Indian Groups Contest California Textbook Content

Some dalits (widely thought of in India as an oppressed people) across the U.S. are demanding that the term, dalit, used only in one of the nine proposed textbooks currently being reviewed by the CBE, not be elided (omitted), as the Hindu groups want, and that a photo of a dalit cleaning a latrine be replaced with one of a dalit engaged in a faith practice.

They also say that it would serve the dalits' cause better if the textbooks said that "untouchability is a living reality in India," instead of simply going by the Hindu groups' suggestion that the books say that it is illegal to treat someone as an untouchable, Vikram Masson, co-founder of Navya Shastra, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that speaks out against caste-related issues, told India-West.

Acknowledging that "the Hinduism sections (in the textbooks) are extremely poor to begin with" and need to be corrected, Masson, who is himself not a dalit and is a parent of a school-going child in New Jersey, observed: "It is curious (the Hindu groups) would want to elide the word, dalit. We believe the heritage of Hinduism is positive enough, and there is no need to cover up any inadequacies."

New Jersey resident Jebaroja Singh, whose dalit grandparents converted to Christianity many years ago, seemed to echo those sentiments.

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