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52 Soc. Change 7 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/sclcnge52 and id is 1 raw text is: Article Caste of Labour: Dalits, Social Change 52(1) 7-23, 2022 the Industrial Ecosystem Reprints and so°n22 and Environmental in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india and~~~ En io m na I0: 10.1177/00490857221079467 Politics in Delhi journals.sagepub.com/home/sch $SAGE Mukul Sharma1 Industries develop in India in a particular form of exploitation of human, natural and social structures, where nature is industrialised and caste is naturalised. The division of labour in a factory interacts with caste hierarchy in society, where a dalit working body, physicality and social positions play an important role within the production process, under the control of capital. The environmental politics against pollution can create an industrial and social environment within which polluting industries and 'impurity' of dalit labourers' bodies become synonymous with each other. Based on the analytic frameworks of Marx and B.R. Ambedkar and an extensive field study of an industrial area in Delhi, the article narrates how dalit labourers in stainless steel utensil factories move in and out ofthe industrial ecosystem and how they contest the repressive nature of their work and environment. Keywords Dalit labour, caste, industry, environment, steel, Delhi The Wazirpur Industrial Area (WIA) in Delhi,' the capital of India, is choked with small andmediumenterprises, spread over athousand plots. Metal, plastic, chemical, engineering, electrical and transport equipment factories appear in a variety of shades-indoor and outdoor, gated and open, complexes and warehouses, tin shields and makeshift brick structures, where machines, labourers, raw materials, waste products, pumps, piping, drainage, cart, lorry, light and sound come into sight from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. Two blocks-A and B-are well-known, for more than a thousand stainless steel utensils producing units that are located there. Signboards are randomly displayed-manufacturer, supplier, trader, exporter, wholesaler-on the factory front, announcing their fine products. Stainless steel is ' Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana, India. Corresponding author Mukul Sharma, Ashoka University, #2, Rajiv Gandhi Education City, P.O. Rai, Sonipat, Haryana 131029, India. Email mukul.sharma@ashoka.edu.in