10/18/2019 Manual Scavenging

: Exploring Legal Trajectory and

State of Rehabilitation

Manthan Bachani
MA PART II ROLL NO: 18005
Review of Literature:
“If we are humans let us be treated as such,” was written in a letter by Sanitation
workers Union in 1946 to the Secretary of the congress party of central
provinces in 1946 to inform them of the strike for this first demand.
(Prashad,1995) and hence it leads me to take a look at the condition and
practices going on related to Manual Scavenging throughout the Indian history.
Manual scavenging was and is a hereditary and caste-based profession which is
more looked like a custom or practice and not a job or employment opportunity
for the people of that caste. Majorly the Dalits are involved in this demonizing
occupation (Darokar, 2018). It is been observed that this practice can be traced
back to ages uninterrupted due to the caste system or the varna system which
has its roots. The shastras saying of origination of varnas from Brahma’s
different body parts and hence it is said that shudras now known as Dalits have
originated from the legs of brahma which is considered to be unclean.
Reformism turns a blind eye towards caste (Ravichandran, 2011). manual
scavengers are victims of grave discrimination owing it to their low caste and
disgusting job (Vanisree and Alphonsa, 2010). This practice of scavenging is not
new to India, it has been going on through ancient times. Its mention in Nardiya
Samhita and other literature of Mauryan empire makes it more confident of the
torture this caste is going through since ages.
Between the 19th and the 20th centuries, colonial bureaucrats and
administrators in British India were aware of the importance of implementing
effective sanitation policies. It included providing proper toilet facilities and
sewer systems, especially in urban areas. Some studies suggest that a pivotal
reason behind this was to protect British troops from infectious diseases such as
cholera, typhoid, smallpox, and plague. After the first cholera epidemic in the
Europe in 1831, the concept and technology of “public health” for the
prevention of infectious diseases gradually spread throughout European society.
Together with these movements, in Colonial India, “public health
measures…were the measures of environmental sanitation…to protect the
health of both soldiers and administratively important civilians” (Guha 1993:
390). In the 1880s, a relationship between cholera and lack of a clean water
supply and sewer facilities was demonstrated (Headrick 1988: 156). It became
essential for the public to access fresh water and have appropriate sewer
systems for both the removal and treatment of waste (Headrick 1988: 156).
These ideas spread to the European settlements throughout the Empire as
colonial officers scrambled to lower the mortality rate of European armies
(Oldenburg 1984: 98-99). This is how the importance of sanitation for the
prevention of infectious diseases was gradually recognized in the Colonies. But
here too the practices of sewage treatment were manual and done by lower
caste that is Dalits.
After Independence too this community kept doing this work with little pride
due to Gandhi ji addressing them as Harijan and hence this evil practice
continued. Various articles under the constitution are in favour of the
scavengers due to them being from lower caste. The successive governments
have formed different acts through which they can be given protection make
them live better lives. The acts formed by the government are as follows:
 The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955
 The Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,
1989
 Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines
(Prohibition) Act, 1993
 National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993
 National commission for schedule caste (NCSC)
 The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their
Rehabilitation Act 2013 or M.S. Act 2013

The problem of manual scavenging and allied activities increased due to deaths
of the scavengers and also the human right issues like their alienation from the
society, respect, dignity, low political representation, ignorance towards
betterment of their living conditions, etc. Though a constitutional amendment
for improving the plight of manual scavenger is not recommended but
amendments in different statutes can be made so as to ensure stringency and
consistency among different laws on scavenging and social welfare (Gupta,
2016).
The continuing existence of the practice violates fundamental Constitutional
guarantees provided to all citizens of this country to live a life of dignity and
therefore amounts to denial of equal citizenship to them. The consequence of
these failures is the continued intense human suffering born out of indignity
associated with this demeaning vocation, with no escape routes as it is passed
down in the form of a dubious legacy from generation to generation. The social,
cultural, psychological consequences include the continuing experience of
untouchability, discrimination, stigma, humiliation, atrocities and
marginalisation by people born into this caste. It denies chances for education,
social mobility and dignity to new generations.
Most of the people had entered into manual scavenging before they were even
18 years of age and have also been working as one for more than 15 years and
more. Due to source of income of being less or a miniscule amount it becomes
difficult for them to lead a family and take care of their health and food. But It
has been seen that children of these people are educated and hence it proves
their vale education. Majority of the people find this work as humiliating and
disgusting. Many of them joined this practice due to social pressure or
hereditary custom and others because they were not educated and eventually
did not get any other job. 90 percent of these people are poorly educated or
have no education at all. Very few of them are aware of the prohibition of
employment of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation Act,2013, this show
that this has not reached far into the community and that to even for the
community they have targeted, the manual scavengers. The government turns
a blind eye on the caste-based side of the problem of the manual scavengers.
The newly rehabilitated population are still minded that they would get into
manual scavenging if needed again, this shows that they have not be
psychologically helped / rehabilitated (Prashanth, 2018). Rehabilitation given to
many of such scavengers have been happy with it according to the United
nations survey where it has been seen that the females are trained in sewing or
other allied activities whereas males are trained for labour work or as security,
etc.
Despite progress, manual scavenging persists in India. According to the India
Census 2011, there are more than 2.6 million dry latrines in the country. There
are 13,14,652 toilets where human excreta is flushed in open drains, 7,94,390
dry latrines where the human excreta is cleaned manually. Seventy three
percent of these are in rural areas and 27 percent are in urban areas. The
Government of India has adopted a two-pronged strategy of eliminating
insanitary latrines through demolition and conversion into sanitary latrines, and
developing a comprehensive rehabilitation package for manual scavengers
through a survey.
However, while manual scavenging for many may have ended as a form of
employment, the stigma and discrimination associated with it lingers on, making
it difficult for former or liberated manual scavengers to secure alternate
livelihoods and raising the fear that people could once again return to manual
scavenging in the absence of other opportunities to support their families.
Correctly identifying manual scavengers remains a key challenge. A
comprehensive rehabilitation package has recently been put together that
includes livelihoods and skill development, access to education for children of
former manual scavengers and alternate livelihoods.
There are structural problems as well, which force people to enter septic tanks.
“Septic tanks are designed badly. They have engineering defects which means
that after a point, a machine cannot clean it,” said A Narayanan, director of
Chennai-based Change India.
Many recommendations have been given to replace manual scavenging with
technology, more awareness and sensitisation of their health, monitoring
mechanism to ensure compensation, stringent actions against the employer and
the implementing agencies in fault and an amendment in the MS Act 2013 to
include the process to be followed for the prosecution, FIR, trial, proceedings
and compensation to the victim (TTPB, 2019)
The new law requires every local authority to carry out a survey of insanitary
latrines and manual scavengers within its jurisdiction. However, the experience
with the 1993 law has been that state governments have greatly under-reported
the prevalence of manual scavenging, and mostly continue to be in denial.
Having declared that manual scavenging has been eradicated, officers reject
community findings that these latrines and manual scavengers exist, even when
confronted with strong evidence. If government and community activists
conduct separate surveys, it is most unlikely that they will agree on most of the
findings, and the time-bound eradication of the practice will be impossible.
Therefore, the rules should mandate a joint survey of dry insanitary latrines and
manual scavengers by designated teams of both officials and community
members. There should also be provision for self-declaration by manual
scavengers (ILO, 2014)
Manual scavenging practice is one of the worst occupations that affect the
quality of life of the manual scavengers. Through community organisation
strategies and programmes for protection and restoration of rights of the
manual scavengers to be developed. Social Workers have scope for practicing
community organisation and social work research methods in the scavenging
occupational settings. The public need to be motivated strongly to pressurise
the policy makers to eliminate manual scavenging practices.
Research Questions
1. To trace the legal trajectory of reforms made in manual Scavenging

Manual scavenging being heinous practice and is being considered to be

a harmful practice due to its effect on health due to hazardous gases and
the septic tanks itself. Government being the supreme authority to save
its citizens, it has formulated laws, commissions, committees and various
other authorities to prohibit the practice, to provide them dignity and
provide them with suitable mechanism to uplift standard of living.

2. How significant and effective is the rehabilitation process under The

Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their
Rehabilitation Act 2013?

Rehabilitation promised under this law is in various forms. It ranges from

assistance to build house or allotment of an affordable house, making
them employable by training them under some skills to their health and
sanitation. This rehabilitation processes are done by the local authorities
or sometimes by the social justice ministry, urban development ministry
of the state. The central government after the Manual Scavenging 2013
Act has become more active in looking after the possible measurements
and betterment of the scavengers.
Research Method
Here aim is to study the legal measures undertaken and rehabilitation process
by the concerned authorities. This research work is going to be based mainly on
secondary data and primary data. For this purpose, I will examine the following
kinds of literature: (a) Government reports, policy statements and committee
reports; (b) Peer-reviewed literature (journals and books); (c) Political debates,
and politics around untouchability, caste, and scavenging; (d) Rights-based
discussions; (e) Grey literature, including activist writing, pamphlets, donor
reports, field-based studies, and even documentaries on scavenging; and finally
found studies that look at manual scavenging internationally. I restricted survey
to literature on Indian manual scavenging with special reference to Mumbai
where I will be conducting interviews of Municipal Corporators and BMC officials
and manual scavengers.
Hypothesis
Legal Measures for Rehabilitation process of manual scavengers is inadequate
Manual scavengers across the country are suffering from various issues, from
health to livelihood. It is observed that even after Manual Scavenging act 2013,
scavengers are not living a dignified life nor their rehabilitation process is done
properly which is the responsibility of the authorities under chapter 4 of the act
from section 11 to 16. The law is more explicit in specifying the duty of the state
to rehabilitate workers with education, housing grants, soft loans, and
vocational training. These entitlements should be meticulously spelt out in detail
in the Rules, if the transition of manual scavengers and their children to a life of
social equality and dignity is to be accomplished. A sizeable proportion of the
manual scavengers are not aware of the legal measures taken for their
betterment and hence they are not able to reach to the concerned departments.
Rehabilitation done has not proved adequate for betterment for standard of
living, developing skills or for their livelihood and hence it is need of an hour to
study it by all angles and give suggestions for betterment of the rehabilitation
process.
References
Books:
1) Resource Handbook for ending Manual Scavenging, Indian Labour
Organisation, 2014
2) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Annual Report, 2010-11,
India
3) Guha, S. 1993. Nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, and the likelihood of
death: The British army in India c. 1870-1920. Population Studies 47(3):
385-401
4) Headrick, D, R. 1988. The Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in
the Age of Imperialism, 1850-1940. Oxford University Press, New York
5) Oldenburg, V. T. 1984. The Making of Colonial Lucknow, 1856-1877.
Princeton University Press, Princeton
6) B. N. Srivastava (1997), Manual Scavenging: Disgrace to the country
Articles:
1) S. Prashanth & K Kirubagaran (2018), A study on the socio-economic
status of manual scavengers in India, International Journal of Pure and
Applied Mathematics Volume 120 No. 5
2) V. Ramanathan, Manual scavengers: untouchables in modern era‟, JSLR,
Vol.3(1), pp.140-147
3) Ravichandran, B., Scavenging profession: between class and cast?
Economic and Political weekly, Vol:46(13), 2011, pp.23-25
4) A. Gupta (2016), Manual scavenging: a case of denied rights, ILI Law
Review, Summer issue
5) Prashad, V. (1995), Between economism and emancipation:
Untouchables and Indian Nationalism, 1920-1950. Left History 3 (1):5-30
6) Policy Briefs Series 2018, TATA Trust

Online References:
1) Breaking free: Rehabilitating Manual Scavengers, Retrieved from:
https://in.one.un.org/page/breaking-free-rehabilitating-manual-
scavengers/
2) S. Darokar (2018), Manual Scavengers a blind spot in urban development
discourse, Retrieved from: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/manual-
scavengers-blind-spot-urban-development-discourse
Videos:
1) Implementing Laws prohibiting Manual Scavenging, retrieved from:
https://in.one.un.org/page/videos/ending-manual-scavenging/
2) Challenge of ending manual scavenging, Retrieved from:
https://in.one.un.org/page/videos/ending-manual-scavenging/
3) People Don’t believe manual scavenging is still done, Retrieved from:
https://youtu.be/fu8lPFOt39I