What type of jobs were the untouchables expected to do according to Mr. B.Kuppuswamy?
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Untouchable. Most of the world assumes that something - Mahatma Gandhi, modernization, progressive legislation - has solved this ancient Indian problem or reduced it to marginal significance. There has been some progress, but for each of the past several years, official figures on violent attacks against Untouchables have routinely exceeded 10,000 cases. Indian human rights workers report that most cases go unrecorded.
Violence is only the most conspicuous form of repression. The following description of Gujarat state, the scene of Mahatma Gandhi's early work, summarizes a situation that has become increasingly common in many parts of India.
In a climate of increasing mistrust and widening social distance between upper castes and Dalits [Untouchables], the latter are subjected to continual harassment, being refused work, denied milk and newspapers in the villages. In central Gujarat, in southern parts of Mehasana district and in areas around Ahmedabad, Dalit landless labourers are being replaced by Bhil tribals of Panchmahal. With growing awareness among the Dalits and the demand for statutory wages...the offensive against them has assumed serious proportions. According to official statistics, last year on average one Dalit was murdered in Gujarat every fortnight. Anyone familiar with rural Gujarat will realize this is a gross underestimate, as most murders of Dalits by high caste landlords are passed off as "accidents".
There are over 100 million Untouchables, more than the combined populations of France and the United Kingdom. Within India, however, they are a vulnerable minority; 15 % nationwide, with only a few areas in which the figure rises above 25 %. They are themselves divided by caste and by India's many languages, facts that make cooperative efforts on their own behalf difficult. Some have expressed their rebellion against the values of the dominant Hindu society by conversion to other religions - Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim - a move that rarely improves the way they are treated by the dominant society and often deprives them of what little protection the laws afford those who remain Hindus.