March 7th, 4:30pm, meeting with Valmiki Samaj representatives.

    Valmiki Samaj workers are cleaners by caste traditions. They are also the most organized workers in the campus. As such they also form the backbone of Workers’ Cooperative (Shramik Samiti), and in addition have managed to wrestle some special privileges from the IIT administration -- for example a separate open ground which now hosts their office as well as a small Valmiki mandir, which also forms the place where the Hamara Manch meetings are held. This however does not mean that they are well off -- by their caste status, quite the opposite perhaps.

    Perhaps since we were using their temple grounds for meeting with Hamara Manch, and also because they form an important constituent of the campus community, Hamara Manch proposed a separate meeting with Valmiki Samaj. The meeting however was partially disrupted because several workers (and in my opinion, some of the most eloquent ones) rushed to the hospital because of the medical emergency R. met in the morning (he had vomited blood and fainted). Nevertheless, with some hesitation, the meeting proceeded all right.

    The meeting started with four of us and about fifteen of worker friends. From our side, Sushil, VN Sharma, Praval, and myself were attending. By the time we left, the number of workers attending the meeting was already more than thirty.

    M. began by giving a very brief background of Valmiki Samaj and how it was formed. VN Sharma, who was witness to those times (sixties & seventies), added to the history and Praval Singh also joined in a bit. It then quickly shifted to workers pointing out what they are facing in day to day life. One worker brought in the issue of uniforms: in the past IIT had a common uniform for all Class IV workers (e.g. gardeners, cleaners, peons, messengers, security staff etc.), a khaki dress, which was any way not strictly enforced. Since some time however it has made compulsory different coloured dresses for each kind of work - the dress is not convenient for summers any way (it is a rather thick full sleeved dress), but what is worse for sanitation workers, it identifies their profession and reinforces caste stereotypes! IITK in fact paid Rs. 1200/- per worker to the contractor for the dress, which is already a costly expense in my opinion. Another worker also brought in the issue of education: the children of these workers are being denied admissions in Central and Campus Schools through various means (refusing to give admission forms, demanding this certificate and that etc.). This even as it continues to get admissions from outside campus while several of the parents have lived or worked in the campus for more than a decade or two. They were passionate and eloquent about the subject, as one worker put it: hamare dadaji bhi safai karte the aur hamare pitaji bhi, hum bhi safai kar rahe hain. Kya hamare bachhe bhi kewal safai karenge? VN Sharma pointed out that this was illegal as of now -- central schools are now required that they do not refuse admissions, instead hire more teachers and add sections if necessary. In the discussion Opportunity school also came up -- a parent pointed out that he personally woke up teachers sleeping in class twice.

    A short discussion on medical facilities and ESI also came up. The ESI hospital allotted to them is very far, and even travel to that place becomes a costly affair. In fact one needs to go up several levels of dispensaries, none of them close, to be referred to the hospital, and each stage requires some bribe/payment. This makes it very difficult for the workers who don’t understand why they should be denied access to campus health center. Sushil noted with surprise that around 10,000 of campus community has a full-fledged Health Center, while around 45,000 of Nankari community has no government provision for the same.

    Around this point my involvement in the meeting was interrupted by a worker who wanted to talk to me in private. He told me he was uncomfortable talking in ``public’’ for fear of a possible complaint and harassment. The incident he narrated and requested that we separately discuss after we go back was this: the sanitation inspector (an institute employee as I understand) asked him not to sit on a chair even at his place of duty. When his immediate supervisor objected and suggested to inspector that this being his place of duty, he can very well sit down sometimes, the inspector replied `ab aap bhi jamaadaron ko sar pe chadane lage hain’, this in the presence of this worker. This casteist remark has particularly upset this worker, and hence he wanted to talk, but he was also afraid of his job and hence did not dare speak in public!

    As I noted in this incidence and others -- for workers many a battle are for dignity and not merely for wages, something we as middle class often forget.

    We had to leave after some time for the next meeting, but by this time the numbers had swelled to about forty. The meeting then evolved into one of Valmiki Samaj, and continued after we left.

(Editor's note: Removing names for the web version).