One in four Indians admits to practising untouchability!

Sixty-five years after untouchability was abolished, one in four Indians admit to practising it in some form in their homes -a shocking fact revealed by a pan-India survey. Indians belonging to almost every religion and caste group, including Muslims, Christians, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, admit to practicing untouchability, shows the India Human Development Survey.
The survey was conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland, US, and its full results are to be released later this year.The issue was highlighted at a sem nar “Rise of the Oppressed: Impact of Dalit Literary and Cultural interventions in Maharashtra and Beyond”.Director of National School of Drama, Suhas Borkar of Working Group on Alternative Strategies, called for waging a war on “the mindset of social injustice“.While Borker spoke about the findings of the survey, Munagekar recalled the hardship his family had to undergo because they were “dalits“. He added that the writings of BR Ambedkar and Jnanpith Award winner V S Khandekar greatly influenced his way of thinking. Kendre dwelt upon the tradition of great Dalit writers and poets like Namdev Dhasal, Annabhau Sathe, Daya Pawar, Shantibai Kamble and Narayan Surve among others and how their revolutionary writings brought about resurgence and gave a sense of self-confidence to the Dalits.