International Journal of Applied Sociology 2012, 2(6): 60-70 DOI: 10.5923/j.ijas.20120206.02 Health Status of Marginalized Groups in India Zulufkar Ahmad Khanday * , Mohammad Akram Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 202002, India Abstract Marginalization is a symbol that refers to processes by which individuals or groups are kept at or pushed beyond the edges of society. The term outsiders may be used to refer to those individuals or groups who are marginalized. This research paper is an endeavour to study the health status of marginalised groups and communities - women, children, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, persons with disabilities, migrants and also the health status of aged in India. The paper also aims to highlight the discrimination and exploitation of these marginalised groups especially in terms of their health. Further, study is carried out about how the rights of these marginalised groups are violated within the society. In India there are multiple socio-economic disadvantages that members of particular groups experience which limits their access to health and healthcare. Some of the prominent factors on the basis of which individuals belonging to marginalised groups are discriminated in India, i.e., structural factors, age, disability, mobility and stigma that act as barriers to health and healthcare. Sometimes each group faces multiple barriers due to their multiple identities. For example, in a patriarchal society, disabled women face double discrimination of being a women and being disabled. Besides this there are certain groups in Indian society that are subject to discriminatory treatment and feel marginalized. They need special attention to avoid exploitation. The rights of disabled and migrants have been violated and sometimes they are discriminated and medical personnel are not ready to treat them because they are unable to pay such a huge amount for medicines. No proper attention has been given towards their health condition. Finally it can be said that the health status of these marginalised groups in India are very poor as compared to other sections of population. This paper is based on the secondary sources such as reports, journals, census, books, articles and online sources. Keywords Women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Migrants, Persons with Disabilities and Aged 1. Introduction The concept of marginality was first introduced by Robert Park (1928). Marginalization is a symbol that refers to processes by which individuals or groups are kept at or pushed beyond the edges of society. The term outsiders may be used to refer to those individuals or groups who are marginalized[1]. The Encyclopaedia of Public Health defines marginalization as, “to be marginalized is to be placed in the margins and thus excluded from the privilege and power found at the centre"[2]. Ghana S. Gurung and Michael Kollmair mention that the concept of marginality is generally used to analyse socioeconomic, political, and cultural spheres, where disadvantaged people struggle to gain access to resources and full participation in social life. In other words, marginalized people might be socially, economically, politically and legally ignored, excluded or neglected and therefore vulnerable to livelihood change[2]. A great majority of people in the developing nations are under the line of poverty. They are deprived of adequate * Corresponding author: k.zulufkar.amu@gmail.com (Zulufkar Ahmad Khanday) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ijas Copyright © 2012 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights reserved access in the basic needs of life such as health, education, housing, food, security, employment, justice and equity. Chandrima Chatterjee and Gunjan Sheoran[3] mention that the issues of sustainable livelihood, social and political participation of the vulnerable groups exists as the major problem in these developing nations- particularly in India. Governments have failed to guarantee people’s rights in the implementation level. People who belong to the vulnerable groups are unable to acquire and use their rights. In this background, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),[4],[5] have guaranteed the rights to sustainable livelihood, social, political and economic development for all especially those disadvantaged. Many countries have ratified thesecovenants. In the year 2000, the committee on economic, social and cultural rights offered explicit details of all the possible instances of violation that individuals and groups within a nation are likely to suffer from besides listing out obligations for the state to protect and fulfil the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health through the general comment 14. Despite international commitment, individuals and groups experience differential access to food, education and health in India. The health rights of vulnerable groups