Improved sanitation, rehabilitation training, and a new civil rights law are improving the lives of India’s untouchables. As people of the lowest caste or social standing, many face poverty and are unable to feed their children. Untouchables number about 200 million, or 16% to 17% of India’s total population. Because they are of lower status, marginalized and discriminated against, they have the lowest class of jobs, resulting in low-income families.

Improved Sanitation

Bindeshwar Pathak, a sociologist and founder of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Sulabh International, has researched the plight of the untouchables. The organization was founded in 1970 to promote sanitation reform, human rights, and the liberation of manual scavengers. Pathak invented the two-pit pour-flush toilet, which replaced bucket toilets that had to be cleaned manually. This meant untouchables no longer had to do the lowly job of cleaning toilets. There are now more than 1.5 million of the new toilets.

Rehabilitation Training

Rehabilitation for 200,000 women in the workforce has allowed them to advance their social status, restore dignity, and receive training. These women have been encouraged to work as beauticians or in food processing, sewing, or embroidery. They have been given the chance to work jobs with substantial pay and solid training, without doing the dirty work. They have earned enough to cover basic needs.

New Civil Rights Law

The new civil rights law provides minimum prison sentences for discriminating against the untouchables and outlaws direct or indirect preaching of the practice. Violators face three to six months in prison. Discrimination can include ridiculing these people, marginalizing untouchables and looking down on them. The New Rights Act penalizes the enforcement of any disability arising from untouchability.

The issues with untouchables are sociocultural. Addressing them requires a joint effort from all facets of society. The illiterate and those from oppressed classes need skill development. Only then can society accept them.

In addition to the economic factors that create issues for untouchables, sociocultural factors also play a role. People from the multitude of India’s caste system have rallied to provide the oppressed untouchables with skill development, which gives them the tools to hold jobs. In fact, the children of the next generation in the upper castes are treating the untouchables differently than before.

Final Thoughts

Sulabh International allows individuals and organizations to gather and initiate change in health, care and social systems that promote valuing, respect and support for the happiness and well-being of people around the world. Happiness is infectious, and the more happiness there is for one person, the more happiness there is for those around us. Sulabh International has built more than 1.5 million toilets in India, used by 20 million people a day, and 32,000 toilets in more than 6,000 schools.

– Stephanie Ou

Stephanie is based in San Jose, CA, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr