Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Wednesday that all cities and municipalities will be able to fully mechanically de-sludge septic tanks and sewers to switch from manhole to machine hole mode, with the goal of ending manual scavenging.
Ramdas Athawale, minister of state for social justice and empowerment, reported to the Lok Sabha in December 2022 that since 2017, up to 400 individuals had perished while performing risky sewer and septic tank cleaning, a report by Indian Express said.
The Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, was changed by the Center in 2020 to require mechanised cleaning of septic tanks and sewers. The phrase “manhole” was also substituted with “machine-hole” in official usage, and a 24-hour national helpline was established for reporting infractions, the Hindu reported.
The scientific management of dry and wet waste would also receive a “increased priority,” Sitharaman said.
The Supreme Court voiced grave concern in 2019 over deaths occurring in India during manual scavenging and sewage cleaning, adding that no place in the world sends people to “gas chambers to die.”
Manual scavenging: What is it?
“The removal of human waste from public streets and dry latrines, cleaning septic tanks, gutters, and sewers” is the definition of manual scavenging.
What causes High Prevalence of Manual Scavenging?
Numerous unbiased studies have discussed the state governments’ ongoing reluctance to acknowledge that the practise persists under their oversight.
Local government entities frequently contract with private companies to clean their sewers. However, many of these fly-by-night business owners fail to keep accurate records of their sanitation staff.
These contractors have denied any connection to the dead workers in case after case of asphyxiated workers.
Social Problem
Caste, class, and income disparities are what motivate the practise.
It is related to the caste system in India, where people from the so-called lower castes are supposed to do this work.
The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, outlawed the employment of persons as manual scavengers in India, although the stigma and discrimination attached to it still persist. As a result, it is challenging for freed manual scavengers to find other employment.
Why the News is Significant
The news is important because, despite regulations prohibiting manual scavenging, the practise nevertheless persists, with contractors frequently outsourcing work to day labourers for as little as a few hundred rupees per day, another report by Indian Express states.
State and federal governments have tried a number of different things to stop the practise, the report says.
For instance, in 2018, the Delhi government and the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry began developing a proposal for a project to introduce smaller machines to clean sewers, which could enter narrow streets, on an ownership model with guaranteed work for the relatives of those who died while cleaning sewer lines in the city. Nearly 200 of these machines are currently in use throughout the city.
The Delhi Jal Board ensures that machine owners receive a minimum number of working days so they may support their families and pay off their debts. The owners are permitted to enter into contractual relationships with private players.
States are likely to police the regulations more strictly as a result of Sitharaman’s declaration, and they will also likely give machine acquisition and deployment new impetus, the report argues.
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