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.”

Reasons why it still exists

• 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.
• Local governments frequently contract out sewer cleaning to private contractors. However, many of them are fly-by-night operations that do not keep proper sanitation worker rolls. These contractors have denied any association with the deceased in case after case of workers being asphyxiated to death.
• Caste, class, and income disparities drive the practise. It is linked to India’s caste system, with so-called lower castes expected to do this job.
• The employment of manual scavengers and the construction of dry latrines was prohibited in India in 1993 (The Employment of Manual Scavengers and the Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993), but the stigma and discrimination associated with it persist.
• This makes it difficult for freed manual scavengers to find alternative employment.
• Activists from the Safai Karmachari Andolan, opines that 472 deaths due to manual scavenging had been recorded from 2016 to 2020.

Initiatives

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge in 2020. The government issued this “challenge” to all states to automate sewer cleaning by April 2021 — if any human needs to enter a sewer line in an unavoidable emergency, proper gear and oxygen tanks, among other things, must be provided.
• The ‘Swachhta Abhiyan App’ was created to identify and geotag the data of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers so that the insanitary latrines can be replaced with sanitary latrines and all manual scavengers can be rehabilitated to provide them with dignity of life.
• A Supreme Court order in 2014 required the government to identify and compensate all those who died in sewage work since 1993.
• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 proposes to completely mechanise sewer cleaning, implement ‘on-site’ protection, and compensate manual scavengers in the event of sewer deaths.
• It will be a change to the 2013 Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Rehabilitation Act.
• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013 extends the prohibition on dry latrines to all manual excrement cleaning in insanitary latrines, open drains, or pits.

Way forward

• States must accurately count the number of workers involved in toxic sludge cleanup.
• To address the social sanction behind manual scavenging, it is necessary to first recognise and then comprehend how and why manual scavenging remains embedded in the caste system.
• With the Swachh Bharat Mission identified as a top priority area by the 15th Finance Commission and funds available for smart cities and urban development, there is a strong case to be made for addressing the problem of manual scavenging.
• If a law establishes a statutory obligation on the part of state agencies to provide sanitation services, the rights of these workers will no longer be in jeopardy.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-manual-scavenging-and-why-is-it-still-prevalent-in-india-7815400/

How to structure

1. Give an intro about manual scavenging
2. Explain why it has to be eradicated
3. Mention some of the government measures
4. Examine some of the reasons for the existence of  manual scavenging even after government measures
5. Suggest measures
6. Conclude