From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, May 3: Members of the Scheduled Tribes are likely to die earlier than the Scheduled Castes, upper caste Hindus and Muslims, a new study has revealed.
Men and women in all these categories have different lifespans. While Adivasi, Muslim and upper-caste Hindu men have a shorter lifespan than their women, Dalit (ST) men are likely to live longer, the study showed.
According to the study, the average lifespan of disadvantaged men is 60 years for Adivasis, 61.3 for Dalits, 63.8 for Muslims and 64.9 years for upper-caste Hindus. In the case of women, the life expectancy is 62.8 years for Adivasis, 63.3 for Dalits, 65.7 for Muslims and 66.5 for higher-caste Hindu women.
“People belonging to the country’s most marginalised social groups — Adivasis, Dalits (formerly known as untouchables) and Muslims — are more likely to die at younger ages than higher-caste Hindus,” the study by economist Sangita Vyas, analyst Payal Hathi and demographer Aashish Gupta said.
The study has been published by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The trio examined official health survey data of more than 20 million people from nine Indian states accounting for about half of India’s population of 1.4 billion or 140 crore. The researchers found that the expected lifespans of Adivasis and Dalits were four and three years shorter than higher-caste Hindus.
Buoyed by advances in medicine, hygiene and public health, India has made massive gains in life expectancy. Half a century ago, the average Indian would beat the odds by surviving into his or her 50s. Now they are expected to live almost 20 years longer, the experts said.
But although life expectancy for all social groups has increased, disparities have not reduced, a related study said. On the other hand, in some cases, absolute disparities have increased: the life expectancy gap between Dalit men and upper-caste Hindu men, for example, increased between the late 1990s and mid-2010s.
India is home to some of the largest populations of marginalised social groups in the world. The 120 million Adivasis – an “invisible and marginal minority”, in the words of a historian – live in considerable poverty in some of the remotest parts.
Despite political and social empowerment, the 230 million Dalits continue to face discrimination. And an overwhelming majority of 200 million Muslims, the third largest number of any country, continue to languish at the bottom of the social ladder and often become targets of sectarian violence.
Researchers found that the differences in where people live, their wealth and exposure to the environment account for less than half of these gaps. For example, the study found that Adivasis and Dalits live shorter than higher-caste Hindus across wealth categories.
There’s also evidence that the discrimination faced by marginalised groups in schools and in their interactions with government officials has deleterious impacts on physical and mental health. Such experiences have been linked to higher levels of stress-driven chronic diseases.
These groups also have less access to quality healthcare and education, both associated with poorer health. The researchers admitted poor data as out of an estimated 10 million deaths every year, seven million do not have a medically certified cause of death and three million fatalities are simply not registered.