[Reader-list] [Announcements] Re: announcements Digest, Vol 29, Issue 5

[anand]

Soiled Tracks

India Stinking: Manual Scavengers in Andhra Pradesh and Their Work
By Gita Ramaswamy, Navayana Publishing, pp. 128, Rs 100

Brings out the ideological hang-ups that encourage manual scavenging and
needs to be read by every civilised citizen of India.

KANCHA ILAIAH

Outlook, 16 January 2005


Instead of creating a technology to remove human excreta from houses, the
pandits took the easy way out by condemning a particular caste to do the
job. Even when the technology was available, our Brahminical bureaucracy was
unwilling to abolish manual scavenging. How the combination of caste and
urbanisation has contributed to the persistence of the most inhuman of jobs
is revealed in this small but significant book.

Gita Ramaswamy's book evolved out of her work in the campaign to demolish
the infamous dry latrine system that still prevails in Andhra Pradesh, home
to over two lakh dry latrines. Despite being banned in '93, manual
scavenging persists even in the 21st century.

The book brings out the ideological hang-ups that encourage manual
scavenging. It points out the limits of Communist ideology, so long as it
remains caste-blind. It shows how this abominable system was allowed by
every successive ruling party because of the Gandhian understanding that the
Bhangis were born to do this work-just like a mother cleans her child's
nappies. It cites Ambedkar's argument that if this work was/is so sacred,
why don't the upper castes take it up? This book needs to be read by every
civilised citizen of India.


=============

The other side of life

By Scharada Bail

New Indian Express on Sunday, 8 January 2006

Dalits in Dravidian
Land Frontline Reports on Anti-dalit Violence in Tamil Nadu (1995-2004)
By S Viswanathan
Navayana Publishing, Rs 300

Continued hostility towards dalits by powerful backward castes is widely
reported from the Northern states, with each fresh carnage of burnt homes,
looting, and rape reinforcing the image of a violent countryside. In Tamil
Nadu however, Dravidian politics has successfully marginalised Dalit
concerns in such a way that readers of the news and intellectuals outside
the state may well imagine that Dalits and BCs co-exist peacefully. This,
along with Tamil Nadu's comparatively clean record of communal clashes,
gives the state its reputation for calm and peace.

S Viswanathan has been reporting for Frontline for over ten years on Dalit
issues and this book is a compilation of the eventful decade of 1995 to
2004, when violence against Dalits has been on the rise, and their political
organisation and articulation has also been more evident. Through reports
that examine the geographic spread of anti-Dalit attacks, from the southern
districts to northern and western Tamil Nadu, Viswanathan looks closely at
the issues that define the Dalit experience in modern independent India.
Police brutality and the use of excessive force against legitimate popular
demonstrations by Dalit groups, including the infamous incident on the banks
of the Thamiraparani river in Tirunelveli in 1999, when 17 workers were
beaten and killed, has been narrated in report after report. Attacks to
prevent Dalits from exercising their votes, and appalling incidents like the
Thinniyam instance when dalits were made to eat excreta have been written
about in detail, with close interaction with the principal characters. But
what brings cheer is the documentation of courage and resistance among
Dalits, whether it is the emergence of Puthiya Tamizhagam, or the efforts of
an individual like Yasoda Ekambaram against illicit liquor trafficking in
Tiruvallur. 'Dalits in Dravidian Land' portrays such spirited actions with
rare understanding, bringing a depth to Dalit studies that goes well beyond
mere reportage.

India Stinking
Manual Scavengers in Andhra Pradesh and Their Work
By Gita Ramaswamy
Navayana Publishing, Rs 100

Institutionalised indifference to fellow human beings as represented by the
caste system is unique to India. This assumes a particularly stark form when
one considers the practice of manual scavenging - the daily picking up of
human excreta by hand from public 'dry latrines', as described in this book,
or from alongside town roads, as shown in 'Pee', R P Amudhan's film that won
first place in the inaugural 'One Billion Eyes' documentary and short film
festival held in Chennai recently.

India Stinking focuses on the practice of manual scavenging in Andhra
Pradesh, but brings to the fore many issues that bear discussion at every
level and region in our society. For instance, in profiling the activities
of the Safai Karamchari Andolan or SKA led by Bezwada Wilson, the book
demonstrates conclusively that nothing short of abolishing the 'dry latrine'
system can bring about a change in public sanitation and a restoration of
human dignity. In addition, from Bezwada Wilson's spirited rebuttal of the
Gandhian approach of calling scavenging a 'noble' profession, and from the
Appendix of Gandhi and Ambedkar's differing views on scavengers and
scavenging, it is evident that untouchability as it translates into actual
modern town and urban practice has to be vigorously examined and overcome.

Gita Ramaswamy's book is a well-argued case for the engagement of the larger
community with the issues that plague the lives of safai karamcharis. How
can we allow what goes on to go on? How can we reinforce ritual
discrimination with State support? What are we doing with the laws and
legislation that was meant to end such practices? Through its documentation
of the efforts of the SKA, the book asks such tough questions and more.


For enquries write to anand.navayana at gmail.com




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