India’s ‘untouchable’ women face discrimination even in schemes meant to help them

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 20:09:53 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/indias-untouchable-women-face-discrimination-even-in-schemes-meant-to-help-them-195201>

"Seema and her husband did quite well when they first opened a samosa stall in
the local market of a town in Bihar state, northeastern India.

But then other vendors found out who Seema was.

They yelled at her customers for buying her samosas. They threatened her
husband for “polluting” the market by selling food prepared by her. She put up
with it for months before giving up.

What had Seema done wrong? She had been born a Dalit, a member of the
“untouchables”, the lowest group in India’s ancient and now officially obsolete
caste system.

Seema didn’t look, talk or behave any differently. But someone had found out
her family name, which indicated she was descended from pig farmers, a job only
done by Dalits. That was enough."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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