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Structures of Social Exclusion, Dera Culture and Dalit Social Mobility in Contemporary East Punjab

Dalit social exclusion emanates from structures of cultural differentiation and spatial demarcation. The structures of cultural differentiation are entrenched in the oppressive social system of caste hierarchy. They are further fortified with the seamless social boundaries of segregated Dalit neighbourhoods. If graded caste hierarchy reduced Dalits to the lowest rung on the scale of social status, their segregated neighbourhoods ghettoized them within the socio-spatial boundaries of oppressive territorial demarcations. Until recently, segregated Dalit space used to be a submissive site of despair, dependence and helplessness. All public amenities and sacred domains of mainstream religions were/are housed within the well-guarded neighbourhoods of the upper/dominant castes. Dalit neighbourhoods were/are deprived of all such essential facilities and access to the sanctum sanctorum of the mainstream religious centres. However, embolden by the presence of a large number of Ravidass Deras, Dalits have come to muster enough strength to assert for their distinct and independent socio-cultural and religious identity, which in turn prompted them to ask for their long denied due share in the local structures of power. The mushrooming of Ravidass Deras and the concomitant rise of separate Dalit identity is an apt case for a critical study of Dalit social mobility in contemporary East Punjab.