India's Open Secret
By Bernardo Buendia
Forty five years old Anadhan was born somewhere in the south of India around the region of Tamil Nadu in an indigenous, once nomad tribe called ‘Londor'. When he was about 15, the government gave his community a piece of unwanted and isolated land to settle. Like his father, he has never had a useful job, he is an alcoholic and he and his family have been practically forced to beg to survive since he remembers. “There is no other option” he says convincingly, “we are not fit to do any other job, we are Dalits”.
Untouchables, Paraiyans, Scheduled Tribes, Dalits, the names add up to the list. They represent the poorest of the country, but they are not only poor, in the old Hindu mind they are considered sub-humans. Based on the caste system found in Hindu ancient texts as Vernashrama Dharma or Chatuvarna, they have no caste, thus they are impure and shouldn’t be touched. They are paying for their past life deeds, yes, their bad karma has put them to suffer in this life because of what they did in a past one. They should not aspire to anything more than what they are, their condition is hereditary. If they dared to make a progress, it is very probable that they will be violently stopped by higher castes and put back to their place.
The people of ‘Londor’, like most of both, recognized and non recognized Scheduled Tribes of India, has been isolated by the government, repelled by a major part of society and deprived from education and real useful jobs. According to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, this is the story of at least 9 percent of India’s total population which translates to 117 million people that swim against the tide surviving a huge social stigma and bearing a life with less than a dollar a day earned by begging and doing unproductive (sometimes filthy) jobs for the government and private corporations.
In spite modern amendments to the Indian Constitution and efforts by the government to give them equal rights, the ancient Hindu way of thinking hasn’t left the idiosyncrasy of the Indian people. Murder, rape, acid attacks, manual scavenging, kidnap, India's National Crime Record Bureau reports there are 5 crimes committed to a Dalit every hour. But, why is that India has escaped international scrutiny about these clear Human Rights violations?
The world talks about India as an emerging economy that threatens to become a super power in the years to come. It is a market friendly economy and democracy that aligns to neoliberal thinking. It’s economy grows at 5 percent and it’s GDP is been celebrated all over the world. What no one tells is that one-fourth of that income is owned by the 100 richest people of India which, of course, are from higher castes.
India’s caste system is an open secret. No one likes to talk about it. Kids are never taught about it in school. It is implicit in peoples names, clothing and family occupation. Democracy and open market have made it almost invisible since India’s internal racism is not about color, but about social status.