Obama visit increases media interest in Dalit issues
As US President Obama leaves India after a three day visit, the increased media interest in India reflects a new high profile status for a country still trying to address internal issues of inequality.
During his parliamentary address, Obama became the first US President to mention the efforts of Ambedkar, a Dalit who became a political leader and founder of the Indian Constitution. However, despite this, the focus of America and Britain’s media interest in India has remained the potential rewards for economic partnership.
Over the past week, the BBC has worked to redress the balance. Through a series of programmes, the BBC’s Today Programme has highlighted huge levels of poverty which are inextricably linked to caste discrimination. Poverty and caste discrimination are significant issues because they are the root cause of one of the biggest problems facing India today: human trafficking.
Despite having a constitution which outlaws caste discrimination, the BBC’s Mike Thomson found evidence to the contrary. In his reports, Thomson not only records first hand accounts of discrimination existing across all age ranges but he himself experiences its ever present reality. Threatened by higher caste men to cut interviews with Dalits short, he is shadowed by a group of their representatives until he leaves the village.
Also, as India’s potential partnerships with two English speaking nations are discussed, Rhys Blakely from The Times highlights the importance of the English language to success in India. His article, published at the end of October, shows how one village of Dalits has even created a goddess to English, praying to her to help their children who have been marginalised from schools because of their caste status.
Expose the problem of trafficking
Dalit Freedom Network UK (DFN UK) welcomes this increased media focus on India. Joseph D’souza, International President of the Dalit Freedom Network says, “It is important that as India is internationally recognised as one of the world’s most influential nations, a more balanced picture of the country is painted. As India’s economic potential is exposed, so must its problem of human trafficking which is rooted in caste discrimination and poverty. India may have huge economic potential but it also has the largest human trafficking problem in the world – the media should not expose one without the other so that other nations can respond to both.”
DFN UK is working both in India and here in the UK to expose India’s human trafficking problem and support the Indian Government’s efforts to bring the industry to an end. DFN is raising awareness of the issue with the UK government. MPs are being encouraged to support their counterparts in India as they progress measures to end the industry at the national level. In India, DFN UK is implementing a holistic strategy to end Dalit trafficking. This includes a variety of activities from working with legal authorities to address gaps in legislation to projects for rehabilitating those rescued out of trafficking and slavery. With regards to Blakely’s article, DFN UK in India currently supports 100 schools where over 20,000 students, the majority of which are Dalits, are receiving high quality education in English.
Click here for more information about how you can support DFN UK’s work in both the UK and India.
Please click on the links below to read and hear Mike Thomson’s coverage of India: