Caste

Seven Years, a Conviction and an Acquittal: How 3 Tribal Men Fought False Conversion Charges in MP

The court ruled that the witnesses against the three men were not credible and that the prosecution story was doubtful. Harassment has continued from right-wing Hindu groups even after the men were acquitted.

This is the sixth article in a series of reports on people who won their legal battles after being falsely charged under the anti-conversion laws brought in by BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

New Delhi: “Satya pareshan ho sakta hain, lekin parajit nahi.” Truth can be troubled but not defeated.

These inspiring words, etched somewhere inside a prison in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district, consoled an incarcerated Ajay Singh* and kept hope for justice alive.

“We believed that parmeshwar (the almighty) would free us from this ordeal. We were indeed worried but also hopeful that if not today, then tomorrow, truth would prevail,” he said.

Singh’s ‘truth’ was that he did not unlawfully convert a tribal Hindu man to Christianity. He was merely conducting prayers to Jesus Christ.

It took him, and two others, more than seven years to prove this in a court. Singh (30), Santosh (30) and Hukum (28) were booked under the unlawful conversion law in MP in 2017. All three men belong to the Barela tribal community.

After a protracted legal battle, which included an initial setback in the form of a conviction, the three men were in July last year acquitted by a court in Khandwa district. Around 35% of the southern MP district’s population belongs to tribal communities.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

The court ruled that the case was not credible and technically flawed. Singh says the case was entirely fabricated and that he did not even know of the complainant and victim of the alleged unlawful conversion, Raju Bhilala, till the FIR was registered.

The case against Ajay, Santosh and Hukum, who were engaged in social work in the name of Jesus Christ, was lodged on April 9, 2017. Raju Bhilala, who ran a small kiosk in a nearby village, said that he was unwell when Singh, one of his customers, advised him to visit Sitabedi Mal village to get checked by a doctor. Bhilala alleged that Singh took him to his village under the pretext of getting him cured. When he reached the village around 11:30 am, he noticed that a pandal had been erected near a house. There were 40-50 persons present there. Three men were seated on a chair. A woman with a Bible in front of her was sitting on the ground. Bhilala alleged that Singh gave him a locket bearing a cross with Jesus. The three men, he alleged, were saying that ‘There is no bhagwan’ and that Hindu gods are only ‘clay’. Bhilala continued that they asked him to leave the Hindu faith and adopt Christianity, and said that if he developed faith in Jesus, all his “sorrow, pain and ailments” would be gone. They also promised him ‘respect’ and a good education for his family abroad, alleged Bhilala. He said that he informed some of his associates about the incident, and they arrived at the scene. Sometime later, Singh and two others were taken to the nearest police station.

An FIR was lodged against them under Sections 3 and 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968. The law prohibits the conversion of a person, or an attempt to convert them, either directly or otherwise, from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means.

On April 18, 2022, more than five years after the case was lodged, a court of judicial magistrate division 1, Khandwa, Manish Raghuvanshi convicted and sentenced them to one year each in prison on the testimonies of Bhilala and his associates, allegedly linked to right-wing organisation Bajrang Dal, although they denied the connection in court.

Singh submitted in court that although he had faith in Jesus, he was a Hindu on paper, and therefore could not have converted Bhilala to a different faith, Christianity. The judicial magistrate court, however, said that it was not necessary that a person accused of unlawful conversion also belonged to the same religion as the religion he was converting the other person into. The court also did not give much weight to the argument that since the witnesses were allegedly members of the Bajrang Dal, their testimonies were biased and motivated by religious fanaticism.

Singh says they were devastated by the verdict. “We were dismayed. But parmeshwar gave us the confidence to fight on. It was his scheme and all we did was just pray and believe,” said Singh.

The three men filed a criminal appeal against the conviction, arguing that it was against well-established principles of law. Singh’s version of the incident was totally different from the complainant’s. A native of Burhanpur, Singh had been visiting villages in neighbouring Khandwa since 2014 to do ‘sevakai‘ or service dedicated to Jesus, and organise prayer sessions. He is also a farmer and a social activist. On the said day in 2017 – it was a Sunday – Singh said he was invited to conduct a “changai prarthna” or healing prayer session for a local resident whose wife had not been keeping well. “It was a small private event,” recalls Singh. They had set up a pandal and sealed it with jute sacks from all sides. Around 40 persons from neighbouring areas, including the relatives of the host family, were invited. Food was also served.

Singh says that apart from the people they knew, they had not invited anyone. Bhilala was not invited. “I didn’t even know of him. He came to our meeting and started recording a video. And only after he reported it and filed a complaint, I came to know who he was,” said Singh, refuting all the claims made by Bhilala in his FIR.

Singh said those who disrupted the event had come prepared with malafide intentions. Around 20-25 persons barged into the venue and started threatening those attending the programme. “They did not say anything to us. They straight away accused us of conversion,” said Singh. “They wanted to ensure that we did not hold such meetings. They just wanted an excuse so that they could deter people like us who believe in Christ to leave the area. Their intention was to instil fear among the people so that they stop believing in Christ and distance themselves from the faith.”

Contrary to the charges filed against him, he said those attending such meetings meetings came on their own will to share their “sorrow and pain”. “We don’t invite them. They call us to their homes,” Singh said.

When the matter came under appeal to the court of fourth additional sessions judge Khandwa, Kamlesh Kumar Kol, all the holes in the prosecution theory were exposed. And on July 4, 2024, Judge Kol acquitted Singh, Santosh and Hukum, ruling that the witnesses against them were not credible and that the prosecution story was doubtful.

Bhilala’s own testimony, as the victim and main witness, failed the test of reliability and was inconsistent. During his cross examination in court, he failed to provide any evidence to show that he was offered any sort of allurement to convert to Christianity or had adopted any faith other than Hinduism. Section 2 of the 1968 law says allurement means “offer of any temptation in the form of any gift or gratification either in cash or kind, or grant of any material benefit either monetary or otherwise”. The law defines “conversion” as “renouncing one religion and adopting another”.

In his cross examination, Bhilala admitted that he had gone to the event by his own free will and couldn’t state what allurement he was offered. He also could not provide any details on the involvement of the two other accused persons other than Singh.

Nand Kishore and Anil, allegedly linked to the Bajrang Dal, said they had reached the venue after receiving a call from Bhilala. Anil repeated the story Raju had told him. The investigating officer of the case told the court that apart from Bhilala, Ajay and Anil, he had not recorded the testimonies of any of the 40-50 persons assembled at the event. Judge Kol found this odd, since they were “important witnesses” and Anil was not even present at the spot.

Hari Shankar, another alleged Bajrang Dal activist, also could not provide any evidence of conversion and repeated whatever Bhilala had told him. The court said that these witnesses were not credible as none of them had heard what was said at the event and were only repeating what the discredited Bhilala had told them.

Also, mere possession of a Bible was “not sufficient enough to show that religious conversion was being done”, said Judge Kol.

The court also found that a mandatory provision of the law had been violated during the prosecution of the case. Section 7 of the 1968 law states that prosecution can be instituted under the law only after the approval of the district magistrate, but no document was submitted by the prosecution to show that sanction had been sought from the concerned authority.

Even after being acquitted, however, Singh continues to face harassment. He says that his landlord, a friendly person from his own community, was harassed so much by right-wing activists that Singh was forced to relocate to a house 30 km from where he worked. “They threatened him [the landlord] that if he did not evict me, they would run a bulldozer over his house. He had no option,” said Singh.

He believes that the larger motive of such right-wing activists is to prevent the downtrodden in Hindu society to improve or slip out of their influence. “They don’t want any change or change of heart in our lives, so that we can continue to come under their influence,” said Singh.

*Names of the accused persons have been changed to protect their anonymity.

SC/ST Candidates Make Up For Only 10% of Faculty Posts Filled by IITs, IIMs in Last Two Years: Centre

As per the Centre’s policy, 27% of faculty positions are reserved for OBCs, 15% for SCs, and 7.5% for STs.

New Delhi: Two years since adopting a mission mode recruitment to hire faculty members from reserved categories, just over 10% of faculty positions filled up by IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) collectively are from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs), the union ministry for education has told the Parliament.

According to a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday (February 10), by union minister of state for education, Sukanta Majumdar, since September 2022, all IITs and IIMs undertook recruitment drives to fill vacancies on a mission mode including those of SCs and STs. Of the total 3,027 faculty positions that were filled till December 23, 2024 only 328 were SCs (276) and STs (52).

In August 2021, the Centre notified the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers Cadre) Act, 2019 to provide for the reservation of posts in appointments of persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the socially and educationally backward classes and the economically weaker sections, to teachers’ cadre in Central Higher Education Institutions (CHEI)s. In the same month, all CHEIs under MoE were asked to undertake a special drive to fill backlog vacancies in their institutions in Mission Mode.

Only 328 SC/STs out of 3,027 faculty positions filled

“From September 2022, IITs and IIMs have also undertaken Mission Mode recruitment drive to fill the vacancies including those of SC and ST. Up to 23.12.2024, a total number of 26,751 posts have been filled up by all CHEIs in Mission Mode, including 15,637 faculty positions. A total number of 7239 vacancies have been filled up by IITs and IIMs collectively, out of which 3027 are faculty positions including 276 SC and 52 ST,” said Majumdar in his reply.

In December, Right to Information (RTI) replies revealed that in at least two IITs and three IIMs, more than 90% of faculty positions are held by those from the General category. Additionally, in six IITs and four IIMs, the figure stands at 80-90%.

As per the Centre’s policy, 27% of faculty positions are reserved for OBCs, 15% for SCs, and 7.5% for STs in nearly all central educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs.

Majumdar said that All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi advertised 172 faculty posts in 2018-19, just over 12% were filled from the SC/ST categories, In 2021-22, of the 270 faculty posts just over 14% were from SC/ST.

“All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been established by an Act of Parliament and under the administrative control of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As per information provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, AIIMS Delhi has advertised 172 & 270 faculty posts and filled up 22 & 40 SC/ST posts in the year 2018-19 and 2021-22 respectively,” his reply stated.

Research Scholars From SC, OBC Communities Face Delays in Fellowship Grants

According to the Union government, Rs 54.5 crore of the allocated Rs 55 crore has already been spent.

New Delhi: Hundreds of scholars from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities have reported delays in receiving grants under the National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students (NFSC), with pending payments ranging from two to five months, the Hindu reported.

This comes days after the Union government told the parliament that funds for scholars from Other Backward Caste (OBC) communities have not been not been disbursed since June last year.

Government officials quoted by the paper said that the social justice ministry is in discussions with the department of expenditure to resolve pending NF-OBC grants for the current financial year.

According to the Union government, Rs 54.5 crore of the allocated Rs 55 crore has already been spent.

“The Department of Expenditure has raised some queries with regards to the number of fellows being on-boarded. The Social Justice Ministry is addressing these queries to clear the pending payments for this fiscal. Apart from this, the next year’s allocation has already been raised significantly,” an official quoted by the paper said.

Also read: Paltry Stipends, No Resources, Rampant Exploitation: Why PhD Scholars Suffer

On Thursday (February 6), the All India Research Scholars Association (AIRSA) wrote to social justice secretary Amit Yadav over the delays. AIRSA president Lal Chandra Vishwakarma said, “We’ve been raising this issue for a decade or more now. It is basic for researchers to get fellowship at the end of every month so that they can focus on their areas of research.”

An NFSC scholar from Punjabi University, who wished to remain anonymous, said that her fellowship money for December and January is still pending. She added that a group of 130 scholars is facing similar delays, with payments overdue by one to three months.

In its letter, AIRSA urged the government to ensure timely disbursal of fellowship funds, increase in budgetary allocation and a grievance redressal mechanism for affected scholars.

Telangana Caste Survey: What Did It Find and What Have Its Critics Said?

The government’s decision to withhold the full survey data has also sparked a separate controversy surrounding transparency and data privacy.

New Delhi: A caste survey recently conducted by the Telangana Congress government is facing allegations of inaccuracy, unscientific methodology and political manipulation from opposition parties, who have also raised concerns surrounding privacy.

This survey follows similar exercises in Karnataka and Bihar. The Telangana Socio, Caste, Economic, Employment and Political Survey, also known simply as the caste survey, aimed to comprehensively profile the social, economic, educational, employment, political and caste statuses of 3.54 crore people.

The government’s stated objective was to build a robust database, particularly for Backward Classes (BCs), enabling targeted development and welfare schemes.

Notably, the Telangana government, like its counterparts in Bihar and Karnataka, has not yet released the collected data to the public.

The complete survey report was not tabled in the assembly for comprehensive discussion and voting. Chief minister A. Revanth Reddy presented only a summarised overview of its key findings, focusing primarily on caste composition percentages. He cited data privacy concerns as the reason for withholding detailed, individual-level data.

While announcing a 42% reservation for BCs in local body elections, Reddy framed this as a Congress party policy decision rather than a legislative proposal requiring assembly approval. Although he hinted at future legislation for enhanced reservations in education and employment, no concrete Bill was introduced.

However, the assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Union government to conduct a similar nationwide caste and socioeconomic survey.

Survey methodology and findings

Launched on November 6, 2024, the survey was designed to capture a detailed demographic and socio-economic picture of Telangana’s residents. Over 50 days, 94,261 enumerators, each assigned an enumeration block of roughly 150 households, conducted door-to-door data collection across the state.

While the initial target was 1,15,71,457 families, the survey ultimately covered 1,12,15,134 families, achieving a 96.9% coverage rate. The slightly lower than anticipated coverage was primarily attributed to reduced response rates in urban areas, particularly within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)’s limits.

The survey utilised a 57-question questionnaire, gathering data from 3,54,75,554 individuals on aspects such as caste, religion, economic status, employment, education and political affiliation. Importantly, the questionnaire included “no caste” and “no religion” options to ensure inclusivity.

The collected data underwent digitisation by 76,000 data entry operators between November 11 and December 25, 2024.

On February 4, 2025, Reddy announced the following key caste composition findings in the legislative assembly:

Objectives and intended use of the data

The Congress government explicitly stated that the primary goal of the caste survey was to gather empirical data to support evidence-based policymaking and the equitable distribution of resources and benefits to marginalised communities. Reddy said the survey aimed “to prepare an accurate database pertaining to various castes, the Backward Classes in particular, so that they could enjoy the benefits of development and welfare schemes”.

This emphasis on data-driven governance was echoed by deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who affirmed that the “household survey data will be used in the formulation of policies for the welfare of SCs, STs, BCs and other weaker sections”.

The survey’s findings are directly linked to the government’s potential enhancement of reservations for BCs. Reddy declared a 42% reservation for BCs in upcoming local body polls, irrespective of the Union government’s position. He also indicated that the survey data would inform potential future extensions of enhanced reservations to education and employment.

Also read: Caste Census, Privacy and the Control of Social Information

Political responses and controversies

The release of the survey results immediately sparked a political firestorm. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing critique of the survey’s methodology and findings.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao (KTR), in a sharply worded letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accused the survey of being riddled with errors and deliberately undercounting the BC population. KTR compared the current survey’s findings to the significantly higher BC population percentage reported in the 2014 Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) conducted by the previous BRS government. He alleged that the Congress manipulated the data to diminish BC representation and mislead parliament.

The BJP echoed these allegations, framing the survey as a calculated manoeuvre to appease the Muslim community at the expense of BC interests. Rajya Sabha MP K. Laxman argued that the survey drastically reduced BC population figures while simultaneously classifying a substantial portion of Muslims within the BC category. He questioned the constitutional basis for differentiating between “Hindu BCs” and “Muslim BCs”, accusing the Congress of ignoring the Mandal Commission’s recommendations.

Laxman further contended that the reduction in the BC population share was a deliberate strategy to suppress their political influence.

BJP leaders also criticised the Congress for promising enhanced BC reservations instead of enacting a law, accusing the party of engaging in symbolic gestures without concrete action.

Controversy also erupted within the Congress party itself. Congress MLC Teenmaar Mallanna staged a dramatic protest, publicly burning copies of the survey report. He accused the government of conducting a biased survey that favoured forward castes and failed to match the comprehensiveness of the 2014 SKS.

Mallanna’s actions drew swift condemnation from within the Congress, resulting in a show-cause notice from the party’s disciplinary action committee for anti-party activities and potentially leading to his expulsion.

The survey further reignited the ongoing debate over sub-categorisation within the SCs. Manda Krishna Madiga, a prominent leader advocating for Madiga rights, rejected the government’s proposal to allocate 9% reservation to the Madiga community.

He demanded an 11% quota, which he said would be proportionate to their population share among SCs, and accused the government of deliberately underrepresenting Madigas while favouring the Mala community.

Krishna Madiga also criticised health minister C. Damodar Raja Narasimha for his alleged inaction on the issue, demanding his removal from the cabinet to ensure Madiga representation.

Also read: Debate | Untouchability Created the SC List – Opposition to Sub-Classification Can’t Be Dismissed

Data privacy and transparency concerns

The government’s decision to withhold the full survey data sparked a separate controversy surrounding transparency and data privacy. During the assembly session, Reddy stated that the fourth volume of the survey, containing individual-level data, could not be released due to data privacy restrictions. He cited a contractual agreement between the government and individuals, preventing the public disclosure of personal information.

However, he offered to share operational details of the survey methodology.

Reddy clarified that the state government was prepared to table three volumes of the survey report, outlining the methodology, resources used and other operational aspects, after obtaining necessary legal consent.

This lack of transparency drew comparisons to the previous BRS government’s handling of the 2014 SKS. Despite being an intensive household survey involving over four lakh government enumerators and collecting extensive data from 1.03 crore households, the SKS data was never released to the public, mirroring the situations in Bihar and Karnataka.

Opposition parties including the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) challenged the government’s stance, demanding the release of the complete survey report, including individual-level data.

AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi questioned the government’s commitment to transparency, drawing parallels to the BRS government’s non-disclosure of SKS data. Owaisi argued that tabling the full report was crucial for a meaningful debate on its findings and implications, asking, “What will we discuss until and unless it is tabled?”

BRS MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav expressed concerns about the survey’s coverage, especially in urban areas, questioning the data’s accuracy and demanding greater transparency. He contrasted the 57 questions in the Telangana survey with the shorter 17-question survey in Bihar, suggesting that the lengthier questionnaire could have deterred participation.

Yadav also claimed that less than 30% of households within GHMC limits were covered.

Adding to the transparency debate, the eight-page survey questionnaire itself covered a wide range of topics, including housing, annual income, landholdings, reservation benefits, assets, outstanding loans, migration patterns, education, occupation, traditional occupations, occupational disorders, livestock ownership and ration card details.

Historical and legal context of caste survey

The controversy surrounding the Telangana caste survey is best understood within the broader historical and legal context of caste enumeration in India.

British colonial rulers conducted decennial caste-based censuses from 1872 to 1931, utilising this data for administrative and control purposes.

This historical data also revealed the extent of upper-caste dominance, fueling demands for more equitable representation.

However, after independence, the Congress government discontinued caste enumeration in the general census, ostensibly to promote the idea of a casteless society and national unity. Data collection continued only for SCs and STs as mandated by the constitution.

Contemporary efforts to conduct caste surveys face significant legal challenges. The Supreme Court’s 50% cap on reservations limits the use of caste data for expanding reservation policies. This is exemplified by the Patna high court’s rejection of Bihar’s attempt to increase quotas based on its own caste survey data.

The 50% cap has led to legal battles challenging the very foundation of caste-based reservations, with public interest litigations questioning the use of caste proportions as justification for increased quotas instead of demonstrable underrepresentation in public employment.

Courts have also advocated for excluding the “creamy layer” – the more affluent members – from reservation benefits. Bihar’s ongoing legal challenge in the Supreme Court, following the Patna high court’s invalidation of its reservation increase, and Karnataka’s decision to withhold its caste census report due to opposition, underscore these persistent legal and political tensions.

The Telangana caste survey, therefore, enters a charged landscape fraught with historical complexities and legal constraints.

Visa Denial a Political Rejection by BJP Govt, No Other Plausible Explanation: Kshama Sawant to Anand Teltumbde

‘If the Modi government wants to claim that denying me a visa is not a matter of political retaliation against me, then they have a straightforward way of proving it – by granting me a visa so that I can see my sick mother.’

Kshama Sawant, the name associated with Seattle becoming the first US city to enact a law against caste-based discrimination in 2023 – and rather the first in the world outside South Asia – has recently been denied a visa by the Indian government to visit her ailing mother.

Sawant, then the lone Indian-American member of the Seattle City Council, is known for her unwavering dedication to social justice and firebrand activism. She has consistently stood up for marginalised groups, including the poor working class and minorities, often inviting the ire of right-wing groups and corporations. In 2013, she lent her voice to the simmering issue of caste-based discrimination faced by Dalits in US technology companies at the hands of upper-caste managers. She moved an ordinance and galvanised support across race, religion, and caste backgrounds, with more than 200 US organisations rallying behind her.

The ordinance, expectedly, faced some opposition from groups including the Coalition of Hindus of North America, the Hindu American Foundation, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America who argued that the legislation unfairly singled out Hindus and contributed to harmful misconceptions about them. A letter signed by more than 100 diverse organisations and businesses urged the Seattle City Council to oppose Sawant’s ordinance. Surprisingly, it prominently included a Dalit-Bahujan outfit – Ambedkar-Phule Network of American Dalits and Bahujans – indicating how hopelessly even the well-educated Dalits are fragmented in the diaspora.

On the day of the debate, the council chamber overflowed with activists from both sides bearing banners, chanting slogans, and challenging speakers and city officials. The stark divisions among the South Asian diaspora laid bare the prescience of Ambedkar’s assertion that Indians spreading across the world would make caste a global problem. A majority of those present in the council chamber supported the ordinance, while opponents formed a vocal minority. As council members approved the ordinance by a 6-1 majority, the chamber erupted into cheers of “Jai Bhim,” a rallying cry adopted by Dalits in honour of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The ripples soon spread across the world among Dalits, making Kshama Sawant a household name.

Not only Dalits but also the entire progressive world hailed this historic feat, showering congratulatory messages and encomiums on Sawant. A Vancouver-based Indian-Canadian organisation even declared her the Person of the Year 2023.

A software engineer who became an economics professor and then an activist-politician, Sawant’s socialist leanings were strengthened after she migrated from Mumbai to the US and attended Socialist Alternative meetings in Seattle. After an unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives, she was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2014, becoming the first socialist on the council since 1877. She served until she announced that she would not seek re-election, choosing instead to promote the Socialist Alternative campaign, Workers Strike Back, to unionise workers. In 2024, she left Socialist Alternative and formed her own party, Revolutionary Workers. She was also part of the movement to raise the US minimum wage and played a key role in passing a resolution opposing India’s anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020.

The news of Indian authorities rejecting her visa application to see her ailing mother first emerged on social media. As a civil rights activist, I reached out to her to seek details. She provided written replies to my queries, which are as follows:

Can you share details about your visa application process? Were any specific reasons cited for the denial?

My application for an e-visa was rejected on May 29, 2024. I applied again for an e-visa, and that was also rejected on June 7th, 2024. No reasons were ever provided for why my e-visa request was rejected twice. Each time, the response merely said, “Application Status: Rejected.”

Then on January 9, 2025, my husband Calvin Priest and I applied for an emergency entry visa at the Consulate General of India in Seattle, on account of my mother’s declining health. We attached a letter from my mother’s doctor to the application. We were told at that time that we could expect a response within one or two days.

After a week of receiving no response to our emergency entry visa application, Calvin and I went to the Consulate General of India in Seattle and met with the Consul Officer in Charge, Mr. Suresh Kumar Sharma, and asked him why we had not received any response to our application.

To date, there has been no response to our emergency entry visa application. We have called Mr. Sharma several times on the phone and he has never answered the calls.

Have you received any official communication from Indian authorities regarding your visa rejections?

I have received no official communication from Indian authorities regarding my visa rejections.

You have written to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar. Have you received any acknowledgment or response?

Yes, I sent a letter to S. Jaishankar on June 13, 2024. I received no acknowledgement or response.

In the letter, I wrote:

“I am writing to appeal to you regarding my e-visa request for my trip to Bengaluru from June 26 through July 15, 2024. My e-visa key is 08510159924.

This is an urgent visit for myself and my husband, Calvin Priest, whose e-visa was granted. We are traveling to visit my ailing mother, Smt. Vasundhara Ramanujam, whose health has been declining rapidly, and whom we have not been able to visit for two years.

I am attaching a note from my mother’s doctor, explaining her condition, in which he writes:

“This is to certify that Mrs. Vasundhara Ramanujam, aged 82 years/female, is under treatment in our hospital since 2 years for Atrial Fibrillation, COPD, Chronic kidney disease, Diabetes mellitus, Hypertension and Ischemic heart disease.

“The presence of her daughter, Mrs. Kshama Iyengar Sawant holding Passport no – A00905502, is necessary to take care of Mrs. Vasundhara, since her health is deteriorating rapidly.”

My husband and I are traveling to India only to visit my mother and other family members and not for other reasons. I would appeal to you to grant my visit because it is extremely important for me to be able to see my mother in the context of her declining health.”

Do you believe your role in advocating for Seattle’s anti-caste legislation is linked to the visa denial?

There seems to be no other plausible explanation at this point than a political rejection by the BJP government.

I was a socialist and working-class representative on the Seattle City Council for ten years, from 2014 through the end of 2023. During that time, I used my office to build mass movements of working people and community members to win the $15.hour minimum wage in Seattle, which is now $20.76 per hour, the highest minimum wage in the United States. Organising working people, my office also won the Amazon Tax on Seattle’s wealthiest corporations to fund a major expansion of affordable housing.

In February 2020, we won a resolution condemning the anti-Muslim, anti-poor CAA NRC citizenship laws from the Modi and BJP government in India. Modi’s Indian Consulate of San Francisco sent a letter to the City Council opposing my resolution. We also faced opposition from many U.S.-based right-wing Hindutva and Modi supporters.

In February 2023, my office, alongside thousands of South Asian and American working people, won the historic ban on caste-based discrimination. Our most high-profile opponent was the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, one of the far-right organizations tied to Modi and his BJP. The right-wing Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America also set themselves against us.

There is no doubt that the Modi government, with the help of their supporters in the United States, opposed this anti-CAA-NRC and anti-caste legislation won by my City Council office, and that they are aware of my political views.

What legal options are you currently exploring to challenge this decision? Are you in touch with any lawyers in India?

I am looking into legally challenging the denial of a visa.

Have you considered seeking diplomatic or congressional support in the US to address this issue? Are you planning to take any public or advocacy-driven action to highlight your case?

We will be organising a public petition, and urging that Congress members Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna and other elected officials publicly urge the Modi regime to allow my husband and me to travel to India to see my sick mother.

How has this situation affected you personally, given your mother’s health condition?

I am extremely worried and anxious about my mother’s health. She is 82 years old, and in frail and declining health. I think it is inhumane for the Modi regime to not allow me to see my mother. What kind of government does this?

What message would you like to convey to the public and policymakers regarding your visa denial?

If the Modi government wants to claim that denying me a visa is not a matter of political retaliation against me, then they have a straightforward way of proving it — by granting me a visa so that I can see my sick mother.

The answers are self-explanatory.

Given the Sawants’ background, this decision appears politically motivated and arbitrary, casting a troubling shadow over India’s democracy. At a time when global investor confidence in the country is already dwindling due to such tendencies, it is unfortunate that the government continues to reinforce them.

Interview | Sudhir Dhawale’s Work Will Go on

The lifelong activist spent 2,422 days in jail. But through personal loss, injustice and 23 months of solitary confinement, the activist has fought for what he has believed to be right.

Mumbai: A day after Father Stan Swamy passed away, Sudhir Dhawale, overcome with emotion, sat down in his barrack and wrote a long poem. “Words just flowed,” he says.

Dhawale, a prolific writer, author of several books, and editor of the radical anti-caste bi-monthly magazine Vidrohi, had never before written poetry. This was his first. But in the three-and-a-half years since Swamy’s death, Dhawale has written at least a hundred more – on issues that directly impact him, on news that stirs his emotions, on politics that kept him awake in prison, on Modi, on the “Manuwaadi” government, and even on society’s apathy towards “corroding democracy.”

“Father Swamy made me a poet,” he shares, as he shows me his prison writings, sitting in his rented 15×15-square-foot office-cum-home in the slums of Govandi. Long before his arrest, this area has served as workspace and home for him, and as a safe haven for cultural activists and singers. The title of the poem is Pathalgadicha Father (father of Pathalgadhi); its Marathi words softly describe Swamy as everyone’s father, both inside and outside the prison. It testifies to how deeply the death broke Dhawale.

Sudhir Dhawale’s poem after Father Stan Swamy’s death. Photo: Sukanya Shantha/The Wire.

Dhawale was arrested on June 6, 2018, one of the first six of the 16 people arrested in what came to be known as the Elgar Parishad case. Dhawale is the ninth (Rona Wilson was also released along with him on January 24) to be released from jail, after 2,424 days of incarceration. The duration of imprisonment without trial was one of the primary reasons that the Bombay high court deemed him and Wilson fit for release.

‘Both very violently stifled dissent’

The Elgar Parishad case was not the first time that Dhawale came under the state’s scanner. In 2011, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was still in power, Dhawale was booked under the same stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He spent over 40 months in jail before he was finally acquitted of all charges in May 2014 – just days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power.

In a strongly worded judgment, the then special sessions court judge R. G. Asmar pointed to the possible “concoction of the case” against Dhawale. “How can highlighting the wrongs prevalent in society, and insisting that there is a need to change the situation, be considered as evidence of them being members of a terrorist organisation?” Asmar had noted in the judgment.

After over 10 years of incarceration in the past decade and a half under two different regimes, Dhawale says the governance under both parties has “not been very different.”

“They have both very violently stifled dissent of every kind,” he points out.

He takes a moment to think, then points to one “qualitative distinction.” “Under Congress rule, it was common to get a case concocted, and then the state (government) would spend years proving it before it finally failed. But under BJP rule, the approach is different. Here, the government plants evidence, and you are left on your own trying to defend that the material planted doesn’t belong to you.”

Also read: Jail Authorities Are Blocking Letters From Elgar Parishad Arrested to Their Loved Ones

Personal, political and fighting back

Dhawale’s arrest in the Elgar Parishad case coincides with several important events, both personally and politically, for him. He was arrested on June 6, 2018, and while he was still in the custody of Pune police, his close friend, Shahir Shantanu Kamble (on whose life the film Court was based), passed away. Then followed the reading down of Article 370, the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of his close friend and actor Vira Satidhar (the protagonist of Court), the Delhi riots, the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act/National Register of Citizens protests, Father Swamy’s death, and, more recently, professor G. N. Saibaba’s death. In response to each of those events, Dhawale wrote. A lot.

When the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the caste-in-prisons petition filed by this author, based on The Wire’s investigation, he wrote yet another searing poem.

Sudhir Dhawale’s poem after the caste-in-prisons judgement by the Supreme Court. Photo: Sukanya Shantha/The Wire.

Two of his books were published while he was still in jail; a few more, which he knows might potentially land him in more trouble, are ready manuscripts waiting to be published.

Dhawale’s bail was hard-earned. He was released after the Bombay high court acknowledged the “inordinate delay” in commencing trial in the case. The NIA has yet to even frame the charges in the case, and considering that in their several volumes of chargesheets filed in many phases, there are over 300 witnesses to be examined, the court let him and Wilson out.

Dhawale is mindful not to delve into the merits of the case, considering the trial has yet to commence. But he is equally mindful that the state doesn’t achieve what it set out to do: stop him from speaking his mind. “At the onset, it might appear that the state has won by putting us behind bars. But the struggles haven’t stopped. The common man is fighting back, and that spirit is what we tried all along to keep alive,” he tells me.

Politics of ‘co-opting’

Dhawale was one of the main organisers of the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017 at Shaniwarwada in the heart of Pune. Shaniwarwada was a well-thought-out location, a place that is synonymous with the Brahmin rule of the Peshwai regime in the region. The BJP-led Maharashtra government later accused the Parishad of “causing riots” at Bhima Koregaon, even when the victims and witnesses of the violence had blamed two right-wing leaders, Manohar Bhide and Milind Ekbote, for disrupting an otherwise peaceful congregation at Bhima Koregaon.

Later, more allegations were levelled against the organisers of Elgar Parishad, and more people, including those who had no role in the event, were accused of harbouring plans to “destabilise the government,” “funding the banned Maoist movement,” and even hatching a plan for the “Rajiv Gandhi-style assassination” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An accusation of such a serious level is, notably, yet to be proved. Dhawale says that, besides those from Maharashtra, he hadn’t had the chance to meet or interact with the others accused in the Elgar Parishad case. “The BJP brought us together,” he chuckles.

When asked why, according to him, he or others were arrested in the case and whether it was his leftist ideology or his identity as a Dalit Ambedkarite man that got him in trouble, Dhawale spends no insignificant time explaining how he views the two. “I am a follower of Marx, sure, but I am also an Ambedkarite. I look at Ambedkarism as a radical politics in itself. At a time when the BJP and the RSS are trying so hard to co-opt Ambedkar, my effort has only been to put forth my Ambedkarite views without fear,” he says.

Sudhir Dhawale with his books. Photo: Sukanya Shantha/The Wire.

Dhawale, born in Nagpur, has founded many organisations. Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chalwal (anti-caste republican panthers), Radical Ambedkar, and Ramabai Nagar-Khairlanji Hatyakand Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti are among his widely known organisations.

Dhawale recalls COVID-19 as the worst phase of his prison life. “Kaayamchi marnyachi bhiti (the constant fear of death)” is how he describes the pandemic phase. The news of the pandemic reached jail through news channels that prisoners could access from one TV in every circle (Taloja has eight such circles, with 16 barracks in each of them). “The TV channels would keep telling us to clean our hands. But as prisoners, we would get just a bucket of water for everything – from washing, bathing, drinking to toilet. It was bizarre,” he recalls.

He says there were days when almost all prisoners in a barrack would be seen confined to their beds. “No prisoner was taken outside. But more and more were filled in every day. In my barrack, which had a capacity of 23 prisoners, there were over 60-70 stuffed at a time,” he recalls. COVID kits (masks and sanitizers) were available only after the second wave, he adds.

The dreaded anda cell

Forever a rights activist, Dhawale continued his activism even in jail. When Dhawale refused to remove his footwear during the regular rounds by the superintendent of the jail, he was branded a “difficult prisoner.” He was soon sent to the dreaded “anda cell” at Taloja. Dhawale didn’t give up; he filed complaints and RTIs. A few appeals are pending even three years after he first began his agitation.

The anda cell (named for the egg-shaped solitary confinements in Indian jails) of Taloja, Dhawale says, is the worst he has ever lived in. Dhawale spent 23 months in solitary confinement. Several of his co-accused were also shunned there for questioning the authorities or moving applications in court. “The jail authorities were scared that if our questioning turned into a full-blown agitation, they couldn’t handle things anymore,” he says.

Taloja central prison, spread over 27 hectares, is one of the most recently built prisons (built in 2008). It has a massive two-story anda-cell complex, the only one in the state, and perhaps country, with so many solitary cells. The cell, unlike other jails that are egg-shaped, is built like a circle. They have four internal partitions with 6-7 small rooms in each partition. “Those lodged on the ground floor at least get to walk in the limited free space available in the centre. But for those on the first floor, there is no such scope. They get no sunlight or fresh air for as long as they are lodged in there,” he says.

“The structure is built to kill your very understanding of freedom,” adds Dhawale.

Jails have their own rules – some written and most unwritten. So when letters are sent out or received by those incarcerated, they are all a “second-hand reading”, Dhawale says. “It is a given that the jail authorities will first read the communication before letting it in or out of jail.” But in the case of those jailed in the Elgar Parishad case, the level of scrutiny was multi-layered. The letters would be sent all the way to the Anti-Naxal Operation (ANO) cell situated in Nagpur. This, Dhawale had challenged before the State Human Rights Commission. His complaint, drafted in Marathi, was rejected. An identical complaint drafted by his co-accused Arun Ferreira, however, was accepted and later, the SHRC even directed the state to pay Ferreira Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation for violating his rights.

Now that Dhawale is out, he says, he will continue with the work he did before his incarceration. “The work didn’t stop. While I was in jail, my team carried the work forward. I continued to write too while in jail,” he says. “The work will go on.”

Three Workers Die While Cleaning Sewage at Leather Complex Near Kolkata

The deaths have taken place five days after the Supreme Court ordered a complete ban on manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in six major metropolitan cities including Kolkata.

Kolkata: Three workers died today (February 2) at the Bantala Leather Complex near Kolkata after drowning during a sewage and chemical waste cleaning exercise.

The deaths have taken place five days after the Supreme Court ordered a complete ban on manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in six major metropolitan cities including Kolkata.

The three – Farzem Sheikh, Hashi Sheikh and Suman Sardar – are all from the Murshidabad district, originally.

Their deaths and the recovery of their corpses a full four hours after they fell led to tension in the region. Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, who visited the area, told reporters and locals that those who are responsible for the incident will be punished.

Local media has reported that cleaning work began at 9 am in the morning today. Chemical waste was being cleaned when the pipe broke, causing the three to fall 10 feet. Their bodies were recovered by a team of police, fire services and State Disaster Relief Forces at around 1.30 pm.

It is as yet unclear if the drowning or the exposure to poisonous substances caused the deaths.

Delivering its order, the apex court had said that it was “fed up” with seeking compliance – which remains merely academic in nature,

Which Way Will the Dalit Vote Sway in the Delhi Assembly Election?

Looking at the vote bank equations in Delhi, it is clear that the party that secures Dalit votes remains in power.

In the last two Delhi Assembly elections, Dalit voters supported the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), resulting in the party winning a consecutive 12 reserved seats. Analysing the polls from 1993 to 2020, it becomes clear that Dalit voters have deeply impacted the power equations.

Out of the total 70 assembly seats in Delhi for the 2025 elections, 12 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), who play a decisive role in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.

In 1993, when the BJP came to power in Delhi, 13 seats were reserved for Dalits, out of which the BJP won 8 seats. In 1998, Congress returned to power in Delhi and maintained its hold on Dalit seats until 2013. In 1998, Congress won 10 seats, 12 in 2003 and 10 in 2008. From 1998 to 2008, Delhi’s Dalit vote bank was firmly with Congress.

However, in 2013, AAP contested elections for the first time and won 9 reserved seats. In 2015 and 2020, AAP won all 12 reserved seats.

Looking at the Dalit vote bank equations in Delhi, it is clear that the party that secures Dalit votes remains in power. A large section of Dalit voters has shifted from Congress to AAP, which has led to a significant change in Delhi’s political landscape.

‘Fed up of Seeking Compliance’: SC Bans Manual Scavenging in 6 Metro Cities

The court directed the chief executive officer of each metropolitan city to file a precise affidavit by February 13.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 29) came down heavily on the Union government over ambiguity in eradication of manual scavenging in the country and passed an order banning the practice in six metropolitan cities.

Referring to the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, the top court remarked that it was “fed up” with seeking compliance which remains merely academic in nature, LiveLaw reported.

“Therefore, we hereby order manual sewer cleaning and manual scavenging shall be stopped in all top metropolitan cities as follows: Metropolitan city of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad,” the court order read.

The court directed the chief executive officer, or an officer of equivalent designation, of each metropolitan city to file a precise affidavit by February 13 with details on how and when the practice is stopped in their city.

The court’s order has come in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Balram Singh, who raised issues regarding the 1993 Act and how it has remained unimplemented.

“Can we say it today that manual scavenging from today onwards is banned?…We are fed up of order. We are directing. Either do it or face consequences,” the court said.

State inaction

On December 11 last year, a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar had directed the Union government to call a meeting of the Central Monitoring Committee along with the respective states’ stakeholders within two weeks to assess the extent of compliance with the court’s October 2023 order.

Based on the 2023 order, the Union government had filed a status report which the court had found to be “not encouraging at all”.

On Wednesday, the Union government filed a fresh affidavit stating that 456 of the 775 districts in the country no longer practiced manual scavenging. When Justice Kumar asked how the NCT Delhi has performed, it was informed that it has not complied with the order, LiveLaw reported.

Also read: Manhole Cover: A Symbol of How the Most Suppressed Sections Were Dealt With in the Last Decade

Amicus curiae and senior advocate K. Parameshar said that the data presented an “erroneous picture” as some districts had not constituted a committee mandated by the law, while others had provided data prior to the committees’ establishment.

Parameshar said that the central committee had last met on October 19, 2024. The states and Union Territories were asked to constitute a committee and conduct a national survey of manual scavengers which is yet to be completed, he added.

In its October 2023 order, the court had asked all states and UTs to ensure that their guidelines and frameworks reflected those of the Union government. “All States and Union Territories are likewise, directed to ensure that all departments, agencies, corporations and other agencies (by whatever name called) ensure that guidelines and directions framed by the Union are embodied in their own guidelines and directions; the states are specifically directed to ensure that such directions are applicable to all municipalities, and local bodies functioning within their territories,” the order read.

Parameshar said that these guidelines were not in place till date.

‘Motivated sewer entry professionals’

Senior advocate Jayna Kothari questioned the Union government’s affidavit citing cases where a person had to enter a sewer if it was too small to be cleaned in other ways. “They have stated ‘motivated sewer entry professionals’ [in their affidavit]. Is this what we call humans who are being killed?” Kothari asked.

Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati responded that all states were not in a position to eradicate the practice and that is why the court’s order was to be implemented in a graded manner.

Justice Kumar said that unless manual scavenging is completely eradicated, persons will be compelled to enter the sewer and if he does so, he must have all adequate equipment.

India Needs to Raise a Stink About its Sewers

At the core of this problem is the notion of casteism, which has been associated with sewage for centuries and prevents the consuming class and its representatives from viewing this issue as an engineering problem to solve.

The Census of 2011 estimated that only 35% of the then 100 million Indian urban households were connected to a sewage system of any kind, implying that India had no visibility on the onward movement of sewage beyond the toilets in most urban households. This was over and above the sewage emitted from the nearly 140 million rural households, the status of which was equally opaque. One and a half decades later and without a new census, we can only conjecture if the needle has shifted substantially on this count.

Let us assume reasonably, based on markers like the growth of non-agri commerce and housing, that since 2011, urbanisation would have grown around 30%. In that case, the current sewage generated from the households in class 1 cities (468 with a population of more than 100,000 as per census of 2011) and class 2 cities (3,744 with a population of more than 50,000 as per census of 2011) in India would stand at more than 33,000 million litres per day (MLD). Against this generated sewage in urban India, the total existing installed capacity of sewage treatment plants (STPs) is a meagre 6,190 MLD, with an additional 1,743 MLD capacity still under-development. Taking both into account, India’s sewage processing capacity stands at an abysmal 24% of the total sewage generated in urban India alone, and the less said about rural India, the better.

Differently put, the Indian state’s sewage processing capacity is at the same level as our literacy and electricity penetration in the early decades after independence.

We can shun this severe lack of sewage infrastructure as a handicap of a developing nation that needs to prioritise roads, trains and airports, but being a 60% private consumption-led economy that likes to flex its economic might among the top five nations on the planet, India needs to confront the reality that when this large an economy is enticed with consumption-led growth, the aftermath of that consumption also grows proportionally. The growth of malls, hotels, private hospitals, eateries, banquet halls, condominiums, factories, offices, quick commerce and food deliveries cannot happen sans the accompanying waste. Yet it is precisely this point about sewage infrastructure that India’s polity has consistently overlooked.

In the Union budget of 2023 for instance, road infrastructure was assigned an eye-watering Rs 2.7 lakh crores, whereas sewage infrastructure was clubbed with drinking water and received an allocation of Rs 60,000 crores under one scheme and Rs 80,000 crores under another.

Sewage lines within slum settlements. Photo: Jignesh Mistry.

Even state governments appear to have this scornful attitude towards sewage infrastructure. Still, it seems that the more you ignore sewage, the more it will force you to take heed. Precisely for this reason, it is disfiguring India’s water bodies with faecal contamination, causing excessive algae growth, foul odour and ecological degradation. Dumping of untreated sewage is stressing public health and exacerbating the pollution crisis. People living on the margins particularly in slums and low-income housing clusters bear the brunt of this in the form of contaminated drinking water and vector diseases.

This issue has consistently and repeatedly featured in most cases of pollution heard by the judiciary across the country. For instance, while hearing a matter relating to the implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in Delhi, the Supreme Court in January of this year observed that it is unacceptable that 3,000 tonnes of solid waste remained untreated in the national capital daily and that the government has no resolution planned before 2027. Similarly, in a recent report of the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, it said that the water in the Ganga at Haridwar was found to be unfit for drinking. Ironically, Haridwar is the first city through which the river enters the plains and one of the holiest of cities for Hindus. Such hard evidence on record is an admission of the helplessness of the state that stands idly by and stares at the lack of sewage infrastructure for handing the collection, processing and recycling of human waste.

But chronic under-investment in sewage infrastructure is just one part of India’s miserable record with sewage. India also does not have an institutional framework to manage whatever minuscule infrastructure that it has managed to install till date. Anywhere between 25-30% of India’s installed sewage treatment plant (STP) capacity at any point in time lies defunct for the want of maintenance, funds, spare parts or human capability. Such an abysmal rate of downtime of its sewage infrastructure exists for the want of an institutional mechanism that can lay down guidelines for technology, operating procedures and training of human talent to manage these STPs.

India also does not have a working model that defines financial and operating principles. For instance, once STPs are installed, how should these operate at high up-times? What happens when there are breakdowns? What is the budget needed to operate these STPs and under what heads should it be allocated? What is the measurement and monitoring system for these STPs? How many engineers and technicians are required to run them? What should their qualifications be? Do we have a pipeline of environmental and sanitation engineers and technicians to manage these STPs? What will be the onward movement of sludge and water from these STPs? What is the mitigation system in the cases of lapses? All these questions may sound commonsensical for any engineering intervention, but in the lack of it, the Indian state pulls such stunts that would be hilarious if the subject matter was anything other than sewage. In a recent revelation in Gurugram Municipal Corporation, it was found that an electrical engineer hired to run the electricity infrastructure of the city was tasked to run the city’s STPs because the necessary talent needed to run STPs was not on the rolls.

In a one-of-its-kind study conducted by IIT Rourkee in 2023 on the Ganga water sewage treatment plant, it was found that the sludge had a high potential to be used as fertilizer and bricks, after treatment for heavy metals, nitrogen and phosphorous. The study stated that this sludge could be classified into Class A and Class B as per the norms established by United States Environment Protection Agency. While Class A sludge is safe to be used as fertilizer for edible crops, Class B is unsafe for such use. Most of the sludge found was Class B. This is the conclusion of a study on only one cluster. Now imagine the scientific research and investigation needed for 33,000 MLD of sewage in the whole of urban India.

Recycling of sludge cannot be pursued in any seriousness in the absence of this kind of precise and comprehensive data on sludge. At present, India does not even have a scientific hypothesis that can be used to create a framework for managing the onward movement of sludge from the installed STPs.

India needs to urgently increase the funding allocation for building sewage infrastructure, just to catch up. This means nearly Rs 1 lakh crores towards asset building alone, not accounting for the land and the pipeline it will require, and another Rs 25,000 crores of annual allocation towards operating costs, merely to bridge the sewage management deficit in urban India. India needs a sewage management board, much on the lines of water and electricity boards as part of the state’s capacity to ensure direction setting and compliance. In the absence of such boards, we lack a baseline definition of optimum penetration and types of STPs required. It should be the responsibility of such boards to determine the types of STPs (mix of off-grid micro STPs versus an industrial scale integrated set-up) on the basis of the population density, source of sewage and urbanisation plans.

India also needs an institutional intervention to train technical manpower to be sanitation experts who should be running these STPs, conducting scientific research and establishing forward linkages for recycled water and sludge. The gap in such expertise of the Indian state towards managing STPs is what has hitherto prevented the private sector from loosening its purse strings and investing in this sector with gusto. India needs to shed biases it has for STP infrastructure and must learn the lesson that a “world class” sewage infrastructure’s multiplier effect is at par with all other infra themes, if not better, on human development and ecological indicators like learning, mother and child health, productivity, and soil and water health.

A sewage worker with no protective gear. Photo: Flickr/International Labour Organization (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

But as straight forward as it may sound, it is a flight of fantasy, sadly, because the subject of sewage is an orphan in the current scheme of infrastructure expansions envisaged for the country. It has been expelled from the blue-eyed club of glittering airports, swanky bullet trains, zipping highways and the hosting of the Olympics. No nationalist desires India to become the world-beaters on STPs, when selfies with a human congregation on the banks of a polluted river can satiate their chest thumping urges. The fabled “middle class” has checked into condominiums and bought themselves out of this crisis. At the core of all of this is the notion of casteism, which has been associated with sewage for centuries and prevents the consuming class and its representatives from viewing this issue as an exciting engineering problem to solve. Casteism tricks them into viewing it as an issue of impurity for which a class of people are divinely ordained to handle.

This explains society’s callous attitude towards the countless accidents and deaths of sanitation workers who go down into the sewers to keep them running, and the ease with which we live in the presence of unappetising visuals and contaminated surroundings.

Make no mistake, one less aerobridge at the airport, one less lane on the motorway, one less statue of a leader or one less air-conditioned train on the track will not take away from development claims by 2047, but without the treatment of most of the human excreta that India generates, no modicum of development claim will ever stick.

Ankur Bisen is the author of Wasted: The Messy Story of Sanitation in India, A Manifesto for Change (Macmillan, 2019). The author is on X: @AnkurBisen1