“The untouchable has been touched by India’s growth. Dalits are coming out from hunger and humiliation,” said Chandra Bhan Prasad, a popular Dalit newspaper columnist and childhood friend of Ram’s.

“Capitalism is beginning to break the caste system,” said Prasad, who is conducting the survey.
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“To me, this is the greatest social change India has ever witnessed in its known history,” Prasad said. “The Dalit has been unchained. The answer was found in the machine.”
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Undependable power, like the rutted dirt roads and lack of running water, is one of the remaining impediments to economic growth in Dalit villages.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083002299.html?hpid=topnews