Discrimination Dialogue - The Indian Express

2/11/2016
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Home Opinion Columns Discrimination dialogue
Discrimination dialogue
A starting point could be the doing away of the myth that modernity alone will deal with caste
Written by Pratap Bhanu
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Mehta
Published:Feb 10, 2016, 0:00
ABOUT AUTHOR
Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is
President, Centre Policy
Research, New Delhi, one
of India's top think tanks.
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Book review:
StrangerAnxiety
Reading Rohith
OPINION
India should prepare its

cadre for the
blueeconomy
HRD minister Smriti Irani
In the aftermath of Rohith Vemulas suicide, the HRD ministry is right to call for a
dialogue with universities on discrimination. But the cultural labour of producing a
genuine dialogue rather than another bureaucratic exercise is going to be
It doesnt trickledown
immensely difficult. Our institutions are, for the most part, not geared to cater to
students. They are geared to some notion of exams and syllabuses in which the
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individual requirements and experiences of students become invisible. Addressing

these challenges requires a critical mass of people with social embeddedness and
empathy, something alien to official structures.
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But beyond the marginalisation of students, this dialogue will have to overcome the
ideological sediments in which Dalit politics has been rendered visible. As the
Gandhi-Ambedkar non-dialogue foreshadowed, encounters between even the most
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benefitssome
well-meaning and self-aware of protagonists can result in deepening alienation.

The paradigm that encounter set up, between Gandhi constructing the problem as
one of self-purification of Hindus and Ambedkar as one of self-respect, still marks
the encounter with Dalit politics. There has been enormous change since. But it
would be foolish to underestimate the depth of the challenge caste still poses. The
narrative of modernity has, in some important respects, loosened the hold of caste.
But it has in other respects deepened caste consciousness. A helpful starting point is
to do away with the myth that modernity alone will take care of the caste question,
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without some real cultural labour.

The caste dialogue has become more difficult for a number of reasons. We have
simply not fully acknowledged the sheer atrocity that caste has been, especially for
Dalits. There is still a defensiveness that creeps into discussions: The reality was
more nuanced, caste is more complicated. But all said and done, it was and
USA: Ted Cruz

congratulates Donald
Trump on New
Hampshirewin
remains an atrocity. The sincerity of our acknowledgement of it as an atrocity

remains in doubt, impeding any understanding.
In some sections, there are kids who genuinely dont understand caste. This could
be a healthy development. But paradoxically, this amnesia only reinforces mutual
suspicion: Upper-caste kids cannot understand why they are being held responsible
for something they may not subscribe to; they are oddly unaware of their structural
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privilege. On the other hand, it makes the acknowledgement of caste atrocity even
more difficult.
Reservations remain a bone of contention. There are some terrible abuses of the
North Korea plutonium
production resumed,
says US intelligencechief
idea of merit to marginalise claims of Dalits. Even if we dont go into deeper

questions of merit coding a social privilege, the basic understanding of affirmative
action as being against merit is flawed. The point is to widen the pool from which
merit is identified, not to diminish it. But one casualty of the expansion of
reservations beyond Dalits was to render invisible the specific category of
discrimination. Reservations were no longer seen as arising out of a specific ethical
imperative; they now came to be understood merely as an assertion of political
power for jobs and opportunities. In an economy where the super-privileged can
afford to secede, the real contest over reservations is not played out between the
super-privileged and Dalits; it is being played out between classes whose own
economic opportunities hang by a thread and others. In the long run, setting
reservations on new ethical foundations will be a tough but necessary task. There is
also a huge credibility gap. It is easy to trot out the idea that more education, more
equal opportunity will take care of the problem. But it is impossible for any of us to
look at Indias marginalised in the eye and say we have, in fact, built genuine
structures of opportunity. The patent insincerity of all of us who spout this line
keeps us trapped in a cycle of suspicion.
But the chasm is even deeper. The first is at the level of experience: What does it
mean to grasp the reality of Dalit experience? This often plays out oddly in
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literature, where upper-caste attempts to portray the inner subjectivity of that

experience often end in ridiculous failure. But it also plays out in social practice of
commonplace micro aggression: Intentional or unintentional behaviour that
communicates hostile or often patronising signals. The second is at the level of
articulation. Dalit fears of being assimilated into some abstract universality are
well-founded: These categories, whether of rights or class or development, do not
do justice to the specificity of the experience, or they are ways of domesticating
their political agency. Even the most well-meaning end up constructing Dalits as
objects. And none more so than those trying to rid themselves of self-expatiating
guilt. But in that chasm between specificity of the experience and the abstraction of
our categories, all communication falls through.
The third level is ideological. D.R. Nagaraj once wrote poignantly, The modern
Dalit has to seek his rebirth in a state of fearful loneliness. S/he has nothing to rely
upon in his/her immediate Hindu surroundings. Modern Dalit movements have
been about the creation of a cultural space that is their own. In a strange way,
reactionary ABVP students understand the stakes in the Dalit movement much
more clearly than the liberals: That the emancipation and cultural space for Dalits
rest upon an attack on Hinduism.
One counter-response to this is to detach the social question from the question of
Hinduism. This is to construct a Hinduism that can slough off its social pathologies.
But the ease of the gesture, Hinduism provides an internal justification for
deconstructing caste, does not match the enormity of the crime. In fact, the more
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you hear it, the more facile it sounds. One reason dialogue is getting harder is
because the debate immediately becomes about an abstraction called tradition
rather than the processes of power. So the debate is between a defensive Hinduism
that sees Dalit assertion with fear and a Dalit assertion that sees Hinduism as a
strategy for containment. So long as we have a discourse of tradition that impedes
peoples freedom to fashion their own identities and spaces, the question of
discrimination cannot be addressed frontally.
Politics will, by its very nature, have an investment in conflict and, to a certain
extent, even victimisation. If mobilisation had taken place on quality of education,
on building support structures that attend to genuine pedagogical needs, perhaps
the challenge would have been mitigated. But the dialogue on discrimination is not
just a legal or administrative affair. It will have to create a culture where all can
feel free and at home.
The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, and contributing editor, The
Indian Express
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Sunny Cal
7655
When someone meets a person these days does anyone think of what his/her caste is
anymore? When a company (not government jobs) sifts through job applications and in
the interviews, does it specifically look for the caste of the person? I think the people are
conflating affirmative action with quotas and reservation. Affirmative action, as practiced
in the US, means equal employment opportunity without discrimination and not
reservations and quotas. So, what is needed is a similar affirmative action policy. The
Indian politicians just want to play vote bak politics with caste and are not interested in
true uplftment of the economically weaker section through free high quality school
education.
15 minutes ago
N
155
(0)
(0) reply(0)
Naman
Very well articulated piece on the Dalit assertion and traditional Hinduism. On ideological
level when since 90's there's emphasis on Ram Rajya by Hindutva forces without
considering how excluded dalits will find themselves in such ideal religious state. In the
last decade a critical mass is appearing in dalits in form of middle class, they are second
or third generation reservation beneficiaries, economically they have placed in middle
class however still feel the markers of exclusion like in marriage, entrepreneurship etc. It
is this section which is now vigorously bringing dalit assertion. It's oblivious to any
political party but ideologically opposed to Hindutva. This ideological opposition is
opposed by ABVP in the campuses. It also seems at leading st at student level forging of
solidarity between dalits and minorities is taking place. This solidarity hurts case of
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solidarity between dalits and minorities is taking place. This solidarity hurts case of
Hindu nation like no other. This solidarity is opposed by the right wing and hence barbs
of anti nationalist. If current phase of Hyper Nationalism gains momentum then instances
of clashes between two ideologically opposed groups at university level is likely to rise
with assert of dalits. PBM rightly pointed out the chasm that exists between two camps
and bridging it will not be possible under a bureaucratic structure.
about an hour ago
(0)
(0) reply(0)
RJ
The Indic Dharmic Lens at Karigar's Corner...to honor Eastern (Hindu/Buddhist) wisdom with fellow seekers, & open
discussion & debate with others.
Bhanu's analysis symptomatic of Indian intelligentsia. Western vocabulary, mapping US

race politics to Indian society, blaming Indian traditions subtly. Will get him shabaashi
from academics & published at Oxford. Few will note the deafening silence on 800yr
Islamic & Western Imperialism's effect on India that has led to this impasse
about an hour ago
(2)
(0) reply(1)
SunnypankajUp Voted
P
5265
pankaj
actually, all these indian int-elle-ctuals should be asked to ma-nu-ally translate their
opinions to hi-n-di or their regional language to see the level of reasoning and empty
con-jec-tures that they keep on joining in an attempt to come up with a 1000 word ess-a-y, mostly on good for nothing topics that just create little bit of tra-sh of ideas.. in
already available mountain of liberal tr-a-sh.... they can continue it to maintain their
current status for sometime but eventually, all these are tiny problems in big scheme
of things that nature plans for us humans and in mere two decades people will know
that the only way da-lit could have come out of their da-lit-ness was by way of getting
out of d-a-l-i-t po-lit-ics, all this em-anci-pation and ri-gh-ts etc by first claiming a
negative d-a-l-i-t identity that even the worst of worst scheduled ca-ste never had, is
basically creating deep negative roots....
about an hour ago
(0)
(0) reply(1)
pankaj
P
9/18
2/11/2016
the mus-lims world over are best example of this negative psychology, they have
ensured that their future generations go through lot of pain just because of the
negative psychology that muslims created for themselves, they believed in the
book and took it upon them that they have to get rid of k-a-f-i-r-s and then
around it their clergy and rulers created a huge umbrella of negative identity )
(victim in every single place etc..), a big d-e-c-e-p-t-i-v-e p-r-o-p-a-g-a-n-d-a
machine...
5265
about an hour ago
(0)
(0) reply(1)
pankaj
if d-a-l-i-t-s continue with d-a-l-i-t p-o-l-i-t-i-c-s way, the end result for them
will be same as that of m-u-s-l-i-m-s...... and chr-is-t-ian m-i-ss-i-o-nary, who
all over world, are facing big battle to save their chr-ist-ia-nity as more and
more Chr-isti-ans are turning to at-he-ism or new age philosophy are just
feeding on these da-li-ts in hope to create bigger chr-is-tian population in
india while in west they keep losing people in great numbers..
5265
about an hour ago
P
5265
(0)
(0) reply(1)
pankaj
Rest assured, the last religion to go will be Hi-ndu-ism, not even Bu-ddhism and not any other religion, because only Hin-dui-sm was so open that
it is impossible to bl-a-me it for anything bad, but possible to give it credit
for some of best phi-los-op-hical ideas... it will keep on amazing the wise
people who wonder how come humanity suffer so much at the hands of
religions when people could have thought such nice ideas more than
3000 years back.... (ironically the hindus created the wootz steel that crusa-ders and mu-sl-ims used to make best swords to fight with each other,
but hindus couldn't defend themselves from invaders, because lack of
understanding on what type of threat and social disruption these
invaders can cause, almost every single social evil we see in India started
happening after 1000 AD, till Al Biruni's visits there is nothing bad in
Hindu society and lot of good )..
about an hour ago
(0)
(0) reply(0)
10/18
2/11/2016
RJ
The Indic Dharmic Lens at Karigar's Corner...to honor Eastern (Hindu/Buddhist) wisdom with fellow seekers, & open
discussion & debate with others.
Bhanu's analysis is symptomatic of Indian intelligentsia. Western vocabulary, mapping

US race politics to Indian society, blaming Indian traditions subtly. Will get him shabaashi
from academics & published at Oxford. Few will note the deafening silence on 800yr
Islamic & Western Imperialism's effect on India that has led to this impasse
about an hour ago
(1)
(0) reply(0)
pankajUp Voted
RC
380
RC
The only Dalit leadership of National significance is Mayawati led BSP which is a caste
coalition of Dalits and Brahmins! Dalits face atrocities more from backward castes who
compete with them for political space! Nitish kumar a kurmi backward leader humiliated
Mahadalit ex CM!So caste issues are complex and political parties are biggest culprits to
aggravate the divide and hinder the welfare of Dalits
about an hour ago
(2)
(0) reply(0)
SunnypankajUp Voted
R
8790
Rishi
BJP, Dalit party alliance demonstrates that the so-called Brahmanical forces have
already embraced the so-called Ambedkarites. Congress used Dalits as just another vote
bank, whereas the BJP is an ally of Dalits at the Center.
about 3 hours ago
(2)
(0) reply(0)
SunnypankajUp Voted
M
2230
Mark
Rohith's suicide was a consequences of the ideological battle between brahmanical

forces and Ambedkarites. Given how Dalits are getting educated and they are joining the
11/18
2/11/2016
forces and Ambedkarites. Given how Dalits are getting educated and they are joining the
mainstream, the conflict between brahmanical forces and Ambedkarites is only expected
to rise.
about 3 hours ago
(1)
(0) reply(1)
bitterhoneyUp Voted
vinay
Truly Educated minds with good wisdom will never fight...instead they collaborate
about 3 hours ago
(0)
(0) reply(0)
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2/11/2016

Environment ministry action plan: Plan to bar mining in wildlife corridors

Home Opinion Columns Discrimination dialogue

Pratap Bhanu Mehta

India should prepare its

HRD minister Smriti Irani

individual requirements and experiences of students become invisible. Addressing

well-meaning and self-aware of protagonists can result in deepening alienation.

Turkey: Refugees treated

without some real cultural labour.

USA: Ted Cruz

remains an atrocity. The sincerity of our acknowledgement of it as an atrocity

idea of merit to marginalise claims of Dalits. Even if we dont go into deeper

literature, where upper-caste attempts to portray the inner subjectivity of that

Average: 5.0 stars from 7 ratings

What is your opinion?

Bhanu's analysis symptomatic of Indian intelligentsia. Western vocabulary, mapping US

about an hour ago

about an hour ago

Bhanu's analysis is symptomatic of Indian intelligentsia. Western vocabulary, mapping

Rohith's suicide was a consequences of the ideological battle between brahmanical

Talk of the Town

Facts dispute claims by banks: writeoff gallops, recovery crawls

Afzal Guru event: Anti-India slogans

JNU students clash over event on

HRD Ministry sends proposal to sack

IS arrest: All my son had was a

Fresh trouble for R K

188 children complain of

'Odd-even' scheme set to

Siachen survivour Lance

2002 hit-and-run: Salman's

Kapoor & Sons trailer: An

Rishi Kapoor leaves

It's an honour to direct

Aishwarya Rai in Punjab for

Playing for India after four

Pakistan drop Shehzad, Gul

WT20: India will be a big

WT20: India will be a big

BlackBerry Priv review Part 1: What I love about

Lenovo K4 Note goes on

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL

Are you suffering from a

FEB 10: LATEST NEWS

Sansad Adarsh Gram

100 students in Odisha

PM Modi not interested in

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