“I feel we were born to do this job. There is no escape. Our Mehtar caste ensures that no other work will be offered to us. Every time I lower myself into a gutter, the stench and that liquid full of faeces enter my eyes, nostrils and my mouth. I know that I am risking my life. I have watched many of my folks faint and die due to the poisonous gases that emanate in these sewers. So, I consume a bottle of country liquor and use a bit of ganja (marijuana) to numb my senses. That is the only way I can bring myself to wade through the filth to unclog the gutters of this city.”
—A manual scavenger
“THIS is the only job which is caste-specific. Tell me if there is any other job which comes with a caste tag,” says Virendra Ganvir, a theatre artist in Nagpur and founder of Bahujan Rangbhoomi, a banner that presents plays based on the lives and issues of the underprivileged.
It is only those who hail from the Mehtar community, the lowest in the caste hierarchy of India, who are called upon to take up the task of manual scavenging. Though there is a ban on manual scavenging, the civic authorities and others continue to engage them for cleaning sewers. “Even if a person from the Mehtar or Valmiki caste is employed in some other work, he will be called upon to clean a clogged sewer, as his caste says that he is born to do this work,” observes Ganvir, who has researched their lives minutely and written a play, Gatar, based on the issue of manual scavenging and the suffering of those who are employed in this work.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 01, 2024 من Outlook.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 01, 2024 من Outlook.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
My Secular Mentor
A rare psychologist of Indian culture, Sudhir Kakar leaves behind seminal works that will have relevance for many generations
Battle of the Bahubalis
Gangsters in Bihar no longer enjoy the kind of dominance that they did in the 90s, but that has not kept them away from politics
Memories of Riots
Have frequent communal tensions changed the social fabric of Bihar?
Didi's Achilles Heel
Mamata Banerjee stays the course but her party, plagued by corruption charges, spins out of control
Memory Metamorphosis
What happened on March 14, 2007 in Nandigram? People still ask this question as they take part in the dance of democracy
Minority Report
He has not lost the Dhubri seat in Assam since 2009. Now he is fighting for political survival as Bengali Muslims look to favour the Congress
THE POWER OF PURPOSE
Doing good is good business as it transcends bottom lines and impacts lives positively, yielding profits that go beyond numbers.
CURRENT FARMING METHODS ARE EXACERBATING CLIMATE CHANGE
Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) project is supporting transition of 850,000 farmers covering 377,801 hectares of land and operating in 3730 villages. \"Natural farming is in harmony with nature. It is a holistic land management practice that leverages the power of photosynthesis in plants\", says Mr. T Vijay Kumar, a retired IAS officer, who is the Executive Vice Chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, a non-profit organization set up by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2014. Since 2016, this platform has been utilized to integrate and promote APCNF activities, aimed at fostering the overall development and empowerment of farmers. Excerpts from an interview with Mr T Vijay Kumar:
IN PURSUIT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Harshavardhana Gourineni, Executive Director, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd, in an interview shares how through its products and operations the company is helping reduce carbon footprints and meet SDGs. Excerpts:
COOLING NO MORE A LUXURY, BUT A NECESSITY
With the rise in demand of air conditioners due to heat stress, sustainable air conditioning is the way forward to bring relief to people as well as manage emissions