Three men carry their baskets loaded with human excrement from the communal dry latrine in the village. They are Dalits, belonging to the Thoti sub-caste among the Madigaa Dalits, and they are among the estimated 700,000 or more Dalits who perform this extremely unhygienic work known euphemistically as Ômanual scavengingÕ, which is traditionally linked to their caste. Only Thotis do this work here. One of the men reported that faeces fell onto his head one day while he was cleaning. He complained to the local Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), a government official, who responded by saying, ÒYou are a dirty man doing this dirty job, why are you worried about this?Ó
Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh. Marcus Perkins/CSW 2008.
Dalit Lives (Marcus Perkins/CSW)
