GS Analyst: Daily Current Affairs

Despite outlawing caste-based discrimination in 1950, Dalits still get discriminated against when applying for programs established to help them.

Challenges faced by Dalit Women

• Failure of policies: Dalit women continue to suffer from a high degree of poverty, gender discrimination, caste discrimination, and socioeconomic deprivation.
• Violence: Girls face violence at a younger age and at a higher rate than women of other castes.
• Caste System
• Exploitation by dominant castes
• Cases are withdrawn and lack of justice
• Workplace violence
  
  
  

Rigid Occupational Hierarchy

• Caste is essentially the stratification of people into a rigid occupational hierarchy.
• The origins of India’s caste system go back thousands of years.
• It is deeply entwined with Hinduism.

Problem with microloans

• A microloan from a government bank:
  • It was pioneered by economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in the 1970s.
  • In India, it is backed by the Reserve Bank of India.
  • It is offered to people who lack the collateral that institutional lenders usually require.
• Role of RBI in Microloans:

• • Regulating the sector
  • Guarantor of microloans given by banks
• Provision for Dalit women: The Reserve Bank of India underwrites incentives including interest rates about half that offered to other women.
• Poor Implementation: 66 per cent of rejected applications were from Dalit women.
• Discrimination at the branch level.

The problem faced while issuing Caste certificates

• To qualify for a program to assist Dalits, they had to prove they were Dalits by supplying a government-issued caste certificate.
• But this certificate then became the means for them to be identified as Dalits and discriminated against.

Initiatives Taken to Promote Transformation

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
• Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood (SANKALP) Scheme
• Stand Up India Scheme
• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana