What does it take for a Dalit-owned business to take off?

When a Chattarpur-based businessman went from living in a room the size of a kitchen to having Mercs and Jaguars parked in the driveway, police teams and income tax officials started hounding the family. His fault? He is Dalit.
“The caste divide is so ingrained in our blood that we start questioning the moment a person from a lower caste achieves greatness in life,” said Chandra Bhan Prasad, adviser to the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.And that is if they pull focus at all. “They go unnoticed. They don’t have much knowledge of marketing or branding. Dalit shoemakers in Agra sell a pair of leather shoes for Rs 2,000. Proper branding would have fetched them twice as much.”
D Shyam Babu, senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, said that though a lot has been done to bring about social change, still more needs to be done to empower the aspiring middle class. He added, “There is a total disconnect between Dalit policy-makers and the middle-class Dalits.”
Yamini Aiyar, president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, agreed: “India has a market-driven caste structure and, hence, larger changes are required in these areas.” She added, “There are two kinds of people. The first kind wants to go back to the past and tell their story. The second kind is seething with anger against the oppression that they received over the years. Policies should be made to address these issues first.”
While a lot was discussed on Dalit men who are trying to make a mark in the world of business, the women who try to don a similar role and face greater obstacles remained a rather untouched topic, said a student who attended the session at TOI Litfest on Saturday.