UNTOUCHABLENO MOREIndia's economic boom is breakingdown 3,SOO-year-old caste barriersBY LYOIA POLGREEN IN PED, INDIA

On his barefoot trudge toschool decades ago, ayoung Ashok Khade (KAH-day) saw daily reminders

of his lowly lot-the well fromwhich he was not allowed to drink;the temple where he was not per-mitted to worship. At school, he saton the floor in a part of the class-room that was built a, step lowerthan the rest. Because he was bornan untouchable-a member of asocial class considered spirituallyand physically unclean-he wasforbidden to "pollute" his upper-caste neighbors and classmates.

But on. a recent afternoon,Khade's chauffeur guided his silverBMW sedan onto that same streetin his home village of Ped (seemap, pp. 14-15). This time, vil-lage leaders rushed to greet him.He paid his respects at the temple,which he had paid to rebuild.The untouchable boy had becomegolden, thanks to somethingunthinkable when he was a boy:He has money-and lots of it.

As the founder of an offshoreoil-rig company, Khade is an exam-ple of a tiny but growing group:wealthy Dalits-the people onceknown as untouchables.

"I've gone from village topalace," he says, describing his

remarkable journey from the son ofan illiterate shoemaker to a success-ful business partner of Arab sheiks.

The remarkable turnaround inKhade's prospects was made pos--sible by, a monumental shift ineconomics and attitudes that haschanged India forever.

Out of the ShadowsIndia's caste system began more

than 3,500 years ago among Hin-dus, but other Indians-includingMuslims, Sikhs, and Christians-adopted its practices. At least 3,000castes existed, originally defined bythe work people did.

The castes fell into four maingroups. At the top were the Brah-mans, a priestly class who studiedholy texts and observed variousrituals. Below them was a warriorclass dedicated to protecting Brah-

APRIL 2,2012/ JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 11

WATCHAVIDEOwww.scholastic

.COI\1J].,S, ..

mans and the country's rulers. Nextcame merchants, artisans, and farm-ers. The lowest of the four maincaste groups were the laborers whoserved the three higher groups.

At the very bottom of the socialscale were the "outcastes"-peopleso low that they weren't even con-sidered a caste. Untouchables didthe filthiest jobs, like cleaning upanimal and human waste.

India's 1949 constitutionpledged equal opportunity for allIndians. It banned the caste sys-tem and outlawed the practice ofphysical untouchability. But lawsare one thing; 3,500 years of tradi-tion are another. For true changeto come to Dalits' lives, somethingelse had to give.

"A Golden Period"In the 1990s, it did. Determined

to shed India's "poor nation" sta-tus, the government began to relaxthe tight control it had over the

WORDS TO KNOW• caste [n]. a social class that

Indians were born into andremained in for life

• entrepreneur {n}: a person whostarts his or her own business

• monsoon {n}: a seasonal windthat brings heavy rains tosouthern Asia

• untouchable {n}: a person borninto a group considered sounclean that it fell outside thecaste system altogether

12 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / APRIL 2,2012

nation's economy. When it openedthe gates to foreign businesses andinvestors, they came flooding in.Since 1991, hundreds of thousandsof new businesses have been cre-ated in India.

As the saying goes,"a rising tidelifts all boats"-and Dalits wereamong the millions of Indianswhose economic and social statusimproved.

For nearly a century beforeits independence in 1947, Indiawas a British colony. As a result,it has a large number of Eng-lish speakers. That and a poornation's lower wages helpedturn India into an idealloca-tion for many U.S. businesses.

For instance, many Americancompanies started moving theircustomer-service call centers toIndia. Today, if your computerdoesn't work and you call a toll-free number, the person on theother end of the line may well be inIndia rather than the United States.

The boom in call centers, bank-ing, and tech companies led to the

Flanked by his BMWand chauffeur, AshokKhade (center) greetsa villager in Rohini.

rapid expansion of a new middleclass, and India's 200 millionuntouchables benefited from all thenew jobs that were created.

Some Dalits have turned theirtraditional untouchable jobs intobig businesses. Leatherworkers,once looked down on for dealingwith the skins of dead animals,now make top-quality briefcases,cell phone cases, and other leatherproducts.

One Mumbai leatherworkerhas a shop where a team of 22laborers turns out thousands ofcustom-made briefcases for bigcompanies.

For the first time ever, Dalits areable to earn good livings-and winsocial respect as well.

"This is a golden period forDalits," says Chandra BhanPrasad, a Dalit activist andresearcher. "India is moving froma caste-based to a class-basedsociety, where if you have allthe goodies in life and your bankaccount is booming, you areacceptable. "

I

Elephants are a commonsiglit In India's cities, wherethey're often used to

r.-ry transport goods and people.t~" .•..-"'!

From Hunger, AmbitionKhade's rags-to-riches story -

stands out because of how' com-pletely he transformed himself. Hewas born in a mud hut in Ped in1955, one of six children. His fam-ily was at the very bottom of theHindu social scale. Their traditionaljob was to skin dead animals.

The Khades were poor andalways hungry. One day, Ashok'smother sent him to fetch a smallbag of flour on credit from a nearbyflour mill so that she could cookflatbread for dinner. But it wasthe monsoon season, and Ashokslipped in the mud. The preciousflour landed in a puddle.

"I came home weeping. Mymother was weeping. My brothersand sisters were hungry." But thathunger gave him drive. "That,"he says, "was my starting day."

Khade got his first break thatyear, when he was admitted toa school in a nearby town runby a charity. Upper-caste teachersencouraged him, and he graduatednear the top of his class.

In Mumbai,shanties sit in'the shadows ofskyscrapers.

Khade got a job at a ship-building company, where his skillswon him promotions. One day,he saw the pay slip of one of hisEuropean co-workers. That personearned more in one month thanKhade earned in a year. The experi-ence opened Khade's eyes. "I knewI could do better [running my owncompany] than working for some-one else," he says.

Khade's company, which buildsoffshore oil rigs, has grown rap-idly. He recently signed a deal witha member of the royal family inthe United Arab Emirates to workon oil wells there. He has 4,500employees, and his companyisvalued at more than $100 million."An untouchable boy the businesspartner of a prince?" he says. "Whowould believe that is possible?"

In the End: A DalitDespite, the success of men like

Khade, a Datit entrepreneur isstill much more likely to be a poorwoman who starts a small businessbecause few other options are open

to her. Most female Dalit entrepre-neurs make less than $100 a monthfrom their businesses. Still, that'sa big improvement over what waspossible for them in the past.

But for Dalits, economic successdoesn't guarantee social acceptance.Wealth protects them somewhatfrom lingering caste prejudice, butbarriers remain. Because namesoften reveal an Inman's caste, some

lJaIits change theirs. Recently, oneDalit businessman who installssolar water heaters changed his lastname. He worried that upper-castepeople wouldn't want a Dalit install-ing an appliance associated withpersonal hygiene in their homes.

Even Khade, with all his wealthand newfound status, doesn't wantto offend potential upper-casteclients. His business card readsAshok K, leaving off the last name

(

that reveals what he is: a Dalit..- -With reporting by Hari Kumar

THINK ABOUT IT: Do you think"untouchables"like Ashok Khade stillcarry emotional scars? Explain.

APRIL 2,2012/ JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 13