'Untouchable' caste find themselves deprived of tsunami aid

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The Independent
By Justin Huggler in Delhi
22 January 2005


International aid agencies in India have been horrified to find, even amid the suffering caused by the tsunami, some survivors being refused access to basic relief because they are considered "Untouchables".

Accounts have emerged of members of the former Untouchable castes not being allowed to drink clean water from a tank provided by Unicef because other castes believed it would pollute the water in the tank. Dalits, as the former Untouchables are known today, have been thrown out of government relief camps by the other survivors staying there.

Even as people around the world have sent aid donations to tsunami survivors, members of higher castes have prevented the Dalits from using basic relief supplies, and the Indian government has been accused of not doing enough to prevent this injustice.

Dalit children were not even allowed to use the basic open latrines at relief camps, according to Janyala Srinivas, a reporter for The Indian Express. Dalits at one camp who asked for some of the food supplies intended for everyone that the fishermen were hoarding were thrown out and had to spend the rest of the night in the road.

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