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Question
Elaborate on state and non-state initiatives addressing caste and tribal discrimination.
Solution
- The Indian state has had special programs for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes since even before Independence.
- Reservations involve the setting aside of some places or ‘seats’ for members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes in different spheres of public life.
- Caste Disabilities Removal Act of 1850, which disallowed the curtailment of rights of citizens due solely to a change of religion or caste.
- 93rd Amendment is for introducing reservation for the Other Backward Classes in institutions of higher education.
- The Constitution abolished untouchability (Article 17) and introduced the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.
- From the pre-Independence struggles and movements launched by people like Jyotiba Phule, Iyotheedas, Periyar, Ambedkar, and others to contemporary political organisations like the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh or the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti of Karnataka, Dalit political assertion has come a long way.
- Dalits have also made significant contributions to literature in several Indian languages, especially Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi.
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