UNDERSTANDING MARGINALISATION

 

CLASS- VIII    SPL-III

07.    UNDERSTANDING MARGINALISATION

Understanding Socially Marginalised

·       To be marginalised is to be forced to occupy the sides or fringes and thus not be at the centre of things.

·       If you are not like most people in your class, that is, if your taste in music or films is different, if your accent marks you out from others, if you are less chatty than others in your class, if you don’t play the same sport that many of your classmates like, if you dress differently, the chances are that you will not be considered to be ‘in’ by your peers.

·       So, often, you end up feeling that you are ‘not with it’ – as if what you say, feel and think and how you act are not quite right or acceptable to others.

·       As in the classroom, in the social environment too, groups of people or communities may have the experience of being excluded.

·       Their marginalisation can be because they speak a different language, follow different customs or belong to a different religious group from the majority community.

·       They may also feel marginalised because they are poor, considered to be of ‘low’ social status and viewed as being less human than others. Sometimes, marginalised groups are viewed with hostility and fear.

·       This sense of difference and exclusion leads to communities not having access to resources and opportunities and in their inability to assert their rights. 

·       They experience a sense of disadvantage and powerlessness vis-a-vis more powerful and dominant sections of society who own land, are wealthy, better educated and politically powerful.

·       Thus, marginalisation is seldom experienced in one sphere. Economic, social, cultural and political factors work together to make certain groups in society feel marginalised.

Who are Adivasis?

·       Adivasis – the term literally means ‘original inhabitants’ – are communities who lived, and often continue to live, in close association with forests.

·       Around 8 per cent of India’s population is Adivasi and many of India’s most important mining and industrial centres are located in Adivasi areas – Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bokaro and Bhilai among others.

·       Adivasis are not a homogeneous population: there are over 500 different Adivasi groups in India.

·       Adivasis are particularly numerous in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and in the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

·       A state like Orissa is home to more than 60 different tribal groups.

·       Adivasi societies are also most distinctive because there is often very little hierarchy among them. This makes them radically different from communities organised around principles of jati-varna (caste) or those that were ruled by kings.

·       Adivasis practise a range of tribal religions that are different from Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. These often involve the worship of ancestors, village and nature spirits, the last associated with and residing in various sites in the landscape – ‘mountain-spirits’, ‘river-spirits’, ‘animal-spirits’, etc.

·       The village spirits are often worshipped at specific sacred groves within the village boundary while the ancestral ones are usually worshipped at home.

·       Adivasis have always been influenced by different surrounding religions like Shakta, Buddhist, Vaishnav, Bhakti and Christianity.

·       Adivasi religions themselves have influenced dominant religions of the empires around them,for example, the Jagannath cult of Orissa and Shakti and Tantric traditions in Bengal and Assam.

·       During the nineteenth century, substantial numbers of Adivasis converted to Christianity, which has emerged as a very important religion in modern Adivasi history.

·       Adivasis have their own languages (most of them radically different from and possibly as old as Sanskrit), which have often deeply influenced the formation of ‘mainstream’ Indian languages, like Bengali.

·       Santhali has the largest number of speakers and has a significant body of publications including magazines on the internet or in e-zines.

Adivasis and Stereotyping

·       Adivasis are invariably portrayed in very stereotypical ways – in colourful costumes, headgear and through their dancing.

·       This often wrongly leads to people believing that they are exotic, primitive and backward.

·       Often Adivasis are blamed for their lack of advancement as they are believed to be resistant to change or new ideas.

Adivasis and Development

·       Forests were absolutely crucial to the development of all empires and settled civilisations in India.

·       Metal ores like iron and copper, and gold and silver, coal and diamonds, invaluable timber, most medicinal herbs and animal products (wax, lac, honey) and animals themselves (elephants, the mainstay of imperial armies), all came from the forests.

·       Adivasis had a deep knowledge of, access to, as well as control over most of these vast tracts of forests land at least till the middle of the nineteenth century. This meant that they were not ruled by large states and empires.

·       Instead, often empires heavily depended on Adivasis for the crucial access to forest resources.

·       In the precolonial world, they were traditionally ranged hunter-gatherers and nomads and lived by shifting agriculture and also cultivating in one place.

·       Forest lands have been cleared for timber and to get land for agriculture and industry. Adivasis have also lived in areas that are rich in minerals and other natural resources.These are taken over for mining and other large industrial projects.

·       Huge tracts of their lands have also gone under the waters of hundreds of dams that have been built in independent India.

·       In the North east, their lands remain highly militarised and war-torn. India has 54 national parks and 372 wildlife sanctuaries covering 1,09,652 sq km. These are areas where tribals originally lived but were evicted from. When they continue to stay in these forests, they are termed encroachers.

 

 

Losing the livelihood

·       Losing their lands and access to the forest means that tribals lose their main sources of livelihood and food.

·       Having gradually lost access to their traditional homelands, many Adivasis have migrated to cities in search of work where they are employed for very low wages in local industries or at building or construction sites.

·       They, thus, get caughtin a cycle of poverty and deprivation.

·       45 per cent of tribal groups in rural areas and 35 per cent in urban areas live below the poverty line. This leads to deprivation in other areas. Many tribal children are malnourished.

·       Literacy rates among tribals are also very low.

·       When Adivasis are displaced from their lands, they lose much more than a source of income. They lose their traditions and customs – a way of living and being. “They took our farming land. They left some houses. They took the cremation ground, temple, well and pond.

Minorities and Marginalisation

·       The Constitution provides safeguards to religious and linguistic minorities as part of our Fundamental Rights.

Who are the minorities?

·       The term minority is most commonly used to refer to communities that are numerically small in relation to the rest of the population. It encompasses issues of power, access to resources and has social and cultural dimensions.

·       The Indian Constitution recognised that the culture of the majority influences the way in which society and government might express themselves. In such cases, size can be a disadvantage and lead to the marginalisation of the relatively smaller communities.

·       Thus, safeguards are needed to protect minority communities against the possibility of being culturally dominated by the majority. They also protect them against any discrimination and disadvantage that they may face.

·       This sense of insecurity may get accentuated if the relations between the minority and majority communities are fraught.

·       The Constitution provides these safeguards because it is committed to protecting India’s cultural diversity and promoting equality as well as justice.

·         The judiciary plays a crucial role in upholding the law and enforcing Fundamental Rights. Muslims and Marginalisation

·       According to 2001 census, Muslims are 13.4 per cent of India’s population and are considered to be a marginalised community in India today because in comparison to other communities, they have over the years been deprived of the benefits of socio-economic development.

·       Recognising that Muslims in India were lagging behind in terms of various development indicators, the government set up a high-level committee in 2005. Chaired by Justice Rajindar Sachar, the committee examined the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India. The report discusses in detail the marginalisation of this community.

·       It suggests that on a range of social, economic and educational indicators the situation of the Muslim community is comparable to that of other marginalised communities like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

·       Economic and social marginalisation experienced by Muslims has other dimensions as well. Like other minorities, Muslim customs and practices are sometimes quite distinct from what is seen as the mainstream.

·       Some –not all – Muslims may wear a burqa, sport a long beard, wear a fez, and these become ways to identify all Muslims. Because of this, they tend to be identified differently and some people think they are not like the ‘rest of us’.

·       Often this becomes an excuse to treat them unfairly, and discriminate against them. This social marginalisation of Muslims in some instances has led to them migrating from places where they have lived, often leading to the ghettoisation of the community. Sometimes, this prejudice leads to hatred and violence.

Ghettoisation: A ghetto is an area or locality that is populated largely by members of a particular community. Ghettoisation refers to the process that leads to such a situation. This may occur due to various social, cultural and economic reasons. Fear or hostility may also compel a community to group together as they feel more secure living amongst their own. Often a ‘ghettoised’ community has few options of moving out, which may lead to them becoming alienated from the rest of the society.                     ……….. the end ……….