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In essential services, the practice of untouchability was widespread.
Little more than half of the respondents did not receive the services of a
barber and washerman in the village. In urban areas the access had
improved considerably. Most of the respondents, however, had
non-discriminatory access to the service of tailors.
In public services like post-office, health and education for example, the
practice of untouchability was much less. Almost all had access to postal
services, but half of the respondents faced some kind of discrimination,
in so far as the postmen avoided entering residential areas of former
untouchables, opting to hand over the mail to a formerly untouchable
person of the locality for distribution. Generally, discrimination in the
service rendered by the government doctors and nurses and the village
school was less.
Still, in the early 1970s one out of ten persons among the SC were not
allowed inside the village shops. One out of ten persons among them could
not wear clothes of their own choice or ornaments, without being harassed.
Nearly twenty years later another study was conducted in Karnataka by
taking 941 respondents from 52 villages and from most of the districts
(Khan 1995), (Table 3 & 4).
In the political sphere (i.e. sitting together or drinking tea in the
village panchayat office) the discrimination was much less. Otherwise, not
much had happened during the two decades since the former study was
carried out. About three out of four respondents were denied entry into
the village temple and also denied participation in religious processions.
Social mixing or relations across caste barriers were also not allowed.
Most people among the SC did not have free access to the water taps of the
high-castes, and three-fourth of them had no access to the village tank.
Comparing this study with the one carried out two decades earlier it could
be seen that some change has occurred. The practice of untouchability was
relatively less in the political sphere but its magnitude was still very
high in access to the village temple, religious community events,
high-caste water (public) taps, water (public) tank and in interpersonal
social relations.
Sukhadev Thorat
Sukhadev Thorat is Professor,
Center for the Study of Regional Development, School of
Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
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Karnataka case study
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The Karnataka study for 1973-74 is based on a fairly large sample of 76
villages, 38 urban centres and 3330 households. Of the total households 73
per cent are untouchables (Parvathamma 1984). Little more than half of the
untouchable respondents were not allowed to draw water from the public
well in the village. The magnitude of the problem was much less severe in
urban centers, but even in urban areas 15 per cent of the respondents were
not allowed to draw water from public water sources. The practice of
untouchability was more widespread in the access to the village temple and
in access to high-caste houses. In both cases more than 60 % of the former
untouchables were not allowed entrance. When it comes to the public
sphere, like the teashop, it is not far behind the temple regarding
discrimination. A little less than half of the former untouchables were
not allowed free access to the local village teashop two decades after the
Anti-Untouchability Act of 1955 came into force. In the urban areas the
discrimination is much less (only 6 % find themselves discriminated
against).
October - November 2002
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