Blessed India Prayer Points: Pray for "suffering Dalit women in India"

[Mayalagu K]

Pray for “suffering Dalit women in India”

So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; - Isa 59:14-16

Unheard Voices -DALIT WOMEN

160 million Dalits of which 49.96% are women continue to suffer discrimination. The discrimination that Dalit women are subjected to is similar to racial discrimination, where the former is discriminated and treated as untouchable due to descent, for being born into a particular community, while, the latter face discrimination due to colour. The caste system declares Dalit women as ‘impure’ and therefore untouchable and hence socially excluded. This is a complete negation and violation of women’s human rights. Dalit women are thrice discriminated, treated as untouchables and as outcastes, due to

their caste, face gender discrimination being women and finally economic

impoverishment due to unequal wage disparity, with low or underpaid labour.-

 

Even the killing of a dalit woman is explicitly justified as a minor offence for the

high caste people: equal to the killing of an animal (Manusmitri). If the killing of an untouchable was justified as a minor offence, you can imagine the treatment they received throughout their lives.

 

ECONOMIC

Of the total population, Dalit women constitute 16.3% of which 18% women live in rural areas. The women perform hard domestic labour which is unpaid and as agricultural labourers or casual labourers they continue to toil under the burning sun, with no protection or benefits that labour laws should provide, since majority of these women are in the unorganized sector. They do not even get the minimum wages that the state/country has specified,

 

Dalit women are victims of bonded labour, they are abused, sexually exploited by other caste, humiliated and are easy targets of insult.

A study conducted come up with some shocking facts about the work of dalit women.

What is horrifying is that Dalit women work more than bullocks and men. Bullocks and men work in a hectare in a year for 1064 hours and 1202, respectively, while women work for more than 3485 hours. The caste and patriarchal norms legitimise the poor economic conditions of Dalit women. She has to work to survive. She is powerless and has neither access nor control over resources.

 

GLOBALISATION

The process of globalisation has affected Dalit women considerably. With the

introduction of new farming techniques such as, mechanization for harvesting and

transplanting, women have lost their traditional work in the agricultural sector. Food crops have been replaced by Cash crops. Horticulture has been introduced by, big agrobusiness corporations for export purposes. This has deprived Dalit women of their land and the common resources in the village. Formerly women used to collect greens, fish, and shells from fields free for their food requirements. This is no longer available to them.

The abject poverty condition has driven large numbers of Dalit women into sex trade to earn for their families. The Globalisation process has increased the feminisation of poverty and this has affected Dalit women in every sphere of their lives. There is also large scale migration from rural areas to the urban centres in search of better livelihood

options. Women are left behind to bear the responsibility of the family. This further adds to the existing burden that Dalit women are trying to cope with. More and more female headed households emerge and most of them are Dalit women. Such situations push the

women into further situations of impoverishment, making them more and more

vulnerable to all forms of discriminations and violations.

 

HEALTH

The health condition of Dalit women is alarming with high incidence of maternal

mortality and infant mortality. This is due to the fact that Dalit women are unable to access health care services. Due to denial and sub standard healthcare services the life

expectancy of Dalit women is as low as 50 years. The infant mortality rate is 90 / 1.000.

The sex ratio of Dalit women is 922 / 1000 compared to 927 / 1000 for rest of the

population in India. Due to poverty, Dalit women are malnourished and anemic. Early marriage and multiple child births causes the women to suffer from prolapsed uterus.

Continuous bending and working while sowing and harvesting in agricultural causes acute back pain.

They also develop skin irritation and allergy due to excessive use of pesticides. As they work barefoot and the soil is damp and wet, the women develop soars between their toes. Due to lack of awareness and medical care, many of them suffer from reproductive health complications, including STDs and cervical cancer with white discharges.

Dalit women are easy target for the Government Birth Control Schemes. Women face forced sterilization, are tested for the use of new invasive hormonal contraception like guinea pigs. They are forced to use long-acting, hormonally dangerous contraceptives.

They do not get basic medical facilities. Pregnant Dalit women receive discriminatory treatment in hospitals and there are instances where doctors have refused to conduct the

delivery of Dalit women.

 

Sasi, a Dalit woman, committed suicide by burning herself because she was deserted by her man. The doctors at the government hospital refused to treat her because she was a Dalit and she died due to lack of treatment.

 

EDUCATION

A large majority of the illiterate population comprise of Dalit women with 76.24% of Dalit women being illiterate. The girl drop out rate among Dalit families is increasing with girl-children are forced to work as child laborers, More and more girl children from Dalit communities are school drop-outs and working as child labourers. Dalit women are illiterate because they have less access to education which is an inherent part of the caste

system. There are not enough secure facilities for education, taking care of small children and they join the adults to add to the income of the family. Dalit girl children are involved mostly in hazardous work like Beedi making, working in match factories and in the fire-works industry.

Traditionally dowry, which is not a practice of the Dalits has now became a bane. Due to Sanskritisation, the Dalits have begun to emulate the customs and rituals of the hindus. Dowry is one such custom. The Dalit families have succumbed to the societal pressures, added to this the fear of sending the girls to schools which are usually located in distant places deprive them of education.

 

Caste is practised in schools where Dalit children occupy separate seats given to them. Dhanam lost her eye when she was beaten up by her teacher for taking drinking water by herself without waiting for the other caste fellow to serve her from the pot.

 

Girl children are deprived of access to education as belonging to economically weak families, they are unable to pursue their education. They do not get uniforms, school books, special fees, and have to walk long distances to reach their school. This is a limiting factor for dalit children.

 

POLITICAL POWER

Dalit women are excluded from decision making. They are not in a position to exercise their power. Wherever dalit women have contested, they have faced stiff opposition and even been brutally attacked. The 73rd amendment provides for mandatory reservation for Dalit women to be elected to the local governing bodies. They are elected but not able to exercise their power. Menaka (a Dalit women and a village Panchayat President was killed in broad day light.

Ranganayaki was deposed for solemnising an inter-caste marriage.

 

Banwari was gang raped when she objected and reported to the authorities against child marriage in her

village. Gowri was made to parade naked for hoisting a flag on Independence Day.

There are instances where Dalit women have been elected into local governance and through the reservation policy nominated as the President of the local governing unit called Panchayat. But when these women have endeavoured to exercise their role, it has met with resistance even to the extend of physical violence. A Dalit woman President is not allowed to sit on a chair if the other caste members do not allow this. She is forced to be a mere figure head, while the functioning of the Panchayat is taken over by other upper caste members.

 

Devdasi system

The worst exploitation of dalit women involves a lifetime of suffering, torture, and

rape (Thind n.pag). Justified by the Devdasi system (also known as temple prostitution) was introduced by the High caste religious people and it

 

According to the Human Right Watch Report in 1992, an estimated 50,000 girls were sold every year involved in the Devdasi system. These girls are called the “female servants of god” and are sexually exploited.

After a lifetime of living as a prostitute and servant, the women in their later years

are sold to brothels, where they are further tortured and often die of neglect or

AIDS (Thind; News Archives).

 

The practice of dedicating girl-children to become Devadasis, Basavis and Mathammas. This practice is a violation of Dalit Women's Rights. Dalit women are discriminated and treated as untouchables. The shoemakers, Arunthathiar, practice Mathamma, dedicating Dalit girl children to their goddess Mathamma. Superstition coupled with poverty and illiteracy is responsible for such practices. It is also using religion to sanction prostitution through the interpretation of mythology by the upper caste so that they can both economically and sexually exploit dalit women. It also is a form of upper caste manipulation to control the lives of Dalits. Further the lack of medical services, allows for such practices to flourish. There is a strong belief that the goddess has healing powers. So when a Dalit girl is sick. She is taken to the temple and left there till she is cured of her sickness. As already mentioned the economic situation is another reason that Dalits are unable to spend money to buy good health service. Once the child is cured, the child is named after Mathamma and married to the goddess with

the "Pottu Thali" (wedlock). After she becomes a dancer she belongs to the temple.

During temple festivals she dances and earns her livelihood. She is not treated with respect and publicly humiliated by men who harass her sexually.

 

Once the girl is dedicated to Mathamma, she cannot marry and lead a family life, as she is wedded to the Goddess. Therefore, she is sexually exploited by her partner who leaves her, to fend for herself and her child. Other men also tend to sexually exploit these Dalit women. Mathammas have no family, no security and left all alone with a child, so she has to struggle life long to maintain herself and the child. Dalit women who are dedicated to Mathammas end up in the sex trade and become vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

 

General

The 1992-93 Annual report from the Ministry of Welfare shows 1,236 reported cases of rape on Dalit women and the National Commission for SC/ST shows that approximately 10,000 cases of human right violations on Dalits are reported every month. But what is even more disturbing, is that only one out of 10 of the cases are reported annually whilst, 9 go unreported. In addition to this, according to the Human Right watch Report, approximately 115 million children are in slavery and 2.6 million children are held as bonded labourers

It is believed that thousands of these cases go unreported and unpublicized because the poor Dalits that live in rural areas, who are the worst victims, have no control on power, wealth, justice, police and the media. The only way these Dalit women can escape the viscous cycle of poverty, abuse and oppression is through education.

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The caste system is truly a crippling disease to approximately 250 million Dalits in India today

 

Dalits facing Human Rights violations is a legion.

·        "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool";

·        "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash";

·        "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana";

·        "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked";

·        "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits".

 

"Dalits are not allowed to drink from the common wells meant for all the people, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cup in tea stalls,"

India's Untouchables are relegated to the lowest jobs, and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, paraded naked, beaten, and raped with impunity by upper-caste seeking to keep them in their place.

Merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood is a life-threatening offense.

Nearly 90% of all the poor Indians and 95% of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits, according to figures presented at the International Dalit Conference that took place May 16 to 18 in Vancouver, Canada.

 

Various News Incidents:

Rajasthan Dalit social worker gangraped –January 24th ,2006

In a chilling reminder of the Bhanwari Devi case, a Rajasthan anganwadi worker was allegedly gangraped by her supervisors during a state sponsored training session. Instead of helping the 25 year old Dalit woman, the police tried to hush up the incident, declaring her mentally unstable and packing her off to a psychiatric clinic. According to the FIR the woman, an anganwadi sahyogini, was raped by three of her supervisors after her female supervisor took her to a room at the training center in Karauli, some 150 km from Jaipur. The incident took place on the night of December 30th,2005. …

 

Dalit women tortured in Jail – Punjab

Three Dalit women from Muktsar district in Punjab have accused the police of torturing them, including administering electric shock to their “private parts” and confining them illegally. Talking to reporters at the BJP headquarters in Chandigarh on Friday, Amarjit Karur, Virpal Kaur and Rarni alleged they were picked up by the police after they rejected the overtures of two drug traffickers to join the flesh trade. Amarjit alleged she and Virpal were detained for five days at the police station. “We were tortured in the presence

of the SHO. We were stripped and electric shock administered to our private parts,” she said, adding that she suffered a miscarriage due to this….

 

Dalit women denied passport

Girija Devi, a Dalit woman who was scheduled to attend a UN seminar in the US, failed to get her passport. Opposition parties in the state have threatened to take up the issue in the assembly, Girija Devi, a 59 year old mother of four from the Musahar community, was scheduled to address a seminar on ‘Women

Environment and Development Organisation’ in Bhojpuri…

 

Death in police station, probe sought

Jaipur: The National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights has demanded a CBI enquiry into the death of a

Dalit woman in Chomu police station of Jaipur district on Thursday. The woman, Kamla, who was brought to the police station to meet her son who was in police custody on a charge of murder, had died of mental shock and agony due to police misbehaviour, an enquiry report by NCDHR and Centre for Dalit Rights said. The main opposition in the State, the Congress party had made a similar demand. Pradesh Congress (The Hindu 5.6.06)

 

Doctor robs Dalit woman of Kidney

In a bizarre incident, a Dalit woman has been robbed of her kidney by an Uttaranchal-based doctor. The woman has been waging a lone battle to get a case registered against the doctor but the police has, so far, refused to lodge her complaint.

 

Dalit Woman beaten up and paraded naked

A 50-year-old Dalit woman in a Jharkhand village was beaten up and paraded naked for allegedly “selling” a 12 year old boy in Uttar Pradesh two years ago. Balchand has been traceless eversince Sukri took him to UP with the assurance of a job. After the family of Balchand Oraon failed to trace the boy, they approached

Sukri, a resident of Saram village. When Balchand’s father Mangra Oraon inquired about his son, Sukri said he had run away at Mugalsarai station and she had no clue about his whereabouts. Some people who had accompanied Mangra Oraon started beating up Sukri. Her husband Indru Nayak was also beaten up

when he tried to intervene. Sukri was then forcefully taken to Balchand’s village and stripped. She was forced to roam around the village and was later tied to a tree. The villagers then started beating her with sticks. The boy’s family believes Sukri sold Balchand and that he was still in the captivity of the owner of a

brick kiln. After seven hours of trauma, the village elders decided that the Dalit woman should be burnt alive so that no other person would dare to so such a thing. Just when kerosene was being poured on her, some local journalists and the Chanho police reached and rescued her. Mangra has been arrested. (Asian Age 24/6/06)

 

Dalit paraded half-naked for ‘not toeing’ Panchayat line

Bhopal: A women was allegedly beaten up, stripped and paraded by women in Dedgaon village of Harda district because a young girl from the village had been found in her house in a compromising position with an upper-caste boy. Fulvatibai of Korku tribe alleged she was paraded naked in public. Four female

relatives of the girl, of Gond tribe, and two upper-caste women allegedly also strung a garland of shoes around her neck. According to Fulvatibai, she was tortured because she refused to give a false statement to the police that she invited had the girl to her house and locked her in. She claimed the girl had an affair

with the boy and the two had entered the house in her absence. However, the girl’s family in a countercomplaint alleged Fulvatibai of inviting the 17-years-old to her house where Madan was already present and he molested her. SP (SC/ST) M.L. Solanki told. The Indian Express of shoes. Four women have been arrested and the police are looking for Madan, an OBC, who is at large…

 

Raja Nagar, Kancheepuram District: Dalit women and Dalit community were neglected during the tsunami rehabilitation process.

Government and other supporting bodies are only concern with the fisherfolk. They didn’t even turn to the Dalit community. Caste is playing a violence even in the disasters. 106 Dalit families are starving in Raja Nagar.

 

Untouchability practices in Pudukottai District

A survey was conducted in 104 villages of Pudukottai district. In this area, untouchable practices are in various ways.

Tea Shop: Three tumbler system

Temple: Dalit communities are deprived to the temple worship.

Saloon Shop: Dalit people are neglected to cut their hair in the saloon shops.

Public resources: Village public resources were deprived, no rights to have a bath in the temple ponds, no graveyard for the Dalits.

Marriage: inter-caste marriage was not allowed in the Dalit community. If they get inter caste marriage they will get punishment, they treat as bonded ages.

 

Dalit huts were burnt in Soolagiri:

August 15, 2006, 25 Dalit huts were burnt in Mathersanapalli Villlage of Krishnagiri District.

 

Dalit girl refused to drop rape charge, burnt:

Sahalwada, November 23: A 15 year old Dalit girl, who refused to drop a rape charge against an upper cste youth, was burnt alive by the alleged rapist when she was sleeping at her home late Tuesday. Asha katiya

told the police before she died of her burns at a hospital in Pipariya on Wednesday that Chhote Singh Rajput had threatened to kill her if she did not change her statement in court. “.. (IndianExpress 24.11.06)

 

Prayer Points

·        Pray for God’s rule upon our country

·        Pray for the salvation of people Dalit in India

·        Pray that people who are addicted to caste system and torturing people without mercy should repent and saved

·        Pray that Lord will change the curse of poverty & bless the people

·        Pray that eyes of people should be opened and come to know truth

·        Pray that all injustice things should be change and there should be overflowing of justice

 

Thanks:

·        http://www.isidelhi.org.in/hrnews/dec/0712-2nov.htm

·        An alternative report for the 15th – 19th periodic report on India submitted by the Government of Republic of India for the 70th session of Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Geneva, Switzerland

·        Tamil Nadu Women’s Forum

·        Sonia Mahey, University of Alberta