Tuesday, October 19, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Dalit killed for stopping eveteasers

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/dalit-killed-for-stopping-eveteasers/427409.html

Dalit killed for stopping eveteasers

PTI | 06:10 PM,Oct 19,2010

Morena (MP), Oct 19 (PTI) A dalit was killed and his body was thrown at the railway tracks after he resisted some unidentified youth who were teasing his daughter here, police said today.Munna Jatav (48) resisted the youth teasing his daughter at Singhal locality yesterday and thereafter tried to lodge a complaint with the police.Angry at this, the youth attacked Munna with swords, killed him and threw his body at nearby railway tracks, police sources said.The police have sent Munna's body for autopsy and a case has been registered.Further probe is on, police added.

===

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[ZESTCaste] Free Food & water distribution function at Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur(India) on October 16-17, 2010. [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from Dr. Milind Jiwane included below]

Union Leader of Income Tax organized " Free Food & Water distribution
function" at ITI Road, deekshabhoomI, Nagpur On October 16-17, 2010.
On the eve of Dhaamma Chakka Pavartan Day, Union leader of Income
Tax Department Nagpur has organized "Free Food & Water Distribution
Function" at ITI Riad, Deekshabhoomi Nagpur. On that ceremony, following
dignitaries were present.
* Inauguration : Hon. Mohandas Kabra(Chief Income Tax Commissioner)
* Chief Guests : Hon. Mrs. Aarati Handa(Income Tax Commissioner)
Hon. Mrs. Harshawardhini Buti(Income Tax Commissioner)
Hon. Shailendra Handa(Income Tax Commissioner)
Dr. Milind Jiwane (Civil Rights Protection cell)
Dr. Rajabhau Taksande ( Social Leader)
*Anchor : Mrs. Sulbhashri Sirsat
With Best Compliments from:
* Ashok Kolhatkar (Chief)
* Rama Kolhatkar
* Gunwant Bhoyar
* Suresh Bedekar
* S.S. sukhadeve

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Attachment(s) from Dr. Milind Jiwane

1 of 1 Photo(s)

Free Food & Water distribution function at Deekshabhoomi Nagpur(India) on October 17, 2010.jpg

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[ZESTCaste] Re: Dalit seeks non-Brahmin judge for fair trial in HC

makwana should be supported for taking bold stand.The judge should have looked into the matter without showing caste bias. But he is offende for his caste. The caste bias among even judges is still persisting. The brahmin remains a brahmin at any post judiary or political or any other.The dismissal of case is a casteist approach and makwana should appeal to the higher court and get the case wider publicity.

--- In ZESTCaste@yahoogroups.com, Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@...> wrote:
>
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dalit-seeks-non-Brahmin-judge-for-fair-trial-in-HC/articleshow/6761647.cms#ixzz12i8sTR8n
>
> Dalit seeks non-Brahmin judge for fair trial in HC
> Saeed Khan, TNN, Oct 17, 2010, 02.20am IST
>
> AHMEDABAD: A Gujarat high court judge got offended and dismissed a
> case filed by a dalit when his lawyer requested the judge not to hear
> the case and shift it to some other bench because the judge himself
> was a Brahmin and that he would not be able to do justice in the case.
>
> The petitioner, Ajit Makwana, had filed a complaint against the
> Junagadh district judge who, he said, was favouring only Brahmins for
> posts of Class III and Class IV staff.
>
> Makwana's lawyer, A M Chauhan, told the court that nearly 60% of
> selected candidates were Brahmins. The petitioner accused the judicial
> officer of promoting Brahmins and in doing so, he conducted interviews
> twice and deprived him of the opportunity.
>
> However, Chauhan's accusations on behalf of his client, Makwana,
> stunned Justice R R Tripathi. The advocate submitted: "The surname
> suggests that Your Lordship also belongs to the same community and,
> therefore, I want that this court may not hear this matter."
>
> Justice Tripathi could not take it anymore and mentioned in the order
> that he had come across such an argument for the first time from any
> advocate after he assumed office as judge of the high court.
>
> The judge thought that this was a "fit case" for issuing "notice for
> contempt" against the advocate, and if he was saying so on instruction
> from his client, then against him also.
>
> However, he restrained himself.
>
> Justice Tripathi dismissed the case with the observation that the
> statement was made only with a view to either bring pressure on the
> court and obtain a favourable order, or get the case out of this
> court. "The court deems it proper to dismiss the matter so as to
> discourage such a practice."
>

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Re: [ZESTCaste] Fwd: A tribute to S.R Sankaran

Tribute to the great Man.

Regards,
Naveen Rahul

--- On Thu, 14/10/10, Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Siddhartha Kumar <mailsiddhartha.k@gmail.com>
Subject: [ZESTCaste] Fwd: A tribute to S.R Sankaran
To: "zestcaste" <zestcaste@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, 14 October, 2010, 1:23 PM

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: wilson bezwada <skandolan@gmail.com>
Date: 11 October 2010 17:54
Subject: A tribute to S.R Sankaran
To: wilson bezwada <skandolan@gmail.com>

Dear Friends,

We grieve the loss of our beloved leader, mentor and co-founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan, Sri SR Sankaran, on 7 Oct 2010 in Hyderabad. It is not only a loss for the whole of "rights family" in India but a immeasurable and irreplaceable loss to the whole movement of Safai Karmachari Andolan which has privileged 16 years of journey with him. He was with us from the beginning of this movement, giving his all for the rights and dignity of the safai karmacharis till his last breath.

While we grieve his loss, we also celebrate his life and contribution to shape the movement. He was very much looking forward to see the liberation of the last Safai Karmachari Woman and was eager to witness the Yatra being steered by the safai karmacharis. In this final Yatra for the liberation of Safai Karmacharis we invite you once again join hands in this challenge and participate in his dream of 'manual scavenging free society'.

Regards

Wilson

A Legacy of Goodness

By Harsh Mander

Crowds surged to join his funeral procession, as it wound its way through the busy streets of Hyderabad, on a warm afternoon on 8 October, 2010. Senior civil servants and human rights workers jostled with tens of anonymous indigent men and women, each of whom wished the privilege to carry his body in its last journey for a few moments. Uniformed policemen lowered their eyes in tribute after offering an incongruous gun salute to a man the crowds extolled as a messenger of peace. Slogans continuously rent the air, hailing him to be the beloved son of dalits, tribal people, the poor and disabled persons. Few eyes were dry when his niece set aflame his funeral pier.

I doubt if there has ever been such a funeral of any civil servant before him. The diverse multitude which surged to bid this diminutive, frail, under-stated man his final farewell, represented the extraordinary range of people whose lives he had touched. SR Sankaran set standards of integrity and service to the most disadvantaged, for a whole generation of public officials. His courage of convictions inspired human rights activists. Despite his uncompromising opposition to violence, he was revered by Maoists as much as by Gandhians. And a lifetime of egalitarian compassion bound him to masses of India's poorest people, disadvantaged by indigence, caste, gender and disability.

Sankaran firmly believed lifelong that the foremost duty of the state was to uphold the dignity, rights and freedoms of India's most oppressed people, and his life's work demonstrated what a democratic government could indeed accomplish if it included persons like him. He drew up laws for land reforms, and pushed governments to implement these. He conceived of the Tribal Sub-Plan and Special Component Plan, to compel governments to set aside significant proportions of the state budgets for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Tribes. He designed many programmes for justice and welfare of these socially most deprived communities, including thousands of residential schools for the education of tribal boys and girls. It was he who helped craft laws to release bonded workers.

Among the many legends which have grown up around his life's work, the story is often recounted of how a powerful Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh was furious when, as Secretary Social Welfare, Sankaran organised campaigns to release bonded workers from generations of debt bondage. The Chief Minister announced in a cabinet meeting that Sankaran was a trouble- maker, who went from village to village, held meetings with poorest people seated on the ground under trees, instigated them by declaring that they had the right to be free, and mobilised them to rebel against a lifetime of bondage. Soft-spoken Sankaran retorted that this indeed is what he did, and this was his duty. This enraged the Chief Minister further, and he asserted in the cabinet meeting itself that such subversives had no place in his government. Sankaran replied in his customary low voice that he too did not want to work in his government, and proceeded on long leave.

This proved a fortuitous turning point in his life. The legendary Marxist Chief Minister of Tripura, Nripen Chakravarthy, invited him to shift to Tripura and serve there as Chief Secretary. Both austere bachelors, fiercely honest, had few worldly belongings, and even washed their own clothes. They formed a unique partnership, leading the state for 6 years. Few governments in India earned such a reputation of integrity, service and justice for the under-privileged.

Sankaran gained national fame when he was kidnapped by Naxalites from the jungles of Andhra Pradesh. After his retirement from government, he constituted a Concerned Citizens Committee, to mediate with government to end its human rights violations in its military-like offensive against the armed rebels, and its policy of 'encounter' killings of alleged Naxalites, which he condemned as 'targeted extralegal executions'. Many tribal or dalit youth, or their loved ones, would desperately contact Sankaran when they were in danger of being eliminated in fake encounters, and it was Sankaran's mediation which saved several of them. He reminded government tirelessly that it was decades, indeed centuries, of injustice against tribal people – their brutal dispossession from their lands and forests - which was the true source of the insurgency in the jungles of the state.

But Sankaran was equally unsparing in condemning the violence of the Naxalites, and their focus on 'military actions rather than on the mobilisation of people for social transformation'. He was convinced that this contributed to 'further brutalise the society and lead to the shrinkage of democratic space for mobilisation and direct participation of the people, impairing the very process of transformation that the movements claim to stand for'.

It was due to his unique moral stature that both government and the Maoists felt compelled to respond to his appeals, and defend to him their policies. It is another matter that neither altered their basic approaches to the conflict, and the unabated blood-letting by both sides of the conflict caused him great anguish. The efforts of this Committee dominated a decade of Sankaran's life, and he grieved until his end that he could not free his people from the mutually reinforcing cycles of violence, and reclaim for them enduring peace and justice.

Another task which to which he devoted a significant part of his time after he retired was to lead the Safai Karmchari Andolan, an exceptional campaign for ending the humiliating age-old practice of people of particular castes being forced to clean dry latrines with their bare hands, and carry human excreta in baskets on their heads. He regarded this to be the most dreadful manifestation of untouchability and caste. A decade of Sankaran's leadership of the Andolan led to the substantial decimation of this centuries-old evil in many parts of India. This was through a combination of judicial interventions, compelling accountability of public officials, and a non-violent mass campaign for self-respect by people engaged in this vocation in which they burned their baskets and demolished dry latrines. But those Sankaran led to a life of dignity will mourn that will not be by their side to witness the historic final end of this scourge.

Sankaran set aside a significant portion of his salary, and his pension after he retired, to educate dalit children. He never spoke of this to anyone, but when he first suffered a heart attack, many young men competed to keep vigil at his bedside. We learnt later from this assortment - of doctors, civil servants, engineers and teachers - that whatever they achieved in their lives was due to Sankaran. He never married, but clearly several who loved and revered him like a father.

He was an intensely ethical person, but never didactic or judgemental. He displayed an unexpected impish sense of humour and mischief. After he retired from government, he lived in a small unpretentious and sparsely furnished apartment, which looked more like the home of a retired school teacher than a senior civil servant. Even the few pieces of furniture and gadgets in his house were forced on him by those who loved him. When he received his pension arrears, he was alarmed by this very modest swelling of his bank balance, and quickly distributed the money to street children's homes, and an organisation for disabled persons.

Sankaran's life and work illuminated the lives of literally millions of India's most dispossessed people with dignity, justice and hope. His compassion, simplicity and lifetime of public service will continue to light the way, both of those who work within government, and others who choose to struggle against it. His enduring legacy will be to demonstrate what true and authentic goodness in public and personal life can accomplish, to make this world a better, kinder place.

Shri S.R Sankaran with SKA team members

[ZESTCaste] Dalit couple commits suicide

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/dalit-couple-commits-suicide/699081/

Dalit couple commits suicide

Agencies
Posted: Monday, Oct 18, 2010 at 1335 hrs IST

Moga: Driven by abject poverty and suffering from some ailment, a
Dalit couple allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a canal near
Daudhar village under Badhnikalan police station of the district,
police said today.

Harnek Singh and his wife Manjeet Kaur, residents of Rasulpur, jumped
into the Abohar branch canal on Saturday.

The couple's bodies were fished out yesterday, they said.

The couple, which has seven children, was suffering from some ailment
and could not afford the costly medical treatment, police said.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Why book case against Dalit youth?'

http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/19/stories/2010101953090500.htm

Karnataka - Gulbarga

'Why book case against Dalit youth?'

Special Correspondent

GULBARGA: The shocking incident of a Dalit youth pouring night soil
over his head in front of the administrative office of the Gulbarga
City Corporation on Friday last has snowballed into a major
controversy with the authorities launching what appears to be a
vengeful counter attack against the Dalit youth and those who
supported his action.

In a surprising decision, the police, based on the complaint filed by
the Health Officer of the city corporation against the Dalit youth,
Dharma Kumar, and others who supported him, arrested the president of
the Hyderabad Karnataka Yuva Horata Samiti and Janata Dal (Secular)
leader Raju Kulageri on Sunday. They are now on the look out for Mr.
Kumar and a few others in connection with the incident.

Union Labour Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge reacted strongly to the
incident and said in Gulbarga on Monday that booking of cases against
the Dalit youth and his supporters was condemnable.

Mr. Kharge told The Hindu that the State Government should not act
vengefully against those who choose to voice their protest against
government officials and it should have viewed the incident as a
desperate act of a youth whose livelihood was being threatened.

Major reason

"The reason for him to act the way he did was owing to the failure of
city corporation officials to implement the orders passed by the
Circuit Bench of the High Court on September 29 to hand over the
maintenance of the pay and use toilet to Jai Bheem Safai Karmikara
Sangha," he said.

Mr. Kharge wondered why no action had been taken against the official
responsible for implementing the court order.

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[ZESTCaste] Temple clashes force Dalits to plan mass conversion

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Temple-clashes-force-Dalits-to-plan-mass-conversion/699070/

Temple clashes force Dalits to plan mass conversion

Agencies
Posted: Oct 18, 2010 at 1309 hrs IST

Nagapattinam

Hundreds of Dalits belonging to Chettipulam, a village near Vedaranyam
in Nagapattinam district are planning to embrace Buddhism on December
6, the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar.
During September 2009, the CPI(M) had alleged that the Dalits were not
being allowed entry into the temple by the villagers. The party
organised temple entry agitations twice - on Sep 30,and Oct 14 of that
year.

On the first occasion, the temple remained closed while the second
agitation witnessed violence, lathicharge and police firing, when the
vehicles in which Dalits, accompanied by police and revenue officials,
were proceeding to the temple, were attacked by a crowd.

Following the violence, the Collector organised peace talks with
members of all communities of the village and warned that any
discrimination on the basis of caste would invite severe punishment.
Subsequently, on Oct 27, 2009, Munianathan led the Dalits into the
temple.

The Nagapattinam unit of the Republican Party of India (Gawai) has now
announced that the people of the village will embrace Buddhism on Dec
6, the death anniversary of Ambedkar.

The RPI has said that the Dalits were not able to overcome the
continuous attack on their dignity, which has forced them to decide on
embracing Buddhism.

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[ZESTCaste] Thousands embrace Buddhism on Vijaya Dashmi

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Thousands-embrace-Buddhism-on-Vijaya-Dashmi/articleshow/6770157.cms

Thousands embrace Buddhism on Vijaya Dashmi

Abhinav Malhotra, TNN, Oct 18, 2010, 09.36pm IST

KANPUR: On a day when the country was busy burning the effigies of
demon king, the villagers of nondescript Pukhrayan village in Ramabai
Nagar had gathered to worship Ravana and to embrace Buddhism on the
occasion of Dussehra or Vijaya Dashmi on Sunday.

Over 5,000 dalits embraced Buddhism in the presence of 12 Buddhist
monks during Ambedkar Baudh Deeksha ceremony held at the Krishi Mandi
Samiti `maidan' in Pukhrayan, 70-km from the city. In addition to the
converts, several thousand other persons came to witness the ceremony.
The converts were mostly from Allabahad, Hardoi, Azamgarh, Auraiyya,
Kannauj, Unnao, Agra, Firozabad and rural pockets like Bhognipur,
Akbarpur, Rura, Derapur, Sikandara and Shivli villages of Kanpur
Dehat.

Before taking the oath, they took out a long procession. A man seated
on a chariot and depicting Ravana's character was hailed by them. They
showered flowers and threw colours on the procession.

Later, Bhante Angulmal, a Buddhist monk, along with many other monks
delivered a sermon and made people take oath to follow principles of
the Buddhist religion with utmost dedication.

"From today onwards, we would only abide by the principles of Lord
Buddha," said middle-aged Ram Vilas Sachan, who had travelled all the
way from Fatehpur to attend the ceremony in Pukhranya.

Dhani Rao Baudh Panther, president, Bharatiya Dalit Panther party, who
has been conducting the annual ceremony against the discrimination in
the society, said: "We believe that Ravana was a `Dravidian' king of
`Gond' tribe and a learned person, well-versed in the vedas. We have
been organising this Baudh Deekhsha ceremony every year so that the
future generation can remember his (Ravana) sacrifice and continue the
tradition."

Retired IAS Chandrapal Arun, former vice-chancellor, Jhansi
University, Anil Kumar and deputy general manager, enforcement, Base
Yamuna Power limited, Ramesh Chandra were present on the occasion.

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[ZESTCaste] Why rich Indians are malnourished too

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/all-that-matters/Why-rich-Indians-are-malnourished-too/articleshow/6762541.cms

Why rich Indians are malnourished too
CHANDRA BHAN PRASAD, Oct 17, 2010, 09.00am IST

India is the world's 10th largest economy with a GDP of $3.57 trillion
and $3,100 as per capita income. Sub-Saharan Ethiopia has the 79th
largest economy, with $900 as per capita income. It's far behind
India. Yet, Ethiopia and a handful of other sub-Saharan nations beat
India in one of the most critical social indices – 35% children in
sub-Sahara are malnourished and the figure jumps to 47% for India.

Does this embarrassing state of affairs mean that the massive wealth
generation in India gets deposited only in a few hundred thousand
pockets? That despite our multi-trillion dollar GDP, nearly half our
population doesn't get basic nutrition? That food-insufficient
sub-Sahara does better in nutritional intake than food self-sufficient
India?

What about the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), in
operation since 1975, which feeds 23 million children under five and
4.8 million expectant and nursing mothers 300 days a year? In
addition, about 120 million schoolchildren are served lunch for free
under the midday meal scheme (MDMS).

The ICDS and MDMS are the world's largest nutrition supplement
programs. These apart, 160 million families are given food grains at
highly subsidized rates. With about half-amillion fair price shops,
India's public distribution system (PDS) is rated as the world's
largest food subsidy program. But, the evidence shows that all these
welfare measures have not made a difference.

Health experts would clearly blame poverty. Public policy advocates
have been asking that free food be supplied to half the Indian
population. The Right to Food Act (RFA) campaign has gained currency.
Will the RFA work where ICDS, MDMS, PDS etc have not? Or, are we
diagnosing dengue when it is malaria and administering the wrong
pills?

The '47% malnutrition' figure reportedly comes from the National
Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-2006. Study the NFHS-3's bulky
book, you won't find the 47% figure. A table that has figures for
malnourished children shows an all-India average of '42.5%'. Did
someone read the NFHS-3 findings too casually and invent '47%'? Or did
someone play a prank on public policy enthusiasts?

The figure might have been '48%' but certainly not '47%'. NFHS-3
deploys three criteria to measure undernourishment -- height-for-age,
weight-for-height and weight-for-age. If we take 'height-for-age', 48%
children are malnourished. If we take weight-for-height, only 19.8%
children are malnourished. If we take 'weight-for-age', 42.5% children
are malnourished. But, for the Survey, 'weight-for-age' is the
composite index for height-for-age and weight-forheight. That means
42.5% children are malnourished. This is not to argue that the '42.5%'
figure is a solace. It paints as grim a scenario as '47%'.

On the basic question -- is poverty alone causing malnourishment
amongst Indian children-- NFHS-3 has data that has been ignored so
far. It has a 'wealth index' as well and classifies households into
'lowest' and 'highest'. It says that 19.7% children from the richest
households are malnourished as well. As for the moderately rich, 33.6%
children are malnourished.

This data questions the received wisdom on the causes of malnutrition
in India. The top two quintiles --richest and moderately rich –
comprising 40% of the households NFHS-3 studied – throw up figures
that are moderately better than sub-Saharan Africa. But poverty is not
the only reason for child malnourishment. This raises several
questions. First, if we cannot tackle malnourishment among the rich,
how can we do so for the poor? How can welfare measures such as the
ICDS, MDMS, PDS and RFA take poverty to be the cause of
malnourishment? Second, if not poverty, what is the real cause of
malnourishment among the children of the rich?

Third, is it not possible that the same cause – not poverty - is the
reason both rich and poor children are malnourished?

The Survey reveals that the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh
(32.5%), Karnataka (37.6%), Kerala (22.9%) and Tamil Nadu (29.8%),
have lower malnutrition rates than Haryana (39.6%), Rajasthan (39.9%)
and Uttar Pradesh (42.4%). The data also reveals that consumption of
fish, chicken or meat at least once a week by women in Andhra Pradesh
(69.5%), Karnataka (45.9%), Kerala (89.6%) and Tamil Nadu (66.1%) is
much higher than in Haryana (5.5%), Rajasthan (11%), and Uttar Pradesh
(14.7%). Karnataka fares worse of all the southern states in terms of
malnourishment and intake of fish/ chicken/meat.

Gujarat and Punjab don't present a rosy picture either. In
cash-surplus Gujarat, 44.6% children are malnourished, and in
food-surplus Punjab, the rate is 24.9%. Is it mere coincidence that
women in Gujarat (12.4%) and Punjab (20.1%) have a lower intake rate
of fish/chicken/meat than the national average of 40.9%?

Might food habits be a bigger cause than poverty of malnutrition in
India? As we know, caste rules impose many taboos on food sources and
food habits. Not just non-vegetarian food, there are taboos even on
vegetarian food sources. Do any of the public policy packages
mentioned above target caste-based food morality as one of the prime
causes of malnutrition affecting millions of Indian children? Being
kind-hearted and liberal is good, but being brain dead is worse. It's
time for a policy rethink.

The writer is a columnist and independent researcher

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[ZESTCaste] Fwd: Bezwada Wilson: crusader against manual scavenging

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 8:56 AM
Subject: Bezwada Wilson: crusader against manual scavenging
To:

'... "Everything is messed up. People say we are unclean, but who has
made us unclean? We are cleaners; the person shitting in a dry latrine
is the dirty person," he said. "For thousands of years we have been
told we are dirty. Now people are shouting back, 'No, we are not
dirty'".'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-untouchable-indians-with-an-unenviable-job-2106970.html

The 'untouchable' Indians with an unenviable job: On discovering that
his parents cleaned latrines for a living, Bezwada Wilson began a
campaign to end this degrading profession. Andrew Buncombe hears his
story

Friday, 15 October 2010

There is an infectious, impassioned enthusiasm about Bezwada Wilson
that is hard to ignore. He laughs, he smiles. He frowns too, but soon
he is smiling again. And yet things might have been very different.
When he was aged 18, he came very close to taking his own life. The
thing that led him to the very edge was the discovery of what his
parents really did to scrape together a living.

Growing up in a gold mining area of southern India, they had told him
as a child that they mined for ore. The evening they revealed to him
that they were actually "dry latrine" cleaners who spent their days
covered in the filth of others, he was so horrified, so disgusted,
that he came close to committing suicide at a secluded water tower.
After hours of weeping, wrestling with his thoughts, he decided he was
better off alive, fighting to help people like his parents.

Two decades later, his efforts have been nothing short of remarkable.
As head of a nationwide organisation that has confronted head-on some
of his country's most ingrained prejudice, he believes he is close to
eradicating the dehumanising practice known as "manual scavenging".

Ten years ago, there were around three million people employed as
manual scavengers in India; today there are fewer than 600,000. By the
end of the year, he believes the figure will be zero. "Once people
realise that it's slavery, they want to stop. The problem is that it's
never discussed publicly," Mr Wilson said.

Dry latrines are toilets that do not flush. In most Indian homes, such
latrines have been replaced with flush systems. In 1993, a law ruled
all dry latrines should be destroyed and the practice of manual
scavenging abolished. But in pockets of India, especially in poorer
states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, the practice has
persisted.

In India, the people employed to clean such toilets have always been
members of groups of "Untouchable" or Dalit people. Equipped with
nothing more sophisticated than a brush and bucket or pieces of
cardboard, such groups have cleaned the toilets of higher-caste
people, carrying away the waste, or "nightsoil", in baskets placed on
their heads.

Payment for such work is minimal; many scavengers say they do it
because they have always done so, because their parents and
grandparents did the same. Activists say it is a form of bondage.

The work of a scavenger is filthy and soul-destroying. One morning I
accompanied two women, members of the Balmiki clan, as they went about
their work on the edge of the city of Ambala, in Haryana.

Cheranji Kaur and Seema clean six dry latrines every morning, using a
brush to sweep away the waste into a nearby open drain. "I started
this work at the age of 10," said 35-year-old Mrs Kaur. "My parents
did it, our ancestors did it. I'd go with my parents; that is how you
learn."

The women made their way around a scruffy, higher-caste neighbourhood
where they set about cleaning the toilets. One resident threw a bucket
of water into the latrine, sending the waste splashing and gushing as
the two women used their brushes to clean it away. The air was sour
and corrosive. It was a sad sight, made worse by the women's
determination to try to retain their dignity as they worked, and keep
their clothes clean, gold bangles bouncing on their wrists.

One of the latrines belonged to a family of Sikhs, a religion whose
founder utterly rejected the notion of caste differences. The head of
the household, Mahinder Singh, said he paid the women 50 rupees (71p)
a month and that "it had always been the Balmiki who cleaned the
toilets".

Mr Singh added: "Everybody gets it done so we get it done. Those who
are supposed to do it, should do it. I did not know it was illegal."

Mr Wilson's campaign has two aims: to raise awareness among groups of
scavengers that they do not have to perform such tasks, and then help
them find alternative work. A key element of his publicity drives, or
yatras, is the symbolic burning of the scavengers' wooden baskets and
the destruction of the dry latrines themselves.

In one incident in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, activists
discovered a block of supposedly outlawed dry latrines in a court
complex, which were being used by judges. When activists destroyed the
toilets, officials did not dare protest, aware that the existence of
the latrines had been in breach of the law.

Mrs Kaur and Seema revealed that they laboured every day for around
150 rupees a month. They said the work was difficult, it was hard to
get rid of the smell and they suffered widespread discrimination.

"We do it because there is no other work," said Mrs Kaur, who has two
young children. "The other communities will not let us inside their
homes to work as cleaners or domestic servants. Any work would be
better than this; a little shop, a vegetable cart, or rearing cattle."

Seema added: "I don't feel good doing this work, people look at us
different, they look down at us."

Largely as a result of the work of Mr Wilson and his group Safai
Karmachari Andolan (SKA), there are now just a handful of scavengers
in the state of Haryana. One of those who was "rehabilitated" is Saroj
Balla. She had worked as a scavenger all her life to earn enough to
send her children to school. Thirty years ago, members of her
community even struggled to buy vegetables; vendors would put them on
the floor rather than hand them over directly.

Once, when Mrs Balla was pregnant, she fell from a ladder while
descending from a dry latrine located on a roof, collapsing on the
floor in a slew of human waste. The toilet owners refused to help her,
instead prodding her with a stick to make her get to her feet.

Five years ago, activists from SKA, which receives support and some
funding from Christian Aid, which is based in London, arrived in
Ambala and told Mrs Balla and others that they were not required to
perform such degrading work. "They told us we had a right to a better
life," Mrs Balla said, her voice swelling. "We all knew it was dirty
work. We took courage from the people who came to talk with us."

The 50-year-old recalled the day that she and other scavengers went
out and demolished 15 dry latrines in the area. The toilets' owners
had told them to clean them, but instead the group of women used heavy
sticks to break them up. "I felt very good," said Mrs Balla, who now
works as a domestic help. "It felt like a rebirth." Her advice to the
other two women was simple: definitely stop.

Mr Wilson, 44, who presented a piece of brick from a demolished dry
latrine to Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
talks about eradicating all scavenging by 31 December of this year.
Volunteers are currently holding rallies across the country and will
descend on Delhi at the end of the month.

By then he believes the number of people working as scavengers will
have been reduced from 600,000 to 300,000, giving him two months to
finish his task.

"Everything is messed up. People say we are unclean, but who has made
us unclean? We are cleaners; the person shitting in a dry latrine is
the dirty person," he said. "For thousands of years we have been told
we are dirty. Now people are shouting back, 'No, we are not dirty'."

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