Untouchability in 21st Century India Caste Discrimination in the form of Manual Scavenging and in Higher Educational Institutions

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1         Methodology

1.2         Limitations of the Study

1.3         Terminology

1.4         Theoretical Framework

1.4.1     Equality and Non-Discrimination

1.4.1.1  Affirmative Action

Chapter 2: The Caste System in India and Attempts to Eradicate Discrimination

2.1 Definition of ‘Caste’

2.2 The Varna System

2.3 The Emergence of Untouchability

2.4 Resistance to Brahminism

2.5 Affirmative Action under the Imperial Crown

2.5.1 Affirmative Action under Progressive Kings

2.5.2 Demand for Representation by the Depressed Classes

2.6 Untouchability in Post-independent India

Chapter 3: Laws Against Discrimination: A Critical Review

3.1 India and International Human Rights Instruments

3.1.1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

3.1.2 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

3.1.3 International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

3.2 The Indian Constitution, Equality and Non-Discrimination

3.2.1 Prohibition of Discrimination and Affirmative Action

3.2.2 Public Employment

3.2.3 Abolition of Untouchability

3.3 Directive Principles of State Policy

3.4 Institutional Mechanisms to deal with Caste-based Discrimination

3.5 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 4: Manual Scavenging: A Livelihood with No Life

4.1 Manual Scavenging and Caste

4.2 Manual Scavenging and Initiatives to Abolish it

4.2.1 Governmental Schemes and Programmes

4.2.2 The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993

4.2.3 The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act,

2013

4.2.4 Institutional Arrangements

4.2.4.1 National Commission for Safai Karamcharis

4.3 Failure to Abolish Manual Scavenging

4.4 Rehabilitation

4.5 Voices from the Ground

4.6 Child Manual Scavengers

4.7 Gandhi-Ambedkar Debate on Manual Scavenging

4.8 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 5: Higher Educational Institutions and Caste-based Discrimination

5.1 Status of Higher Education in India

5.2 Establishment of Premier Educational Institutions

5.3 Caste-based Discrimination in Higher Educational Institutions

5.3.1 Thorat Committee

5.3.2 Caste Discrimination at the time of Admission

5.3.3 Caste Discrimination after Admission

5.3.4 Discrimination faced by Dalit women in Higher Educational Institutions

5.3.5 Drop-outs, Suspension and Suicides of Dalit Students

5.4 Legislation and Institutional Mechanisms

5.4.1 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Cells

5.5 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 6: Conclusion

6.1 Need for Amendments to Legislation

6.2 Reforms in the Administrative Structure

6.3 Need of the Hour

Biography

Preethi Lolaksha Nagaveni (Dr.) is a legal academic and human rights scholar specialising in caste discrimination, gender justice, climate change, global health and international law. Her scholarship (2020, 2022, 2024) appears in the WHO COVID-19 Research Database and the UN Office at Geneva Library catalogue, and has informed UN processes through submissions, oral statements, and citations by UK parliamentary committees and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.