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Journalism of Courage
Disasters test a society in diverse ways. They take proof of the country8217;s preparedness to spring to the rescue of people struck by nature8217;s fury. In the relief and rehabilitation operations undertaken, they extract an account of the norms and principles society lives by. In extremis, every social faultline, every crevice between assertion and action is magnified 8212; for government and civil society, for survivor and faraway observer. This is why reports of almost systematic exclusion of Dalits from the relief operations in Tamil Nadu are doubly distressing. As this newspaper documented on Friday, in many relief camps in Nagapattinam families are being turned away simply because they happen to be Dalit. They are refused water from tankers, relief material distributed at temple camps, and refuge in makeshift shelters.
There are any number of provisions on the statute books that allow the authorities to step in to ensure access to the needy, irrespective of their caste 8212; and equally importantly, to ensure that perpetrators of this kind of discrimination are punished. In the tsunami-affected villages of Natapattinam, those perpetrators are said to belong to a majority fisherman community that is providing the manpower in distribution of relief supplies. This can in no way be used by the administration as an alibi for inaction. Reaching assistance to the last man is the government8217;s duty 8212; and in this case, clearly, it involves battling caste oppressions. It could, in fact, be a transformative process.
