The Lowliest of The Low (Sweepers) In Transition in India

Authors(1) :-Pooran Singh Ujjwal

This article examines how do the national policies and international programmes reach the beneficiaries through mediators, who use local idioms to convey the message in the process. And how does this happen in case of policy initiatives in India in regard to programme related to the lowest section of society viz. the sweepers in a medical institution in an urban setting. Modern agencies such as the state, political parties, social workers, urbanization and medical institution expected to remove the poverty are having little impact on the aspirations and life styles of the sweepers, whereas family and kinship are found to be more effective in this regard. The traditional occupation is now a salaried occupation with a sense of security. They live in the campus of a medical college, and interact with doctor's families providing domestic assistance with a few running small shops along with. These changes have, to an extent, reduced untouchability, and their compact living under the helping scheme in medical college campus helps in developing caste and neighbourhood ties among different groups. Parents and caste leaders take decisions regarding socialization of their children who are discouraged to continue schooling in spite of scholarships available, and utilize all their links to get the children traditional job in a salaried position. This is how the traditional institutions mediate between the beneficiary and the state, thereby using the state policy framework selectively for their own transition in a modem institutional framework. For the analysis, data from 64 families have been collected.

Authors and Affiliations

Pooran Singh Ujjwal
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Meerut College, Meerut, India

Untouchability, Harijans, Scheduled Castes, Depressed classes, religious practices of the Harijans

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Publication Details

Published in : Volume 1 | Issue 1 | November-December 2018
Date of Publication : 2018-12-30
License:  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Page(s) : 161-169
Manuscript Number : GISRRJ1811310
Publisher : Technoscience Academy

ISSN : 2582-0095

Cite This Article :

Pooran Singh Ujjwal, "The Lowliest of The Low (Sweepers) In Transition in India ", Gyanshauryam, International Scientific Refereed Research Journal (GISRRJ), ISSN : 2582-0095, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp.161-169, November-December.2018
URL : https://gisrrj.com/GISRRJ1811310

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