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Synopsis Untouchability is alive in the countryside though fear of law and rising Dalit assertion seem to have curbed its crude manifestations. These are findings of a survey conducted to study the impact of Production of Civil Rights Act on untouchability commissioned by Union social justice ministry. Villages, the den of this decadent practice, are from being zero-untouchability zones as found in various parts of India.

India has a hierarchical caste system in the society. Within Indian culture, whether in the north or the south, Hindu or Muslim, urban or village, virtually all things, people and groups of people are ranked according to various essential qualities. If one is attuned to the theme of hierarchy in India, one can discern it everywhere. Although India is a political democracy, in daily life there is little advocacy of or adherence to notions of equality.