C E N T E R  F O R  G L O B A L  D E V E L O P M E N T  +  S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y 
 T H E  H E L L E R  S C H O O L  A T  B R A N D E I S  U N I V E R S I T Y 

CASTE  A Global Journal on Social Exclusion
Volume 3 :: Number 2 

October 2022 
ISSN 2639-4928

brandeis.edu/j-caste

Health Disparity and Health Equity in India: Understanding 
the Difference and the Pathways Towards Policy  
Sanghmitra S. Acharya—Guest Editor

E D ITO R I A L A N D I N T R O D U C TI O N

A R TI C L E S

Being Insider-Outsider: Public Policy, Social Identity,  
and Delivery of Healthcare Services in India G.C. Pal 

Enculturalising Casteism in Health Care in India Navin Narayan

Situating Hadis’ Occupation and Caste: Exclusionary  
Journey from Manual Workers to Sanitation Workers 
in India K.M. Ziyauddin

Media Coverage and Corona Induced Health Emergency: 
Understanding Prejudice, Stigma, and Social Inequalities  
in India Achla Pritam Tandon 

Impact of Covid-19 on Livelihood and Health Experiences 
of Migrant Labourers in Kerala, India Dilip Diwakar G.,  
Visakh Viswambaran, and Prasanth M.K.

Inequality in Access to Medical Education in India: Implications  
for the Availability of Health Professionals Khalid Khan

Addressing Hegemony within the System of Medicine for 
an Inclusive and Sustainable Health System: The Case of 
Traditional Medicine in India Nemthianngai Guite 

Caste and Socioeconomic Inequality in Child Health 
and Nutrition in India: Evidences from National Family 
Health Survey Rajesh Raushan, Sanghmitra S. Acharya,  
and Mukesh Ravi Raushan

Health Investments to Reduce Health Inequities in India: Do 
We Need More Evidence? Indrani Gupta and Avantika Ranjan

Social Inequities in Private Health Sector Workforce in India: 
Religion, Caste, Class, and Gender Rama V. Baru and Seemi Zafar

Differences in Access to Health Resources: An Analysis of 
Disparities among Dalit Sub-castes in Uttar Pradesh, India 
Kanhaiya Kumar

CASTE, UNEQUAL STATUS, AND  
DISCRIMINATORY ACCESS TO HEALTH 
SERVICES IN INDIA

FO R U M

B O O K R E V I E W

A special article from the Chief  
Justice, High Court of Orissa, India

‘Chains of Servitude:  
Bondage and Slavery in India’ 
by Utsa Patnaik and Manjari 
Dingwaney Manoj Siwach, Bharat, 
and Babloo Jakhar

CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion  
is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, 
and extend access to our journal

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Appearing in Court in India:  
Challenges in Representing the 
Marginalised S. Muralidhar

Manifestations of Academic  
Untouchability in India:  
Exclusionary Practices that  
Subvert Reservations in  
Admissions in Higher Education  
C. Jerome Samraj



JOINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Laurence R. Simon 

Brandeis University, USA 

Sukhadeo Thorat  

(Emeritus) Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

EDITOR

Joseph K. Assan  

Brandeis University, USA 

REVIEWS EDITORS

Jebaroja Singh 

St. John Fisher College, USA

Sanghmitra Acharya 

Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

SENIOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Afia A. Adaboh  

Brandeis University, USA

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT FOR PUBLIC 

OUTREACH & COMMUNICATIONS

Jaspreet Mahal  

Brandeis University, USA

PRODUCTION EDITOR

Vinod Kumar Mishra  

Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, India

UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN

Matthew Sheehy  

Brandeis University, USA

OJS TECHNICAL MANAGER

TBA 

Brandeis University Library, USA

CASTE

A G LO BAL J O U R NAL O N SOCIAL E XCLUS IO N

CASTE, UNEQUAL STATUS, AND DISCRIMINATORY  

ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES IN INDIA 

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2



EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Kaushik Basu, C. Marks Professor of International 
Studies and Professor of Economics, Cornell  
University, USA; former Chief Economist of the 
World Bank; President, International Economics 
Association; former Chief Economic Adviser to  
the Government of India

Kevin D. Brown, Professor of Law, Maurer School  
of Law, Indiana University, USA

Ipsita Chatterjee, Associate Professor, Department 
of Geography and the Environment, University of 
North Texas, USA

Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics,  
Ashoka University, India

Meena Dhanda, Professor in Philosophy and  
Cultural Politics, University of Wolverhampton, 
United Kingdom

Jean Drèze, Honorary Professor, Delhi School  
of Economics, University of Delhi, India

Ashok Gurung, Associate Professor, Julien J. Studley 
Graduate Program in International Affairs , The New 
School, New York, USA

John Harriss, Professorial Research Associate,  
Department of Development Studies, SOAS,  
University of London, United Kingdom

Eva-Maria Hardtmann, Associate Professor  
and Director of Studies, Department of Social  
Anthropology, Stockholm University, Sweden

Susan Holcombe, Professor Emerita of the Practice, 
Heller School for Social Policy and Management, 
Brandeis University, USA

Sushrut Jadhav, Professor of Cultural Psychiatry, 
University College London; Consultant Psychiatrist 
& Medical Lead, Focus Homeless Services, C & I NHS 
Foundation Trust; Clinical Lead, C & I Cultural Con-
sultation Service; Founding Editor & Editor-in-Chief, 
Anthropology & Medicine (Taylor and Francis, UK); 
Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, 
SOAS, London, United Kingdom

Chinnaiah Jangam, Assistant Professor of History,  
Carleton University, Canada

S. Japhet, Visiting Professor, National Law School of 
India University; formerly Founding Vice Chancellor, 
Bengaluru City University, Bengalore, India

Sangeeta Kamat, Professor of Education, University  
of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA

Joel Lee, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, 
Williams College, USA

David Mosse, Professor of Social Anthropology, 
SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom

Samuel L. Myers, Jr., Roy Wilkens Professor of  
Human Relations and Social Justice and Director, 
Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and  
Social Justice, Humphrey School of Public Affairs,  
University of Minnesota, USA

Balmurli Natrajan, Professor and Chair, Department 
of Anthropology, William Patterson University, USA

Purna Nepali, Associate Professor, Kathmandu 
University, Nepal

Katherine S. Newman, Senior Vice President for  
Academic Affairs, University of Massachusetts  
system, Torrey Little Professor of Sociology, USA

Martha C. Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished 
Services Professor of Law and Ethics, Law  
School and Philosophy Department, University  
of Chicago, USA

Devan Pillay, Associate Professor and Head,  
Department of Sociology, University of  
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy  
and International Affairs, Yale University, USA

Christopher Queen, Lecturer on the Study of 
Religion, and Dean of Students for Continuing 
Education (Retired), Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 
Harvard University, USA

Jehan Raheem, Former Founding Director,  
Evaluation Office, United Nations Development  
Programme and Former UNDP Resident  
Representative, Burma (Myanmar) 

Anupama Rao, Associate Professor of History,  
Barnard and Columbia Universities, USA

Amilcar Shabazz, Professor, W.E.B. Du Bois  
Department for Afro-American Studies, University 
of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA

A.B. Shamsul, Distinguished Professor and Founding 
Director, Institute for Ethnic Studies, The National 
University of Malaysia

Kalinga Tudor Silva, Professor Emeritus of Sociology,  
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; Research 
Director, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, 
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Harleen Singh, Associate Professor of Literature, 
and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, 
Brandeis University, USA

Ajantha Subramanian, Professor of Anthropology 
and South Asian Studies, Social Anthropology  
Program Director, Harvard University, USA

Abha Sur, Scientist in the Science, Technology  
and Society Program; Senior Lecturer, Program  
in Women and Gender Studies, Massachusetts  
Institute of Technology, USA

Goolam Vahed, Associate Professor, History,  
Society & Social Change Cluster, University of  
Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Gowri Vijayakumar, Assistant Professor of Sociology 
and South Asian Studies, Brandeis University, USA

Annapurna Waughray, Reader in Human Rights Law, 
Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan 
University, UK

Cornel West, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of 
Philosophy and Christian Practice, Union Theological 
Seminary , USA



Copyright © 2022 CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion 

ISSN 2639-4928

brandeis.edu/j-caste



TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL AND INTRODUCTION

Health Disparity and Health Equity  
in India: Understanding the Difference  
and the Pathways Towards Policy  

Sanghmitra S. Acharya    —Guest Editor
....... 211-222

ARTICLES

Being Insider-Outsider: Public Policy, Social 
Identity, and Delivery of Healthcare Services 

in India G.C. Pal
....... 223-244

Enculturalising Casteism in Health Care  

in India Navin Narayan
....... 245-262

Situating Hadis’ Occupation and Caste:  
Exclusionary Journey from Manual Workers 

to Sanitation Workers in India K.M. Ziyauddin
....... 263-284

Media Coverage and Corona Induced  
Health Emergency: Understanding Prejudice, 
Stigma, and Social Inequalities in India  

Achla Pritam Tandon
....... 285-298

Impact of Covid-19 on Livelihood and Health 
Experiences of Migrant Labourers in Kerala, 

India Dilip Diwakar G., Visakh Viswambaran, 
and Prasanth M.K.
....... 299-318

Inequality in Access to Medical Education 
in India: Implications for the Availability of 

Health Professionals Khalid Khan
....... 319-334

Addressing Hegemony within the System  
of Medicine for an Inclusive and Sustainable 
Health System: The Case of Traditional  

Medicine in India Nemthianngai Guite
....... 335-344

Caste and Socioeconomic Inequality in Child 
Health and Nutrition in India: Evidences from 

National Family Health Survey Rajesh Raushan, 
Sanghmitra S. Acharya, and Mukesh Ravi Raushan
....... 345-364

Health Investments to Reduce Health  
Inequities in India: Do We Need More  

Evidence? Indrani Gupta and Avantika Ranjan
....... 365-382

Social Inequities in Private Health Sector 
Workforce in India: Religion, Caste, Class,  

and Gender Rama V. Baru and Seemi Zafar
....... 383-404

Differences in Access to Health Resources:  
An Analysis of Disparities among Dalit  
Sub-castes in Uttar Pradesh, India  

Kanhaiya Kumar
....... 405-420

FORUM

Appearing in Court in India: Challenges in  

Representing the Marginalised S. Muralidhar
....... 421-441

Manifestations of Academic Untouchability 
in India: Exclusionary Practices that Subvert 
Reservations in Admissions in Higher 

Education C. Jerome Samraj
....... 442-457

BOOK REVIEW

‘Chains of Servitude: Bondage and Slavery in 
India’ by Utsa Patnaik and Manjari Dingwaney  

Manoj Siwach, Bharat, and Babloo Jakhar
....... 458-462