It is a common notion that poverty in India is due to
corruption. No! Corruption is just one in the list others are unemployment,
over population..., in a complex social structure that too a caste
based structure like ours, caste system proves to be a significant cause for
poverty. One can confirm this to some extent because poorest of the poor belong
to a suppressed class or the dalits.
Corruption
obsession. [What noise of
corruption has done]
“The corruption obsession also crowds out the debate on other crucial problems. A country's bankrupt educational system, malfunctioning hospitals or stagnating economy cannot compete with headlines about a corruption scandal. These problems may be aggravated by corruption, but they are created by conditions that often have little to do with the behavior of dishonest government officials. Even when such social ills rise to the top of the national agenda, the fight against corruption tends to inform the public debate. Inevitably, the public's understanding of what it would take to tackle other national priorities becomes clouded by the corruption obsession”
History
Since ages owing to its social structure and strong caste
practices that are inherently discriminating in nature have rendered majority
of India poor and can be understood from the below quotes of Vivekananda.
[I am quoting Vivekananda so that
caste believers should not say I am biased, otherwise you can refer to romila,
jadunath sarkar etc who have quoted more intensively from history]
COROLLARY 1_1:
Priest craft has had an impact on India via caste system.
What is the kind of impact.
PROOF 1_1
Swami Vivekananda said that one of the cause for the
downfall of India has been the negligence of her poor masses for ages.
"I believe in helping the miserable. I consider that the great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes of our downfall” [Swami Vivekananda]
Pooh! India is to be raised, the poor are to be fed, education is to be spread, and the evil of priest craft is to be removed. No priest craft, no social tyranny! [Swami Vivekananda]
Priest craft is the one that enforced caste system in India
and is directly responsible for this massive discrimination that is never found
in any part of the earth. Which can be confirmed from the below quote of
vivekananda
"It is in the books written by priests that madnesses like that of caste are to be found, and not in books revealed from God". [Swami Vivekananda]
AXIOM 1_1
The
Caste System in India [ Excerpt from
a study]
IV.1. Economic State of Untouchables in India
“The caste system that was established in India forced many
people who belong to the lower castes into poverty. There are approximately 180
million to 220 million people who are considered to be in the lowest caste in
India (Ninian, 2008). These lower castes or ?Dalits? (broken people) are
essentially shunned from society (Thekaekara, 2005). It is not that they have
earned such isolation, they ?experience absolute exclusion from the cradle to
the grave? (Thekaekara, 2005).
Many are forbidden to hold jobs because their caste may be
one of an untouchable, or a person with basically no rights. Out of the 180-220
million Dalits, 40 million are essentially doing slave labor because they must
work off the debts of their ancestors (Ninian, 2008). These people are taught
to expect nothing in life but to work all day in the sun and hope that someone
will buy their labor or produce, which is in fact uncommon because those of
higher castes often refuse to touch anything an untouchable has touched. This
practice is due to the reasoning that people feared that even a simple glance
at an untouchable could pollute your standing in a higher caste position and
aid in the eventual downgrade of caste in the next life (Standing, 2007).
Because of this discrimination and work bondage, it is difficult for many
people of a lower caste to have a steady income, therefore keeping them in
extreme poverty.”“Corruption has too easily become the universal diagnosis for a nation's ills. If we could only curtail the culture of graft and greed, we are told, many other intractable problems would easily be solved. But although it is true that corruption can be crippling, putting an end to the bribes, kickbacks, and payoffs will not necessarily solve any of the deeper problems that afflict societies.”
So one such deeper problem in India is caste system and its
brutal practices enforced and continued even till today.
TRUTH
*) Thus we come to know that caste oppression since ages is
the reason for majority India to be in state of poverty.
*) Corruption undoubtedly is also a reason for poverty, so
if considered the below parameters
a) Caste system
b) unemployment
c) corruption
as chief factors
For a dalit cause of poverty and the degree of
parameters affecting are in this order is
a > b > c [Here c is almost negligible], Because he is discriminated,
he is unemployed or employed in substandard jobs which does not allow him to fulfill
his basic needs and further corruption
does not allow him to get funds that he is entitled to, this is again due to
caste system )
Corruption is no doubt a problem but its a problem to middleclass, Today, India's GDP is more than five times what it was in 1991. Its major cities are now home to an affluent professional class that commutes in new cars on freshly paved four-lane highways to jobs that didn't exist. But this affluence is not for Indian majority. Economic liberalization has not even nudged the lives of the country's bottom 200 million people .
Citations and Further reading
/************************************************************************************Citations
Poverty levels are highest among India’s tribal population
(81.4 percent), followed by Dalits (65.8 percent) and Other Backward Classes
(58.3 percent). The poverty level among the rest of the population is 33.3 percent.
/*********
What Noted columnist and an expert in rural issues P Sainath says [ http://prdti.org/media/p_sainath.html
]
"Only 16 per
cent of dalits live in urban areas. The remaining 84 per cent, in rural India.
The over 450 SC groups in the country represent an important and incredibly
complex phenomenon. A people confronted by seemingly intractable problems
brought on by millenia of exploitation, enforced poverty and deprivation."
/*********
Since obtaining independence in 1947, Indian governments
have been deeply concerned with widespread poverty and have implemented various
anti-poverty schemes. However, rural poverty remains persistent, with the
headcount ratio being 30.2 percent in 1999/2000 (Deaton, 2003a). Particularly
troubling is the concentration of rural poverty in India in the “scheduled
caste” (SC) and “scheduled tribe” (ST) populations.1 The presence of such
disparity in the incidence ofpoverty and widespread discrimination against
scheduled groups have long histo-ries in India. Affirmative action programs
have been at the core of Indian social policy directed toward scheduled
groups.Our focus is on rural poverty. Most of India’s poor live in rural areas.
Also, we can observe classification of SC, ST and non-scheduled households more
clearly in rural areas.
/*********
Poverty tends to be characterized by the denial of rights as
well as material insufficiency.
The caste system in India is a traditional drag on society
since early times. Some castes seem to suffer from a feeling that all human
beings are not equal. This superiority complex among some castes has brought a
situation in which the untouchables are the poorest among the poor and suffer
as bonded labor, child labor and prostitution.
It was only after independence that the government carried
out certain legal reforms to abolish untouchability and to reserve seats in
schools and colleges for the scheduled and backward communities. The major part
of the benefits has, however, been grabbed by a few privileged Scheduled castes
and Scheduled tribes. The poorest still remain poor
/*********
World Development book case study: the dalit minority in
India
More than 60 years after gaining independence, India is
still very much afflicted by the cancer of the caste system. Dalits remain the
most vulnerable, marginalized and brutalized community in the country.
Dalits remain the most vulnerable, marginalized and
brutalized community in the country
/*********
India's elephant in the room: The success of Slumdog
Millionaire obscures the real cause of poverty in India – the caste system
/*********
The Caste System: Effects on Poverty in India, Nepal and Sri
Lanka
/*********
Discrimination - Hidden causes of poverty in India Caste-based segregation
/*********
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India,
Excerpt for the above link: A 1995 study suggests that the caste system in
India must be viewed as a system of exploitation of poor low-ranking groups by ore
prosperous high-ranking groups.
