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Chapter 2

Difference and Prejudice

here are many things that makeus what we are – how we live, the

languages we speak, what we eat,wear, the games we play and thethings we celebrate. All of these areinfluenced both by the geography andhistory of the place where we live.

You will get an idea of how diverseIndia is if you look even briefly at thefollowing statement:

There are eight major religions in theworld. Every single one of them ispractised in India. We have more than

1600 languages that are people'smother tongues, and there are morethan a hundred dance forms.

Yet this diversity is not alwayscelebrated. We feel safe and securewith people who look, talk, dress andthink like us.

Sometimes when we meet peoplewho are very different from us we mayfind them strange and unfamiliar. Attimes we may not understand or knowthe reasons why they are differentfrom us. People also form certainattitudes and opinions about otherswho are not like them.

T

In the previous chapter you have discussed themeanings of diversity. Sometimes people who are'different' from others are teased, laughed at or notincluded in a certain activity or group. We feelhurt, angry, helpless or sad when friends or otherstreat us in such ways. Have you ever wonderedwhy this happens?

In this chapter we will try and explore how suchexperiences are related to the society we live in.We will look at how they are connected to theinequalities that exist around us.

Diversity and Discrimination

14 / Social and Political Life

Some of the statements above seevillagers as dirty, ignorant andsuperstitious, and see people in citiesas money-minded, lazy and cunning.

When our opinions about certainpeople are always negative – seeingthem as lazy, cunning, stingy – assome of the statements above, thenthese become prejudices that we carryabout them.

Prejudice means to judge otherpeople negatively or see them asinferior. When we think that only oneparticular way is the best and rightway to do things we often end up notrespecting others, who may prefer todo things differently. For example ifwe think English is the best languageand other languages are notimportant, we are judging these otherlanguages negatively. As a result, wemight not respect people who speaklanguages other than English.

We can be prejudiced about manythings: people's religious beliefs, thecolour of their skin, the region theycome from, the accent they speak in,the clothes they wear etc. Often, ourprejudices about others are so strongthat we don't want to form friendshipswith them. At times, we may even actin ways that hurt them.

Look again at the statements that youbelieved to be true about rural andurban life in India. Do you have aprejudice against rural or urbanpeople? Find out if this is shared byothers and discuss the reasons whypeople have these prejudices.

Can you list some of the prejudicesthat you have noticed around you.How do they affect the ways in whichpeople treat each other?

Below are some statements onpeople living in rural and urban areas.Tick mark those that you agree with:

On Rural People

More than 50% of all Indianslive in villages.

Villagers do not care abouttheir health. They are full ofsuperstition.

People in villages are backwardand lazy. They do not like towork.

In peak harvesting and planta-tion season, families spend 12to 14 hours working in thefields.

Villagers are dirty and nothygienic.

On Urban People

Life in the city is easy. Peoplehere are spoilt and lazy.

In cities families spend verylittle time with each other.

People in towns only care aboutmoney, not about people.

Living in a city is expensive. Alarge part of people's earningsis spent on rent and transport.

City people cannot be trusted,they are cunning and corrupt.

Creating Stereotypes

All of us are familiar with genderdifferences. What does it mean to be aboy or a girl? Many of you would say,"We are born as boys and girls. It is agiven. What is there to think about?"Let's see if this is the case.

If we take the statement ''Theydon't cry", you'll see that this is aquality that is generally associatedwith boys and men. As babies orchildren when boys fall and hurtthemselves, their parents and otherfamily members often console them bysaying "Don't cry. You are a boy. Boys

are brave, they don't cry." As childrengrow up they start believing that boysdo not cry so that even if a boy feelslike crying he stops himself fromdoing so. He also believes that cryingis a sign of weakness. So, even thoughboth boys and girls sometimes want tocry, especially if they are angry or in

Arrange the statements given below inthese two sections, according to whatyou think is appropriate for the section.

They are well behaved.They are soft spoken and gentle.They are physically strong .They are naughty.They are good at dance and painting.They don't cry.They are rowdy.They are good at sport.They are good at cooking.They are emotional.

Girls Boys1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

Now check, with your teacher's help, who has put which statementwhere. Find out and discuss people's reasons for doing this. Are thequalities you put in for boys something that boys are born with?

Diversity and Discrimination / 15

The children you see in theillustrations here were seenas 'disabled'. This term hasbeen changed and now theterm used is 'children withspecial needs'. Commonstereotypes about them aregiven in large letters. Theirown feelings and thoughts tooare given.

Discuss what these childrenare saying about stereotypesregarding them and why.

Do you think children withspecial needs should be a partof regular schools or study ina separate school? Givereasons for your answer.

Source: Why are you afraid to holdmy hand by Shiela Dhir



pain, as they grow older boys learn orteach themselves not to cry. If agrown boy cries, then he feels thatothers will either tease him or laughat him, and so he stops himself fromdoing so in front of others.

This is the way boys are and this ishow girls are: these are statements wehear constantly and accept withouteven thinking, and we start believingthat each one of us must behaveaccordingly. We fit all boys and allgirls into an image that society createsaround us.

When we fix people into one imagewe create a stereotype. When peoplesay that those who belong to aparticular country, religion, sex, raceor economic background are "stingy""lazy," "criminal" or "dumb," they areusing stereotypes. There are stingyand generous people everywhere, inevery country, in every religion, inevery group whether rich or poor,male or female. And just becausesome people are like that it is not fairto think that everyone will be thesame.

Stereotypes stop us from looking ateach person as a unique individualwith his or her own special qualitiesand skills that are different from

others. They fit large numbers ofpeople into only one pattern or type.Stereotypes affect all of us as theyprevent us from doing certain things,that we might otherwise be good at.

Inequality and Discrimination

Discrimination happens when peopleact on their prejudices or stereotypes.If you do something to put otherpeople down, if you stop them fromtaking part in certain activities andtaking up jobs, or stop them fromliving in certain neighbour-hoods,prevent them from taking water fromthe same well or hand pump, or notallow them to drink tea in the samecups or glasses as others, you arediscriminating against them.

Discrimination can take placebecause of several reasons. Youprobably recall from the previouschapter that Samir Ek and Samir Dowere different from each other inmany ways. For example, theybelonged to different religions. This isan aspect of diversity. However, thisdiversity can also be a source ofdiscrimination. Groups of people whomay speak a certain language, followa particular religion, live in specificregions etc., may be discriminatedagainst as their customs or practicesmay be seen as inferior.

Another difference between the twoSamirs was in their economicbackgrounds. Samir Do was poor.This difference, as you have readearlier, is not a form of diversity but ofinequality. People who are poor donot have the resources or the money

You can take other statements suchas They are soft and gentle orThey are well behaved and discusshow these are applied to girls. Dogirls possess these qualities at birthor do they learn such behaviourfrom others? What do you thinkabout girls who are not soft andgentle and those who are naughty?

to meet their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. They experiencediscrimination in offices, inhospitals, schools etc.,where they are treatedbadly because they arepoor.

Some people mayexperience both kinds of dis-crimination. They are poorand they belong to groupswhose culture is not valued.Tribals, some religiousgroups and even particularregions, are discriminated

against for one or more of thesereasons. In the following section we willlook at how a famous Indian wasdiscriminated against. This will help usunderstand the ways in which castewas used to discriminate against largenumbers of people.

On being discriminated againstPeople are engaged in different kindsof work like teaching, carpentry,pottery, weaving, fishing, farming etc.to earn a livelihood. However, certainkinds of work are valued more thanothers. Activities like cleaning, wash-ing, cutting hair, picking garbage, areseen as tasks that are of less valueand people who do this work are seenas dirty or impure. This belief is animportant aspect of the caste system.In the caste system, communities/groups of people were placed in a sortof ladder where each caste was eitherabove or below the other. Those whoplaced themselves at the top of this ladder called themselves upper

A common stereotype about Muslims isthat they are not interested ineducating girls and therefore do notsend girls to school. However, studieshave now shown that poverty amongstMuslims is an important reason whyMuslim girls do not attend school orleave school after a few years.

Wherever, effort has been made toreach education to the poor, there theMuslim community has shown aninterest in sending their girls to school.

For example in the state of Kerala thedistance between the school and thehome is not much. There is a goodgovernment bus service that helpsteachers reach schools in rural areasand over sixty per cent of the teachersare women. These factors have helpedchildren from poorer families,including Muslim girls, attend schoolin much larger numbers.

In other states, where such efforts havenot been made children from poorerfamilies whether Muslim, tribal or so-called lower castes find it difficult toattend school. Therefore, poverty notreligion is the cause for non-attendanceof Muslim girls in school.



Dalit is a term thatpeople belonging to so-called lower castes useto address themselves.They prefer this wordto 'untouchable'. Dalitmeans those who havebeen 'broken'. Thisword according toDalits shows howsocial prejudices anddiscrimination have'broken' the Dalitpeople. The govern-ment refers to thisgroup of people asScheduled Castes (SC).

Being made to sit seperately in the classroombecause of one's background is a form ofdiscrimination.

What is the difference betweendiscrimination and stereotypes?

How do you think a person who isdiscriminated against might feel?

caste and sawthemselves assuperior. Thegroups whowere placed at the bottomof the ladderwere seen asunworthy andcalled "untou-chables".

Caste ruleswere set whichdid not allowthe so-called"untouchable"

to take on work, other than what theywere meant to do. For example, somegroups were only allowed to pickgarbage and remove dead animalsfrom the village. But they were notallowed to enter the homes of theupper castes or take water from thevillage well, or even enter temples.Their children could not sit next tochildren of other castes in school.

Thus upper castes acted in ways,which did not give the so-called"untouchables" the same rights asthey enjoyed.

Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, one of thegreat leaders of India, shares his firstexperience of caste-based discrimi-nation, which took place in 1901when he was just nine years old. Hehad gone with his brothers andcousins to meet his father in Koregaonwhich is now in Maharashtra.

Long did we wait, but no one turnedup. An hour elapsed and the station-master came to enquire. He asked usfor our tickets. We showed them to him.He asked us why we tarried. We toldhim that we were bound for Koregaonand that we were waiting for father orhis servant to come, but that neitherhad turned up and that we did notknow how to reach Koregaon.

We were well-dressed children.From our dress or talk no one couldmake out that we were children of theuntouchables. Indeed the station-master was quite sure we wereBrahmin children and was extremelytouched at the plight in which he foundus. As is usual among the Hindus, thestationmaster asked us who we were.Without a moment's thought I blurtedout that we were Mahars. (Mahar isone of the communities which aretreated as untouchables in the Bombay


Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar (1891-1956)is considered the father of the Indian Constitution and is also the best known leader of the Dalits. Dr Ambedkar fought for the rights of the Dalit community. He was born into the Mahar caste, whichwas considered untouchable. TheMahars were poor, owned no landand children born to them also hadto do the work their parents did.They lived in spaces outside themain village and were not allowedinto the village.

Dr Ambedkar was the first personfrom his caste who completed hiscollege education and went toEngland to become a lawyer. Heencouraged Dalits to send theirchildren to school and college. Healso urged Dalits to take on differentkinds of government jobs in order tomove out of the caste system. He ledmany efforts of Dalits to gain entryinto temples. Later in life heconverted to Buddhism in his searchfor a religion that treated all members equally. Dr Ambedkar believedthat Dalits mustfight the castesystem and worktowards a societybased on respect notjust for a few but forall persons.

Presidency.) He was stunned. His faceunderwent a sudden change. We couldsee that he was overpowered by astrange feeling of repulsion. As soon ashe heard my reply, he went away to hisroom and we stood where we were.Fifteen to twenty minutes elapsed; thesun was almost setting. Our father hadnot turned up nor had he sent hisservant, and now the stationmaster hadalso left us. We were quite bewildered,and the joy and happiness, which we feltat the beginning of the journey, gave wayto a feeling of extreme sadness.

After half an hour the stationmasterreturned and asked us what we proposedto do. We said that if we could get abullock-cart on hire we would go toKoregaon, and if it was not very far wewould like to start straightway. Therewere many bullock-carts plying for hire.But my reply to the station master that wewere Mahars had gone round among thecart men and not one of them wasprepared to suffer being polluted and todemean himself carrying passengers of the untouchable classes. We wereprepared to pay double the fare but wefound that money did not work. The

stationmaster, who was negotiatingon our behalf, stood silent, notknowing what to do.Source: Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Writings andSpeeches, Volume 12, Edited Vasant Moon,Bombay Education Department, Govt. ofMaharashtra.

Imagine how difficult it would be ifpeople could not move easily from oneplace to the other, how insulting andhurtful it is to have people move away,refuse to touch you or allow you todrink water from the same source asthey do.

This small incident shows how asimple task of going from one place toanother in a cart was not available tothe children – even though they couldpay the money. All the cart men at thestation refused to take the children.They acted in a discriminatorymanner.

So, clearly, as this story shows us,caste based discrimination is not onlylimited to preventing Dalits fromundertaking certain economicactivities but it also denies them therespect and dignity given to others.

Striving for Equality

The struggle for freedom from Britishrule also included within it thestruggle of large groups of people whonot only fought against the British butalso fought to be treated more equally.Dalits, women, tribals and peasantsfought against the inequalities theyexperienced in their lives.

As pointed out earlier, many Dalitsorganised themselves to gain entryinto temples. Women demanded thatthey should have as much a right toeducation as men did. Peasants andtribals fought to release themselvesfrom the grasp of the moneylenderand the high interest they werecharged.

When India became a nation in1947 our leaders too were concernedabout the different kinds ofinequalities that existed. Those whowrote the Constitution of India, adocument that laid out the rules bywhich the nation would function, were aware of the ways in which


Despite the childrenoffering money the cartmenrefused them. Why?

How did people at the station discriminateagainst Dr Ambedkar andhis brothers?

How do you think Dr Ambedkar felt as a child, when he saw thestationmaster's reaction tohis statement that theywere Mahars?

Have you ever experiencedprejudice or witnessed anincident of discrimination?How did this make you feel?

DiscussIn addition to the lower castesbeing discriminated against, thereare also various other communitiesthat are subject to discrimination.

Can you think of a few otherexamples of discrimination.

Discuss the ways in which personswith special needs might besubject to discrimination.

discrimination had been practised in our society and how people had struggled against this. Manyleaders of these struggles such as Dr Ambedkar had also fought for therights of the Dalits.

So these leaders set out a visionand goals in the Constitution toensure that all the people of Indiawere considered equal. This equalityof all persons is seen as a key valuethat unites us all as Indians.Everyone has equal rights andopportunities. Untouchability is seen

as a crime and has been legallyabolished by law. People are freeto choose the kind of work theywish to do. Government jobs are open to all people. In addition,the Constitution also placedresponsibility on the governmentto take specific steps to realise thisright to equality for poor and othersuch marginal communities.

The writers of the Constitutionalso said that respect for diversitywas a significant element inensuring equality. They felt thatpeople must have the freedom tofollow their religion, speak theirlanguage, celebrate their festivalsand express themselves freely.They said that no one language,religion or festival should becomecompulsory for all to follow. Theysaid that the government musttreat all religions equally.

Therefore, India became asecular country where people ofdifferent religions and faiths have

Some of the members who wrote theConstitution of India.

Women at a rally demanding their rights



the freedom to practise and followtheir religion without any fear ofdiscrimination. This is seen as animportant element of our unity – thatwe all live together and respect oneother.

Though these ideals are enshrinedin our Constitution, this chapterpoints out that inequalities exist eventoday. Equality is a value that wehave to keep striving for and notsomething which will happenautomatically. People's struggles andpositive actions by the governmentare necessary to make this a realityfor all Indians.

QUESTIONS

1. Match the following statements in a way that challenges stereotypes.

a. Two surgeons were sitting down tolunch when one of them made a call onthe mobile phone

b. The boy who won the drawingcompetition went to the dias

c. One of the fastest athletes in theworld

d. She was not that well-off but had adream

1. suffers from chronic asthma.

2. to become an astronaut which shedid.

3. to speak with her daughter who hadjust returned from school.

4. on a wheelchair to collect his prize.

The first page of the Constitution that clearlystates that all Indians are entitled to equality ofstatus and opportunity.


2. How can the stereotype that girls are a burden on their parents affectthe life of a daughter? Imagine this situation and list at least fivedifferent effects that this stereotype can have on the way daughtersget treated in the house.

3. What does the Constitution say with regard to equality? Why do youthink it is important for all people to be equal?

4. Sometimes people make prejudiced comments in our presence. We areoften not in a position to do anything about this because it is difficultto say something right then and there. Divide the class into groupsand each group discuss what they could do in one of the followingsituations:

a. A friend begins to tease a classmate because he is poor.

b. You are watching TV with your family and one of themmakes a prejudicial comment about a particularreligious community.

c. Children in your class refuse to share their food with aparticular person because they think she is dirty.

d. Someone tells you a joke that makes fun of a communitybecause of their accent.

e. Some boys make remarks about girls not being able toplay games as well as them.

Discuss in class what the different groups have suggested for theabove situations, and also talk about the problems that can come upwhen raising the issue.

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