8 Nov 2024
The Arunthathiyar community is among the most marginalised in the part of Tamil Nadu where our partners work. They make up about 3% of the state’s population, and for centuries they have faced discrimination, even from other Dalit communities. That is why they are often called “the Dalits of the Dalits”.
For generations, Arunthathiyars were made to do the work no one else would do: sweeping away waste, including human waste, cleaning drains, preparing the dead for cremation and removing dead animals. Indian law now bans manual scavenging and untouchability, and village sanitation has become paid work, employed by the panchayat (the local village council). Yet it is still mostly Arunthathiyars who do it, and old attitudes run deep.
Workers are often expected to be subservient, and they are paid last, when money is available. Wages have been delayed by up to six months and paid below the agreed rate. Newer workers should receive Rs 4,000 (about £40) a month and those with longer service double that, but poor record-keeping
means this is often not honoured. Many have worked without gloves, boots or masks, at risk of infection and of injury from needles in the waste. During the 2004 tsunami and the deadly Covid wave of 2021 they were named “key workers”, yet were again asked to handle the dead with little or no extra pay.
The Tamil Nadu government has set up a Sanitation Workers Welfare Board to support workers and their families. But many workers, especially older ones with little schooling, had not heard of these schemes or were wary of approaching officials.
Change began in 2018, when a group of sanitation workers came to our partner and asked for help to form a forum of their own. The Sanitation Workers’ Forum now meets every month. Members talk through their problems, agree on action together and take their concerns to officials with one voice.
The results are showing. One of the forum’s first steps was to make sure workers received proper safety equipment: shoes, gloves, masks and uniforms. Members are now registered with the Welfare Board and are receiving the entitlements due to them. The forum also helps members claim the full wage for their years of service and follows up when payments are late.
The forum has grown from 42 to 131 members. It recently agreed eight resolutions to improve working conditions, including a request, inspired by good practice in neighbouring Karnataka, that wages be paid straight into workers’ bank accounts. Workers in nearby areas have asked to form forums of their own, and our partner is now helping them to do so.
For a community so long treated as the lowest of the low, this is a real change. Sanitation workers keep villages clean and healthy, and with the forum behind them they are now gaining the fair pay, safety and respect their work deserves.