Sukhadeo Thorat – författare

This book explores contemporary patterns of economic discrimination faced by Dalits and religious minorities like Muslims, and the underlying attitudinal orientations that contribute to inequality in various spheres of life. It investigates empirical evidence of discrimination by focusing on the urban labour market as well as other markets in rural areas. It also analyses discrimination in non-market transactions like access to education, primary healthcare services, and fair price shops. Through detailed case studies, the essays examine the consequences of exclusion on unequal access to business, wage-earning, health status, and educational attainments and suggest possible remedies. The introduction provides a conceptual framework and the foreword by Kaushik Basu underscores the importance of developing an interface between economics and social sciences in order to give greater visibility to research on discrimination. This book will interest students and scholars of Dalit and subaltern studies, economics, sociology, and politics. It will be an invaluable resource for policymakers and activists.

This study offers insight into the discriminatory workings of the labour market and its unequal outcomes with respect to employment, wages, and occupations, and its impact on the poverty of Scheduled Caste wage workers in India. It develops an understanding of the persistence of caste inequality in employment, wages, and occupations between the Scheduled Caste and the higher castes in the private and public sectors in India. It also identifies the causes of high unemployment and low wages of the Scheduled Caste workers, and their segregation in low-paid occupations. The authors provide convincing empirical evidence ofdiscrimination in wages and its impact on reduced wage incomes and increase in the poverty of the Scheduled Caste wage workers. Estimation of discrimination in employment, unemployment, and occupation, and its impact on income and poverty of the Scheduled Caste is net addition to the existing knowledge on the subject.