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Brahmans, Rajputs take up broom,
come out of caste’s maya
WSN Network
LUCKNOW: At
least one government job which saw almost 100 per cent reservation
for the lowest of the lower castes in caste-ravaged
India
was that of the safai karamchari, the sweeper. Upper caste youth
refused to touch the broom and all slots had to be filled up with
dalits. But if not the government policies, it is the desperation
that is finally helping break the ugly caste barrier in deciding who
will get to wield the broom.
Now, it is being noticed in deep
central Indian province Uttar Pradesh’s heartland that even Brahman
youth are no more finding it beneath their dignity to do some
cleaning. Reports emanating from UP say Brahamans, Lodhs, Rajputs
are all now lining up for the job of a sweeper but still seem to be
defensive about their step. “Thousands of Brahmins, Thakurs, Banias,
Kayasths, Lodhs, Yadavs and Muslims are taking up jobs as sweepers
and sanitation workers that were traditionally done by Dalits,”
reported an English daily, but preferred to connect it to “meltdown
effect” than to any egalitarian thought process. “The fear of
unemployment is forcing even educated, upper caste and dominant
backward caste youth to take up these secure, but menial, jobs,” it
said.
Part of the push came from opening of new slots as the Mayawati government began recruiting one lakh safai karamcharis
(sanitation workers) for villages a few months ago. But there seems
to be some apologetic defence for the step that betrays how the job
is looked down upon. “No work is too small. After all, we are not
begging or committing a theft,” said a Rajput recruit to the ranks
but it is still to be seen whether this multi-caste workforce will
help change the entire caste dynamics and social order in UP’s
villages.
17
June 2009
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