Dalit oppression real?

My daughter recently was educated about this sect of people residing primarily in India. Since I am not well educated on the caste system in modern times nor the plight of the "Dalit's," I was depending on hopefully finding someone here that may be able to shed some light on the worthiness of the cause. Seems to be quite a large problem on the surface and yet I am not convinced that my daughter should get involved with this cause.

Anybody have input to help me understand better?

Reality of Dalit Opression
For many Indians, especially urban people, the thorny, bristling reality of persistent oppression of the Dalits is often softened and dulled by the -- fairly rare, but true -- success stories of individuals who belong to the former untouchable castes.

This page has the minutes from a meeting where it comes up.

Vijay:The way the topic of Dalit oppression is raised, it can lead to issues involving social disruption (?). Newspapers, TV etc discuss the dalit oppression issue. But what is it? Dalit oppression and Dalit-these terms need to be defined.

Sandeep/Mahesh:Our understanding on the Dalit issue in different from that of the political parties.

Raju Thapa:Work on education was started at Lalpur but Sandeepji started work on other issues. New issues are adopted. Local leadership was encouraged but Sandeep himself could not give time.

Sandeep:Load distribution has started. Education should be used as a medium to bring about a social change-we should not be propogating literacy. The agenda can change based on experience. Asha's agenda was changed at Boston meeting. There is literacy in Gujarat but people have become communal. This is not education.

Vijay: Due to unemployment amongst the youth, influence, the selfishness of the politicians.

Sandeep:why should we look at education as a separate issue?

There are some who would say that there's never been any oppresion of the lower castes. These claims, no surprisingly, come from people who support the caste system and the nobility of the upper castes.

www.saxakali.com...]Here is another page about it.
Here is a link to a word document on it.

The subject is complex tho, because of the tie in with religion directly. Talking about oppressing the lower caste can be seen as an attack on the religion, indeed, in a way it is an attack on parts of the religion. And people will note that there are 'low caste' gurus and scholars who are read and appreciated by ''high caste' scholars. The caste situation is extremely complex, and, from what I understand, not as simple as mere high and low. Indeed, anything concerning hinduism in india right now is complex, considering that there is huge debate over whether the 'aryans' existed and invaded, etc etc.

This seems to be a network working for 'dalits'.

Why is your daughter getting involved in any of this?




[edit on 26-4-2005 by Nygdan]

Sorry for the late response....out of town on Business.

Anyway, her involvement is directly related to the "Liberal" leftist educational system that permeates our school foundations.

I am not saying that I object to her being taught about the plight of others or worthy causes. In fact, my asking about this subject is in support of her growing and learning at a rate that she is best suited to achieve and formulate sound opinions.

I appreciate the information and will continue to help guide her in her quest for knowledge.