Confronting Marginalisation

This is Chapter 6 of NCERT's Class 8 Social and Political Life – III (2024–25 reprint), the second chapter of Unit Four, ‘Social Justice and the Marginalised’. The PDF has 10 pages, the chapter itself, book pp. 74–83, with no page offset. Its parts: an opening on the many ways marginalised groups have struggled; invoking Fundamental Rights (with a poem by Soyrabai); laws for the marginalised — promoting social justice and the reservation policy; protecting the rights of Dalits and Adivasis — the case of Rathnam and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (with two boxes on Kabir); a box on manual scavenging; Adivasi demands and the 1989 Act, with a box on the Forest Rights Act, 2006; and a conclusion. We use seven concept sections — the chapter is short, so we do not pad. The book gives few numbers; each is recomputed in the file with its year and source, or flagged where it has none. Anything beyond the book is marked †. No map is drawn. Dalits, Adivasis, the poets and the activists are described as the book describes them; debates are attributed with no verdict.

• How this chapter relates to UPSC, honestly: GS1 (Indian society: caste, tribes, social movements) and GS2 (welfare of vulnerable sections; laws and institutions for SCs and STs) test this area at the depth of the senior books and the bare Acts. This chapter gives the frame — rights invoked, laws made, laws enforced — and the three laws at its heart (1989, 1993/2013, 2006). Prelims asks bare facts: articles, Schedules, what an Act does.
• Senior chapters: keps202 (Rights in the Indian Constitution — Articles 14–18, 23–24, 29–30, 32); keps103 (Equality) and keps104 (Social Justice — reservation and its justifications); keps207 (Federalism — Fifth and Sixth Schedules); keps208 (Local Governments — PESA 1996); lesy103 (caste and tribe); lesy105 (Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion — untouchability, Dalit and Adivasi struggles); lesy203 (The Constitution and Social Change); lesy208 (Social Movements); Class 10 jess403 (Gender, Religion and Caste).
• In this book and series: hess301 (The Indian Constitution — the list of Fundamental Rights on its p. 14, which this chapter's exercises send you back to); hess302 (Understanding Secularism); hess303 (Parliament and the Making of Laws — how laws respond to people's demands); hess304 (Judiciary — PILs and Article 32); hess305 (Understanding Marginalisation — Adivasis and Muslims, the previous chapter); next, hess307 (Public Facilities) and hess308 (Law and Social Justice). History: hess204 (Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age).
• UPSC from this chapter: eleven questions — Prelims 2004 (Articles 14–17 matched), 2016 (Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan and manual scavenging), 2015, 2019 and 2022 (the Fifth Schedule and tribal land), 2013, 2019 and 2021 (the Forest Rights Act); Mains GS1 2016 (Scheduled Tribes and their constitutional provisions), GS1 2017 (two legal initiatives against discrimination of STs), GS2 2023 (are welfare schemes for the vulnerable discriminatory?). List and keys at the end.

• Two ways of invoking Fundamental Rights: insist on them (the government recognises injustice); insist on enforcement; sometimes → new laws.
• Article 17: untouchability abolished, a punishable crime; Article 15: no discrimination on religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth; minorities use freedom of religion and cultural and educational rights.
• Policies: schemes (hostels, scholarships) and reservation in education and government jobs — lists, caste/tribe certificates, cut-off marks.
• Rathnam refused a humiliating ritual → ostracised, hut burnt → case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989: humiliation, dispossession, crimes against SC/ST women.
• Manual scavenging: 1993 Act banned it; 2003 PIL by the Safai Karamchari Andolan; new Act in force 6 December 2013 (judgment 27 March 2014 †).
• Adivasis: C.K. Janu — use the 1989 Act against encroachers; State governments too can violate rights; Forest Rights Act, 2006 to undo historical injustice. Conclusion: rights on paper need struggle to become real.

The Constitution lays down the principles that make our society and polity democratic, defined largely through the Fundamental Rights, available to all Indians equally. The marginalised have drawn on them in two ways: first, by insisting on their Fundamental Rights they have forced the government to recognise the injustice done to them; second, they have insisted that the government enforce these laws. In some instances their struggles have led the government to frame new laws in the spirit of the Fundamental Rights. Article 17 states that untouchability has been abolished: no one can now prevent Dalits from educating themselves, entering temples or using public facilities; practising untouchability is wrong, will not be tolerated by a democratic government, and is now a punishable crime. Article 15 says no citizen shall be discriminated against on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth; Dalits have used it to seek equality where it was denied. So Dalits can ‘invoke’ a right when treated badly by an individual, a community or even the government, and demand that the government abide by the Constitution. Other minority groups have drawn especially on the right to freedom of religion and on cultural and educational rights: distinct cultural and religious groups such as Muslims and Parsis have the right to be the guardians of the content of their culture and to decide how best to preserve it. By granting such rights the Constitution tries to ensure cultural justice, so that these cultures are not dominated or wiped out by the culture of the majority.

The government makes laws to protect citizens, but that is not its only way of acting. There are specific laws and policies for the marginalised, and schemes that come out of other means such as a committee or a survey; the government then promotes such policies to give opportunities to specific groups. To implement the Constitution, both State and central governments create schemes for tribal areas or areas with a high Dalit population — for example, free or subsidised hostels for Dalit and Adivasi students, so that they can use education facilities not available where they live. Besides facilities, the government also works through laws to take concrete steps against inequity; one such law or policy is reservation (next section).

The book calls the reservation policy both significant and highly contentious. The laws that reserve seats in education and government employment for Dalits and Adivasis rest on an argument: in a society where, for centuries, sections of the population were denied opportunities to learn and to work and to develop new skills or vocations, a democratic government needs to step in and assist them. How it works: governments across India keep their own lists of Scheduled Castes (Dalits), Scheduled Tribes and backward and most backward castes; the central government has its list too. Students applying to educational institutions and candidates for government posts furnish caste or tribe certificates; if their caste or tribe is on the list, they can avail of reservation. For admission to colleges, especially professional ones such as medical colleges, governments set cut-off marks, so only those who do reasonably well qualify. Governments also give special scholarships.

Besides policies, the country has specific laws against discrimination and exploitation of marginalised communities. The book's case study, adapted from a real-life account: in Jakmalgur, a festival for the local deity is held once in five years; priests from 20 neighbouring villages come for the five-day event. It begins with a member of the Dalit community washing the feet of all the priests and then bathing in that water. Rathnam's grandfather and father had done this; though never allowed inside the temple, the family was told it was a great honour. Now it was the turn of Rathnam, 20, an engineering student at a nearby college. He refused: he had no faith in the practice, and his family was forced to do it because they were Dalits. His refusal angered the powerful castes, who blamed his education for making him compare himself with them — and also some families of his own community, who worked as daily-wage labourers on the dominant castes' fields and feared losing work; they also warned of the deity's wrath. Rathnam asked how the deity could be angry when no Dalit had ever entered the temple. The powerful castes ordered his community to ostracise him and his family; one night men set his hut on fire; he escaped with his mother. He filed a case at the local police station under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Other Dalit families, afraid, still did not support him. Local media took up the case; journalists visited; he was written about as a symbol of Dalit action. The ritual was called off, but his family was forced to move out as the ostracism continued.

The Act was framed in 1989 in response to demands by Dalits and others that the government take seriously the ill-treatment and humiliation Dalits and tribal groups face every day. Such treatment was long-standing but turned violent in the late 1970s and 1980s: in parts of southern India, a number of assertive Dalit groups refused their so-called caste duties and insisted on equal treatment, like Rathnam, and the more powerful castes unleashed violence against them. To show that untouchability was still practised in the most hideous ways, Dalit groups demanded laws that would list the various sorts of violence and prescribe stringent punishment. Likewise, in the 1970s and 1980s, Adivasis organised and demanded equal rights and the return of their land and resources, and faced the anger of powerful groups and much violence. Hence the Act contains a very long list of crimes; it not only punishes but also lets people know what dreadful deeds humans are capable of — laws like this seek both to punish and to influence how we think and act. It distinguishes several levels: (1) modes of humiliation, physically horrific and morally reprehensible — e.g. (i) forcing a member of an SC or ST to eat or drink an inedible or obnoxious substance; (iii) forcibly removing clothes, parading naked or with painted face or body, or any similar act derogatory to human dignity; (2) actions that dispossess Dalits and Adivasis of their meagre resources or force them into slave labour — e.g. (iv) wrongfully occupying or cultivating land owned by or allotted to an SC or ST member, or getting it transferred; (3) crimes against Dalit and tribal women, recognised as a specific kind — e.g. (xi) assaulting or using force on an SC or ST woman with intent to dishonour her.

Manual scavenging means removing human and animal excreta with brooms, tin plates and baskets from dry latrines and carrying it on the head to disposal grounds some distance away; it is mainly done by Dalit women and young girls. According to the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), an organisation working with manual scavengers that the book calls Andhra Pradesh-based, one lakh Dalit people still did this work, in 26 lakh private and community dry latrines managed by municipalities. The work is subhuman and hazardous — constant infections of the eyes, skin, respiratory and gastro-intestinal systems — and very low-paid: about ₹200 a day in urban municipalities, much less privately. Though untouchability is abolished, manual scavengers — the book names the Bhangis in Gujarat, Pakhis in Andhra Pradesh and Sikkaliars in Tamil Nadu — continue to be treated as untouchable, living in separate settlements and denied the temple and public water facilities. In 1993 the government passed the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, banning both. In 2003 the SKA and 13 other organisations and individuals, including seven scavengers, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court: manual scavenging still existed, including in government undertakings like the railways, and they sought enforcement of their Fundamental Rights. The court observed that the number of manual scavengers had increased since the 1993 law, and directed every ministry and department of the Union and State governments to verify the facts within six months; where it existed, they must take up a time-bound programme for liberation and rehabilitation. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act came into force on 6 December 2013.

The 1989 Act matters for another reason: Adivasi activists use it to defend their right to occupy land that was traditionally theirs. As the previous chapter showed, Adivasis are often forcibly displaced. Activists have asked that those who forcibly encroach on tribal lands be punished under this law, and point out that the Act only confirms what the Constitution already promises: land belonging to tribal people cannot be sold to or bought by non-tribal people, and where this has happened, tribal people have the right to re-possess their land. C.K. Janu, an Adivasi activist, has pointed out that State governments are among the violators of tribal people's constitutional rights — allowing non-tribal encroachers such as timber merchants and paper mills to exploit tribal land, and forcibly evicting tribal people when forests are declared reserved or sanctuaries. Where tribals have already been evicted and cannot return, she says, they must be compensated: the government must plan for them to live and work elsewhere — governments spend large sums on projects built on tribal land, so why be reluctant to spend modest amounts on rehabilitating the displaced? A box adds that the central government passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, meant to undo historical injustices to forest-dwelling people whose rights to land and resources were not recognised; it recognises rights to homestead, cultivable and grazing land and to non-timber forest produce, and says their rights include conservation of forests and biodiversity. Conclusion: a right, a law or a policy on paper does not mean it exists in reality; people have had to work constantly to turn them into principles that guide fellow citizens and leaders. The desire for equality, dignity and respect is old, as the chapter's poets show; even in a democracy, struggle, writing, negotiation and organising must continue.

Every margin question and activity, in page order.

Four exercises (the last in two parts). Try first, then open.

Numbers

One-liners

• Marginalised groups invoke Fundamental Rights to make the government recognise injustice and enforce the law.
• Article 17 abolished untouchability; practising it is a punishable crime.
• Cultural and educational rights aim at cultural justice for minorities.
• Reservation rests on the argument that centuries of denied opportunity call for State help.
• The 1989 Act lists crimes so as both to punish and to change how people think.
• Rathnam's refusal cost him his home: laws need social support to work.
• Manual scavenging persisted after the 1993 ban; the 2013 Act added rehabilitation.
• Adivasi activists use the 1989 Act against dispossession; the FRA 2006 aims to undo historical injustice.
• A right on paper becomes real only through continued struggle, writing, negotiation and organising.

Traps to avoid

• Article 17 is in the Right to Equality, not the Right against Exploitation.
• Untouchability is not defined in the Constitution.
• Article 15 binds the State; Article 17 applies to everyone.
• Reservation is enabled by Articles 15(4) and 16(4), not commanded; Article 46 is a Directive Principle.
• The book's 1989 Act clause numbers are from the original text, re-lettered in 2015.
• The manual-scavenging figures in the book have no year — treat them as old.
• Two Acts: 1993 (prohibition) and 2013 (prohibition and rehabilitation, in force 6 December 2013).
• The SKA petition was filed in 2003 and decided on 27 March 2014.
• The FRA is of 2006 but came into force on 31 December 2007.
• Tribal land protection works through the Fifth Schedule (para 5(2)); Samatha (1997) voided private mining leases.
• PESA (1996) is not in this chapter.

Prelims — what UPSC asks

• From this chapter: Articles 14–17 matched (2004); Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan and manual scavenging (2016); the Fifth and Sixth Schedules and tribal land (2015, 2019, 2022); the Forest Rights Act — gram sabha (2013), minor forest produce (2019), nodal ministry (2021). Learn the exact names and years of the 1989, 1993, 2006 and 2013 Acts.
• Elsewhere: categories of Fundamental Rights (2017, 2020) on hess301, keps202 and lesy105; PESA (2012, 2013) on keps208; Fifth Schedule administration (2023, 2025, 2026) with keps207; Right to Equality articles (2002) on keps202.

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

• From this chapter: GS1 2017 (two legal initiatives against discrimination of STs) — the 1989 Act and the FRA 2006, with dates and what each does; GS1 2016 (Scheduled Tribes and constitutional provisions) — reservation, Articles 15(4), 16(4), 46, 342, the Fifth and Sixth Schedules; GS2 2023 (are welfare schemes for the vulnerable discriminatory?) — the book's argument for reservation and schemes with the positions table.
• Elsewhere: Dalit movements and annihilation of caste (2015) on jess403, lesy105, lesy208; NCSC and reservation in minority institutions (2018) and NCSC/NCST powers (2026) with keps202; tribal development and displacement (2025, 2026) on lesy103 and the geography chapters.
• Keep answers neutral: laws and judgments with dates; debates attributed side by side; no characterisation of any present-day party, government or community.

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

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