Manual Scavenging in India
Description
Manual Scavenging in India: Challenges, Government
Initiatives, and Rehabilitation Efforts. Learn about the issues, laws, and
actions to end this practice."
Manual Scavenging in India
Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 gives a detailed definition of ‘manual scavenger’ as:
“a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this Act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the Central Government of a State Government may notify before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed…”
Manual Scavenging in India
• Census - 2011 found 7.9 Lakh cases of manual scavenging.
• Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 revealed that 1.8 Lakh households are engaged in it for livelihood.
• India is the only country in the world where a particular section of the society is traditionally responsible for keeping the habitation clean by removing the waste products of the society including the human excreta.
• Manual scavenging still survives in parts of India without proper sewage systems. It is thought to be most prevalent in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Some municipalities in India still run public dry toilets.
• The biggest violator of this law in India is the Indian Railways which has toilets dropping all the excreta from trains on the tracks and they employ scavengers to clean it manually.
• According to the socio-economic caste census report (2011), Maharashtra has 63,713; Madhya Pradesh has 23,093; Uttar Pradesh has 17,619; Tripura has 17,332; Karnataka has 15,375 manual scavengers. However, the exact number of manual scavengers living in India is still an open-ended question.
Why manual scavenging is prevalent in India?
Scavenging has been an occupation imposed upon certain citizens of the country by the society, which later on continued as a traditional occupation among Scheduled Castes. This class of citizens of India is known as Manual Scavengers.
• Manual scavenging exists primarily because of an absence of water-borne latrines. The Houselisting and Housing Census, 2011 reported that there are about 26 lakh insanitary latrines in the country.
• With the emergence of urban areas these people were also employed for cleaning of sewers or septic tanks.
• Low level of education, awareness about their rights, laws, and low self-esteem force them to take such work.
• Lack of empathy among the government, contractors, and household members employing manual scavengers is another reason, wherein these class of people fail to see the agony of the manual scavengers.
• Poor implementation of the existing laws has also helped in the continuation of this practice.
• These section of society are not organized and don’t have any significant voice in the government structures which cause their voice to be unheard.
Effects on the Scavengers
• Manual scavengers are exposed to the most virulent forms of viral and bacterial infections that affect their skin, eyes, limbs, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems.
• The toxic gases from sewers create a death threat for them. Their children are also caught up in this quagmire. Under these circumstances, it is almost impossible for their children to become educated. Even though, in modern times these people desire to leave the profession, their social, economic, educational and cultural aspects have made it difficult for them to find an alternate profession.
• The social stigma of untouchability continues to stick, in one form or the other largely because of the unclean nature of their occupation.
Constitutional provisions for the protection of Manual Scavengers:
• Article 14: Equality before law (Right to Equality);
• Article 16(2): Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment;
• Article 17: Abolition of Untouchability
• Article 19(1)(a): Right to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business;
• Article 21: Protection of life and personal liberty;
• Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour etc;
• Article 41: Right to work, to education and public assistance in certain circumstances;
• Article 42: Just and humane conditions of work;
• Article 46: Promotion of educational and economic interests of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker sections;
• Article 47: Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health.
• Article 338: Constitution of a National Commission for Schedule Caste.
Government Initiatives with regards to Manual Scavengers:
The government has taken the following initiatives to avoid hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks:-
• Under Swachhta Udyami Yojana of NSKFDC, concessional loans are provided to safai karamcharis, manual scavengers & their dependents and the Urban Local Bodies & other agencies responsible for cleaning for procurement of sanitation-related instruments/vehicles for complete mechanization of all cleaning operations.
• Under the Central Sector Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) in addition to the manual scavengers, the sanitation workers and their dependents are also provided capital subsidies up to Rs. 5.00 lakh for procurement of instruments/vehicles for mechanized cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
• Workshops are organized in municipalities with the officers, engineers, contractors, sanitation workers etc. of urban local bodies to sensitize them about safe and healthy cleaning practices and mechanized cleaning of sewers & septic tanks.
• A short-duration training programme (RPL) is organized for the sanitation workers wherein they are trained in mechanized cleaning, safe & healthy cleaning practices, safety precautions, use of PPE kits.
To tackle hazardous cleaning specially, the Government has formulated a new scheme called ‘National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem’ (NAMASTE) whose objectives are as under:-
• Formalization and Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (MS) and Persons Engaged in Hazardous Cleaning of Sewer and Septic Tank (SSWs).
• Promotion of safe and mechanized cleaning of sewers and septic tanks through trained and certified sanitation workers.
NAMASTE aims to achieve the following outcomes:
- Zero fatalities in sanitation work in India
- All sanitation work to be performed by formalized skilled workers
- No sanitation workers to come in direct contact with human faecal matter
- Strengthening and capacitating Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ERSUs) to ensure safe delivery of mechanized sanitation services
- Sanitation workers are collectivized into SHGs and are empowered to run sanitation enterprises
- Sewer and Septic tank sanitation workers (SSWs) and their dependents also have access to livelihoods by providing capital subsidy for purchase of sanitation related equipment.
- Increased awareness amongst sanitation services seekers (individuals and institutions) to seek services from registered Private Sanitation Service Organizations (PSSOs) and skilled & certified sanitation workers only.
- Extending Health Insurance Scheme benefits under AB-PMJAY to SSWs & manual scavengers and their family members.
Rehabilitation benefits
The following rehabilitation benefits have been provided under Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS).
• One-time Cash Assistance of Rs. 40,000/- per family has been provided to all identified and eligible 58098 manual scavengers.
• Capital Subsidy upto Rs. 5,00,000/- has been provided to 2313 indentified manual scavengers and their dependents to take up alternate self-employment projects.
• Skill Development Training has been provided to 22294 indentified manual scavengers and their dependents with stipend @ Rs. 3,000/- per month during the training period. The successfully trained candidates are also provided Government recognized training certificates and assistance for sustainable employments.
• Health Insurance under Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to the families of all the identified manual scavengers.
“Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, 2013)” manual scavenging is a prohibited activity in the country. No person or agency can engage or employ any person for manual scavenging from the above date. Any person or agency who engages any person for manual scavenging in violation of the provisions of the MS Act, 2013 is punishable under Section 8 of the above Act, with imprisonment upto 2 years or fine upto Rs. One Lakh or both.
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