Manual Scavenging

Manual Scavenging

TOPIC: Governance

Context- Three labourers in Mumbai, allegedly hired for manual scavenging, died on Thursday afternoon after inhaling toxic fumes in a septic tank.

• Even though manual scavenging is banned in India, the practice is still prevalent in many parts of the country.

Concept-

What is manual scavenging?

• Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks.
• India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR).
• The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
• In 2013, the definition of manual scavengers was also broadened to include people employed to clean septic tanks, ditches, or railway tracks.
• The Act recognizes manual scavenging as a “dehumanizing practice,” and cites a need to “correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by the manual scavengers.”

Why is it still prevalent in India?

• According to activist Bezwada Wilson from the Safai Karmachari Andolan, 472 deaths due to manual scavenging had been recorded from 2016 to 2020.
• The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India.
• The Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks. The unskilled labourers, meanwhile, are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.

Compensation:

• As per the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013 and the Supreme Court’s decision in the Safai Karamchari Andolan v/s Union of India case, to identify all those who died in sewage work since 1993 and provide Rs. 10 lakh each as compensation to their families.

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020:

• It proposes to completely mechanise sewer cleaning, introduce ways for ‘on-site’ protection and provide compensation to manual scavengers in case of sewer deaths.
• It will be an amendment to The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
• It is still awaiting cabinet approval.