Dalits and Indian Environmental Politics

Author(s): MUKUL SHARMA

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , JUNE 9, 2012, Vol. 47, No. 23 (JUNE 9, 2012),
pp. 46-52
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Dalits and Indian Environmental Politics

MUKUL SHARMA

Indian environmental paradigms and politics, frequently

ously defined as "environmentalism of the poor", "indige
conceptualised and expressed in terms of India's glorious
Indian environmental
nous environmentalism", politics has been vividly and vari
"middle-class environmentalism",
past, often render questions of caste and dalits invisible.
"elite environmentalism", "eco-feminism", "red and green",
However, it needs to be recognised that caste
"green is oneandof
and saffron" much more, revealing its diversity
and dynamics. Scholarship on environmental issues and
the central categories that frames environmental
movements, and debates on development have particularly
politics. Dalit thinkers, organisations and movements
focused on voices and visions of women and tribals. However,
have had a wider perspective and critique of
while dalits have often participated in significant numbers in
environmental articulations that require deeper
various environmental movements, they have been as a cate
investigation. On the one hand, we see a caste-blindness
gory largely missing in most studies because they are usually
merged in the general
in current environmental politics. On the other, wedefinitions
see of poor, marginal, vulnera
ble, displaced, environmental refugees and migrants.1 There
dalit views on Indian environmentalism, reflected in
appears to be an environmental blindness on questions of
their works, words and movements in different parts of a specifically dalit position on
caste, or an understanding
of the country. This brings forth not only new
ecological politics, which if taken into account can complicate
dimensions on both environment and dalits,our but
understanding of the environment, bringing to light voices
also
of dissent and difference.
helps us in redefining certain key categories such as
Dalit perspectives take Indian environmentalists to task not
development, modernity, community, livelihood and
only for the seeming invisibility of dalit issues in mainstream
social movements. Indian environmentalism, but also for their construction of an
exclusive and partial environmental politics, which is often
brahmanical, Hindu and conservative, and is couched in a
language of "new caste" and "new traditionalism" (Sinha et al
1997: 65-99). Further, many of the dalit movements, symbols,
images and ideas, even though not expressly couched in an
environmental language, illuminate the ecological sensibili
ties of the most vulnerable and exploited constituency. The
politics of naming certain movements "environmental", or
otherwise, has been discussed in different contexts (Agarwal
2005). It needs to be noted that dalit stakes in environment are
high due to their dependence on natural resources for liveli
hoods. Situating themselves in a broader sociopolitical pers
pective, dalit narratives ask as to how we can reconstitute
environmentalism's future to genuinely represent the diver
gent stakes of people's relationship to the environment. How
ever, most studies on dalit symbols, idioms and movements
have placed them in a wider discourse against untouchability,
which of course they are, but have not recognised their eco
An earlier version of this essay was presented at a workshop on
"Environment, Inequality, and Conflict", organised by the Indian
logical underpinnings.
Statistical Institute, Delhi in collaboration with the Centre for The empowerment of dalits poses a challenge to Indian
Equality and Social Opportunity, University of Oslo, 28-29 March 2012. environmentalism. Images of Raja Bali, Eklavya, Deena-Bhadri,
I am grateful to the participants for their comments. I am also the elephant and Bhim-Ganga as dalit environmental sym
thankful to Anand Swamy, Aseem Srivastava, Rohan D'Souza,
bols; the practices of anti-brahmanical traditions in present
Pradip Kumar Datta and Charu Gupta for their remarks, which helped
in the development of ideas presented here.
day environmental movements in states like Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; and the works of anti
Mukul Sharma (mukul1961@yahoo.co.in) is a researcher and writer.
caste intellectuals and dalits, including the iconic figures of
46 june 9, 2012 vol xlvii no 23 1^1 Economic & Political weekly

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

past, caste has been factored in as an important influence in

Jotiba Phule, Periyar and B R Ambedkar, make an insightful
critique of brahmanical environmentalist!!.2 These images,
environmental projects, especially in water-related works.
However, here too dalits do not appear as a subject in their
practices and intellectuals not only interrogate certain hegem
onic constructions within Indian environmentalism, butown alsoright and are only one of the reference points of a caste
ridden society.6
question their right to speak for, or in the name of, subalterns,
Examples from some of the recent environment movements
the poor and dalits.3 Their search also helps us in revisiting
bring out their caste blindness, rather their pro-caste and anti
certain forgotten histories, for example, the Mahad Satyagraha,
dalit biases, which are often implicit in them. Let me first, as a
undertaken to have the right to draw water from the Chavdar
tank in Maharashtra, or the Nara-Maveshi movement ofcase,
the take up the Vrindavan Forest Revival Project, also known
Chamars of Uttar Pradesh, which was started to shed their
as the Vrindavan Conservation Project, which was launched
caste-based occupation.4 by a prominent non-governmental organisation (ngo), the
World Wide Fund for Nature (wwF)-India, in the 1990s.7 The
In this preliminary essay, I wish to, one, highlight the blind
ness of environmental insights on questions of caste, and, project,
two, explicitly aimed at the ecological restoration of Vrin
davan,
underline how seeing the environment through the lens of planned the planting of trees along an 11-kilometre
caste and dalits can provide us with new perspectives. I dolongnot parikrama marg (pilgrim route), which encircled the
wish to claim in a linear fashion that dalit attitudes to the town
envi (wwF-India 1993:104-18). In the process, it vividly used
ronment are somehow "better", or to valorise them. Rather,
theI imagery of Krishna as a symbol of environmental purity
and beauty to actively involve Hindus in the activity.8 The
hope to make a case that with all its complexities and contra
dictions, dalit perceptions do compel a reassessment of project
envi grew in its scope and included not only plantation but
ronmental politics in India. It is my contention that there also
is annature clubs, community awareness, education, citizen's
urgent need to include caste as a significant category in action,
argu river watch, protection of sacred groves, environmental
ments for ecological rights. rallies, raslilas, environmental dramas, art exhibitions, video
shows and prayer lectures.9
Blindness of Environmental Insights However, the movement had inherent caste biases. For
Some of the prominent environment discourses in India today example, while tackling the inadequate sewerage system of
Vrindavan, it offered a defence of traditional methods of waste
see ecological degradation essentially as a result of the imposi
tion of a western, colonial civilisation over a rooted, indige
disposal. Before 1970, the traditional latrine method was in
nous, Indian culture. The past is read here as a time when vogue
the here, by which the waste was supposedly recycled in
ecology was balanced and harmonious, and practised by self fields as fertiliser. It goes without saying that to make this pos
contained communities of women, forest dwellers and peas
sible dalits had to carry "night soil" (human excreta) on their
ants, who were primarily the keepers of a special conser
heads and perform other related cleaning-up jobs. The modern
vationist ethic.5 Some of the critiques of globalisation andsewage
neo system, which was designed after 1970, had various
defects and was also never adequately completed. However,
liberal economic reforms are anchored in upholding a green
village, a non-urban natural community, which becomeswhenthe critiquing this system, Ranchor Prime, who was one
of the main brains behind the Vrindavan project and is also
repository of an immutable national identity. In the specific
a member of iskcon, argued that the traditional method
context of dalits, such discourses fall into a trap of valorisation
of waste disposal should return. In support, he invoked the
and romanticisation of tradition, without realising how these
Manusmriti as offering venerable injunctions on ancient and
have been responsible for making dalits "untouchables". With
time-tested technologies of waste disposal (1992: 109-12).
a few exceptions, Indian environment studies are "caste blind".
Even while emphasising certain concrete identities such Prime
as also identified meat-eating as a serious ecological prob
lemofand asked for its prohibition, accusing those who were
community, gender and ethnicity, they obscure the element
involved in it as murderers who were bound to suffer karmic
caste, without which the environmental canvas is incomplete.
More importantly, some of the environment discourses consequences
pro (1992:102).
Vrindavan has a sizeable dalit population, including the
vide a defence of the caste system. Thus comes the explanation
by Kailash Malhotra, an anthropologist, Chamar, Balmiki, Kori, Khatik and Dhobi communities, in the
areas covered by the wwf project. At the heart of the town is
The caste system.. .was actually based on an ancient concept of sustain
able development which disciplined the society by partitioning thethe
use Kishorepura Valmiki basti. Chowdhary Bhagwan Das
of natural resources according to specific occupations (or castes);Balmiki's
and family has been living here for three generations,
"created" the right social milieu in which sustainable patterns of according to him, the famous Banke Bihari Mandir was
and,
resource use were encouraged to "emerge" (Quoted in ces 1985:162).
built by the labour of his ancestors. Bhagwan Das was part
Or says another, "The Hindu caste system can be seen of
as the
a cleanliness and conservation drive of Friends of
progenitor of the concept of sustainable development" Vrindavan, a partner organisation of the wwf. He narrated
his experience.
(Dwivedi 1996:159). Even the otherwise insightful ecological
history of India by Gadgil and Guha provides, in effect, a funcI was part of the cleanliness drive launched by the project, especially
tionalist justification of caste as a system of ecological adapta
around the Banke Bihari Mandir. However, the priests and the Krishna
bhakts associated with the project bitterly objected to our presence
tion (1992: 91-110). However, in a few studies in the recent

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

strong
even 100 metres away, as according to them we bhangis were polluting advocate of vegetarianism and in this context he has
the people, their ways and the mandir. The drive was stopped theafterfollowing to say regarding dalits.
their objections.10 In this environment, we do not want to live with
Krishna, never mind the conservation in His name. Our condition We is used to go to their area sometimes and sat in front of one house.
pathetic here." People used to gather there, wondering how this high-caste person
has come to their place. This way, a faith relationship came into being.
We continued going there off and on. Sometimes we asked from them
Charandas Jatav claims to be an asli Brajwasi (authentic resi
water to drink and had food together. Based on this relationship, we
dent of Braj) as his family's seventh generation is now in Vrin
started telling them why people kept them at a distance and what
davan. But he too was bitter about the conservation project.
were the reasons behind it. We said that the society condemns you
Brajbhoomi is for Brahmins. Neither forest destruction nor pollution,because your living is dirty, your food habits are dirty, and your think
but the three Bs - brahmins, babajees (saints) and bandars (monkeys) ing
- is dirty. Therefore, you have to change. With such constant ham
mering, the whole village turned vegetarian. The dalits were also
are the real culprits for the problems of Vrindavan ... With the wwf
made vegetarian.13
project, plantation came here, but soon the plants dried up as there was
nobody to water them. We were never a part of the Vrindavan conser
vation programme, as we were never considered a part of Krishna.12
'We Are Like the Shoes'

As a second example, I want to explore the watershed Ralegan

man Siddhi is overwhelmingly dominated by Marathas,
agement programme in Ralegan Siddhi, launched under butthe there are a few Mahar, Chamar and Matang families.14
Hazare has been an ardent advocate of removal of untoucha
leadership of Anna Hazare. In my earlier work, I have stressed
bility and there have been several efforts on his part to
the moral authoritarianism of this movement, which includes
not only persuasion but also coercion. I have also showndo
itsaway with the ban on their temple entry and to allow
linkages to Hindu culture, tradition and religion (Sharma them to draw water from the same well. Popularly still
2012: 48-94). This movement also reveals certain prejudicesreferred to as Harijans here, dalits are now present at almost
vis-a-vis dalits. Even while trying to incorporate them in all
thevillage functions and festivals and are associated with
movement, its language is often couched in paternalistic, several committees formed to run village affairs (Awasthi
reformist, Gandhian or brahminical frameworks. Hazare1998: is a 79-81).

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48 june 9, 2012 vol xlvii no 23 0353 Economic & Political weekly

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

However, dalits here often express their dissatisfaction with

birth would be reprehensible to Him.... To start with, the young workers
the movement. Kailash Pote is a landless Chamar, who pursues called a meeting of the Harijans in the village. Together they decided
to bury the bitter memories of the past and start a fresh page ofsocial
his traditional occupation and does farm labour. For him, the
equality and harmony. On their part, the Harijans decided to give up
meaning of village, family and Hindu religion are different. carrying of dead animals, eating their flesh and also vices like ganja,
We do not call Ralegan Siddhi a village. We call it a family in which
gambling, etc. The meeting was followed by efforts for cleanliness and
Annajee is the headman and we are the people who provide servicesanitation
to in their houses and their neighbourhood and imparting of
the family. Here Hindus mean Marathas only. We Chamars and Mahars healthy samskaras to their children (Seshadri 1987b: 11).
are never called Hindus. How can we claim that everybody is equal
Hazare's concern for dalits works at many levels. One is the
here? People who have land or jobs in the military have a different level
of development. There is a lot of difference between others and me.15
ritual organised for the dalits to integrate them into a whole.
Lakshman Dondiwa is another dalit. In the course of an Here the ritual centrality of the dominant caste is significant.
These
agitation for electricity in the village many years ago, he was rituals also come through his totalising discourse on
injured in police firing. He still remembers how Hazarepurity
took and pollution, which embraces political and economic
care of him like a mother. He and other members of his caste power. Here we can also see the importance of the practice of
are now free from the clutches of moneylenders and this has gift giving for the cultural construction of dominance.19 In
turned him into a Hazare devotee. However, he remarked, his ethnographic history of an untouchable community, the
We have food, clothing and houses now. However, that is all. There is Satnamis of Chhattisgarh, Dube (1998) shows how a complex
nothing more to it than that. Shoes are for the feet and will always beinterplay and overlap of discourses constituted caste relations
placed there. We are like the shoes. We will never be able to go aheadin the context of power. He observes,
beyond this point. The village ethos is like this.16
The ritual hierarchy of purity and pollution and the ritual centrality of
Twenty-five-year-old Kailash is landless. He has a driving kingship and dominant caste(s) were both symbolic schemes that
licence, but must survive on wage labour. He said, elaborated modes of domination and power. Defined by meanings and
practices that articulated and were articulated by relations of authority,
I was poor before and am poor now. We were starving in the past and
they worked together to secure the subordination of the Satnamis and
the situation has not changed for me. I cannot even afford to educate
other untouchable communities in Chhattisgarh (214-15).
my children. I cannot even open my mouth. Whatever is said in this
village, it has to be followed.17
In Ralegan Siddhi, the position of dalits is grounded not
Dalits in Ralegan Siddhi continue to be placed within limitedonly in rituals or a language of integration, but also in the con
frameworks. They are largely still tied to their traditionally
cept of a united family, cemented by the continuous reference
ascribed status and occupation. Simultaneously, unequal posses to religion, the centrality of the dominant caste and the
sion of land and utilisation of water, exploitative labour relaauthority of an environmental leader.
tions and low wages, besides other forms of power, exist and Last, I wish to very briefly touch on a prominent ngo, which
work against them. The notion of dalits being "dirty" still launched the sulabh shauchalaya (a hand-flush, water-seal toilet
prevails. And the village republic works in such a way thatsystem) movement. The organisation also initiated a Bhangi
broader values and codes and the rules, places and perform Mukti Abhiyan (scavengers' liberation movement) in various
ances assigned within it are never challenged. The dalits' ownstates. Again, even while candidly pro-sweeper, the movement
perceptions are clearly formed as much from the authoritarcarries within it certain prejudices. The language of this
ian discourse as from their own contesting experiences. Thesocial and environmental project underlines that the system
idea of the integration of dalits into an ideal village has twoof scavengers carrying night-soil on the head shows a "decline
components in Ralegan Siddhi. The first is the assumptionin the realm of Indian civilisation and culture" and that
that they were always there to perform some duties and nec"centuries of Muslim and British rule" have been "detrimental
essary services and that it is this usefulness that justifies theirto traditional Hindu culture and practices" (Pathak 1987: vii).
existence. As Hazare expressed it, While offering technical solutions, it also stresses the need
It was Mahatma Gandhi's vision that every village should have one for integration of scavengers into Hindu religious customs,
Chamar, one Sunar, one Kumhar and so on. They should all do their workthe values of dharma-karma and the glories of Indus Valley
according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will beCivilisation.
self-dependent. This is what we are practising in Ralegan Siddhi.18
These examples from some prominent environment dis
The other component is hegemonic, designed to get dalitscourses and movements reveal certain problems and biases
into the brahminical fold. It is not only manifested in the wayvis-a-vis dalits. Besides, most environmental movements actu
food or dress habits are propagated, but also prevalent in ally do not even touch the caste question. Let me move to the
several other direct and indirect forms. It is significant thatother side and attempt to see what happens when we try to
Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (rss) mouthpiece,bring a dalit lens to ecological politics.
carried a series of articles on Hazare and Ralegan Siddhi, in
which the writer expressed his deep admiration for the modelDalit Perspectives on Ecological Politics
being followed (Seshadri 1987a, b). On the incorporation of There have been significant studies around dalits, covering a
dalits by Hazare, he remarked, range of subjects like dalit histories, anti-caste intellectuals,
Anna-saheb Hajare imprinted on the minds of the villagers that, asuntouchability, humiliation, human rights, dignity, reserva
children of the same God, any discrimination on the basis of one's tion, gender, food, land, water and occupation.20 However, no

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

and the environment movement (1997). Prasad, in another

study has weaved these issues together to explore the inter
relationships between dalits and environmentalism. newspaper
It is article, "The New Life Movement versus Narmada
equally important to note that dalit critiques of present Bachao
envi Andolan", invoked Ambedkar's notion of a New Life
Movement, is ideas on modernisation and his critique of Gan
ronmentalism, including their perspectives on labour, natural
resources, village communities, public spaces, food, animals,
dhian traditionalism as arguments for a rejection of the Narmada
vegetarianism and development, have not been integrated Bachao Andolan in general and Medha Patkar in particular
(2000). Ilaiah refers to environmentalism as exclusive, devoid
into environmental studies and politics. Often, these issues
have not been couched in an explicitly environmental of lanany concerns and relationship with the builders of the envi
guage - for example, the recent controversy over the beefronment. He argues that this so-called secular environmental
festival. However, these can lead us to the making of
ismais not bothered about the nationalist and hegemonic social
different environmentalism. structure that brahmanism has built (2009:140-58).
Historically, in various writings of dalit intellectuals, there
I myself have been troubled with similar questions. Village,
have been implied understandings of the environment. occupation,
My agriculture, food, water, land and irrigation have
aim here is also to bring to light dalit discourses that maybeen
not important sites for impositions of hierarchies of caste,
and caste economy thrives on the use and abuse of natural re
fit into conventional understandings of environment politics,
but which nonetheless have a dynamic relationship with it.sources.
We Thus it has become pertinent for me to raise certain
can thus trace ecological contents in various dalit writings.critical
As issues like what is the caste of water? How does caste
an example, for Mangoo Ram, leader of the Ad Dharm move
structure irrigation networks in a village? Why should dalits
ment in colonial Punjab, feel and work for conservation and promotion of traditional
water bodies and water-harvesting systems when these leave
The role of God is played by Nature ... Nature (Qudrat ka Mela) creat
aside
ed human beings from the original source (adi) at the time it created issues of ownership and they are not even allowed to
all beings on the earth ... Everyone believed in one dharma which
take water from these ponds, tanks and wells? (Sharma 2004).
Nature had given them through intellect and knowledge (Juergens
Why and how do caste and its culture determine pure and
meyer2oo9:51).
impure food, what we eat and what we prefer to eat? How is
Many of Jotiba Phule's writings focused on the peasantry,
the use of animals declared legitimate or illegitimate through
agriculture, watershed development, biotechnologies, build
caste? Why should dalits fight for restoration of traditional
ing of canals, bandhs, and small and big dams (Omvedt 1994:
community-based occupations when it is precisely these that
97-100). In Ambedkar's works, village, agriculture, small support
peas their ghettoisation and do not empower them or im
ant economy, land, water, dams, resources, city and techno
prove their situation in the civil society and the market? How
logy appear prominently. Not only did Ambedkar deploydoes
his even the specific environmental and occupational set-up
considerable charisma and skills in helping to set up theplay
Cen a role in the making and unmaking of a collective entry or
tral Water Irrigation and Navigation Commission, he wasthe
alsoexit of a caste in environmental politics? How do certain
instrumental in resolving several inter-provincial problems of environmental arenas, for example, the tank irrigation
other
coordination and finance that dogged the first projects, technologies
the and practices in south India, explicate caste and
Hirakud and Damodar Valley dams (Thorat 1993; Abraham dalit intersections at the site of the environment? How do a

2002). It is surprising that while Mahatma Gandhi and Jawa

physical and social environment characterised by ghettos
harlal Nehru have been constructed repeatedly through an
(known by different names like the Chamar tola in the north,
ecological lens (Khoshoo 1995; Singh 1999), there has been no and hulgeri in the south and wadas in the west of India)
cheri
effort to understand the ecological perspectives of prominent
and untouchability (purity, pollution, filth and isolation) act as
dalit and anti-caste intellectuals. The pathways of dalits' acom
material context for dalit environment subject formation?
plex relationship with modernity and development open Howvari can dalits provide us with a new and alternative lens to
ous possibilities for us. Does dalit ambivalence towards main
study the environment?
stream environmentalism sometimes make it an ally of neo
It needs to be also noted that dalit is not a homogeneous
liberal forces? Or is there something deeper and more complex
category. Studying dalit ecological politics provides us with
in dalit intellectual understandings of ecological politics?not
Ceronly dalit perspectives, but also points to the significant
tain key tenets of dalit environmental understandings, even
differences in environmental attitudes among them in differ
when articulated incoherently, often stand separately from
ent regions and reveals the possibilities of debate and different
mainstream environmental discourses. practices within the dalits.
Certain preliminary pointers bring out the nature of dalit
Makings of Dalit Environmentalism environmental practices. For instance, contrary to the gods
Of late, a few dalits and anti-caste intellectuals have begunand ecological symbols of caste Hindus, dalit environmental
questioning the ecological and political trajectories of idioms and images span different gods, goddesses, animals
contemporary environmentalism in India. A small but signi and trees, for example, a Kattamaisamma (discoverer of
ficant piece by Omvedt, titled "Why Dalits Dislike Environthe tank system and goddess of water), a Potaraju (protector
of the soil and fields), a Yandi (marvel of technological
mentalists", pointed to the alienation between two of the most
powerful social movements in India - the anti-caste movementknowledge), and many more (Ilaiah 1996). These symbols
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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

environmentalism have been emphasised, where vegetarians

sculpt the alternative ecological gods of dalits. As another
case in point, in Tamil Nadu, dalits have carved out are
andunderstood as the best environmentalists. It is claimed,
imagined an ideal dalit village, against the concepts ofAsalong as the leadership is in the hands of meat-consuming environ
Gandhian ideal village (Viswanathan 2007: 175-77). Or, inmentalists, no long-term major advance can take place in improving
the environment. These people are making a lot of noises while tracts
western and north India, dalits' search for water is primarily
of forests are being raised to the ground, green lands are turned into
mediated through issues of untouchability, ownership and deserts and habitats of endangered species are destroyed. They have
social justice, without any nostalgic yearnings of a supposed
conveniently focused on only short-term options of "recycling" and
golden past or a harping back to tradition and conservation"renewables" and have ignored the more significant solution of adopt
(Omvedt 1987: 365-66). These water struggles, from Mahad ing a vegetarian diet (ivu 2006).

to Mangaon, open up new ways of looking at the politics However,

of the beef festival, held at Osmania University,
water (Sharma 1999: 65-69). Further, there has been a call in
Hyderabad in April 2012, and the violence it engendered, has
Maharashtra to make the plate of dalit food "Indian", brought
as into question the food politics in India (Kannabiran
2012; Raman 2012). While its linkages to caste, religion and
opposed to satvik (upper caste) cooking and food, and this
identity politics have been underscored, its environmental
has implications for our understandings of food and agricul
ture (ws 10 Class of 2009: i-xiv). In Bihar and Tamil Nadu,
underpinnings have not been given due attention. However, the
latter plays an important role, as it gives legitimacy to certain
there have been movements of dalits, which have put forward
kinds of food and makes some food "pure" and some others
completely different values and understandings of animals
and animal sacrifice. For example, there have been move "impure" on ecological grounds. Along with caste and religion,
environmental arguments are being used to justify what kind
ments by dalit organisations and parties such as the Pattali
of food is served and what should or should not be eaten, even
Makkal Katchi (pmk), Puthiya Tamilagam and Viduthalai
Siruthaigal in Tamil Nadu in support of animal sacrificeinbyour modern social and educational institutions. Dalits see
dalits (Viswanathan 2007: 282-89). Similarly, there has been
choices of food as an important site of contest, where politics of
caste,
an assertion by dalits in the village of Bangaon Mahisi in knowledge and exclusion play an important role. They
north-eastern Bihar to continue with the tradition of buffalo
reject environmental arguments that reinforce caste hierarchy,
sacrifice (Jha 2010:120-21). social status and ordering. This, according to them, negates
contentions of economic viability, availability and malnutrition.
To provide some more clues, in Uttar Pradesh, the social
The high protein content and affordability of buffalo meat
struggles of dalits for freedom and emancipation from caste
makes it a staple of poor people's diet. Dalits also contend that
based occupations have had as one of their important planks
conventional environmental arguments police food habits, ex
opposition to the preservation and development of traditional,
community-based livelihoods, as that is critically linkedclude
to culinary tastes and cuisine, and relegate certain foods as
questions of stigma and taboo (Narayan 2011: 35-58). This"unholy". Beef has become not only a "provocative new sym
bol of dalit and backward-caste assertion" (Raman 2012), but
gives a different spin to the demands of various environmental
movements to maintain and conserve such occupations. Dalits
also gives a different spin to environment discourses.
have also asserted their own claims to public spaces by creat
Conclusion
ing and redesigning their own landscapes, parks and statues
in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. This hasThere
cre appears to be a dialectical relationship between caste,
ated a new space politics through environment, rendering dalits
the and the environment. If we are able to locate Indian
ecological-public-political sphere dalit. environmental politics through the eyes and actions of dalits
and their various movements in different parts of the country,
I wish to end this essay by referring to the recent contro
versy around the beef food festival and point to how thatwecanmay be able to glean a new ecological universe, a visible
dalit environmental public space, which is often outside the
provide us with alternative understandings of the environment.
Food has been a key theme of Indian environmentalism. dominant
It discursive frame, but is nonetheless embedded in
dalit ecological understandings. Dalit environmentalism is not
spans myriad issues, including poverty, hunger, food rights,
organic food, traditional farming, agricultural practices,a veg
finished or a refined project. However, its relative invisibility
is also a sign of the upper-caste habitues operating in a sphere
etarianism, sustainable livelihoods, sustainable development
of secular modernity and citizenship. By exploring the differ
and ecological security. Some of the prominent environmen
ential
tal discourses have analysed the food crisis in the country as subject formations in relation to environment, as well as
rooted in a masculine agricultural science and development,opening the public secrets of secular environment-hood, we
by
can bring the readings and understandings of caste, dalits and
which has destroyed nature's capital and a feminine knowl
environmentalism together.
edge of agriculture. Ecologically, the cow has been regarded
as central to Indian civilisation and agriculture. Materially
and conceptually, agricultural sustainability has been linked
NOTES

to maintaining the integrity of the cow, considering it invio

i While dalits and adivasis are two political subjectivities that centr
lable and sacred and seeing it as the mother of prosperity ofmark our 20th century history and there are overlaps regarding their
cerns on environment, they are not an easy pairing. There are analy
food systems (Shiva 1988: 96-178). Simultaneously, inter differences and distinctions between them. This essay explicitly foc
relationships between vegetarianism, the Hindu religion and
on dalits and caste politics in relation to ecology.

Economic & Political weekly DEd june 9, 2012 vol xlvii no 23 51

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

2 As mentioned earlier, there are various modes CSE (1985): The State of India's Environment 1984-85: in Caste Society (Delhi: Oxford University
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11 Interview with Chowdhary Bhagwan Das
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12 Interview with Charandas Jatav in Vrindavan,
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Rajesh Kumar, 25 October 1999.
Economic & Political Weekly, 28 February. to Water Resources Development, Central Water
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by gram sewak K N Bhagat in Ralegan Siddhi. DrAmbedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial Viswanathan, S (2007): Dalits in Dravidian Land:
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dhi, 9-10 October 1999. Study of Directed Change, Sulabh International, WWF-India (1993): Vrindavan Forest Revival
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19 Raheja (1988) points out that the proper pres
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sures the well-being of the entire community, tents: Culture and the Politics of Consciousness (Brochure 2), WWF-India, Delhi.
is far more important than hierarchical consid
erations in structuring inter-caste relationships
in the village (p 28). SAMEEKSHA TRUST BOOKS
20 For example, Jaffrelot (1988); Omvedt (2006);
Guru (2009); Parish (1997); Sharma (2007). China after 1978: Craters on the Moon
The breathtakingly rapid economic growth in China since 1978 has attracted world-wide attention. But the condition of
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