Thousands of low-caste Indian "untouchables'' are being denied food, water and shelter by higher castes in camps for tsunami survivors. About 5,000 Dalits from the worst-hit area south of Madras have been kept from aid agency water tanks and pushed to the back of the long lineups for food.

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=4a679f5b-3a62-47fd-8e41-2d07c7b1edfb
The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, January 08, 2005

Thousands of low-caste Indian "untouchables'' are being denied food, water and shelter by higher castes in camps for tsunami survivors. About 5,000 Dalits from the worst-hit area south of Madras have been kept from aid agency water tanks and pushed to the back of the long lineups for food. Fishermen from the higher Meenavar caste also turned the Dalits, who they employed as labourers before the tsunami, out of shelters, gave them leftovers to eat and prevented them from using toilets. At one camp near Nagapattinam, the Dalits were forced to sleep on a nearby road because upper-caste women said they did not "feel safe'' with them around. An aid worker said, "Since the Dalits are not getting sufficient food and water, we have started separate kitchens. We are also converting separate camps.'' Dalits, a third of India's billion population, are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system, which is topped by Brahmans.