who were untouchable

Solution:

Untouchability - It is the practise of discriminating against people on the basis of their caste. The lower castes were known as the untouchables and were prohibited from mixing with the upper castes. They lived in separate areas, had different drinking wells and were forced to do menial work. B. R. Ambedkar along with Mahatma Gandhi fought for equal rights of the lower castes and succeeded in making untouchability a punishable offence.  
Untouchable, also called Dalit, officially Scheduled Caste, formerly Harijan, in traditional Indian society, the former name for any member of a wide range of low-caste Hindu groups and any person outside the caste system.The use of the term and the social disabilities associated with it were declared illegal in the constitutions adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India in 1949 and of Pakistan in 1953. Mahatma Gandhi called untouchables Harijans (“Children of the God Hari Vishnu,” or simply “Children of God”) and long worked for their emancipation. However, this name is now considered condescending and offensive. The term Dalit later came to be used, though that too occasionally has negative connotations. The official designation Scheduled Caste is the most common term now used in India.Kocheril Raman Narayanan, who served as president of India from 1997 to 2002, was the first member of a Scheduled Caste to occupy a high office in the country.

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