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280 Wisconsin International Law Journalwash your hands before eating. It is difficult to say which [season] isworse. 128Manual scavengers are routinely exposed to both human and animalwaste without the protection of masks, uniforms, gloves, shoes,appropriate buckets, and mops, resulting in severe health problems. 129“Many scavengers have died of carbon monoxide poisoning whilecleaning septic tanks.” 130 “More than 100 die every year due toinhalation of toxic gases or drowning in excrement.” 131 “The fear ofbeing fired by municipality officials keeps manual scavengers fromdemanding higher wages or sanitary instruments.” 132The persistence of the outlawed and inhuman practice of manualscavenging speaks to the resilience of caste-based discrimination. Thathuman beings should continue to clean human waste and be lowered intosewers in a country that boasts of technological innovation and prowessdemonstrates the stranglehold of caste in India today—a system set up toenforce the poverty of those it considers “outcaste.”5. UNEQUAL BY ALL MEASURESAlthough “untouchability” was officially abolished under Article17 of the Constitution of India, the practice remains determinative of thesocial and economic outcomes of those at the bottom of the castehierarchy. 133 Though “untouchability” is normally considered as areligiously prescribed system of separating the pure from the impure, itis, at its heart, a system to support and sanction an exploitative economicorder. As a result, Dalits in India today continue to rank below othersocial groups in all major social and economic indicators. While Dalitshave achieved some gains across a variety of indicators in the sixdecades since independence, their socio-economic development128 BROKEN PEOPLE, supra note 21, at 142-43.129 HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 84 (citing FROM PROMISE TO PERFORMANCE, supra note121, at 20).130 HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 83 (citing Annie Zaidi, India’s shame, FRONTLINE, Sept. 9-22, 2006), available at http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2318/stories/20060922005900400.htm(last visited Aug. 14, 2008).131 HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 84. In Mumbai, Dalits are lowered into manholes to clearsewage blockages—often without any protection.132 BROKEN PEOPLE, supra note 21, at 146 (citing Human Rights Watch Interview in AhmedabadDistrict of Gujarat (July 23, 1998): “When we ask for our rights from the government, themunicipality officials threaten to fire us. So we don’t say anything. This is what happens topeople who demand their rights.”).133 INDIA CONST. art. 17.
Vol. 26, No. 2 Equal by Law, Unequal by Caste 281continues to lag significantly behind non-Dalits. 134 Broadly speaking, thegap between Dalits and non-Dalits in education, health, income, and landownership has either remained constant or widened. 135The practice of “untouchability” in schools has contributed to analarmingly high drop-out rate and illiteracy level among Dalit children,particularly Dalit girls. According to the 2002 India Education Report,school attendance in rural areas in 1993-94 was 64.3 percent for Dalitboys and 46.2 percent for Dalit girls, compared to 74.9 percent amongboys and 61 percent for girls from other social groups. 136 According to a2001-2002 report prepared by the Indian government, “the drop-out ratein Scheduled Castes during 1990-91 was as high as 49.35 percent atprimary stage and 67.77 percent at middle stage and 77.65 percent atsecondary stage.” 137 The statistics for higher education are just asalarming—the same government report states that enrollment of Dalitstudents at graduate, post-graduate, and professional/research/PhD levels134 See Sukhadeo Thorat & Motilal Mahamallik, Chronic Poverty and Socially DisadvantagedGroups: Analysis of Causes and Remedies 40 (Indian Inst. of Pub. Admin., Working Paper No.33, 2006).[T]he persistently high chronic poverty conditions of the [Scheduled Castes]households in high poverty states is closely associated with extremely low ownershipof income earning capital assets, like agricultural land and non-land assets, lowerdiversification of employment in non-farm sector, lower wage earnings in farm andnon-farm sectors, and lower level of literacy and education levels as compared to theNon-[Scheduled Castes/Schedules Tribes] groups.Id.135 See Sundaram & Tendulkar, supra note 100, at 17, 19, 22, 23:The [Human Development Index (“HDI”)] is a composite index of three indicators,namely infant mortality rate (reciprocal value), literacy rate (age 7 plus), and averagemonthly per capita consumption expenditure (at 1993 base price) . . . . In 2000, theHDI for the [Schedules Castes] was about 0.303, compared to 0.393 for the non-[Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes]. The disparity ratio in this case works out to0.77, indicating that the human development achievement of the [Scheduled Castes]was less by 23 percent compared to non-[Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes] . . . .For the purpose of estimating [Human Deprivation/Poverty Index (“HPI”)], thevariables are Infant Mortality Rate, Illiteracy Rate, Poverty Ratio (Head Count Ratio),health status (which includes variables that capture access to public health services,like percentage of children not vaccinated, and percentage of non-institutionaldeliveries) and nutritional status (in terms of underweight children, etc) . . . . The HPIfor Scheduled Castes is estimated to be 41.47 percent which is much higher comparedto non-[Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes] (31.34 percent).136 Ellyn Artis et al., Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson Sch. of Pub. and Int’l. Affairs,Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for Dalits in India: Case Study on Primary Education inGujarat 14 (2003) (citing India Education Report—A Profile of Basic Education (R. Govindaed., 2002)), available at http://wws-edit.princeton.edu/research/final_reports/wws591c_1_f02.pdf (last visited Aug. 14, 2008).137 HIDDEN APARTHEID, supra note 5, at 96.
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