Discrimination in India - Daily Life

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by archana.kc, Mar 23, 2010.

  1. aruna_077

    aruna_077 Senior IL'ite

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    Dear Beeamma,

    I just cited an experience local to me. You gave light to global issues; and its just pathetic to hear about Saudi Arabia where girls are educated based on their gender and physical strength. Can't the world see women working in NASA, CERN?? When women can go to moon, they can do anything on Earth!!

    In the end - You and Me both agree that there does exist discriminations against females.

    Even recently there was a post by a girl who cited how her husband does'nt agree and support her to pursue MBA even when his wife's Dad is funding it entirely.

    Would a guy be questioned ever why is he studying or working even after becoming a father?- NEVER is the answer.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2010
  2. saipavani123

    saipavani123 Silver IL'ite

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    [JUSTIFY]
    Caste system started with good intentions and dirty idiot humans converted it into discrimination. As we all know it was based on professions.

    I feel sad over discrimination on basis of caste. Whenever someone asks "which caste are you from ?? " Or say proudly " I belong to so and so caste "...I feel like "what the heck"....I seriously say on their face "are you nuts ??"( I say this especially when they talk proudly about their caste. Yes even if the are of same caste as of me and talk proudly about it.)...How can one proudly talk about caste in which they are born into.....I feel like kicking them :tongue . I feel all this discrimination should be removed. At least when I have kids I will teach them all humans are one. They are just two kind of human beings.... Good people....Bad people (my name is khan :) )

    Regarding gender...Yes girls were/are being discriminated. Past is past and is immaterial.. I can't feel sad that India was ruled by British once upon a time or Sati prevailed during medieval period....but would love to change the future) I would love to have girl child. But if I have boys I would teach them all house chores...make them do everything...and would teach them to treat girls respectfully.....in fact equally.

    May be change starts from individuals in country . I am feeling proud seeing all these replies by women here. At least we do not think to discriminate others on caste and I hope we all will teach our kids the same. Good to see we ..current generation have lot of good intentions...and future generations will grow above all these :)
    [/JUSTIFY]
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2010
  3. archana.kc

    archana.kc Gold IL'ite

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    Thanks.

    Jyothi - You are not loony. I have pretty much gone through all that you have mentioned there. Things have changed now. A KG child is expected to fill in his application form his caste, and I know of a school that marks FC, BC, MBC next to the names on attendance registers. Here I am , a victim of caste differentiation in education. I was refused a bachelors degree because my caste quota was over. I escalated the issue, and sought admission for the same program though. But, I know a couple of my friends who did not get it. NI-SI hostility is in a peak during academic time. It is a very tough stigma to break, and as you rightly mentioned - it is all covered by the veil of patriotsim

    Bhuvi - I was asked when I was 8. I replied saying, I do not know. The elder man who asked me, told me to call my mother who replied saying she will not divulge. They had come door to door canvassing for a particular temple's corpus and did not want contributions from other castes.

    Aruna, Beeamma - Gender discrimination is global, at least to my knowledge. The range will certainly vary. While I do agree with Aruna's stance on population vs qualification - I am blessed to be in a era where it is melting. It has almost changed, I can say. Regarding forcing to go a church - that was one reason I refused to study at US. I did not want to be a part of a mob trying to establish religious ethnicities in a foreign land. Anyways, that's a personal thought.

    Goodfriend - Exactly. Why all this noise for a 33%?

    Saipavani - I dont agree with the basic establishment of castes, on systems as well. I have done quite some study on it, and realise that it was a trick by the upper castes to control the shudras of the system.

    I have a question - From where does the word dalit come into existence? Do they still exist, if yes in what decree? Why were they scheduled, or what makes them as what they were. I know, this question is on a complete indian context - but feel free to throw other PoV's as well.

    TIA,
    Arch
     
  4. bhuvnidhi

    bhuvnidhi IL Hall of Fame

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    Arch, This is a very very sensitive topic.I am saying the below with good intentions and not to stir anything.Please do not read this as a mere disclaimer.

    I think Gandhi is one of the person to be blamed to coin the word "Harijan".What are other people then?Even if you see the caste which does not have much strength to fight with the other will try to provoke the inter caste fights within other castes.I don't have any insight on when "dalit" word was coined or for whatsoever reason.

    Look at Mayawathi, she uses the Dalit clout for doing atrocious things.It is all about people.If people are reallly really good it does not matter which caste you belong to.YOU JUST NEED TO BE HUMAN.
     
  5. archana.kc

    archana.kc Gold IL'ite

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    Bhuvi,

    It is a ultra sensitive issue and needs to be addressed. I want to know how it started and where it began. Any helpful insights are highly appreciated.

    As for Gandhi - My opinion remains that he was a great leader and a bad politician. I believe, only those who lived here and have seen history unfold can really comment on the politcal blunders he did. Dalit is a term, which I suppose describes today's SC's/ST's. It is not a derogatory term, but was made so - possibly by the non-dalits.

    Arch
     
  6. BeeAmma

    BeeAmma Silver IL'ite

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  7. ananthy

    ananthy Senior IL'ite

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    LOL Arch, the topic is extra sensitive. will you be able to digest the truth about our own ancestors oppressing the lower castes is the question.

    cheers.
     
  8. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Not sure about the origins of the word but the credit for popularizing it goes to Jyotiba Phule and Dr Ambedkar. Today it is largely a self-designation that people belonging to the 'dalit' communities use to refer to themselves. As for the term 'harijan' it was as previous posters have said, used by Mahatma Gandhi to refer to the 'untouchables'. But it has been resoundingly rejected by the 'dalit' communities. They think it is pandering and condescending.
     
  9. archana.kc

    archana.kc Gold IL'ite

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    Hey,

    Sorry! I thought I replied to this post, but looks like it did not get in here at all..

    Ananthy - If you think it would involve my ancestors, I am all the more keen to know where we went wrong. I always felt for any supressed group, there was a dominant one. And if I am a offspring of it, I would want to know it. I think that should be the case with all of us :)

    Beeamma - That was very informative. I always knew the Divide and Rule policy started it all, but this one seems to have amplified it. Probably, we would have been better off with a class based system than a caste based one!

    Gauri - In most cases - atleast within India - It was the popularity that has stemmed belief systems. I agree on the selfdefined bit, nowdays. In fact, that is the reason for starting the discussion.

    Arch
     
  10. blissful

    blissful Bronze IL'ite

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    What about the blessing that they give married women "Saubhagyavati Bhava" or "Sada Suhagan Raho". Strip aside all sentiments and doesn't it just mean that married women are being blessing to "Die Before Your Husband"?

    I have been lucky to have stayed and brought up in an environment where I was never asked "What caste are you". My grandfather and hence the rest of my family are staunch non-believers in the caste system. Once when I was a kid and we were learning about the caste system in school I asked my father what caste we were and he told me that we were Hindus and that's it. In fact I did not know what caste I was until I had grown up and learned to identify caste by surnames.

    The first time I was asked the caste question is during my marriage. I have had an love marriage and one of the relatives from my husbands side asked me. I replied Hindu but the lady was insistent and I asked her how did it matter to her what caste I was. My DH too was offended by the relatives question and steered me clear off that lady. After coming to my in-laws place I was taken aback to hear how often my MIL and FIL and many others discuss caste (my DH and SIL don't participate in these discussions) and how they generalise people based on caste. It really irks me.

    I have faced discrimination based on gender a lot more than discrimination based on caste. I am sure many of you have faced this at some point in time and so I won't go into details. But I do want to mention that I felt this discrimination the most when my father passed away. I, just because I am a girl, was not allowed to go to the cremation and many other ceremonies when other males like my brothers and my colleagues who had not even met my father were allowed to go. What sense does it make that you can't say a final goodbye to your loved just because you are a girl, but stranger can do the same just because they are males? We have a custom on the 13th day after the death where we prepare a favorite sweet of the deceased as part of the meal. My dad favorite was a Kheer I used to make, but I could not prepare it on this day because I was married and only "family members" are allowed to cook on this day. So I am no longer family to my own father. It was really hurtful.

    I may be a minority here, but I feel this reservation for women in parliament is also a form of discrimination. We are no longer a weaker sex needing reservations. I am quiet sure without reservation we can do better. What will happen is there will only be 33% representation. If there are more women who are suitable to be elected they will not be given a chance because the 33% quota is already met. And who do you think will get tickets in this reserved quota? My guess is daughters, DILs and other female relatives of the existing male politician.
     

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