About the Book

Probably for the first time, this book presents empirical evidence on caste discrimination in the functioning of rural markets in India. The analysis generates convincing empirical evidence of the caste-based discrimination faced by ex-untouchables in rural markets – in hiring, wages, the sale and purchase of land, and access to consumer goods and inputs used in farming and business. It also provides evidence of the discrimination encountered by ex-untouchables in accessing school meals for children, health services, and public employment provided by the government.

The book captures the impact of discrimination on the income of ex-untouchable wage labourers, farmers, and businesspeople. Caste norms continue to shape the economic decisions of the higher castes, to the disadvantage of ex-untouchables in market exchanges. By estimating the income loss due to discrimination, the book demonstrates its poverty-aggravating effects on ex-untouchables, and argues that affirmative action policies are essential not only for ex-untouchable wage labourers, but also for farmers and businesspeople, to ensure non-discriminatory access to markets and government services.

Most importantly, it develops an innovative theoretical and conceptual framework for studying discrimination in markets and government, which young scholars will find useful for further research.

Contents

Foreword by Satish Deshpande

 Preface

Acknowledgement

Section I: Poverty of Untouchables: Theoretical and Empirical Exploration

Chapter 1: Problem of Persistent Poverty of Untouchables: Theoretical Exploration              

Chapter 2: Economics of Caste and Untouchability 

Chapter 3: Methodology: Concept, Indicators, Measurement, and Database            

Section II: Caste Discrimination in Markets

Chapter 4: Farm Wage Labour: Discrimination in Hiring, Wages, and at Workplace

Chapter 5: Non-Farm Wage Labourers: Discrimination in Hiring, Wages, and at Workplace

Chapter 6: Regular Salaried Workers: Discrimination in Hiring, Wages, and at Workplace

Chapter 7: Untouchable Farmers: Discrimination in the Inputs and Product Markets

Chapter 8: Untouchable Entrepreneurs and Businesses: Discrimination in Inputs and Product Markets

Chapter 9: Restrictions on Free Labour, Farming, and Business: Caste Antagonism, Animosity,and Coercions

Section III: Caste Discrimination in Government

Chapter 10: Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY): Discrimination in Delivery of Health Services

Chapter 11: Integrated Child Development Programme: Discrimination in Delivery of Health Services

Chapter 12: Mid-Day Meal: Discrimination in Delivery of Meals in Schools

Chapter 13: Employment Guarantee Scheme: Discrimination in Employment, Wages, and at Workplace

Chapter 14: Policies Against Discrimination for Labourers, Farmers, and Entrepreneurs

About the Author / Editor

Sukhadeo Thorat, Professor Emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He holds the K.R. Narayanan Chair at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, and was Ambedkar Chair Professor at the University of Calicut, Kerala. He is a former Chairman of the University Grants Commission and the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. In recognition of his contributions to education and his service to the deprived sections of society, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2008.

Amit Thorat, an economist by training, currently works at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His research interests include inequality, poverty, untouchability and discrimination, social behaviour, health and malnutrition. He has been part of the India Human Development Survey (2012) and Social Attitudes Research for India Survey. He has co-authored Undernutrition and Public Policy in India with S. Desai, L. Haddad, and D. Chopra. His papers are published in international journals such as World Development, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Journal of Social and Economic Development, Food Policy, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, and Economic Development and Cultural Change.