Editing Untouchability (section)

==Government action in India==
{{Politics of India}} 
India is home to over 200 million [[Dalit]]s.<ref>{{cite news |title=India top court recalls controversial caste order |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49889815 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116032435/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49889815 |archive-date=16 January 2023}}</ref> At the time of Indian independence, Dalit activists began calling for [[Reserved political positions in India|separate electorates]] for untouchables in India to allow fair representation. Officially labeled the Minorities Act, it would guarantee representation for [[Sikhs]], [[Muslims]], [[Christians]], and Untouchables in the newly formed Indian government. The Act was supported by British representatives such as [[Ramsay MacDonald]]. According to the textbook ''Religions in the Modern World'', [[B. R. Ambedkar]], who was also a supporter of the Act, was considered to be the "untouchable leader" who made great efforts to eliminate caste system privileges that included participation in public festivals, access to temples, and wedding rituals. In 1932, Ambedkar proposed that the untouchables create a separate electorate that ultimately led [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]] to fast until it was rejected.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=David |date=2016 |editor1-last=Woodhead |editor1-first=Linda |editor2-last=Partridge |editor2-first=Christopher |editor3-last=Kawanami |editor3-first=Hiroko |title=Hinduism |location=New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=38–40}}</ref>

A separation within [[Hindu]] society was opposed by national leaders at the time such as Gandhi, although he took no exception to the demands of the other minorities. He began a [[hunger strike]], citing that such a separation would create an unhealthy divide within the religion. At the [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Round Table Conferences]], he provided this explanation for his reasoning:<blockquote>I don't mind untouchables if they so desire, being converted to Islam or Christianity. I should tolerate that, but I cannot possibly tolerate what is in store for Hinduism if there are two divisions set forth in the villages. Those who speak of the political rights of the untouchables don't know their India, don't know how Indian society is today constituted and therefore I want to say with all the emphasis that I can command that if I was the only person to resist this thing that I would resist it with my life.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Ravinder |title=Gandhi, Ambedkar and the Poona pact, 1932 |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=8 |number=1–2 |date=1985 |pages=87–101|doi=10.1080/00856408508723068 }}</ref></blockquote>Gandhi achieved some success through his hunger strike however Dalit activists faced pressure from the Hindu population at large to end his protest at the risk of his ailing health. The two sides eventually came to a compromise where the number of guaranteed seats for Untouchables would be increased at both central and provincial levels, but there would be a common electorate.

The 1950 national [[constitution of India]] legally abolished the practice of untouchability and provided measures for [[affirmative action]] in both educational institutions and public services for Dalits and other social groups who lie within the caste system. These are supplemented by official bodies such as the [[Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes|National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes]]. Despite this, prejudice, discrimination, segregation, and violence, based on untouchability, is still prevalent across India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 June 2019 |title=What is India's caste system? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616 |website=[[BBC]]}}</ref>