Abstract
Dalits are amongst the most vulnerable population groups across the world. Even without COVID-19, Dalits suffer discrimination, exclusion and poverty in their everyday lives and are persistent victims of human rights violations. COVID-19 has aggravated their vulnerability and worsened their condition. The lockdown that has been imposed in phases in India has hit them hard from multiple angles; many have lost food, shelter and sources of livelihood. In their wait for relief material, shelter and access to medical aid, they have frequently been discriminated against. Many of them had earlier moved to distant cities away from their homes in order to escape caste violence and poverty, only to be now thrown out from their new homes and work in the pandemic situation. COVID-19 has tossed them into a cauldron. It has generated the return attempts of hapless men and women to their native places. As massive and unprecedented migration flows of the impoverished have occurred across the country, it may be noted that large sections of these migrant workers whose lives have been thrown into total disarray, hail from Dalit communities. Significantly, the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) in its newsletter of 15 June 2020 reported, on the basis of the press release of the National Dalit Movement for Justice-National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NDMJ-NCDHR) issued on 10 June 2020, that there has been a surge in caste-based atrocities against Dalits across the country over the past months under the COVID-19 lockdown.
Where are the roots of Dalit vulnerability that make them so susceptible to human rights violations and how do Dalits seek to fight back? In search of answers, Dalit experiences from several different regions of India have been collated in this volume. Dalit women’s lived-in experiences have been specially focused on.
Last but not least, we wish to remind our readers that the views expressed in the articles are those of the respective authors, and the Editorial Board is in no way accountable for them.