They live miserable lives, shunned by much of society because of their ranks as untouchables or Dalits at the bottom of a rigid caste system in Hindu India. Dalits are discriminated against, denied access to land, forced to work in slave-like conditions, and routinely abused, even killed, at the hands of the police and of higher-caste groups that enjoy the state's protection, according to Human Rights Watch.

Haq's Musings: Dalit Victims of Apartheid in India

 

[Razia Sultana]

It's beyond ludicrous to compare any human rights issues in Pakistan with those in India. The numbers tell the story better.

Over 250 million people are victims of caste-based discrimination and segregation in India. They live miserable lives, shunned by much of society because of their ranks as untouchables or Dalits at the bottom of a rigid caste system in Hindu India. Dalits are discriminated against, denied access to land, forced to work in slave-like conditions, and routinely abused, even killed, at the hands of the police and of higher-caste groups that enjoy the state's protection, according to Human Rights Watch.

Haq's Musings: Dalit Victims of Apartheid in India

Differences are not uncommon in a pluralist society. Man is a political animal and will find some reason to be different and distinguished. As a nation all are one regardless of religion, ethnicity, political beliefs but when we take a step down we become hindu-muslim, gora-kala, bjp-congress etc. we take another step down and we become brahmin-dalit, shia-sunni and it goes on until it comes between 2 brothers and finally reaches to an individual self. But the collective conscience, thats the essence of a nation, the uniting factor, the constitution and the governance system, does not discriminate between two citizens in India. There may be some gaps in implementation, which is both condemnable and regrettable, due to mindset that was allowed for hundreds of years by all the rulers and governments, be they hindu, muslim or christian british. The real work against this practice started only when Indian constitution was promulgated in 1950 and I must say there is a lot of achievement in last 65 years but not 100%. Just like a single case of Polio will deprive a nation from polio free status but it wont make the nation polio infested either. Similarly India is not and will not be free from caste discrimination until such examples will keep coming up but its definitely not apartheid. The term Apartheid refers to a "Policy" of racial segregation. This apartheid was there before 1950 not after that. We have special laws against the people who practice this discrimination.

 

[RiazHaq]

Differences are not uncommon in a pluralist society. Man is a political animal and will find some reason to be different and distinguished. As a nation all are one regardless of religion, ethnicity, political beliefs but when we take a step down we become hindu-muslim, gora-kala, bjp-congress etc. we take another step down and we become brahmin-dalit, shia-sunni and it goes on until it comes between 2 brothers and finally reaches to an individual self. But the collective conscience, thats the essence of a nation, the uniting factor, the constitution and the governance system, does not discriminate between two citizens in India. There may be some gaps in implementation, which is both condemnable and regrettable, due to mindset that was allowed for hundreds of years by all the rulers and governments, be they hindu, muslim or christian british. The real work against this practice started only when Indian constitution was promulgated in 1950 and I must say there is a lot of achievement in last 65 years but not 100%. Just like a single case of Polio will deprive a nation from polio free status but it wont make the nation polio infested either. Similarly India is not and will not be free from caste discrimination until such examples will keep coming up but its definitely not apartheid. The term Apartheid refers to a "Policy" of racial segregation. This apartheid was there before 1950 not after that. We have special laws against the people who practice this discrimination.

Laws have no meaning when they are not enforced. That is the case in India.

A survey by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights on the practices of untouchability (Dalits) undertaken in 565 villages in 11 major states of India found in 73 percent of villages, Dalits were not permitted to enter non-Dalit homes.

In 70 percent of villages, non-Dalits would not eat with Dalits. In 48.4 percent of surveyed villages, Dalits were denied access to common water sources. In as many as 38 percent of government schools, Dalit children were made to sit separately while eating.

Dalits also face routine violence. A 2005 government report said there is a crime committed against a Dalit every 20 minutes.

In December 2006, Indian Prime Minister Mannohan Singh became the first Indian leader to acknowledge the parallel between untouchability and apartheid in India.

Singh described untouchability as a “blot on humanity” and acknowledged that despite constitutional and legal protections, caste discrimination still exists throughout much of India.

Today in Asia, well over 200 million men, women and children continue to endure near complete social ostracism on the grounds of their descent. Sixty-five years after Indian independence, Vinod Sonkar, a Dalit, said, “We are still Dalit, still broken, still suppressed.”

“Dalits are increasingly becoming aware of their rights and raising their voice against discrimination and atrocities,” researcher Vidyarthee said. “Future efforts needs to be in that direction.”

Dalit Caste: Apartheid in India