Banned by Law, Required by Caste

En parte, su escala actual se debe al período colonial británico, cuando las ciudades crecieron rápidamente y los británicos construyeron sistemas de alcantarillado que dependían de una mano de obra local barata y de las castas bajas para su mantenimiento.

In part, its current scale is a product of the British colonial period, when cities grew rapidly and the British built sewage systems that depended on cheap, low-caste local labor for their maintenance.

The colonial infrastructure argument.

Build the pipes, import the hierarchy to clean them.

Más o menos.

More or less.

Lo que hicieron los británicos fue formalizar e institucionalizar una división del trabajo que ya existía en la estructura de castas, pero a una escala urbana mucho mayor.

What the British did was formalize and institutionalize a division of labor that already existed within the caste structure, but at a much larger urban scale.

Y esa institucionalización sobrevivió a la independencia.

And that institutionalization survived independence.

Los nuevos municipios del India poscolonial heredaron tanto las infraestructuras como las prácticas laborales.

The new municipalities of post-colonial India inherited both the infrastructure and the labor practices.

There's a version of this story almost everywhere the British administered territory.

They didn't invent the local social order, but they had a real talent for bolting their administrative needs onto whatever hierarchy they found and then leaving.

Sí, aunque tampoco quiero que eso sirva de excusa para India en 2026.

Yes, though I don't want that to serve as an excuse for India in 2026.

Han pasado casi ochenta años desde la independencia.

Almost eighty years have passed since independence.

La Constitución de India, redactada en gran parte por B.

India's Constitution, largely drafted by B.

R.

R.

Ambedkar, que era él mismo Dalit, prohíbe explícitamente la discriminación por casta.

Ambedkar, who was himself a Dalit, explicitly prohibits caste discrimination.

El marco legal lleva décadas ahí.

The legal framework has been there for decades.

El problema es la voluntad política y las estructuras económicas.

The problem is political will and economic structures.

Ambedkar is a fascinating figure.

He's revered in certain circles and almost completely unknown outside India.

The man wrote the constitution of the world's largest democracy while belonging to the group that democracy still largely excludes from dignity.

Y Ambedkar sabía perfectamente lo que estaba construyendo y cuáles eran sus límites.

And Ambedkar knew perfectly well what he was building and where its limits were.

Antes de morir, en 1956, se convirtió al budismo junto con cientos de miles de seguidores, precisamente como rechazo al hinduismo y al sistema de castas.

Before he died, in 1956, he converted to Buddhism along with hundreds of thousands of followers, precisely as a rejection of Hinduism and the caste system.

Fue un acto político tanto como espiritual.

It was a political act as much as a spiritual one.

Okay, let me ask you something practical.

India has invested enormously in the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Clean India Mission, Modi's flagship sanitation program.

Billions of dollars building toilets, modernizing infrastructure.

Does any of that reach the people dying in these tanks?

En teoría, sí.

In theory, yes.

En la práctica, hay una brecha enorme.

In practice, there is an enormous gap.

Swachh Bharat construyó muchos retretes, pero la infraestructura para gestionar los residuos que generan esos retretes no creció al mismo ritmo.

Swachh Bharat built many toilets, but the infrastructure to manage the waste those toilets generate did not grow at the same pace.

Lo que ha pasado en muchos casos es que hay más fosas sépticas, más alcantarillas, más sistemas que requieren mantenimiento, y sigue siendo la misma población la que tiene que meterse dentro cuando algo falla.

What has happened in many cases is that there are more septic tanks, more sewers, more systems that need maintenance, and it is still the same population that has to go inside when something goes wrong.

So the program solved the top of the problem, the visible part, and left the invisible part exactly as it was.

More toilets, same people cleaning them the same way.

Así es.

That's exactly it.

Y hay algo que me parece especialmente significativo: el gobierno indio ha desarrollado robots para limpiar alcantarillas.

And there's something I find particularly striking: the Indian government has developed robots to clean sewers.

Existen.

They exist.

Han sido presentados con gran fanfarria mediática.

They've been unveiled with great media fanfare.

Y luego, en muchos municipios, siguen enviando a una persona sin equipo de protección porque el robot es caro y nadie se ha preocupado de financiar su uso sistemático.

And then, in many municipalities, they still send a person without protective equipment because the robot is expensive and nobody has bothered to fund its systematic use.

They built the robots.

They have the robots.

And they're still sending people in.

Sí.

Yes.

Hay informes de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos de India que documentan exactamente eso.

There are reports from India's National Human Rights Commission that document exactly that.

En algunos casos, los robots fueron adquiridos y luego quedaron sin usar porque no había presupuesto para el mantenimiento o porque los contratistas preferían la mano de obra humana, que es más barata y más flexible cuando surge un problema inesperado.

In some cases, robots were acquired and then left unused because there was no budget for maintenance, or because contractors preferred human labor, which is cheaper and more flexible when an unexpected problem arises.

La vida de un trabajador Dalit sin contrato cuesta menos, en términos económicos, que reparar una máquina.

The life of a contractless Dalit worker costs less, in economic terms, than repairing a machine.

That sentence is going to stay with me.

The life costs less than the repair bill.

Y hay que preguntarse qué pasará ahora con estas seis personas de Kalahandi.

And one must ask what will happen now with these six people from Kalahandi.

Lo que suele ocurrir en estos casos es que hay una investigación, se anuncia que se investigará a los responsables, y unos meses después todo queda en nada.

What typically occurs in these cases is that an inquiry is opened, an announcement is made that those responsible will be investigated, and a few months later the whole thing comes to nothing.

Las familias, a veces, reciben una indemnización simbólica.

The families sometimes receive a token compensation.

Los contratistas raramente van a la cárcel.

The contractors rarely go to prison.

Y el siguiente trabajador entra en la siguiente fosa.

And the next worker enters the next tank.

I've seen that cycle in a lot of contexts.

The inquiry becomes the substitute for the action.

You announce accountability and accountability never actually arrives.

Lo que sí ha cambiado en los últimos años, hay que reconocerlo, es la visibilidad.

What has changed in recent years, it must be acknowledged, is visibility.

Organizaciones como la Safai Karmachari Andolan, que en hindi significa algo así como 'movimiento de los trabajadores de saneamiento', llevan décadas documentando cada muerte y exigiendo justicia públicamente.

Organizations like Safai Karmachari Andolan, which in Hindi means something like 'sanitation workers movement,' have spent decades documenting each death and demanding justice publicly.

Las redes sociales han amplificado esas voces de una manera que antes no era posible.

Social media has amplified those voices in a way that was not previously possible.

Pero amplificación no es lo mismo que cambio.

But amplification is not the same as change.

The visibility argument is real but it has limits.

You can document injustice very thoroughly and still not touch the political economy that produces it.

Precisamente.

Precisely.

Y aquí hay una dimensión internacional que creo que vale la pena mencionar: India aspira a ser una potencia global del siglo veintiuno, con una economía en rápido crecimiento, un sector tecnológico pujante y una presencia diplomática cada vez mayor.

And there is an international dimension I think is worth mentioning: India aspires to be a global power of the twenty-first century, with a rapidly growing economy, a thriving tech sector, and an ever-greater diplomatic presence.

Y al mismo tiempo, tiene ciudadanos que mueren asfixiados en fosas sépticas porque el sistema considera que su vida vale menos que la de los demás.

And at the same time, it has citizens dying asphyxiated in septic tanks because the system considers their lives worth less than others.

Esa contradicción no puede mantenerse indefinidamente sin coste político.

That contradiction cannot be sustained indefinitely without political cost.

India is in a fascinating and uncomfortable position on this.

It correctly pushes back against Western condescension about its development model.

But it's harder to make that argument when Dalit workers are dying in sewers under laws that prohibit exactly that.

Y los propios movimientos Dalit son conscientes de esa palanca.

And the Dalit movements themselves are aware of that lever.

Algunos activistas han llevado casos ante organismos internacionales, han conseguido que el Comité de Derechos Humanos de la ONU se pronuncie, han usado foros globales para ejercer presión.

Some activists have brought cases before international bodies, have secured statements from the UN Human Rights Committee, have used global forums to apply pressure.

No es suficiente, pero es más de lo que había hace veinte años.

It is not enough, but it is more than there was twenty years ago.

What would actually fix this?

If you had to say: here is the thing that would genuinely break the cycle.

Varios factores tendrían que confluir al mismo tiempo.

Several factors would have to converge at the same time.

Primero, aplicación real de la ley, con condenas efectivas de prisión para los contratistas que contraten trabajadores para estos espacios confinados.

First, real enforcement of the law, with actual prison sentences for contractors who hire workers for these confined spaces.

Segundo, un programa nacional serio de reconversión laboral para los trabajadores afectados, con financiación garantizada.

Second, a serious national retraining program for affected workers, with guaranteed funding.

Y tercero, que puede parecer más abstracto pero no lo es, una transformación de las actitudes sociales hacia los Dalit.

And third, something that may seem more abstract but is not, a transformation of social attitudes toward Dalits.

Eso es lo más lento de cambiar y lo que más importa a largo plazo.

That is the slowest thing to change and the most important in the long run.

The third one is the kind of thing that takes generations and requires the dominant group to give something up.

That's historically the hardest thing to make happen without a catastrophic rupture of some kind.

Es verdad.

That's true.

Y hay que ser honesto: no hay un ejemplo fácil en la historia de una jerarquía de castas que haya sido desmantelada de manera pacífica y completa.

And one must be honest: there is no easy example in history of a caste hierarchy being dismantled peacefully and completely.

Lo que sí hay son mejoras parciales, avances que coexisten con la persistencia de la discriminación.

What there are instead are partial improvements, advances that coexist with the persistence of discrimination.

El derecho al voto de los Dalit, las cuotas en la educación y en la función pública, han creado una clase media Dalit que antes no existía.

Dalit voting rights, quotas in education and public service, have created a Dalit middle class that did not previously exist.

Pero eso no ha llegado al fondo del pozo.

But that has not reached the bottom of the pit.

And the bottom of the pit, in this case, is quite literal.

Sí.

Yes.

Literalmente.

Literally.

Hay algo que me parece importante subrayar para cerrar esta parte: estas muertes no son invisibles solo para el mundo exterior.

There is something I think is important to underline as we close this part: these deaths are not only invisible to the outside world.

Son invisibles dentro de la propia India para una gran parte de la clase media urbana, que vive en un país que funciona, que tiene tecnología y aspiraciones globales, y que raramente tiene que pensar en quién limpia lo que nadie quiere ver.

They are invisible within India itself to a large part of the urban middle class, which lives in a country that works, that has technology and global ambitions, and that rarely has to think about who cleans what nobody wants to see.

The invisibility of infrastructure is universal.

Nobody thinks about where their water goes until somebody has to go in after it.

Exactamente.

Exactly.

Y eso, Fletcher, es en parte una cuestión de lenguaje.

And that, Fletcher, is partly a matter of language.

Fíjate en la expresión que usamos: 'saneamiento manual'.

Notice the expression we use: 'manual scavenging.' It sounds technical, neutral, almost clinical.

Suena técnico, neutral, casi aséptico.

It hides the reality of what it describes.

Oculta la realidad de lo que describe.

There is a whole tradition of using euphemisms to render invisible what is uncomfortable to look at.

Hay toda una tradición de usar eufemismos para hacer invisible lo que resulta incómodo mirar.

You know, that phrase you just used, 'hacer invisible', to make invisible, I've been noticing how you use 'hacer' with adjectives throughout this conversation.

You'd say 'hacer visible' where in English we'd say 'render something visible' or 'make something visible.' Is that construction as flexible in Spanish as it seems?

Muy buena observación.

Very good observation.

Sí, en español 'hacer' más un adjetivo es una estructura muy productiva.

Yes, in Spanish 'hacer' plus an adjective is a very productive structure.

Puedes decir 'hacer visible', 'hacer posible', 'hacer inevitable', y funciona con casi cualquier adjetivo.

You can say 'hacer visible,' 'hacer posible,' 'hacer inevitable,' and it works with almost any adjective.

Lo interesante es que a veces implica un agente activo, alguien que deliberadamente produce ese resultado.

The interesting thing is that it sometimes implies an active agent, someone who deliberately produces that result.

'El gobierno hizo invisible el problema' tiene una carga de responsabilidad que 'el problema fue invisibilizado' intenta eludir.

'The government made the problem invisible' carries a weight of responsibility that 'the problem was rendered invisible' tries to avoid.

So it's not just a grammar trick, it's a way of assigning blame.

'Alguien hizo esto invisible' points a finger in a way that the passive construction lets off the hook.

Exactamente.

Exactly.

Y hay una diferencia más: 'hacer invisible' describe un proceso en curso, algo que se sigue haciendo activamente.

And there is one more difference: 'hacer invisible' describes an ongoing process, something that is still being actively done.

'Volverse invisible', por otro lado, sugiere que el objeto desapareció de alguna manera por sí solo, como si nadie tuviera culpa de nada.

'Volverse invisible,' on the other hand, suggests the object somehow disappeared on its own, as if nobody were to blame for anything.

En política y en periodismo, la elección entre una construcción y otra nunca es inocente.

In politics and in journalism, the choice between one construction and the other is never innocent.

A journalist and a journalist.

We were always going to end up talking about how language is used to hide things rather than show them.

On that note, and because we've somehow managed to talk about Ambedkar, colonial sewage systems, and Spanish grammar in one conversation, I think we should call it there.

Y si alguien quiere practicar la construcción de hoy, que pruebe a usarla con algo importante.

And if anyone wants to practice today's construction, try using it with something that matters.

No 'hacer feliz'.

Not 'make happy.' Something worth making visible.

Algo que valga la pena hacer visible.