ABSTRACT
The Dalits are a diverse but distinctive cultural and social community in India, who are treated unequally in daily life because of the lowest status accorded to them in the Hindu social order. Although castes have undergone significant change in their configuration as well as in their operation, for the majority of Dalits at the bottom, they continued to be as oppressive as ever. Mahatma Gandhi conceived a paternalistic term harijan for them, which was popularised by his followers but was summarily rejected by Dalits, particularly those following Babasaheb Ambedkar. By the late 1960s, the first generation of university-educated Dalit youth in Mumbai, inspired by the black literature movement in the United States, began expressing themselves in writing. Despite poverty, the Dalits have made good progress in education at all levels following the role model of Ambedkar, and also as the only investible opportunity to better their life for their future generations.
