An Exploration into the History of ‘Unclean People’ Who Clean the City of Kashmir

Abstract

Ideally, we want to believe, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 ce during the beginning of the American Revolution, that ‘all men are created equal’. But that is not always the case in the real world because some groups have greater access to the resources of society than others, due to the social and economic barriers that they have created for their own benefit, so as to exploit the lower and poor sections of the society. The sweeper community of Kashmir Valley is one of the communities that have remained behind socially, economically and educationally from ancient times till now. There is a deep and pertinent history of the discrimination that they have faced. There are well-established evidences that help us understand their sufferings and miseries from time immemorial. This community is one of several marginalized communities of Kashmir that were dominated by other groups on account of its socio-economic backwardness. This community has suffered through a wide range of social, economic and political disadvantages that have rendered their position to a sub-human living. In this article, an attempt has been made to highlight the problems and discrimination faced by this community for decades.