Monday, March 3, 2014

Caste is worse than Aparthied

           Caste is worse than Aparthied



Hundreds of millions of untouchables (Dalits) have been
subjected to humiliation, degradation, untouchability, starvation,
murder, rape and what not for about 3000 years. Indian society
has been divided into four classes or Varnas (castes); on the
top is Brahmin (priestly class), next to them are Kshatriyas
(warrior class), then we have Vaishya (business class), and at
the bottom are Shudras (untouchables). These untouchables
can not share any public platform with, and even their shadows
pollute the so-called upper castes. Manusmriti, which regulates
social and political life of Hindu society in India, bars untouchables
from reading, pronouncing and hearing the holy books like Vedas
and if they hear them, molten lead is to be poured in their
ears, their tongues are to be cut off if they pronounce them
and eyes are to be pierced with red hot iron. Even African
brothers have not faced such a draconian social and religious
norm. The Indian Government may say that the old
Constitution - Manusmriti has been replaced by modern Indian
Constitution framed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, but, because of
non-implementation of the present Constitution, the old
Constitution holds the order of the day in day-to-day life.
Because of this dilution of reservation (a Constitutional provision
to provide jobs in Government services and politics according
to population ratio), rape and murder of Dalits and discrimination
in every walk of life are the order of the day. Even the Supreme
Court of India is engaged in eroding the base of reservation by
delivering adverse judgment after judgment.
The world may not believe our nightmare as truth but it
Religious Freedom ( 2 )
is so. Why apartheid problem caught the attention of the
world is because nature and religion did not help in masking the
reality. Blacks and whites are both creations of nature and this
realization has helped in exposing the discrimination of brothers
with black skin. Such discrimination was not backed by religion,
be it Christianity or Islam. But in our case the social
discrimination, which has pervaded all walks of life, is caused by
Hindu religion. The untouchables have been consoled to live a
dehumanized life because they are said to be condemned to it
by the desire of gods. Accordingly, it is considered good if they
suffer because they are washing away the sins of their past life
and their present suffering will liberate them in the next life.
According to Article 1 of the UN Convention on Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD), caste discrimination is included
in racial discrimination, as formally interpreted and explained by
the CERD Committee in 1996, ICCPR (International Convention
on Civil and Political Rights) in 1997 and the UN Sub-Commission
for protection and promotion of Human Rights in 1999;when on
the one hand the Indian Constitution recognizes discrimination
on the basis of which reservation is given, then how caste
discrimination can be denied at international human rights for
a? When Indian Government and its dominant castes do not
feel shy of associating with UN Bodies and developed countries
in the field of health, education , rural development and the
like then how can they say that only caste discrimination is an
internal matter ? Even most developed countries like USA and
Japan have gracefully accepted discrimination in their respective
countries. At no point, they said that their internal problems
have been internationalized; when nature-created differences
like blacks and whites are being fought then why manmade
social norms, which sprang up due to Varna Vyavastha (caste
system), can not be fought ? Our problems are more severe
than apartheid. Can anyone deny that killings, rapes, starvation
or social discrimination of Dalits are not rampant ? Isn't it a fact
that safeguards like reservation provided in the Constitution are
frequently flouted? After independence Indian Parliament should
have first taken up the issue of elimination of caste and
imparting of compulsory and equal education and by now India
would have reached the pinnacle of progress. Isn't it true that
today also untouchables are carrying human excreta on their
heads? Isn't it a fact that even in the wake of the Tsunami
tragedy that struck coastal Tamil Nadu, many relief camps
were put up by Govt. and other voluntary bodies, wherein
Dalits were not allowed to share food and shelter side-by-side
with upper castes and others? Even in case of death, they
were treated separately. Among human beings, caste
discrimination still continues to be practised there which proves
that the dominant castes cannot change their mind-set. Those
who are settled in western countries, like Silicon Valley, have not
changed a bit. Rather, being in minority outside of India, they
become more fanatic and parochial and support RSS ideology
Whatever progress has been made by untouchables is
due to reservation in services and politics. Dalits constitute
about 25% of the total population of India. So far, reservation
has not been fully implemented, e.g., out of 120 Secretaries in
the Government of India, there is hardly anyone from this
community. In 1997 the Department of Personnel & Training
issued five anti-reservation orders on the basis of Supreme
Court judgment which have eroded the base of reservation.
The All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations has been
struggling since 1997 for restoration of benefit of affirmative
action and its implementation. The untouchables do not have
any participation in the fields of industry, trade, commerce,
higher education and judiciary, profession and art and culture.
Imagine what would be happening to them if there were no
reservation. Why this truth remained masked is precisely
because of upper caste dominance in all fields like media,
communication, key places in Government etc. India is among
those countries which join the cause of human rights outside
India, but when it comes to the cause of human rights within
the country, it says that it is an internal matter. Developed
countries like USA and Japan have accepted gracefully and
honestly that discrimination does exist in their countries but
they did not say that their internal matter had been
internationalized. But, Indian Government is pleading that it is
an internal matter. Going by the logic of Indian Government
then every Genocide and Xenophobia happening in any country
becomes the internal matter of that country.
The United Nations Organization has failed to appreciate
the exploitation and discrimination in India in time. Justice delayed
is justice denied; however, it has still time to include caste based
discrimination in its programs. Human Rights are not only inborn,
inalienable, indivisible, universal but they transcend nation state
boundaries. Irrespective of political, nation state boundary and
other considerations, the whole humanity is having the obligation
to protect and promote the cause of humanity. The U.N.O.
should not succumb to any kind of pressure opposing the inclusion
of caste based discrimination.
It is often said that truth can not be masked for a long
period but it is so in India. Whatever standard hypotheses and
parameters are there to gauge the truth- human mentality,
faith and persuasion - they all fail when applying to so called
human beings of Brahminical Social Order (BSO). The entire
media is in the hands of BSO in India and nothing much can
appear either in print or electronic media which goes against
them. Some of the electronic media are controlled by western
people but the upper castes have pervaded in such a way that
nothing goes against them. Whatever they feel like is covered
and western journalists and media have not understood it till
now.
The upper castes rule the roost in every sphere and
whenever westerners try to understand the truth, they have
failed to see through it. The simple reason for this is that they
understand only English and prepare socio-cultural schemes
based on projections of upper castes so that scholarships and
fellowships are given to them only. A warrior only can know a
warrior; similarly, Christian brothers, being above such a heinous
caste system, could not understand it.
Buddhism was born in India before the birth of Jesus
Christ and it spread to most parts of the world during its peak;
however, it declined in India because of internal weaknesses
and manipulative actions of Brahminical forces, i.e., so called
upper castes. If at all there is a need to serve humans it is in
India as most of the societies in the world have overcome
acute forms of exploitation and discrimination, but in India till
today the caste system - graded inequality- exists in the most
brutal and crude manner which leads to the most inhuman
form of exploitation and discrimination. India has been the cradle
land of Buddhism but it was systematically weakened because
of the caste system and this became possible because people
were not conscious and educated but in today's world this is
not going to be the case and this exploitation and discrimination
in the name of caste system would not continue. There is
complete unrest, frustration and agony amongst DALITS - so
called lower castes/untouchables who constitute more than 25
per cent population of India. I do not think that more than 250
million people would be living in such nasty and wretched
conditions any where in the world.
The Lord Buddha Club and All India Confederation of
SC/ST Organisations have been waging a relentless war for
equality, justice, rights and harmony for the last 7-8 years.
Reservation in Government Services was given to Dalits after
huge, concerted efforts and hardships and it is like the
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION for BLACKS in the UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA, but now it is being snatched away by the upper
castes under one pretext or the other. We had organized four
mammoth gatherings on 26th November 1997, 16th November
1998, on 13th December 1999 and 11th December 2000 of
about 0.1 million, 0.5 million, 1.0 million and 1.5 million
respectively,followed by rallies in subsequent years, demanding
rights for these children of a lesser god but the rulers have not
relented and there is no hope that they would accede to the
demands.


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