clueless-in-the-forest
yes i have done india in global
rolleyes have you ever been to india?
stare i have never heard of dalits and i still dont think they exist anymore...
sure there is poverty and people who are illiterate...
gonk but india doesnt have only one language to learn either...there are many different types of languages which are very difficult to learn. Plus those alphabets have WAY MORE letters than the american alphabet. some people have accomplished the mastery of more than one indian language; kudos to them because trust me that is not easy to do at all!
but dont down talk india so much...it is one of the major economic forces today behind the USA and china....3rd most populated country...and india and the USA are allies so i wouldnt consider it a 3rd world country
stare rolleyes sure india has negative points but they also have a lot of positives....it isn't even as close as bad as lets say the genicide going on in africa
sweatdrop now that is a really bad situation...
I'm sure people in other Countries would say that English is one of the hardest languages too..And yes There are around somthing like 150 million dalits today...Heres some information i got from wikipedia
In the Indian caste system, a Dalit, often called an untouchable, is a person who does not have any varnas. Varna refers to the Hindu belief that most humans were created from different parts of the body of the divinity Purusha and according to which part they were created from it defines their social standing for issues such as who they can marry and what jobs they can do.[1]. Dalits fall outside this system and have historically been prevented from doing any but the most menial jobs.[1]They are also known as outcastes. Included are leather-workers (called chamar), poor farmers and landless laborers, scavengers (called bhangi or chura), street handicrafters, folk artists, clothes washers dhobi etc.
In the context of traditional Hindu society, Dalit status has often been historically associated with occupations regarded as ritually impure: namely, any occupation involving killing, handling of animal cadavers or night soil. Engaging in these activities was considered to be polluting to the individual who performed them, and this pollution was considered to be 'contagious'. As a result, Dalits were commonly banned and segregated from full participation in Hindu social life (they could not enter the premises of a temple), while elaborate precautions were sometimes observed to prevent incidental contact between Dalits and other Hindus.
Historically, there may not have been clear demarcation between Dalit castes and the Shudra castes. Dalits are not a single identifiable race or caste. Instead, like the rest of the Hindu society, they are divided into various subcastes known as 'jātis.
[4] [One study] found some association between caste status and genetic markers seeming to indicate a more European lineage.
Dalit diversity may be due to newly outcaste individuals or communities over the years. It is noteworthy that sometimes, regional tribes that are considered Dalits are sometimes seen by Indians as racially distinct. In both northern and southern India it is different. For example, in North India, in places such as Rajasthan they are usually lighter because Rajstahan was invaded several times by white tribes. In addition they also have different color of eyes and sometimes hair. As a result in superstition, it is said to never trust a cat-eyed person. Then, in South India, they are often regarded as more closely related to Tibetans, Burmese, Khmers, Thais, and other Southeast and East Asians.
Many Dalits who have converted to other religions in the past few centuries continue to retain their Dalit heritage. In the 1991 census, Dalits numbered just over 130 million and constituted more than 16% of India's population,.
Discrimination against Dalits is not limited to the Hindu community. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that non-Hindu Dalit groups have traditionally not been recognized as Scheduled Castes under hiring quota laws. The Dalit Muslims or "Arzal" (also called Mojahir in Pakistan), as well as Dalit Christians form an integral part of the caste system in South Asia among muslims and Christians. Many Dalit Muslims are discriminated against by the upper-caste "Ashraf" Muslims, and Dalit Christians discriminated against by upper caste Christian priests and Nuns.
Some Dalits have successfully integrated into urban Indian society, where caste origins are less obvious and less important in public life. In rural India, caste origins are more readily apparent and Dalits remain excluded from local religious life, though this exclusion in its severity is in fact fast diminishing due to changing social norms of acceptable behavior.
Dalits and similar groups are also found in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
