Government's Denial Of Manual Scavenging Deaths And The Reality
New Delhi: The Union government on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that no person has been died from manual scavenging in the country from January 2023 to October 2024. “No death has been reported,” Minister Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale responded to TMC MP Saket Gokhale’s question.
“No report of the practice of manual scavenging has been received from the districts,” the government has said. In July, responding to a similar query concerning manual scavenging in India, Minister asserted that “there is no report of practice of manual scavenging currently in the country.”
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Meanwhile, the reports from outside repudiates government’s claim and presents the Minister’s statement as false and misleading. Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), a civil society organisation working for the eradication of manual scavenging has collected data on the death of manual scavengers between February 1, 2024 to July 23. As per the data, 43 manual scavengers died during the period. However, the government has not made any mention of the data while answering Gokhale’s question.
SKA national convener Bezwada Wilson then told that the welfare of manual scavengers was not a prime concern with the government.
“Manual scavenging is prevalent on a large scale in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. But the government is not ready to accept it,” The Telegraph reports, as Wilson has said.
In May 2023, at least five persons employed in manual scavenging has been dead within a span of 18 days in Tamil Nadu, The News Minute reported. In the same month, twelve people from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh seen to lost their lives. Activists, allege that several cases go unreported due to “settlements” between private entities, the police, and the victims’ families, Frontline reports.
In last month, three sanitation workers died of inhaling toxic gas while cleaning a blocked sewage line in Rajasthan’s Sikar district. The list is not complete yet but it failed to find place in Minister’s statements.
Condemning the government over the reply, Gokhale wrote on X: “The shamelessness of the Modi Govt has NO LIMIT.” Several cases of such death have been reported from Rajasthan and other states as recently as 3 weeks ago, he added.
The shamelessness of the Modi Govt has NO LIMIT
Yesterday, I had asked a question in Parliament regarding deaths of people after entering sewers which is termed as manual scavenging.
Several such cases have been reported from Rajasthan and other states as recently as 3 weeks… pic.twitter.com/TMPFtKZ9VG
— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) November 29, 2024
“It is people from Dalit and Bahujan communities who lose their lives after being forced to do manual scavenging. And for the Modi Govt, it is clear that Dalit lives DO NOT matter,” he said.
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The “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act,2013”, a comprehensive law bans manual scavenging as an activity in the country with effect from December 6, 2013. As per the act, any person or agency who engages any person for manual scavenging violating the provision of the act is punishable with imprisonment up to 2 years or fine up to Rs. 1 lakh or both. Despite the prevalence of law, manual scavenging remains in practice in India.
Last year, the government has launched a National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (Namaste), replacing an earlier scheme for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers. At first, Rs. 97 crore was allocated for the scheme in the 2023-24 budget but this amount was reduced to just Rs 30 crore in the revised budget. This year, however, the money increased to Rs. 117 crore.
