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'Caste-based discrimination still alive in India'
Friday, October 12, 2007 09:31 IST
PANAJI: After shooting in eight states and across four different religions, a
new documentary film suggests that caste-based discrimination is alive and
kicking in different pockets of India.
'India Untouched', a 108-minute documentary by Stalin K. in Hindi, Bhojpuri,
Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam with English sub-titles, seeks
to expose the underbelly of social discrimination across various religious
groups in India.
Director Stalin, a Gujarat-based human rights activist, spent four years
travelling across India to study what he called "the continued oppression of
Dalits, the socially disadvantaged who suffer under a 4,000 year-old" system of
discrimination.
Asked what led him to make the film, Stalin said, "Denial! I was sick and tired
of people denying the existence of caste or caste-based prejudices.
"The middle classes are more prone to this denial and they are the ones who are
most vocal - the writers, the journalists, the policy pushers. My film is
dedicated to all those who are in denial of the fact that our lives continue to
be governed by age-old caste practices that are discriminatory."
The film introduces leading Benares scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to
mean that Dalits 'have no right' to education, and Rajput farmers who proudly
proclaim that no Dalit may sit in their presence and that the police must seek
their permission before pursuing cases of atrocities.
The film captures many 'firsts-on-film,' such as Dalits being forced to
dismount from their cycles and remove their shoes when in the upper caste part
of the village. It also exposes the continuation of caste practices and
untouchability in Sikhism, Christianity and Islam, and even amongst the
communists in Kerala.
Go to: dnaindia.com
http://inwww.rediff.com/newshound/ke.html
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