Endless Filth: The Saga of the Bhangis

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This is a telling investigation and indictment of India's lack of resolve over the past 100 years to get rid of manual scavenging and transportation of human excrement. Since Gandhi raised the question of untouchability in 1901 there have been reports, recommendations, a National Commission in 1994, and allocation of funds for rehabilitation of the Bhangis, but so far little has changed. Almostevery state government denies the existence of the problem. The author suggests that there is a silent and shameful opposition in India to the eradication of untouchability. The Bhangis are trapped in a system ordained by the caste structure which impedes rehabilitation and movement into alternative work.

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Mari Marcel Thekaekara is an independent writer, and the Co- Founder of ACCORD, an organization working for the adivasis of the Gudalur Valley, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India.