It’s more than just a name

Before the money makes its hands into the pockets of local and national politicians, the ideas behind the money make its way into headlines and speeches that dominate the news before elections. Each Indian has the right to vote and the dalits (untouchable caste) comprise over 16% of Indians. This population is thus targeted during the election, showing that while the caste system has been banished upon independence from Britain, the entrenchment of it in every way of life is still very ripe. Programs dedicated to raising the status of India’s poor, providing them better education, housing and food security all appear. This year the message focused on infrastructure, namely roads and electricity, defined as the hot topics for this election.

Election Day is a madhouse, with a good rate of turnout from all castes and both genders, upwards of 55% in Jamkhed. Advertisements to vote dominate the radio and speeches are made in many villages and towns pre-election. On Election Day, party representatives line the streets handing out money and attracting swing voters. This year’s election is dominated by three parties: United Progressive Alliance, National Democratic Alliance, and the Communist Party. The UPA is largely formed by the Congress Party, started by Nehru (India’s first PM) and Gandhi and synonymous with Indian politics for the last 60 years. NDA is largely formed by the BJP, a more fundamentalist Hindu party attempting, among many other things, to restore power to the Hindu population. The Communist Party is formed by three to four smaller parties on the basis of secularism, including no casteism, in addition to opposing globalization and U.S. relations.

The party that has been most helpful to the dalits is the Congress Party, although many programs instituted to help the neediest of Indians have failed to make their mark, as only 1% of India’s GDP is spent on health while malnutrition is suffered by 55% of children living in rural areas and 45% in urban areas. The caste system is supposed to be banned yet still exists, according to Dr. Arole, in the mind of every Indian in every village. Although land is supposed to be distributed equitably, much of the good farmland in Maharashtra continues to be controlled by Brahmins and Marathas (upper-caste Hindus) and worked on by dalits and Muslims. Although inter-caste and love marriages occur, every parent I have met seems to be faced with the incredible difficulty of pairing their son/daughter with someone on the same caste. For one lower-caste family at CRHP, their daughter is enrolled higher education and they are having difficulty finding a son-in-law in their same caste but of reputable education and standing.

The caste system is set so that it is nearly impossible to escape a line of work simply based on your last name. In Jamkhed, ‘Dadar’ typically cleans roads and works for the municipality, ‘Shindi’ are businessmen, ‘Madari’ are snake-charmers, and ‘Dukre’ are stone workers. It is possible to escape and create your own name, but on the contrary it is sometimes said that this delegation of responsibilities according to last name is good and useful for India, ensuring that every task is accounted for. However, when a system institutes a profession from birth with little chance for individual thinking and felt opportunity, human development becomes static. Much has been written about the social structure of India with its caste hierarchy but a system that enforces a subcaste to clean bathrooms and carry a bucket of human feces on their head keep the spirit stagnant and ignored.

Saying the situation today is as bad as it was when CRHP first entered villages in 1970 is incorrect. When Drs. Mabelle and Raj Arole first went into villages, caste was one of the greatest barriers to overcome and enable health. Low castes usually lived in the outskirts of the village, on area owned by landlords who lived within the village. Dalits were often not allowed to enter the homes of the high caste, or if so, could not touch anything. In some villages, dalits were prohibited from drawing water from the common pump, waiting for a high caste member to come and pump for them. They would not drink from the same cup of water, afraid of contamination. In school, the children would play among their own caste and sit in sections according to caste, at times only taught by teachers from their own caste. Malnutrition and disease was much higher in the dalit section outside the village. Further, the system was reinforced by a belief that this discrepancy in life was deserved from a past life and justified by a belief of moral superiority of the high caste.

To overcome these caste barriers, CRHP used unique techniques. One was use of a water diviner, who was encouraged to place a water well only in the dalit section of the village, forcing the high caste to walk into this section and confront the realities of other villagers. Children were used to break false beliefs about contamination as different castes would bring water from their homes to pour into a cooking pot, sharing the common food together. The village health worker, commonly a dalit, would display her value by entering high caste homes, delivering high caste babies, and proving necessary to rid villages of disease. Over time and with the help of villagers and awareness campaigns, caste discrimination has been lessened while caste distinction still remains. In non-CRHP project villages, caste discrimination continues to remain and CRHP has had to drop projects in some villages because the issue of caste could not be overcome. Government programs plentifully exist that attempt to raise the status of the untouchables, many initiated by Dr. Ambedkar (a hero among Maharashtran’s – his portrait can be seen on the wall of every village house) but it is fascinating to see how villages and events utilize caste to their advantage.