Q&A: Yashica Dutt on her life as part of an oppressed caste in 'Coming Out As Dalit'
1 year ago

Q&A: Yashica Dutt on her life as part of an oppressed caste in 'Coming Out As Dalit'

NPR  

Q&A: Yashica Dutt on her life as part of an oppressed caste in 'Coming Out As Dalit' Enlarge this image Yashica Dutt/Beacon Press Yashica Dutt/Beacon Press As a young girl growing up in Ajmer, a small town in the Western Indian state of Rajasthan, journalist and author, Yashica Dutt, 38, says that she was painfully aware of the many sacrifices her mother Sashi made. In India's rigid caste system — a system of social division that ranks the status of individuals based on the kind of jobs they do, Dalits are among the most oppressed of castes. Dutt was always a top student in school but says she felt pressured by her mother's sacrifice and often humiliated by her begging the school administration for more time to pay her fees — even though she recognized that a good education would be her best defense against caste discrimination. One of the reasons that many Dalit people don't talk about caste in India is because they're certain that in these societies where upper castes are dominant, they would be mocked.

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History of this topic

Give dalits education & jobs, and forget quotas
5 years, 6 months ago

Give dalits education & jobs, and forget quotas

Deccan Chronicle  

Even the late Jagjivan Ram, a proud champion of dalits long before they had fastened on the word to denote their identity, acknowledged there could be no true equality in India until quotas and reservations had become unnecessary. Britain’s equality legislation doesn’t expressly forbid such practices, but the amended Section 9 of the Equality Act 2010 requires the government to …

Yashica Dutt on her decision to come out as Dalit: 'The truth was out, I didn’t feel the need to hide'
5 years, 10 months ago

Yashica Dutt on her decision to come out as Dalit: 'The truth was out, I didn’t feel the need to hide'

Firstpost  

Yashica Dutt’s life would never be the same after 20 January, 2016. In the post, she detailed how often she had lied about her caste to people who had enquired; “a lie I spoke so often and with such conviction, that I not only fooled my friends’ mothers but even myself…” She spoke of shame, of the fear of being …

Una Dalits victims to convert to Buddhism to highlight caste discrimination
6 years, 10 months ago

Una Dalits victims to convert to Buddhism to highlight caste discrimination

Hindustan Times  

The families of the four of the Dalit men assaulted by self-styled cow vigilantes in Gujarat’s Una town two years ago will convert to Buddhism on Sunday to send the message “ loud and clear” that the discrimination against their community must end. Ramesh Sarviya and his brothers Vasram and Ashok and cousin Bechar were tied to a car, flogged …

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