Is there a connection between Caste and Untouchability and Malnutrition?
Geetha
Sunil Pillai
The
research found that Scheduled Caste children living south of the Vindhyachal
Mountains are, on average, 0.24 standard deviations taller than their
counterparts living north of the Vindhyachal Mountains and have a 7 to 8
percentage point lower risk of stunting, a highly significant and statistically
proven difference. Most importantly, no comparable difference was found among
upper-caste Hindu children between those north and south of the Vindhyachal
Mountains.
New Delhi—The problem
of child malnutrition in India is not limited to poverty or poor health
services; it is also deeply rooted in the centuries-old caste system and social
evils like untouchability. This startling finding comes from a recent study by
Professor Ashwini Deshpande of Ashoka University and Professor Rajesh
Ramachandran of Monash University Malaysia. This research paper was published
in the prestigious international journal Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization in the year 2025. The Centre for Economic and Data Analysis at
Ashoka University recently published an article on this.
The researchers based
their study on data from the Government of India’s National Family Health
Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-16. This survey provides physical measurements and caste
information for 230,898 children under the age of five. The study specifically
compared 45,924 Scheduled Caste (SC) and 29,132 Upper Caste Hindu (UC-Hindu)
children aged between 0 and 59 months.
According to the
research, stunting, i.e., extremely low height for age, is the most obvious
sign of chronic malnutrition. This condition profoundly impacts a child’s brain
development, educational potential, and economic opportunities in adult life.
Nearly one-third of children under five in India suffer from stunting, a
condition that has far-reaching and serious consequences for human capital
development.
Research findings
clearly show that the rate of stunting among Scheduled Caste children is
approximately 50 percent higher than that among upper caste Hindu children.
According to the data, while the rate of stunting among SC children is 43
percent, it is only 29 percent among upper caste Hindu children. This
difference is also clearly visible in the height parameter – the average
height-for-age Z-score of UC-Hindu children is -1.12, while that of SC children
is -1.64. This means that SC children are, on average, more than half a
standard deviation shorter than their upper caste counterparts. This difference
persists throughout every month of a child’s age, from 0 to 60 months.
Researchers analyzed
data from 585 districts across the country. Data from 467 districts for SC
children and 369 districts for UC-Hindu children were studied. This analysis
revealed that stunting rates among SC children were above 40 percent in 55
percent of districts, while stunting rates among UC-Hindu children were above
40 percent in only 15 percent of districts. In contrast, stunting rates among
SC children were below 30 percent in only 15 percent of districts, while
stunting rates among UC-Hindu children were below 30 percent in 54 percent of
districts.
The research found the
situation to be most severe in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, collectively known as the “BIMARU” region. This
region accounts for 50.8 percent of the total survey sample. In 180 out of 220
districts in this region, or 82 percent of districts, stunting rates among SC
children were above 40 percent. In 99 districts, or 45 percent, more than half
of SC children are stunted. On the other hand, in the same region, stunting
among UC-Hindu children is above 40 percent in only 20 percent of districts.
The situation is relatively better in Southern India, where only 24 percent of
districts have stunting among SC children above 40 percent.
The
Vindhyachal Mountains: A Historical and Social Divide
Professor Deshpande
and Professor Ramachandran made the Vindhyachal mountain range the most
important and fundamental aspect of their research. According to the
researchers, historically, the region north of the Vindhyachal was known as
“Aryavarta,” defined in Manusmriti (2.22) as the land between the Himalayas and
the Vindhyas. This region has been a cultural center of Hinduism and the caste
system since the Vedic period (approximately 1500-600 BCE). The Vindhya
Mountains historically served as a boundary between Aryan-influenced areas and
non-Aryan areas. This is why untouchability and caste-based discrimination are
more deeply rooted in the north.
This historical
evidence is supported by contemporary data. An analysis of the 2011-12 Indian
Human Development Survey (IHDS-II) data shows that 49 percent and 40 percent of
households in Central India and the North-Central Plains, respectively, admit
to practicing untouchability. In contrast, only 17 percent of households in the
southern states do so.
A study by Shah et al.
(2006) reported that Dalits were denied access to private health clinics in 74
of the 348 villages surveyed in rural India. In 30-40 percent of villages,
public health workers refused to visit Dalit settlements, and in 15-20 percent
of villages, Dalits were denied access to public health centers.
The researchers used a
well-established statistical method—Difference-in-Differences (DID)—to compare
SC and UC-Hindu children living 100 kilometers north and 100 kilometers south
of the Vindhyachal Mountains. This method is important because it compares
within a single state, allowing the influence of economic, geographic, and
administrative factors to be isolated.
The results are
extremely significant. SC children living within 100 kilometers of the
Vindhyachal range are 21 percentage points, or approximately 70 percent, more
likely to be stunted than UC-Hindu children. However, the most important
finding is that SC children living south of the Vindhyachal range are
approximately 8 percentage points less likely to be stunted than SC children
living north of the Vindhyachal range. This difference is both statistically
significant and economically significant. In terms of height, SC children
living south of the Vindhyachal range are, on average, 0.24 standard
deviations, or approximately 30 percent taller, than their counterparts in the
north.
On the other hand, for
UC-Hindu children, living north or south of the Vindhyachal region makes no
statistical difference. This means that the advantage of geographical location
is not universal, but rather limited to SC children, suggesting that caste-based
discrimination is the root cause of this difference.
Direct
Link Between Untouchability and Child Health
The research also
analyzed the direct relationship between the practice of untouchability and
children’s height. Using state-level data, the researchers found that in states
where the practice of untouchability is more prevalent, SC children’s
height-for-age Z-scores decline more rapidly and stunting increases. In
contrast, UC-Hindu children appear to have no such effect.
The research also
provides strong evidence of discrimination in health services. A study by Shah
et al. (2006) reported that Dalits were denied access to private health clinics
in 74 of the 348 villages surveyed in rural India. In 30-40 percent of
villages, public health workers refused to visit Dalit settlements, and in
15-20 percent of villages, Dalits were denied access to public health centers.
According to Acharya’s (2010) study of 200 Dalit children in Gujarat and
Rajasthan, 91 percent of Dalit children experienced discrimination in accessing
medicines, 94 percent reported that ANMs refused to visit their homes, and 93
percent said that health workers avoided touching Dalit children while
administering medicines.
Caste,
not economic factors, is the real factor: Validation tests
The researchers
conducted several validation exercises to ensure that the observed differences
were not simply a result of economic inequality. When the interaction between
family wealth index and “living south of Vindhyachal” was tested, it was found
to be statistically insignificant. This means that economic status cannot
explain this north-south divide. The interaction effect between SC and “south
of Vindhyachal” remained large and statistically significant.
Furthermore, a test on
Scheduled Tribe (ST) children found that ST children are as economically
disadvantaged as SC children, but their location north-south of Vindhyachal has
no statistically significant effect because STs have not traditionally faced caste-based
discrimination. Similarly, no significant north-south effect was found for
UC-Muslims. However, a positive effect was observed for SC-Muslims, which was
expected since SC-Muslims are often former SC converts from Hinduism and
continue to experience caste-based stigma.
The researchers
conducted another important test: artificially shifting the Vindhyachal range
north or south to see if a similar effect was observed there. When comparing
living entirely north of the Vindhyachal and living entirely south of it, no
statistically significant effect was found in either case. This proves that the
observed effect is not due to any arbitrary geographical division, but rather
to the specific historical and social boundaries of the Vindhyachal Mountains.
The research also
examined whether maternal education, health, household economic status, open
defecation, drinking water quality, and other social factors could explain this
North-South divide. When all these factors were taken together, the average gap
between SC and UC-Hindu children decreased from 23 percentage points to 11
percentage points. Factors such as maternal height, anemia status, years of
education, household wealth, and open defecation were found to be significantly
associated with malnutrition. However, even after controlling for all these
factors, the DID effect of “SC × South of Vindhyachal” only decreased from 7.7
percentage points to 5 percentage points, and this change was not statistically
significant. This means that while socioeconomic and public health factors
partially mitigate the gap, they are unable to fully explain this persistent
North-South divide. According to Acharya’s (2010) study of 200 Dalit children
in Gujarat and Rajasthan, 91 percent of Dalit children experienced discrimination
in accessing medicines, 94 percent reported that ANMs refused to visit their
homes, and 93 percent said that health workers avoided touching Dalit children
while administering medicines.
The research also
examined whether access to Anganwadi/ICDS services, prenatal check-ups,
institutional delivery, breastfeeding duration, child diet (eggs, fruits,
yogurt), and vaccination schedules explained this difference. The results were
clear—even after controlling for all these services, the “SC × South of
Vindhyachal” effect not only persisted, but in some cases became slightly
stronger.
Summary
Researchers have
linked these findings to racial health disparities in the United States. Just
as health disparities persist despite socioeconomic equality between Black and
White communities in the United States, caste-based discrimination, social
exclusion, and psychosocial stressors continue to impact child health for SC
communities in India. According to the researchers, these results also
demonstrate that stunting, affecting nearly half of SC children, has profound
negative consequences for their cognitive, educational, health, and economic
potential in adult life, and this persists across generations.
The researchers call
for multifaceted policy interventions that target not only material
inequalities but also deeper social structures. Investments in maternal health
and education, improved sanitation infrastructure, and effective enforcement of
anti-caste discrimination laws are all essential in combating child
malnutrition.
Courtesy:
Hindi News, justicenews
