Question
In the British period, what new opportunities opened up for people who came from castes that were regarded as “low”?
Solution
With the expansion of cities new demands of labour were created. Drains had to be dug, roads laid, buildings constructed and cities cleaned. This required coolies, diggers, carriers, bricklayers, sweepers, rickshaw pullers, etc. This labour came from people belonged to “low” caste. They left their villages and small towns and shifted to the cities to get work.
Some went to work in plantations in Assam, Mauritius, Trinidad and Indonesia. Although it was not easy to work in the new locations, poor people saw this an opportunity to get away from the exploitations of the upper-caste.
