Country: Bihar, India
Date: 01/02/2024
Team: Nicole Cavallin (lead), Isabelle Kolnacki, Cheyenne Barron, Ariana Jackson
Content Warning: violence, discrimination, sexual assault
Approximate Time Period: 20th century
The Musahars are an ethnic group found throughout northern India. They are a part of the Dalit community, which comprises the lowest ranked stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. The caste system does not allow for the Musahars to improve their caste ranking or obtain any sense of mobility (Sahay 2019, p. 1). They are often faced with discrimination and exclusion as well as continually targeted with violence. This form of discrimination occurs in schools, work environments, and any social contexts. In school, Mushahars must sit in the back of the classroom and are constantly described as “unruly, wild, and dirty,” (Sahay 2019, p. 35). This commentary as well as the segregation that the Musahar children experience is what puts them at a severe disadvantage when it comes to receiving an education. According to the 2011 census, at around 29 per cent, their literacy rate is dismally low. They continuously struggle for life’s basics such as shelter, electricity, piped water, education, and livelihood (Rai, 2023). Sexual assault is another example of the lethal violence experienced by Musahars that is frequently not covered in the media. You can see this in the case of a young eight year old Mushahar girl who was abducted, raped, and killed (Rai, 2023). She represents just one example among many cases that society overlooks or the media fails to cover because this ethnicity is socially marginalized (Rai, 2023). Currently, despite the continued emphasis on social justice by the government, marginalized communities in Bihar, like the Musahars, are at the receiving end as dominant communities in villages continue to control resources like lands, pastures and ponds (Rai, 2023).
The data quality for this group is a 3 /3 due to significant coverage in scholarly and unbiased articles.
Sources
- Sahay, G. R. (2019). Substantially Present but Invisible, Excluded and Marginalized: A Study of Musahars in Bihar. Sociological Bulletin, 68(1), 25–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45218894
- Rai, V. K. (2023, August 23). A need to ensure the safety, dignity of Musahars in caste-ridden bihar. https://www.outlookindia.com/. https://www.outlookindia.com/national/a-need-to-ensure-the-safety-dignity-of-musahars-in-caste-ridden-bihar-magazine-311729