Human Rights in INDIA- CAST system  is racism

India Report to ESCR 2008 : On  Special Concerns of Dalit Women and Girls : Devadasi system and Manual Scavenging

The situation of the Dalit community in India is well-known, and the violence faced by the women and girls of the community has been well documented and is widely recognized as a grave systemic violation of their rights.  However, the struggles for justice by the Dalits include the participation of women but often fail to put their issues on the centre-stage.  For instance, Land struggles by the community often result in a little low-quality arid land being allotted to the Dalits. But the land ownership –even if it is not cultivable - by Dalits is resented by the non-dalit groups, and often results in exemplary violence against Dalit women. The horrendous Khairlanji incident is one instance of such a manifestation of deep casteism which works to keep Dalits economically and socially dependent.

However, there are two specific and unique violations of Human Rights faced by Dalit women and Girls: Devadasi system and Manual Scavenging

The Devadasi System persists despite legal bans in a  large arid tract of contiguous districts cutting across four states of India – southern Maharashtra, Northern Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, right up to the east-coastal belt, and a couple of districts in Northern Tamil Nadu.  The system consists of the “dedication” of girl-children from poor landless Dalit families in these areas to local temples.  After this she is inducted into socially and religiously sanctioned prostitution, later being trafficked into urban centres for prostitution. The practice persists as it enjoys political and religious sanction, which explains why there is no enforcement of the laws passed by states which ban the practice and prescribes strict punishment. Most schemes to rehabilitate devadasis are geared to adult women and do not take into account the situation of girl children.

According to estimates by NGOs working among the Dalits and devadasis, several hundred girls are dedicated every year. These girls are subjected to the most severe violation of their human and child rights, being denied right to a Safe and Healthy Childhood, Protection, Education, etc. There is almost no possibility of education or an alternative livelihood or information and social negotiating space for the children to protect themselves from either violence or serious sexually transmitted infections. It is significant to note that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the district falling within the regions mentioned is the highest in the country, pointing to an impending deeper social and public health crisis in the areas, which is inadequately factored into the health and development strategies for these areas.  

The second violation is the economic, social and caste-based compulsion imposed upon certain Dalit communities to undertake Manual scavenging as their only means of livelihood. They are known by different names in different areas: Bhangis, Valmikis, Thotis, Churas, etc. They are euphemistically known as Safai Karmacharis or cleaning workers.  Official figures released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment indicate that there were close to 700,000 such workers in the country in the year 2002-03. This does not take into account the vast numbers of private manual scavengers. There may be about 1.2 million such persons, says the Safai Karmachari Andolan, (SKA) a group working at the national level for their welfare.  According to the Report of the ‘Subgroup on Safai Karmacharis’ which included the founder of the SKA, submitted to the Working group on the “Empowerment of Scheduled Castes for the 11th Five year Plan”, 95% of the workers are Dalits and Women.    

Some of the main reasons for the system to persist is the continued lack of sanitation in the growing towns and villages, as a result of which dry latrines continue to be used, forcing the continued employment of manual scavengers. It is also in large measure due to the lack of willingness on the part of huge government institutions such as the defence establishment and the Railways to address the sanitation practices in their establishments, pointing to official apathy at best and a tacit support to the system at worst. The 2008 railway budget provides for the installation of modular toilets in all passenger train compartments, and also for regularising the employment of the thousands of sanitation workers employed by the railways, sparking off celebrations. But if the enormity of the task is understood, it will be clear that implementation of this policy will take years.   
Six decades of Independence has not made any change in the conditions of these sections of Dalit women and girls.  Hence it is clear that the existing establishment has no political will to implement the positive legislations and schemes for the welfare of these persons.

Recommendation:
Therefore, it is proposed to demand the setting up of a specially constitutionally empowered task force consisting of leading Dalit women activists, social workers and leaders who are presently involved in addressing these concerns, working closely with the grassroot organizations already working specifically on these concerns, namely in prevention of the dedication of girls into the Devadasi system and with the women manual scavengers. 

They should be given the human and financial resources to work out a time-bound action plan including collection of data, development of special schemes for each level of the problem, and also constitutional powers to monitor implementation by the government departments concerned.  

References:
1. Second NGO Shadow Report on CEDAW coordinated by NAWO, Nov.2006, Chapter on Dalit Women, Pg 186-198
2. Report of Subgroup on Safai Karmacharis, 2008
3. Safai Karmachari Andolan : Emergence of a Movement to Eradicate manual Scavenging : Paper by Dr. Y. Moses, 2008

Submitted by Dalit Women’s Network for Solidarity (DAWNS)
Contact Person:
Cynthia Stephen, Independent Researcher; Co-Founder, DAWNS, & President, TEDS Trust, Bangalore (cynstepin@gmail.com), 094486020007