Dates of conference: June 7-9, 2023 (tentative)                                            Venue: ISEC, Bengaluru

Concept Note

The Indian society is highly diversified in social, cultural, and religious aspect of human life. However this diversity also coincide with disparity in social and economic aspect of life, which is closely associated with group’s identity like caste, ethnicity, religion, gender and others forms of identity .Some social groups like the untouchables, other backward castes, tribals, religious minorities and women suffer from lack of civil, political , economic , religious , social and cultural rights in various degrees. Among the social institutions, however, the caste system as a social organization of Hindus has generated high level of systemic inequality across the caste groups, due to unequally graded entitlement of economic, civil, political and cultural/religious rights. The conversion of caste Hindus to other religions has also carried the caste system in this religion and persists in direct forms. The untouchables who converted in other religion like Sikhism, Christianity, Islam and other sects in search of equal rights and status also faced discrimination in the converted religion. The former untouchables who are placed at the bottom of caste hierarchy suffered the most from the unjust assignment of rights and low social status.. The denial of basic human rights to the ex-untouchables has had a crippling effect on their living condition. The other backward castes also suffered from caste discrimination in some forms and deprivation. So do the Hindu women, who also suffered from the selective denial of rights under norms of caste system.

Indian State has recognised the problem of intergroup inequality in our society based on group identity of caste, tribe, religion and gender. Eventually the Constitution in 1950 recognized the problem arising out of groups identity, particularly the caste ,tribal and gender inequality, including the problem of religious minorities and made social justice (social, economic and political), liberty, equality, and fraternity as the founding principle of State governance, clearly overturning the inequality associated with caste system . It promises equal rights to all citizens. Article 14 assures equality before the law and equal protection of law. Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of caste, religion, race, sex, or place of birth, by the State and in use of services supplied by private individual for public use, and /or facilities maintained wholly or partly out of State funds and dedicated to the use of the general public. Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, and states that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment under the State, and no discrimination in employment or office under the State. Article 17 abolishes untouchability and its practice in any form is forbidden and made punishable in law. Moreover, the Constitution in Article 46, the Directive Principles of State Policy, makes it obligatory for the State to enact laws and frame policies to enable the citizens to use these (fundamental) rights in practice. In case of the Scheduled castes and Tribes it states: ‘The State is required to protect the Scheduled Caste (ex-untouchables) and Scheduled Tribes (indigenous people) from social injustices and all forms of exploitation.’

To give effect to the provision of non-discrimination, the Indian Government, in 1955, enacted the Untouchability (Offences) Act on May 8, 1955 (enforced on June 1, 1955), which was renamed as ‘Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, in 1979. Thirty-four years later, another law namely ‘The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, was enacted in 1989. Similar Act has been passed to prevent gender discrimination .The Indian Government also enacted an reservation policy to ensure fair share to the scheduled castes/scheduled tribes/Other backward castes in legislature, public employment and educational institutions in 1950 .With some modification similar legal safeguards and affirmative action policies in direct or indirect form are developed for the women .The Constitution also made special provisions to safeguards the rights of religious minorities such as Jains, christens, Muslim, Buddhist and others.

Persistence of Discrimination and Inequalities

Over a period of time, there has been considerable erosion in the institution of Caste and untouchability, and gender discrimination-rooted in social structure. The situation of the ex-untouchables and other backward castes has improved considerably, so did the situation of women. However, although the caste system has weakened in several spheres, it continues to retain some of its worst features with denial of equal rights, as it carry forward the legacy of discrimination and maintain graded inter caste and gender inequality even today in economic, civil and political, social, cultural religious spheres. The indicators of human development or economic wellbeing, like per capita income, poverty, malnutrition, education, housing and assets ownership, civil and political rights, religious and cultural rights reveal the evidence of persisting inter caste inequalities and practice of caste discrimination and untouchability.

The ideology of castes and untouchability continue to influence and shape the behavior of higher castes which involve denial of equal rights in multiple spheres to the low castes. Official date for the period between 2001 to 2016, a total of 2,57,961 cases of discrimination were registered by the scheduled caste (SC) which comes to a yearly average of 16,123 cases per year under the Protection of Civil rights Act 1955 and Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989.

The primary studies revealed the nature of discrimination in multiplespheres. The most comprehensive study of all India coverage relates to 2000 that include five hundred villages from eleven states and other studies give evidence of caste discrimination and untouchabality .These studies revealed that despite the law against caste discrimination and untouchability by the Constitution of India and despite the passage of numerous legislations classifying caste discrimination untouchability in any spheres as a cognizable criminal offence and despite several affirmative measures to improve the socio -economic condition, the practices live on and even take a new form. Clearly caste discrimination is not a fast-fading remnant of our traditional ideology of caste and untouchability, but a persistent and flexible part of our contemporary reality that needs to be recognised and addressed. Casteism is thus a predominant part of Indian life, Casteism itself has become internalized into the Indian conscience. It comes naturally and unknowably to the high castes.

Therefore we see that increasingly the issue of inter-group inequalities has come into sharp focus and acquired prominence in the policy discourse. Beside SC/ST/OBCs, other groups have also begun to demand group-based polices. These groups include several middle castes such as Maratha, Patel, Jat, and other sub-castes, women, and religious minorities like the Dalit Christians, Dalit Muslims, and low-income groups irrespective of their social identities. Some of them have sought reservation policies in public employment, some in legislatures, and some have asked for group specific policies for economic and educational empowerment.

The demand for the group-focused policies is enviable because in the Indian social context exclusion from opportunities is based on caste, gender and ethnicity with some communities suffering more from disadvantages, while others enjoy special rights and privileges. At the same time empirical evidence on the nature of group inequality is much less than the demands surrounding the issue. Therefore, policies are often developed with less information. Under political pressure the adoption of policies is given precedence over empirical evidence and theoretical justification. The policies are adopted with limited evidence; the zone of ignorance is too large, which gives rise to debate.

Therefore, the Association of Academic for Social Justice has decided to discuss the issue of “Inter group disparities” for the first time in some depth. Under this theme the conference will examine the magnitude of inter-group inequalities associated with caste, tribes, religion, gender and other social identities, look into the sources of group inequalities, provide justification for group-based policies based on empirical facts, assess the present policies, and finally suggest reforms in the present policies.

Social groups such as those comprising former or ex-untouchables (Dalits) and women have multiple dimensions to their problem of deprivation. There are hardly any aspects of their lives which are not regulated by the caste system and untouchability in an unequal manner. Their caste regulates social, cultural, religious, political, economic, and psychological aspects of their lives. Therefore, understanding of inter-group inequalities requires not only a multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary approach but also involvement and inputs from multiple disciplines in social sciences such as law and constitution, economics, political sciences, sociology/anthropology, philosophy, history, psychology, literature and visual arts, media (print, social, and films). These disciplines drawing from their respective theoretical and empirical knowledge need to provide insights into the problem of inter-group inequality using multi-disciplinary and cross disciplinary approach, tools and methodology. The multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary framework will enable us to theorize, examine, and innovate ways to reduce inter-group inequalities and oppression associated with caste, gender, and other forms of identity. The motive and goal are to bring forth a collective voice and wisdom to develop an approach and policies to reduce inter-group inequality and oppression. This being the first systematic attempt to discuss the neglected theme of group inequality, this conference will first take up prime questions for discussion. It will draw insights from theories and empirical evidence from multiple disciplines on

(a) the magnitude and nature of group inequality,

(b) sources of persisting group inequality,

(c) consequences in terms of unequal outcomes and

(d) policies for minimizing group inequalities.

The invited papers, keynote addresses, and special lectures will bring forth rich theoretical and empirical evidence on persistence of inter-group inequality. A number of issues that will emerge from the discussion during the three-day academic exercise will likely throw up several other issues, which will be selectively taken up for detailed discussion in subsequent annual conferences .