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In village community feasts and marriages in both villages the former
untouchables were treated unequally. The same is the case with regard to
temple worship, services of the barber, washerman and priest etc.
Sixty-four per cent in the large village and all in the small village were
treated unequally at the village meeting. Eighty per cent of the
respondents in both villages did not have access to teashops; 70 per cent
in the large village and 80 per cent in the small village faced unequal
treatment or discrimination in getting services from the grocery shops.
About 80 per cent in the small village and all in the large village faced
discrimination in village cultural events (i.e. drama) and village
festivals.
Their small number, poverty and fear (in the small village) discourage the
untouchables from contesting elections. Most of the former untouchables
have free access to school and hospitals in both villages.
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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Orissa case study
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The Orissa study covered 65 untouchable respondents from two villages (one
small and one large) for 1987-88 (Tripathy 1994). In both villages the
settlements of untouchables were separated from that of the upper castes.
An overwhelming majority, i.e. 80 per cent of respondents in the small
village and 70 per cent in the large village were prohibited from drinking
water from the public open well and public tube well. In the large village
there were separate pulleys in wells for the untouchables. Three per cent
of respondents in the large village and 90 per cent in the small village
observed that while locating public wells/tube wells the untouchables'
convenience was not taken into account.
October - November 2002
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