…My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.

(Excerpts from Rohith Vemula’s suicide note)

The middle of this month would witness a different type of Yatra on the streets of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It would neither be led by high profile leaders – who have the aura of Z plus security with them – nor would it be undertaken in an ultramodern bus – fitted with latest facilities and which could even be used as podium for a public meeting.

It would be taken out on a blue pickup truck renamed Bhim Auto and would be led by a 50-year-old woman Radhika Vemula  along with her son Raja demanding justice for her elder son Rohith.
 
During this yatra Radhika intends to visit one Velivada ( Dalit hamlet) after other in the two states to tell people how castiest forces are hell bent upon denying dalits their due rights and how justice is still being denied to her son who committed suicide because of the machinations of such people. (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/search/?q=rohith+vemula).
 
She would also communicate to them that the ruling dispensation at the Centre led by BJP but the and the state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been callous towards the plight of the Dalits and have joined hands to deny justice to her son. Not so long ago the government of Andhra Pradesh had made outrageous statements about Rohith not being a Dalit and earlier in February had demanded that Radhika 'prove' that she is Dalit in 15 days.

Speaking at a rally in Bengaluru Radhika Vemula announced her plan in detail. 
 
“On March 14, Raja (her other son) and I will start the Dalit Swabhiman Rath Yatra. We will travel across Telangana and Andhra for a month and conclude it on Ambedkar Jayanti (April 14). We will try and cover every Dalitwada (Dalit settlement) in these two states.” She also exhorted the audience "[t]o revisit what Rohith use to say the radical Ambedkar for 'liberation of dalits.'
(http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rohith-vemula-s-mother-announces-dalit-rath-yatra-in-telangana-andhra/story-9uKlANIBSDUVovfS66U67N.html)

She plans to raise two key demands through this awakening programme: 
– Sacking of Hyderabad University vice chancellor & his prosecution under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. 
– Passage of 'Rohith Act' aimed at stopping discrimination in educational institutions.  

Today Radhika Vemula might have become a household name for her uncompromising struggle to render justice to her deceased son but a year and two months back not very many people – barring those from her own village and surroundings – had even heard her name. The mass upsurge which erupted immediately after Rohith's death, demanding justice to him and the manner in which she joined the ongoing struggle, has helped her emerge as a symbol of resistance against the dispensation at the Centre.
 
And she has not kept her concerns confined to her deceased son only. She was there when thousands of Dalits and other anti-caste forces and democratic formations gathered in Una, Gujarat on 15^th August (2016) to demand 'land to dalits. She joined Fatima Naseem, mother of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed whose sudden disappearance – after a scuffle with the members of ABVP on the JNU campus – has become a cause of concern.

It has been more than a year that Rohith ended his life but there have been no concrete steps to ensure justice to him. We know how this activist of Ambedkar Students Association – who had started his political journey with a left student group – had decided to take the extreme step, how a biased administration with due connivance of a rightwing student formation and support from representatives of the central government continued to play havoc with the lives of dalit students, how it expelled them from hostels, how it stopped their scholarships, how it was instrumental in compelling them to live on 'Velivada' of a different kind on the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus.  

Podile Apparao, the controversial vice chancellor of the university, who had to leave office temporarily in the immediate aftermath of the movement, has since resumed duties. And an all-out attempt is being made to silence all dissenting voices on the campus.
 
The authorities are so keen to mute all such oppositional voices that they did not even allow a rally of students, youth led by Radhika Vemula to enter the university campus and pay their homage to Rohith on his first death anniversary. (17^th January 2017). All those students and concerned citizens were arrested at the gates of Hyderabad Central University itself. Perhaps authorities feared that if they are allowed to get in it might well rekindle the mass uprising which was had rocked the campus last year.
 
While justice still seems to elude Rohith, the only saving grace is that bowing to tremendous public pressure put up by the mass movement of student and youth, cases have been filed under strict provisions of the SC-ST Act, 1989 against all those who allegedly had a role in the whole episode. We are told that Podile Apparao and two central ministers do find mention in the FIR filed in the particular case. It is a different matter that things have stood still since then. And there has been no action against them.

What has further added urgency to the whole case is the planned manner in which attempts are on even today to deny Rohith his identity as a Dalit and portray him as basically a cheat and fraud and not a radical activist.(http://www.epw.in/journal/2017/9/margin-speak/robbing-rohith-his-dalitness.html). The logic is simple: Deny dalithood to Rohith, and thus dilute the case filed against all those people who find mention in the concerned FIR.
The authorities have tried every trick in their kitty to deny him his identity and instead portray him as a member of the backward Vaddera caste – to which his father – who had deserted his mother long ago belonged. The latest in the case is the manner in which it was declared that Raja – Rohith's younger brother – has submitted false certificate to prove that he was a Dalit.

It is clear that the powers that be have deliberately glossed over the historic judgement by a two member Supreme Court bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai which deliberated on the caste of the offspring in an inter-caste marriage where the mother happens to belong to one of the scheduled castes. It had clearly opined: “The determination of the caste of such a child was essentially a ‘question of fact’ to be decided on the basis of evidence in each case.” The child can claim the mother’s caste if he or she is brought up by the mother as an SC or ST 

In a marriage between a tribal woman and a forward caste man, the offspring will get tribal status if the child is brought up in the mother's environment and will be entitled to reservation, the Supreme Court has held.
 
Though earlier judgments of this court said that “in an inter-caste marriage between a tribal woman and a non-tribal, the woman must in all cases take her caste from the husband,” these were not binding precedents, said a Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai.

Writing the judgment, Justice Alam said: “To hold that the offspring of such a marriage would in all cases get his/her caste from the father is bound to give rise to serious problem
(http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/intercaste-child-can-get-st-status-if-raised-in-mothers-tribal-environs/article2821924.ece)
 
Perhaps the matter should have ended at that but it still simmers, thanks to their machinations.

The authorities are not even bothered about how Rohith self identified himself as a Dalit in his last video (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/i-am-a-dalit-says-rohith-vemula-video-before-suicide-3088768/) The video was released by his comrades since many questions were being raised about his caste.In the video Rohith Vemula clearly says: 

“My name is Rohith Vemula. I am a Dalit from Guntur. Jai Bheem to all. I am a student of UoH since 2010. I am doing PhD in the social science department. The university has decided to suspend five Dalit students and they have expelled us from the hostel premises. They have said that the notice that we were served says that our presence in public places, hostel premises and administration building can be treated as criminal acts. I am the son of a daily wage labourer and my mother raised me.’’ 

The mischievous manner in which retired Justice Roopanwal Commission – which was formed to look into the case – declared that Rohith was not a dalit clearly transgressing its brief was also evident. In fact the one man commission had been assigned to two specific tasks via a proper notification: 

– Examining the circumstances and facts, which led to the death of PhD Scholar Rohith Vemula and bringing the perpetrator, if any, to task.
– To review the functioning of the grievance committee and suggest measures for its improvement.

A cursory glance at the 12 pages of the judgement report of the committee makes it clear that four of its pages were devoted to declare the caste of Rohith Vemula and this despite the fact that it was not even asked to give an opinion about his caste nor the judge was the competent authority to do so. Retired justice clearly glossed over the fact that Guntur district collector Kantilal Dande, had already communicated to the National Commission on Scheduled Castes that Rohith was a dalit. Based on the inputs by the district collector and all related documents the National Commision on Scheduled Castes had also clearly declared that Rohith was a dalit. P L Punia, its then chairman had even demanded strict action nder SC-ST ( Prevention of Atrocities) Act against all those who compelled Rohith to end his life.

The powers that be did not want to take any chances.

Perhaps looking at the growing controversy around the determination of Rohith's caste and their dubious role to deny Rohith his due they planned another move. One Darsanpu Srinivas, who himself is a dalit but belongs to some Hindu organisation was asked to file a complaint to the Guntur collector regarding Raja Vemula. Darsanpu approached the Guntur collector with the complaint that Raja has obtained his caste certificate by fraudulent means. It is difficult to understand why the same collector who had already confirmed Rohith's caste sent the complaint to the Caste Scrutiny Committee of the district for verification. And this district level committee came out with a report that Raja was not a dalit. 

Anybody can gather that the stakes are really high for the dispensation at the centre. Imagine one fine morning they have a change of heart and they decide to admit the dalithood of Rohith Vemula then what would happen. Under the strict provisions of the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities act, actions will have to be initiated against all those people – which includes central ministers also – against whom FIR has been filed.
And this possibility looks remote.

Taking into consideration all the aspects of the particular case the powers that be seems to have resolved that Rohith's dalithood can wait for few more years.
On further probing one understands that it is not merely a question of Rohith alone and the manner in which this whole episode has exposed the anti-Dalit content of the Hindutva worldview. There are instances after instances where this facet of their politics has come to the fore again and again. Ranging from the banning of a student group Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle to the (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/search/?q=ambedkar+periyar+study+circle) to the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/mumbais-ambedkar-bhavan-demolition-from-left-to-right-leaders-join-protest-2924596/) to the way they tried to hush up the rape and murder of a dalit girl Delta Meghwal (https://sabrangindia.in/article/real-story-behind-rape-and-killing-dalit-girl-student-delta-meghwal) or the planned manner in which they tried to axe the admission policy of JNU which had made easier entry rule for deprived students. (https://www.telegraphindia.com/11a70102/jsp/nation/story_128075.jsp#.WL-HlG997IU), a random selection of news clippings makes it evident whatever might be there pretensions they Manuvadi to the core.

It was not for nothing that they decided to raise the whole bogey of 'nationalism' focussing themselves on JNU with a pliant media – ready with doctored videos – even to further their agenda just when the movement around justice for Rohith was at its peak. Remember, it was a time when the government had been put on the defensive because of the large scale churning among student youth as well as broad section of dalit masses. 

Looking at the ambience in the country and the way powers that be seem determined not to 'listen' to the demands of aggrived sections it is not difficult to predict what would be the outcome of this Dalit Swabhiman Rath Yatra. A layperson can even predict whether the demand for Justice to Rohith and enactment of Rohith Act would be fulfilled or not? But it is difficult to hazard a guess whether the onward journey of this ordinary looking woman would help rekindle similar mass movement across campuses to pressurise the powers that be to listen to the voices of the humiliated and the marginalised.

Victory of the struggle or its continuation, one thing is certain that the justness of the cause which Radhika Vemula represents and the indomitable manner in which she has persisted – thanks to the grand support she has received from concerned individuals and various, left, Ambedkarite and democratic organisations – has already delivered a moral victory to her against the unholy trinity of insensitive and biased university administration, duly supported by people in power at the centre and a brigade of violent young lumpens who with all their acts and analysis seemed to imitate the storm troopers of the Nazi era.

Rohith might be dead but the cause for which he fought remains incomplete.

Question arises what people like us- students, youth, members of the academia and other concerned citizens, who are keen that Justice should be ensured to Rohith and who are themselves under onslaught of various types- can do in this unfolding situation?

We should remember one thing. Hindutva Supremacists have reached the citadels of power on their own for the first time but they are not going to remain there forever. If we join hands and launch united struggles it would be difficult for them to curb all such voices. Perhaps the issue of justice to Rohith could be a starting point once again.

Let us resolve to light a candle in Rohith's memory wherever we are and raise our voice in unison remembering a Chinese proverb which says :

Earth Sticks to earth and makes a wall
Poor people stick to poor people and overthrow a kingdom.
 
 

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 “I don’t feel it is me receiving the award but it is the first one I have not refused,” Bezawada Wilson to Sabrangindia
  
“It is a tribute to the ourageous women who flung off their signs of slavery and marched across India’s districts in the Bhim Yatra over 2015-2016”
 
“Women will feel empowered, when the government is not supporting them, when compensation is not being given as is their legal due, that someone in the world cares for their plight and respects the organisation built to fight for justice for them”

The Citation of the Award reads:

“In electing Thodur Madabusi Krishna to receive the 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes his forceful commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions, breaking barriers of caste and class to unleash what music has to offer not just for some but for all,” his citation read.

As for Bezwada Wilson, he has been recognised by the board of trustees for ‘asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity.’

“In electing Bezwada Wilson to receive the 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his moral energy and prodigious skill in leading a grassroots movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India, reclaiming for the dalits the human dignity that is their natural birthright,” his citation read.

“Fifty years old, Bezwada Wilson has spent 32 years on his crusade, leading not only with a sense of moral outrage but also with remarkable skills in mass organizing, and working within India’s complex legal system. SKA has grown into a network of 7,000 members in 500 districts across the country. Of the estimated 600,000 scavengers in India, SKA has liberated around 300,000,” it read.

On April 22, 2016 after the conclusion of the 125-day long Bhim Yatra, Sabrangindia had done this interview with Bezwada Wislson

Swacch Bharat Abhiyan invisibilises the linkage between Caste and Sanitation and glamourises the Broom among Scavenging Communities: Bezwada Wilson

Bezwada Wilson, National Convener of Safai Karmachari Andolan in conversation with Subhash Gatade
 
The 125 day Bhim Yatra which started from Dibrugarh and traversed 30 states and 500 districts to reach Delhi is now over.  Sabrangindia.in has been following the yatra since its first steps to concientise Indians.

This country-wide mobilisation culminated in a massive rally and People’s Hearing where families of those victims who died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks shared their plight at the hands of State and fellow citizens. ‘Stop Killing Us’ was the call given by these brave marchers seeking to shake the conscience of state and society,
 
How do you see the impact of  ‘Bhim Yatra’ ?
As far as those people who are still condemned to do scavenging is concerned, the 125 day Bhim Yatra has made an impact at two significant levels :
– First, it has made people aware that a new law (the 2013 act) has come into existence for elimination of manual scavenging and they should make use of it for their liberation.
– Second, is that (because of this mass countrywide mobilisation) people are realising that we should not do this work, we should leave this work altogether. Babasaheb’s teachings that depressed classes should leave all such professions which are stigmatised and which further help stigmatise them has reached a broader cross sections of people engaged in cleaning and scavenging.
The slogan ‘Leave the Broom, Take the Pen’ is slowly reverberating across people especially among the youth.

How do you look at the response of the civil society towards manual scavenging in general and the Bhim Yatra in particular?
As anybody can see civil society can play an important role in eradication of this practice by popularising the law(s) or policies formulated to eliminate it or become proactive by intimating the police if violations of the law occurs but it does not do it. The fact that there was no conviction under the 1993 act and the passage of the 2013 act has also not made any change in the situation on the ground is definitely a reflection of the ‘silence’ and ‘connivance’ in the continuation of this practice.

The question that arises is why 'civil society' – which seems aware enough to join other causes – prefers to resort to a silence when the issue of manual scavenging crops up. My understanding is that civil society is definitely aware of this practice but seems more worried about the immediate future regarding removal of human waste and prefers to keep mum about it. Citizens become worried over the possibility that if the Safai Karmcharis decide to quit this demeaning profession one day, who will clean their shit? Perhaps they will have to get ready to dirty their own hands?

Also there is another aspect to this limiting and hypocritical attitude: whenever the issue of manual scavenging comes up, the discussion centres around the manner in which people are condemned to do such ‘dirty’ work; the discussions never move beyond to, for instance, how do we promote, rehabilitate those who leave this profession?

Coming to the Bhim Yatra specifically, it has actually shaken off this avoidance and complacency: many citizens joined the processions held at different places and also addressed meetings, in solidarity. The Yatra also evoked positive response in  sections of the media.
 
What is your future plan after the Yatra ?
We have given memorandums to different statutory authorities and asked them to take immediate steps to eliminate this ongoing practice, as is mandated by the law. We clearly want that there should be no further delay, no more shifting of deadlines.

Seventy years since Independence but the Scavenging Communities still yearn for real freedom from age-old slavery of a very different kind, demeaning work which is debilitating and also leading to untimely deaths of manual scavengers. Indians should not forget that Safai Karmacharis of all kinds have a shorter life span than other workers since under the name of occupational hazards they are exposed to poisonous gases and dangerous substances and also meet with fatal accidents.

One thing is clear. If the government does not listen to us we will come in our thousands and thousands to Delhi and would sit before the Parliament to pressurise it so that it mends its ways.

In fact, we have been emphasising this point throughout our public meetings held during the Yatra that Ours is a Struggle for Dignity and it is a struggle which we not only have to take forward and but one that may demand huge sacrifices. Yes, other justice loving people would definitely join us, but if we are not ready to protest, struggle and sacrifice how can the rest of the people help us?

There are many other routes open to continue the struggle. For example, we also plan to approach the Courts for a strict implementation of the 2013 act. We also realise that merely giving petitions, moving courts or organising sit-ins is not going to solve the problem, it is time that Safai Karmacharis organise themselves at the national level and declare a strike –stop to clean everyone’s shit!–only then society and state wake up from its deep slumber.

There are many like-minded parties and organisations who are working for the cause of Safai Karmacharis and we also plan to contact them or interact with them so that there is large scale mobilisation at the national level. At the immediate level we also plan to focus on the six states where according to government survey only no of dry latrines is significant.

What is your assessment of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan (‘Clean India Campaign’) which was launched with much fanfare by the present government ?
The basic problem with the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan is that it de-contextualises the issue of sanitation from its social roots. It is since 1991 – after the b1rth centenary year celebrations of Babasaheb Ambedkar (born on April 14, 1891)—that we first initiated this campaign of Safai Karmacharis. Through this agitation and the propaganda around it, an awareness slowly built that reflected our argument which was essentially this: in the Indian context ‘sanitation is a caste based, patriarchy based profession’ and must be understood as such.

This argument slowly began to receive a wider acceptability, also. The cumulative impact of our intervention as well as other initiatives could be noticed in the fact that the Central Government deemed it necessary to have a new law replacing the earlier law vis-a-vis manual scavenging, where the very definition of manual scavenging was widened and sewer workers and workers cleaning septic tanks were also included within its ambit.

The communities which are engaged in the work of cleaning because of the hierarchical caste system based on purity and pollution also witnessed a new awakening and at many places people especially women came together to demolish dry latrines, deciding at the same time not to compel the younger ones of the family to continue with this profession.

The way Swacch Bharat Campaign looks at the work of cleanliness is deeply problematic. It calls it everybody’s work – one can even look at the Swacchata Pledge administered by the Honourable PM to everyone when he launched the campaign “Ab hamara kartavya hain ki gandagi ko door karke Bharat Mata ki sewa karein” (Now, it is our duty to serve Mother India by removing the dirt). 

This whole approach not only invisiblises the inter-linkages which exist in India between cleanliness and caste, where you (the caste system and caste hierarchies) have condemned a number of communities – called by different names at different places – to do this work and only do this work. It also, by exclusion, hides the achievements by mobilisations and movements of the Safai Karmacharis which have tried to contextualise the issue of cleanliness in this part of South Asia. It is these mobilizations that have succeeded in highlighting the fact that without addressing the issue of caste it is impossible to deal with the question of cleanliness.

You can also notice the huge gap between what is being said (at the top level) and how things unfold on the ground. The Swacch Bharat Abhiyan was launched, celebrities came, and there were Photo-Op sessions with brooms in their hands. But, today who is cleaning the dirt? Not the celebrities, not the stars but it is we who are doing it. In a way, the Swacch Bharat Campaign tries to further glamourise the broom among those communities for whom the broom –and headloads of shit —  is an unspeakably undignified burden. We have been doing this work for centuries, it is undignified work, demeaning work, invisible work and we have declared that we will not do it!
 
(Based on the discussion with Bezwada Wilson; the conversation has been edited by Sabrangindia)

References:
1.Stop Killing Us: the Bhim Yatra of India’s Manual Scavengers tells the Indian government
2. Bhim Yatra: ‘Stop Killing Us in Dry Latrines, Sewers and Septic Tanks’
3. Dignity for Those Who Clean Our Filth
4.Bhim Yatra- Golaghat(Assam) and Dimapur(Nagaland)
5. Swacch Bharat Abhiyan Invisibilises Caste and Glamourises the Broom: Bezwada Wilson
6. Dignity for Those Who Clean Our Filth
7. Bhim Yatra- Golaghat(Assam) and Dimapur(Nagaland)
8. 100 day Accountability Yatra- Rajasthan
9. Swacch Bharat Abhiyan Invisibilises Caste and Glamourises the Broom: Bezwada Wilson

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Image: Sudhakar Olwe

India and Indians do not like to ask this rather harsh question. As we debate caste, and whether it exists or not in the context of an upwardly mobile and fast moving urban India, there is one question which we duck. Who cleans our sewers? Our streets? And why do the children of manual scavengers children have to enter manholes and keep them unclogged?

This countrywide journey  is a unique 125 day protest launched by the Safai Karmachari Andolan. It culminates in Delhi today, April 12 and there is a public hearing at Jantar Mantar tomorrow, April 13.The 125 days' Bhim Yatra has reached Delhi after covering more than 35,000 Kms across the country from Dibrugarh – Kanyakumari – Ahmedabad – Srinagar – Delhi. The protestor travelled through 500 districts in 30 Indian states. One Hundred and Twenty Five People will give their testimonies on the 125^th Birth Anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar testifying to the indignities still suffered by them.

The protest focuses on the failure by Governments to implement the law.  On March 27, 2014, the Supreme Court passed a judgement —  twelve years after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by the Safai Karmachari Andolan— and issued specific directions to prevent and control this illegal practice as also to prosecute the offenders. The Judgement can be read here.

Each Day the Yatris and their committed team have been sending updates about their journey.

On the 107th Day, March 25, the Protestors had covered Ambala and Shahbad and in the Kurukshetra District. This is what they shared:

“After the night halt in the community hall in Ambala, we started our day at 9 am in the morning. Again Saroj and Bala the liberated manual scavengers prepared and served us breakfast. After a good breakfast, we went to office of the District Collector (DC) of Ambala and met the Deputy Commissioner and submitted the memorandum along with a list of manual scavengers identified by SKA team. We told him about the Bhim Yatra and handed over the Bhim Yatra material. He assured us that he will cooperate in releasing the compensation money to the families of the persons who had died in sewer-related work. He said that he will also meet with other stake holders and speed up the process. We then boarded the bus and went on our way to the next destination.

We reached Shahbaad in Kurushetra district and held a community meeting in Ambedkar Bhawan. More than 200 safaikarmacharis were already gathered there to welcome and receive us. Most of them were women. They had a welcome ribbon stretched out. We were made to cut it and enter the Bhavan. They garlanded us and gave us sweets.

We introduced ourselves and spoke about the Bhim Yatra, its purpose and culmination event on April 13, at Delhi.  We also explained the Act, the Supreme Court Judgment and the rehabilitation schemes. We gave them pamphlets of Bhim yatra and asked them to distribute in other areas and share the purpose of the Bhim Yatra with other people. During the meeting we appealed to the people to come in large number for the culmination meeting in Delhi.

After talking about the purpose and Supreme Court judgment, we had a sharing of our experiences. The safai karamcharis discussed in detail about the various government schemes and accessibility of the same. They made many queries including why government officials don’t visit the basti to survey. Safai karamcharis also shared about the discrimination they face by the government officials.

We were surprised and pleased to see many women in the meeting. It was a beautiful with their colorful clothes and dupattas. They came with their children and talked at length about the Bhim Yatra. 

One of the yatris shared that “it was beautiful to see women  actively participating throughout the Public meeting though with their head and face covered with beautiful colored Dhupptas. We never expected that women will outnumber the men in all the meetings especially in Haryana”. After that the people gave us lunch and after eating and drinking tea we went to the DC office of Kurushetra. We met the Deputy Commissioner with the memorandum along with a list of manual scavengers and death cases with documents. The DC also met the families of the persons who had died in sewer work and assured that he will look into the case. Then we left for the next place.

We reached Fatehabaad via Kaithal and Jind around 8 pm. We held a community meeting in the Valmiki Dharamshala along with the support of other organizations namely Kisan Andolan, Ambedkar Sabha. The meeting was supposed to start at 6 pm but due to the delay in reaching the place, some of the people had gone back to their homes.  

We started the meeting by introducing ourselves. We spoke about the Bhim Yatra, the purpose and the culmination of the Bhim Yatra on April 13 meeting at Delhi. After the meeting we visited some homes of manual scavengers who had left this occupation. Then we had dinner with the community and went to sleep. The Premrathi arranged our night stay and gave us bedding.”

This is how this dogged band of safai karmacharis have traversed the length and breadth of the country drawing attention to their work, the plight, the absence of a basic sense of dignity in their lives.
 
Sabrangindia had reported on the justice process in early December 2015:
Does a Supreme Court judgement ensure that the fundamental rights of Indians who die while cleaning for a living will be protected? No say India’s Manual Scavengers who die in filth, cleaning our dirt, despite a judgement passed to ensure that a law enacted in 1991 (and revised and re-enacted in 2013) is actually implemented. Over 1327 persons lost their lives in the year since the Supreme Court judgement and less than three per cent received any compensation.

Despite the judgement of the Supreme Court that directs that such deaths in sewer holes and septic tanks should be stopped immediately,19 months after the judgement, deaths have continued to occur, with impunity, in sewer holes across the country.  The Safai Karamchari Andolan has reported 1327 sewer and septic tank deaths in the period since the judgement was passed in March 2014. Less than three percent have received compensation.
 

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