http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100717cc.html
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Breaking the oppression of Indian Dalits
By CESAR CHELALA
One can fight oppression with violence, or one can fight it with
education. Hema Konsotia, a 32-year-old Indian woman, has chosen the
latter.
She is helping to change conditions for an estimated 165 million
Indian Dalits, also known as "untouchables." They are a mixed
population of numerous caste groups throughout South Asia. Although
the caste system was abolished under the Indian Constitution,
widespread discrimination and prejudice still exist against Dalits,
particularly women.
Dalits are frequently denied such basic rights as education, housing,
property, freedom of religion, choice of employment and fair treatment
before the law. This situation led Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh to draw parallels between "untouchability" and apartheid in
2006. As a result of discrimination, Dalits are denied full
participation in Hindu social and political life.
In rural India, where caste origins are more apparent and Dalits often
remain excluded from religious activities, many upper caste members
believe that Dalits will pollute the temples if they go into them.
Every 20 minutes a crime is committed against Dalits, according to a
2005 government report. Although distressing in itself, this figure
probably represents a fraction of all crimes against Dalits, since
most of them remain unreported for fear of reprisals from the police
or from member of the upper castes.
For several years now, Konsotia has been working to change that
situation. She is a union activist and college graduate, leader of
Delhi's sewage workers and their wives. For the last 10 years she has
been working to empower them and make them aware of their rights while
improving their education through mobile education centers she created
in Delhi.
A woman of strong character (when a worker was repeatedly
disrespectful to her she held him by his collar and slapped him in the
face), she has the unwavering support of her mother, who went through
an abusive marriage.
"My mother is my secret guru," she told a reporter. Konsotia is
determined that Dalits, particularly women, will not suffer what women
of previous generations did.
And they certainly need her help since a situation of centuries of
discrimination has affected theirs and their children's health and
quality of life. For most Dalits, good health care is unaffordable and
inaccessible, and generally their experience of health care is limited
to emergency care.
The maternal mortality rate is a reflection of accessibility and
quality of health services. Prenatal and neonatal care is extremely
limited. As a result, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are
the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. Because
most Dalit women are poor, their health status is usually worse than
statistics suggest.
The maternal mortality rate is 560 deaths per 100,000 live births (the
same rate for industrialized countries is 13 per 100,000.) For every
woman who dies during pregnancy and childbirth, approximately 20 more
suffer injuries, infections and disabilities that may seriously affect
their health. Anemia, which is frequent among poor women, predisposes
women to sepsis and hemorrhage during delivery.
Child statistics are equally distressing, since 56 children per
thousand who are born alive die before reaching the age of five, a
rate that compares with five children per thousand in industrialized
countries. In addition, both women and children, particularly among
the poor, experience an alarming rate of physical and sexual abuse.
In January of 2007, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women concluded that Dalit women in India
suffer from "deeply rooted structural discrimination." Proud and
determined, Konsotia's work with Delhi's poor has already made a
difference.
Cesar Chelala, M.D., Ph.D, is an international public health
consultant and a cowinner of an Overseas Press Club of America award
for an article on human rights.
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