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Panel 4:
Issues
related to unequal access to civil rights, citizenship and social
status: Caste, untouchability, religious and gender discrimination
Civil rights are a
significant set of rights that are designed to protect individuals from
unfair treatment; these are rights of individuals to receive equal
treatment (and to be free from unfair treatment or discrimination) in a
number of settings – public facilities, education, employment, housing,
public accommodations, and more. The State enacted the Untouchability
Offence Act, 1955 (which was renamed as Protection of Civil rights Act
in 1979) and SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 as legal
safeguards against denial of equal civil Rights to the SC/ST. Similar
Act is enacted to ensure equal rights to women.
The papers in this session
will focus upon the changes in caste discrimination and untouchability
and the progress made in providing equal civil rights access to SCs /STs.
The papers will also examine the public spheres wherein positive changes
have occurred on this count and where the caste discrimination still
persists and the progress against it has been very slow.
Panelists will also look
into the issue of residential and social segregation of Dalits in rural
areas and possible measures towards their social integration. They will
assess the process of ‘sanskritization’ and ‘westernization’ and also
other social processes, which are generally neglected, such as
conversion to Buddhism and to several other egalitarian ideologies and
sects.
The papers will also
discuss the nature of discrimination experienced by religious
minorities, and Dalits who converted to Christianity, Sikhism and Islam,
namely the Dalit Christians, Dalit Muslims and Sikhs. The session will
also focus upon gender discrimination in relation to its
intersectionality with caste, tribe, and religion.
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