New Delhi, July 28: Magsaysay award winner Bezwada Wilson lashed out at the social structure of the nation, claiming that casteism and patriarchy is being constantly enforced. The 50-year-old activist has accused the dominant upper castes of unleashing hooliganism on the downtrodden Dalits. He has demanded the Government at Centre and States to safeguard democracy by saving those on the bottom rung of social and economic ladder from fundamentalist goons. He has further urged the ruling dispensation to take strategic steps to uplift the condition of those who are traditionally working as sewer cleaners, manual scavengers, skinning carcasses, and employed in other menial jobs.
Lashing out at the ‘ill-conceived’ Swacch Bharat Abhiyan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Wilson opined that it could be used for photo-op politics, but at the end of the day, it would employ more number of Dalits as manual scavengers, as government is taking no step to eradicate the practice of manual scavenging, and replace it with technological forms of cleaning and disposing the excreta.
“By constructing crores of toilets, you’re inviting more sewage and septic tank deaths,” he said while speaking to Hindustan Times. Wilson further added that the largest creator of manual scavenging jobs is the Indian Railways. (ALSO READ: Ramon Magsaysay Awards 2016: Indian activist Bezwada Wilson & Carnatic musician TM Krishna chosen for prestigious award)
“Is there a technology for those who want to end lifting excreta and live with dignity,” he said during the interview with HT.
Wilson won the Magsaysay award this year, along with cultural activist TM Krishna. Wilson heads the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), a sewage workers’ association based in Delhi. His organization is striving to bring reforms for the sewage workers, most importantly, they have shed light on the number of deaths each year of the sewage cleaners while cleaning septic tanks.
(Image Source: Youtube/Catch News)
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