ABSTRACT
In the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), especially in its eastern part, relatively little attention has been paid by researchers to the nexus between economic and political power relations in everyday life, social structures and the 'classes of labour' in the context of the lives of rural Dalit women labourers. The Dalit women were astute and realised that most of the welfare schemes that the government provided for the chutkas such as reservations, subsidised rations, scholarships, credit facilities for livestock rearing and loan write-offs were cornered by powerful, well-networked locals. Dalit women labourers are required to subsidise Dalit male labour and the new dignity of Dalit men and also, in this process, facilitate male capitalist accumulation. This chapter explores the interface through an ethnographically inspired analysis of their labour relations. It illustrates labour relations as part of wider village-based social, economic and political relations of domination and subjugation that are shaped by caste, class and gender identities.
