Of Sanitation Labour, Obsolete Technologies and Civilisation in India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6451815 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Devesh Khatarker (Department of Humanities and Social Science, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 352-369 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0049-0857 • E-ISSN: 0976-3538 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00490857251349966 |
| OpenAlex | W4412811101 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
The erstwhile untouchable castes are still the mainstay of sanitation labour in South Asia. The sanitation sector has largely remained manual without mechanisation. This article focusses on the continuance of manual scavenging (use of bare hands to clean human excreta) and sweeping without appropriate technological aids in the unique context of South Asia. Drawing from fieldwork conducted in Mumbai city (June–October 2021) that included conversations with 15 sanitation workers, the article highlights several following issues. First, the denial of basic labour rights to sanitation labourers is the result of the outsourcing by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to private agencies, which employ them on a contractual and informal basis. Second, there is a significant transition and change in the life of labourers from the Buddhist (earlier called Mahar) castes of Maharashtra as compared to their native villages. The functioning of caste in modern-day Mumbai has become more indirect and subtle, but the link between caste and sanitation labour is far from broken. Third, sanitation workers both oppose and claim their labour and occupation. This reflects in their fight and struggle against the corrupt practices of contractors and officers and simultaneously in their claim for becoming permanent workers in order to access better wages, working conditions, and facilities
Business · Civilization · Economics · Natural resource economics · Political science · Sanitation · Engineering · Environmental Engineering · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Water Governance and Infrastructure
Technics and Time, 1
Discipline and Punish
Towards the origin of modern technology
Do Artifacts Have Politics
Intersectionality of Caste, Gender and Occupation
From Manholes to Roboholes
Where India Goes
Manual Scavenging in Mumbai
Recast(e)ing Scientific Temper in a Democracy
Marks of Capital
Odor and Order
Jobs and jobbery
Purity and Danger
Dirty work in the clean city
Changing Forms of Corruption in India
The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women
Filth and the Public Sphere
Ordinary states
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |