The Dalit Woman who became a Real-Life 'Slumdog Millionaire'

She borrowed $1,000 under a lower-caste government program and opened a furniture and blouse-making business that prospered. She learned about some property trapped in liens and acquired it for $5,000 in savings and an IOU for a part of its worth. In time she got the necessary clearances and found a partner to build a shopping complex.

That did well too, and led to a stake in a sugar company and then to industrial equipment maker Kamani Tubes. The troubled firm was burdened with a $24-million debt and 140 court cases after its workers took over the factory for unpaid wages.

Occasionally, Saroj returns to her village to distribute food and clothing, set up schools and to offer jobs to abused women. Even though clearly extraordinary, she's not alone in her success, the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry now has several dozen millionaires among its 1,000 members.

"We want dalit capitalism," said millionaire contractor Milind Kamble, the chamber's founder and chairman to the LA Times. "We've been very inspired by black capitalism in the U.S."

There still are thousands of attacks on dalits annually and hundreds die. A dalit was stabbed to death lately for hitting a bull, considered holy by Hindus. Another dalit was beaten to death for filing a lawsuit against an upper-caste member; and a dalit widow was beaten and allegedly paraded naked after her son eloped with his upper-caste girlfriend.

Caste activist Kancha Ilaiah said, Dalits should take a cue from the social upheaval that helped African Americans battle racism. He said "A sprinkling of millionaires, some top politicians won't change people's thinking". "We need a civil war."

But for Saroj, the owner of five or six cars, including a $200,000 Mercedes S-Class, it has been quite a ride. She said "I was treated as something lower than a person. But I'll die a human being."