Page 198 - SST Class 07

When someone talks about which state each one 5. The same principle applies to public jobs.
hails from, he/she tends to say “I am Gujjar, he is All citizens have equality of opportunity in
Punjabi, that guy is Marwari, that guy is from UP matters relating to employment or appoint-
and Sabu is a Christian”. As if, being a Christian, ment to any position in the government.
I do not belong to any state, as if, I am a migrant 6. Practice of untouchability in any form is
from Europe or United Sates. prohibited. If anyone practice untouchabi-

EQUALITY IN INDIAN CONSTITUTION lity, he/she is liable to imprisonments or fine.
The constitution of India says that the govern- The principle of non-discrimination extends to
ment shall not deny to any person in India social life as well. The constitution mentions the
equality before the law or the equal protection of practice of untouchability and clearly directs the
the laws. It means that the laws apply in the government to put an end to it. The practice of
same manner to all, regardless of a person’s untouchability has been forbidden in any form.
status. This is called the rule of law. It means that The constitution of India has made untoucha-
no person is above the law. There cannot be any bility a punishable offence.
distinction between a political leader, govern-
ment official and an ordinary citizen.
Untouchability is the social practice of ostracising a
minority endogamous group by regarding them as
Equality is an important element of a democracy. It “ritually polluted” and segregating them from the
means all are equal before law. There is rule of law mainstream by social custom.
and no discrimination is made on the basis of caste, The term is commonly associated with treatment of
creed, races, religion, sex, etc. the Dalit class in India. Untouchability has been made
illegal in post-independence India, but prejudice
This basic position is further classified in the
continues.
constituent by spelling out some implications of
MANY FORMS OF UNTOUCHABILITY
the Right to Equality.
In 1999, P. Sainath wrote a series of news reports
1. The government shall not discriminate
describing untouchability and caste discrimina-
against any citizen on grounds of religion,
caste, sex or place of birth. tion still being practised in many places.
g Tea stalls kept two kinds of cups. One for
2. Every citizen shall have equal access to
public place like shops, restaurants, hotels Dalits and one for them.
and cinema halls. g Barbers refused to serve Dalit clients.
3. There shall be no restrictions with regard to g Dalit students were made to sit separately in
the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads, the classroom.
playgrounds and places of public resorts g Dalit grooms were not allowed to ride a
maintained by government or dedicated to horse in the wedding procession.
the use of general public. Keeping this provision, the constitution in view,

4. These might appear very obvious, but it was the government has taken the undermentioned
necessary to incorporate these rights in the steps :
constitution of our country where the tradi- 1. Reservation of government jobs in the
tional caste system did not allow people from following ratio—15% for the Scheduled
some communities to access all public places. Castes (SCs), 7.5% for the Scheduled

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