The report of the S.K.Thorat committee
appointed to review NCERT text books has recommended not using the word Dalit
in the text books. When it gives its general recommendations it has mentioned
that “The word Dalit should not be used. In that place SC should be
used or it should be verified whether the replacement is legally fine” (APPENDIX 1 Class
IX Democratic Politics) . I do not see any valid reason in
this recommendation.
I am giving below an exchange occurred
between me and Mr K.Narayanan, the former Readers’ Editor of The Hindu
Newspaper, in 2008.
1.
06.09.2008
Dear Mr. Ravikumar,
I would like to have
your comments on this.
Thank you.
K. Narayanan
The Readers' Editor,
The Hindu,
Kasturi Buildings,
859 -- 860 Anna Salai,
Chennai 600 002
India
Ph: +91-44-28418297
(11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday)
Fax: +91-44-28552963
-----Forwarded by
Readers Editor/CHEN-THED/ksl on 06/09/2008 03:59PM -----
Date: 05/13/2008
12:04PM
Subject: FOR KIND
ATTENTION OF HON'BLE READERS EDITOR PLEASE
RESPECTED R/EDITOR
SIR,
WITH DUE RESPECT AND
REGARD, IT IS HUMBLY BROUGHT TO YOUR KIND NOTICE THAT MANY A TIMES YOUR
ESTEEMED NEWSPAPER CARRIES NEWS REPORTS ABOUT DALIT ATROCITIES AND OTHER
INCIDENTS REGARDING THEM. ALTHOUGH IT WAS INSTRUCTED BY THE NATIONAL
COMMISSION OF SCHEDULED CASTED WAY BACK IN JANUARY 2008 THAT THE WORD
"DALIT" SHOULD NOT BE USED AS IT IS NEITHER CONSTITUTIONAL NOR IT
FINDS MENTION IN ANY STATUTE. AFTER THIS DIRECTIVE, VARIOUS STATE
GOVERNMENTS INCLUDING HARYANA AS WELL AS UT ADMN INSTRUCTED AGAINST USE OF THE
WORK DALIT IN OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS/COMMUNICATIONS ETC.
THE QUESTION I WANT TO ASK IS
WHETHER THE PRESS SHOULD CONTINUE USING THE WORK "DALIT". I
THINK THE PRESS COUNCIL SHOULD HAVE A THOROUGH DEBATE OVER THIS. I WOULD
LIKE TO HEAR YOUR REPUTED PAPER'S VIEW ON THE SUBJECT.
WITH REGARDS,
HEMANT KUMAR
ADVOCATE
# 414 SECTOR
7
URBAN ESTATE
AMBALA CITY
HARYANA
CELL 09416193454
===================
2.
16.06.2008
Dear Shri Narayanan
Sorry for the
inordinate delay.Please see below my response
Ravikumar
'Dalit' and SC
commission
-Ravikumar*
It is true that the National SC/ST commission has suggested
that the word Dalit not be used in official communication and a few state
governments have acted on this. The commission's view is that the term is
'unconstitutional'. What we must realize is that the Constitution is not a
lexicon. It cannot delimit social and cultural usage. In the US, the term negro
was used for a long time to refer to blacks. Today, African American is used by
every one. In India, the bureaucracy and administration have to keep pace with
the times. The use of the official term Scheduled Castes does not in any way
clash with the social/ academic/ literary/ media use of the term Dalit. The two
are independent. Some observations in this context.
1.
Statutes are enacted
to maintain law and order not to interfere in the affairs of language. So
looking at the statutes to decide the fate of a word is incorrect.
2.
The SC/ST commission's
directive is only meant for 'the official documents' not for the media or
literature or rest of society.
3.
Dalit leaders have
used many words to call themselves. Pandit Iyothee Thass(1845-1914) a
leader of Tamil dalits had used "casteless Dravidians" and
"Original Buddhists". He criticized the usage of the word 'Depressed
Class' in his writings.
4.
Ambedkar used several
words -- Depressed Class, Untouchables and Minorities, and also on a few
occasions the term 'Dalit'.
5.
A well known scholar
of the Dalit movement and literature Eleanor Zelliot has stated in her
introduction to Vasant Moon's autobiography 'Growing up Untouchable in India':
"The most recent nomenclature for ex-untouchables is 'dalit'; a term meaning
downtrodden or broken down but used with pride as self-chosen name that
reflects no idea of pollution and can include all who identify themselves as
oppressed by the caste system.' Dalit' came into currency in the 1970s in
movements that took names such as Dalit Panthers and Dalit literature and now
is the preferred name for those (such as Vasant Moon) who want to free
themselves from the concept of pollution and from the patronage of Gandhian
ideology". So the etymological meaning of the word 'Dalit' is not
important here as much as its functional meaning.
6.
It is a 'subjectivity'
chosen by those who want to annihilate caste system; it is not an 'identity'.
Choosing subjectivity is a conscious act. But the Hindu caste system wants to
reduce the subjectivity into an identity by making the word as a mere replacement
for Scheduled Caste or Untouchable.
7.
So we have to restrict
the instruction of the SC commission to official documents of the central/state
governments.
8.
We must oppose any
attempt to ban the word 'Dalit'.
9.
At a time when the
Australian prime minister apologized to the nation for the atrocities
perpetrated on the aborigines, and at a time when in Canada the state has
apologized for the oppressive policies Native Americans (First Nation people)
were subjected to till as late as the 1970s, we in India seem to be involved to
be quibbling over non-substantive issues.
*Ravikumar is the author of ‘Venomous Touch- Notes
on Caste,Culture and Politics ( Samya, 2009)I General Secretary of Viduthalai Ciruthaikal Katchi(VCK) and former
MLA of Tamilnadu .
