Manual Scavenging in India
Mahatma Gandhi said — ‘If I am born again, I would like to be born into a family of manual scavengers to relieve them of the unhealthy, inhuman and hateful practice of carrying night soil’. Indeed, manual scavenging is a social evil of the worst kind that plagues our society. It is a dehumanizing practice, one that breaks the very spirit of an individual. It is a system in which people born in a sub caste of the Dalits undertake this as a means of employment. They have to dispose human excreta, most often without any protective gear. This includes cleaning of dry latrines, railway tracks and fields where open defecation is practiscd. In urban areas, it involves unclogging of drains and sewers. It is a huge shadow on the claim that India is a bright spot on the global economy. According to the SECC (2011), there are 1,82,505 manual scavengers in the country, but the actual numbers are greater as many of the toilets in rural India are dry latrines. For a nation that propounds the concept of ‘Dharma’, it is a great shame that a section of its population has been historically degraded.
An examination of the sites of the Harappan civilization clearly points to the existence of a well planned out drainage system, with each house having drains connected to a sewerage system. There is also evidence of the use of flush tanks. Somewhere through the ages, we lost the plot. In many ancient Indian texts, some castes were assigned the duty of manual scavenging. There are also references to this practise in medieval Europe and Australia. The British built public toilets, but they also employed the people belonging to particular sections for the maintenance of these toilets and hence unwittingly propagated this social malaise. Gandhiji , V D Savarkar, Dr B R Ambedkar were some of the social reformers who campaigned for the abolishment of this practise.
The right to live with human dignity is enshrined in the Fundamental Rights under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Article 42, under the Directive Principles of State Policy, directs the state to make provisions for just and humane conditions for work. In spite of these constitutional mandates, there was no law enacted even decades after independence. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the ‘Liberation of Scavengers’ was taken up by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1980–81, with the main focus being on the conversion of dry latrines into pour and flush toilets. This scheme was subsequently split into two targeted schemes — ‘Integrated Low Cost Sanitation Scheme’ for the conversion of dry latrines and the ‘National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers and their Dependants’ for the rehabilitation of the manual scavengers.
A major step was taken with the enactment of the ‘Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993’. The Act prohibited the employment or engagement of any person to manually carry human excreta. It also banned the construction or maintenance of a dry latrine. Despite these provisions, the practise was still prevalent and dry latrines were existent. This lead to the passage of the ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013’. The main features are that it broadens the definition of manual scavenging to include cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. It also provides a one time cash assistance of Rs.40000 to help in the rehabilitation of the manual scavengers. It set up a National Commission for Safai Karamcharis to monitor the implementation of the Act and look into complaints. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment implements the ‘Self Employment and Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers Scheme’. The Swachh Bharat Mission, both rural and urban, has allocated funds for conversion of insanitary latrines into sanitary latrines. The Indira Awas Yojana had a special provision for manual scavengers, irrespective of their BPL status.
Despite many legislations and schemes, the problem is still prevalent in India. One of the major reasons is the deep rooted caste system, which defines the occupation of a person based on their birth into a particular caste. This ensures the propagation of this evil practice through generations. Any attempt to break out of this vicious cycle is often met with repression at the hands of the so called upper castes. Abject poverty is another reason why people, especially women and children, are forced to take up this job. Though they earn meagre wages for this debilitating work, poverty and lack of other avenues of revenue generation forces them to continue. Added to the mix is illiteracy and a lack of awareness about the Government schemes for rehabilitation. It is deeply saddening to see the individual acceptance of their conditions and societal apathy to their plight.
The repercussions are multiple. The manual scavengers suffer humiliation on a daily basis. They lack the feelings of self respect. They are denied the basic human right to lead a dignified life. It is said that shame often breeds rage and violence and there are plenty of cases of domestic violence and alcoholism. They earn very low wages and have to tolerate insufferable work conditions. They are victims of social ostracization, with untouchability being at the fore. They are exposed to a plethora of pathogens, hazardous wastes and poisonous gases, making them susceptible to a variety of diseases. The sewers are particularly dangerous and the news is replete with stories of deaths of the cleaners on the job.
The Indian Railways was a major employer of manual scavengers. The implementation of bio-digester toilets, which convert the feces into gases, is a step forward. Technology can be of great use here, with the potential to use robots or humanoids for the maintenance of the sewers and drainages. Civil society groups have played an important role in spreading awareness. Bezawada Wilson and his Safai Karamchari Andolan have been successful in the rehabilitation of the manual scavengers. The Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan is a national campaign that works for the nationwide eradication of this abominable practice. There is also a rising awareness amongst the Dalit community. The Dalit Asmita Yatra saw people pledging to stop manual scavenging amongst other things. Voices are being raised against historic oppression and have found expression in the forms of modern music, as evidenced by the rising popularity of Dalit hip-hop and Ambedkarite songs. The proper implementation of ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013’ and stringently punishing those who force people to engage in manual scavenging will boost the confidence of the people. Schemes like Stand Up India can be used to supplement the rehabilitation measures and integrate them into the societal fabric. Most importantly, the societal mindset must change. Empathy and compassion towards fellow human beings, irrespective of their caste, has to be inculcated in everyone. Schools are great avenues for being social equalizers and curriculum has to be amended to ingrain in children the principles of equality and non-discrimination — not just by theory, but through practice. Panchayat level rewards and recognitions can be accorded to those villages that achieve manual scavenging free status. Media, social and traditional, should be used to spread awareness amongst the people about the need to purge our society of this horrendous practice. Only then will India become the just and equitable nation that it was envisaged by our founders, for all its citizens. Borrowing from Tagore,
‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high ; into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake’.
