If anyone wants to learn more they can go and read my articles on partition which was the end-result of the infamous policy of divide and rule.

The scavengers not only clean these up but they are also employed cleaning up feces along rail road tracks, clogged sewers etc. There are still trains running in India that have toilets that just empty out of the train and onto the side of the tracks.

What RBK says is true and the author does talk about many sides of the issue. And she points out Dalits(the lowest caste) who are very accomplished. She puts as much of the blame on the British as anyone for promoting and continuing the practice. There are people and programs trying to solve the problem. But like waste management in all countries, including our own, it doesn’t often get the attention or funding it should.

The one universal aspect of this topic across all countries is that most of us don’t care about our own shit if we don’t have to deal with it. We flush and forget. We don’t think about everything we put down the drains and its impact down stream.

While I don’t profess to know much about the rural life in India since I have always been a city-girl born and raised in New Delhi, it is important to note that the Indian government is and has been taking many affirmative actions to uplift and integrate these folks into society since Independence. Upliftment of these folks was a cause dear to one of the greatest leaders in modern world and who led India’s independence, Gandhi.

Also remember that while there is a lot of truth in what is written by Western authors, there is also a subsconscious exaggeration/sensationalization of reality because some these social aspects are just so incredibly foreign to thinking here. Just a note of caution.

Having said that it is something modern and educated Indians are not proud of in their culture. What made me realize in my many travels back home is how the thinking of the average Indians is gradually evolving -slowly but surely.

You might want to also check a post that I did a few months ago where I talked about how the women at least are now becoming aware of their rights and role, at least in the urban areas. I don’t want to write another post in Red’s domain but I feel I need to give a perspective which only I being an Indian can bring:
http://rbksrealm.blogspot.com/2008/07/travels-to-homeland-part-v.html