juntos en accion - together in action - agir ensemble

Samuel's Story

I am 31 years old and I come from the state of Tamil Nadu, India. I am a Christian and a Dalit. My parents are agricultural coolie (daily-wage) workers. They are in their seventies. In our area, all people work for landlords, like slaves, for a very low income.

I am the only son in a family of four children. In my culture, boys are responsible for their family and the marriage of relatives; this implies huge costs, so we have to ask loans from our landlords, which binds us even more to them.

“We are supposed to beg for food”

Landlords don’t respect us. They don’t see us as human beings and they don’t call us by our names. Even their small children speak to my parents saying “vaada, pooda” and “vaadee, poodee” (“come over here” or “go”). This makes me very angry and I have already threatened them.

At Christmas time, at Deepavali (festival of light in India), or at Pongal (harvest festival in Tamil Nadu), we have to beg for food at the landlord’s place. If we don’t do so, he scoffs at us and asks, “are you a rich man now?”

All major infrastructures such as ration offices (where poor people can get rice, oil, loans… at lower prices) or schools are built in the rich areas so that rich people do not have to come to Dalit areas. Buses pass through the higher caste parts and only at the end through the Dalits’ parts – so there are no places left for us to sit.

This whole system creates a dynamic among Dalits: we try to save some money in order to send our people to university. The upper class people do not have the same motivation because they own a lot of land. Now they start respecting us. They fear that we might study and become aware of our situation or that we might get a job somewhere else and become financially self-reliant.

Even in the Schools there is a discrimination

Alexander's Story

I am Alexander from Nallur village, Pudukotati district of Tamil Nadu, India. I am 32 years of age. I come from a Dalit (Parayar) caste. I completed university education and have a Master degree in Tamil Literature. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters and my parents are also still living. I would like to share one of my experiences while I was doing my studies in the Higher Secondary level.

There was an election for the president of the student council in the school and I nominated myself for this responsibility. The criteria for this responsibility were that the student should be well known among the other students and should have studied in the school for the past 2 years. I had these criteria. There was also another student who nominated himself for this responsibility. However, the school administration did not hold the election. Instead it announced arbitrarily the name of the other student as the president of the student council. The other student was from the Brahmin caste. Since I was a dalit I was not allowed to hold this responsibility. Even in the school the caste discrimination was being practiced.

A “Broken People”.....

• Dalits are often referred to as “Broken people”, “Victimised” ,“Subdued people”, “Untouchables”
• 5 out of 6 among the dalits do not own any land and are working typically in the land of the upper caste people - cleaning the toilets, cleaning the streets, scavenging. A dalit village is often a place of small huts where there are no civic amenities (proper roads, drinking water, electricity, public toilets, entertainment)
• Dalits cannot enter the houses of the upper caste people, nor enter the Hindu temples and pray. They can not perform the rituals and can not become priests in these temples. They cannot walk in the street of the upper caste, nor sit in front of the upper caste person in public, and they must give his/her seat to the upper caste people on the bus.
• In the tea shops they must drink the tea in the coconut shell while the upper caste to drink in silver or glass tumblers. A dalit should not touch and drink in the same glass of that of upper caste.
• There is a lack of respect for dalits, even if they become the head of the local councils
• Dalit young women regularly face sexual harassment from the upper caste boys in their work places and fields

Bridget Rauch
Secretary General of the IYCW