Backwardness of minds, hearts rife in India

The suicide of a dalit student in the campus of the Bombay IIT is yet another tragic example of our inhuman hate crime even in the temples of learning. The IITs are no exception to discrimination. Yet, subjecting a person for his or her accidental birth to humiliation is all the more appalling. What would those become in future after graduating from the prestigious universities without growing out of such devious practices? Will the society be any better in their hands? And their children who grow up in such houses? Why do we consider ourselves civilized and modern? We are not. We only live in our past claiming to be inheritors of a 5,000 year old civilization. We should realise that we have accumulated all the faultlines of our long journey intact without really progressing.

Let us take a look at the hate crimes in the name of caste in the country to realise that we are still underdeveloped in every sense. Such incidents were reported from various parts of the country and a common thread between these incidents is that caste-based atrocities are often triggered by miniscule and trivial matters such as sporting a moustache, drawing water from a well, eating food at a ceremony and so on. Grooms are not allowed to ride horses during their weddings if they belong to lower castes when others are taking to helicopters to display their vulgar wealth. To witness such incidents even to this day and age is not only disheartening but should shock the conscience of the nation.

As per the statistics provided in the NCRB report, atrocities/crime against Scheduled Castes have increased by 1.2% in 2021 (50,900) over 2020 (50,291 cases). Uttar Pradesh (13,146 cases) reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SCs) accounting for 25.82% followed by Rajasthan with 14.7% (7,524) and Madhya Pradesh with 14.1% (7,214) during 2021. The next two states in the list are Bihar accounting for 11.4% (5,842) and Odisha 4.5% (2,327). The above top five states reported 70.8% of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes.

Furthermore, as per the report, Atrocities/Crime against Scheduled Tribes have increased by 6.4% in 2021 (8,802 cases) over 2020 (8,272 cases). It is not about development we can say but more about the backwardness of our minds and hearts. Madhya Pradesh (2627, cases) reported the highest number of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Tribes (STs) accounting for 29.8% followed by Rajasthan with 24% (2121 cases) and Odisha with 7.6% (676 cases) during 2021. Maharashtra was next in the list with 7.13% (628 cases) followed by Telangana at 5.81% (512 cases). The above top five states reported 74.57% of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Tribes.

In terms of ratio to the overall population, Dalits (SCs) are estimated to be at 16.6 per cent of the population and Adivasis/Indigenous peoples (STs) at 8.6 per cent. Be it caste or 'varna' we have succeeded in only dispersing it across the globe to such an extent that we are having anti-discriminatory laws now in several reputed universities abroad. Trillion dollar economy, world's super power, world guru...all these are meaningless if we don't really treat our own as equals. This 5,000 year old 'Sanatan Dharma' certainly does not talk of such practices. Shame on us!