burden of inheritance: manual scavenging- wateraid india

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Burden of Inheritance

Report

Can we stop manual scavenging ? Yes, but frst we need to accept it exists



WaterAid’s mission is to overcome poverty by enabling the world’s poorest people gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene

education

© WaterAid India, October, 2009

Research and Writing

Indira Khurana and Toolika Ojha

Base Document

Bhasha Singh

Editorial Support

Richard Mahapatra

Inputs

Romit Sen and Binu Nair

Photographs

Bezwada Wilson, Manjula Pradeep, Ashif

Any part of this publication may be translated or reprinted with due acknowledgment to WaterAid India

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2,13,975

45,822

35,049 23,852

14,555

64,195

57,736

64,785

81,307

36,362

35,561

40,413

17,420

12,226

4,757

4,150

1,339

476

6071800

3,243

5,750

1,9702,988

Andhra Pradesh

Maharashtra

Gujarat

Karnataka

Kerala

Tamil Nadu

Pondicherry

West BengalOrissa

Madhya Pradesh

Rajasthan

HaryanaPunjab

Jammu and Kashmir

HimachalPradesh

Uttaranchal

Delhi

Uttar Pradesh

Assam

Nagaland

Meghalaya

Bihar

Jharkhand

Chhattisgarh

State-wise populationof manual scavengers (2006)

High Low

Source: Data rom Mnstry o Socal Justce and Empowerment, Delh, 2006 http://socaljustce.nc.n/schedule/srmsapp.htm



the Constitution of india

Prmbl

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, havng solemnly resolved to consttute Inda nto a SOVEREIGNSOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all ts ctzens:

JUSTICE, socal, economc and poltcal;

LIBERTY o thought, expresson, bele, ath and worshp;

EQUALITY o status and o opportunty;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assurng the dgnty o the ndvdual and the unty and ntegrty o the Naton;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ths twenty-sxth day o November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT,ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.



Acknowledgements 1

Preace 2

Executve summary 3

1. A cvlsatonal curse 5

An ugly dentty 5

The name s dscrmnaton 7

A sub-contnental scourge 8

Vctms o aeces-borne dseases 9

2. Enact, act and dsconnect 11

Gong slow 11

Estmatng numbers 11

Justyng nablty 12

A not-so-tough act 12

Msmatch 13

A charter o change 14

A cvl act 16

Movement to purge 17

Reclamng dgnty 18

Makng government beleve 19

3. Hope amdst despar 21

Delh: Captal punshment 21

West Bengal: Headload o shame 22

Gujarat: Legally llegal 22

Bhar: Law s not enough 24

Andhra Pradesh: Tacklng the root 24

Rajasthan: Insprng lessons 25

4. Change, we can 27

Annexure 29

Presentaton by state governments beore Natonal Human Rghts Commsson 29

Contents



1

ackwlgm

Acknowledgements

Ths report s an outcome o our attemptto understand the complex and shameul

practce o manual scavengng whchunortunately stll exsts n our country. Ourspecal thanks to Bhasha Sngh, journalstor preparng the base document. The storesdocumented by her tell a pognant tale o despar and hope. We are grateul to themembers o the communty who wllnglyshared ther plght, thereby renderng a humantouch to ths report.

We thank Bezwada Wlson rom Saa Karmachar Andolan (SKA) or evncng keennterest n the preparaton o ths report andprovdng valuable nputs. The nteracton wthhs motvated team proved helpul n ramngths report. We acknowledge the useulsuggestons made by Manjula Pradeep romNavsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad and Ash romGarma Abhyan, Madhya Pradesh, whch haveenrched ths report.

We express our specal grattude to theNatonal Human Rghts Commsson (NHRC),

whose observatons and recommendatons onmanual scavengng have gven a new mpetus

to the campagn towards ts eradcaton.

We extend our thanks to Grsh Menon andTom Palakudyl rom WaterAd UK or thergudance and support on ths endeavour. Wewould lke to acknowledge the contrbuton o the partcpants o the pre-SACOSAN-III(South Asan Conerence on Santaton)meetng o cvl socety organsatons n NewDelh whose concerted eorts saw the ssue

get ncluded n the New Delh declaraton o the SACOSAN n November 2008.

Lastly, a word o thanks to the WaterAd Indateam or encouragement and suggestons onthe Report.

The research and wrtng team o WaterAdInda accepts that none o the ndvduals andnsttutons acknowledged n ths report s nanyway responsble or any lmtatons, errorsor nadequaces n the report, or whch theteam members are solely responsble.



2 Burden o Inhertance

Prc

The ssue o manual scavengng n Indaevokes reactons rangng rom dsbele anddsgust to despar. It s wdely beleved to bea socal practce rather than an occupaton,whch has ts roots n the caste system o Inda. Almost all scavengers are Dalt andmost o them are women1. They are orcednto ths practce rom an early age. Theruntouchablty and loathsome occupatonorces them nto lvng a le o ndgnty.

In 2006, accordng to government records,approxmately 3.42 lakh o the 7.2 lakh

scavengers remaned to be rehabltated. In1993, the Indan Parlament enacted a lawprohbtng employment o manual scavengersand constructon o dry latrnes. Followng t,the government ntroduced several schemesor rehabltaton o those engaged n thswork. In Aprl 2007 the Sel- EmploymentScheme or Rehabltaton o ManualScavengers (SRMS) was ntroduced as a two-year scheme wth a budget allocaton o Rs. 736 crore2. Ironcally, most state

governments deny the exstence o manualscavengers n ther respectve states thoughthey take unds under ths scheme. Most o the vctms o ths practce are unaware o these schemes and/or demand permanentjobs.

The Natonal Human Rghts Commsson(NHRC) has taken a serous note o thecontnued prevalence o ths practce. It hastermed manual scavengng as one o the worstvolaton o human rghts. Its recommendatonsnclude conductng a survey to arrve at theactual number o scavengers present nthe country and derentaton o manualscavengers rom santaton workers. It has alsodrected the State Human Rghts Commssonsto start montorng elmnaton o manual

scavengng and consequent rehabltaton o manual scavengers.

There are several cvl socety organsatonsworkng towards eradcaton o ths practce.They mantan that caste prejudces, lack o acceptablty as equal members n socetyand lack o awareness o governmentrehabltaton programmes are manlyresponsble or people contnung wth thswork, though better remuneratve lvelhoodalternatves are avalable to them. There s aneed to lnk and gude these ctzens to aval

government unds to adopt a new lvelhoodand lve a dgned le. Some have, wth grtand determnaton, crossed the lne and arelvng wth dgnty.

In order to brng out the remanng scavengersrom ther plght t s mperatve that theexstng dry latrnes are dsmantled and thosegulty o employng scavengers be broughtto book. Notably, besdes owners o prvatedry tolets. panchayats, muncpaltes and

ralways employ them. A change o mndset snot only requred on the part o the nderentstate governments, but also rom cvl socetyas to how t vews manual scavengers. Manualscavengng volates the undamental rght toearn and lve a le wth lberty and dgnty.

WaterAd’s engagement wth the ssue o manual scavengng began n February 2008at a South Asa regonal meetng o WaterAd,wheren the need to address the same

was elt. There s a commtment to extendcontnued support to the campagn aganstmanual scavengng n the country. In addton,some o WaterAd’s regonal oces wll startworkng on ths ssue.

Lourdes BaptstaChe Executve, WaterAd Inda

1 Dalt s a sel-desgnaton or South-Asan group o people tradtonally regarded as untouchables (outcastes) oro low castes. As per the wkpeda http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Dalt.

2 1 crore=10,000,000



3

excv mmry

L’ p k

It s very hard not to eel less human whletalkng about manual scavengng. Morethan three lakh people, mostly women, areconsgned to ths nhuman occupaton n Inda.In Inda t s llegal to employ or to ndulge nmanual scavengng. But n practce, t s verymuch present across the country rrespectveo states’ perormance on socal and economcdevelopment parameters.

Why have we not been able to eradcatemanual scavengng? Ths report – Burden o Inhertance – tres to seek answers to thsqueston. To get to the bottom o ths scourge,the report has rst explored the queston:why are people contnung n ths occupatondespte avalablty o other dgned lvelhoodsources? Why s manual scavengng n practcen towns and ctes where other cleaner optonsor survval exst? When there are easble andvable technologcal alternatves to dry tolets,one o the drvers o ths occupaton, why doesthe practce contnue?

The report uncovers a complex soco-economcweb that has trapped the communty ntoths practce. Socally, we need to treat themanual scavengers as humans rst, ensurngthe undamental human rghts to them. TheIndan caste system may be dyng out n publcpercepton but or the manual scavengers ts

grp s as strong as t used to be n the dstantpast. The report nds convncngly that thssngle atttude change wll trgger a sequence

o desrable outcomes or betterment o thecommunty. There must be serous eorts to

encourage and make avalable alternatveemployment opportuntes or the manualscavengers. Examples cted n ths report dopont out that wherever such eorts have beenmade, there have been postve changes.

In many places, reportedly, dry tolets havebeen done away wth. But the new tolets,usually dvertng human wastes to a tank,stll requre manual cleanng. So ths has kept

alve the need or manual scavengers. Most o Inda’s boomng towns and ctes don’t haveproper sewage lnes and dsposal systemsthat contrbutes to contnuance o manualscavengng. Here comes the technologcalaspect o dsposal o human waste. Rghttechnology or santaton s thus o crtcalmportance to eradcatng ths practce.

The report has delved nto many ntatves thathave stopped manual scavengng, ollowedby successul rehabltaton plans. There arenstances where people have or the rst tmebroken away rom the clutches o caste-drvenoccupatons. These examples set the roadmapor a manual scavengng-ree Inda. However,or that journey to come to ts logcal end, wehave to adopt a charter o change as has beendelberated n ths report. Inda has postponedts deadlne or eradcaton o manualscavengng or the ourth tme to March 2009.

A meetng was held n Delh on March 31, 2009to mark ths deadlne and to underscore thatthe practce stll contnues.

Executve summary



5

Inda takes prde n a Consttuton whchguarantees a ree and dgned exstenceto all ts ctzens. However, ths vbrant aceo Inda has an ugly stan – the practce o manual scavengng. The ate o a manualscavenger has barely changed. She/hecontnues to be chaned to the nhuman

practce o manual scavengng that s stllprevalent across states n the country. Asecton o Indans contnue to be orcedto work and lve n stnkng sub-humancondtons by a centures old decadentpractce. Caste dscrmnaton and socaltaboos perpetuate ths ugly stan. It rendersthe communty nvsble and powerless.

Manual scavengers have an absurdexstence. Ocally, they don’t exst but nrealty they do. There has been controversyregardng the actual number o peoplecurrently engaged n ths occupaton.Government data and gures provded byother sources do not concur. Accordng togovernment estmates there are around 3.42lakh manual scavengers remanng to berehabltated out o the total 7.73 lakhthat exsted n 20063 (reer table 1).In 1993, through the Employment o

Manual Scavengers and Constructon o DryLatrnes (Prohbton) Act, Inda prohbtedemployment o manual scavengers andconstructon o dry latrnes. Denal ollowed.Many states dened exstence o manualscavengng and thus they dd not notythe Act.

a gly y

Manual scavenger means a person engagedn or employed or manually carryng humanexcreta, as per the 1993 Act. Manual scavengngs carred out n tolets bult or publc and prvateuse. There are two ways n whch ths s done:

By scavengng manually rom the drytolets wth the help o broom, tn plate,stone, bamboo or tn basket, plastcbucket, tn boxes and dsposng t o n asae place desgnated or ths purpose.The other way s to clean the sewage ptso the tolets manually. Mostly men do thework o cleanng sewage pts n the nght orearly mornng. Women clean the dry toletsndvdually n homes and publc places.

Ths deplorable practce contnues almost all overthe country n vared orms as t evolved accordngto local needs and trends. For example:

Publc tolets (dry tolets), especallythose n south and west Inda, aremostly mantaned by panchayatsand muncpaltes. In Northern statesthough one nds water-fush tolets npublc places, they oten lack water andeventually uncton as dry tolets.

In some states the practce persstsbecause o a eudal and dscrmnatorymnd set based on caste prejudces whlen others t s due to unavalablty o sewerlnes and the nderence o polcy makerstowards provdng wet tolets (See Box: Dryor wet, what’s the derence?).

To deprve a man o hs natural lberty and to deny to hm the ordnary amentes o le s worse than starvng the body; t s starvaton o the soul, the dweller n the body.

- Mahatma Gandh

3 As per the 11th Fve Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-2012) as well as the Mnstry o Socal Justce and Empowerment(2006).

A cvlsatonal curse

1. a cvll cr




No. States Populaton o Scavengers

Addton(Resurvey)

Total Total ScavengersRehabltatedand Inelgble

RemanngScavengers tobe Rehabltated

1 Andhra Pradesh 30,921 14,901 45,822 45,822 0

2 Assam 40,413 40,413 1,594 38,819

3 Bhar 12,226 12,226 285 11,941

4 Delh 17,420 17,420 2,941 14,479

5 Gujarat 64,195 64,195 11,653 52,542

6 Haryana 36,362 36,362 15,558 20,804

7 HmachalPradesh

4,757 4,757 2,023 2,734

8 Jammu & Kashmr 4,150 4,150 211 3,939

9 Karnataka 14,555 14,555 12,597 1,958

10 Kerala 1,339 1,339 141 1,198

11 Madhya Pradesh 80,072 1,235 81,307 77,512 3,795

12 Maharashtra 64,785 64,785 19,086 45,699

13 Meghalaya 607 607 0 607

14 Nagaland 1,800 1,800 0 1,800

15 Orssa 35,049 35,049 10,681 24,368

16 Pondcherry 476 476 129 347

17 Punjab 531 2,457 2,988 2,988 0

18 Rajasthan 57,736 57,736 14,169 43,567

19 Taml Nadu 35,561 35,561 23,687 11,874

20 Uttar Pradesh 1,49,202 64,773 2,13,975 1,80,719 33,25621 West Bengal 23,852 23,852 2,338 21,514

22 Chhattsgarh 3,243 3,243 3,243 0

23 Jharkhand 5,750 5,750 0 5,750

24 Uttarakhand 1,970 1,970 493 1,477

Total 6,76,009 94,329 7,70,338 4,27,870 3,42,468

Table 1: Nowhere people

As o 2006, government clams that t has rehabltated 4.27 lakh manual scavengers4.

4 http://socaljustce.nc.n/schedule/srmsapp.htm

Source: Mnstry o Socal Justce and Empowerment, 2006, Delh



7

Manual scavengers are also pad a pttance,n cash and knd. In Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan)

scavengng women are gven stale breador a ew cons n return. In old colonesn Lucknow, Kanpur and Algarh (UttarPradesh) women rom poor amles areorced nto ths job. They receve paltry sumso money, ood and clothes n return.

The eudal mndset behnd ths practce sevdent n the dry tolets whch are ound nbg/plush houses n the states o Punjab,

Haryana and Rajasthan. Here the manualscavengers receve a meager amount asremuneraton. In addton they ace ll-treatment and dscrmnaton n access toresources.

t m crm

They are known by derent names n derentparts o Inda (reer table 2). The termnologyused to denty them s oten also used asa derogatory socal comment. Invarably, allmanual scavengers are dalts, the lowestcastes n Hndu socal order. Most o them arewomen, whch puts them at the lowest slotwthn the communty o manual scavengers.

Interestngly, manual scavengers belong to

varous relgons and rrespectve o that,ace equal dscrmnaton. Muslm scavengerscarry on the gnoble trade n Madhya Pradesh,where they are called Hela and n Bhar,Halalkhor .

A cvlsatonal curse

dry r w, w’ rc?

A dry tolet has no aclty or water as compared to wet tolets that have a fush system. There arevarous knds o dry tolets ound n derent parts o Inda.

The derent knds o dry publc tolets are called Vada, Vadola, Guttar, etc. In ndvdual houses,tolets are bult ether outsde the house or n the backyard. The place or excreta dsposal s coveredby a strp o tn or a mat.

It s not necessary that a wet tolet s ndeed what t looks lke. People have constructed fush tolets nplaces where there s no provson or sewers or dranage. In such a scenaro people connect the tolets wth

the tanks/pts whch are not septc tanksand have to be cleared manually. Tmetaken to clean the tank depends on ts szeand usage. These tanks are cleaned atnght. Its contents are dscarded n a dranar away rom the tolet. At tmes, there aremore men scavengers than women dongths job. The common practce s that acontractor gets the contract or cleanngthe tank, ater whch he hres people tocarry t out. There s no dearth o suchtolets all over the country. One cannotdenty them as they are cleaned at nghtor n the early mornng hours.

Source: Bhasha Sngh, journalst

Anta Balmke, Tkamgarh, Madhya Pradesh. She has now been

rehabltated




State/Unon Terrtory Name

BengalUttar PradeshMadhya PradeshAssamOrssaBharTaml NaduAndhra PradeshPunjab

MaharashtraGujaratDelhKarnatakaKeralaRajasthan

Har, Had Bhang, Valmk, Dhanuk Mehtar, Bhang, Hela, Halalkhor, Balmke Mehtar, Bhang Mehtar, Bhang, Valmk, Madga Mehtar, Halalkhor Tott Madga Meera, Lal Beg, Choohra, Balshah, Valmk

Gharae, Bhang Bhang, Valmk Bhang, Valmk Madga Madga Bhang, Mehtar, Chuhra, Valmk

Table 2: Names gven to manual scavengers n derent states

Source: Bhasha Sngh, journalst, New Delh 2008

In earler tmes they had to take a derentpath and had to shout aloud whle walkngso that other people could be alerted andconsequently keep a dstance rom them. Inmany parts o the country they had to te abroomstck on ther back whle gong out o ther homes. They could not cross the path o other people at close quarters.

The names o scavengng castes suggest thatthey are a unctonal communty recrutedrom many derent racal and socal groups5.

It s lkely that one o the reasons that mayhave led people o the lowest strata to take toscavengng especally n the urban areas wascompulson, arsng out o economc necessty. The great varaton n the physcal eatureso ths communty suggests that membersbelongng to varous castes due to economccompulsons joned ths proesson.

There s another layer o dscrmnatonwthn the communty. Though those engagedn prvate houses consder themselvessuperor (as cleanng a publc tolet sconsdered neror to cleanng a prvate one),the wages pad to them are lower than thoseo the muncpal employees. Ther housngcondtons are deplorable. Ther habtatonsare n the lthest areas, oten near a publclatrne or a dumpng ground.

Oten where prvate latrnes are cleaned by

scavengers they acqure scavengng rghtswhch also become heredtary.

a b-cl crg

It s beleved that at the end o the Vedcperod tsel, the varna system, whch s

5 Bndeshwar Pathak, ounder o the Sulabh Movement, Inda n hs paper ‘Present Dalt (scavengers) stuaton nInda’.



9

to the then Prme Mnster Jawahar LalNehru. He sad that the Hndu scavengng

employees n Pakstan were beng orcedto do the degradng work warrantng thenterventon o the government o Inda. Yet,even ater so many years o Independencethe practce contnues. It also exsts nBangladesh, Sr Lanka, Nepal and Pakstanbut n derent orms. In all the countres ts based on caste herarchy.

Vcm c-br

The Tata Insttute o Socal Scences (TISS),Mumba carred out a study o manualscavengers n Gujarat n September 2006.The report states that “Nnety percent o allmanual scavengers have not been provdedproper equpment to protect them romaeces-borne llnesses”. Ths ncludes saetyequpment lke gloves, masks, boots and/orbrooms.

Common health alments reported areparastc nectons, gastrontestnal dsorders,skn alments, dmnshed vson and hearngdue to the toxc umes nhaled durng cleanngo septc tanks and manholes. Respratorydseases lke breathlessness and consstentcough were also experenced by some.Communcable dseases such as dysentery,typhod, malara and manly Tuberculoss (TB)

were ound to be prevalent among scavengers.The cases o TB are rarely revealed, prmarlybecause o the attached socal stgma. Heavymenstruaton, mscarrage, severe anema,rregularty n heart beat are some o thehealth problems whch women ace.

Manual scavenger n Gujarat

mentoned n the Rg Veda began to modytsel nto the “caste system”. Manualscavengng evolved wth the evoluton o the“caste system”. The lterature and relgousbooks henceorth descrbe the presence o manual scavengers under condton/systemo slavery. However, there s evdenceo exstence o wet tolets n the ancenttmes lke at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro(cvlsaton datng to 2,500 BC). Thesectes had tolets, whch were connected tounderground dranage system lned wthburnt clay brcks.

Durng the partton o Inda and Pakstann 1947, mgraton to Inda was allowedexcept or the manual scavengers, because they were allowed to leave, then who

would do ther job? Government o Indawas concerned about Hndus resdng nPakstan but not them. The author o theIndan Consttuton Dr. Ambedkar expressedhs deep concern about ths unortunatecommunty n Pakstan by wrtng a letter

A cvlsatonal curse



11

It s exactly 40 years snce Inda launcheda naton-wde campagn to convert all drytolets nto wet tolets. The campagn amedto eradcate manual scavengng, but t ddn’tyeld much result. The Employment o Manual

Scavengers and Constructon o Dry Latrnes(Prohbton) Act was passed n 1993 by theUnon government. Accordng to Clause 3 o the Act no person shall employ or permt toemploy any other person or manually carrynghuman excreta; or construct or mantan a drylatrne. Further, accordng to the clause, no onewould do the work o manual scavengng o thehuman excreta, nether appont a person to dothe same job, nor construct a dry tolet.

The Act makes the occupaton o manualscavengng llegal. The Act also leves penaltesor volatons. Those who do not comply wth thelaws or ts rules and regulaton and the orderand drectons whch are ssued under ths lawor volate any o ts provsons, would be lableto one year punshment or a ne o Rs. 2,000or both. Anyone ound repeatng the volatonwould be lable to pay a ne o Rs. 100 per day.

Gg lw

Though the act was passed n 1993, derentstates o Inda enacted t gradually. Thessue beng a state subject, provsons o

the Act were mplemented ater ts adoptonby varous state governments. Some stateshowever, dd not adopt the Act. Accordng toSaa Karmachar Andolan (SKA) 19 states and6 Unon Terrtores have adopted the 1993

Act. Jammu & Kashmr, Nagaland, HmachalPradesh, Manpur, Meghalaya, Skkm,Mzoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Delh andthe Unon Terrtory o Chandgarh have notadopted the Act as n 2009.

emg mbr

The exact number o manual scavengers nInda, remans a subject o debate as there aredscrepances n the gures provded by thegovernment and the NGOs, as well as wthngovernment data tsel. Thus conductnga survey to assess the number o manualscavengers accurately and scentcallybecomes necessary.

The Supreme Court, and the sub-commtteewhch was ormed on scavengng employeesn the 11th ve year plan, has asked the

state governments to conduct a survey onthe people who are engaged n manualscavengng.

The central government deadlne to eradcatemanual scavengng had been shted rom

Enact, act and dsconnect

2. ec, c cc

“ Whether the fush system wll remove the curse o untouchablty s open to grave doubt.Ths latter has to go rom our hearts. It wll not dsappear through such means as has been

suggested. Not untl we all become Bhangs

6

and realse the dgnty o the labour o scavengng and latrne-cleanng wll untouchablty really be exorcsed.”

– Mahatma Gandh, Harjan, 15 September 1946

6 An Indan caste even though they are outsde o tradtonal jat also treated as untouchables. Bhangs aretradtonally restrcted to the two job unctons o cleanng latrnes and handlng dead bodes (both human and

anmal) as per the Wkpeda http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/bhang.




December 2007 to March 31, 2009. Thedeadlne was extended or the ourth tme.

However there s a marked change n thegovernment stance, as n the prevous threeoccasons the deadlne was or the destructono exstng dry tolets. The derent stategovernments have posted sel-contradctoryevdence o the exstence o manualscavengers n ther respectve states asevdent n the presentatons (reer annexure) made by them to the NHRC.

Jyg bly

The government ctes two reasons as thebggest problem n elmnatng manualscavengng. They are:

Acute shortage o space or constructon o fush latrnes, andWater shortage (nadequate supply o water)7

The above reasons appear as excuses gventhe act that there s an ncentvsed ruralsantaton campagn and a recently announcedurban santaton polcy. Nowhere are drylatrnes promoted. The ssue o shortage o water can be addressed by promotng ecosanmodels, or models that use recycled water.

a --g c

A revew o the Act reveals that t lacks teethand needs to be strengthened n order tocompletely eradcate manual scavengng romthe ace o ths country.

Some key lacunae dented nclude:Chapter IV Secton 17(3) states thatNo court shall take cognsance o any

oence under ths Act except upon a complant made by a person generally

or specally authorsed n ths behal by the Executve Authorty. The executveauthorty s a dstrct magstrate or asub-dvsonal magstrate. Thus, byplacng the onus o lodgng a complanton the executve authorty, t takes awaythe power to seek redress rom theaected person.Chapter II Secton 3 elaborates thatthe State Government shall not ssue

a notcaton unless t has gven a notce o nnety days and whereadequate acltes or the use o water-seal latrnes n that area exst. Ths lmts the power o the executveauthorty to strctly enorce the Act.Employment o manual scavengersby people or nsttutons cannot behalted or questoned mmedately. Thscompromses wth the eectveness o the Act n adherng to a tmerame oreradcatng manual scavengng.Chapter II Secton 4 bestows the powerto the State Government to exempt anyarea, category o buldngs or class o persons rom any provsons o ths Act, t deems t. Ths leaves t to the dscretono the state government to take any actonwhatsoever regardng the mplementatono the provsons o the Act creatng aloophole that provdes opportunty or

non-perormance.Chapter I Secton 2 (m) denes a waterseal latrne as: a pour-fush latrne, water fush latrne or a santary latrne wth a mnmum water-seal o 20 mllmeters dameter n whch human excreta s pushed n or fushed by water. It hasbeen ound n many cases that waterseal latrnes are nether connected to the

7 As presented beore the Natonal Human Rghts Commsson, Inda (NHRC).



13

dranage system nor to a soak pt, wherethe excreta s naturally composted.Rather,

they lead nto a tank or a pt that has to bemanually cleaned. Manual scavengers areemployed to clean these pts perodcally,wthout proper equpment, whch exposesthem to dangerous gases, besdes bengan abhorrent actvty. Hence, the dentono water seal latrne needs to be expanded all types o manual scavengng have tobe eradcated.

There s need or appontment o a nodalagency to look nto cases o volaton o theAct, rehabltaton o manual scavengers andto oversee schemes or constructon o waterseal tolets. The exstng apparatus has notbeen eectve n dentyng and rehabltatngmanual scavengers and n brngng thevolators to book. Though, any contraventono the provsons o the Act s to be punshable wth mprsonment or a term whch may extend to one year or wth ne, whch may extend to Rs. 2,000, or wth both: tll date nota sngle convcton has taken place.

Mmc

The unon government has ntroducedvarous schemes or the rehabltaton o manual scavengers over the years andallocated unds or the purpose. State

governments take money rom the centreor the same under the schemes. Not manymanual scavengers are aware o suchgovernment schemes and rehabltatonprogrammes. Not much has been done todssemnate the normaton among them. In Aprl 2007 the unon government

ntroduced a new scheme called the Sel- Employment Scheme or Rehabltaton o

Manual Scavengers (SRMS).

The Mnstry o Socal Justce andEmpowerment ntroduced the scheme wththe target o rehabltatng the ‘remanng’manual scavengers, by 2009 wth a budget o Rs. 736 crore.

Scavengers and ther dependents,rrespectve o ther ncome, whch are yet

to be provded assstance or rehabltaton,under any scheme o Government o Inda/State Governments wll be elgble orassstance (subsdy, loans tranng). Underths scheme Indvdual loans n the rangeo Rs. 25,000 (mcro-nancng) to 5 lakh(term loan) can be sanctoned. A centralnsttuton – Natonal Scavengng EmployeesFnance Development Corporaton (NSKFDC)has been set up to allocate the budget8.Smlarly derent states have set up therown state level agences o smlar nature.Its noteworthy that most state governmentsdeny the exstence o manual scavengers,but take central government unds to‘rehabltate them’.

As per survey reports receved rom States,there were 7,70,000 scavengers and therdependents n Inda, out o whch about4,27,000 scavengers were already asssted

under the Natonal Scheme or Lberaton andRehabltaton o Scavenger launched n 1992(NSLRS) and hence nelgble or assstancen the current scheme9. Thus, the number o manual scavengers yet to be rehabltated s3,42,000, as per State wse detals gven nTable 1.

8 The NSKFDC has a total authorsed share captal o Rs. 200 crore, out o whch the Central Government had padup Rs. 179.34 crore tll 31st March, 2007.

9 Snce 2005-06 undng had stopped under NSLRS whch was eventually replaced by SRMS.





Mnstry o Housng and Urban PovertyAllevaton o the Government o Inda s

playng a key role n government eorts toeradcate manual scavengng. Its fagshpprogramme s the Integrated Low CostSantaton Scheme (ILCS) launched n1989. The scheme s amed at convertngexstng dry latrnes nto santary latrnes,constructng new latrnes where none exstand to lberate manual scavengers rompursung the occupaton. The Mnstry o Socal Justce and Empowerment has the

overall responsblty or rehabltaton o scavengers, whereas the MoHUPA has theresponsblty or removal o dry latrnes andprovson o santaton acltes at householdand communty levels n urban areas. In ruralareas, the Mnstry o Rural Development,Government o Inda s assgned thsresponsblty.

Census o Inda, 1991 revealed that 76percent o the households n Inda dd nothave tolet acltes10. The proporton o toletless houses decreased to 64 percent n 2001,the ncrease beng hgher n rural areas thanurban. Census gures also revealed that 20percent o the households havng toletsdepended on ‘Servce latrnes’ n whchscavengers are needed to physcally removenght sol.

The revsed ILCS scheme envsages converson

o all exstng 6 lakh dry latrnes wthn thecountry by 2009.

There was a budgetary provson o Rs. 150crore under ILCS durng 2008-09. Accordngto the revsed gudelnes 75% unds s or

converson (6 lakh dry latrnes) and 25 %or new constructon or Economcally

Weaker Secton (EWS) household wth nolatrnes.

a crr cg

The Natonal Human Rghts Commsson(NHRC) has termed manual scavengng as oneo the worst volaton o human rghts. It holdsthat a country could never develop wthout the

development o each and every ndvdual andArtcle 21 o Consttuton o Inda guaranteesthe Rght to Le and that too wth dgnty.

The Commsson held a Natonal Workshop on‘ Manual Scavengng and Santaton’ n NewDelh n August 2008, as a part o programmeto commemorate the 60th annversary o theUnversal Declaraton o Human Rghts11. Theollowng are some o the recommendatonsmade by the commsson:

Though surveys on manual scavengnghave been conducted, several anomaleshave been ound. Thereore, perodccomprehensve surveys, at least oncen three years should be conductedn collaboraton, wth credble NGOs.It should cover dry latrnes, manualscavengers and alternatve optons orrehabltaton.As per the normaton avalable wth the

Mnstry o Housng and Urban PovertyAllevaton, there are dry latrnes nUttar Pradesh, Bhar, Jammu & Kashmrand Assam. Thereore, these our statesshould take all necessary steps or thecomplete converson and demolton o

1.

2.

10 As per MoHUPA http://mhupa.gov.n/w_new/lcsRpt/Executonsummary.pd 11 NHRC webste www.nhrc.nc.n. The Workshop held on August 28, 2008 was attended by representatves rom

20 States/UTs, 9 NGOs workng n the eld o Manual Scavengng and ve Unon Mnstres ncludng Mnstry o

Socal Justce and Empowerment and Mnstry o Urban Development and Poverty Allevaton.




The State Human Rghts Commssonsshould start montorng elmnaton o

manual scavengng and consequentrehabltaton o manual scavengers n thestates.

a cvl c

Besdes government and autonomous bodesmany non-government organsatons arentatng steps to brng n changes. A group o eght ndvduals and organsatons workng

or the cause o manual scavengers cametogether and collectvely led a wrt pettonn the Supreme Court n 2003 demandng themplementaton o the 1993 Act. SKA ( Saa Karmachar Andolan ) s the lead pettonern the PIL. Consequently, the Supreme Courtsummoned the derent state governmentsand asked them to respond and normthe court regardng the mplementatono the 1993 Act n ther respectve states.Interestngly, most state governments have

13.

Ganga Ba Balmke, Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh

State Status

Andhra Pradesh Not present

Assam Present

Bhar Present

Gujarat Present

Delh Present n East Delh

Jammu & Kashmr Present n 6 dstrcts

Uttarakhand Present n 4 dstrcts ncludng Udham Sngh Nagar, Hardwar

West Bengal Present n Howrah Muncpalty

Karnataka Present n Kolar gold elds

Uttar Pradesh Present n 6 dstrcts, about 683 manual scavengers n Kanpur, Lucknow

Kerala No manual scavengers present

Punjab Present n all 17 dstrcts

Taml Nadu 631 dry latrnes n 7 dstrcts

Source: Saa Karmachar Andolan (SKA)

Table 3: Counter-pontBased on actual surveys the Saa Karmachar Andolan has countered clam o several statesbeng manual scavenger ree.

dened the exstence o manual scavengers nther respectve states n ther adavts ledn the Supreme Court n 2003. In 2005, theorgansaton led a counter adavt provdngdetal o scavengers that exsted n severalstates. Now, the Supreme Court has askedSKA to provde resh evdence o manualscavengng based on latest data (reer table3). Ths s n response to the government clamthat the scavengers mentoned n the 2003



17Enact, act and dsconnect

counter adavt are no longer workng n thsoccupaton.

Mvm prg

Bezwada Wlson o SKA states that manualscavengers were present n 140 dstrcts o Inda.Accordng to hm, ths evl and degradngpractce has to be eradcated by December 31,2010 (cvl socety organsatons deadlne), anodal agency or the same s desred.

Wlson advocates a twn pronged approach tothe subject:

Dsmantlng all the publc dry latrnesthat exst partcularly n the panchayatsand the muncpaltes. SKA has producedevdence o ther exstence beore thedstrct magstrate who s the appontedauthorty to look nto the cases o volatono the 1993 Act. In many cases the dstrctadmnstraton genunely elt embarrassedat the exstence o manual scavengersand were wllng to take whatever actonnecessary.Wth respect to dry latrnes that exst nndvdual homes, try to persuade thescavengng women to qut the job andstart new more dgned careers. SKAmakes these women aware o varousgovernment schemes whch they can avalor the purpose.

Thanks to the eorts o SKA, a number o manual scavengers have been rehabltatedusng central government schemes n shretalng, scrap sellng, auto rckshaw drvng,cloth vendng and petty shops (See Box:Breakng ree). Wlson s o the vew that thessue be looked nto by the Department o Drnkng Water Supply (DDWS) under theMnstry o Rural Development, as t deals

wth the subject o rural santaton. Manual

scavengng also needs to be consdered asantaton ssue besdes beng a socal one.

The SKA has ntated a natonwde survey to

assess the actual number o scavengers stll

Brkg r

Women rom derent corners o Indadescended on Vshwa Yuvak Kendra, New Delh,on 25th February 2009 chantng slogans ‘MalaPratha Band Karo’ (Stop Manual Scavengng).They had assembled or a natonal summt toshare ther experences and to dscuss ssuesrelated to the practce o manual scavengngas an occupatonal volence aganst women. A

large number o those gathered had recentlybeen reed rom scavengng work. Promnentleaders rom natonal women and humanrghts organsatons n the country attendedthe summt to extend soldarty and support.They represented the All Inda Dalt MahlaAdhkar Manch (AIDMAM), All Inda Allance o Progressve Women, Aman Bradar, BharatyaMuslm Women Rghts Forum, Centre or DaltRghts, MARG, Prajwala and the NatonalCampagn or Dalt Human Rghts (NCDHR).Well known personaltes lke ArundhatRoy (author), Matrayee Pushpa (humanrghts actvst) and Harsh Mander (actvstor excluded groups) also addressed thegatherng. Impacts on chldren were dscussedand t was decded to take proactve steps toacltate educaton o chldren rom scavengeramles. Inormaton about scholarshps andother development and welare supports romgovernment was shared. The summt waspreceded by a campagn n whch scavengerwomen held marches and burnt baskets n

ront o Dstrct Collecton’s oce as a symbolcgesture o reeng themselves o ths practce.The campagn spread over 10 states namelyHaryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delh, UttarPradesh, Orssa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Bhar and Taml Nadu and was supported byWaterAd.

Source: Saa Karmachar Andolan




workng. It mantans that a judcal magstratebe gven the authorty to take cognsance o

cases o volatons o the 1993 Act n a gvendstrct.

Rclmg gy

Garma Abhyan s a movement launched bynne NGOs n Madhya Pradesh n 2002 thatams to end manual scavengng n the state.Garma Abhyan s ocused on the rght to

dgnty aspect o the ssue. It beleves that

organsng people s the only eectve andlong-term way to ensure complete abolton

o the practce o manual scavengng.Itclams that an estmated 3,038 people areengaged n ths degradng proesson n thestate. Approxmately 2,800 scavengers havebeen lberated and rehabltated. Accordngto Ash rom Garma Abhyan, the SRMS svewed as a male ocused scheme and wthmost scavengers beng women, t s not veryeectve n rehabltatng them (See Box:Claron call). There are dscrepances n the

lst o manual scavengers submtted by the

Clr cll

A one-day Natonal Consultaton was held on 31st March 2009 n Delh to lay emphass on theeradcaton o manual scavengng by December 2010. Dscussons were held on the present statuso scavengng n Inda and the actors that are contrbutng to ts prevalence. It provded a platormto the women who have let ths practce and those who are stll nvolved to voce ther concernsand problems. The role o varous stakeholders lke members o the manual scavengng communty,the larger communty, cvl socety organsatons and the state n the abolton o ths practce andrehabltaton o those who come out o t, was debated. Cases o explotaton and abuse o manual

scavengers were brought to lght. The Consultaton was attended by more than 150 women and menrom derent states who are ether nvolved n the practce or have let t. Actvsts, members o non-governmental organsatons, representatves rom Commssons (e.g. Plannng Commsson) andothers attended. The meetng drew attenton to the act that another deadlne had passed and the tasko brngng manual scavengng to an end stll remans unnshed.

It was elt that the ptch o the campagn aganst manual scavengng must be rased. The ssue shouldbe converted nto a movement and not just reman a Cvl Socety Organsaton (CSO) eort. Someother vews that were expressed were:

Proper research should be undertaken by reputed organsatons lke Tata Insttute o SocalScences (TISS) to evaluate the state und allocaton or eradcaton o manual scavengers andhow t has been spent at the state, dstrct and Panchayat level.

Flng o specc RTIs (Rght to Inormaton) on unds spent/unspent and allocated dstrct wse.

The ssue can be taken to the pettons commttee o the parlament, where a state socal servceocal can be summoned and questoned.

The organsaton TAAMS n Taml Nadu was commended or the work t had done wth manualscavengers. There s a manual scavengng commsson n Taml Nadu. Educatonal schemes have beenextended to the chldren o manual scavengers. About 45 chldren are studyng n colleges n the state.The SC/ST quota o 18% n government nsttutons ncludes a 3% reservaton or manual scavengers.There s also provson o penson o Rs. 450 per month or those who have worked as manualscavengers and Rs. 6,000 or pregnant women scavengers.

Source: Garma Abhyan, Madhya Pradesh 2009



19

state government to the centre, and the lst o people rehabltated as clamed by the state

government, says Ash.

The movement recommends consdernggvng land to the women scavengers. Itadvocates publc hearngs to brng out thelacunae n the scheme (See Box: Tellngtales).

Mkg gvrm blv

Accordng to Manjula Pradeep rom NavsarjanTrust, an Ahmedabad based organsatondedcated to dalt ssues especallyeradcaton o manual scavengng, the socaljustce and empowerment department o

Gujarat put the total number o scavengersat 64,195 n 2006, out o whch 11,653 have

been rehabltated.

In 2006 the Gujarat government asked TataInsttute o Socal Scences to conduct asurvey to denty manual scavengers nthe state. It brought out a gure o 2,450manual scavenger households n the statewth a total populaton o 12,506. There weretotal o 4,333 persons workng as manualscavengers n the state. Dverse knds o dry

latrne structures exsted. Most scavengerswere engaged n clearng open deecatonplaces. Also, the study brought out that theywere present n rural areas as well as townsand ctes. The report was not accepted by thegovernment, states Ms. Pradeep.


tllg l

Vmla Ba rom Neemach dstrct n Madhya Pradesh has been workng as a scavenger ever snce shegot marred. She has been ltng nght sol rom Rajput amles where she s not allowed to enterhome wth ootwear on. She was lberated rom ths work wth the nterventon o Garma Abhyan.Though she aced pressure rom Rajput amles to resume scavengng, she remaned steadast nher decson to qut. Currently she works as an agrcultural labourer. Alke s the tale o Akhtar Brom the Hela Communty, a Muslm scavengng communty n central Inda who belongs to TaranaTehsl n Ujjan dstrct o Madhya Pradesh. She let scavengng about two years back wth help romGarma Abhyan. She sells papad to make a lvng now. Her two chldren study n school. In a smlarven, LalBa rom Manser dstrct n MP qut her job as a manual scavenger n 2002 thereater shehas struggled to lberate other women n a smlar plght. She works wth Garma Abhyan and hassuccessully lberated 165 women scavengers. Accordng to her scavengng exsts n Ratlam dstrct o

Madhya Pradesh as well.The story o Ratlalj s equally tellng. He belongs to Mahuva taluka n Bhavnagar dstrct n Gujaratwhere he has worked as an employee o the muncpal corporaton. He removed nght sol rom areaswhere open deecaton was prevalent. Removal o burnt dead bodes and ashes rom bural groundwas part o hs job. He was threatened wth a salary cut whenever he reused to do the degradngwork. Accordng to hm there was a hgh prevalence o dseases (especally TB) and death amongthe scavengers, He worked as scavenger or 12 years beore comng n contact wth Navsarjan Trustand eventually qut hs job. He nssts that the work stll goes on. There were 160 such workers n theMuncpal Corporaton. Approxmately 900 valmks work as scavengers n homes, actores and thecorporaton. He works wth the Navsarjan Trust.

Source: Garma Abhyan, Madhya Pradesh 2009




Though, there are many schemes declaredby the state government very ew have been

eectve enough to rehabltate manualscavengers. Navsarjan s one o the eghtorgansatons that are part o the wrt pettonled n the Supreme Court demandng actonrom the unon government on ths ssue. Itemphasses ollowng steps that mght helpelmnate ths practce:

Promote qualed youth employed asmanual scavengers n muncpaltes,dstrct/taluka/gram panchayats and other

government unded and aded agences n todgned jobs at ther place o employment.

Frame a long-term rehabltaton polcy orthe manual scavengers. Specal educaton

programme or the chldren whose parentsare engaged n manual scavengng so thatthey could be educated wth dgnty and na proper envronment.Ensure that no santaton worker whetherpermanent or on contract bass s engagedn manual scavengng.

Besdes, t suggests that puntve acton mustbe taken aganst the dstrct, taluka and vllage

level authortes who have not been able toabolsh manual scavengng.



21

Cvl socety groups have gven an ultmatumto the government to eradcate manualscavengng. The nternatonal Dalt SoldartyForum, whch operates n ve countres, hasproclamed that the Indan government doesnot eradcate the practce o manual scavengng

they would launch a campagn n varouscountres to oppose the Commonwealth Gamesto be held n Inda n 2010. On the other hand,there are several ntatves o rehabltatngmanual scavengers wth lvelhoods o dgnty.Ths chapter takes stock o the state o manual scavengers n varous states as well aschroncles ew nsprng stores o rehabltatonor attempts to stop manual scavengng. Theoverall stuaton s dscouragng but the ewpostve developments do evoke hope thatthere s a way out.

dl: Cpl pm

In Delh and ts neghbourng areas lkeGhazabad and Meerut the practce o manualscavengng contnues unabated. More than1,000 manual scavengers were dentedn the survey conducted by Department

o Socal Scences, Delh Unversty. NandNagar, Seelampur, Sundernagar, Seemapur,Gokulpur, Bhajanpura, Mandol Vllage, AnandVhar, Sherapur Chowk and Chandn Chowkare some areas dented n the survey havngmanual scavengng (See Box: Sel scavengng).

Meena who s around 21 years old talksmournully, “My whole amly s dong manualscavengng”. Meena has a sx-year old

daughter wth stunted growth. She attrbutes

“So long as you do not acheve socal lberty, whatever reedom s provded by the law s o no aval to you.”

- Dr. B. R. Ambedker

ths to her workng n unhygenc condtonsdurng pregnancy.

Why does one make a lvng out o ths occupaton when other more dgned lvelhood optons are avalable?

Thrty-year old Sharmla, another manualscavenger, had a smlar tale to tell. “Anotherjob? People want to know our caste beorewe enter nto ther homes and I am scared o lyng. Some tme ago my sster-n-law got a jobo cleanng and washng n a house located araway rom her dwellng. She worked n thathouse or sx months. One day a relatve o that house-owner came to vst. She had seenmy sster-n-law pckng rags. She recognsed

her and ater that all hell broke loose, she wasbadly beaten up, orced to uncover her sarand was kcked out o the house. Now you tellme what do we do? We have our dgnty too”.

The men belongng to ths communty sharea smlar ate. Twenty-three year old Mukeshhas been a scavenger or the last 15 years.He works n the ‘prvate Sulabh’ o the area.Accordng to hm “Earler Sulabh had control

on the tolets but now they have been allotted

Hope amdst despar

3. hp m pr

sl cvgg

It has been reported rom some slums n Delh,that women are orced to manually scavengensde ther own dwellngs as all the memberso the amly use a small pt dug nsde therhomes or deecaton.

Source: CURE, Delh




to the contractors. They have a our wallboundary but no provson o seat or water.

It means people st anywhere or deecaton. You magne the condton o tolets n thsarea. There are 16 such tolets n Nand Nagar.They are manually cleaned two tmes n a day.Those who scavenge are pad Rs. 1,000 (ormen) and Rs. 500 (or women). People get thesewage water n bucket rom nearby dran toclean the tolets (See Box: Hell n dsguse)”.

W Bgl: hl m

It s mportant to menton the womenscavengers n Bhatpara vllage n the 24Parganas dstrct o West Bengal. Desptegettng better remuneraton as compared toother places they stll wanted lberaton romther despcable occupaton. They were 122 nnumber. They were keen that ther voces be

heard and wllngly allowed or photographs

and vdeo lms beng shot. They get salaryas per government (See Box: Scavenger as a

government employee) grades but they arenot provded protectve gloves or any healthrelated aclty. These women have to walk upto three klometres wth a pot o excreta onther heads to put t n a tanker or n a pt.

Gjr: Lglly llgl

Leela Ben (See Box: But... where to go?) hasbeen at ths job snce she was 15 years old andhll g

Due to economc and caste constrants manualscavengers are orced nto ths proesson.Though temporary (Kucch) latrnes havedentely reduced they have not beenpermanently closed. In act, they have got amakeover. We do not nd scavengers workngopenly. Reason?

“People have bult tanks. These are not Sokhta (soak pt) tanks. Rather, they are cleanedmanually?” Fty-ve year old Munna Bha says,

“Ths s more dangerous work than manualscavengng. The work o cleanng the tanktakes place at nght and the entre tank has tobe cleaned rom nsde”.

He has to enter nto the tank to clean t,whch has to be done n one day. “The stnk sunbearable”. Ater the job s done he doubtswhether he s ndeed a human beng.


Mannal scavenger wth a cart, Gujarat

scvgr gvrm mply

Manual scavengers are apponted by thePanchayat or muncpalty n many stateswhere they work as permanent employees anddraw salary as per government salary norms.Temporary employees get the salary on dalywage bass. Gujarat, West Bengal and manystates o south Inda have ths tradton.

Source: Navsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad



23

now she s 45. She gets Rs. 50 rom Panchayatas daly wages. She spends at least Rs. 300-400 monthly on purchasng medcnes. Itseems that dseases have become a part o her le.

Ganga Ben o Dalt Sadhu communty snot a manual scavenger but a sarpancho a panchayat. Ater ntal denals, sheaccepted that the practce exsted n herPanchayat as well. Accordng to Bakaul

Ganga Ben, “State Government s not wllngto elmnate ths practce despte havngmoney to do t”.

Pallav, Leela Ben, Laxm Ben, Hansa Ben,Bju Ben are among those women who hadled a case aganst the state governmentn the Supreme Court n 2004 accusng thepanchayat o appontng them as manualscavengers. But the Gujarat Government dd

nothng despte t beng llegal.

Manjula Pradeep o Navsarjan Trust sconcerned that no one rom the centre tothe state government has any dea or plan tomodernse the work o cleanng; to make tmore dgned work. Accordng to her thereare about 64,000 scavengers n Gujarat. Shebeleves that the bggest change n the lves o scavengers wll come about when the socetychanges ts mndset towards them.

Navsarjan Trust, launched a people’s

awareness campagn to elmnate the practceo manual scavengng. It s actve n the eldo developng alternatve models o tolets. Itscampagn was successul n lberatng somewomen rom ther proesson. It helped buldpressure on the government machnery to act(See Box: Raksha... bondage).

The women who had led pettons n theSupreme Court are stll actvely pursung the

campagn.

B... wr g?

The wrnkled ace o Jeetu Ben o Gujarat cloudswth anger when asked about her llness “Justmanually scavenge the excreta, you wll come toknow about these dseases. How could one behealthy n ths proesson? Can you just magnehow we are survvng even ater dong such adsgustng job. How our chldren are born? Howwe celebrate?” she questons.

Carryng her one and a hal year old daughter,Pallav o Palyad vllage started weepng whlesharng her problems, “I am n trouble. You can

ask anyone. I went back to work ater ten dayso my delvery. How wll I eed my chldren Idon’t work?” Pallav’s husband s an alcoholc. Amother o our chldren, she has no other opton.But that doesn’t mean that she does not have adesre to come out o ths occupaton.

Source: Bhasha Sngh, journalstManual scavenger n Gujarat

Hope amdst despar




Br: Lw g

Glmpses o ths practce were seen at Patthark Masjd and at Ambedkar Nagar colony nPatna. Famles lvng here constructed tankswhch were not septc tanks. These tanks arecleaned manually.

Rajkumar, who was unable to stand straght,belongs to Swan dstrct, 15 km rom Patna.She says, “My physcal condton s not good.I eel weak, I cannot see up n the sky and myneck s slghtly bent.” She had been acngthese problems ever snce she cleaned a tankn the Masjd colony. She worked the entrenght to clean the tank. The place or dsposalwas about 3 km rom the tank. Moreover, shewas pregnant at that tme. She had to work asher husband dd not have a job. Controllngher eelngs she sad, “Who wants to do thsstnkng work but we don’t want to starve also”.

The granddaughter o Gandh Ram (SeeBox: What s n a name) says, “We know thswork s llegal. But we cannot survve on lawalone. We cannot survve wthout ths work.Government asks us to take loan but loan hasto be returned. How wll we return the money?

Once I opened a tea stall, no one came to havetea. I lost all the money. We have no other

opton except manual scavengng”.

Hal o Patna, lke many others ctes, has nosewer lne network and n ths hal tanks havebeen constructed (See Box: The hellsh le o Baltwals). Some people have constructedseptc tanks but they are ew n number. Thethen Speaker o Bhar Assembly Jabr Husanhad been actvely assocated wth the ssue.He had taken the ntatve o conductng asurvey n 2002. As per the survey the numbero amles engaged n the practce was 22,000.He advocated the complete eradcaton o thesame. No survey was conducted to assess thenumber o manual scavengers ater 2002.

ar Pr: tcklg r

The scavengng women o Andhra Pradeshhave dared to decmate ths practce romther state. They boast there s no semblanceo ther erstwhle trade n the state now. Thsdd not happen overnght. The ScavengngEmployees’ Movement launched a campagn

Rk... bg12

In August, 2008, nearly 5,000-odd womenmanual scavengers rom 13 dstrcts o thestate decded to send Rakhs along wth a letterto the MLAs, Dstrct Collectors, MuncpalOcers and the hgher Ocals n the stategovernment descrbng ther plght and urgngthem to act and lberate them.

Source: Navsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad

12 Raksha Bandhan (the bond o protecton n Hnd) s a Hndu estval celebratng relatonshp between brothersand ssters wheren the brother rearms hs commtment to protect hs sster. The estval s marked by tyng o a ‘Rakh’ or holy thread by the sster on the wrst o her brother.

W m

Born on the day Mahatma Gandh was klled,people started callng hm Gandh Ram. But thsdd not change hs destny. It s roncal that theentre le o Gandh Ram was devoted to thesame work aganst whch Mahatma Gandh hadlaunched a movement. He s stll n the clutcheso ths practce even ater gettng old. Hs next

two generatons are orced to contnue ths work.




25

to destroy dry tolets both n publc andprvate domans. The women o ths movement

are nvolved rom destroyng the tolets topressursng the dstrct admnstraton totake acton. Narayan Amma s the undsputedleader o ths movement who has devoted herentre le to stop ths undgned proesson.

Rj: iprg l

Kaalu Ram Hatwal started workng as a

manual scavenger at the age o 15. Hebelonged to a poor Valmk amly. He letths proesson voluntarly as he hated thedespcable job. He joned as a daly wagelabourer on a road constructon ste.Hs le changed thereater. He studedDr. Ambedkar’s lterature and decded tomprove the lot o hs ellow unortunatebengs. He realses the value o educaton andsends hs three chldren to school. Netherhe nor hs we wll go back to the sameproesson agan. He s actvely engaged neradcaton o manual scavengng rom Inda.

The story o Manju rom Skar n Rajasthans equally nsprng. She was ntated nto

manual scavengng at the age o 11. Atermarrage she contnued wth her work. She

remaned a manual scavenger or 25 years.Socal workers rom the Saa Karmachar

Andolan vsted her localty and persuaded herto leave her job.

Today she works as an assstant n a schooland earns Rs. 1,500 per month. Her son alsoworks n the same school and earns the sameas her. She proudly goes to her workplace now

t ll l Blwl

In Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh two words sum up the state o aars:

- Kama wal latrne (to-earn latrne) and- Baltwal (Bucket-women).

In Kanpur dry tolets are called Kama wal latrne and manual scavenger Baltwal . No Baltwal , whomwe met, was aware o the government’s rehabltaton programmes and schemes. Scavengng womeno Bakarmand, Chaman Ganj and Kangh localty sad, “Today the practce o manual scavengng snot as prevalent as t used to be. There are very ew dry tolets. Ther work has become more tedousbecause the human waste keeps fowng n the dran.

Former Charman o Natonal Scavengng Employees Commsson, Panna Lal sad that government wasnot serous about elmnatng ths practce. There was provson o sewer lne n only 50-60% o Kanpur.

Source: Bhasha Sngh, journalst, New Delh

Kamala Balmke rom Tkamgarh, MP (now rehabltated)

Hope amdst despar




as opposed to earler when the very thought o her workplace made her stomach churn.

Prema Dev and Lakshm have workedas manual scavengers n Rajasthan orseveral years. The nterventon o SaaKarmachar Andolan prompted them toleave ther job. They haven’t ound astable better earnng occupaton, but they

would rather work as daly wage earnersthan go back to ther old occupaton.

Both o them hope that government oerssome alternate avenue or them to makea better lvng. There are women n otherstates who have broken ree o therdecadent nhertance and adopted new,dgned lvelhoods (See Box: A make overn Haryana).

a mk vr hry

Chandravat (name changed) worked as a manual scavenger n upper caste households n a dstrct nHaryana. She detested her work and dd not want her daughter to take t up. Both her chldren weregong to a school. Her husband worked as a daly wage labourer. He was an alcoholc and wastedhs meager earnngs on drnkng. Chandravat supported her amly wth whatever she eked out alvng workng as a manual scavenger. She got some stale bread rom upper caste households; paltryamounts o money on estvals, some old clothes and ood grans.

Her le took an unexpected turn when two socal workers Rajkumar and Seema (names changed)descended upon her colony. They belonged to her own Valmk communty.

They tred to convnce them to leave ther present occupatons; ll up an applcaton and apply orgovernment schemes to move to more dgned means o lvelhood. They told these people that

manual scavengng had been declared llegal by the government They were carryng on wth ths llegalactvty not because o any ault o thers but rather due to the necences o the socety they lvedn. Most people were apprehensve about submttng applcatons to the government. But Chandravatdecded to take the bold step.

Today Chandravat has two bualoes and she makes a lvng by sellng mlk. She s no longer a manualscavenger. She threw all the tools and mplements o her prevous trade nto a nearby dran.

Source: Saa Karmachar Andolan, Delh



27

The number o scavengers, though large,s mnuscule when compared to thepopulaton o Inda. Hence they cannotemerge as a vote bank. They can neverbecome electorally attractve enough orany poltcal party ncludng those wth apredomnantly Dalt agenda to take up ther

cause. Even ater the rse o such poltcalpartes on the Indan poltcal scenethe vulnerablty o manual scavengngcommunty has never become an electon orpoltcal agenda.

Recently people have evnced nterest n thercause ater the rulng Unted ProgressveAllance (UPA) Charperson Sona Gandh andPrme Mnster Manmohan Sngh rased thessue o manual scavengers.

A manual scavenger les at the bottom o theIndan socety and hs/her upltment can bepognantly descrbed as the Antodaya or theawakenng o the last person13. The sad plghto women who consttute 80% o the manualscavenger workorce lends an extra degree o deprvaton and excluson. Ths rases someburnng questons.

Why do people continue to engage inthis work when other more remunerative

livelihood options are available to them?

A possble answer les n a curous cocktal o:a deplorable caste system,generatons o amles nvolved n thsproesson (an unortunate nhertance),

lack o condence and wherewthal tobreak the vcous cycle o poverty andcentures o bondage,not enough awareness and normatonabout rehabltaton schemes or anyother scheme o the numerous Daltdevelopment programmes whch these

women are enttled to aval,the dea that they can move out o therstnkng exstence has smply not occurredto them.

Is it possible that India completely

eradicates manual scavenging by 2010?

An armatve answer s what we would lketo beleve and strve to acheve. Nonetheless,a lot o work remans to be done. Steps thatmght make the goal achevable:

Destroy all dry latrnes that exst n thecountry. However, some thought has to begven to the aspect o alternate santatonoptons avalable or the people whowere usng dry latrnes earler. As hasbeen ound n some nstances n AndhraPradesh, destructon o dry latrnes hasresulted n ncrease n open deecaton,whch works aganst the objectves o the

Total Santaton Campagn o Governmento Inda and provdng access to tolets. Theeort towards total santaton should be nconjuncton wth destructon o dry tolets.Penalse those who employ manualscavengers or construct dry latrnes. Asngle convcton would go a long way ndeterrng those who do so.

13 Antodaya beng the fagshp ant-poverty programme o government o Inda whch later got merged nto a much

larger IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme).

Change, we can

4. Cg, w c

“I may not be born agan, but t happens, I wll lke to be born nto a amly o scavenger, so that I may releve them o the nhuman, unhealthy and hateul practse o carryng nghtsol”

– Mahatma Gandh




Create awareness regardng rehabltatonschemes. There s a need or the

government to develop practcal andlong-term rehabltaton schemes thattake care o the next generaton o thecommunty. Deploy people who wouldapproach the targeted communty wthrelevant normaton and apprse them o the better uture that s possble or them.Perhaps, ths can be better accomplshedby voluntary agences whch have morecommtted sta. However, a government

thrust would be nvaluable.Assess the real number o manualscavengers and ther spatal dstrbutonacross the country and drect ocusedeort, talored or unque soco-culturalcondtons n derent states. Manual scavengng s a caste ssue.It s also largely a santaton ssue.So santaton programmes as well asprogrammes o other relevant mnstresmust be converged.

The cvl socety and the government need tochange ther mndset towards ths practce,

and the people nvolved n t. Both together,wth ther own approaches and eorts canbrng an end to ths practce. A natonalpolcy on santaton that addresses the ssueo manual scavengng on a prorty bass sdesrable. Provson o dranage systemsand acltatng constructon o fush toletswll go a long way n gettng rd o drytolets.

Cvl socety organsatons can help createawareness on the ssue and call upon thegovernment to enorce the 1993 Act (See Box:SACOSAN III – rasng the dgnty). Meanwhle,t s vtal to lend support to dalt organsatonsand movements campagnng aganst manualscavengng n ther eorts to conduct surveys,lberate manual scavengers, rehabltate themand ensure that the government meets tscommtments.

saCosan iii – rg gy

The thrd South Asa Conerence on Santaton (SACOSAN-III) was held n Delh durng November18-21, 2008. Just precedng ths event cvl socety groups came together n Delh or a pre- SACOSANmeetng on November 16-17. In both the meetngs serous concerns were rased on the ssue o manualscavengng and the rghts and dgnty o the people engaged n ths occupaton. Manual scavengngs n practce n many South Asan countres. The pre-SACOSAN meetng o the cvl socety groupsadopted a resoluton that sad: “The practce o manual scavengng s a volaton o human rghts,a grave nrngement o people’s dgnty, and the worst orm o caste-based dscrmnaton. Lawsto eradcate ths practce have been passed n some countres but these are not enorced.” Thsrecommendaton was ed nto the ocal SACOSAN declaraton process. Though, the nal declaratonddn’t menton manual scavengers speccally, t dd talk about them as santaton workers. Santatonworkers nclude many others who may not be manual scavengers. The ocal declaraton o SACOSANsad: “The crtcal role o personnel nvolved n santaton work wll be recognsed, and measures takento rase ther dgnty.”

Source: WaterAd Inda, Delh



29

axr

Some notable assertons14 made by varous state governments beore the NHRC regardngmanual scavengng n ther respectve states are as ollows:

Karnataka

Number o scavengersand dry latrnes

In the year 1993-94, the state along wth NGOs conducted a survey, throwng upa gure o 14,555 manual scavengers n the state n both rural and urban areas.In 2002-03 t went up to 26,004 and n 2007-08 t was 40,692 scavengers.A resurvey was done n 2007-08 as some repetton n benecares was ound.27 dstrcts were covered; no manual scavenger was ound n urban areas,survey n rural areas to be carred out through Panchayats s n process tll date.There are 2,800 dry latrnes n the state, 70% o them have been convertedto wet ones whle the rest are n the process o converson.

Number o scavengers

rehabltated

29,791 have been rehabltated, manly through nancal assstance to the

tune o Rs. 70.95 crores. Most o them have opened grocery shops; some runa garage, cycle shop or auto rckshaw whle the remanng are constructonlabourers.

Intatves/Schemes All the muncpaltes have been nstructed not to grant clearance tobuldngs whch have a dry latrne: to deny clearance to them tll theyconstruct wet ones. Besdes, the state has a scheme or grl chld o manualscavengers: Rs. 25,000 s deposted n a bank n her name, whch shereceves on maturty.

Kerala

Status There are no manual scavengers ether n urban or rural areas. Manualscavengng was abolshed about 50 years back amd protests and hartals However, the descendents o these people reman poor. Lvelhood s aconcern or them. Land was gven to them but rehabltaton eorts werenot made.

Madhya Pradesh


There were 4 lakh dry latrnes n 1998-99 and 93,000 manual scavengers asn 1991-92.

Number o scavengersrehabltated

All dry latrnes were converted pror to Oct 2, 2004 and unds or the same(constructon o wet tolet) were to the tune o Rs. 10,000/unt. They wererehabltated and engaged n alternate occupatons lke cycle shops, grocery/retal shops, runnng auto rckshaws etc.

Intatves/Schemes Santaton workers who are employed wth the muncpal corporaton havebeen gven the authorty to mpose spot nes, n case they nd anyoneltterng on the streets. They have been renamed as saa sanghrakshaks orcleanlness conservators. In urban areas there are 100% ndvdual, publcand communty tolets.The 238 ULBs ntend to construct 1 mllon tolets whch wll ental annvestment o 1,000 crores. In rural areas 1,500 communty tolets wth annvestment o 225 crores; they wll have 16 seats, 8 each or men and womeneach, wth showers.

Annexure

14 Presentatons were made by the state governments at the Natonal workshop on ‘Manual Scavengng and

Santaton’ held by the NHRC n August, 2008. Any error heren s regretted as ths has not been cross-vered.




Maharashtra

Number o scavengers

and dry latrnes

There were 1,40,000 dry latrnes and 6 lakh manual scavengers.

No. o scavengersrehabltated

All have been rehabltated.

Intatves/Schemes TISS conducted a survey n June 2005 whch revealed the exstence o 169dry latrnes and 55 manual scavengers who have been rehabltated sncethen. In March 2008, Rs. 64 crores was spent on rehabltaton schemes.Now, only the descendents reman to be rehabltated.

Manpur, Meghalaya


In Manpur, the 1993 Act has not been adopted as there are open pt latrnes.There are no dry latrnes and manual scavengers.Meghalaya dd have manual scavengers, manly rom the Skh communtywhom the Brtsh had taken to Meghalaya or ths purpose. As per a survey n2006 that was completed n 2008, 160 manual scavengers reportedly exstedand 447 dependents. Twelve amles mgrated to Punjab.


In Meghalaya, Problems were encountered n ther rehabltaton. 568erstwhle scavengers were rehabltated. Some work as saa karamchars.People were reluctant to rent a house to them: even banks were reluctant togve loans to them. They could not own land owng to ther mgrant status.

Intatves/Schemes By 2005, about 3,000 dry latrnes had been converted.

Skkm

Status Has not adopted the 1993 Act as dry latrnes do not exst n the state. The

government o Skkm had constructed publc tolets extensvely throughoutthe state, whch s largely covered by wet latrnes. Manual scavengers do notexst. There s a culture o sel cleanng n Skkm.

Orssa


The state government asserts that by July 2008, there were 16,618 manualscavengers and ther dependents. 103 ULBs report no dry latrne


4,000 manual scavengers have been rehabltated, 12,618 reman.

Intatves/Schemes Banks are reluctant to sancton ther applcatons. Many o them have gotjobs. However, the survey conducted by the government s not consdered

relable.Punjab


Two surveys had been conducted; one n 1991-92 and the other n 2000. Atotal o 2,945 scavengers have snce been rehabltated. The survey o 1998-99 had yelded a gure o 1,28,000 dry latrnes; post whch wet latrnes wereconstructed.


There were no manual scavengers n ether rural or urban areas. There wereno dry latrnes n rural areas. However, n urban areas there mght be caseswhch have gone unreported and not covered n the government sponsoredsurvey.



31

Intatves/Schemes The government had advertsed n the leadng newspapers that any manualscavenger could come orward wth an applcaton. No clearance or lcense s

gven to a buldng t does not have wet latrnes.Taml Nadu


In the year 1992-93 there were 35,561 manual scavengers and therdependents.A resurvey was conducted n 2007-08 at the behest o the governmentollowng whch 26,350 manual scavengers were regstered. The governmentdented 22,811 people as manual scavengers and ther dependents.


GOI (Government o Inda) released unds to the tune o Rs. 56.8 crores,out o whch Rs. 35 crores were spent. About 29,291 scavengers have beenrehabltated, 6,022 reman to be rehabltated.

Intatves/Schemes There are no manual scavengers now, as dry latrnes no longer exsted n

the state. About 13,101 manual scavengers were to be gven sklls tranng atan expense o Rs. 18.4 crores out o whch Rs. 6 crores have been released.Banks are reluctant to ssue loans to them.

Uttar Pradesh


In 1992-93 exstence o 2,69,000 scavengers was reported. A survey n2005-06 revealed a gure o 20,329 and 84,252 dependents. In 2008 about409 scavengers and ther dependents have been ascertaned.


Between the perod 1992-93 and 2007-08 about 2,56,000 scavengers havebenetted rom government schemes (rehabltaton and subsdy). Theremanng 409 scavengers are undergong tranng.

The subsdy or tolet constructon s only or BPL amles or EconomcallyWeaker Sectons (EWS) and not or APL.

Intatves/Schemes Total o Rs. 19 crores were sanctoned, out o whch Rs. 6 crores have beenreceved. Notces were ssued to all dry latrne owners to convert to wet ones;27,114 prosecutons were led; 1,153 nes have been mposed; 4,209 drylatrnes have been demolshed; 1,18,000 have been converted to wet ones.A total o 2,24,838 latrnes were constructed through schemes. In2005-06, 2,22,165 dry latrnes belongng to EWS and 69,907 belongng toAPL amles exsted. All o them have been converted. An estmated 2,00,000people were usng rootops or deecaton, whch were later cleaned bymanual scavengers. Ths ssue has not been addressed. 431 crores o rupees

have been spent. The occupatons n whch manual scavengers have beenrehabltated typcally are book bndng, talorng, securty guards etc. Thegovernment o Uttar Pradesh admts that there s dscrepancy n data thatexsts n relaton to manual scavengers.

Uttarakhand


Has adopted the Act. A survey n 2001 revealed a gure o 1970 manualscavengers.A later survey, conducted n urban muncpaltes; an estmated 58 out o 63 muncpaltes were covered and no dry latrnes were reported. However,13,519 houses were reported wthout latrnes.

Number o scavengers

rehabltated

1,610 have been rehabltated and traned to pursue other occupatons.

Annexure




Intatves/Schemes The Socal Work department s carryng out survey n the rural areas.

West Bengal


The government clams that no manual scavengers exst n the state.Nonetheless, around 10,000 scavengers were employed n the ULBsaccordng to a muncpal survey. There were no dry latrnes n the state.


5,265 scavengers were ‘lberated’ besdes the scavengers who were drectlyemployed n the muncpaltes.

Intatves/Schemes Up to 2,65,000 wet latrnes had been constructed n the state and gven toEWS/BPL amles. By March ’08 no manual scavengers and no dry latrnesexsted n West Bengal. Wde dsparty n data exsts.

Delh

Number o scavengers

and dry latrnes

17,470 manual scavengers accordng to a survey done n 1991-92,

In 2001 a survey was done by Delh School o Socal Work (DSW) whchbrought out a gure o 7,961 manual scavengers n Delh,Approxmately 26,000 dry latrnes exsted n Delh; 10,365 were converted.The onus was on the government to denty scavengers.


Rehabltaton was carred out under NSLRS (Natonal Scheme or Lberatonand Rehabltaton o Scavengers).All o 7,961 scavengers were rehabltated n 2003-04. The NSLRS wasstopped n 2004-05 and replaced by SRMS (Sel - Employment Scheme orRehabltaton o Manual Scavengers).

Intatves/Schemes Interestngly, some manual scavengers went back to scavengng. In a 2007survey, agan done by DSW, certan areas n East Delh, Seemapur slum

colones reported presence o some scavengers. There exsted latrnesthat connected nto open drans, whch were eventually cleaned by manualscavengers usng wheel barrows. There were about 1,085 scavengers, mosto them beng women. There were beng traned n alternate, more dgnedproessons, notwthstandng, they were keen to have government jobs.



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