A comment on Research

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death among children; and black children and teenagers, from ages 5 to 19, are 2.3 times more likely to drown than whites in this age group. For children 10 to 14, the rate is five times higher."

The above statement has been extracted from an article i read in the New York Times dated June 19,2006 written by Lynn Zinser, the article explores the reasons behind the high drowning rates of African Americans in general and Afro American childeren in particular.  One of the reasons that the article states for this phenomenon is the myth that African Americans are inherently incapable of swimming, this myth arises from the fact that the African slaves when they were brought to America were deleberately not taught to swim or were kept away from it as the owners saw it as a tool to escape. Thus this produces  generations of nonswimmers in the community. The article goes on to explain the other reasons for the drowning rates and also the efforts of the government and the voluntary organizations to counter this trend.

The question pertinent to the Indian context is that if there are any trends similar these in our country. The unfortunate truth is that arts and social sciences receive such a stepchild like treatment, that such questions are never asked if not researched. The caste structure in India is a much more primitive and deeply entrenched part of our society, where segregation and discrimination are the dirty truths of daily life. Thus it warrants a much more dedicated and vociferous approach and academic research.