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Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has told the media to “refrain from using the word Dalit” and, instead, use only the Constitutional term, ‘Scheduled Caste’.
| Dalit (broken down) is a social term for depressed class. Whereas schedule caste is a constitutional term mentioned in article 341 for depressed class |
2. Court judgment
Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, directed government, to take decision on not using the word Dalit by media.
3 Government response
- Government official in center and state will not use the term Dalit in official discourse
- All type of media should refrain from using the word Dalit
- Dalit should be called as schedule caste, according to the constitutional mandate under article 341.
4. Argument in favor for using the term Dalit
Historical causes
- Troubled past of the community has preferred them to take this term
- Dalit literally means downtrodden or broken, it reflects the struggle of the community to have rights which they have been denied for centuries.
- he word Dalit denotes the pain of all those who suffered because of the caste system; it defines their identity
Social causes
- Dalit is primarily an anti-caste, anti-Brahminical, anti-capitalist, anti-oppression, anti-superstition rebellion.
- Dalit is a notion of change and revolution for the community.
Constitutional causes
- The core of humanism, freedom, liberty is strongly reinforced in the word Dalit.
- It is an expression of self-empowerment.
Judicial pronouncement
- Supreme Court in S.P. Gupta v. President of India case in 1981 too has used the term Dalit justice
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