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TSUNAMI-IMPACT: Natural Disasters May Yet Flush Out Caste Feelings

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Jan 10 2005 (IPS) - India’s rigid social divisions based on caste may have taken a knock as a result of intervention by voluntary agencies involved in relief work in areas hit by the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami which left over 10,000 dead and at least 600,000 either homeless or destitute on the coast of southern Tamil Nadu state.

”Relief agencies, particularly those that come in from outside the disaster area, have the advantage in that they can provide relief, neutrality and impartially,” Bijoy Basant Patro spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which is playing a lead role in the relief work in south and south-east Asia, told IPS.

Officials at the UNICEF (United Nations Fund for Children) and other aid agencies now on the job in Tamil Nadu also said they did not discriminate between one group and another while carrying out relief work and distributing aid.

”We follow well laid down standards in making vulnerability assessments and if these assessments indicate that the Dalits (people at the bottom of the Hindu social hierarchy) in a particular area are most in need then we direct relief efforts to them,” Patro said.

Patro added that experience in India has shown that Dalits are almost invariably the most vulnerable people during a natural disaster and also the least likely to be able to access aid when it becomes available – especially through government agencies.

But the Red Cross spokesperson also said that natural disasters offered a rare opportunity to improve the lot of Dalits and other marginalised people simply because that is about the only time their discrimination gets any attention at all.

Following the tsunami disaster in Tamil Nadu, newspapers and television channels were full of stories of how Dalits were being denied aid supplies and forced out of relief camps by higher caste groups who refuse to dine with them or live under the same roof even if it is just a tin sheet.

The influential ‘Indian Express’ newspaper carried a front page lead story on Jan. 7 which said: ”There is something even an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and a tsunami that kills over 100,000 people cannot crack – the walls between caste.”

The daily reported that in the relief camps of the port town of Nagapattinam, one of the worst hit centers, Dalits were not being allowed to drink water from tanks put up by UNICEF. In this area alone, over 5,925 people lost their lives and entire settlements were leveled to the ground when the killer waves struck.

In the tsunami-hit areas, food and cash distributions normally take place in Hindu temples – often the only structures still standing, in the midst of a flattened landscape, because they are often built from solid granite.

But news reports indicate Dalits are left out in these distributions due to the cruel fact that as ‘untouchables’ they are not allowed to enter the halls of worship.

These news reports have made the central government in New Delhi sit up and take note.

On Sunday Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi said the concerned state governments were being asked to ensure that Dalits and other weaker sections of society were not deprived while providing emergency relief and other essential aid.

Curiously it fell upon the Dalits to carry out much of the initial work in the immediate aftermath of the disaster such as carrying away dead bodies and disposing animal carcasses because upper caste people consider such work taboo and socially degrading.

Ironically, after performing such tasks for a society struck by a colossal disaster the Dalits are shunned because the upper castes consider them as having done ”polluting” work. Seldom is gratitude expressed to these people for having prevented an epidemic in the aftermath of the tsunami.

The Indian Constitution, introduced more than half-a-century ago, banned the shunning of Dalits. But members of this group, who now number 160 million, have continued to suffer all manner of indignities at the hands of upper caste Hindus.

But because the Constitution also reserved seats in Parliament and jobs in the government for Dalits, many individuals have risen to prominence in public life and are for the first time insisting that the rights of their brethren be respected.

Among them is Meira Kumar, currently Minister for Social Welfare and the leader of a controversial demand for reserved quotas in the burgeoning Indian private sector – as the country embarks on the globalisation path.

Interestingly, Kumar has also warned voluntary agencies that unless they accept a quota of Dalits in their organisations, the government would not support their activities.

As far as tsunami relief work goes, the National Conference of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), which represents 300 Dalit bodies across India, has demanded that its representatives be present wherever relief and rehabilitation is taking place.

”This is the only way that we can ensure that Dalits get a fair share because most voluntary agencies are run by upper caste people who, in general, lack sensitivity towards Dalit issues and are not serious about getting relief to them,” Ashok Bharti, national coordinator of NACDOR, told IPS.

”They want us to clear out their dead bodies and feces but when it comes to accepting relief they want to ensure that we are nowhere around simply because they cannot stomach the idea of sharing anything with us,” Bharti said.

Leaders like Bharti are increasingly banking on support from international agencies especially after the Dalit issue received worldwide attention for the first time during the U.N. Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban in September 2002.

”We see the tsunami as one more opportunity to highlight the severe discrimination against Dalits, which the government is reluctant to acknowledge before the international community,” said Bharti recalling that this group of Indians also faced a similar situation during the devastating earthquake that hit Gujarat in January 2001 and other recent natural disasters.