Chapter-8 CONFRONTING MARGINALISATION

1. List two Fundamental Rights in the Constitution that Dalits can draw upon to insist that they be treated with dignity and as equals. Re-read the Fundamental Rights listed on page 14 to help you answer this question.

Explanation:

These two fundamental rights Dalits can use to request to be treated with respect and equally are as follows:

The law must treat everyone equally. No citizen may be subjected to discrimination on the basis of socioeconomic status, caste, religion, etc. Everybody has equal access to all public areas. 

Cultural and educational rights: This includes the right to protect the traditions, languages, and other forms of cultural expression of different racial and ethnic groups while also ensuring equal access to education.


2. Re-read the story on Rathnam as well as the provisions of the 1989 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Now list one reason why you think he used this law to file a complaint.

Explanation:

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 aims to punish anyone who degrade or mistreat dalit or tribal group members. Rathnam sought the protection of the law by filing a complaint under the aforementioned Act in order to be shielded from the violence and dominance of the dominant castes in his village.


3. Why do Adivasi activists, including C.K. Janu, believe that Adivasis can also use this 1989 Act to fight against dispossession? Is there anything specific in the provisions of the Act that allows her to believe this?

Explanation:

Adivasi activists, like C.K. Janu, think that since the 1989 Act guarantees the tribal people the right not to be forcibly ejected from their land resources, they can use it to fight against dispossession. The land owned by any tribal people cannot be sold to or purchased by non-tribal people, they particularly noted, adding that this Act just reinforces what had previously been granted to the tribal people in the Constitution. The right of the indigenous people to reclaim their land is also guaranteed under the Constitution in situations where this has occurred.