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Article: Caste Struggle.(Dalits, traditionally known as members of India's Untouchable castes, organize and fight for their rights)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- July 3, 2000
- Author:
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On paper, the people in the slum on Delhi's Lodi Road don't even exist. The Dalits, or literally "broken people," as members of India's Untouchable castes are now called, don't show up on electoral rolls, ration cards or water bills. Huddled in the shadow of India's Housing and Urban Development Corporation, the slum huts are made of mud, cardboard and plastic bags. Kids play with pigs in the mud; mothers wash clothes in sewer water. These Kabariwallahs, or scavengers, sort through garbage or haul human sewage to earn a few rupees. The children beg at a nearby traffic light. Nobody goes to school. Says Om Prakash, a scavenger who has lived there for 40 years, "We've got a ...