Meena Varma is Director of the Dalit Solidarity Network, which joined ETI as an NGO member in December 2006.
The "biggest human rights scandal in the world today"
Working out of her tiny office in a Brixton attic, Meena runs the Dalit Solidarity Network (DSN), an organisation dedicated to ending discrimination against Dalits - the 260 million people around the world who, by accident of birth, are deemed ‘untouchable' or ‘unclean,' and therefore trapped in unending poverty.
"Dalit literally means ‘broken people'", says Meena, explaining that the word ‘untouchable' is offensive to them.
She is passionate about fighting to end what she describes as the "biggest human rights scandal in the world today".
"Around one third of the world's poor are Dalits", she says. "And not only that, Dalits are denied every single human right you can think of.
"For example, Dalit girls and women are far more likely to end up in forced prostitution to survive - ironically, they are not ‘untouchable' when it comes to rape or prostitution - and Dalit children are more likely to have to eke out an existence scavenging on rubbish tips, or being forced to beg to survive.
"Rape, beatings and murder are common", she adds.
So you think you've had a shitty day?
Remember in the film Slumdog Millionaire, some of the characters joked about a humble call centre chai-wallah from the Mumbai slums making it onto the quiz show? But being allowed to make tea for call centre workers is something that most Dalits can only ever dream of!
Around 1.3 million Dalits in India are forced to manually scavenge human excrement from public and private dry lavatories, earning around 7p a day.
"This isn't just utterly degrading and inhumane work - it's also unsafe, and often ends in illness and early death", says Meena, who has launched a campaign to end it. This includes asking people to send postcards to MPs called "So you think you've had a shitty day?". So far over 2,000 people have signed up to her campaign.
In fact, Dalits are excluded from all but the most menial jobs.
"Remember in the film Slumdog Millionaire, some of the characters joked about a humble call centre chai-wallah from the Mumbai slums making it onto the quiz show? But being allowed to make tea for call centre workers is something that most Dalits can only ever dream of!
"In other words: Call centre workers might let Dalits clean their toilets - but they won't let them make their cups of tea."
According to Meena, Dalits are also far more likely than any other worker in India, Pakistan, Nepal or Bangladesh, to end up in bonded labour.
"There are about 170 million Dalits in India, an estimated 12 million of whom work in debt-bonded labour, where their wages are so low that in order to survive they are forced to take out loans at exorbitant interest rates either from their employers or from money-lenders, which further traps them into slavery."
Dalits are the elephant in the room for most companies
Meena is dedicated to banging on the doors of the big multinationals working in the Indian subcontinent until they acknowledge their responsibility to help tackle caste discrimination.
"What's really shocking is that despite the staggering statistics and the obvious advantages of a diverse workforce, no one seems willing to talk about the issue of ‘untouchability'."
"Dalits are the elephant in the room for most companies", she says. "People may tell me their call centres and factories don't discriminate against Dalits, but they don't actually know because they're not asking the right questions of the people that manage their suppliers and subsidiaries.
"My biggest challenge is getting companies to understand and acknowledge what's going on in the first place."
One woman, 260 million Dalits
One day I'm in Brussels talking to a Member of the European Parliament, the next, I'm back in my tiny office in Brixton, reconciling bank statements.
Meena isn't just the Director of DSN - she's also its only paid member of staff. "On any given day I'm the head of finance, the head of HR, campaign manager, head of fundraising and volunteer co-ordinator, not to mention chief tea maker!"
"So one day I'm in Brussels talking to a Member of the European Parliament, the next, I'm back in my tiny office in Brixton, reconciling bank statements.
"Faced with such a huge challenge, sometimes I just want to shut the door of my office and scream in frustration!
"But the fact that I am starting to see some change keeps me motivated. For example the new Speaker of the Indian Parliament is a Dalit - and a woman! And companies are starting to realise that if they employ Dalits, they are rewarded through greater loyalty and productivity, as well as having all the advantages of a more diverse workforce.
"And anyway", she says, "every day is a new start, built on the efforts of the previous day."
Creating change as part of the Ethical Trading Initiative
DSN is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, an alliance of companies, trade unions and voluntary organisations working to improve the conditions of people around the world who make consumer goods.
"Being part of ETI enables me to engage directly with the private sector, which I believe is one of the most significant ways I can create change.
"Dalits don't just suffer from discrimination on the basis of caste in every aspect of their life - they will also suffer from every violation of the ETI Base Code, which all ETI member companies have signed up to. Employment is rarely freely chosen, working conditions - especially of those employed as manual scavengers - are unsafe and unhygienic, and Dalit children are likely to make up nearly 96% of children in India forced into child labour."
"As an ETI member, I have been able to put caste discrimination much higher on the agenda of companies working in south Asia. And private sector engagement has resulted in two global companies agreeing to monitor their recruitment on the basis of caste, and to highlight the need to avoid caste-based discrimination on their websites in India."
Meena has also developed and delivered a ‘train the trainers' course on affirmative action for Dalits to 30 trade unions, grassroots organisations and academics in India, so that they can now go off and deliver training within Indian companies on the benefits of a diverse workforce that also employs Dalits at every level of management.