IJDTSW Vol.3, Issue 1 No.3 pp.25 to 30, June 2015
Manifestations and Discrimination of Manual Scavengers in Dhule, Maharashtra
Abstract
India, boasts of its prosperity and diversified culture. However, for some section of society such as those who form the lower strata,particularlythe lower castes,experienced differentrealitiesframed by the caste system. For most manual scavengers,there is no freedom from filth and stink whether morning or nights. This paper engages with caste repercussionsand its rampant practice which enforces and imposesunclean occupations over peoples and communities on the basis of his/her birth.The interconnection between caste and manual scavenging are stark andsuch rigidity denies equal opportunity to the scavengers. Manual scavenging is the replication of changing forms of caste discrimination and is one of the acute ramifications of untouchability and the Varnasystem. Despite existing constitutional provisions and laws to eradicate manual scavenging, the practice is prevalent and for manual scavengers the law remains merely on the paper and it is hardly applicablein reality.The paper delineatesthe existing practice of manual scavenging in Dhule district of Maharashtra and the dynamics and dimensions of discrimination within the said population.
Introduction
India has the largest written constitution and it is also a democratic country where everyone is equal and there is no discrimination on the basis of caste, sex, race, region and place of birth. It sounds very beautiful, but the reality depicts very different picture about the people in the country, especially Dalits; literal meaning broken people. Dalit are the most marginalized section of the society; theydo not have control over the resources, they always being discriminated against, denied access to capital. They are restricted from the religious places and were not allowed to fill the water from the public resources.
Dalit compelled to work in the dehumanizing conditions. They always become the victim of abuse and Dalitwomen have been harassed sexually by the so called upper caste people. Theyface humiliation from the state authority and denied justice for their discrimination. It is evident from the literature and reports that most of the time the police refused to file the FIR (First Information Report) when, it was against the higher caste people; since most of the upper caste people are in the higher administrative positions and then they always manipulate their position, in doing so they violate the human rights of the marginalized people.
Historical Evolution of Manual Scavenging
In Indian context, manual scavenging has adistinct nature; itis the manual lifting and removal of human excreta, both maintained by public authority and at private homes. Manual scavenging is prevalent across Asia. China had manual scavengers but unlike India they were not members of any caste. In Japan Vault toilets (emptied by vacuum trucks) arestill operable. Other references indicate that bucket toilets in the form of manual scavenging were prevalent in Africa; and migrants from Andhra Pradesh went to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to do the tasks of manual scavenging. In the Harappa civilization in 2500 BCE; in each house, people had waterborne toilets, which were linked by drains, which again covered by burnt clay bricks. For the maintenance and facilitation purpose, the drainage system had manholes and chambers. However, the science of sanitary engineering suffered due to decline of the Indus Valley civilization. (Excavations in Lothal, 62 KM away from Ahmedabad) The disposal of human excreta was one of the fifteen duties for slaves enumerated in the Narada Samhita, Chandalaswere given the term as slaves, since they engaged in the disposal of human excreta, in Vajasaneyi Samhita.
One argument, which properly fits into the Hindutva theory that all social evil generated from the Muslim rule and further they reconstruct a glorious Rajput heritage for communities like the Bhangis. Another argument was that “scavenging came in with the Mughals”, prisoners of war were forced into manual scavenging and their descendants became the Bhangis.Thus, such kinds of narratives revealed the role which had played by caste in India. Under British rule the practice of manual scavenging expanded phenomenally. Manual scavenging legitimized and systematized by the British, for instance, they created official posts of manual scavengers. All the institutions such as the army, railways, courts, industries and major towns having the dry latrines instead of water-borne sewerage. Several factors such ascommercialization of land, destruction of artisan trades and frequent famines, pushed people out of traditional occupations and agricultural activities to scavenging and sweeping. However, this will not be appropriate to say that the British created caste or manual scavengers, rather the British intervened precisely to institutionalize it. In India, unfortunately technology of sanitation was structured to deepen social prejudice, rather than removing the social prejudice. During and after the partition, the Pakistan despite the ethnic cleansing of Hindus, refused to allow the untouchable to emigrate to India, who involved in Safaikarmachari work, while the Indian government tries to secure safe passage for the Hindus of Pakistan, there was no concern about the ‘dalit Hindu’, left behind in Pakistan, it was not that a better life awaited them in India, in December 1947 Ambedkar, raised this issue in a letter to then Prime Minister.
Certain occupations, such as carrying the dead animals, beating the drumsticks, delivering the news of death treated as degraded and disgraceful, and manual scavenging is one of them. The tasks had to perform by the lower section of the society, as the result of their so called karma. It was because the untouchables have no choice, they were forced to do it. These tasks allocated to the individuals who were belonged to lower strata of the social system. All location of the occupations on the basis of the birth has been one of the vital features of the caste system in Hindu religion. Dry latrines were abundant and the Dalit had to carry out the excreta of human being on their heads, if they fail to do it, they had to face the boycott from the village and had to face the abuse from upper caste people. Since they were performing the tasks were pertaining to the excretion, and hence considered as filthy. The excretion has been considered as the dirty thing, the notion of impurity has been attached to it. There are specified rule related to excretion in the society and from childhood every child get the lessons about it and one more thing is also that the right hand have the importance attached to it. The good work should initiate by the right hand; the reason is that it has nothing to do with the excretion. And the left hand has less value as compared to the right in context of purity. In the course of time there is the change in the views of people. But still in most of the places the belief of the purity in the context of hand has been existed.The manual scavengers called by different names across the country. For instance in Maharashtra alone they called by different names Bhangi, SafaiKamgar,Valmiki, Mehtarsamaj , AswachhaKamgar; in Bihar they called Dom; in Andhra Pradesh they recognized as Madiga and in Gujarat they identified by Bhangi name.
The conscious attempt made throughout the paper to probe the reciprocal relation between the caste and occupations by studying the various parameters pertaining to the socio- economic factors. As caste has been given the central importance since in “Manusmirti”, the Hindu scripture, where in the Hindu society divided into the four Varna’sviz; Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. There was also the belief that as these four Varna has born from the God Brahma, in such a way that Brahmin born from the head, Kshatriya from the arms, Vaishya’s from the lap, Shudra born from the foot. And the Atishudras were supposed to be outcaste and called as untouchables. According, to the birth classification they have allocated the work categories for each. Which were Brahmin should do the scholar and priest tasks, Kshatriya should perform the rulers and soldier’s duty, Vaishya should engage in the merchant activities, and Shudra born from the foot they should serve for the above three categories. One can think how inhuman and erroneous distinction was that. In the words of Ambedkar, the division of Varna is the building without ladder.
The paper examined the working conditions of the scavengers and the implications of it on health. In India most of the Dalit population engaged in the practice of manual scavenging and most striking fact is that among those engaged in manual scavenging, hardly any one survives beyond the age of 65 and about 80 percent die before the age of 60, where is the Right to life which is justifiable right guaranteed by the Constitution of India. This violation is ceaseless and recently in the 21st century, the data obtained from the city of Mumbai and BMC through Right to Information Act shows that, on an average 20 safaikarmachari die every month in the city of Mumbai. Similarly, every third day a death occurs due to asphyxiation alone while cleaning septic tanks and still manual scavenging is being practiced in the many state in the country however the Government of India is denying the fact that manual scavenging is existed, though the forms of manual scavenging are varying from state to state. Onecannot deny the fact that it is still being performed by the people who falls at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
There were various efforts done at different level from addressing the issue of manual scavenging till banning the heinous practice. According to the article 252 of the Indian Constitution, the manual scavenging is banned by the Employment of manual scavenging and construction of Dry latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993.The sole intention of the act is to ensure liberation and rehabilitation of all Manual scavengers and penalized the offender for the violation of it. It has been about to be more than two decades for the act, still the implementation of the act depicts the gloomy scenario. One can look at the prevalence of manual scavenging which is given by the various organizations. According to Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment there were 9,200,000 dry latrines in India in 2003. The Indian Railway is known for the largest rail network in the world and it is also employed the largest number of manual scavengers. It is the findings of the unofficial survey conducted by the non-governmental organizations and research group projects that about 1, 200,000 persons are employed as manual scavengers in India. Further the survey projects that among the manual scavengers, 98% are Dalits, of which 95% are females.
The Government of India in 1992 launched a national scheme of liberation and rehabilitation of scavengers and their dependents across the country. The objective of the scheme was to find out the safaikarmcharis, and rehabilitate them by providing proper training to them. Unfortunately, the objective of the scheme was not got fulfilled and it has benefited only few scavengers. Lack of the progress of the scheme reveals the apathy of state governments and concerned institutions towards the proper implementation of the scheme. The real fact is that in the Government’s Eighth Five Year Plan a sum of Rs.4, 640,000,000 was allocated for the scheme and activist also claimed that the resources including governments funds, still the government and political stakeholder gives the reason that they do not have the abundant water availability to construct the flush toilets, hence the implementation of the scheme was unsatisfied. One of the important point revealed by the members of the National Commission for SafaiKarmacharis, is that though the body has given the advisory powers, but it does not have the authority to summon or monitor the cases related to the scavenging, they should get the proper entitlement and authority which is existed at the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Then and there only they will perform their functions regularly and neatly. The several organizations and social activist’s groups also working on the manual scavenging like, Navsarjan trust in Gujarat, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, SafaiKarmachariAndolanetc. SafaiKarmachariAndolan is one of the organization working on the eradication of manual scavenging, it was started in the year 1995 by children of those engaged in manual scavenging for the liberation from the horrible occupation and to live the dignified life. There are also some of the efforts done by the Government of Maharashtra such as the Mahatma Phule Backward Class Development Corporation (MPBCDC) established in the year 1978.The MPBCDC aimed and accountable for implementing the Central and State Government programmes and schemes for the upliftment of the backward classes and it also comprises the most vulnerable category of the manual scavengers.Since 1992 in the state of Maharashtra, the MPBCDC has been involved in implementing the National Scheme for the Liberation and Rehabilitation of the Scavengers. The central feature of this scheme, is the liberation of the manual scavengers from the inhuman and degrading practice of manual scavenging and give them dignified opportunities for their livelihood suchas entrepreneurship skills, business loan and some other economic incentives etc. Despite of such government programme, there is lack of awareness among the manual scavenger’s.And also the implementation of such programmeswas negligible from the Government side except false promises on the ground of abolition of the manual scavenging.
Locale of the Study
According to 2011 census, Maharashtra is the second largest state in India, in terms of population. For the administrative purpose the state has divided into six revenue regionsviz; Amravati, Aurangabad, Konkan, Nagpur, Nashik and Pune.Dhule district was separated from the Nandurbar district in 2004.Dhule is the district known for its Khandesi culture; Dhule falls in the Nashik region, which forms the northwest corner of Deccan plateau. On west the district is bounded by the state of Gujarat, on the North Madhya Pradesh and on east and south by Jalgaon and Nasik respectively. The paper is an attempt to discover the dimensions of the manual scavengers in social aspects and also trying to explore the perceptions of manual scavengers about their occupations.
The paper argued that the existence of the manual scavenging on the basis of caste is nothing but the kind of conspiracy and hegemony on the oppressed section of the society by the oppressor and it is the deliberate process for the purpose of continuous caste system. Dhule is one of the District and it is not Metro city, though dry latrines were invisible, but the open spot defecation and the ill managed and ill maintained public toilets were kind of similar as cleaning dry latrines due to scarcity of water. The Municipal Corporation of the Dhule has the department of health and sanitation in which they employed as the safaiKamgar.Thesafaikamgars have literally no choice to clean the public toilets, to sweep and to clean the human excreta without gloves, and to clean the manhole by going inside it, without any equipment. Hence, in order to understand the conditions of the manual scavengers pertaining to the various socioeconomic and health aspect, in the Dhule district the area has been chosen. The four localities have been chosen namely Ramdevbabanagar, Devpura, Phasipol and Bhimnagar.Ramdevbabanagar and the Devpura were the quarters of the Municipal corporation.Phasipol and Bhimnagar were encroached slum communities.
The paper shows that there is strong correlation between the caste and manual scavenging, the ascribed occupations on the basis of caste system is strongly rooted in the mind of the people and it is quite difficult to take out the things from the mind of the people. Several studies revealed that due to such occupations the lifespan of the scavenger’s decreases since, they work under the worst conditions.
Profile of the Manual Scavengers
The manual scavengers employed in the municipal corporation as SafaiKamgar and some were engaged in the private latrine cleanings in Dhule. The nature of their work were different comes under the broader category as SafaiKamgar. The Safai Kamgar were involved in the both kinds of work Permanent as well as contract worker. The manual scavengers were emigrants from the two states such as Gujarat and Rajasthan; some were emigrated within the state from different regions and even different district.
Methods and Data
The study based on primary as well as secondary data. In depth interviews have been used which comprises open ended questions. Along with this the focus group discussion are also applied in order to extract the data. The group comprises six to eight members provided with equal gender representation, in order to get the diverse views on the same issue there was no age bar for focus group discussion. It was used to explore how individuals discuss a certain issue as a member of a group, rather than simply as individual. Apart from interview schedule and focus group discussion, non-participant observation also has been used as the tool for data collection. The purpose of the observation was to observe the interaction of the manual scavengers with othercommunities and vice versa in the public sphere. It helps to get the deeper understanding of the manual scavengers and the treatment they received from the public.
The contract manual scavenger is the termused to describe the “BadliKamgar”. In the local parlance of scavengersBadli, meaning changing in Marathi. Although the work they perform is kind of similar but the conditions of the contract manual scavengers is worst compared to the permanent manual scavengers. Contract manual scavengers are not getting the surety about the regular work and they were in dire need for the livelihood and had to work for meager wages. Merely they get work only for 10 to 15 days in a month. Working hours varied from ten to eleven hours in a day. On the other hand, the permanent manual scavengers have the stipulated timings of work from eight to nine hours in a day.
Discrimination Against Manual Scavengers
The current ongoing heinous reality in India is that manual scavenging is the hereditary occupation which is passed from one generation to the other of the people who are belonged to the lower status of the social hierarchy. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, rightly pointed out that “in our country a man/woman is not scavenger because of his /her task. He or she is a scavenger because of his/her birth irrespective of the question whether s/he does scavenging or not”. The inhuman and disgusting stigma did not leave him/her, throughout their life. Discrimination, whether it is social, economic and political very rampant against scavengers. Most of them, it will not be an exaggeration if one would say that all the scavengers lived in segregated area whether in rural, semi urban and urban area. They are far away from the use of the very common basic resources, which are very essential for the human beings. The working hours and the tasks are huge, and they have to manually clean many seats in the public as well as private toilets, and they have to enter into the man-holes and have to clean the sewers. Apart from that they have to clean the gutter and also clean the open spots. Despite of the hard working conditions, still they have to face the social as well as economic exploitation.
There were several instances like those, would like to narrate one, contract manual scavengers narrated the story that once one bullock was died and it was on the road since two days, and one day when he was having his lunch that time he has been called by the supervisor saying it is very urgent he has to do the work and without his lunch he rushed to the office then supervisor asked him that to sit in the vehicle and to go to the site to that road he saw one bullock was dead and stinking. He had to remove the bullock from the place in the garbage vehicle. The bullock was such a huge and stinking a lot, and he was not able to lift that bullock then, driver help him to lift and somehow they lift the bullock and dump it into the garbage site. After coming back to the home the smell of that stink animal had not leave him around ten days. It compels to revisit the previous things from the colonial period, in that period the Mahar (lower caste people in the caste hierarchy) had to carry dead animals and shits on their head. If they would not do those things, then they had to face boycott from the resources of the village itself. Currently, boycotting is not happening on the scale on which it used to occur. However, the tasks such as removing dead animals and shits has been performing by the lower caste people and the people who are asking to do it are those higher caste people but now they are in the higher administrative positions. It clearly indicates that the heinous caste practice still continues in same way or the other.
Safaikamgars have differences of opinion on the work they are indulged in, some scavengers were of opinethat they had to perform the work because the occupation is the kind of traditional practice to them and it comes through their ancestors. While some safaikamgars who were acquainted with the information and were part of some movements earlier, they regretted over the Gandhi and they said “Due to Gandhi we took the brooms in our hand and by giving the status of god’s children, he cheated upon us”. And some safaikamgarswho were young were denounced and asserted that why only they have to do this work and why not other caste people.The paper argued thatalmost all manual scavengers who are engaged in the occupation are from lower caste and they are falls under the Scheduled Caste (SC). This is an instance which reveals that the people are coming from the lower section of the society are engaged in the occupations. Manual scavengers lived in the pathetic conditions, it is the ironical situation that the individuals who are utilizing their potential and giving their life for the other people and providing healthy and clean environment to others in return they themselves do not have the proper toilets and clean environment to live in.
Caste DenyingManual Scavengers for Another Occupation
The peculiar and stubborn feature of the caste is that it restricts the upward mobility, and it does not allow an individual for efficiently utilizing his/her skills, and abilities, it obstructs the person from achieving the status as what that person deserve on the basis of choice and capabilities, then the person deprived from the opportunities and due to this, not only physical capability get restricted, but also the mental ability get enslaved, the individual liberal thinking become cease. Once, one safaikamgar thought about to start an enterprise and he set up the small stall. Various eatable things and tea were also there. On the very first day, the customers used to come and were returning, without buying anything, and the safaikamgar was awaited for selling his things, except his caste, no one buy the things from him, the reason was that the stall belonged to the “Bhangi”“shyamtakmaiintajarkartaraha, koi aayegaauryehchijekharidekarega,kintu,do mere jatke, log chhodkarkisinebhi mere dukan, se chijenahikharidli,aurmaihairanhokarvapasgharaakarbahotroya”. “He waited since morning tillevening in the hopes that people will buy the things and he will earn his income. However, he belonged to the Bhangi caste, no one buys the things from him, and he went home without selling the things”.
This experience clearly shows that how the caste notion in the mind decided the occupation, and on a large scale untouchability is being practiced. In that instance though the safaikamgar had the capacity, skills and choice and also some incentive to start up an enterprise.However, the existed oppressive caste structure in the society, has prevented the progress of the scavenger the incidents werean indication for the other scavengers that they cannot perform other business or employment other than manual scavenging.
Death is Better Than the Life
“Maran khupchangalaahehyajagnyapeksha” meaning, “death is better than this kind of living”. The sentence was spoken by several scavengers, they were narrating the story in the Phasipol slum, whenever without mask they have to entered in the Dhhapa(septic tank) and without consumption of alcohol they could not entered into it after coming out from it the insecticides and the smell does not leave them for several days. And apart from that the insecticides enter into the body and they even absorbed into the body and skin got rotten. In their words,“early in the morning, everyone wants fresh environment and need to breathe fresh air. For us every morning filled with filth and dirty stink!”. They further added that after all these, the most critical situation comes after coming home, when there was scarcity of water, and sometimes have to remained like that till the availability of water at home.Indeed, they were living life which is worse than the death.
Feeling of Relative Deprivation Among the Manual Scavengers .
Though almost all manual scavengersfall under broad category as Scheduled Castes. The relative deprivation existed among the scavengers. Bhangipeople see themselves different from the other manual scavengers, and other manual scavengers such as Mahar, Matang, and Muslim Mehtar also separate themselves from each other. And the Bhangireiterate several times that for them no one was there, unlike the Mahar and Matang. In the political constituency also no one talk about their constraints. The feelings of the Bhangis were also obvious because they faced the deprived and excluded within the whole section of the scavengers. The hierarchy from the perceptions of the manual scavengers is goes like this:
Mahar è Matang è Muslim Mehtar è Bhangi
AmongBhangi, most of them were permanent manual scavengers, and were accommodate in the quarter of Municipal Corporation, and the MuslimMehtaralso were engaged in the practice of manual scavenging in the municipal corporations. Though economically they somehow sufficient, but in the society they faced humiliation on the basis of their caste, and they themselves feels insecure and deprived from the other caste people in Muslim communities. The large numbers of Mahar and Matang work on the basis of contract level in the corporation, and except some the major chunk of their population stayed in the encroached slum area, almost Maharand Matang have the same status of work.However, in the society the Mahar and Matang recognized and humiliated by the nameAshprush meaning untouchable, and the Bhangi even feels isolated from Dalits and feels discrete from the Dalit also. Although the economic status of the manual scavengers was not up to the mark, still from the field experience and observations, it would be appropriate to say that economically the status of Bhangi were quite sound as compared to other manual scavengers those were from Maharand Matang category. But socially the Bhangi caste were more isolated and deprived than the Dalit who were Mahar andMatang. One can say Bhangi were the most deprived within the lower section. Looking at the social discrimination, the Dalits feels discriminated and isolated from the upper caste Hindu, suchas, Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya.Further the Hindu Matang feels discriminated from the Maharand at last the Bhangi caste feels isolated excluded, deprived from all the Hindu category. Bhangi feels alienated. According to them “Bhangisamaj is for everyone but no one for them not even government.” It indicates the depth of their deprivations. In the context of Muslim there is also social order such as, 1) Ansari 2) Pathan 3) Khan 4)Khatiq 5) Bhangi and there is also discrimination practice outside the Masjid.According to them the Ansari, Khan and Pathan, were the highest group in the Muslim, but the discrimination is not severed, as it were in the Hindu religion. In the Masjid there are no discrimination takes place, which will deny access to the Mosque, Unlike Hindu, there is no restriction for to get access to the Masjid. In Muslim communities those engaged in the manual scavenging recognized as Bhangi. In broader context the manual scavengers always have been excluded from the social events and also prohibited from the interpersonal relations.
Conclusion
Manual scavenging is one of the precarious threat to the lives of the human beings, who almost constitute200 million country’s population. Thegloomy picture is that the government is in denial and negligence about the existence of manual scavenging. Moreover, though the governmenthas initiated some of theprogrammes and schemes for manualscavengers, the whole intentions of the government programme, to rehabilitate the manual scavengers by providing the economic incentives, so that they will set up an enterprise. Hence they will beable to live the dignified lives from the dignified occupation. Lack of awareness about the schemes among the scavengers and governments is also not providing income incentives.Unfortunately, most of the scavengers were not aware about the schemes and the programmes which were meant for them. The government should provide the trainings and necessary skill development programmed for the scavengers. The Government must ensure that they should get the assistance in which they could manage to set up an enterprise or livelihood which generate income to them and they will live dignified lives.
The thing is not that change is impossible, rather the change is inevitable and gradual process. Moreover, for the positive change the assertion from the sides of the oppressed section play a vital role. And no matter in less number some manual scavengers raising their voice and asserting that why only the filthy work confined to them, and these and many such issue related to the dignity and justice have been raised by the manual scavenger’s. But what is required is that they should get the proper platform to raise the voice. And along with them their voice should channelized properly, then only there will be challenge for the oppressive social structure.
If the manual scavengers get access to education, then their aspirations will be raised and their thinking will also be critical. Through which, they can ascertain about themselves and they will not engage them in the degrading practice. However, most importantly the mindset of the upper castes who serve higher position in administration must change. And the manual scavengers must get the job as per his/her qualification in the corporation, and the caste based occupation should cease in order to eradicate the manual scavenging.
Reference
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