RLG361 – Dr. Srilata Raman March 20, 2018 Christine Lee 995407297 Kakkoos: Caste Exposed Divya Bharathi’s powerful documentary, Kakkoos sheds light on the prevalence of manual scavenging in Tamil Nadu. A few minutes into the documentary, there is a shirtless, middle-aged man cleaning a septic tank with a shovel, one of many shots showing workers cleaning sewer holes and open drains with their bare hands, not to mention sweeping and picking up human feces and dirty sanitary pads from the streets and from overflowing toilets with nothing more than a piece of tile or a couple of sticks. The documentary conveys the message that even though manual scavenging was banned in India in 2013, it continues to exist due to the caste system and lack of practical measures taken by the government. The workers are hired by private contractors who send them on cleaning jobs – including jobs on private residences – where workers are required to remove human and other hazardous waste without any protection or safety equipment provided to them. As a result, this film portrays the unjust lives and working conditions of Dalit workers who are forced to do manual scavenging in almost every part of Tamil Nadu. It is shown time and again that for these Dalits, their lives are meaningless and worthless to the government and to others in a different caste. The 2013 act that banned humans cleaning feces defined manual scavengers as humans who handle with their own hands the feces that are found in toilets, dumps, open fields, canals, and railway tracks. But what I found shocking was that despite the ban, manual scavenging still occurs because that definition is not all-encompassing. They translate manual scavengers as persons who clean feces with their bare hands, but that also means that those who do not do that, are NOT considered manual scavengers. This is where the definition of “manual scavenger” seems to be unclear but the film drives home this point, describing workers who clean ditch deposits with their bare hands, not considering that feces and medical waste are also found in those ditches. Or a woman worker in the film who says, “As a sweeper, my work is only to remove the garbage. But the streets are littered with human waste and I cannot refuse to clean them.” All those who do manual scavenging belong to Dalit castes such as Pallar, Paraiyar, Arunthathiyar, Kuruvas or Ottars. These workers suffer through these inhumane and hazardous conditions, which in turn affects their health (physically and mentally), families, financial and social situations. One worker says that she throws up constantly, not being able to eat and that what she sees, traumatizes her throughout the day. It’s also difficult in their home lives as their children refuse to take anything from their hands, demanding that they clean them first, or Christine Lee 995407297 RLG361 – Dr. Srilata Raman March 20, 2018 refusing to acknowledge them as their parents in public. Or a male worker who agonizes because he has not been paid and has not been able to buy his children clothing that they need. There are also instances where the caste discrimination against these communities is particularly highlighted. Dalits constantly face segregation from society – others will not come into contact with them and will refuse to interact with them because of their status. At one point a woman worker from Karur says that her son was asked to clean the rooms, bathrooms and septic tanks at his school because he was known to be a Dalit. And if their parents are ill or unable to go to work, supervisors will ask their children to come and do the job. I think this film does an exemplary job of documenting a 360-degree picture of the lives of sanitation workers in India. It’s one thing to say that the government has done nothing, but to witness first-hand accounts of these workers is another. I found it emotionally challenging to watch the interviews of families of workers who have died while cleaning septic tanks or to learn that despite manual scavenging being outlawed, there is an unspoken truth that it still happens and workers are afforded no pay or no protection. With graphic visuals of human beings engaged in unhygienic, unsafe, and dehumanizing tasks of cleaning feces, dangerous medical waste, or removing maggot infested corpses every single day with little to no sanitation gear, Kakkoos is a difficult film to watch. However, Bharathi does a great job in enforcing the fact that while it may be hard for some viewers to watch for 2 hours, these workers have to deal with this hands-on day in and day out, in an environment that could potentially kill them, but can’t afford to leave. The more you continue watching, it’s not the images that are disgusting, but rather that there is a world where these humans are belittled to nothing, not even considered human beings. Kakkoos is not merely an exploitative film, but Bharathi also strongly observes the gender and caste dynamics involved in this job which political groups feed on, providing an unbiased view of the profession and the situation. She focuses on female labourers who are often pushed into doing the worst of the job and face sexual and economic abuse from higher authorities. I believe the point of this film is not to sympathize with the workers. It is to evoke viewers into action and to initiate radical change. While the film is mainly interviews of sanitation workers and their families, the message of the documentary is entirely about government failure and the politics regarding the caste issues of manual scavenging. For example, although the urban higher class continues to live in a world where caste oppression is a thing of the past, Kakkoos is fierce in its portrayal of how people who have been engaged in this Christine Lee 995407297 RLG361 – Dr. Srilata Raman March 20, 2018 profession through generations are never allowed to step out of it. Families will receive 10 lakhs for the death of a member, but it only costs 1 lakh to implement a machine to remove and clean human waste. Yet, the government has not even had a thought or a conversation in terms of bringing in machinery to do the work, or abolishing manual scavenging completely, despite the dangers and the large amounts of death associated with it. They are basically saying that a human life is not even worth 1 lakh. As long as the other castes look at Dalits as cheap labour and perceive them as “people meant to clean human waste,” they will never be liberated and things will never change. Not only does the government give very little to no pay and protection, they use methods to also cover up their tracks, never documenting or keeping records of workers. In the case that someone dies, the government will try to fabricate what really happened, will not treat or dispose of the body in a respectful manner, and will not properly compensate the family. A lot of the blame is put on the workers and the government will take no accountability or responsibility, saying that their deaths were a consequence of negligence. Even leaders of Dalit organizations will participate in this insensitive act by asking for a “commission” from the compensation money that reaches a family that has suffered a loss. This documentary brings awareness to the issue – something that society has ignored and kept silent on for far too long. Kakkoos is an education on the way society and the caste system operates in India, and has the ability to spread public insight regarding the conditions of manual scavengers. There are a massive number of people being deprived of a shot at a better life, chained to caste oppression for years and generations to come, with no chance or choice of getting out. This film has opened my eyes into exactly how this system operates and how poorly Dalits are treated because they are at the very bottom, not even seen as human beings. I also found it interesting that religion did not have anything to do with the system – my perception was that caste and religion correlated with one another, or that caste was the result of different religions. However, near the end of the film, the Dalits proclaimed that people who walk on the fire pit as a blessing for the gods should pray into the shit pit and that they should call on their gods to clean it up. Caste is not about religion, but rather it’s about injustice and oppression. There’s no point in making laws or prohibitions. You have to first change the mindset of all citizens of all castes – they must realize it’s not acceptable. Only then will the government be able to adequately invest in technical and financial resources to do the work no human should be allowed or forced to do.
