Bridging the Social Gap: Perspectives on Dalit Empowerment addresses four interrelated issues. It conceptualises exclusion-linked deprivation of excluded and indigenous groups in Indian society and elaborates the concept and meaning of social exclusion in general, and of caste-, untouchability- and ethnicity-based exclusion in particular. It then presents the status of disadvantaged groups of Dalit and Adivasi and captures inter-social group inequalities in the attainment of human development. It then goes on to analyse factors associated with high deprivation of these disadvantaged groups in terms of low access to resources, employment, education and social needs. Finally, it highlights the role of caste discrimination in economic, civil and political spheres in the persistence of group inequalities.

All these issues have been explained using simple language; relevant and recent data; case studies; news highlights related to civil, social, economic and political rights violation for easy and better understanding of readers.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Sukhadeo Thorat and Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal
Exclusion, Deprivation and Human Development: Conceptual Framework to Study Excluded Groups Sukhadeo Thorat, Arjan de Haan and Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal
Government Policy against Discrimination and for Empowerment Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal
Exclusion and Discrimination: The Contemporary Scenario Sukhadeo Thorat and Prashant Negi
Human Development and Human Poverty by Social Groups Sukhadeo Thorat and S Venkatesan
Levels and Patterns of Consumption Expenditure of Social Groups Ashwini Deshpande
Levels and Disparities in Poverty Arjan de Haan and Amaresh Dubey
Literacy and Educational Levels Sachidanand Sinha
Housing and Household Amenities Sachidanand Sinha
Health and Nutritional Status Vijay Kumar Baraik and P M Kulkarni
Occupational Pattern M Thangaraj
Access to Agricultural Land and Capital Assets R S Deshpande and Motilal Mahamallik
Employment and Unemployment Situation: Rural and Urban Sukhadeo Thorat and Chittaranjan Senapati
Reservation and Share in Public Employment Sukhadeo Thorat and Chittaranjan Senapati
The Road Ahead: Dalits in the New Millennium Sukhadeo Thorat and Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal
Bibliography
Index