Context

In a recent video which got viral from Dharampuri region of Tamil Nadu, shows the dark reality of India’s caste system and still prevalent manual scavenging in parts of the country by a specific caste group. 

• This is a violation of Fundamental rights and Laws made against scavenging.

What is Manual Scavenging?

• Manual evacuation refers to the process of removing human and animal waste from dry toilets and transporting it for disposal.
• As per the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, 2013)” manual scavenging means manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine.
• It is prohibited with effect from December 2013.
• It was officially banned by the anti-manual scavenging Act in 1993 as a degrading practice.

• Commonly associated people: Dalit men and women (of various sub-castes, most notably Valmiki).
• According to the Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, 1.8 million families have joined the scam to earn a living.
• Not only does it violate basic human rights to life but it also poses a serious threat to human health.

Laws related to manual scavenging: 

• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013prohibits the construction or maintenance of unhygienic toilets, and the hiring of any person by hand cleaning or hazardous cleaning of sewer pipes and swimming pools.
• Article 21: The Article guarantees the ‘Right to Life’ and also with dignity.
• Others
  • Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India initiative)
  • Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge
  • Swachhta Abhiyan App
• Amendment Act: Introduction of 'The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020' as part of the National Action Plan for the Department of Justice and Empowerment.
• Mechanical Cleaning: The Bill proposes to completely clean sewage systems and provide better occupational safety and compensation in the event of an accident.

Who is to be blamed?

• Unemployment
• Social pressure
• Failure in implementing laws by administrative bodies like panchayats in villages and municipal corporations in cities (At times, these bodies even perpetuate the practice).

How it is an Institutional failure?

• Persistence in various provinces: Recent examples from communities involved in genocide in the provinces of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh underscore the government's failure to eradicate genocide and eradicate deeply entrenched ideologies and practices that still bind members of affected communities.
• Law Enforcement: India's constitution prohibits the practice of non-compliance, and the Bill of Rights, 1955, prohibits forcing anyone to use hand-scratching. The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 declared that the employment of hand guards and the construction of dry toilets would be punishable by fines and imprisonment. Yet its persistence reflects the failure of the law and the country.
• Deaths: Safai Karmachari Andolan, reported 1,269 people killed in the 2014-16 genocide. 
  • Reports of deaths of workers involved in cleaning and repairing pits in the mines, during the ‘Swachh Bharat’ period show the state’s failure to eradicate the practice. 

Recent developments:

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will amend the law for making machine cleaning mandatory, whereas the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the ‘SafaimitraSuraksha Challenge.’
• Technological development: 
  • The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has developed a robot with the aim to eliminate manual scavenging in India. 
  • Around 10 units will be deployed across Tamil Nadu and the plan is to put them to use in Gujarat and Maharashtra next.