Re-writing the Destiny of Indian Dalits

The lives of 250 million Dalits in India are destined by birth, "You are born untouchable, shall remain untouchable forever." Their destiny is unchangeable.

The dominion castes, the Brahmins on top as the priestly sect, Kshetriya the ruler, Vaisyas the business class and Sudhras the lowest, enjoyed the oppression on Dalit communities at the bottom line for centuries. Indian Dalits known as untouchable do not fall within the same caste ladder, yet the caste oppression and dominion is on their heads.

The Law of Manu set the destiny for 250 million Indian Dalits by birth to perform the most degrading jobs such as manual scavenging, skinning of dead bodies are segregated as untouchable and defiled communities. By no means, can their lives become better. Complaining against their designated duties will lead to a wretched life in their next birth is what the Law of Manu teaches. There is absolutely no hope to change their destiny in this life.

The tool that can crack the code and re-write the destiny of 250 million Dalits in India is English education which Brahmins and upper castes of India have taken from the Western world and kept it for themselves for years.

India has two kinds of education - one by and for elite communities and the other by the Indian government which is accessible by the poor and marginalized people. The former is in English and later in vernacular languages. The differences between the two is seen at the level of higher education, because most of the higher education courses in India are in English. In corporate and government job industries, those with English education have a much higher chance of job opportunities.

Indian Christians have a household legacy of education but it mostly benefits the so called elite society of India. The message of transforming lives and communities through the gospel of Jesus has not translated to the masses of marginalized people in India.

While education by Christians has maily been offered to, and taken up by the elite communities of India, the story of cracking the secret code to re-write the destiny of 250 million Indian Dalits has already begun.

Dalit Education Centers, run by the Operation Mercy India Foundation has already begun, using the secret key and indeed the first 10th standard graduation has been celebrated.

"I want to become a Doctor," "I want to become an engineer," and "I want to become a teacher and teach my Dalit communities," are some powerful testimonies of dreams by Dalit children. If they were not given a chance to study, they would have ended in bonded child labor and begging in the streets.

The dream to crack the code to re-write the destiny of 250 million Indian Dalits through English education began when Dr. Joseph D'souza and his colleagues of the All India Christian Council, who were enlightened at a meeting with prominent leaders Prof. Kancha Ilaiah and Dr. Udit Raj in the late 1990s. Both prominent leaders said that only English education to Indian Dalit children could bring the transformation to their lives and communities.

Under the reformer and visionary leadership of Dr. Joseph D'souza, the dream to establish 1000 English schools, have reached a milestone with 10th standard graduation this year with 82 schools across India.

The package to crack the code and re-write the destiny of 250 million Indian Dalits includes the whole aspect of socio-economic, educational, political and spiritual transformation.

The effort required to make this a reality is the commitment of 20 to 25 years to each single Dalit child. It will not be possible without an honest continuing and concerted commitment.

A complete nation, the church and society were involved to abolish the slavery system in England and America. The whole world will be needed to re-write the destiny for Indian Dalits who are under the hidden caste slavery of India which is much bigger.

A caste free society and an equal destiny for all, irrespective of current position, indeed is the beauty of unity in diverse societies of India. This will be possible when the destiny of Indian Dalits is re-written.

Madhu Chandra is a New Delhi-based Human Rights Activist involved in advocacy on behalf of faith based, caste based and race based discriminated people of India.