Indian woman ostracised from village for taking sweeping job...

Village elders in south-east India have ordered a young woman to be ostracised for 60 years because she took a menial job as a sweeper despite belonging to a higher caste.

Pinki Rajak, a 22-year-old member of the Dhobi community, which traditionally washes and irons clothes, caused outrage among her group's elders when she accepted a lowly sweeper's job at a local school near Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

Ms Rajak's plight has highlighted the continuing power of caste in rural India where strict segregation is maintained between 'higher' and 'lower' castes.

 Sweeping work in India, including shoe polishing, is reserved for members of the Chamar 'untouchable' caste, along with other 'dirty' jobs like 'night-soil carrying' of human waste and tannery work. The Dhobis however are regarded as a 'cleansing' caste, said Dr Vidhu Verma, a caste expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Full story...

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