8 Nov 2024
The Arunthathiyar communities of Tamil Nadu are some of the most marginalised people in the area of South India where we work. They make up about 3% of the population and have for centuries on end been discriminated against, including by other Dalits, hence the term “the Dalits of the Dalits”.
Before modernisation in villages across India, the Dalit castes were forced into performing the jobs no one else would do, such as sweeping waste, including human faeces, cleaning drains, treating and cleaning dead bodies for cremation, and removing dead animals. People doing this work were called ‘scavengers’.
Now, progressive Indian laws ban ‘manual scavenging’ and ‘untouchability’. India is modernising this rural sanitation work, which has become a form of wage labour, predominantly done by Arunthathiyars. They struggle to receive fair working conditions and pay, access to adequate personal protective equipment, and to be treated with dignity and respect.
During large-scale crises such as the 2004 tsunami and more recently in 2021 during a lethal wave of COVID-19, sanitation workers were designated as "key workers" and the name was changed from ‘sanitation’ to ‘conservancy’ workers. They were made to do their traditional job of disposing of the dead bodies, with little or no compensation. They also share that they are still often expected to dispose of dead animals for which the local bodies are responsible.
Most wear no protective clothing, use short brushes, and are liable to get infections and exposure to syringe needles in the waste.
In response to the historically marginalised position of sanitation workers, the state government has established the Tamil Nadu Sanitation Workers Welfare Board. However, elderly workers and those in rural communities may not have strong reading and writing skills, are often not aware of government provisions, and may be wary of government authorities. To address this challenge, a group of sanitation workers approached one of our partners in 2018 to help them form a Sanitation Workers' Forum.
The Forum meets each month to discuss and resolve any issues that they have been facing. One of the first actions taken was to ensure that sufficient PPE is provided such as shoes, gloves, masks and uniforms.
The sanitation workers are appointed by the Panchayat, which is the most grassroots village-level unit of self governance, usually encompassing three to four rural hamlets.
The sanitation workers are expected to work four or five hours five days a week, but often work full time. Those with less than three years’ service get 4,000 rupees (£40) per month, and those with longer experience should receive double that. However, often the Panchayats do not maintain proper records and this is not implemented.
Arunthathiyars are expected to be subservient and are paid last, if and when there is money available. Their payments are frequently delayed for up to six months and are often below the agreed rate, further delaying payment. The forum supports its members to obtain the agreed wage.
The Sanitation Workers Forum recently made eight new resolutions (see box to the right) which address the ways in which they have been previously exploited and marginalised. Resolution 7 is inspired by the promising practice in a neighbouring state, Karnataka, which uses a direct payment system for the Block Office to pay workers into their bank accounts, mitigating the need for workers to repeatedly rely on the Panchayat Secretary to receive their wages.
The Forum has requested our Partner to help them to facilitate additional forums, starting with neighbouring blocks (a block is a small administrative area).
In light of major shifts, such as the increasingly digitised Indian economy and improvements in sewer-cleaning technology, the continuation of these forums and expansion into new communities supports ongoing improvements in the lives and livelihoods of local sanitation workers.