Manual Scavenging in Urban Tamil Nadu: An Indelible Blot on Dalit Women with Respect to Caste Discrimination

Abstract

We are presently living in a world that is striving for development with each flicker of our eyelids. The world might be changing, but a large portion of the discernments are not. This article addresses the profundity of the most sensitive issue of basic freedom infringement of ‘Manual Scavengers’. In the rouse of basic rights evolving widely, there is ceaseless conversation about laws on manual scavenging being based on the convergence of caste and labour. Conducted among 152 women manual scavengers in urban Chennai, this article features the caste-based act of manual scavenging, which is a type of constrained work in the pretence of caste assignment, the types of caste discriminations faced and the challenges and factors associated with it. This study also recommends suggestions for the elimination of the endlessly evil practice of manual scavenging. The personal encounters of manual scavengers in Chennai illustrate the corresponding cycle of caste discrimination and untouchability.