Systematic discrimination affects job opportunities, say experts

Ahna Prakash | NT

Bengaluru

Marginalized communities face rampant discrimination when it comes to jobs, livelihood and accessing bank credits, says the latest report by Oxfam India. According to Oxfam’s ‘India Discrimination Report  2022’, people belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Schedules Tribes (STs) earn Rs 5,000 less per month than others, while Muslims earn Rs 7,000 per month less than others on an average.

“There exists a systematic discrimination towards marginalized communities.They have been denied opportunities for ages, be it in educational institutes or employment. Even the policies introduced by the state for Scheduled Castes and Tribes are never implemented,” said senior advocate and activist, Maitreyi Krishnan.
Meena, founder of Mooknayak, a media platform dedicated to the underprivileged says, “Discrimination is the reason why minority communities are not able to study which eventually leads to them not being able to get better jobs. This discrimination is visible across institutions. There are only a few lower caste people who are vice-chancellors of any university. Also, if you look at the judges in courts, it is clear the people from the upper caste are dominant.”

The report stated that the general category is earning 33 per cent more than SCs or STs. The average earning of self-employed workers is Rs 15,878 for the general category, while it is Rs 10,533 for SCs or STs. The report also said that regular-salaried non-Muslims in urban areas earn Rs 20,346 on an average, which is 1.5 times higher than Muslims, who earn Rs 13,672. “Marginalized communities in the country are directly impacted by the discrimination based on their socio-religious identity. Muslims in India mostly have to face discrimination in the job market and that can be a possible reason why most are self-employed,” said the CEO of Oxfam India, Amitabh Behar.