Assurance the Rights of the Harijan community : A Constitutional and Social Imperative in Bangladesh
For decades, the Harijan and Dalit communities in Bangladesh have lived in the shadows of systemic discrimination, economic catastrophe, political marginalization, and social exclusion. Despite playing a vital role in maintaining urban sanitation, street cleaning, and other essential public services their powerful presence is largely invisible in the country’s national view and development of urbanization policies. It is high time we acknowledged that dignity, equality, equity and justice are not discretionary privileges to be granted—they are also fundamental rights guaranteed by our Grande norm.
Invisible Citizens of the Republic
A recent auspicious seminar titled “Harijan-Dalit Community in Reform and State Consciousness,” organized by Harijan Adhikar Adai Sangathan had casted light on the deeply entrenched political neglect faced by Harijan people in different time . The discussions was unveiled an uncomfortable truth in the Harijan community, despite their service to the nation, continues to suffer from institutional invisibility to get their rights. Most distressingly, the national census does not maintain a distinct count of the Harijan or Dalit population at all.
This lack of documentation leads to their exclusion from state centered planning, resource distribution, and development schemes in our country. The keynote speakers stressed that without official recognition of dalit and data it is impossible to frame policies that protect and empower Harijan lives in Bangladesh . As Professor Anu Muhammad insightfully remarked, “To build an equal society we must begin by ensuring the rights of those who are most oppressed in previous time .” His words remind us that any blueprint for inclusive development must begin by addressing the plight of the most marginalized people in the history of Bangladesh.
The Right to Employment and Representation
Harijans face generational confinement to low-wage and hazardous labor, especially in sanitation services but the scenario can be different . While they perform some of the most vital public duties, they are denied the basic respect as a human and protections offered to other government workers. One of the example is the cleaner recruitment quota—designed to reserve 80% of sanitation-related jobs for Harijans—which often remains unimplemented or misappropriated in the time of recruitment . This system, if properly monitored by authorities and enforced, could provide job security, dignity, and upward mobility for thousands of Harijan families and lives.
Profound Legal expert Sara Hossain emphasized the need for affirmative action, not just in the form of job quotas but also through educational access to right to life, skill development, l and professional training programme. Only then can Harijans break the cycle of occupational barriers that traps them in the lowest rungs of the labor market right now Moreover, the community is glaringly absent in political institutions as to respect the horizons. There is currently no Harijan representative in the Jatiya Sangsad also.
This exclusion effectively silences their voices of rights in the policymaking process. Speakers at the seminar strongly urged the government to reserve seats in Parliament and local government bodies to ensure meaningful political representation of the horizons. Representation is not merely symbolic—it is essential for laws, policies, morality and budgets to reflect the lived realities of all citizens as a human being.
Education, Healthcare, and Social Security: Non-Negotiable Rights
The path to dignity and empowerment lies in education and healthcare—sectors where Harijans are drastically underserved in the society . Many Harijan children are unable to attend school due to poverty, discrimination, disparity and lack of institutional support. Even when they do attend they face systemic exclusion from rights and social stigma. A targeted university quota system for Harijan students could open doors to higher education that enable the next generation to pursue careers outside the traditional practicable sanitation sector. We can mention Healthcare is another area where inequality is stark at its peak.
Basically Harijans working in sanitation are regularly exposed to hazardous waste, toxins, serious pesticides and infectious diseases, yet they often lack access to basic medical care treatment from the common aspect. Even maternity leave, pensions, festival bonuses, and job security—standard benefits for most government employees—are merely available to sanitation workers who lead their life in a measurable way. The social demands put forth by Harijan leaders include the institutionalization of free healthcare, accessible education, right to life special employment quotas for graduates, and basic labor rights for all sanitation workers for their livelihood . These are not unreasonable asks—they are essential components of a just and fair inclusive society.
Housing and Land Rights
One of the most pressing and emotional issues for the Harijan community is the threat of eviction from urban colonies they have inhabited for generations for a long time. These colonies, often located on public lands, have been home to Harijan families since the colonial era. Yet, despite their long-standing residency, Harijans are treated as illegal occupants even in their land and are frequently subjected to evictions without notice or rehabilitation. The infamous Mironjilla evictions in Dhaka serve as a chilling reminder of this vulnerability in a greater perspective Besides.
Harijan colonies were demolished without alternative housing arrangements, leaving families homeless and exposed. Such actions are not just inhumane—they are unconstitutional. The government must priorities permanent settlement for Harijan communities. This includes legal recognition of existing colonies, allocation of state land for housing, and a moratorium on forced evictions. It is said that housing is a human right, and for the Harijan community, secure housing is also a necessary safeguard against systemic forced displacement and urban cleansing.
Constitutional Recognition and Legal Protection
Perhaps the most foundational demand is for the constitutional recognition of Harijan and Dalit communities. Without formal recognition, no effective policy, budget allocation, or legal protection can be designed or implemented for their welfare as a human being. This exclusion renders them perpetual outsiders in their own country. To rectify this, human rights activists have recommended the creation of an independent commission on Harijan and Dalit affairs and the establishment of a Special Tribunal for Discrimination Abolition.
These institutions could play a critical role in addressing systemic injustices that providing legal redress, and holding perpetrators of caste-based discrimination accountable. Writer and researcher Altaf Parvez aptly noted that the absence of reliable demographic data leaves government policies blind and ineffective. The state must immediately undertake a comprehensive census to identify and understand the demographic realities of the Harijan and Dalit populations to save their life from the humanitarian background.
The Path Forward: From Tokenism to Transformation
The Constitution of Bangladesh affirms the equality of all citizens. Article 27 clearly enshrines equality before the law and equal protection of the law. Yet, the ground realities paint a vastly different picture for Harijans in the time of implementation the fundamental rights . They are still confined to hereditary occupations, face routine discrimination, and are denied access to the rights and benefits enjoyed by other citizens at the same time. Professor Tanzimuddin Khan of Dhaka University aptly observed, “We expected these discriminatory social structures to disappear after independence. Yet, they have only changed form.”
The legacy of caste, although not legally sanctioned in Bangladesh, persists in the form of structural and cultural exclusion. The time has come for deliberate, systemic change for the future time This means moving beyond token gestures towards holistic reforms—constitutional, legal, administrative, and social stigma. The role of civil society is also crucial. Awareness campaigns, educational inclusion, and social integration initiatives must accompany state-led reforms to make a demand based society for the upliftment of the dying human civilization like the lower caste Horijan community.
The Harijan people are not asking for charity. They are demanding justice, equality, and recognition—rights that the Constitution already promises them. By ignoring their plight, their demand is a serious burden to bet and betray to these constitutional values but also weaken the moral foundation of our democratic republic. We urge to the Bangladesh Government must no longer delay to fulfill the rights of the marginal harijan community. Ensuring the rights and dignity of the Harijan community is not merely a policy in providing rights—it is a constitutional, moral, and humanitarian imperative for the society who usually abstain from their constitutional rights for decades.
Author Faijul Islam is a Lecturer of Law at Prime University, Bangladesh.
