The book ‘Breaking Barriers: The Story of a Dalit Chief Secretary’ published by Emesco Books Private Limited in 2022, and edited by D. Chandrasekhar Reddy, is a powerful account of a journey from fear to fearlessness, from subjugation to assertion and from being no one to becoming a revered exemplary civil servant. Authored by the former IAS officer Kaki Madhava Rao, the book explores the inner mechanism of the civil service at the ground level and casts light on micro policies and governance. Rao was a 1962 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who superannuated as Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh. He also served as a Director at the Reserve Bank of India and as a member of the Board for Financial Supervision. He was born in 1939, in Pedamaddali village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. This book is an inspiring account of an astonishing journey of the son of a Parelu,—a farmhand from a Dalit family who breaks the shackles of demeaning existence and challenges posed by the social systems and economic conditions, and emerges successfully to reach the highest echelons of bureaucracy.
{"title":"‘Breaking Barriers: The Story of a Dalit Chief Secretary’","authors":"S. Acharya","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i1.655","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i1.655","url":null,"abstract":"The book ‘Breaking Barriers: The Story of a Dalit Chief Secretary’ published by Emesco Books Private Limited in 2022, and edited by D. Chandrasekhar Reddy, is a powerful account of a journey from fear to fearlessness, from subjugation to assertion and from being no one to becoming a revered exemplary civil servant. Authored by the former IAS officer Kaki Madhava Rao, the book explores the inner mechanism of the civil service at the ground level and casts light on micro policies and governance. Rao was a 1962 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who superannuated as Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh. He also served as a Director at the Reserve Bank of India and as a member of the Board for Financial Supervision. He was born in 1939, in Pedamaddali village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. This book is an inspiring account of an astonishing journey of the son of a Parelu,—a farmhand from a Dalit family who breaks the shackles of demeaning existence and challenges posed by the social systems and economic conditions, and emerges successfully to reach the highest echelons of bureaucracy.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49198937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The pivotal role of community level workers in the delivery of public services is well-recognized. But, they often fail to provide equal opportunities to all ‘eligible’ beneficiaries to utilize a variety of public services. Although several predisposing household factors are held responsible for inequalities in access to the public services, in recent times, one factor that has been recognised as critical to such unequal access to public services is the ‘exclusionary nature of social relations’ based on social identity embedded in the social life of village community. It is also argued that certain sections of the population are deprived of equal access to public services due to their social identity, which is different from service providers. However, the question remains–whether it is the social identity of users or providers of public services that is critical to unequal access to various services? What will be the extent of utilization of public services when the social identity of both users and providers of the services remain same? Do the social dynamics of the community life play any role in the delivery of public services? This essay addresses these questions in the context of delivery of integrated nutrition and healthcare services at the community level under the largest national flagship scheme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Drawing evidence from a larger sample survey of over 4000 household beneficiaries and 200 service providers, the essay sheds light on how the delivery of healthcare services is fraught with social injustice due to dominant socio-cultural norms around social identity despite the values of healthcare centres to cater to the health needs of all sections of society.
{"title":"Being Insider-Outsider: Public Policy, Social Identity, and Delivery of Healthcare Services in India","authors":"G. Pal","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.451","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract \u0000The pivotal role of community level workers in the delivery of public services is well-recognized. But, they often fail to provide equal opportunities to all ‘eligible’ beneficiaries to utilize a variety of public services. Although several predisposing household factors are held responsible for inequalities in access to the public services, in recent times, one factor that has been recognised as critical to such unequal access to public services is the ‘exclusionary nature of social relations’ based on social identity embedded in the social life of village community. It is also argued that certain sections of the population are deprived of equal access to public services due to their social identity, which is different from service providers. However, the question remains–whether it is the social identity of users or providers of public services that is critical to unequal access to various services? What will be the extent of utilization of public services when the social identity of both users and providers of the services remain same? Do the social dynamics of the community life play any role in the delivery of public services? This essay addresses these questions in the context of delivery of integrated nutrition and healthcare services at the community level under the largest national flagship scheme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Drawing evidence from a larger sample survey of over 4000 household beneficiaries and 200 service providers, the essay sheds light on how the delivery of healthcare services is fraught with social injustice due to dominant socio-cultural norms around social identity despite the values of healthcare centres to cater to the health needs of all sections of society.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43701635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Large inequities in health outcomes and treatment-seeking behaviour continue to exist in India, across households, states and residence. A few large populous states continue to contribute the most to multi-dimensional poverty, including indicators for health outcomes. A significant contributor is the high out-of-pocket spending that continues to be a key feature of India’s health sector, accompanied by one of the lowest levels of public investment on health. The COVID pandemic has brought out sharply the lack of preparedness of the country and its states to face a catastrophe of this kind. A resilient health sector can only be built by bridging the various gaps in key inputs into the sector – infrastructure, personnel, supplies and training. This investment is likely to bring down the demand for health services in the private sector and reduce spending on health services by households by making these affordable and accessible. A quantum jump in investment would also be required to offer health coverage that is truly universal in scope and coverage. Unless that happens, India would remain unprepared for the next calamity and continue with significant inequalities in health outcomes and access to services.
{"title":"Health Investments to Reduce Health Inequities in India: Do We Need More Evidence?","authors":"I. Gupta, A. Ranjan","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.441","url":null,"abstract":" \u0000 \u0000Large inequities in health outcomes and treatment-seeking behaviour continue to exist in India, across households, states and residence. A few large populous states continue to contribute the most to multi-dimensional poverty, including indicators for health outcomes. A significant contributor is the high out-of-pocket spending that continues to be a key feature of India’s health sector, accompanied by one of the lowest levels of public investment on health. The COVID pandemic has brought out sharply the lack of preparedness of the country and its states to face a catastrophe of this kind. A resilient health sector can only be built by bridging the various gaps in key inputs into the sector – infrastructure, personnel, supplies and training. This investment is likely to bring down the demand for health services in the private sector and reduce spending on health services by households by making these affordable and accessible. A quantum jump in investment would also be required to offer health coverage that is truly universal in scope and coverage. Unless that happens, India would remain unprepared for the next calamity and continue with significant inequalities in health outcomes and access to services. \u0000","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43630557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health is essential in all spheres of everyday life. It is crucial for well-being, longevity, and to avail economic and social opportunity. Therefore, resources and services needed to be healthy go beyond medical care. Living and working conditions which promote health assume greater importance as they have the potential to reduce the need for medical care (Daniels, 1981;1Daniels et al., 1999). Therefore, the discourse on health needs to begin from the socioecological framework and move towards the biomedical through the biopsychosocial. The health promoting elements require to be distributed according to need, rather than treated as commodities which can be accessed based on one’s economic propensity. Evidences are aplenty that health status is contingent to health promoting environment, and imbalances in this environment are likely to produce disparities, inequities and inequalities in health.
{"title":"Health Disparity and Health Equity in India: Understanding the Difference and the Pathways Towards Policy","authors":"S. Acharya","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.453","url":null,"abstract":"Health is essential in all spheres of everyday life. It is crucial for well-being, longevity, and to avail economic and social opportunity. Therefore, resources and services needed to be healthy go beyond medical care. Living and working conditions which promote health assume greater importance as they have the potential to reduce the need for medical care (Daniels, 1981;1Daniels et al., 1999). Therefore, the discourse on health needs to begin from the socioecological framework and move towards the biomedical through the biopsychosocial. The health promoting elements require to be distributed according to need, rather than treated as commodities which can be accessed based on one’s economic propensity. Evidences are aplenty that health status is contingent to health promoting environment, and imbalances in this environment are likely to produce disparities, inequities and inequalities in health.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47299861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The health workforce is hierarchical in structure in terms of skill mix and social composition. Most of the studies on the health workforce are focused on the number of personnel in the public sector. The private sector that has a large presence employs a significant percentage of the total health work force but there is little reliable data on the numbers involved. This is largely due to the lack of regulation of the private health services. Apart from the numbers involved in both the sectors, a few studies have shown the relationship between the work and social hierarchy in health services. While the public sector has a more diverse mix of social backgrounds due to affirmative policies, the private sector ownership is mostly dominated by an upper and middle caste-class combine. There is an under-representation of minorities and women as owners of private health services. The gendered nature of work is visible with the middle and lower rungs constituted by mostly women and men from lower caste-class combine. The terms of work, working conditions and wages paid for this category of workers amounts to exploitation with no forum for redressal. This essay draws together some primary work and references to secondary research and anecdotal evidences to build the scenario of social inequities among the workforce in the private health services.
{"title":"Social Inequities in Private Health Sector Workforce in India: Religion, Caste, Class, and Gender","authors":"R. Baru, Seemi Zafar","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.444","url":null,"abstract":"The health workforce is hierarchical in structure in terms of skill mix and social composition. Most of the studies on the health workforce are focused on the number of personnel in the public sector. The private sector that has a large presence employs a significant percentage of the total health work force but there is little reliable data on the numbers involved. This is largely due to the lack of regulation of the private health services. Apart from the numbers involved in both the sectors, a few studies have shown the relationship between the work and social hierarchy in health services. While the public sector has a more diverse mix of social backgrounds due to affirmative policies, the private sector ownership is mostly dominated by an upper and middle caste-class combine. There is an under-representation of minorities and women as owners of private health services. The gendered nature of work is visible with the middle and lower rungs constituted by mostly women and men from lower caste-class combine. The terms of work, working conditions and wages paid for this category of workers amounts to exploitation with no forum for redressal. This essay draws together some primary work and references to secondary research and anecdotal evidences to build the scenario of social inequities among the workforce in the private health services.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45902808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examines the access of students from diverse backgrounds to medical education in India. It shows how inequalities existing in society may entail significant social injustices with regard to access to a career in medicine. The study is based on data from secondary sources. The major part of the analysis is from the Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2019–20; All India Survey on Higher Education, 2019–20; and National Sample Survey data on Social Consumption, Education 2017–18. It is observed that the availability of health professionals is very low overall but it is even lower among underprivileged groups. There are indications of a better share of salaried health professionals among underprivileged caste/ethnic groups probably due to the presence of affirmative action but inequality prevails in self-employment and high quality occupations, thus reflecting the inequality prevalent in society. However, the pattern among Muslims is different from the caste/ethnic groups as the share of regular salaried workers is lower and self-employed is higher among Muslims. The study shows that access to medical courses is linked to family background depicted by caste/ethnicity and religious identities. The availability of medical education in general is very low. The situation is further aggravated for students from underprivileged backgrounds. The high cost of medical courses combined with the dominance of self-financed courses and private unaided institutions may make it inaccessible to students from weaker sections of society. In fact, the probability of attending a medical course is relatively lower for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) and Muslims than Hindu High Castes (HHCs). The low average expenditure of medical courses confirms the low quality of education accessed by the student from underprivileged backgrounds at every level. It is important to note that education of the head of the family emerges as the most important predictor for access to medicine education. Similarly low household size also improves the probability of attendance. It is thus important to improve the access to medical education through establishing new educational institutions with affordable costs. The challenge is to ensure equal access for students from underprivileged groups so that the existing inequality in the availability of health professionals may be addressed. For this, affirmative action for the students from poor families and first generation learners may be worthwhile to address the problem of inequality of access to medical education. Such policies would also improve the availability of health professionals from the underprivileged socio-religious background which in turn would play an instrumental role in ensuring better access to healthcare services for patients from underprivileged communities.
{"title":"Inequality in Access to Medical Education in India: Implications for the Availability of Health Professionals","authors":"Khalida Khan","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.448","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the access of students from diverse backgrounds to medical education in India. It shows how inequalities existing in society may entail significant social injustices with regard to access to a career in medicine. The study is based on data from secondary sources. The major part of the analysis is from the Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2019–20; All India Survey on Higher Education, 2019–20; and National Sample Survey data on Social Consumption, Education 2017–18. It is observed that the availability of health professionals is very low overall but it is even lower among underprivileged groups. There are indications of a better share of salaried health professionals among underprivileged caste/ethnic groups probably due to the presence of affirmative action but inequality prevails in self-employment and high quality occupations, thus reflecting the inequality prevalent in society. However, the pattern among Muslims is different from the caste/ethnic groups as the share of regular salaried workers is lower and self-employed is higher among Muslims. The study shows that access to medical courses is linked to family background depicted by caste/ethnicity and religious identities. The availability of medical education in general is very low. The situation is further aggravated for students from underprivileged backgrounds. The high cost of medical courses combined with the dominance of self-financed courses and private unaided institutions may make it inaccessible to students from weaker sections of society. In fact, the probability of attending a medical course is relatively lower for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) and Muslims than Hindu High Castes (HHCs). The low average expenditure of medical courses confirms the low quality of education accessed by the student from underprivileged backgrounds at every level. It is important to note that education of the head of the family emerges as the most important predictor for access to medicine education. Similarly low household size also improves the probability of attendance. It is thus important to improve the access to medical education through establishing new educational institutions with affordable costs. The challenge is to ensure equal access for students from underprivileged groups so that the existing inequality in the availability of health professionals may be addressed. For this, affirmative action for the students from poor families and first generation learners may be worthwhile to address the problem of inequality of access to medical education. Such policies would also improve the availability of health professionals from the underprivileged socio-religious background which in turn would play an instrumental role in ensuring better access to healthcare services for patients from underprivileged communities.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41906744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Chains of Servitude: Bondage and Slavery in India","authors":"Manoj Siwach, Bharat ., B. Jakhar","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.435","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44519747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article reflects on the challenges faced in the process of improving access to justice and representation of the marginalized communities in the legal system. The author has drawn reflections from his own career as a human rights lawyer. Explaining this, the author first highlights the barriers faced by marginalized communities in the legal system, and then narrates the challenges faced by those who seek to represent the marginalised or espouse their causes. The emphasis of the article is on understanding what it means to be a marginalised person facing the barriers of the system. Lastly, the article suggests institutional measures to approach the challenges thrown up in the process of representing the marginalised. Acknowledgements The author acknowledges Mohd. Arsalan Ahmed, Aligarh Muslim University for his assistance in editing the article in the format required by the CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion. The Editors of the Journal are grateful to CEDE team (Community for the Eradication of Discrimination in Education and Employment), for facilitating the process of publishing this article in the Journal. CEDE is a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organisations and individuals, who are committed towards reforming the Indian legal profession. It was founded in April 2021 by Disha Wadekar (Lawyer, Supreme Court of India), Anurag Bhaskar (Assistant Professor, O.P. Jindal Global University, India), and Avinash Mathews (Lawyer, Supreme Court of India). Since its inception, CEDE is organising annual Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lectures. The first inaugural lecture in 2021 was delivered by Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud (Judge, Supreme Court of India) on the topic “Why Representation Matters”. On 14 April 2022, Dr. S. Muralidhar (Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa) delivered the second annual lecture on the topic “Appearing in Court: Challenges in Representing the Marginalised”. This article is an edited version of the lecture delivered by Dr. Justice Muralidhar.
{"title":"Appearing in Court in India: Challenges in Representing the Marginalised","authors":"S. Muralidhar","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.452","url":null,"abstract":"This article reflects on the challenges faced in the process of improving access to justice and representation of the marginalized communities in the legal system. The author has drawn reflections from his own career as a human rights lawyer. Explaining this, the author first highlights the barriers faced by marginalized communities in the legal system, and then narrates the challenges faced by those who seek to represent the marginalised or espouse their causes. The emphasis of the article is on understanding what it means to be a marginalised person facing the barriers of the system. Lastly, the article suggests institutional measures to approach the challenges thrown up in the process of representing the marginalised. \u0000Acknowledgements \u0000The author acknowledges Mohd. Arsalan Ahmed, Aligarh Muslim University for his assistance in editing the article in the format required by the CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion. \u0000The Editors of the Journal are grateful to CEDE team (Community for the Eradication of Discrimination in Education and Employment), for facilitating the process of publishing this article in the Journal. CEDE is a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organisations and individuals, who are committed towards reforming the Indian legal profession. It was founded in April 2021 by Disha Wadekar (Lawyer, Supreme Court of India), Anurag Bhaskar (Assistant Professor, O.P. Jindal Global University, India), and Avinash Mathews (Lawyer, Supreme Court of India). Since its inception, CEDE is organising annual Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lectures. The first inaugural lecture in 2021 was delivered by Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud (Judge, Supreme Court of India) on the topic “Why Representation Matters”. On 14 April 2022, Dr. S. Muralidhar (Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa) delivered the second annual lecture on the topic “Appearing in Court: Challenges in Representing the Marginalised”. This article is an edited version of the lecture delivered by Dr. Justice Muralidhar.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42095885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The notions of ritual purity and pollution hierarchically grades people according to their castes, and this hierarchy is socially expressed in terms of unequal rights to space, and the idea of ‘untouchability’ is socially realized either in terms of a complete denial or the most inferior participation. As a corrective measure of the historical injustices to certain sections of the society, the state and union governments in India have enacted reservation policies in education and employment. Nevertheless, the administrators of several institutions show reluctance in implementing reservations in letter and spirit, despite the fact that the University Grants Commission has emphasized about proper implementation of reservations at various points in time. The demand for proper implementation of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, subsequently amended in 2012, in Pondicherry University exposes how an ambiguity inherent in the act’s amended version has been used to justify the systematic exclusion of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe doctoral aspirants in several departments of the university. Based on interactions with the university administration, the essay attempts to understand the politics behind the method of implementing reservations in admissions in higher education. It emphasizes that the bodies governing higher education should provide proper directions in regard to the implementation of the act. It further calls for the establishment of administrative mechanisms, directly under the apex regulatory bodies, to oversee implementation of reservation policies in all the government educational institutions.
{"title":"Manifestations of Academic Untouchability in India: Exclusionary Practices that Subvert Reservations in Admissions in Higher Education","authors":"C. Samraj","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.374","url":null,"abstract":"The notions of ritual purity and pollution hierarchically grades people according to their castes, and this hierarchy is socially expressed in terms of unequal rights to space, and the idea of ‘untouchability’ is socially realized either in terms of a complete denial or the most inferior participation. As a corrective measure of the historical injustices to certain sections of the society, the state and union governments in India have enacted reservation policies in education and employment. Nevertheless, the administrators of several institutions show reluctance in implementing reservations in letter and spirit, despite the fact that the University Grants Commission has emphasized about proper implementation of reservations at various points in time. The demand for proper implementation of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, subsequently amended in 2012, in Pondicherry University exposes how an ambiguity inherent in the act’s amended version has been used to justify the systematic exclusion of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe doctoral aspirants in several departments of the university. Based on interactions with the university administration, the essay attempts to understand the politics behind the method of implementing reservations in admissions in higher education. It emphasizes that the bodies governing higher education should provide proper directions in regard to the implementation of the act. It further calls for the establishment of administrative mechanisms, directly under the apex regulatory bodies, to oversee implementation of reservation policies in all the government educational institutions.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69137990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study is on caste inequality in child health outcomes: mortality, malnutrition and anaemia for the year 1998/99 to year 2019/21 and examines the association of socio-economic factors with outcomes. Disparity ratio (DR) and Concentration Index (CI) are computed to examine inequality in outcomes. The association of socio-economic factors was modelled using logit regression. The study finds marginalised group were more likely to have poor health outcomes. The disparity ratio found increased among SC and ST compared to Others during 1998-99 and 2019-21. The value of the concentration index was found high on U5MR among SC and ST. Among SC and ST, the child health outcome greatly varies for poorest and richest. Odds ratio is 40-60 per cent higher for SC and ST compared to children belonging to Others. On socio-economic factors; land ownership and wealth status contribute significantly but house ownership not so. Caste-based inequality is still impacting health and nutrition of children in the country. The more focused inclusive policy and clustering of marginalised groups at regional level can be helpful in improving health and nutrition of marginalised children concentrated in different regions with equity lens to push the SDG Goals.
{"title":"Caste and Socioeconomic Inequality in Child Health and Nutrition in India: Evidences from National Family Health Survey","authors":"Rajesh Raushan, S. Acharya, M. Raushan","doi":"10.26812/caste.v3i2.450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i2.450","url":null,"abstract":"This study is on caste inequality in child health outcomes: mortality, malnutrition and anaemia for the year 1998/99 to year 2019/21 and examines the association of socio-economic factors with outcomes. Disparity ratio (DR) and Concentration Index (CI) are computed to examine inequality in outcomes. The association of socio-economic factors was modelled using logit regression. The study finds marginalised group were more likely to have poor health outcomes. The disparity ratio found increased among SC and ST compared to Others during 1998-99 and 2019-21. The value of the concentration index was found high on U5MR among SC and ST. Among SC and ST, the child health outcome greatly varies for poorest and richest. Odds ratio is 40-60 per cent higher for SC and ST compared to children belonging to Others. On socio-economic factors; land ownership and wealth status contribute significantly but house ownership not so. Caste-based inequality is still impacting health and nutrition of children in the country. The more focused inclusive policy and clustering of marginalised groups at regional level can be helpful in improving health and nutrition of marginalised children concentrated in different regions with equity lens to push the SDG Goals.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46300876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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