16% of India’s population
#Issues
1]Social discrimination based on caste – mainly reflected in job orientation towards manual scavengers, manhole cleaners, municipal cleaners……SECC report says 1.8 lakh households involved in manual scavenging out of which 1.3 lakh are daliths
Note : reasons for proliferation of manual scavenging despite having legislation is presence of dry latrines in India (26 lkh dry toilets – house listing and house census data)
2]mismatch in proper data – Safai karmachari repport says there are 3*1.3 lakh daliths engage in manual scavenging….most of them located in UP and Maharashtra
3]Govt employed manual scavengers in railways and municipalities
4]Lack of political will (because of less bargaining power of this section)
5]Absence of alternative jobs
Legislative interventions
1>Prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines act, 1993
This act got revised in 2013
- it provides not just banning but rehabilitation as well
- reintegrated into the society
- empowered
2>National Commission for manual scavengers
How to address manual scavenging ???
- Strict and penal actions against those employ manual scavengers
- Holistic liberation of people : self employement and learn new skill
- Reintegration into the society
- Use of technolgy for scavenging {eg : Badikoot robot developed in kerala}