Will Manual Scavenging be Eradicated from India?

Does Manual Scavenging Eradicated from India……??

Bhopal: Our Country is going to conduct Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Delhi after a month under the slogan “Humanity, Equality, Destiny,” but for millions of people this and such other slogans are far from reality. In our country, social discrimination based on the caste system is still very vital. On the account of deep rooted caste system in our society, many people in country are still involved in the work of manual scavenging, an inhuman and degrading practice being adopted by a class of society.

Besides the caste driven reason, there are many other reasons/factors which force an individual to adopt the inhuman practice of manual scavenging such as- Brutalizing Poverty, Untouchability, Absence of Economic Alternative, Lack of Education and Social Ennui. The most important factor behind this inhuman practice is Poverty, which is the mother of all human rights violations.  In India, the manual scavenging has been a caste-based occupation.

About Manual Scavenger: A person who is partially or wholly engaged in or employed for manually carrying human excreta is called a manual scavenger. Manual scavenging involves sweeping night soil on the street followed by cleaning of water borne toilets. It also includes removal of bodies and dead animals followed by sewerage sweeping and carrying night soil in baskets on head.

The Indian Constitution outlawed discrimination on the basis of caste system. Politically, the country may have changed a lot in discrimination in the past many years, but the ground reality is worst in small villages and towns of the country. Is our Government really working towards bringing the manual scavengers to the mainstream?

If we look at the data of the scavengers in our country, we will find that their numbers are same. Of course, on the records of the government of states and municipalities, the scavengers do not exist and they can easily make the claims that they have eradicated the ill-practice.  However, the ground reality is far from the claims made by the authorities.

As per the directions of GOI, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, NSKFDC is looking after the rehabilitation work of Scavengers with the help of its SCA’s. NSKFDC had also introduced a “Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS),”,a scheme to rehabilitate the remaining 3,24,469 scavengers (as per records of March 2009) and the same has been closed or can say ended on 31st March 2010. Reason…..? On papers, the manual scavengers are no more in our country and all are now self-employed. The Municipal Corporations’ reports also show the number of manual scavengers as ‘nothing,’ but the fact is totally different!

As per government data available, the number of scavengers in Uttar Pradesh was the highest as compared to other states in India.  So, the picture of small villages and towns of Uttar Pradesh is worst. The most painful thing is that in many villages even children are forced into this most inhuman work. There are many incidents showing involvement of children from different parts of the country.  A few years back, an incident came to light, when two children lost their lives while cleaning the safety tank of a toilet owned by an upper class society.  They lost their lives when exposed to poisonous gases coming out of the safety tank while cleaning. Now the question arises- what is government doing to eradicate this practice?

Manual scavenging is still in practice in various parts of the country and the authorities are not able to do anything except when any case is reported to them, they give instructions to their officials and make some committee and later introduce some schemes for their upliftment.  However, after some time it is shown on papers that the manual scavengers are no more in our country. Can we clean our society in such a way?

Many manual Scavengers tried to escape from this trade but in small villages and towns, where the caste system is prominent; their position is as it is. The upper class is not accepting their involvement and contribution in other forms of works/businesses other than this inhuman practice. They are forced to do the  manual scavenging for the sake of their survival.

Recently, in a shocking report it was learned that the mid-day meals being cooked by a lady- earlier involved in the work of manual scavenging was not eaten by the upper caste students.  Any effort for making  this community join the mainstream and putting them into non-sanitary work has witnessed a lot of opposition and hurdles. Most of the people involved in manual scavenging are completely landless and are bound to live on the mercy of the powerful community in villages and towns.

The reason of failure is that manual scavenging has not got its due attention from the policy makers because of its inborn racist nature. The government on one hand works on papers and provides fabricated figures while on the other hand their position is getting worse and the number of people involved in this inhuman practice is increasing. The government and its authorities will have to work more seriously on this issue. We cannot eradicate manual scavenging simply by victimizing the victims. They have been betrayed by almost all governments. It is time to think for them. It is time that it becomes our national priority and social movement to take the issue more seriously and not just symbolically.