ABSTRACT
As I suggested in the previous chapter, I wish to explore the unevenness of human development among social groups in India with a view to understanding the relationship between such unevenness and structural inequality. Given the richness and complexity of Indian society, it is rather diffi cult to determine where the focus of such an investigation should lie. There are at least eight religious communities in India, each with sizeable populations and distinct cultures. India’s Muslim community, with a population of 138 million, is the third largest Muslim community in the world and constitutes approximately 14 per cent of India’s current population (Census of India 2001). In addition, there are several other communities comprised of fairly large populations characterized by distinct historical patterns of deprivation and disadvantage. Foremost among them are the Dalits, who comprise about 16 per cent of the population. Dalits constitute the various groups known in offi cial Indian parlance as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and are groups which fall in the lower echelons of the social hierarchy that is premised on Bramhinical Hinduism. Historically, these communities used to be known as the untouchables: they performed particular kinds of menial labour and suffered severe social ostracism by virtue of their association with those specifi c kinds of labour. Even though untouchability is prohibited by law, the persecution of Dalits persists. The Scheduled Tribes (STs) constitute yet another social group, characterized by similar forms of alienation from the social mainstream. According to the 2001 Census, the Scheduled Tribes account for 8.2 per cent of the country’s population. In addition, the Government of India has also designated another social group, the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to include people who cannot be included in the SC or ST categories but exhibit similar patterns of disadvantage. Together, the SCs, STs and OBCs constitute more than half of India’s population. Of late, radical movements within the Indian Muslim community have claimed that a large majority (as much as 80 to 90 per cent) of Indian Muslims should also fall into the Dalit and OBCs category, given the patterns of discrimination they suffer (Ahmad 1973; Soman 2002; Engineer 2002).
