The Dalit-Bahujan People of India.
The word 'Dalit' means 'the oppressed' and 'Bahujan' means 'the majority'. The 250 million Dalit-Bahujan people of India have been the oppressed majority for more than three thousand years of India’s history. This oppression is a result of the Hindu caste system – an integral part of Indian society, so deeply ingrained in the Indian worldview that centuries of non-Hindu influence have been unable to help the oppressed majority break free from caste’s grip. Today, the younger generation of Dalit-Bahujans have begun to stand up and plan for their future rights, but even today they are still referred to as untouchables!
'Untouchability' is an extreme and particularly vicious aspect of the caste system that prescribes stringent social sanctions against members of castes located at the bottom of the purity-pollution scale. Untouchables are outside the caste hierarchy. They are considered so impure that their mere touch pollutes members of all other castes. To protect others from their impure touch, restaurants traditionally have had a second set of cups and plates made from clay for Dalits to use. These are taken and smashed afterwards so that no one of a higher caste could be contaminated by them. There are three main dimensions of untouchability which are extreme and unique to untouchables, namely: exclusion, humiliation-subordination and exploitation. This can take the form of unjust and cruel laws, violence against Dalits, women and girls being sold into sex-slavery and a society-wide ideology of oppression towards the Dalit people.
Dalit literally means 'downtrodden' or 'oppressed' but the term has acquired a new cultural connotation to mean 'those who have been broken and ground down by those above them in a deliberate and active way'. In other words, the meaning has shifted from describing a condition to identifying a process and a set of social relations. Because of their low social standing, the Dalit-Bahujans are despised by other, more affluent parts of society and are often denied many simple, basic human rights. As a result of this discrimination, Dalits suffer socially and economically. Unable to access education, and because of the social stigma of 'untouchability', society forces Dalits to take low-paying jobs providing an inadequate income. They cannot afford food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or even an education for their children. Society denies Dalits basic human rights and shackles Dalits to a social and religious system that removes personal freedom.
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