write a speech on untouchability

1 Minute Speech on Untouchability In English

A very good morning to one and all present here. Today, I will be giving a short speech on the topic of ‘Untouchability’.

Wikipedia defines the term as follows: “Untouchability is a form of a social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups.”

Untouchability is a social evil. It is a crime to consider it a sin to touch a fellow human on whatever basis that might be!

Mahatma Gandhi, an icon in the struggle against untouchability has once said, “Our struggle does not end so long as there is a single human being considered untouchable on account of his birth.” Even today thus, the struggle has not ended.

We proudly proclaim that all humans are equal when in many places in India, tea shops still have separate glasses for lower-caste people! Let us vow to put an end to the evils of untouchability and end this long struggle!

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Essay on Untouchability for Students and Children

500+ words essay on untouchability.

Untouchability is the practice of discriminating various individuals and groups based on their cast and the jobs done by them. Untouchability is practiced for a very long time. It works on the Indian caste system hierarchy. The untouchables usually bear inhuman treatment because they belong to the lower caste. They have been going through various kinds of discrimination in almost all places.

History of Untouchability in India

The term Dalit for the untouchables is derived from the Sanskrit which means broken or downtrodden. Some people believe that the system of untouchability only prevails in India but it is also prevalent in other countries such as Japan, Tibet, and Korea.

The castes have been derived from Vedic texts which divide people into four major groups: Brahmans – Priests and elite people, Kshatriyas – Warriors, Vaishyas – Small Businessmen and Merchants, Shudras –Sanitary workers. Thus, these differences in the people of ancient India were mostly based on caste and profession of the people.

Struggles for the Abolishment of Untouchability

After fighting for years against exercising dominance over the oppressed class, the practice of untouchability still has its marks in many societies around us. Even educated people follow these practices.

Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi were among the prominent leaders who fought very hard for the abolition of the practice of untouchability. Thus, the hard work of such people gave a rightful chance to the Dalits to prove themselves and enhance the chance of equality, harmony, and brotherhood in the society.

Amendments in the Constitution

After several movements and struggles to abolish the practice of untouchability, laws were made in the constitution to accommodate the interests of the oppressed classes. Article 17 of the Indian Constitution abolished untouchability and declared it as a punishable act.  According to this, no one can restrict the Dalits or Harijans from entering temples, streets, buses, etc. They are free to use all public services with respect and dignity. Also, no one can refuse from selling anything to the Dalit people.

The government also gives reservation to these castes. Reservation means that a certain percentage of places in government colleges and jobs are reserved for the people from lower classes. It, therefore, ensures that their oppression in the past does not affect the progress of their present and their future. The reservation also aims at providing them a fair chance of education which is beneficial for them along with their families and generations to come.

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Today’s Scenario of Untouchability

Today the view of untouchability is different from ancient India. People are becoming more aware and are adapting to rational thinking. In spite of the constitutional amendments; untouchability, and caste discrimination still prevail in society. The politicians use this to increase their vote bank and gain power in the government.

The Dalits living in the cities are less vulnerable to this practice of discrimination as compared to those living in rural areas. People living in rural areas prefer to stick to their traditional beliefs, practices and refuse to accept the changes made for the betterment of society.

All people are equal in the eyes of law. We shall not discriminate and dominate others on the basis of their caste. We should teach our children about the importance of sensibility, generosity, and equality with all people.  The Dalits face discrimination majorly because of their jobs such as cleaning public areas etc. Basically, we shall respect them the most as they keep our society clean and healthy. Therefore, the young generation should take charge and fight for its complete abolition.

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• Untouchability Essay

Essay on Untouchability

The idea of the caste system is deeply embedded within Indian culture. It's known as one of the oldest civilisations on Earth, with over four thousand years under its belt. However, some scholars argue that this social structure was introduced around 500 BC when they were invaded by Aryan tribes from Central Asia, who brought their rigid class system into play shortly after settling down in the region.

As per tradition, once a person belongs to a specific caste - Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (Kings/Warriors), Vaishya (traders) or Shudra (farmers and service providers) - he or she is stuck there for life and can never cross over to another rung on the ladder, regardless of individual talent or effort. This is what's known as untouchability which is still prevalent in India today.

Ways to Achieve Untouchability

There are several ways in which one can achieve untouchability. One way is by violating the caste rules and regulations, for example, by marrying someone from a different caste or eating meat (which is strictly forbidden). Another way is by performing unclean tasks such as scavenging or cleaning latrines - jobs that are traditionally reserved for Dalits, also known as "the Untouchables". And lastly, it's possible to become untouchable simply by being born into a low-caste family. Regardless of how it's achieved, the consequences are always the same: social isolation, discrimination and a lifetime of poverty.

Is Untouchability Necessary?

There is no easy answer when it comes to the question of whether or not untouchability is important. On the one hand, you could argue that this discriminatory practice is a violation of human rights and should be abolished immediately. After all, how can we claim to be a civilised society when some of our citizens are treated as second-class citizens? On the other hand, defenders of the caste system might say that it's an essential part of Indian culture and should be preserved at all costs. They would argue that without the caste system, India would descend into chaos and anarchy - a fate worse than death!

The truth probably lies somewhere in between these two extremes. Untouchability is a harmful and unjust practice that needs to be eradicated. However, we can't just abolish it overnight and expect things to go smoothly. There would likely be a period in which chaos and violence erupt on the streets as people fight over power and resources (sound familiar).

The definition of Untouchability has varied from period to period. Untouchability has been practised from ancient times, dating back to 1500-800 BC. Untouchability is an old concept that has been practised throughout history. It could be defined as the segregation of the group of people from the mainstream based on their caste and subcaste.

The untouchables were called by different names in different times, such as in the Vedic period, they were called ‘Chandala’.In Medieval times they were known as the ‘Achhuta’ and during British rule, they were called “Exterior Caste” or “Depressed Castes”.

The practise of untouchability is based on the caste system in which the untouchables come under the last varna known as Avarnas, which means not belonging to any caste. People belonging to Avarna were given jobs that had no dignity such as gutter cleaners, scavengers, watchmen, sweepers, cleaning animals such as pigs and cows, etc. People of the caste Avarnas are now called Dalits in modern times. They are also known as the “Scheduled Castes”, the name given by the Indian Constitution for their upliftment and development. 

Seeing the oppression, the Dalits have faced from society, the government has passed acts that protect them from future violence. Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955  was passed to protect those subjected to untouchability and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act 1955  was also passed to provide financial and legal help to the lower caste. Despite the constitutional amendments and the acts passed by the government, untouchability and discrimination based on caste are still followed in many parts of the country. The Dalits living in the cities are less vulnerable compared to those living in rural areas.

The Dalits living in rural areas are not allowed to enter the village as they are believed to pollute the healthy environment of the village. Basic requirements such as drinking water, electricity, etc., are not provided as they are considered to be not good enough. The Dalits living in rural areas have accepted their faith written by such orthodox people because of the fear for their lives and there is no one to help them. The politicians are corrupt who just care about increasing their vote count and gaining power in the government even if it requires sacrificing innocent people who just want to live their life with dignity. 

Everyone in the eyes of the law is equal and discrimination in the name of caste and subcaste cannot be tolerated. The government has introduced laws that will help in uplifting the Dalits in society. The constant effort has been made to educate people living in rural areas about basic human rights and how practising untouchability directly violates them. Strict action is taken towards people who don’t allow Dalits in religious places, with no permission to drink water or eat food and beverages. It is important to educate the new generation about these evil practices as that would help in planting a seed that would grow and change the perspective of society. 

10 Strategies for Writing a Better Essay on Untouchability

Start by doing your research. Read up on the history of the caste system and understand why it's such a controversial topic and after doing that, you will be in a much better place to form an opinion.

Make sure that you understand what is meant by untouchability. It's not enough to just know the definition; it's also important to familiarise yourself with some of the different ways in which it can be achieved so that you'll have more material for your essay.

Keep your thesis clear and concise. Your thesis should summarise the main points of your essay and argue why they are significant or relevant.

Be creative when thinking of a title for your essay. This will help to capture your reader's attention right from the start.

Write in a clear, concise and easy-to-read manner. Don't overload your reader with too much information at once. Break down your points into manageable chunks and make sure that each paragraph supports your argument.

Use real-life examples to illustrate your points. This will help to make your essay more interesting and engaging.

Don't be afraid to take a stand on this controversial topic. Whether you agree or disagree with the caste system, make sure that your opinion is clear and well-argued.

Plan your essay before you start writing. This will help to ensure that your thoughts are organized and coherent.

Proofread your work carefully for mistakes. A well-written essay is always more impressive than one that is filled with spelling and grammar errors.

Get feedback from a friend or classmate. They can offer helpful insights and suggestions which will improve the quality of your essay.

Conclusion 

Everyone should remember that all people are equal in the eyes of the law, and discrimination and intolerance of others based on their caste are not entertained. There is no denying the fact that though the caste system has shaped Indian society for a longer time and possibly it is still doing it. This led to widespread persecution and genetic rights, which continue to this day. We must ensure that the measures taken to remedy the damage caused by such medieval practices will be more effective and will not create further inequality in society.

Writing an essay on Untouchability can be a little intimidating. There are many different perspectives to take into account and not enough time to cover them all. It is important that you do your research and understand the background of this topic, but what if you don't have the time.

FAQs on Untouchability Essay

1. What is Untouchability? How Can it Be Abolished?

Untouchability is the discrimination done to a person based on the caste or subcaste. According to the untouchability law that was passed on 29th November 1949, the practice of untouchability of any kind is forbidden and is considered to be a criminal act. Strict action will be taken against people who practice untouchability. 

2. Which Article is Related to the Abolition of Untouchability?

Article 17 is related to the abolishment of untouchability. Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.

3.  What was the Role of BR Ambedkar in Fighting Untouchability?

B. R. Ambedkar, was Dalit himself and he knew the harsh reality of Dalits in the society and how they were treated. He strongly condemned the practice of untouchability in India. He also fought for the abolition of the caste system in India which is considered to be the root for the discrimination which the Dalits faced. He is often referred to as the hero by many Dalits these days.

4. How should I start my essay? What are some of the different ways in which untouchability can be achieved?

Start by doing your research so that you have a clear understanding of the topic. This will help to ensure that your essay is well-informed and thought-out. There are many different ways in which untouchability can be achieved, but some of the most common include social isolation, discrimination, and a lifetime of poverty.

5. How does the caste system work?

The caste system is an ancient Hindu tradition that divides people into different social classes based on their occupation. There are four main castes (or varnas): Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (warriors), Vaishya (merchants) and Shudra (peasants). People are born into their caste and it's impossible to change your social status.

6. How do I come up with a good title for my essay? Which perspective should I take when writing this essay?

Look through some of the books in the library or online to get inspiration for your topic. You could also ask your teacher or professor what they think would make an interesting, captivating essay. It doesn't matter which perspective you take; all that matters is that you write about an issue that is important to you and that you include reasons why people might agree or disagree with your perspective on it.

7. Why is it important that you do your research before writing an essay on Untouchability?

It's important to understand why this topic is considered controversial by many people so that you'll have more material for your essay. When you're finished with your research, make sure that you summarise what you've learned into manageable chunks so that they are easy to read for readers who aren't familiar with the topic.

8.  How can you make your essay more interesting?

Find some real-life examples that are relevant to your topic, then use these examples to support your ideas and arguments throughout the essay. This will make it easier for readers to follow what you're saying and keep their attention piqued.

9. How do I write a good introduction for my essay? How do I write an effective conclusion for my essay?

Start by writing down a list of important points that you'll want to include in the rest of the essay, then organize them so that they flow smoothly from one point to another. Make sure that there is a clear link between each point so that the final paragraph ties everything together neatly at the end of the essay. A good conclusion should do two things: summarise the main points made in the essay and leave readers with something to think about. You could also suggest ways in which the issue of untouchability could be improved or offer your own thoughts on how this problem could be solved.

Essay on Untouchability

Students are often asked to write an essay on Untouchability in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Untouchability

Understanding untouchability.

Untouchability is a form of discrimination that has been practiced for centuries, mainly in India. It is based on the caste system, where certain people are considered ‘untouchable’ due to their low social status.

Effects of Untouchability

The untouchables, or Dalits, face many hardships. They are often denied basic rights like education, employment, and even clean water. This leads to poverty and a low quality of life.

Combating Untouchability

Untouchability is illegal in India today, but it still exists. Education and awareness are key to ending this practice. Everyone deserves respect and equal opportunities, regardless of their caste.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Untouchability

250 Words Essay on Untouchability

Untouchability: a historical perspective.

Untouchability, a social evil deeply rooted in the caste system of India, is a form of discrimination that segregates individuals based on their birth status. This age-old practice, originating from the Vedic period, has been a subject of intense scrutiny and criticism due to its violation of fundamental human rights.

The Social Implications of Untouchability

The practice of untouchability is not merely a form of discrimination but a systemic violation of equality and dignity. It perpetuates a cycle of poverty and social disadvantage, depriving the so-called ‘untouchables’ of their basic rights to education, employment, and social mobility.

Legislative Measures Against Untouchability

Recognizing the inhumanity of untouchability, the Indian Constitution, under Article 17, abolished it, declaring it a punishable offense. The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, further reinforce legal provisions against such discrimination.

The Role of Education and Awareness

While legal measures are crucial, eradication of untouchability requires a shift in societal mindset. Education plays a pivotal role in this regard, fostering empathy, understanding, and respect for all, irrespective of their caste or social status.

Untouchability, a manifestation of deep-seated prejudice and inequality, continues to be a pressing issue. Despite constitutional provisions, its eradication requires collective societal effort. Education, awareness, and a commitment to uphold human dignity are essential to obliterate this social stigma.

500 Words Essay on Untouchability

Introduction.

Untouchability is a deeply entrenched social evil that has pervaded societies across the world, with a particularly pronounced presence in the Indian subcontinent. It is a form of discrimination that segregates a section of society, deeming them ‘untouchable’ based on their birth into a specific caste or social group. This essay explores the historical origins, the contemporary implications, and potential solutions to this grave social issue.

Historical Context

Untouchability has its roots in the ancient caste system of India, where society was divided into four main castes or ‘Varnas’ – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. The Shudras, often associated with menial labor, were considered ‘untouchable’ by the upper castes. This system was initially fluid, based on one’s profession, but over time, it became hereditary, and the lower castes were subjected to severe social ostracism and economic deprivation.

Implications of Untouchability

Untouchability perpetuates a cycle of poverty and marginalization. It restricts access to resources, opportunities, and basic human rights, thereby limiting the social and economic mobility of the ‘untouchable’ castes. This leads to their continued marginalization and poverty, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to break.

Untouchability also has severe psychological implications. The stigmatization and humiliation faced by the ‘untouchables’ often result in low self-esteem, a sense of inferiority, and a lack of self-worth. This can lead to mental health issues and a diminished sense of identity.

Legal Measures and their Effectiveness

In an attempt to eradicate untouchability, legal measures have been implemented in various countries. In India, for instance, the constitution prohibits untouchability and provides for affirmative action to uplift the marginalized castes. However, despite these measures, untouchability persists, indicating that legal measures alone are insufficient.

The Role of Education

Education plays a critical role in combating untouchability. It can help break the cycle of poverty and marginalization by providing the ‘untouchables’ with skills and knowledge to improve their economic status. Moreover, education can foster social awareness and empathy, challenging deep-seated prejudices and promoting social harmony.

Untouchability is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted approach. Legal measures, while necessary, need to be complemented by social initiatives that challenge discriminatory attitudes and practices. Education, both formal and informal, can play a crucial role in this regard. It is imperative that societies worldwide work towards eradicating this social evil, ensuring dignity, equality, and justice for all.

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Untouchability: From The 1948 Constituent Assembly Debate To The 21st Century

Published by divyam kandhari on 01/09/2021 01/09/2021, introduction:, concept of untouchability, constituent assembly debate on untouchability.

• Untouchability in The 21st Century

References:

“ I am of opinion that in believing that we are a nation, we are cherishing a great delusion. How can people divided into several thousands of castes be a nation ?” Dr. B.R Ambedkar

On 29 th November 1948, the Constituent Assembly debated enforcing Article 11 (now Article 17) which aimed to abolish “untouchability”. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad moved the court with an amendment stating that no man or woman shall be regarded as an “untouchable” on account of his religion or caste, and its practice in any form should be made punishable by law. [1]

Untouchability is the exclusion of a group of “low” caste people deemed as “untouchables” from the “high” caste people. This phenomenon is a result of the caste system that was and is still prevalent in India. The lowest class, Shudras, also known as “Dalits”, are the untouchables, and these outcast groups are barred from participating in the community’s religious and social life and are relegated to menial occupations that were deemed unclean, such as animal slaughter and leatherworking. [2] Sukhadeo Thorat explains that “The rights and privileges of higher castes, become the disabilities of the lower castes, particularly the untouchables.” [3]  It was important to uplift the lower caste community after independence so that everyone unites and works towards a better future for India. Gandhi Ji and Dr. B.R Ambedkar realized that it was important to fight for the rights of the untouchables and also remove this tag from them. They took certain steps too in order to achieve this. Even though many scholars argue that the caste system is a myth and untouchability has become irrelevant (as told by Gopal Guru in his book Untouchability in India) [4] , this article talks about the constituent assembly debate on untouchability and enforcement of Article 17.

On November 29, 1948, a constituent assembly took place where a number of articles were being drafted which were to be included in the constitution. The Constituent Assembly of India met in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi, at Ten of the Clock, Mr. Vice-President (Dr. H. C. Mookherjee) in the Chair. One of them was on abolishing untouchability which was Article 11 at that time. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad moved the assembly stating that no person shall be treated or labeled as an untouchable irrespective of their caste, color, religion, and its adherence in any form may be rendered illegal. He further explained that the word “untouchable” has no definite legal meaning, and it may lead to misunderstanding in legal expression. Further, he clarified that the word untouchability is not applied to humans but can be applied to various objects for example certain kinds of food to Hindus and Muslims. In the end, Mr. Ahmad said that the word Untouchable is rather loose, and that’s why he wants to give it a better shape so that no person on account of their religion, color, or caste be termed as untouchable. [5]

Shri V. I. Muniswamy Pillai brought out that abolition of untouchability will go a long way and will help the unfortunate communities to find solace against the injustice they have faced. A large chunk of the population will benefit and welcome the introduction of the abolition of untouchability. Furthermore, he says that a distinct section of society has been brought under the rope of untouchability under the tyranny of the Hindu caste system, who consider themselves as upper caste and consider themselves as landlords and zamindars, have prohibited the untouchables everyday basic necessary facilities required for the human being to live. Shri Pillai concludes by saying that the adoption of Article 11 will elevate the scheduled class men in the society, and they will create a place for themselves in the society. [6]

Dr. Mono Mohan Das suggested that removal of untouchability must be an important fundamental right. He explained that the lower caste must be saved from the perpetual subjugation and despair and disgrace they have to face, but also should not get any special privileges and safeguards. He spoke about how millions of Indians have been thrown into the dark abyss of gloom and despair because of the custom of untouchability and has also damaged the vitality of India. He wanted untouchability to be made punishable by law and stated that 29 th November will go down in history as a memorable day for the untouchables as they say of deliverance, as the day of resurrection of many Indians who live in this country. Dr. Das recalls the words of Mahatma Gandhi, a man with an agonized heart, full of love and sympathy for the “Harijans”, the downtrodden masses. Gandhi Ji said, “I do not want to be reborn, but if I am reborn, I wish that I should be born as a Harijan, as an untouchable, so that I may lead a continuous struggle, a lifelong struggle against the oppression and indignities that have been heaped upon these classes of people.” He explained that unless untouchability is abolished, “Swaraj” will be meaningless for Indians. [7]

Shri Santanu Kumar Das was of the opinion to abolish the social inequality, stigma, and disabilities in society. He stated that there is no point debating over such a topic and demanded the framing of laws to abolish untouchability. [8]

Shrimati Dakshayani Velayudhan brought out that we cannot have a constitution without amendment of the abolition of untouchability as the chairman of the drafting committee Dr. B.R Ambedkar himself was from a lower caste. She recalls her school days saying the even then untouchability was practiced everywhere be it school or a party or anywhere. She further explained that to put an end to untouchability, proper propaganda is needed by both the Central and Provincial governments. Only then will we be able to see the change we wish. [9]

Lastly, Professor K.T Shah had some different views on untouchability which he presented before the assembly. He claimed that the word untouchability is nowhere defined. This results in a lack of clarity of its meaning and usage and the effect it will have. He gave an example, saying that if a person is suffering from a communicable infectious disease and is under quarantine, he/she will be regarded as untouchable. In this case, the use of the word untouchable is not constitutional. Here usage of the word untouchability is different in different situations and thus suggested to make some changes.  He advised the assembly to use different words to depict the use of Untouchability. But Dr. Ambedkar did not accept his suggestion and later on abolition of untouchability was passed under Article 11 of the constitution. [10]

Based on the viewpoints of all the speakers except Professor Shah, we conclude that everyone was on the same page, to abolish untouchability. Apart from the members of the constituent assembly, many other leaders supported the abolition of untouchability. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy was an activist who also fought against untouchability and believed that a few wily people introduced the caste system to dominate the society. Periyar played a crucial role in fighting against untouchability in South India. He started many movements such as the “self-respect” movement and the anti-Hindi agitation movement. Periyar was in support to abolish untouchability and considered the passing of passing of Article 11 as a win for all his work done. K. R. Narayanan, India’s first “untouchable president”, rose from the barricades of casteism to become India’s president. “At his inaugural, Narayanan condemned “caste-ism”‘ and said the election of “someone who has sprung from the grassroots of our society . . . is symbolic of the fact that the concerns of the common man have now moved to center stage”. [11] Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore too always opposed untouchability and wrote many articles and books about it. It was a correct and important decision so as to ensure equality in society. But even today, after 75 years of Independence, the practice of untouchability still takes place.

Untouchability in The 21 st Century

In India, more than 160 million people are classified as “Untouchables”. These are people tainted by birth into a caste system that considers them filthy and inhumane. In the modern-day, the term Dalit is used to refer to the untouchables. The Dalits have to face all sorts of atrocities every day, from doing dirty labor jobs to getting raped and murdered. According to a report by NCRB, more than 40000 Dalits had to face discrimination in some sort of way in 2016. [12] In 2019, more than 13000 Dalit women faced assaults in form of rape, striping, and kidnapping. [13] In the case, Tuka Ram and Anr vs State of Maharashtra [14] , Mathura, a Dalit woman of a lower caste was raped by two policemen in the police station. She was called to the police station for some questioning along with some other members. While they were leaving, the policemen told her to stay back and raped her. On 14 th September 2020, a 19-year-old girl was raped by 4 upper caste men in the Hathras District of U.P while she was collecting fodder from the field. She later died because of the brutal rape that the 4 men had done and was forcefully cremated by the U.P police early in the morning without even informing her family or their consent. [15] The only sin these two innocent girls had committed was being born in a Dalit family. The untouchables are treated as outsiders by the upper caste, and they are not even allowed to use basic public facilities such as the village well, temple, schools, etc. They are given separate facilities for their use which are poorly build, damaged and dirty in the outskirts of the villages. If they try to use the common facilities, they are beaten to death and are considered to have polluted the area.

Since independence, Dr. B.R Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi have fought continuously for the rights of the untouchables and to abolish untouchability. Ambedkar was himself born into a low caste family but went up to become the first law minister of Independent India and pass the article to abolish untouchability. He became the spokesperson of the backward classes and also sought reservations for them to rise and get equal rights. He also joined Gandhi in the Harijan movement, which denounced societal injustices experienced by India’s lower classes. [16] Gandhi Ji coined the term “Harijan” for the lower caste which meant “men of God” in support of the untouchables. Gandhi Ji famous quotes “This religion, if it can be called as such, stinks in my nostrils. This certainly cannot be the Hindu religion. I shall put up a lone fight, if need be, against this hypocrisy…the dirt that soils the scavenger is physical and can be easily removed…” and “I do not want to be reborn, but if I am reborn, I wish that I should be born as a Harijan, as an untouchable, so that I may lead a continuous struggle, a lifelong struggle against the oppression and indignities that have been heaped upon these classes of people”, came out in support of the untouchables and broke the stigma against the untouchables. [17] Several acts such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which prohibit discrimination and crimes against the lower caste, The Protection Of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and Article 17 of the Indian Constitution prohibit the practice of untouchability. We still have a long way to go to eliminate the caste system from India and give the life and rights the lower caste people deserve.

[1] Constituent Assembly Debate Volume-VII 1948 (9 th Dec1946-24 th Jan 1950)

[2] Dalits, Minority Rights Group (2021), https://minorityrights.org/minorities/dalits/ (last visited Aug 16, 2021).

[3] Sukhadeo Thorat, Oppression and Denial: Dalit Discrimination in the 1990s , 37 Economic and Political Weekly 572–578 (2002).

[4] EPW ENGAGE, Untouchability in India: A reading list Economic and Political Weekly (2021), https://www.epw.in/engage/article/untouchability-india-reading-list (last visited Aug 16, 2021).

[5] Supra note 1

[11] The Irish Times, Indian leader who rose from lowest caste The Irish Times (2013), https://www.irishtimes.com/news/indian-leader-who-rose-from-lowest-caste-1.519879 (last visited Aug 22, 2021).

[12] SHEIKH SAALIQ & ADRIJA BOSE, Documenting violence against dalits: One assault at a time: A news18.com immersive News18 (2017), https://www.news18.com/news/immersive/documenting-violence-against-dalits-one-assault-at-a-time.html (last visited Aug 18, 2021).

[13] http://cdn.ipsnews.net/Library/2020/11/PDF-FILE-1-NCRB-LATEST-CRIME-DATA.pdf

[14] 1979 AIR 185, 1979 SCR (1) 810

[15] Special Correspondent, Hathras victim WAS gang-raped, murdered: CBI The Hindu (2020), https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/hathras-case-cbi-invokes-charges-of-gangrape-and-murder-against-four-accused/article33363072.ece (last visited Aug 18, 2021).

[16] India Today Web Desk, Ambedkar’s fight to ABOLISH untouchability in India: Why we should know about it India Today (2019), https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/ambedkar-against-untouchability-318001-2016-04-14 (last visited Aug 18, 2021).

[17] Aishwaryaa R, ‘Vaishnava Jana To’: Mahatma Gandhi’s fight against untouchability Deccan Herald (2020), https://www.deccanherald.com/national/vaishnava-jana-to-mahatma-gandhis-fight-against-untouchability-896126.html (last visited Aug 18, 2021).

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Learning about modern-day Untouchability is a step in the right direction

The past year has been one of unprecedented loss and change. i hope that as we “uncover” and discuss more history, 2021 is one of empathy, love, and growth..

Written by Kasha Tyranski

Nestled under a blanket, my computer screen blurred in and out of focus. The clock read 2.50 am — I’d lost track of time yet again in what I like to call the “Wikipedia rabbit hole”.

Although I’m a self-proclaimed history geek and current events aficionado, every time I open Wikipedia and scroll through article after article, I’m shocked by how little I truly know about the world. On that fateful morning, the object of my shock was Untouchability: the systemic ostracisation and segregation of those from “untouchable” castes solely on the basis of birth. I stumbled across this term in late 2019 on what began as a quick search for Model United Nations meeting topics. However, it soon turned into something much more — for the first time, I had to grapple with the fact that I had never even heard of one of the most pertinent human rights issues in existence. Dozens of unanswered questions raced through my mind. Why wasn’t I taught about this at school? Why weren’t abhorrent statistics about atrocities on Dalits on the front page of The New York Times? And, most notably, how could I dive deeper into Untouchability, beyond the parameters of the Internet?

My last question was the least complicated to address. National History Day (NHD) — a research competition where high school students from around the world create projects on historical events — immediately came to mind. As I’ve competed at the local, state, and national competitions over the past three years, I’ve seen thousands of projects on the renowned actions of figures like Dr King or Rosa Parks. My own projects solely focused on popular historical events — the equally important efforts of South Asian activists against Untouchability were sidelined by my peers and me in favour of “easier” topics.

Knowledge is our most powerful asset, and the pursuit of knowledge is what motivates my study of history. Only by acknowledging the past can we fix the present and secure a an equitable future. So I decided to research Untouchability for my 2020 NHD project. I needed to do my part in recognising the historical foundations of Untouchability in India and the unprecedented legacy of protest and reform that its opponents created. B R Ambedkar, one of the first major anti-caste activists, specifically caught my attention.

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Months of independent study followed. Primary works from Ambedkar contextualised the colonial underpinnings of Untouchability, and hours spent poring over archived documents, literature, and films made the degradation faced by India’s Dalits even more vivid. Admittedly, grappling with the Untouchable struggle proved difficult. I exist in the “American bubble”: a state of isolation from the suffering of those outside of my immediate circle. Without prior exposure to the horrors of caste discrimination, breaking free from this bubble mandated a deeper look at Untouchabilitiy beyond photographs and words on a screen.

Thus, most vital to my analysis of ancient and contemporary Dalit conditions were my interviews with scholars with firsthand experience with Untouchability. In January 2020, my project — “Breaking the ‘Untouchable’ Barrier: India’s Dalit Buddhist Movement” — was born. After winning the state competition and advancing to the national contest, I was proud of the magnitude of people who had learned about Untouchability through my project.

Public opinion motivates productive policy, not exclusive research. Confronting the historical legacy of caste discrimination, therefore, mandates action from all around the world, especially in the US. As an American, I operate from a unique position of privilege in my “bubble”. I have access to resources, education, and security that others — Dalits in particular — are unjustly denied. However, my peers and I cannot take our privilege for granted. We are obligated to study what we haven’t been taught and, correspondingly, to initiate conversations about Untouchability. By sharing my NHD project with friends and family, I began to fulfill this obligation.

The past year has been one of unprecedented loss and change. I hope that as we “uncover” and discuss more history, 2021 is one of empathy, love, and growth. Leaving our comfort zones and learning about modern-day Untouchability is a step in the right direction.

Tyranski is a student at St. Petersburg High School in St. Pete, Florida. Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters, curates the fortnightly ‘Dalitality’ column

This column first appeared in the print edition on May 23, 2021 under the title ‘Learning about Dalits and untouchability’.

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Essay on “Mahatma Gandhi and Untouchability” for school, College Students, Long and Short English Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12, College and Competitive Exams.

Essay on “mahatma gandhi and untouchability”.

Gandhiji’s service to uplift the untouchables is significant. Just like Dr. Ambedkar, Gandhiji worked hard against the problems of untouchables. He himself belonged to Vaishya caste. During his early years, he was a strict believer of caste system, but with the passage of time, his views changed. He recognized the evils faced by the untouchables living in the Hindu society.

Gandhiji considered untouchability as a blot on humanity. He worked hard to improve their condition by attaining Swaraj for them. Swaraj, according to him was not only self-government or political independence but also social freedom for them.

Gandhiji set up several ashramas where people of different caste lived, worked and ate together. Thus, gradually caste rigidity disappeared. Number of mass movements like Non-cooperation movement, Civil Disobedience movement and Quit India movement were initiated by Gandhiji. Thousands of common people participated in these movements. People belonging to different castes came together and took part by forgetting their caste differences.

Gandhiji called the untouchables by the name of ‘Harijan’. meaning, `Children of God’. HarijanSevakSingh, started by Gandhiji, was a society working for the upliftment of people belonging to untouchable caste. He also started a Gujarati periodical called ‘Harijan’.

Gandhi focused on removal of untouchability with an energy and enthusiasm that was unique in the history of Indian social and political movements. Gandhi believed that if untouchability was not dealt, it could lead to the destruction of Hinduism itself.

In 1932, the British Prime Minister announced the Communal Award in which untouchables were given separate electorate in the Parliament. Gandhiji realized that this would break the unity of people. To protest it, he started fast up to death. It was during this period Dr. Ambedkar signed Poona Pact with Gandhiji where he agreed not to give separate electorates to the untouchables. However, he asked for the increase in number of seats for the untouchables.

Once Gandhiji said, ‘I was wedded to the work for the extinction of `untouchability’ long before I was wedded to my wife. There were two occasions in our joint life when there was choice between working for the untouchables and remaining with my wife and I would have preferred the first. Thanks to my good wife, the crisis was averted. In my ashram, which is my family, I have several untouchables and a sweet but naughty girl living as my own daughter.”

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• Untouchability
• Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability

ARTICLES : on Human/Civil Rights

Read articles written by very well-known personalities and eminent authors about gandhian view on human/civil rights and it's relevance today..

• Articles on Gandhi
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• on Human/Civil Rights : Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability

On Human/Civil Rights

• Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability
• Gandhian Revalution of Values
• Gandhi And The American Negroes
• Marx And Gandhi
• Gandhi and Rousseau As Critics of Modern Civilization: A Comparative Perspective
• Gandhi on Freedom, Rights and Responsibility
• Morality, Legality, and Human Rights: Gandhi and Ambedkar in a Rights Framework
• The Gandhian Initiatives for Human Rights
• What Negroes Can Learn From Gandhi

Further Reading

(Complete Book available online)

• The Gospel of Freedom
• What Swaraj Means to Me
• India's Mission
• Essence of Democracy
• India of My Dreams

Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Eradication of Untouchability 1

By Sudarshan Kapur *

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) and Bhimjirao Ambedkar (1891-1956) are among the major makers of modern India. Their public careers began early; Gandhi's in South Africa in the mid-1890s and Ambedkar's in western India in the early 1920s. They built on the work of nineteenth century and early twentieth century religious and social reformers such as Ram Mohun Roy (1772-1833), Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901), Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), Swami Dayananda (1824-1883), and Jotiba Phule (1827-1890). Each fought with rare persistence and exceptional vigor to rid India of oppression from within and without. Once they entered the public arena, there was no turning back for either of them. They maintained the momentum in their struggles for justice and equality until the very end of their lives. Gandhi and Ambedkar offered specific goals for and pathways to the creation of a just social order in India. They differed over objectives as well as the methods for achieving their ends. In their long public careers, both of them addressed a number of crucial social and political issues. How best to remove untouchability was a major issue over which the two had fundamental differences from late 1920s onward. Perhaps it was to be expected that their very different backgrounds and commitments took them on different paths in the struggle against internal and external oppression. Gandhi believed that standing at the heart of the inherited Hindu tradition, including its caste system, it was possible to overcome untouchability. "In my opinion, untouchability is a blot on humanity and therefore upon Hinduism. It cannot stand the test of reason. It is in conflict with the fundamental precepts of Hinduism,” he insisted. 2 Untouchability was reform “custom masquerading under the name of religion.” 3 He set out to reform but not to reject Hinduism. According to the Mahatma, "the caste system is a hindrance, not a sin. But untouchability is a sin, a great crime, and if Hinduism does not destroy this serpent while there is time, it will be devoured by it." 4 He firmly believed that ultimately the removal of untouchability depended on the change of heart of millions of caste Hindus. 5 For his part, Ambedkar initially sought equality within the Hindu tradition, hoping to gain a place of religious and social equality with caste Hindus. For more than a decade, he struggled to overcome untouchability while staying within the Hindu fold. Finding Hinduism too flawed to be a force for justice and the Hindu orthodoxy too resistant to change, he gave up on Hinduism. Reflecting on his more than two decades of activism, he said:

When I started on my public career and long thereafter I considered that for good or for evil we were part of Hindu society.... I thought for long that we could rid the Hindu society of its evils and get the Depressed Classes incorporated into it on terms of equality. . . . Experience has taught me better. I stand today absolutely convinced that for the Depressed Classes there can be no equality among the Hindus because on inequality rest the foundations of Hinduism . 6

After years of reflection and in the hopes of carrying along with him Dalits as well as caste Hindus, a few days before he died, Ambedkar turned to Buddhism. Yet, in spite of their different approaches to ridding India of untouchability, each helped to significantly weaken the hold of Hindu orthodoxy and as a consequence strengthened the social and political status of the untouchables. Making the practice of untouchability unlawful by the new Indian Government in 1950 was helpful, but it did not eradicate untouchability. Neither "affirmative action" nor exclusively Dalit led and Dalit organized politics is as effective today as in earlier years. 7 Sixty-two years after Gandhi's assassination and fifty-four years after Ambedkar's death, Hindu society remains caste- bound and the untouchables are all too frequently brutalized. As we move further into the twenty-first century, political leaders and social activists will do well to revisit Gandhi and Ambedkar and ask what, if anything, that can be learned from them.

As a caste Hindu and the son of a prime minister of the princely state of Kathiawar, Gandhi knew what it was like to be "somebody." His father's position and the family's standing within the caste hierarchy gave Gandhi social status. All that changed once he got to South Africa, where he, not unlike his compatriots, was subjected to racial prejudice and many humiliations. For the first, time he was "nobody." Before emerging on the national scene in India, while still in South Africa, with deep study and deliberate care he crafted the concept of Satyagraha; the philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance. And he also posited an alternative vision of a just society based on simplicity, nonviolence, and individual autonomy.

Ambedkar, an untouchable of the Mahar caste from Maharashtra, "knew first-hand the many humiliations, including physical beatings, from orthodox Hindus. In a world defined and controlled by caste Hindus, he did not count for much; he was "nobody." Ambedkar's stellar academic record and the timely intervention of a philanthropist would open the pathway to his liberation. His thirst for knowledge took him to the USA, England, and Germany, where he studied with distinction at some highly prestigious institutions of higher education and where for the first time he experienced social equality, a sense of being "somebody." If Gandhi idealized village India, Ambedkar rejected it for its backwardness, especially the oppression of untouchables. Unlike the Mahatma, Ambedkar was a modemizer with a tolerant eye for the West. In the radical tradition of the nineteenth century social reformer, Jotiba Phule, Ambedkar insisted that social democracy was even more important than freedom from foreign rule. 8

Gandhi began to question the practice of untouchability at the age of twelve. An untouchable named Uka used to clean the toilets in the Gandhi household. Gandhi's mother forbade him to touch Uka.

If I accidently touched Uka, I was asked to perform ablutions, and though I naturally obeyed, it was not without smilingly protesting that untouchability was not sanctioned by religion.... I told my mother that she was entirely wrong in considering physical contact with Uka as sinful. 9

His questioning, however, went deeper and gained its anchor in the Hindu scriptures. In a certain sense, the roots of Gandhi's rejection of untouchability and the belief that it is not central to Hinduism lie in the Ramayana. The study of the Ramayana led him to ask: "How can the Ramayana in which one who is regarded nowadays as an untouchable took Rama [incarnation of God] across the Ganges in his boat, countenance the idea of any human beings as 'untouchables' on the ground that they were polluted souls?" 10 “I do not pretend that this thing had crystallized as a conviction in me at the age of twelve, but I do say that I did then regard untouchability as a sin." 11 Untouchability thus became a religious question for Gandhi early; he never wavered in that understanding. In 1893 Gandhi, the failed attorney-at-law, decided to try his luck in South Africa, where he stayed until 1914. Initially, he worked and identified himself with the merchants from the Indian community. But once he began to work closely with indentured laborers in South Africa, his understanding of and sympathy for the poor - many of whom were untouchables- deepened. 12 Untouchables were among the foremost resisters in the civil disobedience campaign in 1914. The South African years thus strengthened Gandhi's resolve to challenge Hindu orthodoxy. He rejected the notion that the work of a sweeper was polluting and refused to make distinctions between Brahmins and untouchables.

berated as cowardly satyagrahi prisoners who would not eat food touched by untouchables or sleep near them in gaol for fear of tyrannical reaction at home; and he told a Tamil meeting that they would have come to South Africa in vain if they brought with them the caste divisions which were so strong in their native Madras." 13

Though South Africa afforded Gandhi the freedom to relate to people across caste, ethnic, linguistic, or religious lines, he yet ran into domestic conflict over the issue of untouchability. Born as he was into an untouchable home, Ambedkar, unlike Gandhi, was on the receiving end of stigma and social disabilities that came with his birth. As an untouchable, the religious and social constraints - the lack of access to public wells, education, Hindu temples, barbers, etc.- were an inescapable part of his childhood experiences. Yet he didn't fully awaken to the depth of caste-based oppression until he began to travel beyond his familiar village setting, which became necessary for his studies. Ambedkar's first rude and shattering shock" came when one summer on a visit home from high school to see his father, he along with his brother and nephew were denied access to drinking water. 14 For hours, late into the night, they "travelled with their mouths parched with thirst; but nowhere could they get drinking water on the way. Every time people either pointed to the filthy water or asked them to go away." 15 It was then that Ambedkar learned anew that he was an untouchable. On another occasion, when he stealthily drank water from a public facility, Ambedkar was "beaten black and blue." 16 His experiences at school were no different; he would sit in a corner, so as not to "pollute" caste Hindus. His teachers preferred to ignore his physical needs and to even deny him his academic ambitions. For instance, he was not permitted to take up the study of Sanskrit at school. Without the means to pursue graduate studies, driven by an "insatiable thirst for knowledge and the spur of ambition," Ambedkar applied for and won a scholarship, offered by the Maharaja of Baroda, to study at Columbia University. 17 For the first time Ambedkar was in a social environment where he had the freedom to grow in new ways and to be himself. It helped that he was now removed from the all-too-familiar life of daily humiliations and deprivations that he had known in India. Columbia University and New York City opened for Ambedkar a vast new world of learning and fellowship. In the open and intellectually vibrant environment, his awareness and sense of solidarity with the marginalized deepened. 18 With a doctorate from Columbia University, which he completed in three years in June 1916, Ambedkar left for London to do law from Grays Inn and economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. When, the following year, his scholarship period ended, without completing his studies in England, he returned home to fulfill his commitment to serve the State of Baroda.

Back in India, Gandhi's anti-untouchability stance awakened in childhood and nurtured in South Africa entered a new phase, a public phase, at Satyagraha Ashram, founded by the Mahatma in May 1915 in Kochrab village near Ahmedabad. The ashram was the linchpin of Gandhi's philosophy of action; it was a laboratory where visions of a just society were conceived and where women and men trained to carry forward Gandhi's political and social agenda. It was also a setting where methods to transform society were worked out. At the heart of the ashram was its discipline of vows and the elimination of untouchability was one of the vows all members of the ashram took. 19 Considering that Gandhi had already positioned himself in opposition to untouchability, it was only to be expected that its eradication would become one of Satyagraha Ashram's major activities. 20 "Untouchability had not only no place in the Ashram, but its eradication from Hindu society was one of our principal objectives," Gandhi stated. 21 It was in the ashram setting that Gandhi's position on untouchability ceased to be purely personal and private; his stand against the practice of untouchability became part of the public debate. And it took the Mahatma on a collision course with orthodox Hindus. All of humanity for Gandhi was one large family without distinction of race, religion, or nationality. Untouchability stood in opposition, to his notion of divinely gathered family and community. When an untouchable family sought its membership of the Satyagraha Ashram, Gandhi welcomed them. Several members of the ashram, including Kasturba and Maganlal Gandhi, the Mahatma's chief lieutenant, and his wife, Santok, objected to the presence of the untouchable family in the ashram; they even threatened to leave. Mrs. Gandhi "could leave me and we should part good friends," the Mahatma wrote to V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, his "revered friend." 22 Kasturba changed her mind and stayed, but Maganlal and Santok left only to return later. 23 Gandhi's decision "created a flutter amongst the friends [in Ahmedabad] who had been helping the Ashram." 24 Ashram funds dried up and there was talk of a social boycott of the ashram. Gandhi held his ground and refused to remove the untouchable family from the ashram. Just then help came from an anonymous benefactor. The ashram survived with the untouchable family staying on. Gandhi, it should be noted, was ready, to close down the ashram and move to an untouchable settlement. 25 Gandhi addressed the application of Satyagraha in caste reform more than once, but he never led a Satyagraha campaign over the question of untouchability. 26 Nor did he support Ambedkar in the Satyagraha campaigns the Dalit leader led. The Mahatma's lack of support for Ambedkar's Satyagraha initiatives "increased the distrust on the part of Ambedkar and his followers for the Congress and Gandhi." 27 Gandhi's acts of personal witness against the practice of untouchability, however, continued. In 1918, at the second Depressed Classes Mission Conference, popularly known as the untouchables' conference, Gandhi read out the resolution that called for political rights for the untouchables. Upon realizing that there were no untouchables present at the conference, he declined to move such a resolution. The conference had no right to act on behalf of the untouchables, Gandhi declared, and he added: "He who demands swaraj must give swaraj to others. It is a principle in law that he who seeks justice should render it to others." 28 His emphasis on personal witness remained integral to his overall program of social reform in general and the removal of untouchability in particular.

As might have been expected, the India that Ambedkar came back to after his studies in the West yet saw him and continued to treat him as an untouchable. Discrimination at the hands of caste Hindu co-workers and community leaders resurfaced. "He was treated by . . . [the Maharaja's] staff... as a leper," writes Keer. 29 The Parsee-run hostel, where he was staying in Baroda, threw him out when the Parsee community learned that Ambedkar was an untouchable. Ambedkar had "defiled" their facilities. According to Keer, "No Hindu, no Muslim would give him shelter in the city. He sent a note to the Maharaja, who referred him to the Diwan, and the Diwan expressed his inability to do anything in the matter. Tired, hungry and fagged out, he sat under a tree and burst into a flood of tears." 30 Unable to find a place to stay in Baroda, Ambedkar returned to Bombay, where he started a brokerage business, buying and selling stocks and shares. That also ended prematurely when Ambedkar's clients came to know of his caste status. Late in 1918, he joined the faculty of Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, Bombay. Here, too, Ambedkar was subjected to discrimination. How can an 'untouchable' teach us, the students wondered, and orthodox Hindus on the faculty "objected to [Ambedkar] drinking water from the pot reserved for the professional staff?" 31 Painful as these setbacks and the many personal insults and humiliations were, Ambedkar turned his energies to tackling the root causes of untouchability. He soon realized that the removal of untouchability will require the mobilization and the organization of untouchables. As Ambedkar engaged with the issue of untouchability in the public domain, he grasped important insights which he often shared with his people. Early on, he articulated the view that freedom from British rule was not enough. He firmly believed that social, religious, and economic freedoms were of even greater importance than freedom from foreign rule. 32 He feared that without social and economic equality, caste Hindus would continue to oppress the untouchables in free India. The caste system, therefore, must be abolished, he was convinced. He had no faith, if ever he had any, in "any organisation started by the caste Hindus for the uplift of Depressed Classes." 33 When, in 1917, the First All-India Depressed Classes Conference was held, Ambedkar refused to participate, in part, because he questioned the legitimacy of an initiative which left leadership in the hands of caste Hindus. Caste Hindus did not "know their mind." 34 Three years later, when the untouchables convened their first All-India Conference, Ambedkar not only participated in it but made sure that representatives to the conference were selected by untouchables and not by external agencies, as Karmaveer Shinde, a caste Hindu, of the Depressed Classes Mission had designed. He called upon the British authorities to guarantee the rights of the Depressed Classes. Over his position on leadership as well as political representation, then, he was to have major differences with the Mahatma. These and other concerns related to the welfare of the untouchables, he highlighted in the columns of Mook Nayak, a fortnightly paper he helped to found in 1920. Meanwhile, Ambedkar was feeling impelled to finish the studies he had begun in England. In May 1920, he went back. Having completed his studies in economics and law, he returned to India in 1923 to begin the next phase of his struggle to rid India of untouchability. Within months of returning home, in January 1924, he founded Bahishkrit Hitkarni Sabha, an organization to further the educational, cultural, and economic needs of the untouchables, and to represent their grievances before the government. The motto of the Bahishkrit Hitkarni Sabha was "Educate, Agitate and Organize." 35 Recognizing the disabilities facing the untouchables, the Sabha opened hostels, libraries, and reading rooms for the untouchable youth. Important as the fight for economic, religious, political, and social rights was, Ambedkar also impressed upon the untouchables the necessity of self-help, self-elevation, and self-respect - themes he was to return to throughout his life. 36 He encouraged them to take charge of their destinies and to fight for their fundamental rights. Ambedkar also spoke against their practice of eating carrion. Not unlike Ambedkar, Gandhi encouraged the Dalits to give up eating carrion and to take responsibility for their personal welfare even as he challenged caste Hindus to remove untouchability. 37 There was no use depending on the benevolence of caste Hindus, Ambedkar warned them. As long as caste Hindus were for the caste system, and against dismantling it, they were irrelevant. According to Ambedkar, with the caste system intact, the untouchables were bound to remain oppressed and kept on the margins of society. 38

Committed as he was to the eradication of untouchability, Gandhi yet refrained from resorting to nonviolent direct action as a means to end it. He knew all too well the enormous control Hindu orthodoxy exercised. After all he was just eighteen when the caste elders threw him out of his caste community for going to England. 39 Given his personal background as well as many experiences in the three decades of public work, Gandhi felt that a different approach was needed to make orthodox Hindus realize that the continuation of untouchability was both immoral and destructive of Hinduism. Gandhi's reservations about not resorting to nonviolent direct action in his opposition to untouchability, however, were not shared by everyone. The instrument of Satyagraha was there in the public consciousness and at least some were ready to apply its principles and to confront the proponents of untouchability. Inspired by the Indian National Congress's resolution which called upon its "Hindu members to remove untouchability," caste Hindus, a Syrian Christian, and untouchables in Vykom village in Travancore State aided by the District Congress Committee leadership made arrangements in early 1924 to start a Satyagraha campaign to remove the restrictions on the use of public roads that went alongside the local temple. 40 Gandhi, who had recently been released from prison and was recuperating from an illness, supported the Satyagraha campaign from a distance. In the dozens of letters he wrote to the organizers over the duration of the life of the Vykom Satyagraha, Gandhi communicated the philosophical, tactical, and strategic aspects of Satyagraha. He also wrote often and in detail about Vykom in Young India, a bi-weekly he published in English. The Mahatma was the satyagrahis' guide and teacher in the art and science of nonviolent resistance. In a lengthy article titled "Vykom Satyagraha," he stressed that

Satyagraha is a process of conversion. The reformers ... do not seek to force their views upon the community; they strive to touch its heart; It beho[o]ves the organizers, therefore, to set even the most orthodox and the most bigoted at ease and to assure them that they do not seek to bring about reform by compulsion (Vykom Satyagraha] is... a movement to purify caste by ridding it of its most pernicious result. 41

In another communication, he advised the satyagrahis "not to overawe the orthodox." 42 As before, Gandhi eschewed direct confrontation of Hindu orthodoxy. The essentials of Satyagraha that Gandhi was passing on to the satyagrahis, a Vykom were largely ignored by Ambedkar and his followers in the Dalit-led Satyagraha campaigns. Nonviolence was never "a way of life for Ambedkar." 43 Stressing the religious dimension of untouchability, Gandhi discouraged persons from other religious communities from playing leadership roles in the Vykom Satyagraha. To underscore his point, Gandhi referred to the Congress resolution which called "upon the Hindu members to remove the curse of untouchability." 44 In an interview Gandhi gave to the Hindu newspaper, he elaborated his position on exclusively Hindu leadership in these words,

Satyagraha should be confined to the Hindus only and that, too, as far as possible to the volunteers drawn from Kerala, and, at the most, from the Madras Presidency.... I think I have said sufficiently in the pages of Young India to show why non-Hindus cannot possibly offer satyagraha in respect of a religious question which is exclusively Hindu. 45

Self-suffering was an essential first principle of nonviolent resistance for Gandhi. In a speech he gave at a public meeting in Cochin, Gandhi said: "Ever since I have been in India, after my sojourn in South Africa . . ., I have been telling the Hindus that we have in our religion a black spot which must be removed." 46 Careful not to alienate caste Hindus, he added "I have not come in order to argue with the orthodox people. ... I have come to tell them that the satyagrahis who are fighting against great odds at Vykom are not out to destroy religion, but to reform it." 47 Clearly, for Gandhi the removal of untouchability was essential in itself but also for the optimal functioning of Hinduism. 48

Meanwhile, with the founding of the Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha in 1924, Ambedkar's energies and attention focused primarily on the removal of untouchability. His talents and place in his community made the authorities take note of him. Early in 1927, at the initiative of the Governor of Bombay, Ambedkar joined the Bombay Legislative Council. Based on the 1923 and 1926 resolutions of the Council, the Mahad Municipality had granted untouchables access to the Chawdar Tank, a public water facility. Membership in the Council provided Ambedkar the context out of which to play a prominent role in mobilizing and organizing his community into action. The untouchables of Kolaba District, where the Chawdar Tank was located, decided to put the decision of the Mahad Municipality to test. Ambedkar, local untouchable leaders, and their caste Hindu allies organized a conference of the Depressed Classes attended by nearly ten thousand people at Mahad on 19 and 20 March 1927. In his presidential address, Ambedkar returned to the theme of self-improvement and self-help. "Take a vow from this moment to renounce eating carrion.. Make an unflinching resolve not to eat the thrown-out crumbs. We will attain self-elevation only if we learn self-help, regain our self-respect, and gain self-knowledge," he said. 49 As the delegates listened to Ambedkar and several caste Hindu delegates, the conference resolved to test the untouchables rights to take water from the Chawdar Tank. Ambedkar, supported by several leading Brahmins, and in the company of thousands of protesters, marched to the Tank and took water from it. The delegates, numbering thousands, followed Ambedkar's lead in asserting their right to the Tank. "This Conference [of the Depressed Classes] was a great and momentous event, the opening of an epoch in the history of Hindustan. It was an event which changed both Dr. Ambedkar's personal life and the current of social and national reorganization." 50 Not only did Ambedkar confront caste bigotry openly but in these ways he also gained a broader base of leadership. Outraged at the "desecration" of the Chawdar Tank, caste Hindus spread the rumor that the untouchables were also planning to enter Veereshwar, a local temple. This was enough to move some to physically attack several conference participants as well as local untouchables, including women and children. Orthodox Hindus now focused on "purifying" the "polluted" waters of the Tank. Considering Muslims, Christians, and even the cattle owned by the untouchables had access to the Chawdar Tank, Ambedkar and his followers found this response of caste Hindus offensive in the extreme. Angered, they readied themselves for another Satyagraha to overcome their stigmatization by caste Hindus and to win their rights. The Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha was given the responsibility of spearheading the Satyagraha struggle. 51 25 December 1927 was set as the date for another conference "to establish their right of using water at the public tank and in the event of any prohibition to launch a Satyagraha movement." 52 On 12 December, orthodox Hindu leadership responded to these developments by filling a suit in the Civil Court against Ambedkar and several untouchable leaders of Mahad. Two days later, the court issued a temporary injunction against the defendants. The defendants were thus prohibited by the court from taking water from the Tank. Undeterred, the untouchables went ahead with their plans to hold the conference leaving open the possibility of another Satyagraha. In his address to the conference, Ambedkar spelled out the purpose of the Satyagraha. It was not that they believed "that the water of this particular tank has any exceptional qualities, but to establish our natural rights as citizens and human beings," he said. 53 In other words, their struggle was for fundamental human rights, to participate fully in decision-making, to be part of the ruling element of society. He demanded that employment in the courts, military, police, and commerce be opened up to the untouchables. 54 His was a cry for equality and the abolition of the caste system. "We are avowedly out to smash the steel-frame of the caste-system. . . . That the caste- system must be abolished if the Hindu Society is to be reconstructed on the basis of equality goes without saying. Untouchability has its roots in the caste-system." 55 Unlike Gandhi, Ambedkar did not see a way of removing untouchability while "leaving the caste-system alone." As for the Satyagraha, he said: "We wish to carry on our movement as peaceful as we can. However, our determination to remain non-violent will to a large extent depend upon the attitude of our opponents." 56 Gandhi's nonviolence was never conditional; it was a way of life. Neither in defining of the problem nor in its solution, including the practice of Satyagraha, Ambedkar did not see eye to eye with Gandhi. Ambedkar ended his address with a scathing attack on the Hindu scriptures. Unlike Gandhi, who approached Hindu orthodoxy cautiously and with care, Ambedkar had no such qualms. "We refuse to be controlled and bound by the 'Shastras' and 'Smrities' composed in the dark ages and base our claims on justice and humanity," he argued. 57 The conference resolved that "all Hindus should be considered as one of varna [class] and . . . law should be enacted prohibiting the use of class words [such] as Brahmin, Kshtriya etc." 58 G. N. Sahastrabuddhe, a Brahmin supporter of the Mahad Satyagraha struggle then read from Manusmriti sections dealing with the treatment of the low caste and untouchables. 59 The satyagrahis who saw in Manusmriti a violation of human rights, resolved to burn it. According to Ambedkar, "the bonfire of Manusmriti was quite intentional. We made a bonfire of it because we view it as a symbol of injustice under which we have been crushed across centuries." 60 The court's injunction, however, dissuaded the protesters from going ahead with the Satyagraha. Late in February 1928, the injunction was dissolved, but the decision to resume Satyagraha was left with the Satyagraha Committee of Bombay. When it was over, the Mahad Satyagraha had awakened "the spirit of self-assertion among" the untouchables. 61 At the height of the Mahad Satyagraha, Ambedkar also raised the question of untouchables' entry and worship in Hindu temples. In his remarks at a gathering of the temple entry movement as early as November 1927, Ambedkar said that the image of God should be accessible to all seekers and rejected the notion that a temple is polluted by the presence of an untouchable. He also rejected the idea of separate temples for the untouchables and insisted on access to the existing I ones. "The most important point we want to emphasize," he reminded the caste Hindus, "is not the satisfaction you get from the worship B/ the image of God, but the plain fact that a temple is not defiled by the presence of an Untouchable, nor is the purity of the image affected by V it. That is why we oppose the idea of separate temples for us and insist on entering the existing one." 62 Building on the momentum thus gained, early in 1930, Ambedkar mobilized thousands of his people to pressure the trustees of Kalaram Temple at Nasik to open its gates to the untouchables. When the trustees refused to do so, on 3 March 1930, aided by more than a hundred women and men, Ambedkar launched a temple entry movement at Nasik. Caste Hindus retaliated by denying untouchables access to roads and the local market; they also suspended the children of the untouchables from schools. In spite of the daily hardships, the Satyagraha continued until the fall of 1935, when, disillusioned with Hinduism, Ambedkar gave up on temple entry as a way of raising the social standing of the untouchables. 63 Gandhi, on the other hand, continued to believe in the importance of temple entry. 64

Meanwhile, the Gandhi-led salt Satyagraha sufficiently weakened British resolve to hold on to India. 65 Though initially he was not seeking a separate electorate for the untouchables, the second Round Table Conference (1931), called by Westminster to discuss the future I of India, gave Ambedkar an opening which he seized. 66 Ambedkar now pressed for statutory guarantees and political power for the untouchables. Based on the 1916 Lucknow Pact that gave separate electorates to Muslims and Sikhs, he demanded a separate electorate for the untouchables. When, on 17 August 1932, the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced his decision to grant a fixed number of legislative seats under a separate electorate to the untouchables, Gandhi threatened to resist MacDonald's decision with his life; he resolved to go on a fast unto death. 67 Gandhi insisted that a separate electorate would "arrest the marvelous growth of work of Hindu reformers who have dedicated themselves to the uplift of their suppressed brethren in every walk of life." 68 MacDonald's proposal was "harmful for [untouchables] and for Hinduism," he believed. 69 And Gandhi added that "the political aspect, important though it is, dwindles into insignificance compared to the moral and religious issue." 70 Ambedkar called Gandhi's decision to go on a fast "a political stunt." 71 The Mahatma had put him in an unenviable position, Ambedkar claimed. Ambedkar insisted on a statutory guarantee and warned that "I... trust the Mahatma will not drive me to the necessity of making a choice between his life and the rights of my people. For I can never consent to deliver my people bound hand and foot to the Caste Hindus for generations to come." 72 On 20 September, the Mahatma started his fast. Gandhi saw the fast differently. The fast, he claimed, was "intended to sting the Hindu conscience into right religious action." 73 Not only that, he believed that the lives of the untouchables "are so intimately mixed with those of the caste Hindus in whose midst and for whom they live, that it is impossible to separate them. They are part of an indivisible family." 74 For Gandhi the fast was also an attempt on his part to "represent and identify" with the untouchables. 75 Before the fast could end, Gandhi and Ambedkar signed an agreement called the Poona Pact. The agreement allotted the untouchables 148 reserved legislative seats instead of the seventy-eight they would have received under the separate electorate plan drawn up by the British Government and agreed to by Ambedkar. Under the Poona Pact, caste Hindus agreed not to treat any Hindu as an untouchable and to ensure access to public roads, schools, wells to one and all. Ambedkar demanded and received a separate primary election and the promise of financial support for the education of untouchables in every provincial budget. As it turned out, Gandhi's fast touched Indians in some remarkable and unexpected ways; thousands of caste Hindus underwent a change of heart. Untouchables were given access to public wells, and temples opened their doors to untouchables all over the country. Caste Hindus publicly embraced untouchables and participated in inter-caste dinners. The Hindu Leaders' Conference called to meet the concerns raised by both the Mahatma and Ambedkar, resolved that "amongst Hindus, no one shall be regarded as an untouchable by reason of his birth and those who have been so regarded hitherto will have the same rights as the other Hindus in regard to the use of public wells, public roads and other public institutions." 76 The resolution drafted by Gandhi further stated that "it shall be the duty of all Hindu leaders to secure, by every legitimate and peaceful means, an early removal of all social disabilities now imposed" on the untouchables. 77 According to Fischer, "a cold political agreement between Gandhi and Ambedkar, without a fast, would have had no such effect on the nation." 78 This conference of caste Hindus also founded the All-India Anti-untouchability League in October 1932, renamed and restructured in 1933 as the Harijan Sevak Sangh to further the social and material conditions of untouchables everywhere. The constitution of the Harijan Sevak Sangh stated its methodology and overall objectives in these words:

The object of the [Harijan Sevak] Sangh shall be the eradication by truthful and non-violent means of untouchability in Hindu Society with all its incidental evils and disabilities, suffered by the so-called untouchables hereinafter described as Harijans in all walks of life and to secure for them absolute equality of status with the rest of the Hindus. 79

With the fast over, Gandhi focused primarily on the removal of untouchability; he embarked on a nine-month long tour in 1933-34 covering 12,000 miles and visiting every province. Gandhi's less than devout religious colleagues in the Indian National Congress questioned his action. Gandhi, they argued, was spending far too much of his energies on a "religious issue to the 'detriment' of political activity." 80 In his travels he impressed on caste Hindus to banish the practice of untouchability both because it is a sin and for the health of Hinduism. Along with it, he also pushed for programs of village upliftment. As part of his anti-untouchability campaign, in February 1933, he launched an English language weekly, the Harijan, successor to the now-banned journal, Young India , to organize caste Hindus as well as untouchables to confront the evil of untouchability. The Mahatma invited Ambedkar to send a message for the first issue of the Harijan, but Ambedkar declined to do. Instead, Ambedkar submitted a statement which was a call for ending the caste system. It read:

The outcaste is a by-product of the caste system. There will be outcastes as long as there are castes. Nothing can emancipate the outcaste except the destruction of the caste system. Nothing can help to save Hindus and ensure their survival in the coming struggle except the purging of the Hindu faith of this odious and vicious dogma. 81

The Mahatma published Ambedkar's statement with his comments in which he made his all too familiar argument that Hinduism needs to be reformed by removing untouchability. Gandhi also gave Sabarmati Ashram for Harijan welfare work.

The well-meaning intentions of caste Hindu leaders notwithstanding, the impact of Gandhi's 1932 fast soon dissipated. Neither the enthusiasm for reform nor the goodwill toward untouchables that Gandhi's fast had generated among caste Hindus lasted long. Hindu orthodoxy remained firm in its opposition to fundamental reform. That the untouchables would never overcome inhuman treatment at the hands of caste Hindus began to be confirmed for Ambedkar. Whatever hopes he might have had left him with the persecution of the untouchables in 1935 in Kavitha village in Ahmedabad district. When the Kavitha village untouchables demanded that their children be admitted to the local school, they were assaulted and forced out of the village. 82 He was now ready to give up on caste Hindus and Hinduism. Within days of the Kavitha episode, on 14 October 1935, at a conference convened by the leaders of the Depressed Classes, Ambedkar called upon the untouchables to go it alone and to disassociate from Hinduism. He announced his now famous decision to leave Hinduism. 83 "I solemnly assure you," he told the 10,000-strong gathering of untouchables, "that I will not die a Hindu." 84 That the untouchables had a choice, he made plain in these words:

If you want to gain self-respect, change your religion. If you want to create a cooperating society, change your religion. If you want power, change your religion. If you want equality, change your religion. If you want independence, change your religion. If you want to make the world in which you live happy, change your religion. 85

Gandhi understood, he said, Ambedkar's outrage over the atrocities against the untouchables in Kavitha and other villages. At the same time, he felt that "religion is not like a house or a cloak which can be changed at will." 86 In spite of the compassion Gandhi had for the Dalits, he failed to fully appreciate Ambedkar's deep yearning for a religious home. 87 Persisting in his hopes to carry the entire untouchable community out of Hinduism with him, the following year, Ambedkar returned to the matter of leaving Hinduism again. Change of religion for Ambedkar was a form of resistance, a way out of religious and social oppression. Religious identity for Ambedkar was a choice and not destiny. The conversion Ambedkar spoke of did not take place for another twenty years, but from 1936 onwards, he began to explore the possibilities of conversion to another religion for himself as well as all Hindus. 88 Christian, Muslim, and Sikh religious leaders made overtures to Ambedkar urging him to enter their respective fold. The year he announced his decision to leave Hinduism, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party to address the needs of peasants as well as landless laborers. In the meantime, he continued to strengthen the self-respect and self-help movement and to create opportunities for the untouchables in the educational and political arenas. 89 At the encouragement of the Mahatma, Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first Prime Minister, appointed Ambedkar its first Minister of Law. 90 In that capacity, Ambedkar guided and helped to frame the Constitution of the Republic of India in 1950, which made the practice of untouchability punishable under the law. With that India took a major step against caste-based oppression. Even before the completion of the draft of the Indian constitution, Ambedkar had begun work on the Hindu Code Bill, codifying the rules of Hindu Law which were "scattered in innumerable decisions of the High Courts and of the Privy Council." 91 As early as April 1947, the Hindu Code Bill was introduced in Parliament. Among the provisions the bill addressed were the laws related to the rights of property, marriage, divorce, adoption, the order of succession. Ambedkar regarded the Hindu Code Bill as "the greatest social reform measure ever undertaken" by the Indian Parliament, an initiative dear to his heart. 92 When he failed to enlist the necessary support of Nehru's government and the bill languished and ultimately did not come up for a vote, Ambedkar was heartbroken. Disappointed, on 10 October, 1951, he resigned from Nehru's cabinet. Any links that he had with the ruling Congress Party also ended with his departure from the cabinet. Isolated from the mainstream of national politics and faced with the persistence of the Hindu orthodoxy to maintain the status quo, the thought of leaving the Hindu fold now gained some urgency for Ambedkar. Hinduism was rooted in inequality and as such it was not possible for the Dalits to rise to their full potential, he argued. "Inequality is the very basis of . . . [Hinduism], and its ethics is such that the Depressed Classes can never acquire their full manhood." 93 His decision to leave Hinduism was "a deeply deliberated decision." His exasperation with Brahmanical Hinduism also led him to sever links with Hinduism and to join another religion. And the religion which he chose after carefully considering Islam, Christianity, and Sikhism was Buddhism. By the end of 1954, Ambedkar resolved "to raise the banner of Buddhism." He embraced Buddhism partly out of a sense of conviction and partly because it challenged Hinduism, especially the caste system. As an uncompromising nationalist, Ambedkar did not wish to weaken the nation: "I will choose only the least harmful way for the country. And that is the greatest benefit I am conferring on the country by embracing Buddhism; for Buddhism is a part and parcel of Bharatiya culture. I have taken care that my conversion will not harm the tradition of the culture and history of this land," he once told Gandhi. 94

Believing that untouchability is a religious issue, Gandhi sought to abolish the "pernicious custom" of untouchability not the caste system. He also avoided taking up the issues of intermarriage and inter-dining. Hindus, he believed, owed it to themselves and to Hinduism to eradicate untouchability. "We must clearly realize that we have to attain not. . . [untouchables'] salvation but ours by treating them as equals, by admitting them to our schools, etc.," 95 He pressed caste Hindus to a change of heart and pushed the untouchables to integrate into Hindu society. Orthodox Hindus refused to accept his interpretation of Hinduism. "The fight against sanatanists [orthodox] is becoming ... increasingly difficult. . . . The more I ignore their abuses, the fiercer they are becoming/' he wrote to Nehru. 96 After decades in public life, at the height of his anti-untouchability campaign in 1933, he acknowledged that "the evil (of untouchability) is far greater than even I had thought it to be." 97 Two year later, in November 1935, in an article titled "Caste Has to Go," Gandhi argued that the caste system of the scriptures "is today non-existent in practice. The sooner public opinion abolishes [the caste system as it exists] the better; [T]here was and should be no prohibition of intermarriage or inter-dining." 98 As before, he was against compulsion. Gandhi did not introduce a new initiative to dismantle the caste system; he left the matter in the hands of "public opinion. He was against forcing people to marry or dine across caste lines, a position he had taken all along. On both counts his tactics and strategy remained as before. Clearly, he understood the nature of tradition well and chose to constructively respond to it. Not surprisingly, he grounded his struggle against injustice in love, tolerance, and forgiveness. Ambedkar, on the other hand, chose to take Hindu orthodoxy head on. In purely rational terms, it made sense, but given the pervasiveness of the caste system which cut across all strata of Indian society, not just caste Hindus, Gandhi's approach merits attention. On the matter of religious conversion, taking an essentially Hindu position, Gandhi held that every person "must find his salvation within his own [religious] community." 99 Because untouchability was a matter that concerned Hindus and their practice of Hinduism, it was pointless for the untouchables to turn to other religions, he argued. Given the persecution of untouchables, Ambedkar thought differently, certainly from 1935 onwards. Ambedkar's decision to leave Hinduism came at the end of long road of unceasing struggle and personal reflection to create an honorable and a humane station for untouchables. His decision to embrace Buddhism was neither sudden nor easy; certainly it was not casual. His acceptance of Buddhism, at an emotionally charged Diksha (conversion) ceremony on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur, two months before his death, was his last major act to resolve his and his community's religious, social, and political predicament. "By discarding my ancient religion which stood for inequality and oppression today I am reborn. . . . Buddhism is a true religion and I will lead a life guided by the three principles of knowledge, right path and compassion,” Ambedkar declared. 100 Three hundred thousand Dalits followed his lead, took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha and became Buddhists within minutes of Ambedkar's joining Buddhism. 101 Change of religion was an act of liberation for Ambedkar and also for a sizable community of Dalits. In time, Ambedkar's decision to join Buddhism touched millions. Considering how hard Ambedkar had labored to carry the Dalit as well as the wider Hindu community out of the Hindu fold and into another religion, not many joined him. In this respect also, Gandhi better understood the hold Hinduism had over its followers than Dr. Ambedkar. 102 Yet Ambedkar had generated enough energy that continued to motivate Dalits to take on Buddhism. Within the first five years, following Ambedkar's conversion, over three million Dalits became Buddhists. By 1971, there were nearly four million registered Buddhists in India, most of them former untouchables. 103 In Buddhism, the Dalits have found psychological liberation. Buddhism is helping the Dalits be aware of themselves as human beings. Conversion to Buddhism has transformed many lives in religious as well psychological terms. Millions of former untouchables can and do identify with the sense of liberation that Ambedkar spoke of in 1956. Clearly, this is a remarkable development. As Buddhists, former untouchables can now practice their faith without fear or constraints. Herein lay the power of escape from the debilitating stranglehold of caste-ridden Hinduism that Ambedkar recognized and millions of Dalits have experienced. On the other hand, the rise of the neo-Buddhist movement, an outgrowth of Ambedkar's adoption of Buddhism, is almost exclusively made up of the untouchables of the Mahar caste. As such adoption of Buddhism by the Dalits has failed to undermine the caste system and instead "become yet another (low) caste movement." 104 Ironically, untouchables who have converted to Christianity have also encountered caste-based discrimination in church and society. 105 Thus, religious conversion, though liberating in some respects, has not fundamentally altered the perception of untouchables by the larger society. In leaving the Hindu fold they have not entirely overcome the societal stigma of their low caste origins. Here, Gandhi's fundamental intuition and political astuteness about the inappropriateness of conversion has proven true. Nor can the importance he attached to the reform of Hinduism be ignored. Gandhi's vision, by bringing those on the periphery to the center, and lifting the traditionally downtrodden people to a participatory position in society weakened the power of the high caste Hindu elite. 106 Ambedkar's confrontational approach and assertion of rights has created openings for the Dalits to gain a greater sense of self- respect, self-confidence, and self-worth than they had before. While Ambedkar relied more heavily on formal politics and religious separation as a mechanism for change, Gandhi, without ignoring the political dimension, emphasized personal witness and the change of heart of a broad mass of caste Hindus. Yet caste-based oppression remains after all this time, which leads Andre Beteille to suggest that, In a sense both leaders failed. Gandhi failed because the change of heart did not go far enough or deep enough. Ambedkar failed because conversion to Buddhism or any other religion has rarely led to escape from the stigma of pollution. Both failures testify to the weight and pervasiveness of hierarchical values in Indian society. 107 We need both Ambedkar and Gandhi. When Charles F. Andrews, the Mahatma's English friend and co­worker, accused Gandhi for subordinating the removal of untouchability to the issues of Indian independence and Hindu-Muslim unity, he reminded Andrews that untouchability "is a bigger problem than that of gaining Indian independence but I can tackle it better if I gain the latter on the way. It is not impossible that India may free herself from the English domination before India has become free of the curse of untouchability." 108 For Gandhi the removal of untouchability was "a vital part" of his life's program, "not the sole part of it." 109 Ambedkar, who knew the reality of untouchability from the inside, gave the removal of untouchability primacy over and above every other issue, India's independence included. He stood against the patronizing attitudes of well meaning, do-good caste Hindus; and he insisted on Dalit-controlled and Dalit-led initiatives. A just society cannot be built without shared leadership and participation of all of its components. As caste Hindus and the Dalits assess the nature and function of tradition that they are working with (or against), they might also find that Gandhi is more relevant than he has been given credit. Among the many insights that he bequeathed is the insight that the most effective strategies for achieving change are, in the long run, those that employ reconstructions of a tradition's inherited symbols rather than strategies that discard those symbols for alien ones. Ends are important, but means are more important. Satyagraha is not merely a technique of social change. It is a pathway to the building of a just and humane social order. Without harmonizing the vision and the way, it is not possible to break the cycle of oppression. Gandhi still offers an alternative to the path of intolerance, vengeance, violence, separation, and a path to light.

Notes and References

• Every Hindu comes into the world with his or her social station assigned at birth by the caste of a person's parents. The Hindu caste system, with its rigid, hierarchical codification, confines a sizeable segment of Hindus to the margins of society. Those on the bottom rungs of the caste hierarchy, known as 'untouchables' or 'outcastes', are robbed of their religious, social, political and economic freedoms. They are also referred to as belonging to the fifth caste, 'Depressed' or 'Suppressed' Classes. The untouchables attend to menial tasks such as scavenging, tanning, weaving, hunting, sweeping, etc. Orthodox Hindus regard any physical contact with persons who perform such tasks as polluting. From September 1932 onwards, Gandhi, at the suggestion of a reader of his journal, Navajivan, used the term Harijan (child of God) instead of 'untouchable.' The term, Dalit, variously translated as "broken," "oppressed," or "depressed," is preferred by scholars and activists alike when referring to the 'untouchables'. In what follows, terms such as untouchable, Harijan, outcaste, depressed, 'suppressed, and Dalit are used.
• K. Swaminathan, ed., The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, hereafter CWMG (New Delhi: The Publication Division of the Government of India, 1966), "Speech at a Meeting, Vykom," vol. 26: 265.
• "The Crime of Caste," CWMG, vol. 29: 401.
• "A Stain on India's Forehead," CWMG, 14: 72.
• "All About the Fast," vol. 55: 258. "The goal of the removal of untouchability "is to touch the hearts of the millions of Hindus who honestly believe in the present-day untouchability as a God-made institution, as old as the human race itself." Also see "Discussion with John R. Mott," vol. 64: 34. "What I am aiming at is not every Hindu touching an untouchable, but every touchable Hindu driving untouchability from his heart, going through a complete change of heart."
• B. G. Kunte, comp. Source Material on Dr. Babasheb Ambedkar and the Movement of Untouchables (Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1982), vol. 1: 250-51. Also see Ibid., 135and368-69.
• Eleanor Zelliot, "Dalit Traditions and Dalit Consciousness," in Niraja Gopal and Sudha Pai, eds. Democratic Governance in India: Challenges of Poverty, Development, and Identity (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2001), 232-51. Also see M. S. Gore, The Social Context of an Ideology: Ambedkar's Political and Social Thought, (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1993), 224.
• See Gail Omvedt, Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1994) and James Massey, Dalits in India: Religion as a Source of Bondage Or Liberation with Special Reference to Christians (New Delhi: Manohar, 1995). Phule was of the gardener caste. He founded the first Indian school for untouchables.
• "Speech at.. .," CWMG, vol.19: 570.
• Ibid., 571.
• Ibid. Also see D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma: Life pf Mahatma Gandhi (New Delhi: The Publication Division of the Government of India, 1951), vol. 3: 173. According to Tendulkar, in 19S2, at the height of negotiations with Ambedkar, Gandhi "described-how from the age of twelve, his whole being has rebelled against the very idea of regarding any fellow human being as untouchable and how since then he had waged a ceaseless crusade against the evil."
• See Judith M. Brown, Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 58.
• Ibid., 58-9. Brown argues that "early signs of Gandhi's rebellion against Hindu social assumptions are visible from" his years in South Africa.
• Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1990), 13.
• See "Draft Constitution for the Ashram," CWMG, vol.13: 93-4.
• See the "History of Satyagraha Ashram," CWMG, vol.50: 221-28.
• Ibid., 191.
• "Letter to V. S. Srinivasa," CWMG, vol. 13:128.
• Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi: The Man ... 183. Also see "Removal of Untouchability," CWMG, vol. 50: 222. The Mahatma writes that Mrs. Gandhi went along because in the Hindu tradition "a woman in following her husband's footsteps incurs no sin appealed to her and she quieted down. I do not hold that a wife is bound to follow her husband in what she considers sinful.... No one could uphold untouchability and still live in the Ashram. ... I had therefore no hesitation in accepting my wife's renunciation of untouchability not as an independent person but only as a faithful wife." That Mrs. Gandhi did not see eye to eye with her husband over the question of untouchability surfaced again in a painfully embarrassing way in 1938. See "Speech at Gandhi Seva Sangh Meeting," CWMG, vol. 66:452. In his address Gandhi said: "I have declared day in and day out that whoever believed in the removal of untouchability should shun temples which were not open to Harijans. Now, how could I bear the thought of my wife or my daughters having gone to such temples?"
• Gandhi, An Autobiography, 397. Also see "Letter...," CWMG, vol. 13: 127. "There was quite a flutter in the Ashram. There is a flutter even in Ahmedabad."
• Gandhi, An Autobiography, 398. "Then we shall go to the untouchables' quarter" was Gandhi's response.
• "My Notes” CWMG, vol.24: 32-33 and "Satyagraha and Caste Reform/' vol. 23: 432-36.
• Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement (New Delhi: Manohar, 1996), 165. Also see Christophe Jaffrelot, Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Fighting the Indian Caste System (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 63-4 and 57.
• "Speech at Antyaj Conference, Bijapur,” CWMG, vol. 14: 387.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 34.
• Hari Narake, M.L. Kasare, N. G. Kamble, and Ashok GodGhate, eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 17, Part II, (Mumbai: Government of Maharashtra, 2003), 395. Also see Kunte, comp. Source Material on Dr. Babasheb Ambedkar, vol. 1: 8-9.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 71.
• Tendulkar, Mahatma, vol. 2: 176. Also see "The Constructive Programme," vol. 65: 200. The removal of untouchability was an integral part of the Constructive Programme.
• Ibid., 60-61.
• Gandhi, An Autobiography, 39-41.
• "Message to "Antyaja" Conference, Borsad," CWMG, vol. 24:40.
• "Vaikom Satyagraha," CWMG, vol. 23: 516-519.
• "Notes," CWMG, vol. 24: 7
• See Narake, et al., eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol. 17, Part I: 24. Also see Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 91.
• Ibid. Also see "Interview to 'The Hindu'"CWMG, vol. 24: 68; "Telegram to George Joseph," vol. 23:419 and "Vaikom Satyagraha," 515-19.
• "Interview to 'The Hindu"'CWMG, vol. 24: 66-67.
• "Speech at Public Meeting, Cochin," CWMG, vol. 26: 257.
• Ibid., 257-58.
• Narake, et al., eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol. 17, Part I: 4.
• Ibid., 11. Also see Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 69.
• Narake, et al., eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 17, Part 1:12-13.
• Ibid., 14. Also see Kunte, comp. Source Material on Dr. Babasheb ..., vol. 1:13.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 99.
• Narake, et al., eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol. 17, Part I: 22-3.
• In addition to addressing religion, law, custom, and politics, Manusmriti codifies the division of society into four varnas.
• Narake, et al., eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 17, Part I: 25.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 105. Also see Narake, et al., eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 17, Part I: 41-42. "Mahad Satyagraha changed the social attitudes of some Caste Hindus."
• Quoted in Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 95.
• See "Why Nasik Temple Satyagraha Was Given Up" vol. 1: 123-24.
• See "Travancore Pilgrimage," vol. 64: 247.
• See Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), 274-75. Also see Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self, (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983), 105-06.
• Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit, 165-66.
• "Speech at Minorities Committee Meeting," CWMG, 48: 298.
• "Letter to Ramsay MacDonald," CWMG, 51:32.
• Quoted in Fischer, The Life, 306.
• Quoted in Ibid. Also see "Speech at..." CWMG, vol. 48: 297-98.
• Fischer, The Life, 312. Even Jawaharlal Nehru dismissed Gandhi's fast as sentimental religiosity.
• Vasant Moon, ed., Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, vol. 9. (Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1991), 317.
• "Statement to the Press," CWMG, 51:62.
• "Interview to the Press," CWMG, 51:117
• "Resolution at the Hindu Leaders' Conference, Bombay," CWMG, 51:139.
• Fischer, The Life, 319.
• "Draft Constitution of the Harijan Sevak Sangh," CWMG, vol. 54: 18.
• Stanley Wolpert, Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 170.
• "Dr. Ambedkar and Caste," CWMG, vol. 53: 260.
• Vasant Moon, ed., Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches (Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1991), vol. 9: 264.
• Kunte, comp. Source Material on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar . . ., vol. 1: 135 and 138.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 253.
• Quoted in Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King, eds., Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (New York: State University of New York Press, 1996), 51.
• "Statement to the Press," CWMG, vol. 62: 37.
• See "Limitation of Reformers," CWMG, vol. 62: 280-81. This article, written almost six months after his "Statement to the Press" dated 15 October 1935, notes the challenge posed by Ambedkar's decision to leave Hinduism; it also underscores the importance of an individual deciding for himself/herself "to which faith he[she] will belong."
• See Kunte, comp. Source Material on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar..., vol. 1: 366, 368, and 372-74.
• Hari Narake, M.L. Kasare, N. G. Kamble, and Ashok GodGhate, eds. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and His Egalitarian Revolution, vol. 17, Part in, (Mumbai: Government of Maharashtra, 2003), 165.
• Jaffrelot, Dr. Ambedkar, 100.
• Moon, ed. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 14, Part 1,4-12.
• Moon, ed. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, vol. 14, Part n, 1325.
• Kunte, comp. Source Material on Dr. Babasheb Ambedkar, vol. 1:135.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 498.
• "Speech at Conference for Elevation of Untouchables, Gurukul," CWMG, 13: 259.
• Quoted in Gandhi, Gandhi: The Man, 355.
• Quoted in Gandhi, Gandhi: The Man, 356.
• "Caste Has to Go," CWMG, vol. 62:121. In a fundamental sense, Gandhi was not saying anything that he had not said before.
• Chatterjee, Gandhi's Religious, 81.
• Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, 500.
• See Gail Omvedt, Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste in India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2003), 261 about the impact of the Diksha ceremony even on caste Hindus.
• See "Statement to the Press," vol. 62:37. "I am convinced that change of faith by him [Ambedkar] and those who passed the resolution will not serve the cause which they have at heart; for millions of unsophisticated, illiterate Harijans will not listen to him and them when they have disowned their ancestral faith . . . ." Also see "Interview to Patitpawandas and Others/ vol. 62: 55. "If Dr. Ambedkar was converted, many men from the depressed classes would not follow him."
• Trevor Ling, Buddhist Revival in India: Aspects of the Sociology of Buddhism, (New York: St. Martin Press, 1980), 48.
• Adele M. Fiske, "Religion and Buddhism Among India's New Buddhists," Social Research, vol. 36: l(Spring 1969), 143.
• Ling, Buddhist Revival in India, 126.
• Massey, Dalits in India, 137; N. E. Prabhakar, Towards a Dalit Theology, (New Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1988), 137-38.
• Ashis Nandy, At the Edge of Psychology: Essays in Politics and Culture (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990), 71.
• Andre Beteille, "Pollution and Poverty," in J. Michael Mahar, ed. The Untouchables in Contemporary India, (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1972), 418.
• "Letter to C. F. Andrews," CWMG 19:289.
• "Letter to S. M. Mate," CWMG 51:167.

Courtesy: Adapted from 'Gandhi Marg', Volume 32, Number 1, April-June 2010.

* PROFESSOR SUDARSHAN KAPUR , founder of Naropa University's Peace Studies Department, has taught extensively at the Iliff School of Theology, the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Boulder in the areas of religion and social change, peace and conflict studies, African-American religion and history, and Gandhian Studies. Sudarshan Kapur has published several essays, produced educational videos and is the author of Raising Up a Prophet: The African American Encounter with Gandhi, named an outstanding book by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights. In 1993, he was nominated for the PEN Center USA West Literary Award in nonfiction. Email: [email protected]

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Constituent Assembly Debate on Untouchability

In this article, we bring you the important points from the Constituent Assembly debates on the topic of Untouchability in India for the IAS exam polity, governance, essay and social issues segments.

Constituent Assembly Debate on Untouchability:- Download PDF Here

CA Debate on Untouchability

The Constituent Assembly Debate on Draft Article 11 (Article 17) started on 29th November 1948. Draft Article 11 was about the removal of Untouchability. The then Article 11 is Article 17 of the present Indian Constitution. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad moved an amendment that –

“That for article 11, the following article be substituted

No one shall on account of his religion or caste be treated or regarded as an “untouchable”; and its observance in any form may be made punishable by law.”

• He moved the above amendment because the word “Untouchability” has no legal meaning.
• He clarified that the word “Untouchability” is not only applied for human beings but it is applied for a variety of things.
• The said amendment was negatived because the framers were not interested in substituting the above aspects.
• Mr. Muniswamy Pillai wanted the abolition of Untouchability. He wanted that the abolition of Untouchability must be included in Article 11 of the Constitution.

Dr. Mono Mohan Das was of the opinion that the removal of Untouchability is an important fundamental right.

• At the same time, he explained that any sort of special privileges and safeguards must not be given to minority communities.
• According to him, the said Article was to save most of the people from humiliation and disgrace.
• Unlike other countries, he wanted the practice of Untouchability to be made a punishable crime under the Constitution.
• He explained his point of view by quoting the words of Mahatma Gandhi i.e. “I do not want to be reborn, but if I am reborn, I wish that I should be born as a Harijan, as an untouchable, so that I may lead a continuous struggle, a lifelong struggle against the oppressions and indignities that have been heaped upon these classes of people.”
• He further added that the word “Swaraj” will become meaningless as long as Untouchability is not abolished.

For more  Constituent Assembly debates , click on the linked article.

Mr. Santanu Kumar Das proposed for the removal of social inequality.

• He demanded framing laws in this direction.

Professor K.T. Shah made a suggestion that the definition of Untouchability is nowhere given in the Constitution.

• Thus, a question arises as to what constitutes Untouchability.
• He said there could be problems in the future for understanding the term Untouchability.
• He suggested making corrections i.e. to use a different word instead of using the word “Untouchability”.
• According to him, if a person is placed under disability for a period of time, he is treated as an untouchable.
• His suggestion was not accepted by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar .
• Thereafter, the motion regarding Article 11 was adopted and it was added to the Constitution.

The framers of the Constitution wanted to abolish Untouchability on account of religion or caste. In the  Government of India Act of 1935 , “Untouchables” were limited to a set of specifically enumerated (Hindu) castes. Article 17 of the Constitution, however, contained no such qualification. Indeed, for this reason, many members of the Assembly – at many stages of the drafting process – drew attention to the capacious, even vague, nature of the simple word “untouchability”. They wanted that Untouchability on grounds of religion or caste must be totally prohibited. The framers revealed their faiths in the great reforms carried by Mahatma Gandhi, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, etc. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar also showed his faith in the abolition of Untouchability in a complete manner. They wanted the said social inequality to be removed completely. They wanted Untouchability in any form to be made punishable by law.

Read about  The Untouchability (Offences) Act , which prescribes punishments for the practice of untouchability and abolishes this heinous practice, came into force on 1 st  June 1955.

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Gaza campus protests: what are students’ free speech rights and what can universities do?

Lecturer in Political Theory and Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast

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Suzanne Whitten does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Students expressing solidarity with Palestinians and protesting Israel’s war in Gaza have set up encampments on campuses around the UK. Around 15 encampments have emerged in Oxford , Cambridge , Edinburgh , Warwick Manchester and others. They’ve also emerged in other countries including France and Ireland .

Broadly, students are calling for transparency over and divestment from universities’ financial links with Israeli companies (particularly those involved in the arms industry). They are demanding university leaders cut ties with Israeli universities, increase resources (including scholarships for Palestinian students and make long-term commitments relating to the rebuilding of higher education in Palestine.

The encampments follow similar action at more than 140 universities in the US. There, scenes of police arresting protesters have sparked intense debate about when (if ever) it is permissible to limit the free expression of students.

Read more: US student Gaza protests: five things that have been missed

Universities have a difficult balance to strike between protecting student speech rights and ensuring campus safety.

In the US, public universities (as “arms of government”) are prevented from interfering with free speech under the constitution’s first amendment. While this doesn’t apply in the same way to private universities, most have agreed to uphold policies that closely resemble it. These rights must be balanced against reasonable considerations about the time, place and manner of the speech, as well as civil rights laws against harassment.

The UK does not have the same free speech protections, but many university leaders have made clear that their institutions support freedom of expression . They have reminded students of their duties to ensure that protest activities remain lawful and do not risk the safety of others.

They have encouraged students to follow university policy , and be mindful of other students, staff and members of the public. This generally means that they should not obstruct their access to work or get in the way of their education.

Rishi Sunak met with 17 vice-chancellors and representatives from the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), seeking reassurance that any antisemitism arising from the protests would be swiftly dealt with. And the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, called for vice-chancellors to “show leadership” to ensure that campuses are a safe place for all students.

Are the protests legal?

Protests that take place on university campuses in the UK are considered legal exercises of the right to freedom of expression. The rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, which is enshrined in UK law under the Human Rights Act .

These rights are further reinforced by a 1986 UK education law , which requires universities to take “reasonably practicable” steps to protect freedom of speech on campus. This includes permitting and facilitating the right to protest.

There are notable exceptions. In England and Wales, speech that incites violence is considered unlawful, as is harassment on the basis of protected characteristics (race, religion, sexuality and so on). The law is slightly different in Scotland and Northern Ireland .

Expressed support for one of the UK government’s 79 proscribed organisations (including Hezbollah and Hamas) is also criminalised by the Terrorism Act .

When it comes to semi-permanent occupations, duties to facilitate freedom of expression will be in tension with universities’ obligations to keep students and staff safe. Sally Mapstone, the president of the vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK, said universities “may need to take action ” if encampments interfere with the ability to take exams, graduate or go about other business.

In the past, universities have ended occupations by applying for a “possession order” from the High Court. This can lead to students being removed by bailiffs, as happened in March 2023 when the University of Bristol evicted students taking part in a rent strike.

In April 2024 , Bristol Students Occupy for Palestine ended a four-week occupation of the university’s executive management building after they were served with a possession order.

Any universities that take this route would need to show that they have considered protestors’ freedom of expression and assembly rights , and that these have been outweighed by other competing obligations.

The encampments could also risk breaching the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act and the Public Order Act, introduced in 2022 and 2023. These controversial laws limit noisy protests and make it unlawful to cause “public nuisance”.

They also ban protests that cause serious disruption to the life of the community , including by tunnelling , locking-on and taking part in slow-walking protests . Again, any interventions (from either the university or the police) must be weighed against the freedom of expression rights of protesters.

Successful negotiations

So far, some of the protests have been successful. Management at Goldsmiths, University of London agreed to protesters’ demands, including investing in a number of scholarships for Palestinian students and reviewing the university’s investment policy. The encampment at Trinity College Dublin has ended after the university agreed to divest from “Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist in this regard”.

The University of York has also agreed to divest from weapons manufacturers. Other universities have established meetings between protesters and management, though most negotiations are still in the early stages.

Apart from upholding their legal obligations, universities should maintain open lines of dialogue with protesters. Doing so is not only essential from a safety perspective, but ensures that all are able to exercise their rights effectively. So far, most universities have been clear about their commitment to free expression, acknowledging lawful protest as a fundamental component of university life.

The free exchange of ideas will often make some people feel uncomfortable . But speech which harasses or threatens others is not only unlawful, it prevents them from taking part in university life as equals. Universities must also offer accessible channels of complaint for students and staff who have experienced abuse from others on campus.

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Biden enlisted the help of black alumni when writing Morehouse commencement speech

President Joe Biden turned to Morehouse College alumni ahead of his commencement speech to the historically black college .

Biden had meetings with Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. of the Morehouse Board of Trustees, along with Morehouse alumni Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed before his speech Sunday per sources cited by CNN. The Washington Examiner reached the Biden campaign for comment.

Already, White House Office of Public Engagement Director Steve Benjamin met with Morehouse College students last week to discuss concerns regarding the president’s speech. Benjamin promised students at the time Biden's speech would not be campaign-related.

This comes after the president announced he would participate in two debates against his rival, former President Donald Trump, instead of those moderated by the Commission on Presidential Debates , including one at VSU on Oct. 1. It was meant to be the second of three presidential debates in a series that the commission chose, including two other debates in Texas and Utah. VSU would have been the first historically black university to host such an event.

“No administration has respected, elevated and invested in HBCU's like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," campaign Black Media Director Jasmine Harris said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "Just this week the Biden-Harris administration announced $16 billion dollars in funding for HBCUs, further demonstrating their commitment to these distinguished institutions.”

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A  Wall Street Journal poll  from last month found 30% of black voters were planning to probably or definitely vote for Trump over incumbent President Joe Biden. This is a massive swing from the  2020 election , where Biden swept 92% of the black vote.

In 2020, black voters made up 13.5% of all eligible voters.  According  to the Pew Research Center, they are expected to make up 14% in 2024.

How to remove untouchability from society?

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A high school approved a student's graduation speech that was written by ChatGPT — then he went majorly off script

• Kenny Morales, a former Grand Island Senior High student, wrote a graduation speech using ChatGPT.
• The school approved the AI speech, but Morales ended up going off script.
• The new speech was critical of the high school's culture and lack of transparency.

Add speech writing to the long list of things that ChatGPT can do.

Kenny Morales, a former student at Grand Island Senior High School in Nebraska, used OpenAI's conversational chatbot to produce a speech for his high-school graduation ceremony, The Grand Island Independent first reported .

"I said give me a speech about gratitude, and I gave specific examples about what I wanted it to include," Morales told Nebraska TV News about the prompt he used.

The speech got the go-ahead from Morales' school. But when he got on stage, he gave a completely different speech that wasn't approved — and caught the school by surprise.

"I don't know about y'all, but I hated school," Morales told the audience, according to a transcript of Morales' speech the Independent reviewed.

He continued by discussing issues he had with the school's culture and blamed the school district's administrators for making decisions without transparency, according to the Independent.

"We lie, we pretend, and we hide the truth with selective facts on positive things occurring around the school, instead of being honest and addressing the issues head-on," Morales continued, per the Independent. "We attempt to fix the issue by pulling them like weeds instead of fixing the underlying issue."

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"I really don't think I was too critical," Morales told the Independent.

The speech, he told the outlet, wasn't meant to shame the school but to encourage the school's leaders to make better choices.

"It was more about that message of raising expectations," Morales said to the Independent. "I just wanted to start a conversation."

Morales said he knew the speech he wanted to recite wouldn't get approved, so he used ChatGPT to make one that would. Insider could not reach Morales through email, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

—NTV News (@NTVNEWS) May 17, 2023

The ChatGPT-written speech comes as students flock to the chatbot to generate ideas for class assignments , write essays , and — yes — cheat .

While tools like GPTZero have emerged to detect AI-generated content in schools, Grand Island Public Schools has no regulation on how its students and teachers use ChatGPT, Mitchell Roush, the director of communications for the district, told Insider.

Roush explained the speech-selection process to Insider.

First, he said, high-school staff members review the submitted speeches and "score them blindly." Then, the school district's executive principal looks at the scores and makes the final decision.

From there, the chosen student collaborates with the principal to "refine their message" and "make sure they feel confident" in what they say, Roush said. After the principal gives the speech one last review, the speaker is approved to make the speech at graduation.

Hank McFarland, the president of the school district's board of education, was not happy with the outcome, according to a statement reviewed by the Independent.

While he said that the school administration had "already been discussing" issues around discipline and class attendance and that the school would start "making adjustments," he told the Independent that it didn't mean students should say whatever they wanted when they're at the podium.

"Short story made long — does the student have valid concerns? Yes," McFarland said, per the outlet. "Was the way he did it correct? No."

McFarland declined an immediate request for comment.

Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal to allow OpenAI to train its models on its media brands' reporting.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?

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Ohio State commencement speaker says he got help from psychedelics while writing speech

Ohio State's chosen commencement speaker for the class of 2024, entrepreneur Chris Pan, was high on ayahuasca while he wrote his speech, according to posts he made on social media.

"Got some help from AI (Ayahuasca Intelligence) this week to write my commencement speech for 60k grads and family members at Ohio State University next Sunday," he wrote in a LinkedIn post before graduation.

Ayahuasca is a psychedelic liquid made from heating or boiling multiple psychoactive plants from South America, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation of Australia.

Pan also said he tried using ChatGPT and artificial intelligence to write his speech, according to his LinkedIn post and an Instagram post.

Ohio State graduation death: Coroner identifies woman who died in fall from Ohio Stadium

In the weeks preceding graduation, Pan shared multiple drafts of his speech on Instagram. His earliest posted draft included a lengthy section about the Israel-Palestine conflict and a moment where he removed his shirt.

But on Sunday, Pan did not explicitly mention Gaza, Israel or Palestine (or remove his shirt). Rather, he remarked, how after holding multicultural events over the past few months, we must "end suffering on both sides."

Here's what we know: Ohio State graduation death

"What I learned is that there is so much pain and trauma in both communities. Pain causes hate and violence. Hurt people hurt people. Healed people help people," he said. "When we heal ourselves, we heal the world. World peace starts with inner peace."

Pan also led the crowd through two brief musical numbers  — "What's Going On?" by the 4 Non Blondes and "This Little Light of Mine" by Harry Dixon Loes — and espoused how he thinks Bitcoin is "a very misunderstood asset class," which was met by groans from audience members. (He promised everyone in attendance a free bracelet from his company, MyIntent, "as an apology for listening to me talk about Bitcoin.").

Pan graduated from OSU in 1999 and went on to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School. He worked at consulting firm McKinsey and Company, PepsiCo and Facebook before starting his own business, MyIntent.org, in 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile.

MyIntent sells jewelry with a custom word of the customer's choosing etched in it, according to the company's website.

Dispatch reporter Sheridan Hendrix contributed to this report.

[email protected]

@NathanRHart

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Stefanik to Denounce Biden, and Praise Trump, in Speech to Israeli Lawmakers

The New York congresswoman will become the highest-ranking House Republican to speak at Israel’s Parliament since the Oct. 7 attacks, in a move meant to capitalize on Democratic divisions.

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By Michael C. Bender and Annie Karni

• May 18, 2024

May 19 update: Representative Elise Stefanik addressed some Israeli lawmakers at Parliament.

Representative Elise Stefanik of New York will be the highest-ranking House Republican to address lawmakers at Israel’s Parliament since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack with a speech on Sunday that is expected to deliver a forceful rebuke of President Biden and his fellow Democrats while presenting her party as the true allies of the Jewish state.

Ms. Stefanik’s speech comes as the Biden White House is urging Israel to end the war in Gaza, and it builds on the Republican political strategy to capitalize on Democratic divisions over Israel’s response to the terrorist attacks.

That strategy, which has played out in Congress for the past six months, has included a largely symbolic House vote on Thursday aimed at rebuking Mr. Biden for pausing an arms shipment to Israel and compelling his administration to deliver those weapons quickly.

Mr. Biden recently put a hold on military aid out of concern that Israel would use the weapons on Rafah, a crowded city in southern Gaza. The administration has also told Congress that it plans to sell more than $1 billion in new weapons to Israel.

“I have been clear at home, and I will be clear here,” Ms. Stefanik is expected to say in her speech, according to a prepared version of her remarks reviewed by The New York Times. “There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel.”

Her remarks also appear designed to curry favor with former President Donald J. Trump, who has mentioned Ms. Stefanik, a former George W. Bush White House aide and staunch defender of Mr. Trump, as a potential vice-presidential candidate.

While a time-honored adage of American politics has held that partisanship ends at the water’s edge , Ms. Stefanik’s remarks may help strengthen her bona fides with the former president by paying little mind to the principle and decorum behind that unwritten rule.

Ms. Stefanik has positioned herself as one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal defenders in Congress, a role she first staked out during his first impeachment in 2019. Her prepared remarks for Sunday mention Mr. Trump by name three times while highlighting several of his administration’s accomplishments, including a package of Middle East deals known as the Abraham Accords and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

“We must not let the extremism in elite corners conceal the deep, abiding love for Israel among the American people,” Ms. Stefanik plans to say. “Americans feel a strong connection to your people. They have opened their hearts to you in this dark hour.”

In addition to her remarks at Jerusalem Hall in the Knesset, Ms. Stefanik will meet with Israeli officials, visit religious sites and tour locations targeted in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Ms. Stefanik has played a high-profile role in the congressional investigations into antisemitism on college campuses. Her questioning of the Harvard and University of Pennsylvania presidents ultimately lead to their resignations, delivering to Ms. Stefanik her biggest star turn this Congress.

An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to Representative Elise Stefanik’s planned speech in Israel. She did not ultimately speak to the country’s Parliament; she spoke to a group of Israeli lawmakers at the Parliament building. 

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Michael C. Bender is a Times political correspondent covering Donald J. Trump, the Make America Great Again movement and other federal and state elections. More about Michael C. Bender

Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times. She writes features and profiles, with a recent focus on House Republican leadership. More about Annie Karni

Our Coverage of the Israel-Hamas War

News and Analysis

Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s war cabinet, presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an ultimatum , saying he would leave the government if it did not soon develop a plan for the future of the war in Gaza.

At least 64,000 Gazans have been displaced from the northern town of Jabaliya as Israel’s military launched a new offensive there .

Trucks of aid began moving ashore into Gaza via a temporary pier built by the U.S. military , but the new shipments fall far short of what humanitarian groups say is needed.

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Harrison Butker’s commencement speech: Wives should stay at home. His mom’s a medical physicist

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Harrison Butker is a three-time Super Bowl champion and one of the most accurate field-goal kickers in NFL history.

As such, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker was given a platform to express his views as the commencement speaker at Benedictine College .

The devout Christian used the opportunity to give some radical thoughts and controversial opinions during a 20-minute speech delivered at the ceremony honoring the 485 students graduating from the Catholic private liberal arts school in Atchison, Kan., on Saturday.

Butker took shots at gender roles, abortion, President Biden and Pride month during his Benedictine address. Now the NFL appears to be distancing itself from the 28-year-old.

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, said in a statement emailed to The Times. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”

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At Benedictine, Butker told the male graduates to “be unapologetic in your masculinity” and congratulated the female graduates on their “amazing accomplishment.” He went on to tell the women that he “would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

Butker then told those women that “my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother. I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.”

Butker — whose mother, Elizabeth Keller Butker, is a medical physicist at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, where she’s worked since 1988 — then started getting choked up.

“I’m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me,” Butker said, “but it cannot be overstated that all my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”

That statement was met with 18 seconds of enthusiastic cheers and applause. Butker continued praising his wife and her role in their family.

“She’s the primary educator to our children. She’s the one who ensures I never let football or my business become a distraction from that of a husband and a father. She is the person that knows me best at my core and it is through our marriage that, Lord willing, we both will attain salvation.”

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During his opening remarks, Butker stated that “things like abortion , in vitro fertilization , surrogacy , euthanasia, as well as a growing support for the degenerate cultural values and media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.”

He also said that Biden “has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure to many people it appears you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.”

At one point, Butker mentioned the word “pride” — then clarified that he wasn’t talking about “the deadly sins sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify Him.”

The comment, a jab at the LGBTQ+ community that celebrates Pride month every June, received a few chuckles from the audience.

When Butker finished his address, the crowd rose for an ovation. Susannah Leisegang , a former Benedictine track and field athlete who graduated Saturday with a degree in graphic design, said she was among the handful of people who did not stand.

“Some of us did boo — me and my roommate definitely did,” Leisegang said in a video she posted on TikTok . “There was a standing ovation from everyone in the room, except from me, my roommate and about 10 to 15 other women. You also have to keep in mind this was at a Catholic and conservative college, so a lot of the men were like, ‘F— yeah!’ They were excited. But it was horrible. Most of the women were looking back and forth at each other like, ‘What the f— is going on?’”

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Leisegang pointed out that she is 21 and has a job lined up in her field.

“Getting married and having kids is not my ideal situation right now,” she said. “So, yeah, it was definitely horrible and it definitely made graduation feel a little less special, knowing I had to sit through that and get told I’m nothing but a homemaker.”

Other members of the graduating class who participated in the ceremony have shared a variety of opinions on Butker’s speech. Elle Wilbers, 22, a future medical school student, told the Associated Press she thought Butker’s reference to the LGBTQ+ community was “horrible.”

“We should have compassion for the people who have been told all their life that the person they love is like, it’s not OK to love that person,” she said.

Kassidy Neuner, 22, who plans to teach for a year before going to law school, told the AP that being a stay-at-home parent is “a wonderful decision” but “it’s also not for everybody.”

“I think that he should have addressed more that it’s not always an option,” she said. “And, if it is your option in life, that’s amazing for you. But there’s also the option to be a mother and a career woman.”

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ValerieAnne Volpe, 20, who graduated with an art degree, told the AP she thought Butker said things that “people are scared to say.”

“You can just hear that he loves his wife,” Volpe said. “You can hear that he loves his family,” she said.

Butker has not commented publicly since the address. His previous social media posts are being used by people leaving comments both blasting and supporting his remarks. Heavy.com reports that all images of Isabelle Butker have been removed from her husband’s X and Instagram feeds in recent days.

Benedictine has not publicly addressed Butker’s controversial statements and did not immediately respond to multiple messages from The Times. The college’s social media feeds have been flooded with angry comments regarding Butker’s speech, and the comment section for the YouTube video of it has been disabled.

An article on Benedictine’s website about the commencement ceremony had initially referred to Butker’s speech as “inspiring.” The uncredited piece includes a reworked version of Butker’s “homemaker” quote that does not include that word, with no indication that the quote had been altered.

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The Chiefs did not respond to a request for comment from The Times. Tavia Hunt, wife of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt , appeared to express her support for Butker in a lengthy Instagram post Thursday.

“Countless highly educated women devote their lives to nurturing and guiding their children,” she wrote. “Someone disagreeing with you doesn’t make them hateful; it simply means they have a different opinion. Let’s celebrate families, motherhood and fatherhood.”

Gracie Hunt, 25, one of Clark and Tavia Hunt’s three children was asked about Butker’s speech Friday on “ Fox & Friends .”

“I can only speak from my own experience, which is I had the most incredible mom who had the ability to stay home and be with us as kids growing up,” Gracie Hunt said. “And I understand that there are many women out there who can’t make that decision but for me in my life, I know it was really formative in shaping me and my siblings to be who we are.”

Asked if she understood what Butker was talking about, Hunt said, “For sure, and I really respect Harrison and his Christian faith and what he’s accomplished on and off the field.”

A change.org petition calling for the team to release the kicker because of his comments has received more than 185,000 signatures. Eight petitions supporting Butker appear on the site as well. One has more than 11,000 signatures while the rest have fewer than 800 each.

The Chargers poked fun at Butker on Wednesday in their schedule-release video, which is modeled after “The Sims” video game. In the video, Butker’s likeness is shown baking a pie, scrubbing a kitchen counter and arranging flowers.

should we REALLY make our schedule release video in the sims? yes yes yesyes yesyes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yesyes yes yes yes yesye yes yes yes yes yesyes pic.twitter.com/MXzfAPyhe8 — Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 16, 2024

The official X account for Kansas City also appeared to attempt putting a humorous spin on the matter, posting a “reminder” that Butker lives in a different city Wednesday night before deleting it and posting an apology .

Earlier in the week on X, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas appeared to defend Butker’s right to express his views .

Grown folks have opinions, even if they play sports. I disagree with many, but I recognize our right to different views. Nobody should have to stick to anything. Varied and shall I say—diverse—viewpoints help the world go round. — Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) May 14, 2024

I think he holds a minority viewpoint, even in this state and the bordering one. I also believe more athletes, if freer to speak, would stand up for the voices of many marginalized communities. I hate “stick to sports” when used to muzzle Black athletes. I’m with consistency. — Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) May 14, 2024

Last year, Butker gave the commencement address at his alma mater, Georgia Tech, advising the graduates to “ get married and start a family .”

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Chuck Schilken is a sports reporter on the Fast Break team. He spent more than 18 years with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports Department in a variety of roles. Before joining The Times, he worked for more than a decade as a sports reporter and editor at newspapers in Virginia and Maryland.

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