Sink or swim for ‘untouchables’

IN THE two weeks since a monsoon-swollen river burst its banks, ancient prejudices have run just as deep as the floodwaters.

India’s “untouchables” are the last to be rescued — if at all — from a deluge that has killed dozens and left 1.2 million homeless.

Dalits, the social outcasts at the bottom of the Hindu caste ladder, have borne the brunt of the devastation as the rampaging Kosi River overwhelmed decrepit flood defences in Nepal and swamped hundreds of square miles in northern India.