This note deals with the problem of manual scavenging in India as a form of caste and occupationbased social exclusion. It tries to explore the causes and reasons for the continuance of this social evil in India with a case study of Ghazipur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Kalliammal is busy gathering harvested gingerly seed crops and piling them up in a heap and does not notice us as we enter the village. A quick glance around, will tell you that many of her neighbours are in a hurry as well. It

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, is a landmark legislation that recognizes and provides a framework for vesting forest use, protection and conservation rights, and occupation in forest land, to tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, residing in such forests for generations.

This is a study of social mobility over 25 years in six villages in the former Tiruchirapalli district in Tamil Nadu. The two most important external drivers are local industrialisation and social policy in a broad sense.