How Bezwada Wilson Liberated Lakhs Of Manual Scavengers In India
By Shivam Vij Since the Indian Parliament outlawed manual scavenging in 1993, the
very existence of a dry latrine became illegal. Bezwada Wilson's Safai Karmachari Andolan
would take a crowd of former manual scavengers, mostly women, to
demolish dry latrines wherever they could find them. On one occasion,
they even did it inside a court complex! The resulting hullabaloo around the demolition would help Wilson
spread awareness about the law against manual scavenging. This is just
one of many ways in which Wilson has brought down the numbers of manual
scavenging from lakhs to a few thousand.
The story begins in 1986. That was the year when Wilson finished
school in Karnataka's Kolar district. He decided to volunteer to teach
children in his sweepers' colony. He found that there was a high
drop-out rate among the students. Why did you dropout? "Our parents are alcoholic, they don't want to send us to school."
He asked the parents: "Why do you drink day and night and not spend
on your children's education?" "We drink because our work is such."
"What is your work?" "Cleaning toilets." "But why does it make you
drink?" "Our working conditions are bad."
What did they mean by bad working conditions? Why do they make them drink alcohol? Or was it all just an excuse?
Wilson wanted to see it from himself, but they won't let him. He
followed them on the sly and found them picking up human excreta from
dry latrines and putting them in buckets. One karmachari's bucket fell
into a pit of human excreta and he put his hands in there to pick up the
bucket. Wilson pushed him away. "What are you doing? Let me do my job,"
the manual scavenger shouted back. "That day I cried for the first time," Wilson said. He went home and
told his retired parents about it. He was in for more surprise. "This is
what your parents did all their lives," they told him. AFP/Getty Images
In this picture taken on August 10, 2012, shows a manual
scavenger carrying tools of her profession, a basket, a broom and
plastic shovel, while on her way to clean dry toilets in Nekpur village,
Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
That day, his life changed, and so it did for the lakhs of manual scavengers all over India. The people in his colony were employed by Bharat Gold Mines Public
Ltd. Kolar had India's first labour union for the scavengers, but the
Marxists just wanted to use them to have a bucket of human excreta
strewn outside the houses of those who didn't strike. The excreta had to
be later cleared by the same scavengers. The manual scavengers did not want to make it an issue. Bezwada got
someone to write a letter to the Bharat Mines officials. The reply
denied the existence of dry latrines. He sent them pictures, and
dispatched copies of the pictures to the prime minister and all Dalit
members of parliament. In 1993, thanks to international pressure, India
had outlawed manual scavenging. The Centre got the Bharat Mines to
demolish them. The manual scavengers were taken into other jobs.
Wilson then moved to Andhra, where he found that municipal
corporations had employed 8,340 karmacharis in 16,380 community latrines
in the state. The state government actually employed people to do
something that had been declared illegal. This is a likely true even
today of the Indian Railways and some municipal corporations in a few
states. AFP/Getty Images
In this picture taken on August 10, 2012, a manual
scavenger covers her nose while carrying human waste on her head after
cleaning the dry toilets in Nekpur village, Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Lobbying with Dalit MLAs in Andhra, Bezwada got the government to
demolish most of them. Bezwada's Safai Karamchari Andolan went on a
45-day-long yatra in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, demolishing dry
latrines that the state government didn't exist. At the Nizamabad court complex, the court intervened when they were
demolishing the toilet. Wilson got the court to order stopping the
demolition in writing, and then wrote to the Supreme Court asking how a
local court could violate the law. The Supreme Court had it demolished
in 24 hours. Self-taught in English, fighting caste with humour, Wilson was meant
to become part of the Christian clergy, but destiny had something else
for him. A follower of Ambedkar, Wilson rebuffed Christian clergy and
politicians alike who tried to use him.
Self-taught in
English, fighting caste with humour, Wilson was meant to become part of
the Christian clergy, but destiny had something else for him.
Once a top politician invited him and said, why don't you organize a
dry latrine demolition and I will join you. Wilson realized this was a
way of winning Valmiki votes. "You have such a huge all-India network of
party workers, why don't you ask them to identify dry latrines in their
area and demolish them. Then I will come to attend the demolitions,"
Wilson replied. The politician was suitably chastised. Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Sanjay Prasad age 33, cleans drains for a living, goes
inside a drain with his only tool on July 13, 2012 in New Delhi, India.
Wilson has spent the past many years getting the law implemented,
getting central and state governments to rehabilitate manual scavengers –
of course the rehabilitation packages are swindled away by politicians
in most states. The hardest part has been to nail the lie --
governments, municipal corporations and institutions like the railways
deny the existence of manual scavenging.So Wilson's organization took to undertaking massive all-India
surveys to identify manual scavengers, and then do everything they could
to make them leave the work. Since manual scavenging paid them so
little, Wilson's organization motivated them to leave it and find
alternative work. Anything could pay more. There were those who hid
their caste, migrated and found work as house-helps. Others started
small roadside shops or took to basket weaving.
In one event he
organized, I heard woman after woman speak their stories, with tears of
joy. Andolan people came and made us leave the work, they said.
In one event he organized, I heard woman after woman speak their
stories, with tears of joy. Andolan people came and made us leave the
work, they said. Wilson calls them liberated women. One woman whose face
I can't forget, spoke about how she did manual scavenging for 50 years –
right from her childhood. In her old age, she had been liberated.
Wilson has now moved to making lives better for those who work to
clean sewage lines and septic tanks, often leading to deaths. With
determination, humour and all-round goodwill, there is little doubt he
will succeed.
Bezwada Wilson has brought hope and joy to so many lives, the
Magsaysay Award is the least he deserves. Most of all, he deserves our
time and attention.
AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images
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