The Broken: ‘Dalit’ Sikhs Fight Back in Punjab | Caste Discrimination | India

Gurwinder's family has a history of working as bonded labourers, known as "Seeris,” for landowning farmers in Bauran Kala village in the Sikh-majority Punjab state of India. His father, now 65 years old, is still working as a "dung-rubbish picker," a job predominantly done by Dalit Sikhs, who are not only treated as “outcasts” but are also landless and impoverished. Despite a law passed by the Punjab legislative assembly in 1961, which reserves one-third of the government-owned agricultural land for Dalits, access to even this meager land has come at a cost for these marginalised individuals. Although Sikh teachings promote helping those in need, Gurwinder believes that these values are not genuinely reflected in society.
The caste system's historical legacy has prohibited Sikh Dalits from owning land nationwide, and this pattern remains prominent in India's Sikh-majority state of Punjab, which has a population of about 30 miilion. Despite accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of Punjab’s population, Dalits own a mere 3.5% of private land. Meanwhile, the dominant agricultural Jat caste, which comprises 20% of the state's population, holds over 80% of the land.
Gurwinder sees the opposition they face as a reflection of societal inequality and injustice towards Dalit Sikhs, which contradicts Sikhism's principles of equality irrespective of race, gender, caste, or social status.
By Surabhi Singh