Page 229 - SST Class 08

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Social Justice and the
Marginalised
To be marginalised is to be forced to occupy the
sides or fringes and thus not be at the centre of
things.
In the social environment too, groups of people
or communities may have the experience of
being excluded. Their marginalisation can be
because they speak a different language, follow
different customs or belong to a different religious
group from the majority community. They may
also feel marginalised because they are poor,
considered to be of ‘low’ social status and viewed
as being less human than others. Sometimes,
marginalised groups are viewed with hostility and
fear. This sense of difference and exclusion leads
to communities not having access to resources
and opportunities and in their inability to assert
their rights. They experience a sense of disadvan-
tage and powerlessness vis-a-vis more powerful
and dominant sections of the society; who own
land, are wealthy, better educated and politically
powerful. Thus, marginalisation is seldom experi-
enced in one sphere. Economic, social, cultural
and political factors work together to make
certain groups in society feel marginalised.
CASTEISM
Casteism is a great hindrance to democracy. It
divides society and creates social inequalities. By
assigning a low status to certain sections of
society, caste system discriminates unjustly. Caste
system was based on a hereditary four-fold
hierarchy—Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (war-
riors), Vaishyas (traders and merchants) and
Shudras (cultivators and producers). A person
was born into a caste. Thus, a person could not
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change his/her caste and remained in the same
caste. For example, a child born into a Shudra
family remained a Shudra. Worse still was the
practice of untouchability.
UNTOUCHABILITY
Untouchability is a direct product of the caste
system. It is not merely the inability to touch a
human being of a certain caste or sub-caste. It is
an attitude on the part of a whole group of
people that relates to a deeper psychological
process of thought and belief, invisible to the
naked eye, translated into various physical acts
and behaviours, norms and practices.
Untouchability is prompted by the spirit of social
aggression and the belief in purity and pollution
that characterises casteism. It is generally taken
for granted that Dalits are considered polluted
people at the lowest end of the caste order. The
jobs considered polluting and impure are
reserved for Dalits and in many cases Dalits are
prevented from engaging in any other work.
These jobs include removing human waste
(known as “manual scavenging”), dragging away
and skinning animal carcasses, tanning leather,
making and fixing shoes and washing clothes.
They are supposed to reside outside the village
so that their physical presence does not pollute
the “real” village. Not only they are restricted in
terms of space, but their houses are also sup-
posed to be inferior in quality and devoid of any
facilities like water and electricity.
Social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy,
Dayanand Saraswati, Shri Narayana Guru and
many others took a firm stand against this social