A document of the long-silenced and long-denied sufferings of the Dalits, Joothan is a major contribution to the archives of Dalit history and a manifesto for the revolutionary transformation of society and human consciousness. India's untouchables have been forced to accept and eat joothan for centuries, and the word encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of India's social pyramid. Valmiki shares his heroic struggle to survive a preordained life of perpetual physical and mental persecution and his transformation into a speaking subject under the influence of the great Dalit political leader, B. 'Joothan' refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. It tells us how he overcame contempt, humilitation and. Although untouchability was abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, and ridicule. A searing memoir of the life of a sensitive and intelligent Dalit youth in independent India. Edition of the book, Valmiki himself has stated the motive behind writing the autobiography.

'Joothan' refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. Joothan refers to scraps of food left on a. Omprakash Valmiki describes his life as an untouchable, or Dalit, in the newly independent India of the 1950s. In the book, Joothan-A Dalit’s life, Om Prakash Valmiki writes, One can somehow get past poverty and deprivation but it is impossible to get past caste. Omprakash Valmiki describes his life as an untouchable, or Dalit, in the newly independent India of the 1950s.

Joothan book