The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern IndiaIn a sensitive and compelling account of the lives of those at the very bottom of Indian society, Oliver Mendelsohn and Marika Vicziany explore the construction of the Untouchables as a social and political category, the historical background which led to such a definition, and their position in India today. The authors argue that, despite efforts to ameliorate their condition on the part of the state, a considerable edifice of discrimination persists on the basis of a tradition of ritual subordination. Even now, therefore, it still makes sense to categorise these people as â€~Untouchables'. The book promises to make a major contribution to the social and economic debates on poverty, while its wide-ranging perspectives will ensure an interdisciplinary readership from historians of South Asia, to students of politics, economics, religion and sociology. |
Contents
Who are the Untouchables? | 1 |
The question of the Harijan atrocity | 44 |
Religion politics and the Untouchables from the nineteenth century to 1956 | 77 |
Public policy I antidiscrimination and compensatory discrimination | 118 |
Public policy II the antipoverty programs | 147 |
The new Untouchable proletariat a case study of the Faridabad stone quarries | 176 |
Other editions - View all
The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India Oliver Mendelsohn,Marika Vicziany No preview available - 1998 |
The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India Oliver Mendelsohn,Marika Vicziany No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
able Agnivesh agricultural labourers Ambedkar Ambedkarite Backward Castes Bahujana Samaj Party basis Behror bhakti Bhangis Bihar Bombay bonded labour Brahmin British caste Hindus Census cent century Chamars compensatory discrimination Congress Court culture Dalit Delhi dominant early economic election electoral Emergency employer employment example Ezhavas Faridabad figures Gandhi Government Harijan Harijan atrocity Haryana high-caste Hinduism Holeyas Independence Indian society interview IRDP issue Janata Kabir Kanshi Ram Karnataka Kerala Kurmis landless large number leaders less literacy Madras Maharashtra Mahars major Mayawati ment Minister movement Musahars Muslims Naxalite official oppression organisation particular Paswan period political pollution Poona poor position poverty problem programs Pulayas Punjab quarries radical Rajasthan Ram Vilas Paswan Ram's RCSCST region Report reservation rural Scheduled Caste scheme seats Singh social subordination sweepers tended term tion Untouchable castes Untouchable population Uttar Pradesh varna village violence vote wages West Bengal workers Yadavs
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