Dalit billionaires stun caste-ridden nation

For centuries Dalits or Harijans lived with spit on their face and shit on their head at the mercy of upper castes in Hindu society. They were the untouchables — of course that did not prevent Brahmins and Rajputs from raping Dalit women while their men folk carried on their heads iron buckets filled with faeces from latrines across India. Anyone who dared to protest was literally spat upon.

Soon after independence, the constitution lumped together oppressed and suppressed Dalits scattered across India as Scheduled Castes, or SC, and reserved government jobs for them to improve their lot. It made very little difference to their plight at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Until recently, assertive Dalits were gunned down by higher castes in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Latest statistics reveal that there are around 180 million Dalits among 1.2 billion Indians.

But the winds of change are blowing. Incredibly enough, a new breed of Dalit millionaires and billionaires has emerged of late. The Economic Times, India's leading business newspaper, attributes their rise to the economic reforms in the last 20 years which created plenty of opportunities, empowerment through democracy and cutting edge entrepreneurship. A series of articles has turned the spotlight on the unexpected rise of once marginalised and exploited Dalits turning many wealthy Indians green with envy.
To be sure, a Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (Dicci) has just been established in Mumbai! Dicci was born in Hotel Taj Mahal — a symbol of wealth and the good life in India's business and entertainment capital. The founding fathers shelled out Rs Five Hundred Thousand, or half a million rupees, for hiring the iconic hotel's Rooftop Rendezvous to launch Dicci in style. Nobody knows the total expenses for the grand evening where single malt scotch flowed like water!

But Dalit entrepreneurs are an amazing lot. Their rise is truly mind-boggling. Obviously, none of them was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Some were lucky enough to be born in families which could afford to send them to school and college — education became their weapon for fighting the odds stacked against them. But many were born in penniless homes. They did odd jobs in their childhood. And yet fortune smiled at them.

Bhagwan Gawai's story is stranger than fiction. He carried bricks on his head at a construction site in Mumbai. After slogging for hours in the scorching sun, he grappled with textbooks at night. Armed with a college degree he cracked a tough examination and joined the state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. His seniors who belonged to the higher castes played havoc with his annual appraisals. Gawai dragged HPCL to court for denying him promotions. The court ruled in his favour.

After the legal verdict, his superiors shunted him to Dubai hoping to break his spirit. But Gawai bloomed in the desert instead of withering away! He acquired Arab friends who funded a trading business improvised by Gawai. Gradually, he roped in 30 Dalit entrepreneurs. The holding company, Maitreya Developers, now has a turnover of a whopping $20 million.

Sushil Patil's IEPC has an annual revenue of Rs 280 crores today. But not too long ago, his father — a poorly paid ordnance factory employee — could not afford to pay Sushil's final year college fees which were ultimately waived. Sushil changed several jobs before he set up his own business with the help of small loans. His first commercial venture flopped but Sushil did not throw in the towel. After several failures, he established the hugely successful IEPC.

Ashok Khade owns a major offshore services company. At present, he is giving the finishing touches to a blueprint for establishing a jetty fabrication yard which will employ as many as 2500 workers. He is the son of a cobbler who repaired shoes sitting under a tree in Mumbai.

However, he sent Ashok to school and college. Ashok worked at the government's Mazagon Docks before starting his own offshore services business which changed his life forever.

India's education system is frequently criticised for churning out good-for-nothing graduates. However, faulty the system might be, it proved to be a boon for Dalits, according to a path-breaking study spearheaded by Devesh Kapur. Kapur has concluded that without education Dalits wouldn't be where they are today. Education opened doors which would have otherwise remained shut.

Dalit efforts to come out of the woods are being supported by several captains of industry. First and foremost among them is B. Muthuraman, vice chairman of Tata Steel and the newly-elected president of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He is advocating what's called supplier diversity, or the affirmative tactic of sourcing goods and services from under-privileged and minority suppliers by big American companies. Companies like Ford, Honda, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Proctor & Gamble and Walmart purchase stuff worth $1 billion annually from minority and women-owned suppliers.

Muthuram is leaving no stones unturned to convince Indian industry to take a leaf out of America's book. If he succeeds, India is bound to see a quantum leap in the number of Dalit billionaires.

————————————–
S. N. M. Abdi is a consulting editor, writer, columnist and broadcaster from India.