Abstract
The book is a contribution to issues related to the overall development of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) from a human development perspective associated with income, health, education, physical environment and freedom. The editors have selected contributors from diverse disciplines—economics, development studies, demography, sociology and administration.
The introduction deals with two major interrelated concepts—human development and social exclusion. In the context of socially disadvantaged groups, namely, ex-untouchables and adivasis, ‘liberation from discrimination’ is taken into account as a necessary pre-condition for human development (p. xxiv). And, the concept of social exclusion or discrimination termed structural refers to the lack of access and entitlement to economic, civil, cultural and political rights. To overcome the problems of discrimination, deprivation, exclusion and isolation of SCs and STs, the government adopted various measures of Constitutional provisions, special legislation, development strategies, empowerment and inclusive policies. All these are briefly outlined.
In order to comprehend the contemporary scenario, Sukhadeo Thorat and Prashant Negi present evidence of the prevalence of traditional forms of discrimination and the infliction of indignity, torture and brutal attacks on ex-untouchables. The everyday incidences which make it difficult to even adopt a means of livelihood such as repairing a cycle, selling milk or bread have been highlighted. Also, the growing number of registered cases of atrocities against adivasis have been given in tables.
Both Sukhadeo Thorat and S. Venkatesan have examined disparities in human development and poverty by social groups, namely, SCs, STs and non-SC/STs, at national and state levels. Their study found that in 2000, the rate of improvement in the levels of human development for SCs and STs was lower. As regards human poverty, disparity ratios indicate a greater gap between SC/STs and non-SC/STs in 2000 in comparison to 1990. Ashwini Deshpande has also noted similar findings.
Based on the 2001 Census and National Sample Survey (NSS) (1999–2000) data on educational attainment of children, Sachidanand Sinha draws attention to the problems of out-of-school children and school dropout rates among SCs. He observed that the greater magnitude of out-of-school children among SCs was in Bihar, including Jharkhand. And, the highest school dropout rates in 2000–02 for SCs were recorded in Rajasthan followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Further, he attributed the educational deprivation mainly to the practice of social discrimination, that is, making children sit separately and serving mid-day meals outside the classrooms. Moreover, using census data, Sinha examined housing and household amenities as prerequisites of human development and the quality of life. He reports that the housing shortage increased from 933 (per 1000 households) in 1961 to 974 in 2001. Further, in 2001, 8.1 per cent of SC households were in dilapidated houses, in contrast to 4.8 per cent of non-SC/ST households. The highest proportion of these SC households were from the states of Orissa, Bihar, Assam, Kerala and Delhi.
To assess the health conditions of SCs and STs as compared to non-SCs/STs, both Vijay Kumar Baraik and P.M. Kulkarni used the Sample Registration System (SRS) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The study observes a higher Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) for SCs and Child Mortality Rate (CMR) for both SCs and STs in comparison with non-SC/STs. The CMR was high in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. For the prevalence of high IMR and CMR, under-nutrition has been a major factor, markedly in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Besides, the reach of programmes of child immunisation, Vitamin A supplementation and curative care under the public health service system have been marked by undercoverage in some large states (Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Karnataka).
M. Thangaraj analyses the occupational diversification among social groups on the basis of the Population Census and NSS data. He observes a gradual decline in the agricultural workforce across all social groups and an occupational shift towards the non-agricultural sector such as factories, plantation trade, commerce, transport, mining and construction. Between 1981 and 2001, the increase in other workers was observed to be higher among SCs (11.70 per cent) than among non-SC/STs (9.89 per cent) and STs (5.54 per cent). The NSS data for the period 1999–2000 indicates the increase of SC households in self-employment but this figure is still lower than for non-SC/ST households. While indicating occupational diversification, it was found that the SCs had poor access to both land and capital resources across the states. Both R.S. Deshpande and Motilal Mahamalik made similar observations in their essay on asset holdings. In urban areas, the proportion of SC and ST casual labour households was more than for non-SC/STs. Also, public employment for SCs during the economic reform period has sharply fallen by 6.8 percentage points.
In the analysis based on NSS data (1999–2000) on Current Daily employment and unemployment status, both Sukhadeo Thorat and Chittaranjan Senapati observed the unemployment rates for SC males and females in rural India and for SC males in urban India to be the highest among all social groups. Moreover, both Thorat and Senapati outlined the impact of the reservation policy for SCs and STs and reiterated the issue of reservation in the vast private sector.
Thus, the contributors have observed overall improvements among social groups, but in analysis, indicated disparities in human development and human poverty indices between SCs and STs on the one hand and between SC/STs and non-SC/STs on the other hand over the period 1983–2000. Nevertheless, considering individual components in the indices such as per capita consumption, nutritional status, access to public health services, literacy and educational levels and capital assets, the editors of the book observe that the level of improvement for SCs and STs is relatively lower. In addition, given the practice of discrimination and exclusion against SCs and STs, the editors suggest policy of interventions to address this.
The book contains sharp analyses of official statistics on areas such as poverty and employment. However, there is some overlap in two chapters of the book, which use the same data source in focusing on the incidence of poverty and the status of employment/unemployment. Further, throughout the book, the analysis is confined to official statistics alone and is devoid of any explanation on inter-social group disparities. In the title of the book, the editors have used the term ‘Dalit’ as synonymous with Scheduled Castes, in which some tribes, for example, the Gond in Uttar Pradesh and the Banjara in some states, have been listed. The British government evolved the term Scheduled Castes for untouchable castes. After Independence, some non-untouchable communities have also been included in the category. One of the editors, Nidhi Sabharwal, mentions the Constitutional framework in her chapter. Its analytical elements could have been used to develop both human development and empowerment perspectives. Nevertheless, the book is worthwhile to readers in the study area and to planners for a policy thrust.