When you think of India, you probably think of it’s vastly expanding economy, the huge IT industry, an affluent nation. However, did you know that nearly a half of all Indian Children are malnourished, a far higher level than most of sub-Saharan Africa? Over 300 million Indians live in extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day, and over 500 million on less than $2 a day. The economic boom mentioned above has been spread mainly over only the top 25% of society.
AND, did you know that in Modern day India, the world’s biggest democracy, there is social discrimination which has been compared to the apartheid in South Africa?
More than 165 million people in India continue to be subject to discrimination, exploitation, and violence simply because of their caste.
These people are known as the Dalits, this is a name they have given themselves which literally means “broken people”.
Every 20 minutes, a Dalit becomes a victim of crime.
– India’s National Crime Records Bureau (2005).
With many more crimes unreported or unrecorded by unsympathetic police.
Custodial torture of Dalits, rapes of Dalit women, and the looting of Dalit property by the police “are condoned or at best ignored.” –
National Human Rights Commission of India (2004).
These people are subject to caste discrimination, picked to do the jobs which no-one else wants to do or which are illegal,
More than 1.3 million Dalits – mostly women –are employed as manual scavengers to clear human waste from dry pit latrines.
Despite the fact that this job is actually illegal; 100 Dalits die every year from inhaling dangerous fumes or sewage fumes, when they shouldn’t even be there in the first place.
Many Dalit people are in bonded labour, working incredibly long hours. In India, 300,000 people work for less than $1 a day, as the poorest members of society, this number includes most Dalits.
Caste discrimination also goes a lot deeper than just jobs, despite the notion of “untouchability” (the idea that upper caste people can’t even have the shadow of a Dalit fall upon them for fear of ‘contamination’) having been banned in 1950, in practice this is still very much alive, especially in rural areas,
In a study of 11 Indian states, the practice of “untouchability” was documented in almost 80 percent of the 565 villages surveyed.
– Action Aid India (2006).
Education is also a key area of discrimination,
Teachers have been known to declare that Dalit pupils “cannot learn unless they are beaten.”
– UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education (2006).
Most Dalit students are enrolled in government schools that lack basic infrastructure, classrooms, teachers, and teaching aids. They are made to sit in the back of classrooms and endure verbal and physical abuse from teachers and students. The effect of such abuses is borne out by the low literacy and high drop-out rates for Dalits. Upper-caste hostility toward Dalits’ education is linked to the perception that Dalits are either incapable of being educated, or if educated, would pose a threat to village hierarchies and power relations.
And education is where OM (Operation Mobilisation) and other Christian relief organizations are beginning to work and set up initiatives to combat such social and human rights abuses as discussed above. The local Dalit leaders are Inviting OM to set up Dalit Education Centers (DEC’s) (in effect schools) in many villages across India. The schools provide an English Education, the English being key as this is often one of the best ways to further the younger generation socially. The schools also provide Self Help Groups to parents and other villagers, looking at issues such as money management. However, most importantly, these schools have at their roots a desire to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Therefore not only do these children have a newfound education which will serve to get them out of the ‘rut’ which they are stuck in as they attend discriminatory and discouraging schools, but they also have a solid hope. For Dalit children, having been taught that the Hindu Gods think nothing of them, the simple gospel message of the love of God and his sacrifice for all of mankind is an incredible thing for them to grasp hold of. For once, it can be firmly stated that there is “Hope for the Children” in one of the poorest and most discriminatory parts of the world.
So, what has this got to do with Phil?
Well, in September I will be going on an eight day trek (with a team from the UK) through the Himilaya in Northern India to raise money for a particular DEC in Jharkhand province. This is a small village where 95% of the inhabitants are Dalits. There is a DEC school there currently, with 27 students however the school is in desperate need of a new school building to enable it to expand, to offer better education and more services to the local community (such as Self Help Groups for the parents looking at effective ways of money management amongst other issues). My objectives are to raise awareness of the plight of the Dalit people as well as the incredible work and opportunities that OM and other such organizations have to transform lives. I also want to raise, and if possible exceed, my target of £3000 which will go towards the £55,000 needed to rebuild the school in Jharkland, provide staff and set up all the projects wanted in the local community.
