Guwahati, Sept. 2 -- Gravediggers live with stigma, poverty, and health risks, yet remain unrecognised by the state and society.

Written by Parsi Tariq

Srinagar: "People will stop eating with me if they know I do this," said Zubair (21, name changed), a gravedigger from Baramulla. "They won't sit next to me."

Zubair dropped out of school in Class 10. After his father's death, his uncle, also a gravedigger, asked him for help.

"At first I used to cry while digging. I felt scared. But now I feel numb. I just want to be paid enough to go back to college someday."

On a good day, he earns Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for a burial. But he refuses to call himself a gravedigger.

The label, he said, would ruin his chances of having friends, or even of...