About manual scavengers

 · The government has caste-related data of 43, identified manual scavengers, and over 42, of them belong to the Scheduled Castes, the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry said on Wednesday.  · Manual scavengers exist — not by choice, not because they are poor, weak or illiterate — but because someone else thought they were good for this only The law exists, but not a single government officer has been tried for violating it yet. In India, manual scavengers, who clean dry latrines, face severe social discrimination as they belong to the lowest stratum of India’s caste-based society – formerly known as “untouchables”.Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins.

Manual scavenging is the act of cleaning sewers or removal of waste from toilets without the use of safety equipment. In simple terms, untreated human excreta are removed from pit latrines or bucket toilets using buckets or shovels by hand. Manual scavengers use basic tools such as a bucket lined with a sack and a handle. However, only manual scavengers have received this benefit. In addition, each manual scavenger was to be awarded a one-time cash assistance of INR 40, as per the recommendations of the member panel headed by Rama Devi, Member of Parliament. But of the 42, who were identified, only 27, have been given such cash assistance. A few months ago, data from the National Commission for Safai Karmacharis (NCSK) revealed shocking facts on the pattern of the deaths of manual scavengers from January to September and were widely shared by media houses and social media users. "In India, every five days, a manual scavenger dies in a sewer, septic tank or a manhole," the report said.

Manual scavengers exist — not by choice, not because they are poor, weak or illiterate — but because someone else thought they were good for this only The law exists, but not a single government officer has been tried for violating it yet. Manual scavenging is a term used mainly in India for "manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or sewer or in a septic tank or a pit". Manual scavengers usually use hand tools such as buckets, brooms and shovels. The workers have to move the excreta, using brooms and tin plates, into baskets, which they carry to disposal locations sometimes several kilometers away. The practice of employing human labour for clean. Called the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, – it defines ‘manual scavenger’ as “a person engaged in or employed for manually.