Manual Scavenging

• Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Jharkhand are among the States and Union Territories that have the highest number of districts yet to declare themselves as manual scavenging free. 
• While 100% of districts in States like Bihar, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and a few others have declared themselves free of manual scavenging, in several States and Union Territories, only about 15% to 20% of the districts have reported so. 

 Manual Scavenging

• It is a practice of removal of human excrement from public streets and dry latrines, cleaning septic tanks, gutters and sewers manually.
• In the past, this referred to the practice of removing excreta from dry latrines. 

 Manual Scavenging in India

• National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, in the past 29 years (1993-2022), a total of 989 members died in various parts of the country while cleaning underground sewage tanks.
• Around 58,000 identified manual scavengers were being rehabilitated under government schemes for compensations, capital subsidies and other benefits.  
• Among the manual scavengers identified in a survey, the maximum were in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Assam, Karnataka and Rajasthan. 

 Reason behind continued practice:

• It is rooted in caste-based discrimination and passed on to successive generations. In 2021, over 90% of manual scavengers identified in the surveys till 2018, were from Scheduled Caste communities.
• The workers, the women especially, continue to do so to sustain the family. 

 Government Measures to Tackle Manual Scavenging

Legislative

1. The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993: It set imprisonment of up to one year and a fine of Rs 2,000 for pushing a person to manual scavenging.
2. National Commission for Safai Karamcharis: It was constituted on 12th August 1994 as a statutory body through The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993.
3. Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013: The Act put an end to the practice of any form of manual cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling of human waste.

Executive

1. Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) 2017: It was merged under the NAMASTE Scheme in 2022.
2. NAMASTE (National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem) scheme: It envisages identifying the Sewer/Septic Tank Workers (SSWs), Occupational Training and distribution of PPE Kits to SSWs, Assistance for Safety Devices to Sanitation Response Units (SRUs), Extending Health Insurance Scheme, Livelihood Assistance and IEC Campaign. 
3. District sanitation committees: It looks at data of whether there are insanitary latrines. 
4. Swachata mobile app: Since the launch of the Swachata mobile app in 2016, more than 6,000 complaints have been examined for possible signs of ongoing manual scavenging.

Challenges:

• Most of the cases come out only when a person dies while cleaning septic tanks. 
• Many individuals from oppressed communities are into the occupation due to poverty.  
• A Parliamentary Panel noted that the conviction rate in these cases were very poor, noting that just one conviction had been recorded in 616 FIRs registered against contractors for unsafe sewer cleaning. 

Measure Needed:

• Procurement of machines for cleaning of sewer and septic tanks. 
• Effective monitoring by the local government to prevent such deaths. 
• There is a need for bio toilets to prevent such deaths of manual scavengers, increase in fund allocation for their rehabilitation.
• The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should integrate scientific maintenance of sewer tanks as a topmost goal that will end the manual cleaning of septic tanks. 
• There should be provisions for better healthcare facilities, insurance cover and pension plans for victims of manual scavenging.
• The laws should be enforced vigorously to eliminate manual scavenging in its entirety.

Practice Questions for Prelims

Mains Practice Question

Chetan Bharat Learning is the best institute in Chandigarh for UPSC IAS ,PCS preparation. To know more about Chetan Bharat Learning’s Online & Classroom Courses, click on the following links: