Untouchable’ cleaners scrubbed toilets for 30 cents a month

Indian state gov’t refuses to compensate them

NEW DELHI An Indian state government is facing contempt of court charges over its refusal to compensate two “untouchable” women it paid only about 30 cents per month as cleaners in a teacher training college where they have been working since 1971, though today they are reportedly each owed about $51,149.

The women, Akku and Leela, spent their entire working lives at the Government Women Teachers Training Institute in Udupi, Karnataka, where they cleaned 21 washrooms every day for about a quarter per month.

That was enough for a small bottle of water that costs about 23 cents, but not enough for a pound of rice that was about 40 cents.

Human rights campaigners said the government had cheated the women and believed it would get away with it because they were illiterate villagers.

The women, who have now reached the retirement age of 60, joined the college when they were 18 years old in 1971 on the promise that they would be paid $56.83 per month.

They were told they would be paid a token amount of 30 cents a month until the government officially approved their appointments and then they would receive their full pay, retroactive to the day they joined.

When, after a year, they had still not had their jobs officially approved, they complained but the principal pleaded with them to stay and promised they would receive more than $1,137 in back pay and warned they would lose this if they resigned.

By the time they brought the matter to court in 2003, 32 years later, the judge ruled they were owed more than $20,636 each.

According to Dr. Rabindranath Shanbhag of the Human Rights Protection Foundation, the women kept cleaning the washrooms because they feared they would lose what they were owed if they resigned.

But the school’s teachers also pleaded with them to stay and together helped them survive by giving them about $19 a month.

Instead of accepting the High Court of Karnataka ruling in the women’s favour, the state government appealed to India’s Supreme Court, which also backed the women’s claim.

But its ruling in 2010 has been ignored and the women continue to clean the washrooms every day.

Today they are each owed $51,149 and they now need to be paid that money. Akku has five children, two boys and three girls, while Leela has four girls.

The “untouchables,” also known as “Dalits,” are members of the lowest caste in India. Many of its members do the dirtiest jobs, including cleaning septic tanks and toilets.

Because of this, many view them as unclean. They also suffer discrimination and face physical attacks and abuse from higher caste groups.