Untouchability and Caste System

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction to Untouchability. 2. Reservation in India. 3. Dhangar Scheduled Tribes. 4. Caste System in India. 5. Dalits in society. 6. Jewish People and culture. 7. Mandal commission. 8. Forward class, OBC and SCs/STs. 9. Scheduled Tribes in India. 10. Religious Violence in India. 11. Human Rights watch. 12. Caste System in Sri Lanka. 13. Caste-Related Violence in India. 14. Untouchability alive in India. Index.

Untouchability is alive in the countryside though fear of law and rising Dalit assertion seem to have curbed its crude manifestations. These are findings of a survey conducted to study the impact of Protection of civil Rights Act untouchability commissioned by Union social justice ministry. Villages, the den of this decadent practice, are far from being zero-untouchability zones as found in various parts of India.

India has a hierarchical caste system in the society. Within Indian culture, whether in the north or the south, Hindu or Muslim, urban or village, virtually all thinkgs, people, and groups of people are ranked according to various essential qualities. If one is attuned to the theme of hierarchy in India, one can discern it everywhere. Although India is a political democracy, in daily life there is little advocacy of or adherence to notions of equality. (Jacket)