"The Hindu Social Order is based upon a
division of labour which reserves for the Hindus clean and respectable jobs and assigns to the
untouchables dirty and mean jobs and thereby clothes the Hindus with
- Babasaheb Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar, Untouchables or The Children of India’s Ghetto
Keeping aside the
violence against dalits as captured by the NCRB data; there also exists a
systemic violence against a section of dalits by forcing occupations related to
waste management on them. The jati-based social division of labour is the
hallmark of Brahminical Indian society. There is inter-mobility between
occupations for the people in different jatis except for the occupations
related to waste management like manual scavenging from dry latrines, cleaning
of sewers, and other waste disposal, i.e., which externalises the
responsibility of maintaining cleanliness to a particular caste. Even during
periodical religious extravaganzas like Kumbha Melas, it is the jatis associated
with scavenging jobs from various parts of the country are called in for
removing the waste. During the Maha Pushkaram festival in Telengana last year,
in which 27 pilgrims were killed in stampede, sanitary workers were called in
from the adjoining states to clean the tonnes waste generated in the pursuit of
religious stupidity. Another case in point is that during the Chennai floods
last year, it is the sanitary workers from faraway districts cleaned the city
and brought it back to its normal condition at the risk to their life, health,
and livelihoods. Even in Delhi during the 2010 Common Wealth Games lakhs of
rag-pickers were employed by the state to keep the city clean.
Whether it is the
Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (during the last NDA regime) or Swachh Bharat Abhiyan-
clean India campaigns- there is a conscious attempt not to address the key
issues like manual scavenging from dry latrines, cleaning of sewers and sepitc
tanks without protective gear. The Clean India Campaign being launched on Oct
2014, during the last 2 years manual scavenging of dry latrines, sewers and
septic tanks has caused 1,268 deaths. The reason for this will be clear if we
read what Narendra Modi has said some years back about manual scavengers:
“I do not believe that
they [valmikis] have been doing this job just to sustain their livelihood. ...
At some point of time, somebody must have got the enlightenment that it is
their duty to work for the happiness of the entire society and the Gods; that
they have to do this job bestowed upon them by Gods; and that this job of
cleaning up should continue as an internal spiritual activity for centuries”
(Karmyog, 2007, collection of speeches by Modi, pp 48-49).
It is this casteist
mindset of the Indian state which blocks it to address the practising of this
social evil. Modi's comment on manual scavengers is no different from Gandhi's
assigning of the title Harijan to dalits to include them within the Hindu fold.
Modi's this comment was protested and his effigies were burnt in various parts of
the country which led him to withdrew 5,000 copies of his book. It is not only
Modi, but also all those who are promoting Swachh Bharat campaign who are not
aware of the real problem. So, it is the ploy of Brahmanical fascists to only
address cleanliness without mentioning anything about caste.
India is the uniquely
unclean country in the world because the waste generated by the entire society
is being forced to be cleaned by only a section of people under the sanction of
caste system, resulting in stockpiling of waste (mainly generated by the rich)
and stigmatisation for those who disposes the waste. As with the Brahmin
monopoly over knowledge had left the country ignorant and stagnant for
centuries, India remains unclean because the large majority of the society has
been criminally using the labour of few to clean their wastes. While non-dalits
too take up in Municipal jobs related to waste disposal due to precarious
nature of livelihood options in the economy which is increasingly becoming a
colony of imperialist countries, the informal waste management jobs are still
mostly done by dalits. While various shades of dominant caste “social justice”
based parties demand reservation in jobs related to higher echelons of
bureaucracy, no one from them demands reservation in municipal sanitary jobs.
So, without addressing the caste system in its entirety the evil of manual
scavenging cannot be eradicated.
The Safai Karamchari
Andolan (SKA) is on a 125 day 30,000 km country-wide Bhim Yatra, which will
arrive in Delhi on 12th April Tuesday 4 pm near Ambedkar Bhawan, demanding an
end to manual scavenging in which 1.8 lakh households are engaged. While the
legislations like Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their
Rehabilitation Act, 2013 enacted in Parliament are not ending the practice, the
Brahmanical fascist Indian state itself has become a waste to be removed.
Eliminate manual scavenging immediately! Demolish dry latrines! Stop the deaths
in sewer lines and septic tanks! Mechanise the sewerage system! Pay Rs 10 lakh
to dependants of persons who died in sewer lines! Liberate and compensate all
manual scavengers with Rs 5 lakh each! Internalise the responsibility towards
cleanliness! Annihilate Caste!
In Revolutionary
Solidarity with SKA's Bhim Yatra - 13th April - 11 am, Jantar Mantar
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