‘People should get into the sanitation business’

Civil Society News, New Delhi

FOUR years ago, Raees Mohammad, with a PhD in English and a stint as an additional lecturer behind him, decided to return to his hometown, Kotagiri, in Tamil Nadu to get into sanitation.

He was formerly known as Ravichandra Bathran. Being a Dalit, he had chosen to convert to Islam. But even after this change in identity, he wasn’t done with his family occupation of sanitation.

In fact, he was fascinated by sanitation and had been researching it. After returning to his hometown he decided to start a most unusual business, the Kotagiri Septic Tank Cleaning Services Pvt Ltd. Earlier, he had run Dalit Camera, a YouTube channel. 

Raees belongs to the Arunthathiyar caste. His father was a sanitation worker given to drink. His mother was a sanitation worker too. Thanks to her efforts he got an education, but for Raees elevating sanitation to a respectable service beyond discrimination interested him more than anything else. Dalit salvation for him lay in making sanitation work respectable.

We spoke to Raees Mohammad about his unique journey and the complexities of caste equations. Below is the edited version of a fascinating conversation.

 

Q: Why did you step away from teaching and start a sanitation enterprise? 

I’ve been working on sanitation for the past 10 years. My research focus was on sanitation. In India, sanitation work has a stigma. We think that it can be addressed by the State.

My approach has been that sanitation should be made a respectable profession. Now, we all tend to believe that if you have a new perspective people pick it up and it influences civil society and state policy. It has not happened in my case for the past 10 to 15 years.

I went to different movements, especially the Dalit movement. I told them sanitation workers in India lack self-respect, you need to address this, it can be sorted out. Why aren’t you addressing it?

Then I found the issue cannot be addressed by State intervention alone. It is embedded in the mindset of every individual, especially the anti-caste movement. They too have stigmatized sanitation work. They said, what kind of self-respect can you expect as a sanitation worker, you have to quit the work.

I told them hundreds of thousands of people work on sanitation. It’s an amenity. You can’t tell them to leave their work. You have to address the stigma attached to it. They said, we are not going to address it at all, you ask them to leave it.

I disagreed. I started a trade union for sanitation workers (Sanitation Welfare Trade Union) to address basic issues: insurance, travel, work, security, self-respect. I was working as an ad hoc lecturer in English at Madras University. I quit my job and came home. I decided to shift to sanitation as a business, to create a role model. Many people were running away from sanitation work.

 

Q: It’s a difficult business to run. What issues do you face?

When I started, I thought, let me mobilize funds, buy a pick-up vehicle, essential machinery, and begin. After entering the business, I realized how very lowly it was and it wasn’t just about caste. 

The first time we went out, the motor broke and sewage spilled all over our bodies. There were days when my partner would say not to come home without taking a bath. 

The public knows where to build a toilet, but they don’t pay any attention to the septic tank. Most of these septic tanks are in very bad condition. There is no machinery to help us clean such septic tanks.

If you import such machinery, it will cost `1.5 lakh and by the time you finish paying all dues the cost will double to `3 lakh. The Bandicoot robot has been invented here to clear manholes but that is minimal. IIT Chennai has yet to invent machinery for sanitation work.

Then there is discrimination and humiliation. The worst stigma we face is when we go to Dalit areas. They have the least respect for us and the work we do.

If the pick-up vehicle is parked 30 or 40 metres away from the home, you have to lay a hose. They will say it should not touch the footpath or the wall. And I’m wondering, what’s wrong with the hose? It looks quite okay. It is a terrible experience.

If it’s a backward caste house, we will be given some respect. But in Dalit homes, they will say, 'Don’t spill here. You should not spill there. Don’t spill a single drop, we will get a disease.'

When I told a Dalit friend I would be selling my septic tank vehicle to another friend (I was planning to learn law and I was trying to mobilize funds), my friend said it was the best news he had heard in a while because I was exposing myself and my family to disease.

Now, that is not scientific. It’s just hearsay. We do take safety measures. We take care of ourselves physically. But there is so much stigma attached to this work, especially among Dalits. 

The Tamil Nadu government brought in a policy to fund mechanization of septic tanks and provide loans to buy lorries. A Dalit leader wrote to the chief minister saying not to give this loan to Dalits because this is caste-based labour. Let backward castes be eligible for it. Ten years earlier the same organization had stated that no Dalit should get into a manhole and if they did, they would be lynched. This actually happened.

In my area, which is hilly, there is a site for sewage disposal. Some, in this business, spill the sewage on the road. We tell the collector but he pays no attention. The earlier collector would hold regular meetings to check sewage disposal. This is very important. Land and groundwater have become contaminated in Perur district because of improper sewage disposal.

It’s a difficult business. We have to battle stigma as well as the indifference of the district administration. It’s painful. Still, I think we do a great job and we do get the greatest respect in most places we go to.

 

Q: Do you do only septic tanks? Or manholes as well?

We do septic tank cleaning, choke pit cleaning, drain cleaning and we do manhole cleaning. There are private manholes in people’s homes too.

 

Q: How much does a sanitation worker working with you earn? And how much does a sanitation worker working elsewhere earn?

In my company, they earn `30,000 per month, excluding food and medical expenditure. Sometimes we look after their family expenditure. The driver gets `35,000, excluding the uniform and medical expenditure and food as well. 

 

Q: How many people do you employ now?

Right now, we have four people. 

 

Q: What is the volume of business that you do in a month?

In a month we do between `3 lakh and `5 lakh worth of business. 

 

Q: And how much do you charge? Has it gone up?

It has gone up, actually. Earlier we used to charge `8,000. Now our minimum charge is `10,000 and maximum is `15,000 because the disposal site is far from the district.

 

Q: Why is there so much stigma attached, especially by Dalits, to sanitation work?  

It’s rooted in anti-caste thinking. Dalits are trying to come up the caste ladder. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar converted to Buddhism and encouraged us to leave our traditional occupations, educate ourselves and migrate to cities. Castes, for example, like the Paraiyars, who beat the parai for the dead, started a movement to leave their traditional occupation. Dalits too think they should leave sanitation work.

 

Q: Should they?

Actually, jobs that castes like the Mahars or Chamars used to do are already unviable with industrialization and mechanization. You get called to beat the parai when someone dies. It’s a part-time occupation. They pay you a little money and give you some alcohol. But sanitation is a 24/7 job. It is also commercialized. You can make a business out of it. But the State does not pay attention to it. Mechanization is slow because they think cheap labour is readily available.

In my area, many of the women who joined the sanitation workforce as door-to-door (garbage) collectors were all previously working on tea estates. They found their earnings as tea workers were not steady and they couldn’t get a bank loan because you need a secure income for that. The women did not feel there was any stigma attached to their work as sanitation workers.  But, if they go somewhere, they don’t say they are sanitation workers.

Another reason waste management in our country is so bad and we can’t bring about a revolution in it is because it is categorized as a service-oriented industry and not as labour under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). There is no secure income or compensation for sanitation workers.

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan introduced door-to-door collection. When the rules were framed, they thought of all participants. But what is happening on the ground is that the entire load of waste disposal is being put on the shoulders of the sanitation worker. As per the rules the sanitation worker does have the right to impose a fine on the person who is not segregating his waste.

That is not happening. And when the women complain to the supervisor, they say, you do it yourself, what are you there for. So, the entire onus is put on the sanitation worker. You can’t expect them to work more than eight hours a day. Basic issues like medical security are not provided.

 

Q: You are saying sanitation workers should be treated like professionals?

Yes. I’ll give you one example of stigma. I’ve done my post-doctoral on sanitation. I’ve written many articles for The Economic and Political Weekly. In the recent Supreme Court judgment (on sub-categorization of castes) there was a reference to one of my articles. But until this day you will not find any mainstream or even regional newspaper covering why exactly I’m doing this. In contrast, an MBA sells pani puri or an IIT graduate sells tea, it becomes international news.

After the Supreme Court judgment, Sun TV did a special story about my work. It was a great story. But not a single important person, a Dalit leader or a person from the Scheduled Castes community, called to appreciate my work or congratulate me. Instead, people called and said, you are doing sanitation work, great, you should come and clean my house, I live in Chennai, how do you clean and how much do you charge?

After a story about me was published in The Indian Express, the CPI(M) wanted to congratulate me. They called the state secretary in Tamil Nadu. They were the main reason for bringing sub-classification in Tamil Nadu. Their state leaders called me up. I was in Coimbatore. They said, when we organize a meeting you should come, we need to honour you. They organized the meeting. They didn’t call me. I don’t know why.

 

Q: They didn’t call you?

They didn’t. There should be recognition. What we are doing is revolutionary. The government machinery knows, the district collector knows. We are trying to erase the stigma associated with this work and create awareness. We are also saving people from harassment by other septic tank workers. Across Tamil Nadu, they harass the public. In Nilgiri district they can charge anything from `30,000 to `1 lakh to clean septic tanks. 

They will ask for washing soap, dozens of cakes of bathing soap, several litres of kerosene, cooking oil. They say they have to use it for cleaning. Actually, it’s for their personal use. We have broken their monopoly.

We also do government offices free — and schools, police stations, hospitals. You know why? Because they do not have funds for septic tank cleaning.

The recognition we deserve, we do not get from anywhere. Even Sun TV’s story on me was slighted. People said, 'why do you do such stories, he should leave his caste occupation.'

My objective from my business is not money alone. It is to address the stigma associated with the work. But the media is not ready to lend a hand.

 

Q: What are the technologies you need?

After I came into the business a few important people have started talking about septic tanks. I argue that there is still manual scavenging in the septic tank business. It will take time for people to even understand how we work. Technology will come in the second stage.

There is actually no technology at all. We need to update the machinery itself, that is, the tanker, and increase the sucking capacity. It is not as powerful as the machines you get abroad. You need machines to liquify sewage, to check the level of the septic tank. Sometimes it takes us a day to just find the septic tank. People buy houses but they don’t ask where the septic tank is. That machinery is available abroad. Also, better jetting machines.  

But those who run this service do not want to switch to mechanization. For example, if I use a motor and work manually, I can charge extra. I liquefy the sewage. But others in the business will instead remove it manually and charge `1,000 to `1,500 per gunny bag.

They want to do cost-effective work and make profits. Even their vehicles don’t have fitness certificates. They earn about `2 lakh to 3 lakh per month. I use a jetting machine. To clean manholes there is technology. I had to buy it from Mumbai since it wasn’t available in Tamil Nadu. But even the municipality doesn’t use this technology, though it is easy to work with.

 

Q: Would you encourage others to enter this business?

I’m stating that this is a business. I’m not encouraging or discouraging anyone. If you’re an educated person, and you think you can manage a business, this is a good sector to be in. Even Dalits know this.

The municipality runs the largest sanitation business and Dalits, who are already working there, have knowledge. They should introduce technology and start their own enterprises. 

Lastly, if customers do not speak properly to our staff, we leave, even if it means a loss to our business. We are very particular about this.