With pressure mounting on newly independent India to address its treatment of low caste "Untouchables", the New Delhi government announced the introduction of a new railway service designed specifically for the poorest of India's poor. 

Officially launched on 9 April, 1952, the service was called 4th Class Sub-Human Quasi-Steerage, and allowed Untouchables to pay 8,000 rupees – or twelve years of wages – to walk behind the train at a distance of a quarter mile, as long as they remained downwind of 1st Class passengers.  

Meals were served twice a day, in a bucket thrown out of the back of the train, and consisted largely of mango pips, banana skins and flea powder. 

The service was finally suspended in 1965 after massive protests swept the country, with millions of Indians outraged at the injustice of giving flea powder to Untouchables while tens of thousands of beloved family pets were suffering unnecessarily.