The Navsarjan Trust, founded in 1988, has been one of our oldest and most effective partner organizations. Its founder, the patriarchal Martin Macwan, was recently honored with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. The Navsarjan Trust has as its mandate to eliminate all discrimination based upon caste, though it focuses on the most egregiously disenfranchised caste, the dalits, and works mainly in Gujarat. Its staff, 100% of whom are themselves dalit, devote themselves to championing dalit rights by providing legal services to those in need.

   In addition the Trust provides training to community leaders, telling them what their rights are under the secular constitution of India (in which caste discrimination is specifically made illegal under the law). It shows these leaders how to weave in and out of the system and manipulate it to bring about the betterment of their people. Thats what empowerment means, that you show the people how to help themselves. That you teach them to fish, rather than giving them fish. The Trust also champions specific causes, in recent years it has participated in efforts to truly implement the government-mandated minimum wage (which is often ignored by employers). And the end of manual scavenging in which the government employs workers, frequently Dalits, to pick up sewage rather than creating a sewage system). Now at the first shake of the cat's whiskers manual scavenging might not seem too bad, after all it does provide employment. But in reality it is a government-sponsored policy that unwittingly demeans dalits. Furthermore it continues a cycle of allowing dalits to be shoved under the woodwork instead of giving them dignified and honorable means of employment.

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