Caste – the actual cost of empowerment? : Dalit women & NREGA - a study of the poverty, social exclusion & shame nexus

Abstract

This thesis seeks to examine the lives of rural Dalit women in private as well as public spheres. A theoretical framework of poverty, shame and social exclusion has been used to explore the objectives. The study goes further and analyses one of India‟s biggest social security programs, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and to what extent it has provided Dalit women with a shield that can protect them from who they are, what they are and where they are. The study uses Dalit feminism as a stand point, and utilizes the available data and literature to analyze the aforementioned objectives.