Historically oppressed groups continue to be excluded: Report

The report estimates that a little over one-third of elderly over 60 receive some form of pension. It notes that the national old age pension is restricted to people officially classified as being below poverty line, a list that often excludes Dalits, Adivasis, women, migrant and casual workers. “The exclusions are even more profound for the Atal Pension Yojna which is a contributory scheme requiring regular payments for a minimum of 20 years to a maximum of 40 years,” notes CES director Harsh Mander in his foreword to the report. The report quotes an Ericsson Consumer Lab, 2015, study on the issue of digital exclusion. It estimates that even with the low and competitive prices of devices and data plans compared with the rest of the world, internet access in India remains beyond the reach of close to 1.063 billion people mainly belonging to lower income groups.

The report states that the pattern of land distribution closely reflects the existing socio-economic hierarchy with large landowners being from upper castes, cultivators from middle castes, and agricultural workers largely Dalits and tribals. It observes that women and Muslims face similar exclusions in land holdings.

The study notes that there is systematic bias of the criminal justice system against SCs, STs, Muslims, the poor citing National Crime Records Bureau, 2015, figures. The data shows that 65.56 per cent of all under-trials are from SC, ST, OBC communities while 30.24 per cent are from minority communities of which Muslims constitute a sizeable portion.