The social construct of ‘caste’ traces its origins back to Vedic literature in the second millennium, establishing a system where higher castes possess social, economic, political and religious authority, while lower castes are left to endure a semblance of sympathy through millennia. The notion of caste remains a topic of debate and continues to generate nuanced discourses within contemporary Indian society. This conceptual article aims to develop and establish critical caste theory (CCT) as a theoretical framework to corroborate the manifold manifestations of discriminatory practices often endured by marginalized castes within the intricacies of various Indian institutions, especially healthcare institutions. By advancing the argument for CCT and its applicability as a theoretical framework, this article seeks to acknowledge the historical injustices towards lower castes, particularly in relation to their access to fundamental rights to healthcare in India.
AcharyaS. (2010). Caste and patterns of discrimination in rural public health care services. InBlocked by caste: Economic discrimination in modern India (pp. 208–229). Oxford University Press.
2.
AhmedS., & MahapatroS. (2023). Inequality in healthcare access at the intersection of caste and gender. Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 15(1_suppl), S75–S85. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X221142692
3.
AmbadeP. N., PakhaleS., & RahmanT. (2023). Explaining caste-based disparities in enrollment for the national health insurance program in India: A decomposition analysis. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(4), 1918–1932. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01374-8
4.
AmbedkarB. R. (1968). Annihilation of caste with a reply to Mahatma Gandhi: And castes in India: Their mechanism, genesis, and development. Bheem Patrika Publications.
5.
Arjunrao PolA. (2020). Casteism among Indian doctors: A critical review. World Journal of Public Health, 5(4). https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20200504.14
6.
ArnoldD. (1993). Colonizing the body: State medicine and epidemic disease in nineteenth-century India. University of California Press.
7.
ArnoldD. (2000). Science, technology and medicine in colonial India (Vol. 5). Cambridge University Press.
8.
BanerjiD. (2005). Politics of rural health in India. International Journal of Health Services, 35(4), 783–796.
9.
BaruR., AcharyaA., AcharyaS., KumarA. S., & NagarajK. (2010). Inequities in access to health services in India: Caste, class, and region. Economic & Political Weekly, 45(38), 49–58.
10.
BaylyS. (1999). Caste, society, and politics in India from the eighteenth century to the modern age. Cambridge University Press.
11.
BellD. A. (1995). Who’s afraid of critical race theory. University of Illinois Law Review, 1995(4), 893–910.
12.
BerremanG. D. (1960). Caste in India and the United States. American Journal of Sociology, 66(2), 120–127. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2773155
13.
BhandalT. (2014). Finding gendered inequities in poor women’s experiences of neoliberal health care and labour: Perspectives from India. Health Tomorrow: Interdisciplinarity and Internationality, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.25071/2564-4033.40162
14.
BrindhaG. (2013). Emerging trends of telemedicine in India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 6(5S), 4572–4578.
15.
ChakrabortyR., & ChakrabortiC. (2015). India, health inequities, and a fair healthcare provision: A perspective from health capability. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 16(4), 567–580.
16.
ChokshiM., PatilB., KhannaR., NeogiS. B., SharmaJ., PaulV. K., & ZodpeyS. (2016). Health systems in India. Journal of Perinatology, 36(3), S9–S12.
17.
DanielT., HashamN., LanningK., ShintaniM., & YadavV. (2012). Health is wealth: Health care access for Dalit communities in Saptari, Nepal. Samata Foundation.
18.
DasM., AngeliF., & van SchayckO. C. P. (2020). Understanding self-construction of health among the slum dwellers of India: A culture-centred approach. Sociology of Health & Illness, 42(5), 1001–1023. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13075
19.
D’CruzP., & BharatS. (2001). Which way to turn? Inadequacies in the health care system in India. Journal of Health Management, 3(1), 85–125.
20.
DelgadoR., & StefancicJ. (2023). Critical race theory: An introduction (Vol. 87). NYU Press.
21.
DeshpandeM. (2007). Through the lens of universality: Dignity, trust and exclusion in the era of health sector reforms. In Social policy in a globalizing world: Developing a North-South dialogue [Paper presented]. University of Florence, Italy.
22.
DjurfeldtG., & LindbergS. (1975). Pills against poverty: A study of the introduction of Western medicine in a Tamil village. Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies.
23.
DommarajuP., AgadjanianV., & YabikuS. (2008). The pervasive and persistent influence of caste on child mortality in India. Population Research and Policy Review, 27(4), 477–495. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41217964
24.
DuggalR. (2001). Evolution of health policy in India. Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes.
25.
DuggalR. (2007). Healthcare in India: Changing the financing strategy. Social Policy & Administration, 41(4), 386–394.
26.
DuggalR. (2012). Challenges in financing healthcare. Economic & Political Weekly, 47(35), 22–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41720079
27.
FieldT. (2003). Touch. A Bradford Book.
28.
GangolliL. V., DuggalR., & ShuklaA. (2005). Review of healthcare in India. Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes.
29.
GeorgeS. (2015). Caste and care: Is Indian healthcare delivery system favourable for Dalits?Institute for Social and Economic Change.
30.
GeorgeS. (2019). Reconciliations of caste and medical power in rural public health services. Economic & Political Weekly, 54(40), 43–50.
31.
GhoseS. (2003). The Dalit in India. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 70(1), 83–109.
32.
GoodnightM. R. (2017). Critical race theory in India: Theory translation and the analysis of social identities and discrimination in Indian schooling. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 47(5), 665–683.
33.
GovenderV., & Penn-KekanaL. (2008). Gender biases and discrimination: A review of health care interpersonal interactions. Global Public Health, 3(S1), 90–103.
34.
GulhatiK. (1977). Compulsory sterilization: The change in India’s population policy. Science, 195(4284), 1300–1305. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1743751
35.
GullifordM., Figueroa-MunozJ., MorganM., HughesD., GibsonB., BeechR., & HudsonM. (2002). What does ‘access to health care’ mean?Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 7(3), 186–188.
36.
HardimanD. (2007). Healing, medical power and the poor: Contests in tribal India. Economic & Political Weekly, 42(16), 1404–1408. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419486
37.
HarrisonM. (1994). Public health in British India: Anglo-Indian preventive medicine 1859–1914. Cambridge University Press.
38.
HartJ. T. (2000). Commentary: Three decades of the inverse care law. British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition), 320(7226), 18–19.
39.
HoodaS. K. (2020). Health system in transition in India: Journey from state provisioning to privatization. World Review of Political Economy, 11(4), 506–532. https://doi.org/10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.4.0506
40.
IrudayamA., MangubhaiJ. P., & LeeJ. G. (2006). Dalit women speak out: Violence against Dalit women in India (Vol. I & II). National Council for Dalit Human Rights.
41.
IyerA., SenG., & GeorgeA. (2007). The dynamics of gender and class in access to health care: Evidence from rural Karnataka, India. International Journal of Health Services, 37(3), 537–554.
42.
JaiswalS. (2008). Caste, gender and ideology in the making of India. Social Scientist, 36(1/2), 3–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27644260
43.
KaleR. K., & AcharyaS. S. (Eds.). (2022). Mapping identity-induced marginalisation in India: Inclusion and access in the land of unequal opportunities. Springer Nature.
44.
KasthuriA. (2018). Challenges to healthcare in India—The five A’s. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 43(3), 141–143. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_194_18
45.
KhanN., & SaggurtiN. (2020). Socioeconomic inequality trends in childhood vaccination coverage in India: Findings from multiple rounds of National Family Health Survey. Vaccine, 38(25), 4088–4103.
46.
KhubchandaniJ., SoniA., FaheyN., RaithathaN., PrabhakaranA., ByattN., Moore SimasT. A., PhatakA., RosalM., NimbalkarS., & AllisonJ. J. (2017). Caste matters: Perceived discrimination among women in rural India. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 21(2), 163–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-017-0790-1
47.
KrishnaA., & AnanthpurK. (2013). Globalization, distance and disease: Spatial health disparities in rural India. Millennial Asia, 4(1), 3–25.
48.
KumarA. (2007). Health inequity and women’s self-help groups in India: The role of caste and class. Health Sociology Review, 16(2), 160–168.
49.
KumarK. (2022). Differences in access to health resources: An analysis of disparities among Dalit sub-castes in Uttar Pradesh, India. CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, 3(2), 405–420. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48695959
50.
LakshminarayananS. (2011). Role of government in public health: Current scenario in India and future scope. Journal of Family & Community Medicine, 18(1), 26–30. https://doi.org/10.4103/1319-1683.78635
51.
LewisM. J., & MacphersonK. L. (Eds.). (2007). Public health in Asia and the Pacific: Historical and comparative perspectives. Routledge.
52.
MilnerM. J. (1994). Status and sacredness: A general theory of status relations and an analysis of Indian culture. Oxford University Press.
53.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India. Rural health care system in India. NRHM Health Management Information’s Systems Portal. Retrieved, 26October2021, from https://hmis.nhp.gov.in/downloadfile?filepath=publications/Rural-Health-Statistics/RHS%202019-20.pdf
54.
MishraY., PandaG. R., & GonsalvesC. (2009). Human rights and budgets in India. Socio-Legal Information Centre.
55.
MohantyS. K., MishraU. S., & ChauhanR. K. (2019). The demographic and development divide in India. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1007.978-981
56.
MukherjeeR. (1999). Caste in itself, caste and class, or caste in class. Economic & Political Weekly, 34(27), 1759–1761. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4408152
57.
NarulaS. (2008). Equal by law, unequal by caste: The untouchable condition in critical race perspective. Wisconsin International Law Journal, 26, 255.
58.
PetersD. H. (Ed.). (2002). Better health systems for India’s poor: Findings, analysis, and options. World Bank Publications.
59.
PetersD. H., RaoK. S., & FryattR. (2003). Lumping and splitting: The health policy agenda in India. Health Policy and Planning, 18(3), 249–260.
60.
PhadkeA. (2003). Right to health care: Towards an agenda. Economic & Political Weekly, 38(41), 4308–4309. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4414128
61.
PolitK. M. (2005). The effects of inequality and relative marginality on the well-being of low caste people in Central Uttaranchal. Anthropology & Medicine, 12(3), 225–237.
62.
PrasadN. P. (2007). Medicine, power and social legitimacy: A socio-historical appraisal of health systems in contemporary India. Economic & Political Weekly, 42(34), 3491–3498.
63.
PriyaR., & SathyamalaC. (2007). Contextualising AIDS and human development: Long-term illness and death among adults in labouring low-caste groups in India. AIDS Care, 19(Suppl 1), 35–43.
64.
RajamaniS. (2020). Critical caste theory in education (PhD Thesis, University of Massachusetts Boston).
65.
RamachandranR., & DeshpandeA. (2021). The impact of caste: A missing link in the literature on stunting in India. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3803717
66.
RamaiahA. (2015). Health status of Dalits in India. Economic & Political Weekly, 50(43), 70–74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/440027766
67.
RamasubbanR. (2007). History of public health in modern India: 1857–2005. In Public health in Asia and the Pacific (pp. 99–117). Routledge.
68.
RamasubbanR., & RishyasringaB. (2002). Sexuality and reproductive health and rights: Fifty years of the Ford Foundation’s population and health program in India. Ford Foundation.
69.
RaniM., BonuS., & HarveyS. (2008). Differentials in the quality of antenatal care in India. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 20(1), 62–71.
70.
RobbP. (1995). The concept of race in South Asia. Oxford University Press.
71.
RoyT. K., KulkarniS., & VaidehiY. (2004). Social inequalities in health and nutrition in selected states. Economic & Political Weekly, 39(7), 677–683. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4414643
72.
RudrappaS., AgarkhedD. V., & VaidyaS. S. (2019). Healthcare systems: India. InQuality spine care (pp. 211–224). Springer.
73.
SabirS. (2003). Chimerical categories: Caste, race, and genetics. Developing World Bioethics, 3(2), 170–177.
74.
SenG. (2012). Universal health coverage in India: A long and winding road. Economic & Political Weekly, 47(8), 45–52. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41419899
75.
SendilkumarB., & PriyamathiT. (2021). A comparative study on healthcare challenges in urban and rural India. Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 25(6), 18539–18544.
76.
ShahG., ManderH., ThoratS., DeshpandeS., & BaviskarA. (2006). Untouchability in rural India. Sage Publication.
77.
SharmaA. K. (2009). National Rural Health Mission: Time to take stock. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 34(3), 175.
78.
SinghA. (2016). Availability and inequality in the distribution of health workers in the public health system in rural India (PhD Thesis, University of Portsmouth).
79.
SinghL. N. (2014). Dalits in India: Origin of caste and social exclusion. Bhartiya Bhasha, Siksha, Sahitya Evam Shodh, 5. https://doi.org/10.32804/bbsses
80.
SriramS. (2019). Health insurance program for the poor, out-of-pocket costs, and catastrophic health expenditures in India (PhD Thesis, University of South Carolina).
81.
SubramanianS. V., AckersonL. K., SubramanyamM. A., & SivaramakrishnanK. (2008). Health inequalities in India: The axes of stratification. The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 14(2), 127–138. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24590719
82.
TartakovG. M. (2009). Why compare Dalits and African Americans? They are neither unique nor alone. InAgainst stigma: Studies in caste, race and justice since Durban (pp. 95–140). Orient BlackSwan.
83.
TilakJ. B. G. (1979). Inequality in education in India. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 14(3), 417–436. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27765728
84.
VaidD. (2012). The caste-class association in India: An empirical analysis. Asian Survey, 52(2), 395–422. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2012.52.2.395
85.
VisweswaranK., NatarajanB., & GreenoughP. (2009). India in South Africa. InAgainst stigma (pp. 326–374). Orient Blackswan.
