The Worst Job in the World - Untouchables

The Worst Job in the World: The Bhangis of India

This film is a documentary about the Bhangis, a part of the “untouchables” the lowest caste in India’s Caste System. The Bhangis are Dalits (broken/scattered people). The documentary follows two families that are Bhangis, manual laborers which basically means cleaning human feces in the streets, sewers and latrines. Many parts of India have no toilets or plumbing so people defecate in the streets. Some Bhangis also burn dead bodies or do laundry, these are all a part of a complicated sub caste in the Caste System. Most families were born into this type of work. One woman married a man that did this work and another woman started to work because her husband was a drunk and did not support her or her children, therefor her mother-in-law brought her to work, cleaning human feces from latrines, using their bare hands, a small broom and buckets. A man that used to do this work with his family is advocating to end the indecency this work brings, calling it inhumane. At one point in the film, a man is arguing with the camera crew because the work they have these Dalits do is technically illegal, but nothing is done. The documentary explains that in India, it is cheaper to have people do this kind of dirty work by hand rather than machinery so the government avoids enforcing those laws. You can hear the pain in these families voices as they talk about having to do this work to support their families and eat. The families doing this work are not getting paid well at all, I would say the bare minimum to stay alive. One of the women said this work is “the lowest of the low”. The women describes how they often get sick from cleaning feces all day and have to take “cheap medicine”. These people will not be able to get better jobs due to their place in the caste system, they continue to work to feed their children but they take no pride in their jobs. The documentary ends with the explanation that women are encouraged to turn down husbands that do not have toilets in their homes and that India is working towards having toilets in every area, although this will not necessarily stop the problem. Even if there is more plumbing throughout India, Bhangis are still put to work in cleaning out the latrines. The only way this inhuman act will stop is if humanity is given to the Dalits.

The Bhangis are born into their status in the world through the caste system, they are “untouchables”, they “have no place” in society. They earned that status from their past life, they don’t know why or what for but they lived in sin, therefor they are Dalits. They cannot change their status because of the caste system, they will remain Dalits. The Dalits will not be given better jobs other than the “dirty” jobs and those higher in the caste system will not permit them in their homes or touch anything a Dalit has touched, much less touch them. The Dalits are paid very poorly and live in poverty. Dalit life fits in the caste system at the very bottom. In Hindu society Dalits were rejected by God.

From the documentary, some Dalits seem to accept their place and some do not. A lot of Dalits practice the very religion that discriminates against them, hoping to move up the caste

system in their next life, or maybe for their children. They do not like their jobs, but they accept the job in order to eat and provide. Some Dalits do not accept their place in Hindu society and advocate that the work is dirty, inhumane and unacceptable. One Dalit being interviewed left his family to fight the discrimination against Dalits and works with organizations to enforce laws against defecation in the streets and to enforce laws about using people to clean it. These advocates are trying to help change life for the Dalits by creating better jobs. Although progress has been made with the help of advocates and organizations to improve the Dalits quality of life, they still remain at the bottom of Hindu society and are very much discriminated against.

Works Cited

“The Worst Job in the World: The Bhangis of India.” CNM Libraries EResources Authentication, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, 2006, libproxy.cnm.edu:8443/login?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffod.infobase.com%2FPortalPlaylists.aspx%3FwID&xtid=37126.