Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper explores the division of labor in India on caste with the notion of binary opposition of purity and impurity attached to it. Here, the Dalit community is assigned and forced for manual scavenging where they collect and clean dominant caste’s biological waste with bare hands leaving no alternative and choice as caste imposition. Their lives and working conditions linked with untouchability, discrimination, and social exclusion. They are denied from accessing socio-economic opportunities and religious cultural responsibilities which affects their living, education, employment, health and especially dignity. They dwell in poor sanitation and unhygienic locales. At workplaces, they completely lack safety equipments and this is responsible for various health issues like skin diseases, tuberculosis, diarrhea, malnutrition, addiction to alcohol, miscarriage in women, and even sometimes leads to death. Polices and health schemes fail to address the ground problems in providing basic facilities. Poverty and physical untouchability are responsible for high educational dropout rates. They are denied in accessing constitutional rights and social privileges. They forcibly made to continue in menial occupation. No alternative employment is provided other than scavenging. On one hand, the condition of the manual scavenging didn’t bring any upliftment and religious conversions couldn’t able to liberate themselves. Swatch Bharat on other hand is also responsible for perpetuation. Most of the case studies reveals that they engaged into this occupation by force and for food security. Manual scavenging is slavery where with no dignity of labor and completely alienated and marginalized from the main stream society.