Author – Sahil Valmiki

The well of death of ‘caste-based profession’ was ready for me too like hundreds of thousand people, today I have a pen, a camera, and a mic in my hand instead of a broomstick, I owe everything to the great heroes and social reformers we had, Mata Savitribai Phule, Jotiba, Babasaheb!

My Name is Sahil Valmiki, Founding Editor, Dalit Desk. I have been covering our issues that mainstream ignores, from atrocities to political rallies, for more than 2 years now.

I was born in a village in Haryana, in the Valmiki community. Yes, people who come to clean your house. My parents took loans just to send me to a good school, they just wanted me to get a good education. Well, I remember when the upper caste people of my village used to ask my father about me and my father used to tell them that my son is studying in that school and they used to say “arrey bawla ho gaya hai kya tu jo ladke ko itne mehnge school me padha raha hai” “Chuhda ke balak kab te itne mehenge school me jaan lage” “Kitna bhi padh lo rahoge to tum vahi badal thodi jaoge”.

I am the first generation from my community who has passed college, we were not allowed to read and write for centuries, were forced to do sanitation work. My parents and uncles, aunts had gone to school but were only able to study till 5th or 8th grade. When I tried knowing why is this so? Then I got to know how the teachers in schools forced them to leave the school, As punishment, they had to sweep the whole school. Just to make them realize that where they come from, whereas Savarna children did not get such punishment. There was so much caste humiliation in schools that they had to leave school. However, I reached college, I studied Journalism and Mass Communication so that I can put my point in front of everyone. Often the screams of our society do not reach the ears of Savarna journalists, it remain suffocated in our Dalit Bastis. From school to college and then Workplace, caste does not leave you.

Today, despite so many years of exploitation, we have got this right to education, now we are educated, and we can talk about our rights ourselves. All this is just because of the great heroes, social reformers we had, those who gave everything to make this happen.

Thank you Savitri Mai, Thank you Babasaheb.

About Author – The author is the Founding Editor of the Dalit Desk