Religious conversion in Kerala was an immediate solution for the lower caste people who sought to break free from the slavery and structural inequalities of caste. Though proselytization was accelerated by egalitarian and emancipatory ideologies, it became a shift from one oppressive, exploitative social fabric to another hegemonic structure composed of institutionalized religion underlined by casteist ideologies. Christianity in Kerala turned out to be Brahminical and catered to the interest of upper-caste Christians. Despite its egalitarian claims, discrimination unabashedly pervaded the churches of Kerala. Dalit liberation movements in the twentieth century heralded by both the Dalit and Dalit Christian leaders profoundly influenced the public life of Kerala and brought a new paradigm to the slave castes. Such changes were reflected in the literary articulations of the period also. This article examines how the Dalit Christian discourse is inaugurated in Malayalam novels as the result of the Dalit Christian liberation movements in the twentieth century. By employing textual analysis as the research methodology and intersectionality as a theoretical lens, this article analyses Paul Chirakkarode’s Pulayathara (1962) and examines how the Dalit Christian liberation movement in the twentieth century is instrumental in shaping an alternative epistemology and Dalit Christian identity.
{"title":"Towards an Alternative Epistemology of Resistance: A Reading of Pulayathara by Paul Chirakkarode Against the Backdrop of Dalit Christian Liberation Movements in Kerala, India","authors":"Bincy Mariya N","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.491","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.491","url":null,"abstract":"Religious conversion in Kerala was an immediate solution for the lower caste people who sought to break free from the slavery and structural inequalities of caste. Though proselytization was accelerated by egalitarian and emancipatory ideologies, it became a shift from one oppressive, exploitative social fabric to another hegemonic structure composed of institutionalized religion underlined by casteist ideologies. Christianity in Kerala turned out to be Brahminical and catered to the interest of upper-caste Christians. Despite its egalitarian claims, discrimination unabashedly pervaded the churches of Kerala. Dalit liberation movements in the twentieth century heralded by both the Dalit and Dalit Christian leaders profoundly influenced the public life of Kerala and brought a new paradigm to the slave castes. Such changes were reflected in the literary articulations of the period also. This article examines how the Dalit Christian discourse is inaugurated in Malayalam novels as the result of the Dalit Christian liberation movements in the twentieth century. By employing textual analysis as the research methodology and intersectionality as a theoretical lens, this article analyses Paul Chirakkarode’s Pulayathara (1962) and examines how the Dalit Christian liberation movement in the twentieth century is instrumental in shaping an alternative epistemology and Dalit Christian identity.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"217 ","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136023237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Understanding Dalit women through their lifeworld and life-narratives enables one to understand the caste relations that they negotiate with in their everyday life. Resistance in the everyday life of Dalit women includes how they challenge the existing public spaces, cultural norms, and practices through the creation of a ‘subaltern counterpublics’ space. This space involves collective actions like popular writing, singing, theatrics, etc., to confront the ‘normalised’ caste relationship that prevails within Indian society. The cultural performance becomes the narrative of this counterpublics space in which they intend to reassert their lost identity and dignity. The emergence of alternative public spaces is ‘significant and a necessary condition for democracy’. For Dalit women cultural performers, the everyday resistance practices are deeply embedded in the creation of an alternative worldview, a counterpublics, that both represent their ‘world of (caste) experience’ as well as becomes a space to ‘talk-back’ about their exclusion and humiliation. This article through an ethnographic account, has engaged with a Dalit woman cultural performer and her lifeworld. The article aims to explore the meanings, practices, and challenges that she faces in her anti-caste resistance.
{"title":"Repertoires of Anti-caste Sentiments in the Everyday Performance: Narratives of a Dalit Woman Singer","authors":"K Kalyani","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.679","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.679","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding Dalit women through their lifeworld and life-narratives enables one to understand the caste relations that they negotiate with in their everyday life. Resistance in the everyday life of Dalit women includes how they challenge the existing public spaces, cultural norms, and practices through the creation of a ‘subaltern counterpublics’ space. This space involves collective actions like popular writing, singing, theatrics, etc., to confront the ‘normalised’ caste relationship that prevails within Indian society. The cultural performance becomes the narrative of this counterpublics space in which they intend to reassert their lost identity and dignity. The emergence of alternative public spaces is ‘significant and a necessary condition for democracy’. For Dalit women cultural performers, the everyday resistance practices are deeply embedded in the creation of an alternative worldview, a counterpublics, that both represent their ‘world of (caste) experience’ as well as becomes a space to ‘talk-back’ about their exclusion and humiliation. This article through an ethnographic account, has engaged with a Dalit woman cultural performer and her lifeworld. The article aims to explore the meanings, practices, and challenges that she faces in her anti-caste resistance.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136022830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Religious conversions, particularly those originating from marginalized communities, have been a subject of scholarly investigation in colonial and post-colonial India. Dalit conversions, in particular, have been examined not only as an attempt in exercising freedom of conscience but also as an act encompassing various dimensions. The existing body of literature on Dalit conversions has recognized them as instances of social protest, group assertion, a direct challenge to caste-based dominance, the pursuit of egalitarianism, and the quest for self-respect. Although discussions surrounding Dalit conversions to different religions have intensified in post-independence India, conversions to Islam and Christianity have received notable attention. It is widely acknowledged that Dalit conversions stand in opposition to the principles of caste system, religious hegemony, and homogenization. This article by examining the instances of Dalit conversions that have taken place in independent India, delves into three significant aspects: first, comprehending the acquired religious identity of Dalits; second, exploring the aspirations of Dalit converts; and third, examining the construction of a utopia within the context of the adopted religion. Additionally, the article argues that Dalit conversions should not be regarded as an endpoint but rather as a transformative journey into an envisioned utopia.
{"title":"In Search of a Utopian Society: Situating ‘Dalit’ Conversions in Contemporary India","authors":"L. David Lal","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.503","url":null,"abstract":"Religious conversions, particularly those originating from marginalized communities, have been a subject of scholarly investigation in colonial and post-colonial India. Dalit conversions, in particular, have been examined not only as an attempt in exercising freedom of conscience but also as an act encompassing various dimensions. The existing body of literature on Dalit conversions has recognized them as instances of social protest, group assertion, a direct challenge to caste-based dominance, the pursuit of egalitarianism, and the quest for self-respect. Although discussions surrounding Dalit conversions to different religions have intensified in post-independence India, conversions to Islam and Christianity have received notable attention. It is widely acknowledged that Dalit conversions stand in opposition to the principles of caste system, religious hegemony, and homogenization. This article by examining the instances of Dalit conversions that have taken place in independent India, delves into three significant aspects: first, comprehending the acquired religious identity of Dalits; second, exploring the aspirations of Dalit converts; and third, examining the construction of a utopia within the context of the adopted religion. Additionally, the article argues that Dalit conversions should not be regarded as an endpoint but rather as a transformative journey into an envisioned utopia.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"6 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136103703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In India, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 completed its ten years in April 2023. However, this is a crucial time to review its effects, provisions, and the awareness about the Act, and how much it has percolated at the grassroots level. Consequently, we must pay attention to the voices from the margin in order to comprehend the situation and need to bring these voices to the center to point out the lacuna and challenges of the Act as well as strengthen the discourse around the sexual harassment of women at the workplace. The study based on empirical findings, focuses on experiences of women workers at a wholesale vegetable market in Pune1 and follows an ethnographic approach. The article argues that mainstream discourse on sexual harassment does not acknowledge experiences of women from the bottom of the socio-economic margins and it is a caste-blind gender discourse. Caste shapes women’s experiences of sexual harassment at workplace differently and sometimes to mitigate the risk, women apply different strategies and build alternative mechanisms to combat sexual harassment at the workplace.
{"title":"Narratives from the Margin: Sexual Harassment and Strategies of Resistance","authors":"Sandhya Balasaheb Gawali","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.603","url":null,"abstract":"In India, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 completed its ten years in April 2023. However, this is a crucial time to review its effects, provisions, and the awareness about the Act, and how much it has percolated at the grassroots level. Consequently, we must pay attention to the voices from the margin in order to comprehend the situation and need to bring these voices to the center to point out the lacuna and challenges of the Act as well as strengthen the discourse around the sexual harassment of women at the workplace. The study based on empirical findings, focuses on experiences of women workers at a wholesale vegetable market in Pune1 and follows an ethnographic approach. The article argues that mainstream discourse on sexual harassment does not acknowledge experiences of women from the bottom of the socio-economic margins and it is a caste-blind gender discourse. Caste shapes women’s experiences of sexual harassment at workplace differently and sometimes to mitigate the risk, women apply different strategies and build alternative mechanisms to combat sexual harassment at the workplace.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"124 10","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136103841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dalits are the lowest social group in the Indian caste hierarchy, formerly known as ‘untouchables’. They have been subjected to centuries of discrimination, violence and continue to face widespread social exclusion and economic deprivation. In rural areas, Dalits are often forced to live in segregated quarters and are denied access to common resources such as wells, temples, schools and land. They are often forced to do the most menial and degrading work, such as manual scavenging and cleaning toilets. This exclusion and humiliation are rooted in their lack of access to socio-economic capital, namely, land. As the world’s primary source of wealth, land plays a significant role in the life of rural communities, transforming into a socio-economic reality. Dalits are historically landless; in this outbreak, they participated in various land movements to access land. Landless Dalits and other agricultural labourers fought alongside peasants for better wages, land ownership and to end the practice of forced labour. However, Dalit struggles always remain subordinate to peasant struggles. In this context, this study examines Haryana’s rarely documented and majorly unknown Dalit land movement that took place in 1973 at Bir Sunarwala village of the Jhajjar district of Haryana. Additionally, this study seeks to highlight the significance of the Bir Sunarwala land movement within the broader framework of the Dalit movements in India.
{"title":"The Bir Sunarwala: An Uncharted Dalit Land Movement of Haryana, India","authors":"Anand Mehra","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.681","url":null,"abstract":"Dalits are the lowest social group in the Indian caste hierarchy, formerly known as ‘untouchables’. They have been subjected to centuries of discrimination, violence and continue to face widespread social exclusion and economic deprivation. In rural areas, Dalits are often forced to live in segregated quarters and are denied access to common resources such as wells, temples, schools and land. They are often forced to do the most menial and degrading work, such as manual scavenging and cleaning toilets. This exclusion and humiliation are rooted in their lack of access to socio-economic capital, namely, land. As the world’s primary source of wealth, land plays a significant role in the life of rural communities, transforming into a socio-economic reality. Dalits are historically landless; in this outbreak, they participated in various land movements to access land. Landless Dalits and other agricultural labourers fought alongside peasants for better wages, land ownership and to end the practice of forced labour. However, Dalit struggles always remain subordinate to peasant struggles. In this context, this study examines Haryana’s rarely documented and majorly unknown Dalit land movement that took place in 1973 at Bir Sunarwala village of the Jhajjar district of Haryana. Additionally, this study seeks to highlight the significance of the Bir Sunarwala land movement within the broader framework of the Dalit movements in India.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"219 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136022839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the academic field, debates in the discipline of history largely contest whether the people whose narratives are absent in the dominant archives of knowledge, including Dalits, can be considered as devoid of history. Such contestations raise queries about the ways in which these groups form a sense of their past. In this light, can we consider cultural forms of narrative as reliable and ‘valid’ means to form an understanding of past, and to what extent? Can the cultural narrative forms, particularly autobiographical accounts, be utilized to reflect on the past of these communities? What methodologies does such an approach demand, and what challenges does it pose? This paper shall grapple with these intriguing inquiries. It attempts to position Dalit autobiographies and their utility in locating the sense of their past and in the larger knowledge production. This paper fundamentally proposes that Dalit autobiographies can lend crucial insights into the history of Dalit communities and beyond. These autobiographies can provide a perspective ‘from below’ and contribute to understanding how Dalits made sense of their past into narratives. I argue that Dalit articulation of their life experiences in the form of autobiographies not only rupture the assumptions of a singular past but also foregrounds the multiplicities and specificities to their everyday experiences.
{"title":"Utilizing Dalit Autobiographies in History","authors":"None Jatin","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.626","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.626","url":null,"abstract":"In the academic field, debates in the discipline of history largely contest whether the people whose narratives are absent in the dominant archives of knowledge, including Dalits, can be considered as devoid of history. Such contestations raise queries about the ways in which these groups form a sense of their past. In this light, can we consider cultural forms of narrative as reliable and ‘valid’ means to form an understanding of past, and to what extent? Can the cultural narrative forms, particularly autobiographical accounts, be utilized to reflect on the past of these communities? What methodologies does such an approach demand, and what challenges does it pose? This paper shall grapple with these intriguing inquiries. It attempts to position Dalit autobiographies and their utility in locating the sense of their past and in the larger knowledge production. This paper fundamentally proposes that Dalit autobiographies can lend crucial insights into the history of Dalit communities and beyond. These autobiographies can provide a perspective ‘from below’ and contribute to understanding how Dalits made sense of their past into narratives. I argue that Dalit articulation of their life experiences in the form of autobiographies not only rupture the assumptions of a singular past but also foregrounds the multiplicities and specificities to their everyday experiences.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"2 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136102878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The modern anti-caste consciousness has deep roots in medieval bhakti traditions in India. The Bhakti saints like Basavanna, Kabir, Ravidas, Vemana, and Pothuluri Veerabrahmam have contributed towards democratizing the spiritual sphere. The radical bhakti traditions shaped new value systems, cultural practices, language, and other art forms and proposed a new egalitarian society. The tendency of locating subaltern saints within the spiritual domain does not capture the radical visions of an egalitarian society which are articulated in their songs, poems, thoughts, and practice. This article is an attempt to document and analyze the radical visions of Vemana and Pothuluri Veerabrahmam and other thinkers in the Telugu-speaking region. The article draws on both published works and fieldwork work which was conducted in the year 2022.
{"title":"Democratizing Spiritual Sphere: Radical Bhakti Traditions in the Telugu-Speaking Region in India","authors":"Chandraiah Gopani","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i2.680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i2.680","url":null,"abstract":"The modern anti-caste consciousness has deep roots in medieval bhakti traditions in India. The Bhakti saints like Basavanna, Kabir, Ravidas, Vemana, and Pothuluri Veerabrahmam have contributed towards democratizing the spiritual sphere. The radical bhakti traditions shaped new value systems, cultural practices, language, and other art forms and proposed a new egalitarian society. The tendency of locating subaltern saints within the spiritual domain does not capture the radical visions of an egalitarian society which are articulated in their songs, poems, thoughts, and practice. This article is an attempt to document and analyze the radical visions of Vemana and Pothuluri Veerabrahmam and other thinkers in the Telugu-speaking region. The article draws on both published works and fieldwork work which was conducted in the year 2022.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":"95 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136104640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
D. P. Singh, Srei Chanda, L. Dwivedi, P. Dixit, Somnath Jana
Caste has always been a subject of socio-political segregation in India. Inequality across caste is prominent for varying health and development outcomes, which is a subject less researched till date. Four rounds of National Family Health Surveys (1–4) conducted in the last 25 years are analysed to portray the fertility and mortality differentials across castes/ tribes. The article signifies, that distinct inter and intra-caste differences in association with the region of residence are present that must be taken into consideration while understanding the health outcomes. Despite a decline in the fertility and child mortality rates in India, caste-wise differentials suggests that the decline is associated with the socio-economic position and transition experienced by these groups. Though schemes and benefits are targeted towards backwards castes, however, sub-castes under each caste are far from realization of those benefits at equal pace. Realization of the developmental processes among castes is a matter of proper enumeration and intricate research that rationalize the distributive and affirmative policies of India.
{"title":"Importance of Caste-Based Headcounts: An Analysis of Caste Specific Demographics Transition in India","authors":"D. P. Singh, Srei Chanda, L. Dwivedi, P. Dixit, Somnath Jana","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i1.497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i1.497","url":null,"abstract":"Caste has always been a subject of socio-political segregation in India. Inequality across caste is prominent for varying health and development outcomes, which is a subject less researched till date. Four rounds of National Family Health Surveys (1–4) conducted in the last 25 years are analysed to portray the fertility and mortality differentials across castes/ tribes. The article signifies, that distinct inter and intra-caste differences in association with the region of residence are present that must be taken into consideration while understanding the health outcomes. Despite a decline in the fertility and child mortality rates in India, caste-wise differentials suggests that the decline is associated with the socio-economic position and transition experienced by these groups. Though schemes and benefits are targeted towards backwards castes, however, sub-castes under each caste are far from realization of those benefits at equal pace. Realization of the developmental processes among castes is a matter of proper enumeration and intricate research that rationalize the distributive and affirmative policies of India.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45620040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article, we argue that manual scavenging and the 2013 Act which prohibits it are unconstitutional as they violate human dignity, the prohibition against untouchability, and the right to life enshrined in the Constitution of India. We bring out contradictions and limitations in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on manual scavenging and show that it misses out on deploying its own strong anti-untouchability and human dignity-based jurisprudence in the judicial treatment of manual scavenging. This progressive jurisprudence outlaws all forms of social exclusion and does not allow for any exceptions to the right to human dignity. We then propose a framework which outlines the unconstitutionality of the very practice of manual scavenging through an in-depth and conjoint analysis of the Indian constitutional jurisprudence on prohibition untouchability, right to human dignity and right to life. A conjoint reading of the three principles brings out the real potential of the Indian Constitution in safeguarding the rights of manual scavengers, a feat which must begin with a complete abolition of all forms of scavenging work without exception. Arguing against the acceptability of allegedly “safe” sanitation work, we propose an alternative framework to understand and critique manual scavenging, without which a complete eradication of manual scavenging is impossible.
{"title":"The Human Dignity Argument against Manual Scavenging in India","authors":"Asang Wankhede, Alena Kahle","doi":"10.26812/caste.v4i1.429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v4i1.429","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we argue that manual scavenging and the 2013 Act which prohibits it are unconstitutional as they violate human dignity, the prohibition against untouchability, and the right to life enshrined in the Constitution of India. We bring out contradictions and limitations in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on manual scavenging and show that it misses out on deploying its own strong anti-untouchability and human dignity-based jurisprudence in the judicial treatment of manual scavenging. This progressive jurisprudence outlaws all forms of social exclusion and does not allow for any exceptions to the right to human dignity. We then propose a framework which outlines the unconstitutionality of the very practice of manual scavenging through an in-depth and conjoint analysis of the Indian constitutional jurisprudence on prohibition untouchability, right to human dignity and right to life. A conjoint reading of the three principles brings out the real potential of the Indian Constitution in safeguarding the rights of manual scavengers, a feat which must begin with a complete abolition of all forms of scavenging work without exception. Arguing against the acceptability of allegedly “safe” sanitation work, we propose an alternative framework to understand and critique manual scavenging, without which a complete eradication of manual scavenging is impossible.","PeriodicalId":72535,"journal":{"name":"Caste (Waltham, Mass.)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46665644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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