Untouchability

Untouchability is the low status of certain social groups confined to menial and despised jobs. It is usually associated with the Hindu caste system, but similar groups exist outside Hinduism, for example the Burakumin in Japan, blacks in America and South Africa, and Hutu and Twa of Rwanda. At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were over 160 million untouchables on the Indian subcontinent.