Isn't Slavery Bad Karma or Something?

For the seventh year running, India has been categorized as a Tier 2 Watch List country on the U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report. Although the government has made efforts to develop anti-trafficking legislation, shelters, and Anti-Human Trafficking Units, the classification is decidedly not awesome. India can do better.

The question is, though, considering the country's firmly-established caste system, which essentially contains a built-in set of slaves, will India do better — and does it even want to?

With a dominant Hindu population, India (as well as Nepal, who was ranked this year at Tier 2) has adhered for centuries to a caste system that defines a person's social standing from the moment he or she is born. There is no upward mobility, save for reincarnation into a better station, and more than 160 million members of the population are Dalits, known once as Untouchables. They are literally "outcastes," not even considered part of the ranks. The life of a Dalit? Not exactly grand. Particularly in rural areas, Dalits are susceptible to lives of bonded labor, forced prostitution, and the truly shit job of manual scavenging.

I can't pretend to understand the intricacies of a social caste system with thousands of sub-castes and unwritten rules of behavior likely only understood by a person raised in the culture. But bonded labor, forced prostitution, and cleaning out sewers with the most basic tools for, like, two cents a day do sound an awful lot like slavery to me. And no disrespect whatsoever to practitioners of the Hindu religion — whose sacred texts, by the way, never did encourage mistreatment of one's fellow human beings — but whatever happened to Ahimsa? And if any act out there is going to qualify as "bad karma," wouldn't it be enslavement? I'm just saying ...

Outside of debating hypocrisy within the caste system, it is important to understand its ties to human trafficking, and the role it plays alongside the usual suspects, such as poverty, corruption, weak legislation and lack of public awareness. Dr. Joseph D'souza of the Dalit Freedom Network has said as much in interviews and essays on the subject, noting: "India ... is a very complex culture with a root issue of caste discrimination behind some of our social ills. While we have numerous strengths, perhaps we have hidden our deepest problems due to shame or, because of colonial history, a fear of outsiders meddling in our culture."

Laws and programs in support of Dalits and how they are treated have been developed in recent years, and caste discrimination is less common these days in urban areas. But, traditions run deep, and those whom the caste system benefits are not necessarily so eager to break away from a setup that provides an enormous, ready-made force of cheap labor, prostitutes, and (sorry to say it) shit-scrapers. Maybe the next Gandhi or B.R. Ambedkar will come around someday to deliver the final nail in the caste system's coffin. Until then, we should at least be aware that modern-day slaves in India often go by another name, which really isn't modern at all.

Photo credit: babasteve