Dalit Households in Village Economies

Caste is an institution of oppression and social discrimination specific to South Asia, more so to India. Central to the caste system were the status assigned to the Dalit people and the criminal practice of untouchability. Caste is embedded in production relations. It is an impediment to the growth of the productive forces, and a bulwark against the revolutionary overthrow of the ruling classes. Although there have been, in recent years, new scholarship and new attempts to understand the s...