Wounded Christ and Suffering Dalits
Article in CMJI
Christian Medical Journal of India, the official magazine of the Christian Medical Association of India, has published a special issue on 'Brokenness to healing. My article, which is given below, from a Dalit perspective is also included in this issue. The scanned pages are given elsewhere as an album.
Rev. Sunil Raj Philip*
Hey, where is casteism in India?!
Casteism is a reality in this ‘globalised’ India. The new trend by the ‘dominant caste’ people is to negate the fact that casteism is still prevalent in India. But they practice it with all its vicious forms in their lives and take the benefits out of it. People from the lower strata of this caste-ridden society, the Dalits, have been adversely affected by this heinous system. They are looked down upon. We, in everyday life, discriminate people on the basis of caste. Caste segregates people. Even the Christian religion in India is also affected by casteism!
What is casteism?
Casteism is a form of apartheid, but more complex and inhuman in nature. This system is legitimised by the Hindu religious belief system. It says that people are made by god in a hierarchical order. According to this belief system, Brahmins are born from the forehead or brain of god and thus handle jobs related to knowledge. The kshatriyas are born from arm or shoulders since they are supposed to be the warriors. Vaisyas are born from the belly and because of that, they are traders or business community. Shudras are born from feet of god and thus become servants or serving community. The ‘Panchamas’ or Dalits are not even considered as born from god, and because of that they are untouchables and they are not even considered as human beings. Their fate makes them do all the manual, polluted, imputed, impure jobs. Even though this fivefold hierarchical system is not in existence in its strict form, caste differentiation and caste-based discrimination are still rampant in India.
You too, Christians?
When Christians in India also follow casteism, they have been following the most heinous social system, which discriminates and marginalises people on the basis of their birth. By following casteism Indian Christians are becoming idol worshippers. By discriminating people they are acting against the will of God. The following passages from the bible suggest that great fact that Christianity acts against any kind of discrimination.
‘Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel? says the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?’ (Amos 9:7)
‘He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ (Luke 17- 19)
‘So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days.’ (John 4:40)
‘The voice said to him again, a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ (Acts 10: 15)
Casteism is like an octopus
Casteism acts like an octopus which reaches out to all the spheres of human life in India. There are ample pieces of evidence of discrimination against the Dalits, the most vulnerable, in myriad forms in all spheres of societal life. Although the constitutional provisions have been in place for penalising those practising casteism are in place, access to basic amenities and social facilities have always been a concern in the context of the Dalits.
Inaccessibility to Health Care: a prominent form of Discrimination
Even in the field of health care, discrimination is rampant against Dalits. Poverty is an important determinant of access to health care services and most poor are Dalits as well as most Dalits are poor. Poverty evolves a different health culture and the stepping back of the state from the responsibility of the health care of its citizens adds salt t the wound. Dr Ambedkar had rightly cautioned about the danger involved in the withdrawal of the state from its responsibilities. Liberalisation policy actually has been helping the state to shrug off its responsibilities. Health care has been becoming more and more exclusive that serves only the elites of the society and the poor and especially the poor Dalits struggle to avail the medical facilities. Even the United States realised the need for a health care policy that caters the needs of financially vulnerable people. But India, at this juncture, actually taking a negative move by moving towards privatisation and liberalisation in the field of health care at a swift pace.
The question one can raise here is what difference it makes to the Dalits from the poor non-Dalits. Poverty is a situation, which can be changed by earning/getting money. Possibilities of having financially found relatives or peer groups are much more for the non-Dalit poor than the Dalits since Dalits are predominantly poor. The physical untouchability, which is still prevalent in many parts of India also becomes a hindrance for the Dalits to access proper health care. All these make the lives of the poor Dalits far more miserable than the poor non-Dalits.
Corruption Keeps Dalits away
There are certain affirmative actions provided for the vulnerable communities such as Dalits and Adivasis by the state and central governments. Crores of rupees have been pumped to these projects by the government machinery and unfortunately, the money does not reach to these supposed to be beneficiaries after all the ‘trickling down’. The massive corruption involved in the level of politicians and bureaucracy becomes a hindrance between the resources and the beneficiaries. A tribal colony, called Attappady in Kerala, was recently reported of deaths of children because of severe malnutrition. Mothers are also reported as with maladies because of the malnutrition. ‘Malnutrition in women and men can result in reduced productivity, slow recovery from illnesses, increased susceptibility to infections, and a heightened risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. (A woman’s nutritional status has important implications for her health as well as the health of her children. A woman with poor nutritional status, as indicated by a low body mass index (BMI), short stature, anaemia, or other micronutrient deficiencies, has a greater risk of obstructed labour, having a baby with low birth weight, having adverse pregnancy outcomes, producing lower quality breast milk, death due to postpartum haemorrhage, and illness for herself and her baby’.[1] So the communities of Dalits and Tribals are compelled to become prone to ill- health and diseases) In the official records lakhs of rupees have been spent in these places for these Tribals, but in fact, it did not reach them! The similar stories are reported about Dalits also in terms of health care. The possible inability to be aware of the nuances of government projects and the legal rights makes the lives of the Dalits even more miserable.
Dalits at the margins
Dalits in India are literary pushed away to the margins of the Indian society. Most of them are forced to live either in the rural villages, and even in the peripheries of the villages where the basic amenities like public well are inaccessible, or in the backward areas within the cities like slums. They are forced to do menial jobs, without having protection from the dangers of exposing to diseases. The ‘modern India’ should be ashamed of the fact that Dalits are forced to do manual scavenging, which is the most inhuman practice exposed to all the maladies. Because most of the Dalits do not possess land or they do not have government jobs they are doing jobs at daily wages. This factor compels them to ignore illness in the early stages and is not in the position to take the proper rest needed. Being a socially marginalised community, Dalits always face these kinds of difficulties to access the proper and timely health care.
The facts like the limited number of Public health Centres in the remote villages and the unwillingness of many of the doctors to work in these Centres makes things worse. The correlation of this situation with corruption and increasing privatisation in the field of health care is noteworthy. Many of the doctors who come out of the government medical colleges, supposed to do compulsory service in the remote areas, evade the responsibility using corrupt methods and on the other side, the profit-oriented private medical colleges produce doctors without real social commitment. Ultimately Dalits are at the receiving end of these situations.
Dalits exposed to fatal health hazards
Caste-based occupations that Dalits are compelled to perform, such as manual scavenging, and forced prostitution, often expose them to serious and sometimes fatal health hazards, including exposure to HIV/AIDS. Dalit women, who are forced to do prostitution, are in a vulnerable situation either because of the ignorance of the possible dangers involved or the because of the socially- imposed inability to demand the male partners to take the necessary measures for safer sex. According to a study conducted by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and Human Rights Watch, Dalits are frequently refused admission to hospitals and denied access to health care and treatment[2]. ‘The Untouchability in Rural India survey found that Dalits were denied entry into private health centres or clinics in 74 out of 348 surveyed villages, or 21.3 per cent of them. Overall, the study found that in 30-40 per cent of the villages surveyed, public health workers refused to visit Dalit villages. In 15-20 per cent of villages, Dalits were denied admission to public health clinics, or if admitted received discriminatory treatment in 10-15 per cent of the villages. The study also reported that Dalit women deal with government officials most frequently in attempting to access healthcare for themselves and their children and often encounter discrimination from auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) and Anganwadi workers (community development workers). Dalits are denied entry to clinics, charged fees for services that should be free, and Anganwadi workers may even refuse to visit Dalit hamlets.’[3] These facts are really disturbing, but unfortunately, the dominant Indian society looks at this as a ‘normal’ situation.
Is this a labyrinth?
Is twenty-first century India in a labyrinth of casteism? Is there no way out? To get rid of casteism and caste-based discrimination deliberate steps b the government as well as the citizens are needed. To end the discrimination against the Dalits in the field of health care he involvement of the church/ Christians is also very much needed. It is evident that the situation of the Dalits became more vulnerable because of the decline of the mission hospitals. The Indian church, Indian Christians, Christian hospitals, and the Christian doctors are called to recapitulate the ‘essence of mission’ in the field of health care.
There should be confident efforts from the side of the Indian church to rejuvenate the mission hospitals. It will be a Herculean task to run hospitals with a mission agenda amidst the rapidly growing commercialisation in the field of health care. But Christians should understand that they are called and set apart for doing these near to impossible things for the glory of God. Challenging the state to take up its own responsibility in health care, vehemently opposing the corrupt practices, and giving awareness to the Dalits about their own legal and social rights are the need of the hour.
Providing the right and adequate medical care for the Dalits is the responsibility of the society since the discrimination based on caste and thus the inaccessibility of health care for them is imposed upon them by casteist Indian society. Indian church does have a greater responsibility to the Dalits within the church and in the society since the greatest and most powerful prophecy portrays Jesus Christ as one who identifies with the plights of the Dalits. Are we able to see this wounded Christ in the suffering Dalits?
“He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account”. (Isaiah 53:3)
[1] http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FRIND3/FRIND3-Vol1AndVol2.pdf
[2] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/chrgj-hrw.pdf
[3] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/chrgj-hrw.pdf
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