Latest news with #Dalits
DW
10 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
In India, caste still defines who cleans cities – DW – 07/22/2025
People from the lower rungs of India's strict social hierarchy say they're trapped doing jobs like cleaning sewers because of historical discrimination. At least 77% of India's 38,000 sewer and septic workers are from the Dalit community, according to data from India's National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE). Dalits are a historically marginalized group, comprising the lowest level of India's centuries-old discriminatory caste hierarchy. NAMASTE is an organization that claims to protect sanitation workers, while promoting the use of mechanized cleaning machines and securing subsidies to reduce manual labor. In 2020, the Indian government announced measures to end the hazardous practice of manual scavenging — the removal of human excrement from toilets, septic tanks and sewers by hand — by August 2021. The initiatives were part of the "Clean India Initiative," launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that aimed to enforce laws banning manual scavenging. However, despite the ban, this dirty work goes on, largely carried out by Dalits. Despite their efforts to obtain other municipal jobs for which they are qualified, many Dalits claim to have been denied other work, effectively trapping them in cleaning roles. "The government refuses to acknowledge the social reality that India is fundamentally a caste-based society," said Bezwada Wilson from Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), a advocacy group in India seeking an end to manual scavenging. "What they claim is less about facts and more about their own opinion," Wilson told DW. "Telling manual scavengers to buy machines themselves under the NAMASTE scheme is a cruel form of 'rehabilitation,'" said Wilson. "Instead of ending caste-based hiring, it simply repackages it under a modern name — NAMASTE is caste discrimination disguised as progress." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Dalits are usually given the most menial and hazardous jobs, which are deemed "impure" by religious and social standards. These jobs are passed down through generations, trapping families into a cycle of social exclusion and economic deprivation. Even among the Dalits, the Valmiki sub-caste, historically faces harsher socio-political and economic exclusion, suppression and violence. "Caste is seen as a result of one's past deeds, condemning scavengers to a life of cleaning others' waste," Vivek Kumar, a professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told DW. "Patronizing it by calling it a 'spiritual duty' or 'noble service to society' masks the harsh reality of discrimination," Kumar added. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Dalits often experience segregation in housing, education and social interaction. The association between caste and sanitation work limits Dalits from moving up the social ladder — forbidding their access to other jobs and opportunities. Kumar said that caste has not withered away with modernity or urbanization. Instead, it has spread into urban centers and entered modern institutions, such as industry, civil society, polity and bureaucracy. "Until caste acts as a cultural capital for the 'upper castes' we cannot eliminate it," he said. Kumar believes that "dignity of labor" must be taught from primary to higher education to move past the outdated belief of scavenging work being tied to one's birth. "Once the connection between caste and scavenging is broken and the job is fairly paid, we'll see other communities stepping in these jobs," Kumar concluded. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
The Hindu
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Villagers in Koppa put up tents on vacant govt. land in protest over delay in granting sites for houses
Around 30 families of Herur gram panchayat in Koppa taluk of Chikkamagaluru have put up tents on a vacant government land as a mark of protest over the delay in granting sites and houses for the roofless. K.L. Ashok, an activist with Karnataka Janashakti, told The Hindu that the people who put up the tents were natives of villages in Koppa, and they were all Dalits. 'They have submitted applications seeking sites for houses in the prescribed format. As their demand has not been fulfilled, with no way out, they have put up the tents on the vacant land,' he said. After their repeated appeals to the gram panchayat and other offices seeking sites went unanswered, they identified a vacant revenue land about 6 km from Jayapura and put up the tents. A majority of them are plantation workers who worked in estates. As long as they worked for the estate owners, they were provided with houses on the estates. However, as they retired, they had to make their own arrangements to stay. Mr. Ashok said that the estate owners send the workers out of the houses once they retire. 'The minimum rent for a house in the taluk is about ₹5,000 a month. How can the retired workers pay so much rent? The government should grant sites to the needy. More than 50 lakh applications are pending before the government across the State,' he added.
NDTV
16 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
After Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi's Electoral Theft In Madhya Pradesh Claim
Bhopal: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged electoral theft in Madhya Pradesh, a month after he accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating a "match-fixing" in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. In a fiery-charged virtual address at the Congress's Nav Sankalp Shivir in Madhya Pradesh's Mandu, Mr Gandhi also questioned the credibility of the Maharashtra elections and claimed that over one crore new voters mysteriously appeared in the voter rolls. "Let me say this without a shadow of doubt, Maharashtra's election was stolen. The Election Commission is helping the BJP in full capacity," he charged, alleging institutional bias at the highest levels. जननायक श्री @RahulGandhi जी आज मांडव में जारी नव संकल्प शिविर में वर्चुअल माध्यम से जुड़े और सभी विधायकगणों को संबोधित किया. — MP Congress (@INCMP) July 21, 2025 Drawing a parallel to his party's experience in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Gandhi added, "I believe the last Madhya Pradesh election was stolen too, not once, but repeatedly. Just like Maharashtra. We must stay vigilant." In the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP bagged 163 of the 230 seats to retain power in the central state. The Congress could manage 66 assembly segments. The BJP also swept the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh by winning all 29 seats in the state. Mr Gandhi also alleged a systemic suppression of the backward and marginalised communities. "The Congress must fight for 95% of India's population, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, minorities, and the poor from the general category. We must become their voice," he said. He also emphasised unity and mutual respect within the party, urging cadres to learn from the experience of senior leaders and to carry the Congress's message of caste census to every household. Reiterating the party's stand on caste-based census, he declared, "If Congress forms the government in Madhya Pradesh, we will immediately carry out a caste census. We will ensure proportional representation for Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, and women in government jobs." He also questioned the BJP's resistance to caste-based data. "Why is the BJP afraid of data? Why does the RSS oppose the caste census? Because within that data lies the truth, the truth of exploitation of Dalits, backwards classes, and even the poor among the general category." He cited the Telangana caste survey as a model and pledged to implement similar surveys in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh when the Congress forms a government. "I've said this in Parliament, we will break down the 50% reservation wall. The RSS and BJP are scared now. They once boasted of getting 400 seats to change the Constitution. But it was Congress, through Bharat Jodo Yatra and Nyay Yatra, that forced them to talk about caste census," he said.
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Business Standard
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Oppn MPs protest against Bihar SIR; vow to press for PM's presence in House
Earlier, a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders was held in the presence of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi Press Trust of India New Delhi Opposition MPs, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday staged a protest in Parliament House complex against the Election Commission's voter roll revision in Bihar. The opposition MPs gathered on the steps of Makar Dwar of Parliament and raised slogans against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging that it amounts to stealing elections. They also held placards like 'SIR: Stealing Indian Rights' and 'SIR: Subverting Indian Republic'. MPs of several parties, including the Congress, SP, RJD, TMC, DMK, JMM, among others participated in the protest. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took part in the protest. Earlier, a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders was held in the presence of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. During the meeting, the opposition decided to press for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in the House to answer questions on pressing issues, Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said. The opposition decided to press for Modi's presence in the House to answer questions on issues such as the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, Donald Trump's statements on India-Pakistan "ceasefire", Bihar's SIR process, delimitation, "growing atrocities" against Dalits, Adivasis, Backward classes and women, AI 171 plane crash and Manipur "civil war", Venugopal said. These are people's issues and must be given utmost priority, he said. Sources said the opposition leaders also vowed to raise the issue that Gandhi be allowed to speak inside the House. It was also decided that the opposition would raise the issue of SIR in both Houses of Parliament.
New Indian Express
20 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Dalit Christians allege discrimination in church, sit on hunger strike
TIRUCHY: A section of Dalit Christians from Kottapalayam village near Thuraiyur sat on a hunger strike near the collectorate on Monday saying they have been facing discrimination and are not allowed to take part in the ongoing festival of the century-old St Mary Magdalene Church and other activities. The festival began on July 14. The church functions under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kumbakonam. Bishop Jeevanandam Amalanathan said he would not take part in the chariot procession which is scheduled on Tuesday to register his protest against the 'persisting caste discrimination in the parish'. Dalit Christians said for decades, they have not been allowed to pay subscription to the church and were kept out of planning committees. Further, they alleged that the church chariot is not taken into their locality. 'We were told by the priest and also several dominant caste Christians that this is not our festival. The church refuses to collect subscription from us as it does from others. Instead, we're asked to make donations,' said J Doss Prakash, a long-time parishioner. The protesters submitted a petition to the DRO during the weekly grievances meeting seeking action against the parish priest and others who allegedly threatened Dalits during a festival planning meeting on July 6.
