The Ugly reality of Gujarat

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The Dalit priest theory of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is an aim to deflect the attention from the real issues of the Balmiki community which is isolated and face severe untouchability. Modi has rarely spoken against caste discrimination and the historical injustice done to Dalits hence it is nothing but plain hypocrisy to grab positive headlines.

Much has been written about shining Gujarat in the media and now it is time to unleash social ‘revolution’ hence the ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ is on his mission to ‘train’ the dalits for performing ‘rituals’ like marriage, birth ceremony or in temples. His government has kept an amount of Rs 22.50 lakh for this purpose so that people particularly from the Valmiki community could be provided ‘knowledge’ of ‘Sanskrit’ so that they can do it independently. These students would be trained in performing rituals at two universities including Somnath Sanskrit Vidyapeeth. In the period of millions, a tiny sum kept for ‘social revolution’ shows the real intents of those behind it and how serious they are in their efforts. Is this effort aimed at bringing equality in the society or is it aimed to further co-opt the Balmikis or manual scavengers into the broader Hindu fold?

The step taken by Narendra Modi and his government are being projected by his ‘chums’ as ‘revolutionary’ and reformists. Some say, he is an OBC and hence it is a great effort to bring all the Dalits and OBCs into the Hindu fold with great respect and dignity. Addressing a meeting of Valmikis Narendra Modi actually termed them as the ‘priests’ of ‘our cities’. You keep our cities clean and hence you are no less than priests. Sound good words and Modi who is being touted as ‘future’ ‘prime minister’ of India is now on a ‘social reform’ mission. He did it with aadivasis with organizing ‘Sabari mela’ and now with this ‘Dalit priest’ theory he is again trying to coopt them into the Hindu fold and subside their anger against the government for its abject failure for addressing the issue of the Dalits particularly manual scavengers in Gujarat.

Since 1992, Gujarat government has declared that manual scavenging is absolutely abolished in the state. Ofcourse, caste system and untouchability are closely link and none can claim that Gujarat does not have a caste system or untouchability does not exist in Gujrat whether it is owned by Modi or Gandhi. In the din of Hindu Muslim affair, Gujarat successfully hid the dirtiest realities existing in its cities and towns. It was quietly forgotten that Gujarat’s caste society is still powerful and has successfully stalled the march for change among the Dalits and OBCs as whenever there are assertion for their rights and dignity among them, the caste Hindus even use all tactics including economic blockade of those people. The fact is that Modi’s Gujrat is only for the upper caste Hindus who have deep contempt for the Dalits, aadivasis and backward communities, apart from Muslims.

Questions may be posed to Modi and his government on the status of manual scavenging in Gujarat which he and his predecessors have denied having any presence. The fact is that there are numerous reports, videos, photographs that the dirty practice can be seen in Ahmedabad itself. It is shameful that people are still cleaning human excreta by hand and that in a state which claims to be a model state and whose chief minister is looking himself as the future prime minister of India. No problem in his thinking to be the prime minister of India but why does he want us to believe that Gujarat is a different state then rest of us. Yes, it is different because the forces of social change are not active and aggressive in Gujarat and have tamely succumbed to religious-capitalist upper caste groups in the state.

According to census 2011, Gujarat has over 2,500 households where manual scavenging is practiced. The number amuses me as it reflect a fact that Gujarat government does not have money to develop flushed toilets in these 2500 houses if that is the only case. The reality is more frightening actually. The same census survey reveals that out of 1.2 crore households in Gujarat, over 64 lakh do not have drainage facility. Actually, 52 lakh homes have no toilets at all and therefore they must either be defecating in open or using the public toilets. It is found that over 49 lakh people actually defecate in open in Gujarat which shows the standard of shining Gujarat.  There are only 2 lakh public toilets in that state which is planning to give Indian ‘alternative’.

These data are easily countered by social activists and research institutions which have done their own surveys even when we can easily say that too have leakages and unsubstantiated figure like national average yet according to Tata Institute of Social Sciences study there are over 12,506 manual scavengers in Gujarat. According to a report published in the Indian Express, it says,’ study says a total of 2,456 households with 12,506 individuals in Gujarat are involved in manual scavenging. Of this, 4,333 (2,755 males, 1,578 females) persons are directly involved in the practice, the rest being children, women, old, unemployed and others. Region wise, Saurashtra leads with 928 households, followed by central Gujarat (569), north Gujarat (529), and south Gujarat (430). Over 50 per cent are involved in removing open defecation, mostly with bare hands’. The fact is that this study was conducted only in municipal corporation areas of over ten thousand population and therefore has left a huge number of smaller towns, villages which are outside the ambit of municipalities and where caste discrimination and untouchability are equally prevalent along with manual scavenging.

While we must appreciate the study, the fact is that Gujarat is a deeply hierarchical society and caste prejudices prevail in that society. The Dalits face more marginalization and even not allowed in the temple. Though, people like us believe that temple entry movements are not really to help the Dalits but to keep them subjugated under the brahmanical system and somehow stamp the ugly reality of caste prejudices.

Gujarat claim to have no dearth of money and Gujarat is shining economically then why such a huge number of Gujaratis are still defecating in open. Is not it a shame but the hidden reality behind this open defecation is the economic status of those who defecate in open. Yes, it is the state with very high number of children suffering from malnutrition and the chief minister mentioned that the girl eat less to look slim. The question is why has Gujarat government failed to eradicate manual scavenging in the state and where is the issue of caste discrimination and untouchability in the Hindutva scheme of things. If it is a model state of Hindutva then how do Balmikis and other dalits live in Gujarat? During a study on Indira Awas Yojna, several years back, I found, how the Balmikis were never really given houses along with other communities. In fact, to save the communities from mixing up, Modi and his protégé actually developed a Balmiki Awas Yojna and houses under this scheme were absolutely isolated and at the last point of a village. Can a Balmiki be allowed to enter in the house of a Patel or any Brahmin in Gujarat? Does Gujarat not have honor killings in the name of castes? Are all the temples open for Dalits?

The question is why does Modi want the Balmikis or Dalits to study Sanskrit? How many of Gujarati Brahmins are studying Sanskrit. Why not open a school for them. Modi want to the Balmikis to perform in the temples. A good idea would be to hand over the temples and their managements of temples such as Somnath, Ambaji and Akshar Dham to the Balmikis so that they have enough income to run their families and favor others. Dalits and any other community today need modern education, access to good universities and availability of jobs in the government as well as private sectors. It would be a great achievement if Modi’s enterprenual Gujarat can stop the caste discrimination within the campuses of Universities and colleges, in companies and factories?

These are desperate attempt to hide the real issues of untouchability and caste system. The caste forces will work over time to hide these realities and hence chose soft target. They know it well that even if Balmikis or Dalits become priests, it is not going to open ‘inter caste’ marriages for them or marriages ceremonies in general for them. Most of them will be confined to their own community and the other way round help the Brahmins who refuses to go there to perform these rituals. As far as temples are concern, there are hundreds of temples where nobody comes and the priests suffer as the powerful temples will always be in the hands of caste Hindus. Basically, Narendra Modi is trying to halt the march of dignity of Dalits through these cunning methods so that people do not question the historical injustice done to them. If he is concerned about Balmikis, has he ever spoken about the untouchability and caste discrimination that is the order of day in Gujarat?

The temple entry movement and putting people back to religious rituals are nothing but deeply flawed and cunning move by the power elite to hide the ugly reality which they have played and their inability to condemn the gross violation of human rights of Dalits through such practices. A few days back, another ‘revolutionary’ took the Balmiki women to Kumbha for a bathing in the Ganges. It was claimed that after bathing in the Ganga, they have challenged the status quo. The same champions did not bother to see the gross violation of basic dignity and human rights of over seven thousands Safai karmcharis during Kumbha fair. The issue of untouchability and caste discrimination cannot be solved by these juggleries and treacherous ways without questioning the authority of varnashram dharma and its divisive philosophy which is anti-human and anti-human rights.

Those who want to install the caste-ist vaidik values on us cannot really have love and respect for human rights and that way Gujarat government’s Dalit priest project is nothing but anti Dalit and full of hypocrisy as it want to keep them in the Hindu fold without demolishing the caste hierarchies and caste system. Is it possible to have an equality based human society without the demolition of caste system? Does Modi want to demolish caste system or he want to keep it further to perpetuate his agenda on everyone. Will he ever apologize to Balmikis and other dalits for years of discrimination and untouchability which has divine sanction as he claim to represent the saffron brigade and the ideology of Hindutva?

Dignified Alternatives

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat It is disgraceful that the Elimination of Manual Scavenging Practices Bill has not been able to see the light of the day. There has been no concern shown by any political party. India’s biggest apartheid is hidden and ignored by the political class cutting across the party lines and this ‘don’t care attitude’ is visible with those who claim to work for the rights of Dalits and marginalized. There are no discussions on the issue in any of these identity forums. That is a tragedy of how we treat the most important issue of our time in utter contempt and neglect. Our media would not cover the incident, as the journalists have no courage to see the ugly reality of our caste system and criminal society, which feels that it is the job of these ‘women’ to clean it. Long ago, an international channel had to postpone the shooting of this hidden apartheid of India as they were denied visa by the government. International news agencies have been eager to understand as what will happen when the Bill comes for discussion in Parliament. Unfortunately, not much was discussed in the Indian media except for a few news items when the Supreme Court took note of it and felt agonized as why the Parliament has not yet passed the bill. Is it because Balmikis or manual scavengers are not a powerful ‘vote-bank’ for any political party? Will the rights and wrongs always be decided on the basis of number of people and their ‘political’ strength or on the basis of our horrible human right records in that front? Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise when a French TV channel showed interest to visit us and see some of the changes that we have been able to make in district Fatehpur. We were clear that merely showing the pathetic side won’t work all the time. If we claim to have been working for years on the issue then it is time to show what alternatives we have been able to build for people. The Garima Kendra, run by Social Development Foundation in the heart of Fatehpur city is in activation for the past three years and given new hope to young girls of Balmiki community. Many of them are learning computers and sewing while others are learning Zari work. So, our aim was to give a glimpse of how manual scavenging practices are still happening and how does the society perceive this and what could be the alternatives. It is the failure of us as a civil society to provide alternative, as depending on the government at all times will not get us anywhere. The TV crew arrived in the morning and we all were on the mission to capture a glimpse of the work in a village Korba in Tehsil Bindaki. The village has a population of about two thousand five hundred. Situated 23 kilometers away from the district headquarter; the village has Muslims as the dominant community with other Dalit communities living on margin. Sunita has already been out for her daily ‘farming’. Here most of the families use the term ‘Kisani’ for the manual scavenging work. A mother of 5 children, Sunita has pain her eyes as none has ever given a thought of her issues. She too is a woman of independent India but how many of the ‘Indian’ women have ever thought of her as her counterpart. She has a lot of problems with the work. She feels anguished and down, yet, there is no ‘option’ for her. Who will feed her children, is the question? What will be the future of her children? “I am living this life for 25 years. It is death at every moment.” This is the gift of her mother in law who wanted to preserve the family tradition. The Muslim occupants there are not in great shape, yet, they feel that it is the ‘duty’ of Sunita and others like her to do the work. “Who will do this work, if she does not do it”, said a family woman defending her right to keep the toilet.“Let the government provide us money and we will make it”. “But if the government does not give you money then what would you do?” we asked. “We will continue to get this work done by these people?” “But don’t you think, this is a bad work, an inhuman practice to clean the shit of others?” “Yes, it is bad. Then why don’t you clean your latrine yourself?” And the woman laughs sheepishly. “How can we do it?” And then the arrogant answer is “we pay them money in lieu of the work. They are not doing it free of cost. If we do not pay them, they will die of hunger. It is a work for which they are being paid.” And this is the story of so many other places. Unfortunately they have the same arguments and behavior when exposed in public. The crowd gathers everywhere. Young boys gather and pass comments on the crew. Of course, not very harmful but realizing that they would be in trouble, they question us as why are we doing it. “We want the government to make new toilets for you so that you live a better life”, I tell one of them. “Ok, please tell the government to do it fast.” So, people want better facilities for themselves but not for a moment they feel the pain of another person. That the particular work is meant for a particular community is the most gruesome reality of our time. And in this humiliating practice of caste discrimination and untouchability, we have found Muslim localities are no less responsible than others. Here Muslim elite also behave like caste Hindus. The economic condition of these Muslim families is not very great, yet, the mind of a caste Hindu exists inside them when they treat the Balmiki women in utter contempt. There is no apology or anguish if you find a 15-year-old girl engaged in this inhuman practice. And many of them have been doing it for years. The government has not reached them. The civil society is the upper caste monster in India. India is in a crisis and need a bigger surgery. Two diverse values, yet, when the issue of untouchability comes, Muslims too treat the Dalits as untouchables, though as a religion Islam does not sanctify any kind of discrimination based on caste and untouchability; yet it is frequent. In fact, manual scavenging is prevalent in the areas with larger Muslim population as their economic condition is difficult but social taboos force women to remain inside. With their inability to build up flushed latrines, they are compelled to get these lowly paid manual scavengers. The compensation for cleaning human excreta with hand is about Rs 20/- per month per family. In such a harrowing situation where keeping a ‘toilet’ has become ‘honor’ but keeping women who clean your shit is a proud position, how can we think that there could be any saner debate on the issue of manual scavenging? People don’t even think that this work needs to be abolished and that these fateful women are doing a thing, which doesn’t exist anywhere in the civilized world. Government of India has failed to eradicate it as they do not know what alternative could be given to the people and most of the governments’ funds are embezzled in bureaucratic issues. The government actually can provide funds but that does not come from heart. It tackles the issue economically and not as a social concern. Manual scavenging is an issue related to not only our divisive and discriminatory caste system but also violates the basic principles of human dignity and human rights. The problem is that the people from manual scavenging community face discrimination daily and cannot opt for any profession of their choice as caste based prejudices are very high. In many places, in the government schools, when the former manual scavengers who had left their ‘traditional’ occupation were given a job as cook, the students refused to eat food cooked by them. The caste Hindus withdrew their children from the school. Alternative model Fatehpur has seen lot of caste violence in the past. The district is predominantly situated on the banks of Yamuna between Kanpur and Allahabad. The conditions remain difficult and hence when Dheeraj Kumar and his team started working for the rights of the Community, it changed the perception as the voices were from within the community. The young got motivated when Social Development Foundation started a Garima Kendra exclusively for women who left manual scavenging and their children. Of course, it also engaged the most impoverish Muslim women working on Zardosi. So the Zardosi women, working for their daily bread, sat with Dalit women giving rise to a new movement. There are initial hitch ups, as caste discrimination has not left Muslims too despite all claims of equality in Islam. Muslim women, who knew Zari work, has started coming to our center and starting working. The Dalit women who left their manual scavenging work has also started coming and learning the Zari work. Many of them are learning sewing too. Some girls are learning computer skills also. The impact is very high. The demand for learning sewing and zari work is growing in Fatehpur. The Garima Kendra i.e. ‘Dignity Centre’ has been supported by us. In the past three years, over 300 women have left manual scavenging work in 10 Gram Sabhas. Many of them have now linked themselves with dignity movement and learning sewing and Zari work. Our attempt is to reach their villages so that they do not need to travel far away from their homes. More than 20 girls from the community have learnt computer in last one year. 10 women, who had left manual scavenging and have been coming from faraway places, have completely learnt sewing and can do their own work. Some of them are also getting work from the market. The women who are engaged in Zardosi work too are now gaining a new confidence. The process for formation of a union is on though it is difficult because of various religious circumstances, yet, daily 60 women come to learn and work at the center, which is remarkable. In the two shifts, Garima Kendra actually gave them the opportunity to look inwards and fight for their right. They are organizing and we are hopeful that a union of the Zardosi workers would be formed for their rights. The Garima Kendra has given hope to both Muslim women, who are working for their livelihood and preserving our art of Zari, and the Dalit women who were engaged in manual scavenging and have left their work looking for dignified alternatives. Their only wish is that if such support remains continuous for at least five years, they would grow in a much better way. It is a great achievement. Many have designed Zari work. They may not be experts but they are designing cloths. My wish is to have an exhibition of the work being done by them at certain point of time. There is lesson for all of us that positive work will pave the way. It does not mean that we should not fight for our rights from the government and authorities but we cannot totally depend on the government. Let us have our own initiatives so that the discriminatory practice of untouchability and caste becomes history. It may be a tall claim but then we cannot really struggle against anything which is impossible’. The battle for a better alternative human life has just begun.

Plights of Muslim Dalits in Jammu & Kashmir

Caste, Religion And Untouchability By Vidya Bhushan Rawat Ashaq Ali Wattal hails from a community which has the sole ‘right’ to clean the toilets in Jammu and Kashmir. Hailing from Doda, Wattal moans at the continuous negligence by the state government and its authorities towards the community of manual scavengers in Jammu and Kashmir. His father was a manual scavenger working with municipality but now has left the work and does bamboo work. Ashaq has passed 10th standard and does electric work in his town. He was in Delhi to speak about his people and the discrimination they face in their daily life. According to Wattal, nobody wants to keep relations with them though there is no discrimination in the mosque during the Namaz. Despite, living in a Muslim-majority Kashmir, it is strange that those who talk about nondiscrimination in Islam never ever thought that this issue needs immediate attention. Why has there been no movement among the Muslims to fight for the rights of the Muslim Dalits. A continuous denial will not work in this regard. Wattal says that his father used to work part-time in the municipality and could not even get Rs 1,000/- a month when he retired from his job. He says his maternal aunt Misha Begum has been working with a government hospital for over 40 years and her daily routine is from early morning till afternoon yet at the moment she gets just Rs 700/- per month. The problem with most of the Wattals is that they are forced to this work as there is no other opportunity available for them. The payments are below the norm, as the maximum for part time work as sweeper still fetches Rs 200/- per month in the government sector, and about Rs 300-Rs 500/- per month in private. It is strange that the Jammu and Kashmir government has no policy for these people. After much persuasion they are placed among the Scheduled Caste category and yet when the question of reservation comes, they never get any opportunity in the government. And therefore despite a huge population of about several lakhs, it would be a rare site to see a Wattal community person outside their traditional occupation. Ashaq has three sons and he is determined to educate them. In fact two of them are in the University. The fight for social justice and dignity continues. Shahid Hussain had difficult time. He used to work as sweeper but never accepted his defeat. He passed his 10th standard and got a job in a Nationalized Bank. With his determination he completed his graduation and is now working as an office assistant in the bank. For him, it was difficult but he was able to get it. There is no reservation for them he says; the pain reflects in his eyes as he narrates the story of struggle of his family. According to a report submitted to the Supreme Court by Safai Karmchari Andolan, there are 7.94 lakhs open latrines in the country and apart from Uttar-Pradesh and Tamilnadu, Jammu & Kashmir is one of the biggest violators in this regard, where 1,78,330 households need manual scavenging but the latest figures from J& K government suggest that out of total 1,60,804 Households in the rural areas over 1,49,492 depend on manual scavenging which shows the status of ‘development’ in Kashmir. Out of total 5,17,168 urban households, 17,768 houses are dependent on manual scavenging. According to reports, Shopian, Kupwara, Bandipur, Srinagar, Kulgaum, Anantnag, Ganderbal and Pulwama have very large number of dry latrines which need manual scavengers to clean them. And as Ashaq Wattal says, all of them who are engaged in the manual scavenging task are Muslims. This exposes the hypocrisy of those so called Jehadis, who talk so much about fighting against others and place an ‘Islamic state’ but never really bother about the conditions of the Muslims Dalits. Why has such a large population not got any legal right from the government of India? It is sad that the elimination of manual scavenging practices bill has not yet come in the parliament. Political parties can get consensus on everything which they want to get through but when the question of dignity of the manual scavenging communities comes, they remain suspect as they never cared for that. Today, if the bill is passed and makes the rehabilitation part of the process including alternative job reservation for them, how are the Muslim manual scavengers going to be benefitted from that? Secondly, whether the act would be implemented in Kashmir or not as it has always a problem that all central acts have to be separately developed in Kashmir? What will the J&K government propose to eliminate this crime against humanity? Will it rehabilitate the people and provide them alternative employment? Most importantly, what do the ‘thekedars’ of Islam say on this issue? All those who suggest we have a better alternative in religion must answer these questions. Dalits remained Dalits in most of the religions though unlike Brahminical system, the other religions opened a little window for them in terms of their worshipping pattern. They can go to mosque without being discriminated against, but the same is not true about Christian Dalits who face discrimination from the upper caste Christians even in churches. If the Centre is making a law against elimination of manual scavenging practices or even if a law is enacted for reservation in Promotion, the Muslim and Christian dalits would not be able to get any benefit of the reservation. It violates the basic principle of equality; it is important that benefits of reservation or rehabilitation must incorporate all the Dalits in diverse communities. The issue of Dalit identity and their discrimination became the tool for religious propagandists too who wish to fight it on the basis of their ‘religious’ beliefs and provide ‘liberation’ theology for it. The fact is the Brahminical practices of discrimination have penetrated deeply into other religions and beliefs also, and made them more ruthless in their attitude towards the Dalits. The condition of Dalits in the Muslim-dominated areas remains a matter of great shame and concern today as the movements for their ‘azadi’ has not reached inside the closed quarters where the Islamic zealots are ready to fight for everything in the name of their identity but have found little time to wage a war against untouchability and caste system. It is a totally different story that many people feel that religious conversion is the best bet to escape caste discrimination. The manual scavenging communities must be rehabilitated without being discriminated on the basis of their religious identities as they do not merely exists in Jammu and Kashmir but elsewhere also including Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu too. It is also important that the fight for the Pasmanda Muslims and their rights must begin at home too. It is easier to suggest that there is liberation of Dalits in religion but at the end if we investigate their socio-cultural conditions, it is open secret that caste virus continues there too and the discrimination level remains the same. Just being proud because your religion allows them in Mosque and churches will not suffice for their survival and dignity. War against untouchability must transcend national, state, caste and religious boundaries. It is time we all join hands against this crime against humanity to eliminate it completely from the planet. The Jammu and Kashmir government must come clean on it and take the issue of untouchability and manual scavenging on a wider scale. It is important that to eliminate manual scavenging the government must provide the eligible youths employment in the non-sanitary work and rehabilitate them completely. Why have the Jehadis of Islam kept quiet on these issues even when it is a routine to see the Wattals in Kashmir work on such terms? They are always worried about Islam in danger; let them raise a Jehad against untouchability and manual scavenging in Kashmir. We will be with them in their fight for dignity of Manual scavengers in Jammu and Kashmir. We cannot leave our Kashmiri friends isolated and hence will definitely join their struggle for dignity and self-respect.

Eliminating Manual Scavenging needs honest introspection By Vidya Bhushan Rawat Manual scavenging is a crime against humanity and yet the nation has failed to resolve it so far. It look that it does not attract us anymore and except for lip services we have left it to be resolved by the victims themselves. It is time for India to stand up together and resolve to eliminate this practice. Mere laws will not work as it needs greater social awakening and a movement against untouchability and caste system. The government of India is planning to introduce a new bill related to elimination of manual scavenging and their rehabilitation in the Parliament. The earlier law Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (prohibition) Act, 1993 has proved to be inefficient and worked only to victimize the victims of this humiliating practice. Rather than reducing the practice of manual scavenging and punishing those who are still using the same practice to employ manual scavengers it humiliated them and forced them to hide facts about their compelling circumstances. Hence the need for a new law was felt by activists and political leaders too that if we were to eliminate this heinous crime against humanity, the government must come out with a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for those engaged in it and rather than humiliating them, it need to look into the matter with greater concern and broader idea of elimination of this practice. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Bill 2012 is a clear departure from the past act as here the definition is broader and inclusive. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been in the forefront of a discussion on the issue with civil society organizations to eliminate this practice. Unfortunately, the government of India itself does not have a clear figure about the exact number of people engaged in this practice. The government of India promised to the nation that the manual scavenging would be eliminated and every year new deadlines were set up but the scourge of manual scavenging never ended. Initially, the government at the center and at the state never ever admitted that there is manual scavenging prevalent in their states. Instead, they would always come out with data of ‘rehabilitation’ and the ‘great’ work done by them. Off late, the government came to the conclusion that the number was around 7 lakhs but now it has admitted that the total number of people engaged in manual scavenging is about 1.3 millions. But this number is totally fictitious and hence the government has decided to go for a census of the manual scavengers in the country but when will they be able to get the exact figure is still unknown. There are broadly two approaches which have been witnessed in the fight against manual scavenging. The law makers do not address the societal violence and would make us believe that once they have provided money in the name of rehabilitation the discrimination would go. Hence, they provided ‘economic empowerment’ schemes for those who had left manual scavenging and this include a grant of Rs 50,000 to Rs 50,0000 loan for self-employment. Now the question is that if a person particularly a woman who has always carried this task over the years, what kind of business would she do if just given money. If he or she start a hotel or a dhaba, would any one drink tea or eat food there? If she makes a pickle or papad for sale, would any one buy it? How do we expect such things will happen people. Actually, these grants only help the middlemen and those who know it and they grab it and blame the community for failure. We have demanded in the past that there is a serious crisis in our governance as those who join it do not really believe in the secular belief of the constitution and carry their caste prejudices. And that is the biggest hurdle in the governance system. It is not the issue of mere economic help when the root cause is the divine sanctity given in our religion. So, the issue has to be tackled not at the law making level but at the community level and without understanding those ‘tiny’ dynamics of our society, it is very difficult. One of the difficulties emerged in identifying the manual scavengers and defining it. But for our sake here in this article, we feel that the most urgent need is related to those directly engaged in the cleaning of the toilet and carrying the night soil. And this is predominantly a work of women these days. The reason is that the men want to work with municipalities which are considered to be safer, pay better remunerati0n and are solid government jobs. So, attempts have been made to get into it even if on the ad-hoc basis. That has forced many young to opt for that. Unfortunately and shamefully, the municipalities in India, though provided the biggest employment to sanitation workers are the biggest violators of labour laws. Most of the new people who are employed by the municipalities are either on daily wager basis or under contractors. The daily wagers have no social security and their salary get deducted if they are absent or sick. No medical benefit for them. Many of them have worked in the municipalities for even 15-20 years without getting confirmed. Their hope is that one day they get confirmed and will live a better life. Now, most of the Nagar Palikas have had a backlog of 7-8 months salary to these wage workers. They never get salary every month. Some of them have not get for even over years. This has resulted in forcing their female wards into manual scavenging. Despite all efforts, economy impacts every one of us. Much noise has been made about ‘upper caste’ or other backward castes applying for the job of sweepers. But the fact is that the job matters and for that people pays money too. None of the upper castes are engaged in sweeping or scavenging. If someone get a job at Nagar Palika, they very cleverly get them assigned office work and after some years are promoted as Safai Nayaks too, which is a supervisory job. This complains has come to me whenever I have meetings with people. They say what we have got in return. Our jobs have been offered to others but we do not get their jobs. And it was there, some of us felt that the government must have a long term compressive plan to eradicate manual scavenging. One is complete rehabilitation of the women and men engaged directly in it. Let them offer houses and agricultural land to them. That apart, youths must be given technical training, computer and other skills. A bigger social awakening needs to go in the community against this so that the new young in the community reject this work. We have worked on the latter basis. We have example of women engaged in zardosi work now. Many of them are learning computer skills and sewing and designing. Some of them do agricultural work in certain pockets that we worked. The point is government must build us up raising social issues and not deal this issue in economic and law term only. It is therefore essential that the government of India provide a specific reservation for those engaged in manual scavenging and their children in non-sanitation occupation so that they move ahead and are completely delinked from this. There are number of youths, boys and girls who have capacities and qualification for doing so. They must be trained and employed in various jobs which are not related to sanitation or cleaning etc. All the municipalities who fail to pay the daily wage worker ‘Safai Mazdooors’ on time should be penalized. But then there is a need to look beyond organized sanitary workers. There is no doubt that we must eliminate all forms of scavenging including those who clean the sewage but priority wise, it is essential for us to first rehabilitate the women engaged in manual scavenging, working in private toilets and carrying night soil. It would be good if they are identified and rehabilitated. A rehabilitation schemes cannot be done in isolation and hence it would be good if they are provided houses along with other communities. We have seen houses for Balmikis in certain places constructed by municipalities in the outskirts of cities named as ‘Balmiki bastis’ but it is time to be more aggressively provided them houses along with other communities. So, in the general housing scheme, government must ensure houses for those who have left manual scavenging. It would be good that such bastis which isolated the community further are not developed further. Instead, all must get houses along with other employees or in mixed localities. There are issues of Muslim Safai workers like Helas and Halalkhors. There condition is worst then the non-Muslims as they have been denied even the jobs in the municipality and have no access to reservation in jobs. Muslim Swachchakars are simply not included in the Scheduled Caste Category and it is the biggest violation of their fundamental rights of being discriminated on the basis of their religious identity. This is a case for all of us to bring in front of the Supreme Court who is looking into the matter. Manual scavenging cannot be eliminated unless the community raises a banner of revolt against it. There are inherent weakness too which need to fought. It is a difficult task but not impossible. Social movements cannot feel satisfied just because government has made a law and thrown money to rehabilitate the community. There are loads of issues with in the community and they need to be addressed by the community itself. It is equally important to prepare community and its youth in to the liberation theology of Ambedkarism which changed the lives of millions others like them. Ambedkarism became a model of challenging the status quo not just by law but changing our own selves too. No movement succeeds if the people who it is revolve around do not develop a passion of revolt against a system which subjugated them. Having said so, it is important that this issue does not relegate to mere manual scavenging communities. It is our national duty, a duty of humanists, human rights defenders and social movements that this crime against humanity is arrested and done away with soonest. Hence we cannot absolve the rest of the society, which remained mute or may have enjoyed this subjugation for centuries. Manual scavenging remains a curse to our society and it cannot be confine to be the issue of the community itself who is on the receiving end. It is a war against discrimination and hidden apartheid which existed in our society. A nation like India need to get rid of it to be counted as a civilized nation and that would be possible when we see that no individual is cleaning human excreta of others and each of those who have been traditionally doing it are settled with honor. World over, democratic societies have apologized to their indigenous people for the historic wrongs that they have committed to them. In India, Dalits have faced this historical wrong for years. The Manual scavengers remain at the lowest rung and faced the trauma of this ‘traditional’ ‘duty’ which is a crime against humanity. It is time that our law makers actually apologize for this historic wrong done to the Swachchakar Samaj. Let the parliament in unison apologize for the historical crime that the country has committed against manual scavenging and in the form of untouchability so that they too feel that this country actually is repenting for what has been done to them. An apology or good will gesture by Indian parliament and assemblies would help us make a civilized society which we all would be proud of. --

Women wait for liberation from manual scavenging in Sonadih Village, Ghazipur By Vidya Bhushan Rawat After years of delaying tactics, the government of India is coming with a new act on manual scavenging and their rehabilitation. Every year the government tried to provide us fictitious data about the number of manual scavengers in the country. The states have lacked in both vision and commitment to eliminate manual scavenging. The civil society also failed to raise this issue to a new level and work as change makers. We are discussing too much on the technicality of the issue and not on the complete elimination of manual scavenging from our minds too. It is tragic that the inhuman practice still continues in a state like Uttar-Pradesh despite all talks of so called political empowerment. There are numerous villages and towns where this criminal inhuman practice is still prevalent. Today, we are talking about Village Sonhadi which comes under block Bhanvarkol of District Gazipur in Uttar-Pradesh. Ghazipur is on the bank of river Ganga and is about 2 hour drive from Varanasi city. From Ghazipur city, a bumpy ride of about 35 kilometer towards Bihar is Sonadih, a village dominated by the Bhoomihar community, known for its powerful political nexus and control over land. Sonadih has a population of over 6500 people. All the villages in Uttar-Pradesh are now developing into another hell, in the form of unorganized and chaotic towns. Sonadih is no exception. With land prices soaring in, people are developing new clusters with out any planning. Since, they do not feel that planning is needed for villages hence the chaos is more visible. Uttar-Pradesh shamelessly does not have a proper sewerage system. Urban towns are virtually dying under their own weight. Eastern Uttar-Pradesh has the worst case scenario as far as manual scavenging is concern. Despite the so called flush toilets, it is still the scavenger community individuals who have to ‘enter’ into the dark deep pits to clean them. And the reports from various parts of the country suggest how many of the sweepers usually die when they go in and face the huge blast from the gas chamber which is stinking gas smell. The story in Sonadhih is pathetic and distressing to our conscience. As usual the bastee of the scavengers is the last one in the village virtually unapproachable during the rains due to the water logging. Those who clean the other people’s locations remain amidst the dirtiest track. It was raining and therefore impossible to reach the houses. Women are forced to go out to clean the latrines. The island of mud and dirt are actually island of exploitation and ignorance. A typical village culture is visible here in Sonadih where even a family of a Dom, another scheduled castes refuses to sit with that belong to manual scavenging family. The reason is that every one of the oppressed wants to enjoy that small ‘acceptance’ over the other. This village dominated by the Bhoomihars, a powerful community of Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar which is landed. There are however, a number of other communities Bramins, Rajbhars, Yadavas, Chamars, Muslims, Dhobi and Doms. Each community lives in its own nation with only relationship through communication and no further physical relations and social relationship. There is no chance of the communities touching each other or speaking to each other for a social cause. Ten families of Rawat community (the scavenger community in the region) have over 60 members. Since the village does not have the flush latrine system, the duty of the community is to clean the toilets every morning. It is tragic that none of the community members have even a single unit land for living, leave alone for agricultural work. The population of 10 scavenger family is 63 some years back but now many of them are migrating to cities in search of jobs particularly in the municipalities in Mughalsarai, Varansi and Ghazipur. This village never adopted the people who clean it. It was a cantonment area in the past. Two Muslim landlords actually brought these people here to do the ‘work’ in this village. They arranged some land for these people to live which was not even ½ acre of land for these 10 families. This 8 manda land was distributed among equally among the Rawat community and Rajbhar and other communities. The Gram Sabha has not taken into account the growing problems of the community. They are just used for their work and contemptuously looked down upon. There is no question of asking for any advice when they are not even the citizens of the village. Any threat of not doing the work would ultimately throw the people away from the land they are living. None of them have any land in their name. Paradoxically, all scavenger families have Above the Poverty Line (APL) ration cards and cannot purchase anything from the subsidized shops. Due to complete landlessness, they cannot even get the Indira Awas Yojana, a faltering housing scheme by the government of India, where you will not get any grant from the government unless you have the land to construct the dwelling for yourself. Hopefully, the new census survey and BPL list would take them into account. There is a primary school in this village. For higher studies students must go to the Avdhahi. Avdhahi is about 2 km far from the village. Though there is well connected road network to the village yet it is still a remote place as far as the linkage to the scavenger community is concern. There is a complete lack of health services here and the village does not even have a dispensary. For any eventuality, the villagers have to take transportation to Mohammdabad. Though there are substantial number of other communities but do not care much for any one. Our trip to village generated much enthusiasm and suspicion. Many of the upper castes who had these women as cleaning their toilets were not only apprehensive but blamed the victims themselves. The problem is that the dependency of the community on the upper castes is so much that they feel threatened with the idea of any change. If they do not do the work, they would be displaced. People like us who pretend to work for the community come and go but they have to live along with the people. At the time, when even migration won’t help, the community women are just clueless. More than this, they do not get anything in cash. Their work is compensated with about 5 kilogram of rice or wheat at the year end per family, left over food every day and special alms during the festivities like Dipawali, Dussehra, and Holi. One can imagine how difficult it is to live this life of indignity by begging daily. While preaching is easy the fact is civil society has failed to do anything for them. Just by ‘advocacy’ will not resolve the crisis of the community. The pain of the community is further aggravated by some ignorant voices who blame the community for not ‘following’ the path of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. However, our aim is not to go in debate at the moment. We just wanted to narrate the plight of the community in a village where they are suffering and we need to develop an idea. Some of the village elders suggested that not all are in a position to develop flush toilets but an initiative has to be made. Since the sanitation programmes are mostly in the urban areas hence it is important to focus in the villages which remain uncontrolled and unplanned. Any case of the scavenging is normally dealt with the Nagar Palikas but who is accountable for scavenging in the villages and what is the government alternative to it ? As mentioned many times in our reports, the scavenging profession has been totally feminized. Over the years, the male folks not only try to get jobs in the Nagarpalikas i.e. municipalities but also migrate to big cities in search of jobs. For women, the job is doubly tiring as they not only have to take care of the family but also face the numerous indignities of life. In the absence of resources they end up in begging and doing whatever is demanded from them. Sudhani Devi is mother of one son and two daughters. She not only doing manual scavenging in the village Sonadih but also in other villages with in the vicinity of 5 kilometers. She cleans a total of 15 toilets. Munni is taking care of 16 families in Rasada and Sonadih villages. A mother of three, she starts her day with early morning at six to finish the target by 10. Similarly, Manju work in 15 houses in three villages. A mother of six children, she says that they have no future. They are completely disgruntled and do not know what to do. Most of them do not have ration card. Now the question arises whether they can do any other work. The problem is that the Panchayat does not even think of them. They are not the citizen of the village. What ever land they have acquired is basically on the mercy of the village and any challenge to the supremacy of the villagers would virtually seal their fate and throw them on the streets. It is because of this reason, every one of them said that the situation is fine and that they are not being forced to do the work. One should not be surprised that no woman would ever admit that she is doing the work at some body’s compulsion but her own fate has allowed her to do such an atrocious job. Now, whether they say or not that the work is a compulsion, the fact is we all, as a nation, as a civil society, as a village or even as a Dalit Rights or human rights defender have failed. We blame the victims themselves. Preach them like ‘leave this work’ asking them to die rather than to live. Now such preaching is easier but the enormous social mental block needs to be broken. How would that be broken? What could be the solution for a fair rehabilitation of these people? They are completely landless and do not have their own home which could be termed as decent. That should be the first task. Two, the problem is their landlessness. If they are provided some agricultural land, one is hopeful that they would be able to some work and earn something. Three, Let the village Panchayat build some community toilets at the village and hand over the management of them to the women. A biogas plant can be developed and cooking gas as well as electricity can be provided to the subscribers in the village. And most importantly access to health services as well as education for children is essential for their development. That brings us to important issue of elimination of caste bias from our minds. Unless we resolve to do that untouchability and manual scavenging will to continue. We continue to shame ourselves that those who do this work do not even get a payment for their work. That is a perfect example of a racist society which still believes in slavery. Unless manual scavenging and untouchability goes India’s claim to have a civilization will always be questioned and scrutinized.

An Initiative for Change in Uttar-Pradesh

Fatehpur's Balmikis fight for Life with dignity and honor
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Chanda is a happy woman today as she has more confidence in her ability as a human being which was degraded due to her work which she was forced to do by the caste forces. In the Lalauli village of feudal Muslims and other Hindu castes, she was engaged in picking up the human excreta for nothing. Two chapatis were the things which they got in lieu of their work. But that Chapatis for the most degrading work actually took away the freedom, liberty and dignity of Chanda. Yet, when the people like Dheeraj Balmiki entered in the area with an aim to pursuade people leaving this occupation they had to face a lot of resistance. Primarily, the people were upset as what would they do in the absence of an 'alternative' and secondly and most importantly on the retailation from local powerful community of Muslims which would feel threatened as who 'would clean' their toilets if these people leave the work.
August 13th, 2010 , under the 'People's Alliance Against Untouchability' activist in different parts of Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh took out rallies and protest marches against mannual scavenging and called for its total abolition and complete rehabilitation of the people engaged in this work. Chanda was in the forefront of that protest despite the known fact what would happen to her if things do not materialise. Actually, the confidence of Chanda had grown after participating in a conference against untouchability in Nagpur where she was asked to speak. For the first time, she ventured out of district headquarter of Fatehpur and stayed at Nagaloka Buddhist Center in Nagpur. She realised that life was much bigger outside her confined 'work' area and those domesticated world where she was always treated as untouchable and with utter contempt. Nobody would talk to her pleasanly and with respect but here in the conference for the first time she felt that she too was a human being and could shake hands with people and eat along with them at the same dining table. And then when she spoke to me, the fire in her started, ' Sir, I am now ready to fight. Now, I am changed completely. I will not at all do this work again even if I remain hungry. Even if the entire people kill me, I am not going to do this indignified work', she empahsied. Many months later when I met her in Fatehpur, one of the greatest victory for us was when the entire village of Lalauli was forced to leave the manual scavenging. After our memerendum to officials and continuous campaigning the government officials went to the village and souught clarification. The biggest threat was coming from those people who had these latrines but the officials threatened them with dire consequences if they do not close down their toielts. People like Chanda were already advocating for the community to come out of this mindset that their ancestors did this work hence they had to follow it. Its simply blackmailing of our community, she said.
Dalit Yuva Swabhiman Manch was leading the movement in the Balmiki community for voluntary rejection of manual scavenging from with in community. ofcourse, it was also part of the 'People's Alliance against Untouchability' and campaigning to collect about one lakh signature from the State of Uttar-Pradesh to submit it to the government to rehabilitate the women from this community who leave manual scavenging with five acres of agricultural land so that they can live theirilife with dignity. Today nearly 6 villages voluntarily left the work of manual scavenging in Fatehpur and our campaign is growing says, Dheeraj. The only thing people face is 'future' and 'alternative' and we have to think about it, he quipped.
'While we all know how government function in this country and that the community can not be dependent on government. We should campaign with government and put pressure on her but at the same point of time the community must also prepare itself to leave this dirty work at their own. What we were looking was a community initiative against manual scavenging and we feel happy that this has happened in many of the villages in Fatehpur where people have voluntarily left the manual scavenging', says Praksh Balmiki.
About 12 kilometer from Fatehpur is village Damapur which has a population of 1,500 people. In the five families of Balmikis 8 women were engaged in the manual scavenging who were cleaning the toilets at nearly 115 families of Muslims, Thakurs and Brahmins. Two of the families had 1/2 bigha agricultural land to cultivate. The women are now engaged as agricultural labour apart from work at the NREGA. Unfortunately, there is another grim reality of village life where even the basic facilities meant for them are not made available to them. None of the family have BPL cards to procure ration from the PDS shop. Most of them have got NREGA job card yet the payment made for the work done take three weeks to one month.
Ganga Deiya has four sons and three daughters. She left manual scavenging but has no pain though life is tougher for her. Her husband make bamboo work. In the absence of resources the children could not get education. Most of them feel that if the government provide them at least two acres of land then it would be able to create a sense of ownership and dignity among them. Some of them even felt that soft loans should be provided for buffelo rearing, goat rearing and pig rearing etc. However, they also felt that starting tea shop or grocerie shop in the village is not an option as none would buy product from them.
In the village Badanpur, which is about 6 kilometer from Fatehpur town nearly 9 women volutnarily left the work. These women were engaged in manual scavenging and after the intervention of Dalit Yuva Garima Manch, felt it important to leave the work. Here too they have the crisis of livelihood and most of them want to get some training whether in sewing or tailoring or Zardosi work. They are also demanding five acres of land from the state government so that they can live their lives in dignity and with honor.
It was a difficult work but not impossible to make people think that their dignity and self respect was more important than such non payable work which degrade them virtualy and make them 'slave' of the feudal caste Hindus and upper caste Muslims who too are in large number in some of these localities where manual scavenging takes place. According to Prakash Balmiki, its easier to complaint to municipality and then get an action but that is dangerous as it would only add to the woes of the community. The Manual Scavenging Abolition Act actually justify the victimisation of the victim and hence on many ocassions whenever we made a visit, we were careful not to send these informations to the authorities, the main action would be against the people engaged. In the past few months, many women who were doing and whose names appeared in the papers faced problems as their husbands who were working in the Nagar-Palikas as Safai Karmcharis were suspended. Such campaigns are not good in the people's interest says Dheeraj Balmiki. We can not be instrumental in targetting our own people even the Nagar-Palika. We have to understand why our women whose husbands or children work in the Nagar-Palika were still engaged in the work says Dheeraj. Most of the workers these days are being appointed on 'adhoc' and contract basis. They do not have any social security or leave benefit. Many time the salaries backlog is of over 6 months which kills them virtually. Moreover, the salaries are so low and if there is a leave then you do not get the amount too, that forces the females of the family to do the business. Dheeraj says that ' We need to be careful in such work. I have been using negative thing in my work to bring people to positivity, like leave this work otherwise we will complaint or such as giving example of what a great health and mind would be there with doing this 'work'. Some time you have to speak 'the exact opposite' for the people to understand otherwise they do not understand, says Dheeraj.
The battle is bigger for the Balmiki community as Malti Balmiki who has been constantly participating in the awareness programmes. From her personal life where pressure at home to now going outside for studies, she face oppression virtually daily, yet her head is high. ' It is not that only upper caste inflict untouchability on us, we are isolated in our own communities and they practice untouchability with us who claimed to be Scheduled Castes and backward communities too'. Malti devotes her time to social action too and persuing her studies too even after the marriage where she is living in a very traditional family where going out of home for work is not considered good.
It is a fact that the Balmiki community was kept out of many developmental programmes. There may be many reasons for that includng local caste politics. Most of them are not even in the developmental agenda of the organisations. When issue of land redistribution comes, organisations are conspicuously silent and Balmikis outside its perview may be becasue a majority of them living in the urban centers yet a look at the rural areas would show how difficult is the life of those who have not got a job with municipality. Actually, municipality is the 'lifeline' of the community. It has worked well but also kept them isolated from other movements of the Dalit communities and when politics comes it become easier for 'leaders' to take sides.
Majority of them are landless and live in the desperate situation. Yet, the new youngs have refused to accept the defeat. In Fatehpur people like Babulal have started their own band. Dheeraj himself did not go to do the same work while Prakash Balmiki is still persuing higher education. A number of girls are now learning computers and sewing along with other girls of different communities including Muslims. Today, at attempt has been made in Fatehpur to provide them literature of great writers and liberators such as Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Periyar and many others like them to bring awareness and change in their lives. The change is coming. Fatehpur's youngs are now not sitting idol and they are preparing a new , world of their own.
The community is now looking forward. It does not sit and wait for something happen. As I write this Dheeraj informs me about a possible blockade by the upper caste people as they have closed the main passage of the community which link to the road. Such road blockade by the caste Hindus are open and blantant violation of human rights of the Dalits. The fact is they not only block the road but filed FIR against the people opposing it. In fact UP government will have to introduce such stringent laws that where ever the Dalits and other marginalised communities are not allowed passage by the caste Hindus or Muslims or OBC people, actions must be taken against them as they are blatant violation of human rights.
In the village Vinobapuri, with the efforts of community mobilsation ( and here we have Kanjar community people), a link road is being developed and primary school also will soon be there in the locality. Ofcourse, just four kilometer from district headquarter and with in the local municiple area this does not have electricity at the moment. One can understand what could be the future of the people. As, I move a few yards from the village towards the main road, I find a locality which is called as 'Balmiki-Ambedkar Aawas Yojna' but most of the villagers say it is Duda colony. I decide to get down and want to have a look to only find to my utter dismay that there is not a single Balmiki family who have got a house here. There are a few of them who are from Chamar community but most others hail from relatively better background. Its tragic that such colonies too which are being built in the name of Balmiki-Ambedkar Awas does not have a space for people from the community. There is a dire need to stop this victimisation and isolation of communities. A large number of houses in such colonies are empty and most of those living there claims that 'powerful' people come here and 'enjoy' in the night. This has made the women feel threatned and unsafe in the entire area. Its tragic that when I leave this place, I found two old women ( mother and daughter) from Ravidasi community who wanted us to request the government provide them house. Living in pethatic conditions, now many of the families have got notices from the authorities to depoist the money which they have not. Actually, the Dalals i.e. middlemen with local political linkages take money from the people and promise them heaven. Most of the people who have got into these places felt that the government has gifted them these houses for a token amount of money but now they are realising that they are in a trap when huge bills piles up for them.
In Lalauli and Dasauli village, the local Muslims were the culprits of forcing people into the scavenging work. It was painful when I saw even young girls of 7-8 years age in manual scavenging. Now both the villages have lef manual scavenging work. Ofcourse, we have to hard think what alternative could we provide to the people as well as how can we take our children further. That is a big challenge but as Maina who came into this work at a very young age of 8 years, is now liberaated and ready to fly. Though she does not know what to do as her parents did not have time to send her to school, even at this age of 17 years, she has dreams of future. Much of our battle is 'internal' says Malti, we can fight with outsiders, we know how to tackle but who will tell our parents and in laws to allow their girls to go to school, do work, learn professional courses. ' Our community is not that weak financially, as others might be, but still they do not want us to go out. At the young age of 15, the social pressure is so much that we have to get married.
Malti has decided that she will work and work for the community. She put Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Buddha's photograph in her home despite reluctance of her in laws who worship the 'Hindu Gods'. Chanda is raring to go to fight against injustice. Dheeraj is already fighting for the community and now initiaed 'Prerna Kendra' for community girls and boys in Fatehpur along with Babu Prasad and Prakash to bring community boys and girls into the world of computers and literature of the Dalit movent. Dheeraj rightfully says that It is time for the community youth to come and join hand with other like minded people and combinely fight for their rights, dingity and freedom as well as be part of the revolution initiated by Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

Remarkable Journey of Koshal Panwar

Theatre of Reservation »
Seema Duhan
Speaking
Tags: caste, dalit, JNU, modern, sanskrit, university, woman | 5 comments | 869 views



My first exchange with her left me with a sense of pleasance and an attraction yet to be understood, however, it was enough to thrill me to explore the depth of her persona and not let the opportunity slip away. Subsequently, I proposed her for an interview with me. She was Dr. Kaushal Panwar, an emerging Dalit thinker and intellectual. Before I begin unveiling my understanding of her, I shall explain that though I had decided to structure the interview in formal question and answer fashion, but during the interaction I lost my track and just flowed with unfoldings and decided to give it a biographical touch while setting down. There is a deliberate attempt to not let it appear as merely a dialogue between two individuals but a textured narrative account.

What led Kaushal Panwar – a girl born in the most marginalised caste of ‘Valmiki’ among the subaltern Dalit castes of a village ‘Rajoud’, Kaithal District, Haryana, to become Dr. Kaushal Panwar – a Sanskrit Scholar? The journey in itself is a saga of uprising for liberation from bondage. Kaushal as a child was closest to her father in the family and youngest of the three siblings. She learnt the ways of being a rebel in the early age and the course is continuing. Brothers who could not leap beyond high school were never treated specially against her. Father, who was a daily wage labourer, taught her early in life not to compromise upon the consciousness of righteousness.

History is witness to numerous instances, when oppression meets rebellious character; it had been the oppression mostly that had to retreat finally. In Kaushal’s case too, history was willing to absorb one more incident. In sixth standard, yet a child, Kaushal had to opt between Home Science and Sanskrit. She never wanted to study Home Science, background for which was nurtured by the non-liking for the daily household chores. Playing, studying and roaming around with her father used to consume her everyday life. Nevertheless, she had hunch that her decision to opt for Sanskrit would be meeting such an outrageous reaction. Her desire to study Sanskrit instead of Home Science caused enough heartburn to the subject teacher Surender Shastri – a Brahmin. Initially he tried to dissuade her by passing abhorring comments like “What use do studies have for you? After some years you have to do cleaning in our houses only”, “What a corrupt time is it, even Dalits can dare to study Sanskrit?” All kinds of humiliating passive tactics when did not pay well, then one day Surender Shastri resorted to thrash her before the entire class to break her determination. He was perhaps unaware that his vengeful and biased discharge was deciding the course of life for Kaushal. It was then, that Kaushal took resolution of becoming atleast a bigger scholar of Sanskrit than him, while another fact is that she never liked Sanskrit as a subject for which she even earned her doctorate from Jawahar Lal Nehru University. In her words, “I have gone through dilemma in my life because of Sanskrit. It was a subject whose literature and text is awfully rich with brahminical idea of hierarchical and unjust society, full of discriminatory and exploitive illustrations against Shudras and Ashudras – Dalits of contemporary times. However, I had no option but to face that text on everyday basis which loathed my own identity and origin. Since, my consciousness had pledged to study that only, I had to sacrifice my favourite subject of History.”

On being quizzed about the worth of Sanskrit Literature and its contribution in the development of the language, she explained that worth and progression of any language in the contemporary times can be evaluated by the positive contribution of its literature in the progression of social-political and philosophical systems. In that context, Sanskrit literature is in catch-22 situation. While on one hand it has rich text available on medical sciences and environment, poetry, drama in its archaic literature; the other hand it is a rigid language. Literature favours exclusiveness, Vedic deliberations and fortification of belief system without reasoning. It is this inflexible nature of Sanskrit that it is not able to communicate with the advancements in other branches of learning, be it Humanities or Basic Sciences.

Being a Sanskrit academician, she knows in and out of the literature that juxtaposes with her identity of being a Dalit woman and that cauldron is producing a fierce campaigner for Dalit rights, culture and identity out of her. The bitter truth of untouchability and humiliation as by-product of her identity became apparent to her in tender age when she started noticing that the colour of school uniform for Dalit and general caste students was different. Since, it was obvious to people outside the premises of school, hence for her, colour of school uniform joined the league of many other symbols of repression. The rebellious tender soul however was restless and the rules of the society were not acceptable to her as this example overtly expressed, “Once I was very thirsty and therefore drank water from the pitcher in school, which I generally did not do. That matter was sent to the notice of class teacher who was from general caste, by my classmates. Teacher scolded me badly and warned for drinking in future. It infuriated me and I shot at the pitcher of water to crack it. In that juvenile age fissuring of the pitcher felt like a win.”

At one level is the pain of prejudice that she endured while even more concerning is that society still conditions or rather forcefully indoctrinates the individuals to become oppressors and take part in discriminatory activities either by reward or by punishment. Such a situation exposes the bigoted mask of the social system which is harbingering to become out and out modern. “An incident I remember starkly, made clear to me that my every successful and assured move would be counted as failure of my fellow living beings who ‘fortunately’ but by chance are carrying titles from general castes. My all classmates, once were punished because I learnt a lesson by heart given as a part of home assignment, while none of them could. General caste students were beaten, scolded and sarcastic comments indirectly hinting towards me were made by the teacher to make them realise that a ‘Valmiki’ girl who on first account should not be sitting in that classroom itself could do her work properly but ‘they’ who the society considers by default to be the ‘productive and meritorious’ could not.”

Listening to her anecdotes of discrimination and hardships was sending chill down my spine and she was a living spirit sitting before me, forcing me to acknowledge that there is no end to endurance of human spirit. At the same time, it was making me caustic towards entire system of repression of which I am myself a part. This system of tyranny, prejudices is so deeply ingrained and systemically constructed no matter how educated, well travelled, read, at good socio-political standing one is. From her case, I understood that oppressive actions of the system were intensifying, evolving with her evolvement as an individual as if something was at stake, which could be gathered only by downing her. After completing her schooling, she used to commute 60 kms to and fro by bus from village to Kaithal town for graduate studies. The financial situation at home was too bad to encourage her for further studies. Yet, while simultaneously working as a daily wage labourer right outside the college campus she laboriously earned her graduate degree. For pursuing Post-Graduate studies she took admission in Kurukshetra University. She had struggled hard to get to that spot and yet in her heart of hearts she knew, her exertion was going to prolong and intensify with financial-social bottlenecks. She could not afford to get herself a place in university hostel and completed her post-graduation while renting a ‘jhuggi’ in the slum which was in the backyards of boys’ hostel. Every day for two years she was subjected to derogatory remarks. To make her ends meet and continue studies she worked part-time. All father could afford in such a situation was to give his daughter the much needed moral support and value system. During those days she joined Ambedker Students Union in KUK University. From Kurukshetra University only she did her B.Ed. During that time she opted to rent out a place with other classmates on sharing basis. But it was she who had to move herself from one place to another atleast 10 times during one year, owing to preconceived notions of people about her identity. She said, “There was a general tendency among people to ask me directly or indirectly to do cleaning in their houses. Since, I never entertained all such moves, hence I paid price in the form of inviting their hostility.”

Afterwards, for her M.Phill she went to Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak where again accommodation was a riddle for her to solve. Persons at reputed positions in the department, to her dismay, upon knowing about her caste explicitly or implicitly tried to take advantage of her situation. They expected her to do the same job for them as most of the people from her caste were ascertained to do historically, in lieu of helping for accommodation crisis. Finally, she decided to stay off campus on sharing basis. How vengeful attitude is structured as a product of prejudices and frustrations of not being able to stop the progression of someone from Dalit castes is beautifully presented in her effortful life. Her dissertation topic was completely changed by the advisor just a day before final viva. A student having undergone such a process in any given normal circumstances knows the extent of anxiety at that time but there Kaushal was forced to walk on the edge of the sword that had numbing effect. Not only did she complete M.Phil, but also got admitted to JNU for doctorate.

JNU – Jawaharlal Nehru University – a dreamland for student life with its liberal ambience, culture which makes learning experience even more bountiful had a distinct truth for her in its clasp. A Brahmin classmate upon knowing her caste “Valmiki” which is at the lowest rung among the Dalit sub-castes, used it as a pretext to isolate her in the class. Kaushal who had seen enough farce in her life, still had real difficulty in ramming a bigoted facet of the university life of JNU down her throat. Proceeding further in the story, she was mentally tortured by her room-mate who was a doctorate student of Japanese language and had travelled a lot, seen the world outside while for Kaushal a routine commutation was an affair to be thoughtfully settled on every day basis. The uneasiness and hatred which was woven by room-mate around the presence of Kaushal went to the extent of usage of some witchcraft to harm her.

All instances gave a glimpse of never ending tale of despotism, one by one pointing towards intensification of chauvinism in the form of institutionalised structure. In order to safeguard this biased fortification only, ‘fortunately privileged castes’ whip up question of merit recurrently which is nothing but an attempt to maintain the exclusive purity of the institutional discrimination and consequently utilization of those structures for gross tortures. In the face of such systematic repression, where one is being socially, mentally, economically, historically lashed out regularly, how little is being done and even meagre is accomplished through affirmative action. Hah!! And then policy of reservations is also considered as some sort of charity by many so called benevolent and progressive people.

After coming to JNU, Kaushal got associated with SFI and after the completion of Ph.D, she joined Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and worked as an active member till one day when she had to resign since the allegation levied was a direct assault on her dignity. Her notion about the party which means Communist Party of India (Marxist) is both critical and favourable. She said, “Casteism is tacitly prevalent in the party, however party may deny it. Outside, in the society caste discrimination is right in your face, you can pin point the incidents what is what. Due to insinuating presence of caste discrimination in the party, it becomes difficult or rather impossible to point out. Further, sense of being discriminated has subjective appeal. What I may find as intimidating or discriminating, a progressive person in all his good intentions might not be able to comprehend. It requires right amount of sensitivity along with progressive thoughts, consistent efforts to understand the situation of a discriminated caste/ class/ gender or any other category. In that light, just see, it is easy and fashionable to deliver discourses on the rights of subalterns but empowering them down right with in the circle of your social and political existence generally takes diversion. It is here the structure of the party hierarchy crumbles in ensuring adequate representation of Women and Dalits at every level of its functioning across India. Although, it is better off among all the other political parties in India”

When I asked Dr. Kaushal, about her own take on her identity and the facets it disposes before her. She said that she identified herself as a woman from the most marginalised sub-caste of Dalits. And owing to it she felt that her every move should be directed towards the liberation of Women and Dalits from the shackles of discrimination, oppression and superstitions. Her knowledge of holy texts and scriptures of Hinduism written in Sanskrit has made it clear to her that casteism, spiritualism and superstitions are the pillars holding this faith and have created a fallacy around it.

Being Dalit is a humiliation, it was made vivid to her by the society quite early in childhood. To be born as a female, the first sign of embarrassment, remorse is generally felt within the family, which fortunately did not become part of her experience. Neither did her immediate social system consisting of Dalit households give any sickening expression. Quite strangely, however it is true that families bearing daughters were always held with regard in any congregation of Dalits. Opinion of families bearing daughters mattered more in case of civil disputes. How humiliating being a woman can be that realisation was granted to her by the feudal-patriarchal nexus existing just outside her Dalit hamlet.

Summing up her life’s learning and remembering her father with tears in her eyes, philosophically she said, “When I received my first salary being an Assistant Professor in Delhi University, which was a good sum, I could not believe myself that there were those days also of abject poverty which we as a family survived. Now, when I could buy few moments of happiness which had been eluded due to poverty, my father was not with me to share them. Sometimes, I am not able to understand if this life is an illusion or was it then.”

When interview was over, I kept seated in the couch for sometime in anaesthetic state where body doesn’t move but a chain of reactions leading to big collision was taking place inside the head. Will we be able to subvert the historical cruel order sitting with in and reflect it beyond our own personal spaces? Despite all the scientific advancements, talks of human evolution, how much are we conscious in fighting the prejudices with ourselves, in families, in the immediate social networking?

February 19th, 2011 | Category: caste, gender, self | (3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5