Negatives in affirmative action
D. Murali Share
THE HINDU BOOK REVIEW: Blocked by Caste: Economic Discrimination in
Modern India - Valuable research.
Scholarships for Dalit children are seen as enabling incentives
provided by the State to facilitate their education, but there can be
a flip side too to these incentives, as an essay included in 'Blocked
by Caste: Economic Discrimination in Modern India' (www.oup.com)
reveals.
Discussions around scholarships largely centre round their meagre
value, lack of adequate coverage, delay in receiving funds, and
malpractices, the essay's author Geetha B. Nambissan notes. What
appears significant and little commented upon is the manner in which
scholarships tend to reinforce stigmatising of Dalit identity as
'lower castes,' she adds.
"Ironically, to claim incentives under affirmative action programmes
and facilitate inclusion, those who have suffered from disadvantage
must publicly proclaim identities that are still the target of
discriminatory practices. They are often required to do so in the
school assembly and before their classmates, ostensibly to
'facilitate' their identification as SC students and thereafter to
receive fellowships and other incentives."
Findings of Nambissan's survey show that the majority reported of
having 'suffered considerable anguish their identities are brought
into public 'gaze' again and yet again, and they are constantly at the
receiving end of disparaging barbs from peers, office staff, as well
as teachers.'
Disappointed that caste-based discrimination in education does not
find a mention in policy documents, the exploratory study discussed in
the essay discovers that exclusionary practices continue to flourish
in the spheres of water and food, the traditionally potent sites of
discrimination.
Disturbing examples include: 'the washing of taps after Dalits drink
water and forcing them to give right of way to general caste
students,' and not permitting 'Dalit children to enter the mid-day
meal kitchen while it was possible for other caste children to do so,
making it easier for the latter to ask for and receive an extra
helping.'
Teachers and school administrators have a responsibility in building a
culture within schools that encourages participation of children from
hitherto educationally deprived and socially discriminated groups and
an environment that values their dignity and provides social respect,
the author urges.
"When teachers fail to confront, ignore, and actually indulge in
unequal treatment of Dalit children, they give legitimacy to sites of
exclusion and reinforce discriminatory practices within schools."
The book, edited by Sukhadeo Thorat and Katherine S. Newman, with a
foreword by Kaushik Basu, has insightful other essays, too, on topics
ranging from jobs to markets, from health care to property rights.
Valuable research.
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