Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently said, "Scavenging must have been a spiritual experience for the Balmiki caste... At some point in time somebody must have got enlightenment in scavenging." Not many found this amusing, but Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's views were not very different. There's a popular myth that Gandhi was opposed to scavenging. A reading of the man's own words, found in the hundred-volume Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, reveals that Gandhi romanticised and often justified the labour of "Bhangis", insisting they continue with "the most honourable occupation".

If the problem of physical removal of human excreta and sewage persists, and if a particular caste is forced to retain an occupational identity, it owes a lot to the dominance of Gandhian thinking at the policy level. Let's sample what Gandhi really had to say. Writing in Harijan in 1934, he declared: "I call scavenging as one of the most honourable occupations to which mankind is called. I don't consider it an unclean occupation by any means. That you have to handle dirt is true. But that every mother is doing and has to do. But nobody says a mother's occupation is unclean."

He even argues that the problem in fact lies with the community: "I know many scavengers eat carrion and beef. Those who are doing this must abstain. Many of them are given to the evil habit of drink. Drink is a bad, filthy, unclean, degrading habit. A man who drinks intoxicating liquor forgets the distinction between wife, mother and sister. I would beseech you to give up all evil habits." Gandhi implies that sanitation workers, after getting drunk, commit adultery.

Gandhi begins another piece entitled The Ideal Bhangi, published in Harijan in 1936, thus: "The ideal Bhangi of my conception would be a Brahmin par excellence, possibly even excel him." He makes such ludicrous claims here that it is worth quoting him in-extenso, to avoid misquoting: "What qualities should such an honoured servant of society exemplify in his person? In my opinion an ideal Bhangi should have a thorough knowledge of the principles of sanitation. He should know how a right kind of latrine is constructed and the correct way of cleaning it. He should know how to overcome and destroy the odour of excreta and the various disinfectants to render them innocuous. He should likewise know the process of converting night-soil and urine into manure.

"But that is not all. My ideal Bhangi would know the quality of night-soil and urine. He would keep a close watch on these and give a timely warning to the individual concerned. Thus he will give a timely notice of the results of his examination of the excreta. That presupposes a scientific knowledge of the requirements of his profession. He would likewise be an authority on the subject of disposal of nightsoil in small villages as well as big cities and his advice and guidance in the matter would be sought for and freely given to society. It goes without saying that he would have the usual learning necessary for reaching the standard here laid down for his profession. Such an ideal Bhangi, while deriving his livelihood from his occupation, would approach it only as a sacred duty. In other words, he would not dream of amassing wealth out of it. He would consider himself responsible for the proper removal and disposal of all the dirt and night-soil within the area which he serves and regard the maintenance of healthy and sanitary condition within the same as the summum bonum of his existence."

Not only does Gandhi place enormous social and "scientific" burden on sanitation workers, he even believes they are not entitled to a decent wage. In the Gandhian schema, they of course shall have no freedom to strike work. In 1946, he said: "There are certain matters in which strikes would be wrong. Sweepers' grievances come in this category.. A Bhangi may not give up his work even for a day. And there are many other ways open to him securing justice."

IN HER study of the Safai Karamchari Andolan, India Stinking, Gita Ramaswamy notes that during and after the Partition, despite the ethnic cleansing of Hindus, Pakistan refused to allow "untouchable Hindus" involved in safai karamchari work to emigrate to India. "While the Indian government tried to secure safe passage for the Hindus of Pakistan, there was no concern about the Dalit 'Hindus' left behind in Pakistan, not that a better life awaited them in India. Ambedkar raised this issue in a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru in December 1947. He expressed concern over the fact that the Pakistan government had declared sweepers as belonging to the 'essential services' and whom they are were not prepared to release except on one month's notice."

Ambedkar's perception of the issue was diametrically opposed to Gandhi's: "Under Hinduism scavenging was not a matter of choice, it was a matter of force. What does Gandhism do? It seeks to perpetuate this system by praising scavenging as the noblest service to society! What is the use of telling the scavenger that even a Brahmin is prepared to do scavenging when it is clear that according to Hindu Shastras and Hindu notions even if a Brahmin did scavenging he would never be subject to the disabilities of one who is a born scavenger? For in India a man is not a scavenger because of his work. He is a scavenger because of his birth irrespective of the question whether he does scavenging or not."

As long as Gandhism shapes policy on sanitation work, and as long as the state refuses to embrace Ambedkarite thinking, we will have a problem at hand.(Artical from Tahelka , if u would like to say some words for this eye opening article , writer 's e mail is given below)

WRITER'S E-MAIL
sanand@tehelka.com

Nearly 836 million people in India live on less than Rs 20 a day, according to the findings of the Arjun Sengupta report on the Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in the unorganized sector. Technically, a large chunk of these 836 million Indians 77 per cent of the country's population are above the poverty line i.e. at Rs 12 per day.

But the reality is that they remain dismally poor, comprising largely of STs, SCs, OBCs and Muslims, according to the report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihood in the Unorganised Sector. This is the the first authoritative study on the state of informal or unorganised employment in India, compiled by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), a government-affiliated body. A staggering 394.9 million workers, or 86 per cent of India's working population, toil in the unorganised sector, which means they work without a social security cover. Nearly 80 per cent of these workers are among those who live on less than Rs 20 per day.

The report is based on government data for the period between 1993-94
and2004-05.

The big justification for economic reforms was supposed to be the trickle down effect but for those who live in these conditions. More than a decade of economic reforms seems to have made little difference. Is it any wonder that those leaders who are seen to be reformers can never win the popular vote?

NCEUS chairman Dr Arjun Sengupta said:These are the discriminated, disadvantaged and downtrodden. People who live on Rs 20 or less per day are the real poor and vulnerable.

Sengupta told HT that Rs 20,which signifies consumption pattern, is an indicator of the person's income andsaving. If people do not earn, how will they spend or save? he added.

Agriculture, the report found, was a fertile ground for poverty, especially for small and marginal farmers, 84 percent of whom spent more than they earned and were often caught in debt traps.(compiled from reports from IBN & Indian Express)

Dignity devoured, by pack of wolves
Assam author Mamoni Raisom Goswami spoke to
the girl who was stripped and chased in Guwahati on Saturday and recounts the victim's trauma
One moment of wickedness, one act of animalistic action has pushed Assam back to the medieval age. Shocked? Numbed? For once, these strong words seem to have suddenly lost their sting. I feel indescribable pain as I try to put on paper the emotions that swirl in my heart. Just think, what must have been the physical and mental trauma of the young girl who was stripped naked on a Guwahati street, in front of the whole world, on Senseless Saturday?

I spoke to her on the phone this morning. It is a very cruel way of comforting someone who has been hurt. But despite my strong desire to travel all the way to Biswanath Chariali to meet her, I could not go because of my health. But to my surprise, I found myself speaking to a very strong girl. She is bruised and battered, in body and heart, but her spirit has not been broken.

She choked on her words as she spoke, recollecting the nightmarish moments of that day.

For a young girl who is just starting to look at life and the world in all their wonderful colours, there could not have been a more brutal manner to kill her dreams.

She told me about her passions — music and dance. The daughter of a simple farmer, she will be sitting for the matric examination in a few months.

As a young girl growing up in the countryside, she had never seen Guwahati. It was the land of her dreams — with big buildings, fast cars and fashionable people.

So, the moment she was invited to join the rally organised by the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam, she readily agreed. But unlike many of the rallyists, who did not even know why they were coming to Guwahati, she is very much aware of the burning issues confronting the community.

But she had no idea that the fairytale land of hers would be full of monsters. She does not remember — or know — the exact moment when the violence started. All she remembers is the moment she saw her fellow rallyists being attacked. She started running, too, but found herself in the midst of a large group of people. A pack of wolves, I would say.

She told me how their eyes lit up on seeking a nubile young girl in their grasp and how they abused her with filthy language. She could still hear their shrill and wicked laughter ringing in her ears.

As she stood trembling there, like a deer amidst a pack of hungry wolves, the blows and slaps started raining. She tried to save herself, twisting and turning to avoid the blows.

Then they attacked her churidar-kurta; the chunni was first to be pulled away. She saw a knife being brandished by one of the attackers and then the unmistakable sound of clothes being ripped.

She panicked. Begged for mercy. Pleaded with folded hands.

But the "monsters" only laughed. One by one, they ripped off her clothes, till she somehow managed to wriggle out of their grasp and started running. Even as she ran, the last piece of cloth was ripped off from her body.

It was like a nightmare, she recalled. She wished the earth would part and gulp her, ending her misery.

She remembers running down the street and asking for help. But, horror of horrors, nobody came forward. She begged for a piece of cloth to hide her modesty. At last, an elderly man came to her, took off his shirt and gave it to her.

She ran again for help and entered Basistha police station, where she met some other Adivasi activists detained by the police. She was taken to the hospital for first aid and released the next day.

When she reached home on Sunday, it was nearly 10pm.