ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Amit ThoratSubscribe to Amit Thorat

Experiences of Social Mobility, Transitions and Attainments

Stepping into the Elite: Trajectories of Social Achievement in India, France, and the United States by Jules Naudet (Translated from French by Renuka George), New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018; pp xxi + 354, 995.

The Continuing Practice of Untouchability in India

The caste (jati)-based practice of untouchability in India, shifting the focus from the victims of this practice, the ex-untouchables (Dalits), to the perpetrators, the non-Dalits is examined by identifying and disaggregating communities that continue to practise untouchability. The second wave of the India Human Development Survey data has been used to generate a socio-economic profile of those who practise untouchability in India, and check the hypothesis that households with a wider network outside the community than with one within the community are less likely to practise untouchability, and uses a logistic regression model to measure this effect at the all-India level.

Why Are the Reserved Categories Objecting to the 13-point Roster?

An examination of the 13-point and 200-point roster systems for reservation of faculty positions in universities and colleges for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes shows the anamolies involved. It also shows the reasons for the meagre representation of reserved category candidates compared to their proportion in the population and the earmarked proportions
of reservation.

Experiences and Perceptions of Discrimination among Dalits and Muslims

Through the use of new survey data, the experiences and perceptions of discrimination among Dalits and Muslims have been quantified. One important result is that many respondents report experiencing discrimination at school and in interactions with government officials. These results are even more worrisome when we consider that self-reports of discrimination perhaps underestimate the true extent of the problem.

Explicit Prejudice

A representative phone survey to study explicit prejudice against women and Dalits in Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan reveals widespread prejudice in several domains and discusses the consequences for women and Dalits, and society as a whole. The results suggest the need for a more robust public discourse and active approach to measuring and challenging prejudice and discrimination.

Beyond the Great Indian Nutrition Debate

Taking on the argument that malnutrition in India is caused by forces that respond only partially to policy interventions, this article points out that it is important to look at the role of disease conditions - shaped by inadequate water, poor sanitation, and insufficient public health measures - in poor nutrition. Moreover, the relationship between disease and food intake is multiplicative rather than additive, and omission of disease conditions from the discourse biases any arguments made about income, caloric intake and nutrition. A holistic view shows that there is room to hope that the nutritional status of children in India will improve with the right policy emphasis.

Ethnicity, Caste and Religion: Implications for Poverty Outcomes

In the factors that affect income and poverty outcomes, there are some features unique to India. Caste, ethnicity, religion and even regional origins all influence income outcomes. Therefore while examining individual poverty, the influence of social belongings on the level and the nature of access to economic endowments and the individual's ability to utilise them freely are of considerable significance. This paper examines to what extent some ethnic, religious and caste minorities suffer from chronic impoverishment, especially in rural India. What economic endowments are owned by whom and by how much? What is the level of education and occupational skill across different social groups? The analysis is based on the 61st round (2004-05) of the National Sample Survey Organisation's Consumption- Expenditure Survey.

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