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082			_a305.5 AGG
100			_aAggarwal, Partap Chand
245		0	_aHalfway to equality
260			_aNew Delhi
260			_bManohar Publications
260			_c1983
300			_a279p.
520			_aThis book is about educated, aspiring Harijans who have made good in different fields. Thirty people-students, government officials, university professors, journalists, engineers, doctors and other professionals, and political leaders speak for and about themselves. They talk of their family background, their education, jobs, social life, their fears and dilemmas, and their hopes for the future. Their autobiographical accounts reveal with searing simplicity what it is to be born a Harijan and how they have battled and are still battling with their environment and their own inhibitions for a better life. Many Harijans try to hide their caste identity or 'pass'. But they hardly ever fully succeed. Despite popular misconception they are quite 'visible', not in a crowd, but always to colleagues, neighbours, customers and clients. Clearly the stigma attached to their caste status still persists; colleagues often hesitate to share food with them; landlords in high caste localities refuse to rent houses to them, teachers show condescending attitude to them, insulting expressions are used with or without the conscious intent to hurt them. Education, good jobs and privileges of the Harijans have helped but have by no means removed prejudices and stereotypes of the high castes. It is for the reader, however, to judge whether they are more or less than Halfway to Equality. An intensely human document that will stir all readers, and that every educated Indian ought to read and think about.
650			_aSocial classes
942			_cB _2ddc