Re-caste-ing Dalit Women in Brahmanical Environmentalism: A Case Study of Sulabh and ‘Liberated’ Scavengers

Abstract

This article provides a gendered, anti-caste critique of Sulabh International’s widely celebrated rehabilitation model for Dalit women manual scavengers, situating it within the broader field of environmental politics. While Sulabh has demonstrably improved the material conditions of thousands of Dalit women—ending their engagement with manual scavenging and offering new forms of livelihood and public visibility—it simultaneously reproduces caste and gender hierarchies through ritual, symbolism and the authority of a Brahmin male founder. The article argues that the domain of environmental reform, particularly when mediated by social organizations, has not been sufficiently interrogated for how it becomes a site for recalibrating Brahminical patriarchy and operationalizing caste power, with women as its central subjects. The article thus highlights the need to critically engage with the intersection of caste, gender and environment and to reimagine environmental justice through anti-caste and Dalit feminist lenses.