Hinduism

We usually hear of India's economic prowess. Of India emerging as one of the next power-houses of the global economy. What we usually don't hear about are the inequalities; the discrimination, that is prevalent in the world's largest democracy. India is still a country that in many ways, has not joined the modern world. Despite its technological advances, it is still a nation that is stuck socially in pre-colonial times. The latest reminder of how far India really has to travel comes from Bhagalpur, Bihar, where 10-year-old Khushboo, the daughter of lower caste labourers, was out looking for edible herbs along the railroad tracks running through her village. She wandered into the field belonging an upper caste landlord, Pankaj Rai, and picked a few leaves of spinach. Rai caught her in the act of stealing from his farm, and promptly chopped off all five fingers from one of her hands with his sickle.

What consequences Rai will face is unknown, but the fact that he was not deterred by the potential consequences in his act of violence against a 10-year-old girl, paints a horrifying picture of the state of India's lower caste population. The lower caste are disposable in India. It is socially acceptable to end their existence in acts of vigilantism -- or if the whim strikes an upper caste person. For this to change, attitudes need to change in their society -- and while India has already taken steps to offer protection in their laws, it will take generations for India to get where we are. So while the country is on the march to achieve technology and economic prowess, it has to start taking the social aspects of its emergence with equal seriousness, or risk losing it all. India can start now by punishing Pankaj Rai for his actions.