SPECIAL ARTICLE

Dalits and Indian Environmental Politics

Mukul Sharma

Indian environmental paradigms and politics, frequently

conceptualised and expressed in terms of Indias glorious
past, often render questions of caste and dalits invisible.
However, it needs to be recognised that caste is one of
the central categories that frames environmental
politics. Dalit thinkers, organisations and movements
have had a wider perspective and critique of
environmental articulations that require deeper
investigation. On the one hand, we see a caste-blindness
in current environmental politics. On the other, we see
dalit views on Indian environmentalism, reflected in
their works, words and movements in different parts
of the country. This brings forth not only new
dimensions on both environment and dalits, but also
helps us in redefining certain key categories such as
development, modernity, community, livelihood and
social movements.

An earlier version of this essay was presented at a workshop on

Environment, Inequality, and Conflict, organised by the Indian
Statistical Institute, Delhi in collaboration with the Centre for
Equality and Social Opportunity, University of Oslo, 28-29 March 2012.
I am grateful to the participants for their comments. I am also
thankful to Anand Swamy, Aseem Srivastava, Rohan DSouza,
Pradip Kumar Datta and Charu Gupta for their remarks, which helped
in the development of ideas presented here.
Mukul Sharma (mukul1961@yahoo.co.in) is a researcher and writer.

46

ndian environmental politics has been vividly and variously defined as environmentalism of the poor, indigenous environmentalism, middle-class environmentalism,
elite environmentalism, eco-feminism, red and green,
green and saffron and much more, revealing its diversity
and dynamics. Scholarship on environmental issues and
movements, and debates on development have particularly
focused on voices and visions of women and tribals. However,
while dalits have often participated in significant numbers in
various environmental movements, they have been as a category largely missing in most studies because they are usually
merged in the general definitions of poor, marginal, vulnerable, displaced, environmental refugees and migrants.1 There
appears to be an environmental blindness on questions of
caste, or an understanding of a specifically dalit position on
ecological politics, which if taken into account can complicate
our understanding of the environment, bringing to light voices
of dissent and difference.
Dalit perspectives take Indian environmentalists to task not
only for the seeming invisibility of dalit issues in mainstream
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 sensibilities 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 livelihoods. Situating themselves in a broader sociopolitical perspective, dalit narratives ask as to how we can reconstitute
environmentalisms future to genuinely represent the divergent stakes of peoples relationship to the environment. However, 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 ecological underpinnings.
The empowerment of dalits poses a challenge to Indian
environmentalism. Images of Raja Bali, Eklavya, Deena-Bhadri,
the elephant and Bhim-Ganga as dalit environmental symbols; the practices of anti-brahmanical traditions in presentday environmental movements in states like Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; and the works of anticaste intellectuals and dalits, including the iconic figures of
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Jotiba Phule, Periyar and B R Ambedkar, make an insightful

critique of brahmanical environmentalism.2 These images,
practices and intellectuals not only interrogate certain hegemonic constructions within Indian environmentalism, but also
question their right to speak for, or in the name of, subalterns,
the poor and dalits.3 Their search also helps us in revisiting
certain forgotten histories, for example, the Mahad Satyagraha,
undertaken to have the right to draw water from the Chavdar
tank in Maharashtra, or the Nara-Maveshi movement of the
Chamars of Uttar Pradesh, which was started to shed their
caste-based occupation.4
In this preliminary essay, I wish to, one, highlight the blindness of environmental insights on questions of caste, and, two,
underline how seeing the environment through the lens of
caste and dalits can provide us with new perspectives. I do not
wish to claim in a linear fashion that dalit attitudes to the environment are somehow better, or to valorise them. Rather, I
hope to make a case that with all its complexities and contradictions, dalit perceptions do compel a reassessment of environmental politics in India. It is my contention that there is an
urgent need to include caste as a significant category in arguments for ecological rights.
Blindness of Environmental Insights

Some of the prominent environment discourses in India today

see ecological degradation essentially as a result of the imposition of a western, colonial civilisation over a rooted, indigenous, Indian culture. The past is read here as a time when the
ecology was balanced and harmonious, and practised by selfcontained communities of women, forest dwellers and peasants, who were primarily the keepers of a special conservationist ethic.5 Some of the critiques of globalisation and neoliberal economic reforms are anchored in upholding a green
village, a non-urban natural community, which becomes the
repository of an immutable national identity. In the specific
context of dalits, such discourses fall into a trap of valorisation
and romanticisation of tradition, without realising how these
have been responsible for making dalits untouchables. With
a few exceptions, Indian environment studies are caste blind.
Even while emphasising certain concrete identities such as
community, gender and ethnicity, they obscure the element of
caste, without which the environmental canvas is incomplete.
More importantly, some of the environment discourses provide a defence of the caste system. Thus comes the explanation
by Kailash Malhotra, an anthropologist,
The caste systemwas actually based on an ancient concept of sustainable development which disciplined the society by partitioning the use
of natural resources according to specific occupations (or castes); and
created the right social milieu in which sustainable patterns of
resource use were encouraged to emerge (Quoted in CES 1985: 162).

Or says another, The Hindu caste system can be seen as a

progenitor of the concept of sustainable development
(Dwivedi 1996: 159). Even the otherwise insightful ecological
history of India by Gadgil and Guha provides, in effect, a functionalist justification of caste as a system of ecological adaptation (1992: 91-110). However, in a few studies in the recent
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past, caste has been factored in as an important influence in

environmental projects, especially in water-related works.
However, here too dalits do not appear as a subject in their
own right and are only one of the reference points of a casteridden society.6
Examples from some of the recent environment movements
bring out their caste blindness, rather their pro-caste and antidalit biases, which are often implicit in them. Let me first, as a
case, take up the Vrindavan Forest Revival Project, also known
as the Vrindavan Conservation Project, which was launched
by a prominent non-governmental organisation (NGO), the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-India, in the 1990s.7 The
project, explicitly aimed at the ecological restoration of Vrindavan, planned the planting of trees along an 11-kilometrelong parikrama marg (pilgrim route), which encircled the
town (WWF-India 1993: 104-18). In the process, it vividly used
the imagery of Krishna as a symbol of environmental purity
and beauty to actively involve Hindus in the activity.8 The
project grew in its scope and included not only plantation but
also nature clubs, community awareness, education, citizens
action, river watch, protection of sacred groves, environmental
rallies, raslilas, environmental dramas, art exhibitions, video
shows and prayer lectures.9
However, the movement had inherent caste biases. For
example, while tackling the inadequate sewerage system of
Vrindavan, it offered a defence of traditional methods of waste
disposal. Before 1970, the traditional latrine method was in
vogue here, by which the waste was supposedly recycled in
fields as fertiliser. It goes without saying that to make this possible dalits had to carry night soil (human excreta) on their
heads and perform other related cleaning-up jobs. The modern
sewage system, which was designed after 1970, had various
defects and was also never adequately completed. However,
when critiquing this system, Ranchor Prime, who was one
of the main brains behind the Vrindavan project and is also
a member of ISKCON, argued that the traditional method
of waste disposal should return. In support, he invoked the
Manusmriti as offering venerable injunctions on ancient and
time-tested technologies of waste disposal (1992: 109-12).
Prime also identified meat-eating as a serious ecological problem and asked for its prohibition, accusing those who were
involved in it as murderers who were bound to suffer karmic
consequences (1992: 102).
Vrindavan has a sizeable dalit population, including the
Chamar, Balmiki, Kori, Khatik and Dhobi communities, in the
areas covered by the WWF project. At the heart of the town is
the Kishorepura Valmiki basti. Chowdhary Bhagwan Das
Balmikis family has been living here for three generations,
and, according to him, the famous Banke Bihari Mandir was
built by the labour of his ancestors. Bhagwan Das was part
of the cleanliness and conservation drive of Friends of
Vrindavan, a partner organisation of the WWF. He narrated
his experience.
I was part of the cleanliness drive launched by the project, especially
around the Banke Bihari Mandir. However, the priests and the Krishna
bhakts associated with the project bitterly objected to our presence

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even 100 metres away, as according to them we bhangis were polluting
the people, their ways and the mandir. The drive was stopped after
their objections.10 In this environment, we do not want to live with
Krishna, never mind the conservation in His name. Our condition is
pathetic here.11

strong advocate of vegetarianism and in this context he has

the following to say regarding dalits.
We used to go to their area sometimes and sat in front of one house.
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
water to drink and had food together. Based on this relationship, we
started telling them why people kept them at a distance and what
were the reasons behind it. We said that the society condemns you
because your living is dirty, your food habits are dirty, and your thinking is dirty. Therefore, you have to change. With such constant hammering, the whole village turned vegetarian. The dalits were also
made vegetarian.13

Charandas Jatav claims to be an asli Brajwasi (authentic resident of Braj) as his familys seventh generation is now in Vrindavan. But he too was bitter about the conservation project.
Brajbhoomi is for Brahmins. Neither forest destruction nor pollution,
but the three Bs brahmins, babajees (saints) and bandars (monkeys)
are the real culprits for the problems of Vrindavan With the WWF
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 conservation programme, as we were never considered a part of Krishna.12

As a second example, I want to explore the watershed management programme in Ralegan Siddhi, launched under the
leadership of Anna Hazare. In my earlier work, I have stressed
the moral authoritarianism of this movement, which includes
not only persuasion but also coercion. I have also shown its
linkages to Hindu culture, tradition and religion (Sharma
2012: 48-94). This movement also reveals certain prejudices
vis--vis dalits. Even while trying to incorporate them in the
movement, its language is often couched in paternalistic,
reformist, Gandhian or brahminical frameworks. Hazare is a

We Are Like the Shoes

Ralegan Siddhi is overwhelmingly dominated by Marathas,

but there are a few Mahar, Chamar and Matang families.14
Hazare has been an ardent advocate of removal of untouchability and there have been several efforts on his part to
do away with the ban on their temple entry and to allow
them to draw water from the same well. Popularly still
referred to as Harijans here, dalits are now present at almost
all village functions and festivals and are associated with
several committees formed to run village affairs (Awasthi
1998: 79-81).

Mahatma Gandhi University

International Conference on China (CoC)
Theme:

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23-25 August 2012
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam shall organize the ICCS Inaugural International Conference on China during
23-25 August 2012 at Kottayam, Kerala. The theme acquires considerable significance in the wake of the structural
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society as well as the political transition from the 17th to 18th Congress of the CPP) that have immense implications to
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assessment of the continuity and change in Chinas relations in this regard on the eve of the 18th Congress of the
Chinese Communist Party.
The Conference shall be organized by the Institute for Contemporary Chinese Studies (ICCS UGC Centre), School of
International Relations and Politics and the University Centre for International Co-operation (UCIC) at Mahatma Gandhi
University. The Association of Asian Scholars, New Delhi and Indian Council for World Affairs, New Delhi are among
the Conference Partners.
Deadline for submission of Abstract 30 June 2012.
Conference details are available online at www.iccsmgu.in.
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48

91-481-2732279 (Tele-fax)

9496161060 (M)
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However, dalits here often express their dissatisfaction with

the movement. Kailash Pote is a landless Chamar, who pursues
his traditional occupation and does farm labour. For him, the
meaning of village, family and Hindu religion are different.
We do not call Ralegan Siddhi a village. We call it a family in which
A nnajee is the headman and we are the people who provide service to
the family. Here Hindus mean Marathas only. We Chamars and Mahars
are never called Hindus. How can we claim that everybody is equal
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

Lakshman Dondiwa is another dalit. In the course of an

agitation for electricity in the village many years ago, he was
injured in police firing. He still remembers how Hazare took
care of him like a mother. He and other members of his caste
are now free from the clutches of moneylenders and this has
turned him into a Hazare devotee. However, he remarked,
We have food, clothing and houses now. However, that is all. There is
nothing more to it than that. Shoes are for the feet and will always be
placed there. We are like the shoes. We will never be able to go ahead
beyond this point. The village ethos is like this.16

Twenty-five-year-old Kailash is landless. He has a driving

licence, but must survive on wage labour. He said,
I was poor before and am poor now. We were starving in the past and
the situation has not changed for me. I cannot even afford to educate
my children. I cannot even open my mouth. Whatever is said in this
village, it has to be followed.17

Dalits in Ralegan Siddhi continue to be placed within limited

frameworks. They are largely still tied to their traditionally
ascribed status and occupation. Simultaneously, unequal possession of land and utilisation of water, exploitative labour relations and low wages, besides other forms of power, exist and
work against them. The notion of dalits being dirty still
prevails. And the village republic works in such a way that
broader values and codes and the rules, places and performances assigned within it are never challenged. The dalits own
perceptions are clearly formed as much from the authoritarian discourse as from their own contesting experiences. The
idea of the integration of dalits into an ideal village has two
components in Ralegan Siddhi. The first is the assumption
that they were always there to perform some duties and necessary ser vices and that it is this usefulness that justifies their
existence. As Hazare expressed it,
It was Mahatma Gandhis vision that every village should have one
Chamar, one Sunar, one Kumhar and so on. They should all do their work
according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will be
self-dependent. This is what we are practising in Ralegan Siddhi.18

The other component is hegemonic, designed to get dalits

into the brahminical fold. It is not only manifested in the way
food or dress habits are propagated, but also prevalent in
several other direct and indirect forms. It is significant that
Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece,
carried a series of articles on Hazare and Ralegan Siddhi, in
which the writer expressed his deep admiration for the model
being followed (Seshadri 1987a, b). On the incorporation of
dalits by Hazare, he remarked,
Anna-saheb Hajare imprinted on the minds of the villagers that, as
children of the same God, any discrimination on the basis of ones
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birth would be reprehensible to Him. ... To start with, the young workers
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
equality and harmony. On their part, the Harijans decided to give up
carrying of dead animals, eating their flesh and also vices like ganja,
gambling, etc. The meeting was followed by efforts for cleanliness and
sanitation in their houses and their neighbourhood and imparting of
healthy samskaras to their children (Seshadri 1987b: 11).

Hazares concern for dalits works at many levels. One is the

ritual organised for the dalits to integrate them into a whole.
Here the ritual centrality of the dominant caste is significant.
These rituals also come through his totalising discourse on
purity and pollution, which embraces political and economic
power. Here we can also see the importance of the practice of
gift giving for the cultural construction of dominance.19 In
his ethnographic history of an untouchable community, the
Satnamis of Chhattisgarh, Dube (1998) shows how a complex
interplay and overlap of discourses constituted caste relations
in the context of power. He observes,
The ritual hierarchy of purity and pollution and the ritual centrality of
kingship and dominant caste(s) were both symbolic schemes that
elaborated modes of domination and power. Defined by meanings and
practices that articulated and were articulated by relations of authority,
they worked together to secure the subordination of the Satnamis and
other untouchable communities in Chhattisgarh (214-15).

In Ralegan Siddhi, the position of dalits is grounded not

only in rituals or a language of integration, but also in the concept of a united family, cemented by the continuous reference
to religion, the centrality of the dominant caste and the
authority of an environmental leader.
Last, I wish to very briefly touch on a prominent NGO, which
launched the sulabh shauchalaya (a hand-flush, water-seal toilet
system) movement. The organisation also initiated a Bhangi
Mukti Abhiyan (scavengers liberation movement) in various
states. Again, even while candidly pro-sweeper, the movement
carries within it certain prejudices. The language of this
social and environmental project underlines that the system
of scavengers carrying night-soil on the head shows a decline
in the realm of Indian civilisation and culture and that
centuries of Muslim and British rule have been detrimental
to traditional Hindu culture and practices (Pathak 1987: vii).
While offering technical solutions, it also stresses the need
for integration of scavengers into Hindu religious customs,
the values of dharma-karma and the glories of Indus Valley
Civilisation.
These examples from some prominent environment discourses and movements reveal certain problems and biases
vis--vis dalits. Besides, most environmental movements actually do not even touch the caste question. Let me move to the
other side and attempt to see what happens when we try to
bring a dalit lens to ecological politics.
Dalit Perspectives on Ecological Politics

There have been significant studies around dalits, covering a

range of subjects like dalit histories, anti-caste intellectuals,
untouchability, humiliation, human rights, dignity, reservation, gender, food, land, water and occupation.20 However, no
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study has weaved these issues together to explore the interrelationships between dalits and environmentalism. It is
equally important to note that dalit critiques of present environmentalism, including their perspectives on labour, natural
resources, village communities, public spaces, food, animals,
vegetarianism and development, have not been integrated
into environmental studies and politics. Often, these issues
have not been couched in an explicitly environmental language for example, the recent controversy over the beef
festival. However, these can lead us to the making of a
different environmentalism.
Historically, in various writings of dalit intellectuals, there
have been implied understandings of the environment. My
aim here is also to bring to light dalit discourses that may not
fit into conventional understandings of environment politics,
but which nonetheless have a dynamic relationship with it. We
can thus trace ecological contents in various dalit writings. As
an example, for Mangoo Ram, leader of the Ad Dharm movement in colonial Punjab,
The role of God is played by Nature Nature (Qudrat ka Mela) created human beings from the original source (adi) at the time it created
all beings on the earth Everyone believed in one dharma which
Nature had given them through intellect and knowledge (Juergensmeyer 2009: 51).

Many of Jotiba Phules writings focused on the peasantry,

agriculture, watershed development, biotechnologies, building of canals, bandhs, and small and big dams (Omvedt 1994:
97-100). In Ambedkars works, village, agriculture, small peasant economy, land, water, dams, resources, city and technology appear prominently. Not only did Ambedkar deploy his
considerable charisma and skills in helping to set up the Central Water Irrigation and Navigation Commission, he was also
instrumental in resolving several inter-provincial problems of
coordination and finance that dogged the first projects, the
Hirakud and Damodar Valley dams (Thorat 1993; Abraham
2002). It is surprising that while Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have been constructed repeatedly through an
ecological lens (Khoshoo 1995; Singh 1999), there has been no
effort to understand the ecological perspectives of prominent
dalit and anti-caste intellectuals. The pathways of dalits complex relationship with modernity and development open various possibilities for us. Does dalit ambivalence towards mainstream environmentalism sometimes make it an ally of neoliberal forces? Or is there something deeper and more complex
in dalit intellectual understandings of ecological politics? Certain key tenets of dalit environmental understandings, even
when articulated incoherently, often stand separately from
mainstream environmental discourses.
Makings of Dalit Environmentalism

Of late, a few dalits and anti-caste intellectuals have begun

questioning the ecological and political trajectories of
contemporary environmentalism in India. A small but significant piece by Omvedt, titled Why Dalits Dislike Environmentalists, pointed to the alienation between two of the most
powerful social movements in India the anti-caste movement
50

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

newspaper article, The New Life Movement versus Narmada
Bachao Andolan, invoked Ambedkars notion of a New Life
Movement, is ideas on modernisation and his critique of Gandhian traditionalism as arguments for a rejection of the Narmada
Bachao Andolan in general and Medha Patkar in particular
(2000). Ilaiah refers to environmentalism as exclusive, devoid
of any concerns and relationship with the builders of the environment. He argues that this so-called secular environmentalism is not bothered about the nationalist and hegemonic social
structure that brahmanism has built (2009: 140-58).
I myself have been troubled with similar questions. Village,
occupation, agriculture, food, water, land and irrigation have
been important sites for impositions of hierarchies of caste,
and caste economy thrives on the use and abuse of natural resources. Thus it has become pertinent for me to raise certain
critical issues like what is the caste of water? How does caste
structure irrigation networks in a village? Why should dalits
feel and work for conservation and promotion of traditional
water bodies and water-harvesting systems when these leave
aside issues of ownership and they are not even allowed to
take water from these ponds, tanks and wells? (Sharma 2004).
Why and how do caste and its culture determine pure and
impure food, what we eat and what we prefer to eat? How is
the use of animals declared legitimate or illegitimate through
caste? Why should dalits fight for restoration of traditional
community-based occupations when it is precisely these that
support their ghettoisation and do not empower them or improve their situation in the civil society and the market? How
does even the specific environmental and occupational set-up
play a role in the making and unmaking of a collective entry or
the exit of a caste in environmental politics? How do certain
other environmental arenas, for example, the tank irrigation
technologies and practices in south India, explicate caste and
dalit intersections at the site of the environment? How do a
physical and social environment characterised by ghettos
(known by different names like the Chamar tola in the north,
cheri and hulgeri in the south and wadas in the west of India)
and untouchability (purity, pollution, filth and isolation) act as
a material context for dalit environment subject formation?
How can dalits provide us with a new and alternative lens to
study the environment?
It needs to be also noted that dalit is not a homogeneous
category. Studying dalit ecological politics provides us with
not only dalit perspectives, but also points to the significant
differences in environmental attitudes among them in different regions and reveals the possibilities of debate and different
practices within the dalits.
Certain preliminary pointers bring out the nature of dalit
environmental practices. For instance, contrary to the gods
and ecological symbols of caste Hindus, dalit environmental
idioms and images span different gods, goddesses, animals
and trees, for example, a Kattamaisamma (discoverer of
the tank system and goddess of water), a Potaraju (protector
of the soil and fields), a Yandi (marvel of technological
knowledge), and many more (Ilaiah 1996). These symbols
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sculpt the alternative ecological gods of dalits. As another

case in point, in Tamil Nadu, dalits have carved out and
imagined an ideal dalit village, against the concepts of a
Gandhian ideal village (Viswanathan 2007: 175-77). Or, in
western and north India, dalits search for water is primarily
mediated through issues of untouchability, ownership and
social justice, without any nostalgic yearnings of a supposed
golden past or a harping back to tradition and conservation
(Omvedt 1987: 365-66). These water struggles, from Mahad
to Mangaon, open up new ways of looking at the politics of
water (Sharma 1999: 65-69). Further, there has been a call in
Maharashtra to make the plate of dalit food Indian, as
opposed to satvik (upper caste) cooking and food, and this
has implications for our understandings of food and agriculture (WS 10 Class of 2009: i-xiv). In Bihar and Tamil Nadu,
there have been movements of dalits, which have put forward
completely different values and understandings of animals
and animal sacrifice. For example, there have been movements by dalit organisations and parties such as the Pattali
Makkal Katchi (PMK), Puthiya Tamilagam and Viduthalai
Siruthaigal in Tamil Nadu in support of animal sacrifice by
dalits (Viswanathan 2007: 282-89). Similarly, there has been
an assertion by dalits in the village of Bangaon Mahisi in
north-eastern Bihar to continue with the tradition of buffalo
sacrifice (Jha 2010: 120-21).
To provide some more clues, in Uttar Pradesh, the social
struggles of dalits for freedom and emancipation from castebased occupations have had as one of their important planks
opposition to the preservation and development of traditional,
community-based livelihoods, as that is critically linked to
questions of stigma and taboo (Narayan 2011: 35-58). This
gives a different spin to the demands of various environmental
movements to maintain and conserve such occupations. Dalits
have also asserted their own claims to public spaces by creating and redesigning their own landscapes, parks and statues
in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. This has created a new space politics through environment, rendering the
ecological-public-political sphere dalit.
I wish to end this essay by referring to the recent controversy around the beef food festival and point to how that can
provide us with alternative understandings of the environment.
Food has been a key theme of Indian environmentalism. It
spans myriad issues, including poverty, hunger, food rights,
organic food, traditional farming, agricultural practices, vegetarianism, sustainable livelihoods, sustainable development
and ecological security. Some of the prominent environmental discourses have analysed the food crisis in the country as
rooted in a masculine agricultural science and development,
which has destroyed natures capital and a feminine knowledge of agriculture. Ecologically, the cow has been regarded
as central to Indian civilisation and agriculture. Materially
and conceptually, agricultural sustainability has been linked
to maintaining the integrity of the cow, considering it inviolable and sacred and seeing it as the mother of prosperity of
food systems (Shiva 1988: 96-178). Simultaneously, interrelationships between vegetarianism, the Hindu religion and
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environmentalism have been emphasised, where vegetarians

are understood as the best environmentalists. It is claimed,
As long as the leadership is in the hands of meat-consuming environmentalists, no long-term major advance can take place in improving
the environment. These people are making a lot of noises while tracts
of forests are being raised to the ground, green lands are turned into
deserts and habitats of endangered species are destroyed. They have
conveniently focused on only short-term options of recycling and
renewables and have ignored the more significant solution of adopting a vegetarian diet (IVU 2006).

However, the beef festival, held at Osmania University,

Hyderabad in April 2012, and the violence it engendered, has
brought into question the food politics in India (Kannabiran
2012; Raman 2012). While its linkages to caste, religion and
identity politics have been underscored, its environmental
underpinnings have not been given due attention. However, the
latter plays an important role, as it gives legitimacy to certain
kinds of food and makes some food pure and some others
impure on ecological grounds. Along with caste and religion,
environmental arguments are being used to justify what kind
of food is served and what should or should not be eaten, even
in our modern social and educational institutions. Dalits see
choices of food as an important site of contest, where politics of
caste, knowledge and exclusion play an important role. They
reject environmental arguments that reinforce caste hierarchy,
social status and ordering. This, according to them, negates
contentions of economic viability, availability and malnutrition.
The high protein content and affordability of buffalo meat
makes it a staple of poor peoples diet. Dalits also contend that
conventional environmental arguments police food habits, exclude culinary tastes and cuisine, and relegate certain foods as
unholy. Beef has become not only a provocative new symbol of dalit and backward-caste assertion (Raman 2012), but
also gives a different spin to environment discourses.
Conclusion

There appears to be a dialectical relationship between caste,

dalits and the environment. If we are able to locate Indian
environmental politics through the eyes and actions of dalits
and their various movements in different parts of the country,
we may be able to glean a new ecological universe, a visible
dalit environmental public space, which is often outside the
dominant discursive frame, but is nonetheless embedded in
dalit ecological understandings. Dalit environmentalism is not
a finished or a refined project. However, its relative invisibility
is also a sign of the upper-caste habitus operating in a sphere
of secular modernity and citizenship. By exploring the differential subject formations in relation to environment, as well as
by opening the public secrets of secular environment-hood, we
can bring the readings and understandings of caste, dalits and
environmentalism together.
Notes
1 While dalits and adivasis are two political subjectivities that centrally
mark our 20th century history and there are overlaps regarding their concerns on environment, they are not an easy pairing. There are analytical
differences and distinctions between them. This essay explicitly focuses
on dalits and caste politics in relation to ecology.

51

SPECIAL ARTICLE
2 As mentioned earlier, there are various modes
of environmentalism. Dalit intellectuals, while
focusing on a critique of brahmanical environmentalism, have not limited themselves to it.
3 For example, Periyar rejected the Ram Rajya
model, along with its ecological implications
(Basu 2002: xxx). The idea that Indian villages
were little republics and self-sufficient units
was effectively disproved by dalit intellectuals.
Instead, they argued that the strengthening of
the village system would only lead to the
strengthening of the caste system (Viswanathan
2007: xviii-xxx).
4 For the Mahad Satyagraha see Rao (2009: 83-93).
For the Nara-Maveshi movement, see Narayan
(2011: 40-58).
5 For details, see Sharma (2012).
6 Morrison (2010) through life-histories of ancient
reservoir irrigation systems in south India has
shown that there never was a golden age of
Indian irrigation, marked by environmental
stability, egalitarian social relations, and community self-governance. These systems never
worked perfectly, and power-laden technologies
had always been enmeshed with the structures
of inequality (pp 182-95). Shah (2008), in an
interesting analysis of tank irrigation, based on
folktales and songs, suggests that the design and
construction of tanks was based on availability
of coerced labour, expropriation of surplus by
elites, and forced displacement (pp 652-74).
7 For further details on this project, see Sharma
(2012: 146-84).
8 WWF-India (no date).
9 For details see, Friends of Vrindavan, 1998
Newsletter, London, p 13.
10 For details, see Amar Ujala, Agra, 27 June 1997,
which reported that the Valmikis were assaulted
while they were cleaning the area near the temple.
11 Interview with Chowdhary Bhagwan Das
Balmiki in Vrindavan, 18 August 1999.
12 Interview with Charandas Jatav in Vrindavan,
18 August 1999.
13 Interview with Anna Hazare by journalist
Rajesh Kumar, 25 October 1999.
14 This information was given to me in October 1999
by gram sewak K N Bhagat in Ralegan Siddhi.
15 Interview with Kailash Pote in Ralegan Siddhi,
8 October 1999.
16 Interview with Lakshman Dondiwa in Ralegan
Siddhi, 15 October 1999.
17 Interview with Kailash in Ralegan Siddhi, 15
October 1999.
18 Interview with Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi, 9-10 October 1999.
19 Raheja (1988) points out that the proper presentation and acceptance of daan, which ensures the well-being of the entire community,
is far more important than hierarchical considerations in structuring inter-caste relationships
in the village (p 28).
20 For example, Jaffrelot (1988); Omvedt (2006);
Guru (2009); Parish (1997); Sharma (2007).

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