Maanya Anand Week 1

The reading that I will be discussing is Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's undelivered speech from the Annihilation of Caste. I think one of the most important points highlighted by Ambedkar in this speech was that caste cannot be defended on the basis of it being a division of labour. People are deprived of education and opportunities at a variety of occupations just because they belong to a certain "caste". Further, their morality and ethics is also decided merely on the basis of their caste. Lower castes are considered "impure" and are believed to not have certain values and morals that are apparently possessed by the upper castes. How do we allow the caste of a person to let us decide whether they are moral or immoral people, whether they abide by the values and ethics of our Indian society. It has become so deeply ingrained in the fabric of our society that people of a lower caste are "untouchable" or are devoid of the "correct" values that we are unable to look beyond the caste system entirely and see everyone as just people who live in our country or belong to the Indian society. They do not want to be patronised by being called "Harijans" or the "children of God" and get special treatment. All that is required is that we treat everyone with the basic dignity, respect and humanity that should be attributed to every human being instead of treating them as "impure beings" and shunning them to the lowest runks of society.

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