This presentation was delivered at the conference 'From Frying Pan to Fire - Furture of Dalits and descent based communities' on the event of World Social Forum held in Mumbai.

Dalits and  Globalization 

by Sukhadeo Thorat, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
 

Globalization  is seen  as a  process of integration of markets, nation-states and technology stemming from the result of human innovation and technological progress. But  it  is also seen as a deliberate ideological project of economic liberalization that subject states and individuals to more intense market forces. Globalization has always existed, in one form or another,  it is only in the past 50 years   or so that it has become a major force controlling not only the economic spheres but also the political, social and cultural ones. Today commerce and financial services are far more developed and deeply integrated than they were at that time.

Historically there has been  trade  in goods  and services  and flow of capital and labor  across the countries . The significant aspect of new globalization  however  is the attempt to   create  new   rules and regulations   for free trade of goods ,capital , and services   and to enforce and monitor   this new  agenda through new   international instruments   such as World Trade Organization,  International Monetary Fund ,  and the World Bank

What  does new form of globalization  involve?  The   globalization  involve  two   main changes  -one it   involve liberalization of international trade, that is to remove the restrictions imposed by the countries on  trade and thus allow  free flow of good and services ,capital  ,information  and technology   between the countries  ,second it is  also involve change in the economic structure  of individual countries  ,and the  proposed  new economic structure  include promotion of private economy   based on private  market. The second feature necessarily  involve   withdrawal of State  or minimum role of he state in economic and social governance  of the economy and society .

So privatization of economy, canalizing the economic activities through private markets and free international trade are  the key features of the proposed  new economic order .  It is argued that this new economic order with free trade, private economy and market is supposed to be the best alternative order for promoting economic growth and prosperity of the people. So homogenization of economic system is the agenda.   

In pursuance and compulsion of international institutions and agreements   the Indian government  has introduced several new economic measures   both in the spheres of  liberalization of its trade with other countries  and  structural adjustment of its  own economy, partially in the mid eighties and more comprehensively in the early 1990’s.This process of so called reform is on .These measures  have now came to be known as New Economic Policy. These measures are new in so far as they reverse the main if not all the policy instruments used by the government since the beginning of the planning in the early 1950s.

The New Economic Policy is based on the premises of free trade- national and international, private sector and  private  markets, and hence drastic reduction in the economic and social role of the government.

On the international trade front India has provided market access and liberalise flow in the case of  about 760 commodities , similar access is allowed in capital investment and flow both ways. International companies are allowed in insurance and other services. In domestic economy Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) is introduced  which mainly include, (a) privatisation of public sector and service ,(b)  liberalisation in the form of removing the restriction on private sectors, and c) withdrawal of the state from many sectors and   therefore reduction of government role .

In the industrial  sector the government brought a major change .The Industrial Policy resolution of 1948 reserve 18 sectors for state and according to 1991 Industrial policy this has been reduced to almost four, limited to strategic sectors. Further services like banking, insurance, education have been now open for private sector. Thus the private sector has been accorded a major role even in key and basic industries and some essential services. 

How do Dalits experience globalization? What is the future of Dalits in a globalized world and the new economic regime, that is based on private sector and market economy? Dalits are the most marginalized section of the Indian society. They share poverty with other poor section in Indian society, but additionally and more importantly also suffer from exclusion and immense discrimination in economic spheres –in market and out side market. They suffer from discrimination on the basis of descent and occupation. In this sense the excluded groups as the Dalits constitute a sizable section in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and also the Buraku from Japan and similar groups from African countries In India  alone  the dalit account about 17 percent (equivalent to 138.2 million) of   India’s population in 1991, (estimate for 2001 put this figures at 18%).If we include other discriminated dalit groups such as dalit christan , dalit Sikhs and other the number would go up to nearly one fourth of India’s population. 

Earlier Policy

Indian government recognized their problem and developed the   strategy   with  two main considerations ,namely  (a) to  overcome  the  multiple  deprivations of the SC inherited from  exclusion in the past , and to the extent possible  bring them on par with others   and (b)  to   provide protection against  continuing  exclusion and discrimination  in the  present, by encouraging  their effective participation  in general social, economic, and political process in the  country. Towards that end   the government has used two fold strategy  ,namely     (a) Anti-discriminatory or protective measures and (b) developmental and empowering measures.

Anti-discriminatory measures include enactment of Ant-untouchability act of 1955 (renamed as protection of Civil rights Act ) and Schedule Caste/Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 under which practice of untouchability and discrimination in public places and services  is treated as offence.

Reservation  

(Affirmative Action policy) in governments services ,state run and supported  educational  institutions and  in various political democratic bodies also falls under ant-discriminatory and protective measures.  These   “Positive Discrimination” measures   have been used by the government to ensure proportional participation of the SC in various public spheres, which otherwise may not  have been possible due to practice of exclusion and discrimination.

The affirmative actions   policy is confined to state run and state  supported sectors and the private sector where more than 90% of the SC workers are engaged  are  excluded and therefore remained unprotected from possible  discrimination. In the absence of (legal) provision for affirmative action policy in the private sectors the state has used  “general programmes ” for economic, educational and social empowerment of the SC. The focus has been to improve the private ownership of fixed capital assets  , human resource capabilities , and  access of SC to social and basic services like housing, health, drinking water, electricity and others.

The central feature of the Government policies until the 1990s has been the active participation of the State in the economic and social governance of the country.  The framework of policies included State participation, market intervention and economic and social planning  . This meant that public sector was playing a more active role in providing anti-discriminatory measures such as reservation, and supply of  basic services like  education, health  by the state . Also these measures were accompanied by policies and interventions in various  markets such as agricultural land ,capital ,labour ,housing and other to improve the access of dalits sources of incomes 

Reversal of  policy

In so far as the new  New Economic Policy is based on the premises of, free-trade, private sector and  the markets,   it implied a  drastic reduction in the economic and social role of the government,   and hence, the policies and programmes, which have been build up  the wider participation of the state during the 1950s .to 1980's    are being completely reversed. Some of these policies, were   devised  keeping in view the interest of the labour, the poor and the socially downtrodden classes  like dalits . In so far as these policies are being reversed the new policies   are going to create adverse economic consequences for the labour, poor and particularly the  dalits.

Privatization and Market –Dalit will face exclusion and Discrimination

One of the important aspects of the NEP is a move towards privatization. The general economic philosophy is to rely more on the market forces.. The underlying presumption is that economic organization based on state intervention leads to inefficient allocation and utilization of economic resources. In the context of a move towards privatization (not only in areas of production and infrastructure, but also in a large number of social services such as education, electricity, communication, etc.) and their canalization through the market, economists talk about market failure from which the poor suffers.

The dalit however not only suffer from various market failures   of general nature but  suffer more extensively  from market failures which arise out of caste-based discrimination (and hence from the lack of access to the market) in the factor and produce market. It’s important to realize the seriousness of the situation in the context of privatization and the withdrawal of the State from both the public sector and the planning process under the NEP.Due to discrimination in labour market and other market such as capital, land   ,information and other  the  dalit are  going  to suffers from unfair access to these market . Given the high level of recruitment in  the private   sector through “informal channels” and given inadequate access to the network of opportunities for dalits  due to their powerlessness, they will suffer heavily.

As a part of structural adjustment program the Indian government has introduced changes in several area which include agricultural land, labour, education /health ,industry ,financial sectors .Below we discuss some of these changes and their consequence  on dalits .

 In  1991, about 13 % of SC households were landless and 87% owned some land. Among the latter, (that is land owning household), about   56% owned less than one acre. Thus, the landless and near landless (that is those owning less than one acre), account nearly 70% of the total SC household in 1991. Evidence for more recent years, 1999-2000 put the figures of   landless and near land less ness among the SC in vicinity of   75 percent.  Thus since about three fourth of the Dalit household are either land less or near landless, their main occupation turns out to be wage labour.

Post-independence land reform measures of land ceilings and land assignments to Dalits had begun to provide bits of land of whatever quality to traditionally landless Dalits. Dalits had become producers, though marginal, in the agricultural sector. However, current policies of the Government under globalization and structural adjustment induce a shift towards consolidations of agricultural land, leasing of land for corporate production and corporate farming, removal of ceilings for selective use in agriculture, policies of horticulture, aquaculture. Over the past decade the Government has put a brake to land assignments; existing land holdings are not being regularized and Dalits are not being given priority in the land market. Thus, Dalits find themselves excluded from land ownership. Withdrawal of government intervention in the land market, in the form of land redistribution and other interventions, has a serious impact on Dalits access to land.And selective efforts to remove ceiling and encourage corporate farming is destroying the livelihood of the poor dalits.

Inadequate access to land (fixed capital assets), lead to exceptionally high dependence of the SC household on manual wage labour. In 2000, the wage labour household account for   65. % of all SC households in rural and urban area.

A comparison of trend before 1990s and after 1990s brings out the deterioration in the quality of employment particularly of Dalits in the later period. During the 1980’s there had been some increase in the percentage of household (or worker) engaged in self-employment in agriculture and others, and a near stability in the percentage of workers employed in non-farm self-employment and wage labour in farm and non-farm sector. As against these favourable changes, during the 1990’s we observed a reversal in this positive trend. There has been a decline in the percentage of household engaged in agriculture as self-employed cultivator accompanied by a corresponding increase in agriculture labour. Those who are pushed out from agriculture as self-employed seem to have moved to non-farm self-employment activities, and in agricultural labour.

There has been a noticeable change in the employment pattern in urban area as well. In the case of SC worker, the percentage of regular wage earner salaried has significantly declined. But there has been a shift towards the self-employed and casual labour. This in fact reversed the trend of 1980’s during which the proportion of both casual labour and of self-employed had declined by a substantial margin. So the quality of urban jobs for the SC has deteriorated in the 1990’s in so far as the process of casualisation has accelerated. Thus, in the period of liberalisation in the 1990's the Scheduled Caste worker have not been able to participate in a equal measure in the regular wage earner/salaried.

The trend in the unemployment rate in urban area indicates that there has been a steady decline in the unemployment rate based on all status during the 1980 (1977-93). The 1990’s (1993-1999) however, showed a complete reversal, as there was an increase in the unemployment rate in all status. The rate of increase during the 1990’s however was much higher in rural area than in urban area. This indeed reversed the favourable and positive trend in employment experienced during the pre-liberalisation period.There has been substantial reduction in regular salaried jobs in public sector due to privatization .

Education and Health Status

The impact of globalization on the education and health of Dalits needs to be understood against the already existing exclusion of these fundamental rights among Dalits. There are large gaps in literacy rate and level of education between Dalits and others. High drop out in school, poor quality of education, discrimination in education, are some of the educational problems faced by SC. In 1991 (latest census year for which data are available) literacy rate among SCs was 37 % compared to 58% among the non Sc/St .The literacy rate was particularly low among the female,( 23%),  two time less compared with other women. School attendance is about 10% point less among SC boys than other boys.

Withdrawal of the state from the social services has a direct impact on Dalits. Education has been one of the only mechanisms of upward mobility for Dalits, the trend towards privatisation of education at all levels, (from primary to higher education) have a direct impact on the education possibilities for Dalits. Privatisation and commercialisation of education makes it difficult for Dalits to meet the costs involved with private education. If the government withdraws from its basic responsibility of providing education, Dalits’ chances of having access to education will be greatly reduced. Basic literacy is a fundamental right but also a means to empower deprived populations.

Concerning access to health care, evidence based on National Family Health Survey data for 1998-99 revealed wide gap between SC and others in health status and access to health services.

High morbidity and child mortality among SCs is closely linked with poverty and low educational status, and with discrimination in access to health services.  High incidence of illiteracy, poverty   discrimination reduce the capacity of SC to demand and utilize the public health services.

Privatisation of health care system like the one which took place in Andhra Pradesh  started since the 80’s. However, many Dalit villages are still unable to access these facilities due to long distances from their villages and the negligence of Hospital Institutions in visiting these villages. Practice of untouchability in health care institutions is also present.

The major impact of economic reforms in India under New Economic Policy and globalization is the reduction of government spending on public health and the withdrawal of government responsibility for the fulfillment of the people’s basic rights.

Dalit Women

Dalit women, as the most economically deprived section of Indian society, are being affected by globalization in a specific way. Seventy one per cent of them work as agricultural labourers. Literacy level among SC women is the lowest in the country (in 1991, 23 % as opposed to 39 % for general female population), and school drop out rates are the highest. SC women have the highest participation rate in work among women. They also suffer from reduced access to house amenities, poor health conditions and are victims of sexual harassment by dominant caste men.

Thus reduction of government expenditure on social services has a direct impact on the health, education and livelihood of Dalit women. There is a need for state intervention in anti-poverty programs with a specific component on gender and caste.

Disparities in ownership of capital assets, employment, education and access to   health services between the SC and other households continue.   Although there has been some improvement in the ownership of capital assets still a large proportion of SC households continue to depend on the traditional occupation of wage labour.  To what extent is the disparity    and segregation into traditional occupations the legacy of the past exclusion, and to what extent is it conditioned by continuing discrimination and exclusion   in the market and non market transactions or both is  an important question?

Slowing down of  Poverty Reduction

With lack of access to fixed sourced of income and high incidence of wage labour associated with high rate of under-employment and low wage earning, the SCs household suffer from low income, and high incidences of poverty. This is reflected in the proportion of persons falling below the poverty line: 43% of Scheduled Caste persons were below the poverty line both in rural and urban area in 2000; which is indeed a high level compared to 23% among others. Magnitude of poverty among SC is thus higher than others.

Comparing pre-reform and post-reform figures help us understand the impact of new economic policies on poverty. Since 1983-84 there has been a decline in the poverty ratio for both SC and others in rural and urban areas. However, the decline in the poverty of the Scheduled Caste has been much lower in the 1990s as compared to the 1980s, which means that the rate of declining poverty for the scheduled caste has slowed down significantly in the 1990s.

Dalit at the Cross Road:

Notwithstanding the gains, the disparities between SC and other section of Indian society still continue and growing. In  2000 about two-third of SC rural households were landless and near landless, compared to one-third among others. Less than one-third of households have acquired access to capital assets, compared to 60% among others. About 60% of SC households have to depend on wage labour, much higher than the one-fourth for others. Employment rate and wage earnings also tend to be low. Disparities of similar magnitude are observed in literacy, educational level and health status. 

Studies also show evidence on   discrimination in various market and non-market transactions including access to social service like education, health and housing and in political participation. Cumulative impact of these disparities are reflected in high levels of poverty: about 36% among SCs as compared to only 21% among others Poverty was particularly high among the SC wage labour households in rural (60%) and urban area (70 %).

Dalits also suffered from human right violation and atrocities. During the twenty year period between 1980-2000, a total of about three hundred thousands cases, which means annually an average of 23000 cases of human right violation and atrocities were registered by the SC with the police. The cases, which go unregistered, are not considered here. This shows the magnitude of social and economic discrimination against Dalits in the contemporary period. This also shows that there is a long way   to go before Dalits could imagine of some degree of respectable and dignified life and livelihood.

It is true; Dalit situation today is somewhat better than what it was fifty years ago. One third of SC households have acquired access to land and non-land capital asset from which they were prohibited. In urban areas 38 % SC have found employment due to reservation policy. The literacy rate, which was 10 % in 1961, has improved to 37 % in 1991. As a cumulative impact of all these the poverty declined from 59 % in 1983-4 to 35 % in 1999-2000 in rural areas. These little gains can partly be contributed to factors such as anti-discrimination laws, state participation in economic and social governance and welfare measures.

There is no iota of doubt that all these small gains and the impact emerging thereof is set to be wiped off with the new economic policy. Therefore Dalits need to oppose the dominant   processes of globalization.