evidence: VIOLENCE AGAINST DALITS Atrocities against Dalits basically arise in this context of "keeping Dalits" in their place "within the social hierarchy mediated by caste and untouchability." The growing self-awareness/assertion and self-reliance of Dalits promoted by the educational-economical development programs of the state and other institutions, progressive Dalit renascent ideologies and participation in Dalit struggles threaten the vested interests/privileges of the hitherto dominant non-Dalit castes. Rising consciousness of Dalits and the resistance on wide range of issues such as the distribution of surplus land, minimum wages, dignity and justice have led to brutal caste violence against Dalits and Dalit women in particular. The two Civil Rights Acts, that is, Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955/1976 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, derived from the Constitution, largely remain ineffective in their implementation because of the lack of political will on the part of the Government, lack of commitment of upper-caste bureaucrats to social justice, the lack of vigilance committees of citizens to monitor the implementing process and lack of statutory powers of the SC/ST Commission for directly punishing the perpetrators of crimes against Dalits.