Laws Changed, Minds Didn’t — A Village Boycott Reveals India’s Unfinished Battle Against Caste

Untouchability may have been outlawed decades ago. Policies, welfare schemes and reservations in education and employment were designed to bring historically marginalised communities into the social mainstream.

Yet, the everyday reality in many parts of India continues to show that legal reform and social acceptance do not always move at the same pace.

In the coastal village of Nuagaon, a 21-year-old woman’s small government job has turned into a social flashpoint — exposing a deep psychological divide that still lingers beneath the surface of rural society.

When achievement becomes a punishment

Sarmista Sethi should have been a symbol of aspiration.

The first graduate from her Dalit family and among the very few villagers to secure a government position, she was appointed helper-cum-cook at the local anganwadi centre — a modest post paying ₹5,000 a month.

Instead, the job has brought four months of social boycott upon her family.

Villagers stopped sending children to the anganwadi. Even beneficiaries entitled to take-home rations — toddlers and a lactating mother — refused to collect food.

Parents openly said they feared divine anger if their children ate meals cooked by someone from a Scheduled Caste community.

On the day officials pasted her appointment letter on a village electric pole in November, she and her father were surrounded by dozens of upper-caste villagers demanding to know why she had even applied.

She pleaded. She cried. Nothing changed.

A centre without children

Officially, the anganwadi serves 42 children. Now only two — both from Dalit families — attend.

The centre itself had to be shifted. The house from which it earlier operated was withdrawn after pressure from villagers. Since February, it has run from a primary school building.

Yet Sarmista continues to arrive every morning at 7 am — sweeping floors, laying mats, waiting for children who rarely come.

She even offered a compromise: families could take dry rations home instead of eating food cooked by her. They refused.

Her mother says the same villagers once sent their children to Sarmista for tuition. “They trusted her education but not her caste,” she remarks bitterly.

A divided village

Nuagaon’s layout reflects a familiar rural pattern — Dalit families clustered at the entrance, upper-caste households located separately.

Social distance has long existed informally: separate feasts, separate gatherings, limited interaction.

Poverty affects almost everyone here, yet hierarchy survives stronger than economic reality.

Many villagers avoid openly citing caste, but their reasoning makes the divide clear. They say it has “never happened before” that their children ate food prepared by someone from their community.

Officials have held meetings, warned of legal action and even promised to publicly eat the food she cooks as reassurance. Local leaders and activists have intervened. The boycott continues.

Despite the ordeal, Sarmista and her family hesitate to pursue legal escalation — fearing permanent hostility in their own village.

Beyond one village: a deeper social tension

The episode reflects a larger contradiction in India’s social journey.

For decades, governments have attempted to uplift historically disadvantaged communities through reservations in education and public employment.

The policy, originally envisioned as temporary corrective support, gradually expanded in scope and percentage over time.

While it enabled many first-generation learners to enter institutions and jobs once inaccessible to them, it also generated resentment among sections who perceived lost opportunities.

As a result, two parallel sentiments evolved:

• Marginalised groups sought dignity and representation after centuries of exclusion.
• Some among traditionally privileged groups viewed affirmative action as unfair displacement.

Between these competing perceptions lies a psychological barrier — one that laws alone cannot dismantle.

Social prejudice rarely disappears the moment legislation changes. Customs rooted over centuries persist in daily behaviour: dining together, sharing space, accepting authority, or even trusting food prepared by another person.

The unfinished reform

Experts often argue that material benefits without social integration cannot end discrimination. Educational support, shared schooling, and sustained social contact might gradually reshape attitudes — but such transformation takes generations, not notifications.

Nuagaon’s boycott illustrates that the core issue is no longer legality. The Constitution prohibits discrimination. The administration can file cases. Yet acceptance still depends on mindset.

Sarmista continues cycling each morning to an almost empty classroom — perhaps the quietest reminder that while India abolished untouchability on paper long ago, erasing it from thought remains a far slower struggle.

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