Former scavengers making vermicelli

Report By
Marie Naudascher
In the wee hours, Baby, a 30 years old scavenging women from Alwar begins her walk through the latrines of the city. She is in charge of a dozen of houses. She has to snake in and out the small path made for scavengers between houses to clean night soil. ‘Night soil’ is an understatement for the smelly excreta Baby has to scour everyday. She has been doing this obnoxious and demeaning drudgery for a mere monthly wage of Rs 500.

With bare hands, she sweeps the dejections and carries them in a bucket on her head. Of course, she has never got used to the stench of human excreta and hates this menial job. Very often, she fells sick. “The stench forces scavengers to hold their breath, so they get affected with respiratory problem and coughs later on”, explains Santosh, from Sulabh International.

Like Baby, there are about 340, 000 million toilet cleaners working in Indian villages, report the union social welfare department. The figure could be up to one million, according to the activists. The sanitary condition in the country is appalling. More than 500 million people have no access to toilets that is to say one out of two Indians. Around 700 million people defecate in open air, says Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh Inernational. As a result the soil is polluted and around 500,000 children die every year due to diarrhoea and dehydration. This lack of hygiene also results in a tremendous inequity between men and women. The latter have to go far from their house, often when it is dark to relieve themselves far from men’s view.

Most of the scavengers are Dalits, they belong to the lower cast, the Banghis, and 80 per cent of them are women. Though manual scavenging was banned in 1993, the country’s toilet system still relies on scavenging. The Indian constitution made the term ‘Untouchable’ illegal in 1950, but scavenging is still their fate.

NGO Sulabh International has been working for more than thirty years to eradicate scavenging. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, a visionary Gandhian, could not stand the fate of scavengers. He decided to dedicate his whole life to this cause.

In Alwar, a Sulabh vocational training centre named ‘Nai Disha’ gathers former female scavengers. A few years ago, they were compelled to clean night soil. Today, they proudly speak for themselves. They also get training for alternative jobs. They learn how to make vermicelli. They are proud because they know people will buy and enjoy what they are preparing. On the packaging, there is no such word as ‘scavenger’, of course. It only says “made and prepared by women groups working for their emancipation”. They are also making candles for a temple, where they were once banned from entering. They learn stitching and sewing. There are English classes also

For Dr Pathak, it is very important to show the world that these women do not deserve to be treated as the scum of society. In July 2008, thirty former scavenger women took part in a fashion show for the International Year of sanitation at the United Nation in New York.
They had been stitching clothes for international models and they walked down the ramp with them as more than 150 officials from different countries applauded. Lalita, a former scavenger recalls this experience with gleaming eyes, “We never even dreamt that something of that magnitude would happen to us. We had never even seen Delhi. We enjoyed the attention given to us”.

Thirty years ago, the first task for Dr Pathak was to create toilets that would not need scavenging. He did create a two pit system toilets. Then, he had to convince people that these toilets were cleaner for the household. He went door to door to meet and discuss with people. As a sociologist, Dr Pathak studies people’s habit concerning toilet and hygiene in order to change their mindsets.

Today, Sulabh International is among the few successful organisations that were able to make a difference. But the team remains very humble. The only thing they boast about is to have transformed former waste collectors into independent, proud and free “turquoise ladies”.

By –Moonis Ahmad & Kinley Tshering

As the mercury drops in Delhi, the election fever is on the rise. The capital’s Okhla constituency is gyrating to the tunes of several candidates offering early New Year gift in the form of promises.

For 70 assembly seats in Delhi, 875 candidates are running. The congress which ruled the roost for the last two terms in Okhla is already feeling the heat. Several candidates from across major parties political parties are running for the election.

Dr S.A Muneem Pasha, a faculty in the department of political science at Jamia Millia Islamia, says that there are several issues that will decide the election’s outcome. “Incumbency, price rice, regularization of colonies and the alleged terrorist encounter are some dominant issues that will affect Congress,” he feels.

The competition for the Okhla constituency is tough with claims and counter-claims among the candidates. “The area was in the news for all the wrong reasons after the alleged terrorist encounter. There is huge disgruntlement amongst the people here,” says Wasif Sattar, a development sector professional living in Okhla.

The incumbent Congress MLA, Parvez Hashmi, is hoping to win the next term on the grounds of development work. He feels that congress has always been the welfare party and will come out victorious.

A potential challenge to the supremacy of congress is being seen in the form of Wasim Ahmad Gazi, who is trying his luck on the Samajwadi party ticket. He feels that the people of Okhla are simply fed up with the present MLA. “He (the present MLA) is unapproachable and in the recent furor around the encounter killing, his true face was exposed,” says Gazi. “He is biased and didn’t even speak of justice for the purported L 18 encounter.”

Raza haidar, contesting on the CPI (M) Candidature, has several arguments to put forth. He argues that Congress has always been anti poor and a party which believes in giving fringe benefits to the minorities. “The recent encounter of suspected terrorists needs serious attention. The sitting MLA from congress didn’t take any stand on the controversy surrounding it. Price rise will also kill its chances,” he says.

Kamran Siddiqui, an independent electoral candidate, has several grouses from the present MLA. “Congress has defied the cause of Muslims who are time and again betrayed. The recent encounter killing of suspected terrorists had placed the Okhla neighborhood on the back foot. Whether it is Babri Masjid or L-18, Muslims have always been targeted and victimized in the name of terrorism.” he says.

Another theory which is doing the round is about how Bhartiya Janata party is aiming to capitalize on the split in the Muslim vote bank. “Congress is spreading this phobia amongst the Muslims in order to garner support,” feels Asad khan, a computer engineer with CSC. Asad, a congress loyalist is planning to exercise a different choice this time. The BJP candidate Surenda Bidhuri is working on his campaign by highlighting on terrorism and security, along with price rise. The delimitation of constituency by the election commission will work to his advantage. Similar views are held by Bahujan Samaj party candidate, Brahm Singh.

Vikas Shukla, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia and a local resident feels that the encounter issue will dictate the electoral results in this area. “I want the best candidate to win so that the grievances of Okhla residents are heard,” adds Vikas.

The results that will be declared after December 8 will decide the outcome of this area and of the party which will celebrate New Year in pomp and style. Till then it is congress versus the rest.