Full Length Research Paper
Human Rights Violations against the Low Caste People in Travancore (1729 – 1949) and Dalits and Tribals in Modern India (1947 – Till Date)
J. Cyril Kanmony
Article Number - 61D3093009F1D | Vol. 3(1), pp. 1-11, January 2022 |
Received: 2 May 2021 | Accepted: 16 August 2021 | Published: 31 January 2022
Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.
Abstract
Caste-based human rights violations are unique in India
though there are race-based violations in some parts of the globe. As
the whole world is against such violations, a number of Covenants, Conventions
and Declarations were adopted both at the global level and at the national
level to protect human rights. Even then in India, there are numerous incidents
of caste-based rights violations. The low caste people, particularly Dalits and
Tribals, are politically powerless, socially untouchable, culturally inferior,
ritually unclean, educationally unequal and economically backward. In many rural areas they are not allowed to
acquire knowledge, own property, come near the high caste people, draw water
from even common wells, take bath in ponds used by the high caste people, wear
foot-wear and walk along the streets where the high caste people live as it was
happening long back in India and in Travancore in particular. In the erstwhile
Princely State of Travancore, the society stood fragmented into many caste- or
religion-based subdivisions. The low caste people’s social conditions were
highly deplorable in those days. There was a belief that the low caste people
were born to serve the caste Hindus. There were so many restrictions even in
worshiping Gods. In temples managed by the government and high caste Hindus,
entry was prohibited to the low caste people.
Though they were poor, a number of taxes were imposed on them. They
served the high caste people without any payment. The low caste ladies were
sexually abused and ill-treated. They were not allowed to wear cloth to cover
the upper portion of their bodies. They are treated as outcastes. A poor person
is more likely to be a Dalit or a Tribal than a non-SC/ST. To them jobs other
than scavenging, sweeping and tanning are not available or denied. They are
still educationally backward. In many temples, they are not allowed to go near
even the outer side. Even the present President of India, Ramnath Govind, was
not allowed to enter a Hindu temple in Rajasthan as he belongs to a low caste.
The number of crimes committed against them is unabated. Even in the modern era
their women are eve-teased, sexually assaulted, molested, raped and sometimes
gang raped. Right violations have much adverse impact on the economy as well as
on the victims. Hence steps should be taken to empower and include them in the
process of development. Otherwise there
is no possibility for an inclusive growth Keywords: Dalits,
Tribal, Human rights, Caste Hindus, Low
caste people, Subhuman, Jenmies.
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Authors
J.
Cyril Kanmony
PG & Research Centre, Dept. of Economics, Scott
Christian College (Autonomous), Nagercoil – 629003, Kanniyakumari District,
Tamil Nadu. Email: [email protected]
How to Cite this Article
Kanmony, J. C.
(2022). Human Rights Violations against the Low Caste People in Travancore
(1729 – 1949) and Dalits and Tribals in Modern India (1947 – Till Date). Journal of Economics, Business Management
and Administration, 3(1), 1-11.
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