The conference was held by the Colin Gonsalves (Sr. Advocate), Roma Malik (General Secretary, AIUFWP), Indira Unninayar (Sr. Advocate) and Sanjeev Kumar (Secretary, DASAM).

The panel of activist and advocates said that in UP, despite the law prohibiting manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and Supreme Court’s guidelines, state authority failed to prevent the incident of manual scavenging and responsible for not providing protective gears to the workers.

Talking to reporters, members of DASAM alleged that on May 2, a 57-year-old man and his 30-year-old son died while they were preparing a sewer line in Lucknow’s Wazirgang area. No officials from Jal Nigam visited the site for two hours and by the time they were taken to hospital, they were declared dead, they alleged.

8 workers dies within 10 days in Uttar Pradesh:

Recently, Uttar Pradesh witnessed 8 deaths within a short period 10 days due to manual scavenging.

On May 2, Shroban Yadav, 57, and his son Sushil Yadav, 30, were died while testing a sewer line in Lucknow’s Wazirganj area without safety equipment gears.

On May 3, two daily wage workers, Kokan Mandal, 40, and Nooni Mandal, 36, were died while cleaning the septic tank of a private residence in Noida Sector 26.

On May 9, four people died from inhaling toxic gases while cleaning the septic tank of a house in Mughalsarai, Chandauli. Three of the victims, Vinod Rawat, 35 Kundan, 42 and Loha, 23, were informal sanitation workers while the fourth victim was the son of the house owner who died while trying to save the workers.

A senior advocate of the Supreme Court and founder of Human Rights Law Network Colin Gonsalves said, “It is horrifying that workers are forced to enter sewer line without any protocol, machines or oxygen gears to clean sewer line.

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013:

Under the.” MS Act of 2013” Manual scavenging is a prohibited activity in India. The provisions of the Act provides that no person or agency can engage or employ any person for manual scavenging. Any person or agency who engages any person for manual scavenging in violation of the provisions of the MS Act, 2013 is punishable under Section 8 of the above Act, with imprisonment up to 2 years or fine up to Rs. 1 Lakh or both.

Radhika Bordia, an independent journalist, said two daily wage workers died on May 3 after inhaling toxic gases while cleaning a septic tank of a private residence in Noida Sector 26.

“Another incident was reported from Mughalsarai where four people were killed while cleaning septic tank of a private residence,” she said.

Bordia said that even after such incidents police do not take strict action. She further stressed that “Under the Manual Scavenging Act, there is a law to rehabilitate the family members of any victim, providing government job to one of the family members and proper compensation,” another activist Roma said, adding that the process was not being carried out.

The MS Act 2013 can be read here:

Compensations not provided to the victims:

Roma Malik, a senior activist from the All India Union of Forest Working People said that “in October 2023 the Supreme Court ordered a compensation of 30 lakhs to the families of victims of manual scavenging which has not reached any of the victims so far. Allegedly, the District Administration promised to provide only ₹4 lakh ex gratia to each deceased in the incident in Chandauli. In India the lives of workers are considered cheap and inexpensive and they can only safeguard their rights through unionization”.

Related:

Manual Scavenging continues unabated, Indian Govts turns a deaf ear to acknowledge this systemic, extreme violence

Manual Scavenging: Eradicate the practice, ensure effective rehabilitation, scholarship, compensation, uphold dignity and liberty says SC

Zero reported deaths due to manual scavenging: Ramdas Athawale

The post 8 sanitation workers die in UP in last 10 days due to hazardous cleaning, activists calls for FIR  appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“Ours is a battle not for wealth of power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for
reclamation of human personality”
– words of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar,
(quoted by Justice Ravindra Bhat)

On October 20, a division bench of the Supreme Court issued a slew of directions for the Centre and the states to follow with the aim of eradicating manual scavenging from Indian society. The bench comprising of Justices S Ravindra Bhat (now retired) and Aravind Kumar has emphasised on the importance of implementing the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The comprehensive set of fourteen directives issued by the Supreme Court are aimed at eradicating the practice of manual scavenging across the nation as well as establishing robust rehabilitation measures for victims and their families. A pivotal aspect of these directives revolves around significantly raising compensation for injuries or fatalities endured by manual scavengers.

In the judgment, authored by former Justice Ravindra Bhat, the Supreme Court has shed light upon the plight of the large mass of people indulging in the practice of manual scavenging, which continued even after India became an Independent state, and who have remained nearly invisible. “That was (a) centuries old stigmatising social practices that led to their depravation, to such levels that they were not even recognised as human beings. Among these practices was one which generations of people, were made to perform the meanest task of manual scavenging,” the judgment states.

What were the prayers made in the petition filed?

The division bench of the Supreme Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by Balram Singh under Article 32 of the Constitution, against the employment of manual scavengers. The petition had sought for the Supreme Court to issue directions to the Union of India as well as all the States and Union Territories in India to implement provisions of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. 

The hearings:

• In February 2023, the Court had directed the Union of India to record the steps it had taken to prevent the employment of manual scavengers in accordance with the prohibition of employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act 2013. The court also ordered the Centre to record the steps taken by each state to abolish or demolish Dry Latrines, as well as the status of dry latrines and Safai Karamcharis in Cantonment Boards and Railways. During the previous hearing, the Court had further inquired whether the employment of Safai Karamcharis in Railways and Cantonments Boards were direct or indirect i.e. through contractors or otherwise.

• During the previous hearing, the court asked the Centre to inform it of the steps taken in accordance with the guidelines issued in the 2014 judgment “Safai Karamchari Andolan And Others vs. Union of India And Others.” In the aforementioned Safai Karamchari Andolan judgment, the Court issued an assortment of guidelines for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, including cash assistance, scholarship for their children, allotment of residential plots, training in livelihood skill and monthly stipends, concessional loans, and so on. The judgment also established the minimum compensation in cases of sewer deaths and directed the railways to end manual scavenging on tracks.

• During the hearing on April 12, 2023, the Amicus, Advocate K Parameshwar informed the bench that the Indian Railways had employed cleaners for ‘insanitary latrine’ using protective gear. This does not fit the definition of manual scavenging, he had claimed.

“The Act says their engagement in Railway tracks is a problem. But then says employment under rules is allowed. The entire purpose of the Dry Latrines Act and earlier judgment was to have mechanised cleaning. But this brings it back,” said Advocate K Parameshwar, as reported by Livelaw. The Amicus Curiae said that the biggest culprit was the “Indian Railways in this instance”.

The Bench had then asked ASG (assistant solicitor general), Aishwarya Bhati regarding the measures that could be taken for states that had not formed the committees as directed by the Court. The Court also asked the Indian Railways to file a specific affidavit dealing with these aspects, and directed ASG Aishwarya Bhati to take instructions from the Railways.

• During the course of proceedings, on May 2, 2023, it was brought to notice of the court about irregular functioning of the Central Monitoring Committee envisaged under the Act of 2013. 

Submissions made by Amicus Curiae in the case:

The Supreme Court had appointed advocate K Parmeshwar as the Amicus Curiae in the case. As per the Amicus, Article 15, 17, 23 and 24 of the Indian Constitution gave the right to the oppressed classes to break away from oppressive structures and move to alternative sources of dignified employment. Based upon these aforementioned rights guaranteed, the 2013 Act can be deemed to attain a constitutional status. During the course of the proceedings, the Amicus had brought the following issues to the notice of the court:

• Lack of government figures on manual scavengers in the country, rendering it difficult to conduct any exercise on identifying and rehabilitating manual scavengers. The amicus also pointed to the data provided by National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) that has flagged the issue of slow and erratic identification of manual scavengers.
• On the aspect of sewer deaths, the Amicus highlighted the definitions of ‘hazardous cleaning’ under Section 2(d) of the 2013 Act as well as the definitions of ‘sewer’ and ‘septic tank’ under Sections 2(p) and 2(q). He stated that though the Act prohibits hazardous cleaning under Section 7 and 9, no specific bar is made to the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks as long as protective gear is given.
• The Amicus also argued that there is a legislative vacuum in so far as rehabilitation for hazardous workers is concerned. The sole rehabilitation, according to him, is by virtue of the judgment of this Court in Safai Karamchari Andolan (supra) where this Court granted compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs to the family of a person who died in a sewer.
• As per the Amicus, a narrow interpretation of ‘forced labour’ should not be taken as this would fail to address structural discrimination and would also render the phrase “other similar forms of forced labour” otiose.
• It was further submitted by the Amicus that “consent” given by the worker to perform hazardous cleaning would not mean that labour is not forced. The Amicus Curiae argued that if it is accepted by the Court that hazardous cleaning is violative of Article 23, then the question of persons engaged in sewage cleaning having practiced it on their own volition does not arise.
• It was further urged that the protective gear and devices referred to must be of such nature that they achieve substantial or near total mechanization of the process so that the dignity of the labourer is maintained and no structural discrimination is perpetuated.
• Regarding NCSK’s working, the Amicus also pointed out that the Commission is only manned by 2 people currently, when it should have 7 commission members. Subsequently, the State commission for Safai Karamcharis existed in only few states.
• Additionally, the amicus curiae highlighted a lack of segregated data for women manual scavengers, while most of the manual scavenging work is done by women.

Analysis by the Supreme Court:

The Bench held that the 2013 Act not only criminalises manual scavenging but also provides for rehabilitation mechanisms to ensure that manual scavengers are emancipated. The first step towards rehabilitation that the 2013 Act, is the identification of manual scavengers through a survey. After their identification by a survey, a final publication of the manual scavengers is to be published under Section 11(6). On publication of the list, the emancipatory provision under Section 11(7) read with Section 6(2) takes effect. It declares that the manual scavengers stand discharged from any obligation to work as manual scavengers. This provision is the heart of the law, this declaration frees manual scavengers from the clutches of their historically oppressive professions. The law consequently empowers them through the process of rehabilitation. Therefore, the 2013 Act, including the provisions, must be interpreted as being in furtherance of fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual.

Concerning the Government’s contention that the 2013 Act does not contemplate a national survey but mandates a localised survey at the level of local bodies and that two national surveys have already been conducted in 2013 and 2018, the Court after interpreting Section 11, said that the 2013 Act is not a regular statute, it is emancipatory in character and is a manifestation of the constitutional code of upliftment. Furthermore, the Court said that that neither the 2013 nor the 2018 surveys could have been conducted as prescribed under the scheme of the 2013 Rules and the 2013 Act because the institutions entrusted with duties to conduct the Surveys were either not constituted or were not functioning.

Additionally, the Court pointed out that the major short-coming in the implementation of the 2013 Act is that the State and the Central Governments have not even constituted the institutions that are required to implement the Act. This systematic neglect of the statute and inaction by the executive would reduce it to a dead letter.

Directions issued by the Supreme Court:

The court analysed the submissions made by the petitioners and the respondents during the hearings as well as the issues highlighted by the Amicus Curiae and issued a series of directives to both the Union and state governments. The said directions focussed on the effective implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013. They also encompassed active measures for rehabilitating victims and their families, providing scholarships, and offering skill development programs.

1. Complete eradication of manual scavenging: The Court directed the Union to take appropriate measures and frame policies, and issue directions, to all statutory bodies, including corporations, railways, cantonments, as well as agencies under its control, to ensure that manual sewer cleaning is completely eradicated in a phased manner, and also issue such guidelines and directions as are essential, that any sewer cleaning work outsourced, or required to be discharged, by or through contractors or agencies, do not require individuals to enter sewers, for any purpose whatsoever;
2. Ensure that directions issued for eradication are followed by states: All States and Union Territories are likewise, directed to ensure that all departments, agencies, corporations and other agencies (by whatever name called) ensure that guidelines and directions framed by the Union are embodied in their own guidelines and directions; the states are specifically directed to ensure that such directions are applicable to all municipalities, and local bodies functioning within their territories;
3. Rehabilitation to include employment, education and skills training: The Union, State and Union Territories are directed to ensure that full rehabilitation (including employment to the next of kin, education to the wards, and skill training) measures are taken in respect of sewage workers, and those who die;
4. Compensation of Rs. 30 lakhs to be paid in case of sewer death: The court hereby directs the Union and the States to ensure that the compensation for sewer deaths is increased (given that the previous amount fixed, i.e., 10 lakhs) was made applicable from 1993. The current equivalent of that amount is Rs. 30 lakhs. This shall be the amount to be paid, by the concerned agency, i.e., the Union, the Union Territory or the State as the case may be. In other words, compensation for sewer deaths shall be 30 lakhs. In the event, dependents of any victim have not been paid such amount, the above amount shall be payable to them. Furthermore, this shall be the amount to be hereafter paid, as compensation.
5. Compensation in case of disability caused: Likewise, in the case of sewer victims suffering disabilities, depending upon the severity of disabilities, compensation shall be disbursed. However, the minimum compensation shall not be less than 10 lakhs. If the disability is ₹ permanent, and renders the victim economically helpless, the compensation shall not be less than 20 lakhs.
6. Mechanism for accountability: The appropriate government (i.e., the Union, State or Union Territories) shall devise a suitable mechanism to ensure accountability, especially wherever sewer deaths occur in the course of contractual or “outsourced” work. This accountability shall be in the form of cancellation of contract, forthwith, and imposition of monetary liability, aimed at deterring the practice.
7. Establish a model contract: The Union shall devise a model contract, to be used wherever contracts are to be awarded, by it or its agencies and corporations, in the concerned enactment, such as the Contract Labour (Prohibition and Regulation Act), 1970, or any other law, which mandates the standards – in conformity with the 2013 Act, and rules, are strictly followed, and in the event of any mishap, the agency would lose its contract, and possibly blacklisting. This model shall also be used by all States and Union Territories.
8. Modalities for conducting a national survey: The NCSK, NCSC (National Commission for Schedule Caste), NCST (National Commission for Schedule Tribes) and the Secretary, Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, shall, within 3 months from today, draw modalities for the conduct of a National Survey. The survey shall be ideally conducted and completed in the next one year.
9. Education and training of committees: To ensure that the survey does not suffer the same fate as the previous ones, appropriate models shall be prepared to educate and train all concerned committees.
10. Scholarships for dependents of sewer victims: The Union, State and Union Territories are hereby required to set up scholarships to ensure that the dependents of sewer victims, (who have died, or might have suffered disabilities) are given meaningful education.
11. Involvement of NALSA: The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) shall also be part of the consultations, toward framing the aforesaid policies. It shall also be involved, in co-ordination with state and district legal services committees, for the planning and implementation of the survey. Furthermore, the NALSA shall frame appropriate models (in the light of its experience in relation to other models for disbursement of compensation to victims of crime) for easy disbursement of compensation.
12. Coordination between commissions, states and union: The Union, State and Union Territories are hereby directed to ensure coordination with all the commissions (NCSK, NCSC, NCST) for setting up of state level, district level committees and commissions, in a time bound manner. Furthermore, constant monitoring of the existence of vacancies and their filling up shall take place.
13. Training and education modules for agencies: NCSK, NCSC, NCST and the Union government are required to coordinate and prepare training and education modules, for information and use by district and state level agencies, under the 2013 Act.
14. A portal with information on victims, compensation states and rehabilitation measures: A portal and a dashboard, containing all relevant information, including the information relating to sewer deaths, and victims, and the status of compensation disbursement, as well as rehabilitation measures taken, and existing and available rehabilitation policies shall be developed and launched at an early date.

Through the judgment, the Supreme Court realised the role that caste-based discrimination and social hierarchies play, and thus, have urged the Union, states and respective commission to works towards the complete eradication of manual scavenging. The judgment highlights how manual scavenging is compounded by deeply entrenched feudal and caste-based traditions, which largely lead manual scavengers to hail from marginalized caste groups relegated to the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy. These individuals are assigned occupations deemed deplorable by higher-caste groups, perpetuating social stigma, branding them as “unclean” or “untouchable,” and sustaining pervasive discrimination. Even after the Constitution prohibiting untouchability and discrimination based on caste, manual scavenging has still persisted.

Towards the end of the judgment, Justice Bhat deems it to be the duty of all citizens to realise true fraternity and the fundamental role that dignity and fraternity play in the Constitution. By issuing the aforementioned directions, the court has recognised that without these values, other liberties are mere illusions.

“Each of us owe it to this large segment of our population, who have remained unseen, unheard and muted, in bondage, systematically trapped in inhumane conditions,” Justice Bhat wrote in the judgment.

Justice Bhat called upon the citizens of the country to work towards dispelling the darkness that has plagued generations and to ensure that everyone can enjoy the freedoms and various forms of justice that are often taken for granted.

“Upon all of us citizens lie, the duty of realizing true fraternity, which is at the root of these injunctions. Not without reason does our Constitution place great emphasis on the value of dignity and fraternity, for without these two all other liberties are chimera, a promise of unreality,” the judgment stated

The hearing for monitoring progress in this matter has been scheduled for February 1, 2024.

The complete judgment can be read here:

Related:

Eradicate manual scavenging completely says SC increasing compensation to families of workers who die at work to Rs 30 lakh

Manual Scavenging continues unabated, Indian Govts turns a deaf ear to acknowledge this systemic, extreme violence

Zero reported deaths due to manual scavenging: Ramdas Athawale

No death due to manual scavenging: Social Justice Minister Athawale

Centre claims that nobody died due to manual scavenging reported in the last 5 years!

Orissa HC seeks proof of payment of compensation to families of manual scavenging victims

The post Manual Scavenging: Eradicate the practice, ensure effective rehabilitation, scholarship, compensation, uphold dignity and liberty says SC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In an extremely tragic accident on October 5 in Faridabad (Haryana) four workers who had gone for cleaning sewer of a hospital died due to inhaling poisonous gas. Two of them were brothers, young sons of a widow.

The hospital used their services through a contract agency. So soon after the deaths allegation were being traded between the authorities trying to shift responsibility and blame. This is a typical situation which creates problems in fixing accountability.

All four workers did not have have any regular employment and worked on daily wage basis. They were given jut Rs. 400 to Rs. 450 per day for very high risk and unhealthy work. They agreed to do this work only because of their highly precarious economic condition. One of them earlier had a better job but had lost this recently, pushing him to take up this work.

It is also surprising that despite the work being done in a hospital, no one prevented them from undertaking such high risk work, and medical help was just not available for them fast enough.

In an earlier accident in another city of Haryana (Rohtak) on September 10, two workers who entered a sewer  died. In their case, it was reported by a leading newspaper (Amar Ujala, September 11), that they were actually threatened: that, if they do not take up this high risk work, they will lose their job.

 According to information provided by the government in mid-July 2022 in Parliament, 347 workers died while cleaning septic tanks and sewers in India during the five years 2017-2022 (up to July 2022). According to data provided by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (sanitation workers) 920 workers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks during 1993-2020. However according to leading social activist Bezwada Wilson, during roughly this period of 27 years, almost 2000 workers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks.

A review of the official data shows that the highest numbers of such deaths have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana but if you consider the situation relative to the total population of the state then Delhi is the worst offender followed by Haryana. It is surprising to find the worst situation in places where one would expect the safety situation to be relatively better.

On the other hand the fact that official data are highly concentrated in a few states may also be a reflection of significant under-reporting from some other states. Bezwada Wilson, activist and National Convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan has regretted that the government has not been giving adequate attention even to collecting reliable and updated national level data on this important issue.

Some of the most tragic news in India which appears with a cold regularity relates to the deaths of sewer workers caused by occupational hazards. The demand for fixing responsibility and taking strong action against those guilty of negligence has been gaining ground, as also the demand for the prompt compensatory payment as fixed by the Supreme Court.

 It is shocking –and a measure of the overall state of impunity — which the compensation ordered to be paid promptly by the Supreme Court in such cases still hasn’t reached many affected households. This work should be speeded up

In terms of exposure to health hazards in the course of routine daily work also there are very serious problems. If all the hazards faced by sewage workers in routine daily work are considered, then these together have a very adverse impact on their health, exposing them to several diseases and chronic health problems.

Hence the wider urgent task is that of initiating more comprehensive efforts which can minimize all serious safety and health hazards. This demands substantial investment in appropriate technology and equipment, as well as in training based on this.

When safety issues are highlighted, one response is to hastily purchase whatever equipment happens to be available, even though this may not prove very useful. We need to give adequate attention to evolving technology and equipments which are suitable in working conditions that prevail in India.

 Who can advice best on this than the workers, including more senior workers and supervisors who have so much close and day-to-day experience of the kind of problems that exist? The most expensive and the biggest machines available in the market are not necessarily the most effective. 

Let us be clear regarding our needs. Our need is to ensure safety. Our need is to minimize health hazards. Our need is for reducing costs without sacrificing effectiveness so that safety and health protection can spread all over the country in affordable practical ways. If the equipment can be fabricated locally in smaller scale units then this is all the better in terms of generating local jobs.

 To improve safety and reduce risks we should have training facilities for safety and use of new equipment. We should not sacrifice jobs unnecessarily in a rush for heavier machines than what we need in terms of safety. So we should involve workers including senior and retired ones and supervisors to work more broadly on technology, design, innovation, manufacture, training, while making available adequate funds.

 Budgetary issues should not be a constraint when it comes to safety, but the practical aspects of being able to cover a vast area should be kept in mind.

 There are several other aspects of sanitation and sewage which need improvements, and ultimately over-centralized expensive models must yield place to local decentralized models. 

The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include A Day in 2071, Navjeeven and Kathin Daur Mein Ummeed.  

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Death down the drain

Manual Scavenging: Why the gov’t’s conscience is not clean about the Swachh Bharat Mission

Your Shit Kills!

Safai Karamchari Andolan & Ors. vs Union of India & Ors.

The post Continuing deaths of sewer workers reveals a cynical culture of impunity appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Chennai: Lakshmi (48) lost her job and became homeless the same day her husband Kalidas (52) died on July 29. He died of asphyxiation after inhaling poisonous gases while cleaning a ring-well in Kallukuttai, near Perungudi in Chennai.

Lakshmi worked as the caretaker of a farmhouse along the East Coast Road (ECR) on the outskirts of Chennai for over five years. Her employers removed her from work and sent her home upon hearing about Kalidas’ death.

Unemployed and homeless, Lakshmi is now residing at her daughter’s house, along with her son-in-law and two grandchildren. She hopes the government would provide her with due monetary relief.

However, the police have not filed an FIR in this case under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) is taking steps to register an FIR and ensure that compensation of Rs 10 lakhs is granted to the legal heir of the deceased.

A month after the fatal incident, NewsClick visited Lakshmi and other family members of the deceased to learn about their present situation.

A NORMAL DAY TURNED FATAL

Kalidas and Lakshmi lived on the premises of the farmhouse they were maintaining until the former’s death. Simultaneously, Kalidas worked as a manual scavenger whenever he got called for work.

“From time to time, my husband was summoned to remove blocked drains, and he was paid around Rs 500,” said Lakshmi.

She said, “On July 29, Saravanan came on a two-wheeler around 1 pm to the Panaiyur mainroad to pick up my husband for work.” Kalidas died while cleaning the ring-well in Saravanan’s house. When Saravanan saw Kalidas lying unconscious, he jumped into the well; he also inhaled the poisonous gas and fell unconscious.

“By 3 pm, I got a call from the police saying my husband was dead. I caught an auto and hurried towards Perungudi,” she said. It is a distance of around 12 kms.

“By the time I reached, he was being taken in an ambulance to the government hospital in Royapettah. I stopped the vehicle in the middle of the road and asked them to show me his face. I wanted to confirm it was him,” she said.

“The same day the owners of the farmhouse, who are living abroad, sent me away with all my belongings. I have not returned to that house since then,” added Lakshmi.

Gandhipan, Lakshmi’s brother, shed some light on why Lakshmi lost her job. He said, “The farmhouse owners feared they would be dragged into the legal matters in Kalidas’ death and be put into trouble.”

FAMILY ACCUSES POLICE OF FOUL PLAY

Kalidas’ family members were expecting some monetary relief from Saravanan’s kin as Kalidas died while working at their house. However, they feel that the police are siding with Saravanan’s family.

Gandhipan said, “We were not called to identify Kalidas’ body before it was sent for post-mortem. The police itself filled the necessary forms. Why would they do that?”

“The police said ‘it is so sad we can’t even demand money from the owner as he is not a wealthy fellow. He lived in Kallukuttai’. How does the police know whether he is wealthy?” asked Siva, Lakshmi’s other brother. Kallukuttai is a large slum area in south Chennai.

“But Saravanan was running a printing press. Why can’t we expect something from them?” asked Siva.

The family members also feel that the police are not taking interest in the case because Saravanan also died on the same day along with Kalidas.

JUSTICE DELAYED

A month has passed since Kalidas’ death, and a case has still not been filed under the relevant Act.

“Kalidas was summoned because bad odour was emanating from the well. But, it later rained and the well is now filled with fresh water. If someone visited the house now they would not believe he died from inhaling poisonous gases,” said Gandhipan.

Samuel Raaj, general secretary of TNUEF, said while clarifying that “wherever poisonous gases are released, humans should not be hired to work there – whether it is a septic tank, underground drainage or even urai kinaru.”

Urai kinaru is a kind of well used to store fresh water. Kalidas died while cleaning such a well.

“It is a matter of one second; people die as soon as they consume the poisonous gases,” said Samuel Raaj.

He said, “The money given to the legal heir of those deceased due to manual scavenging is not compensation for the death. It is because the job is a banned one and people should not be pushed to engage in it.”

“The police are not aware that there is an Act prohibiting such work, and that a case should be filed when it is overstepped,” he added.

Murali of TNUEF said, “When we approached the Assistant Commissioner urging for an FIR to be filed, they said they are busy till Vinayaka Chaturti and asked us to wait.”

Meanwhile, Lakshmi is coming to terms with her husband’s untimely death. Around five years ago their son died in a road accident.

Notably, the first instance a case was filed under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 was in Sholinganallur, within 10 kms radius from where Kalidas died.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Manual Scavenger Dies While Cleaning Well, no Case filed After a Month appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In two successive submissions before the Parliament, Social Justice Minister Ramdas Athawale appears to have made erroneous statements with respect to manual scavenging.

The first instance took place on February 8, 2022, when Members of Parliament Vishnu Datt Sharma and T.R. Baalu asked the minister about steps taken for eradication of manual scavenging, a medieval practice. They also asked if any efforts made by the Government to rehabilitate the person engaged in manual scavenging.

But shockingly, Athawale responded saying that there are no reports of people currently engaged in manual scavenging in the country. He said on December 24, 2022 Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had launched a mobile app called Swachhata Abhiyaan to receive the data of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers associated with them. Thereafter, the data has to be verified by the concerned district administration. He further stated that the act of manual scavenging is prohibited and is also punishable offence as per the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

In response to the question of rehabilitation, Athawale put forth a scheme called Central Sector Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) which provides provisions to assist the identified manual scavengers for their rehabilitation.

Then, on March 15, 2022, Member of Parliament Dushyant Singh asked Athawale about the state-wise number of deaths due to manual scavenging in the last 5 years, along with data of the number victim’s families who received compensation.

Once again, in a shocking response, Athawale said that no deaths were reported due to engaging in manual scavenging. However, he conceded that 325 persons were reported dead due to accidents while undertaking hazardous cleaning during last 5 years. With respect to compensation, he said families are provided Rs. 10 lakhs in accordance with the Supreme Court Judgment in 2014. However, the data in the annexure depicts that only 276 families have received the compensation out of 325 families.

The following day, on March 16, Member of Parliament Upendra Singh Rawat asked the Minister of Railways about the details of the manual scavengers employed by the Railway as of September 2021. But, Ashwini Vaishnaw denied the employment of manual scavengers in Railways. He submitted that protective gears and devices including mechanised equipment are provided to people who are engaged in maintaining cleanliness of the Railways and station areas.

Manual Scavenging: Ground realities

Dalit rights activist and founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), Bezwada Wilson was shocked with the response of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister’s about the accidental deaths.

According to Wilson, at least three people lost their lives while cleaning septic tanks as per his records. The 325 deaths which were dubbed as ‘accidental deaths’, is an insult to the families of manual scavengers. Wilson also claims that sewers are becoming death pits, as 14 Indian citizens have died inside sewers in last three days in four states. There is not even a word in Parliament sessions about these deaths. There is a criminal silence of people in power.

Wilson also held that the person who are engaged in scavenging, have been constantly denied their right to dignity through proper share in the budget. The SRMS is constantly been reduced in successive budgets, to the tune of 30 crores again this year.

For years now, sanitation workers who are forced to engage in manual scavenging have demanded an acknowledgement of their rights and proper equipment like sewage cleaning machines to perform their duty without endangering their lives.

Brief Background

In 2019, social justice and empowerment secretary Nilam Sawhney, while elaborating on the draft National Action plan to eliminate manual scavenging by 2022, had admitted that 776 deaths took place while cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, reported the Times of India.

A Hindustan Times report said that, in a PIL filed before the Karnataka HC, it was revealed that 43 people have died in 21 cases of manual scavenging in the state since 2015. The petitioner also stated that such deaths are usually given the name of death by accident and thus put such worker’s lives at danger.

According to the central government data, Gujarat recorded 28 deaths of workers in sewers out of which only 23 families of the deceased had received the compensation of worth Rs. 10 lakh as mandated by the Supreme Court. However, it was revealed that the state government failed to compensate for any of the 12 deaths in the last 2 years. 

Haryana recorded 33 deaths, fully paid 23 families and partially paid six families. Rajasthan and West Bengal with 13 such deaths each fully compensated 11 and eight families respectively and partially paid one family each. Meanwhile, Goa, Tripura and Uttarakhand claimed to have zero deaths due to manual scavenging.

Similarly, Delhi with 42 recorded deaths fully compensated only 37 families. The status of compensation for the rest of the families is unknown. A similar story persists in Maharashtra with 30 deaths but only 11 fully compensated. In the case of these two regions, the remaining families and dependents were not even provided any fiscal payment at all. Only Punjab accounted for all recorded deaths (16) and compensation by providing the full amount to 10 families and partial payment to six families.

Related:

No death due to manual scavenging: Social Justice Minister Athawale

Gujarat: 12 sanitation workers dead, but no compensation?

Protection of Manual Scavengers under the law: The real picture

Dalit man forced to enter and clean sewer in Gujarat

Varanasi: Sanitation worker dies after being trapped in sewer line for 18 hrs!

The post Manual scavenger deaths: Did Centre misrepresent death data in Parliament? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dalit rights activist and Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) founder Bezwada Wilson has shot down Union Minister Ramdas Athawale’s claim that no deaths have taken place due to manual scavenging, reported UCA News on March 18, 2022. Dubbing it an insensitive statement, Bezwada said a Minister of Athawale’s position should not make such irresponsible remarks.

On March 15, Member of Parliament Dushyant Singh asked Athawale about the state-wise number of deaths due to manual scavenging in the last five years, along with the number of family members who received compensation after the deaths.

To Wilson’s shock, the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister’s response before the Parliament was that not a single manual scavenging death was reported during this time. The 325 deaths he cited were dubbed as ‘accidental deaths’ during hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks. Wilson called this reply “an insult to the families of manual scavengers”

According to Wilson, at least three people have died while cleaning a septic tank in Mumbai in March alone! Further, he said SKA found at least 45 deaths due to manual scavenging in 2021 alone, with Karnataka accounting for at least five deaths. Calling Athawale’s speech “misleading and incomplete”, Wilson said the government’s failure to acknowledge casualties was “disheartening.”

Data offered by the Centre

With regards to compensation, Athawale said that affected families are provided ₹ 10 lakh in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment in 2014. However, the information annexed showed that only 276 families received compensation during the last five years despite 325 such deaths. This leaves out 49 families or affected dependent groups.

Of the states and union territories listed, only Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana compensated affected families with the appropriate ₹ 10 lakh. The rest of the regions either provided less than the aforementioned amount or haven’t compensated families at all as of yet. Overall, 31 families did not receive full compensation.

For example, Uttar Pradesh that recorded 52 deaths, the highest figure in the given data, compensated only 27 families with the full amount and gave less than ₹ 10 lakh to 17 families. This still leaves out eight families deserving compensation by the government’s own record.

Similarly, Delhi with 42 recorded deaths fully compensated only 37 families. The status of compensation for the rest of the families is unknown. A similar story persists in Maharashtra with 30 deaths but only 11 fully compensated. In the case of these two regions, the remaining families and dependents were not even provided any fiscal payment at all. Only Punjab accounted for all recorded deaths (16) and compensation by providing the full amount to 10 families and partial payment to six families.

Haryana recorded 33 deaths, fully paid 23 families and partially paid six families. Rajasthan and West Bengal with 13 such deaths each fully compensated 11 and eight families respectively and partially paid one family each. Meanwhile, Goa, Tripura and Uttarakhand claimed to have zero deaths due to manual scavenging.

Aside from deaths, Singh also asked about measures for rehabilitation of manual scavenger families after the loss of a family member, government action against contractors and names of states that have banned manual scavenging.

To all this, Athawale listed various government schemes and mentioned that manual scavenging is a banned activity all over India as per the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

Related:

Protection of Manual Scavengers under the law: The real picture

Dalit man forced to enter and clean sewer in Gujarat

Dalits and Adivasis suffered violence and discrimination even in 2021

Varanasi: Sanitation worker dies after being trapped in sewer line for 18 hrs!

The post No death due to manual scavenging: Social Justice Minister Athawale appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“In India, a man is not a scavenger because of his work. He is a scavenger because of his birth irrespective of the question whether he does scavenging or not.”
Dr B.R. Ambedkar

In a report released recently by the ‘Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan’[1], Gujarat reported 62 deaths of manual scavengers, followed by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh reporting 29 deaths each. Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu followed this ignominious record, reporting 24 deaths each. These figures are in stark contradiction with the state-wise data released by National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK), a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament for the welfare of sanitation workers.

At the same time, an NGO working for the welfare of manual scavengers and eradication of the practice of manual scavenging – Safai Karmachari Andolan[2] – says that 429 deaths from it occurred in Delhi alone from 2016 to 2018. The reports of the NGO say that nearly 2,000 manual scavengers die every year in the sewers, due to exposure to poisonous gases. If the deaths that occur in septic tanks are included, then the number would be even higher.

And in the face of all of this, many state governments in India maintain that they do not have a single person engaged in manual scavenging. With almost all states having tens of thousands of dry latrines, it is impossible to believe the data ‘officially’ given by the States.

The skewed statistics presented by the State seem only the tip of the iceberg if one tries to gauge the apathy, ignorance and impunity with which it lets the lives of the most vulnerable of its citizens choke to death inside poisonous gas chambers.

The Report released by Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan brings out numerous painful observations and ground realities. The report presents statistics based on interviews and surveys which makes its observations credible and resourceful.

Their findings are as follows:

• The present study identified a total 140 incidents and 302 deaths from 1992 to 2018. Out of 140 incidents a total of 51 incidents were covered by the study in which 97 deaths were reported.

• According to NCSK’s data, Tamil Nadu reported highest number of deaths (194) followed by Gujarat (122), Karnataka (68) and Uttar Pradesh (51). In our report, Gujarat reported 62 deaths followed by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh reporting 29 deaths each and Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu reporting 24 deaths   each.

• Out of the total case interview, in 35% of the incidents the FIR was filed whereas in 59% of the incidents FIR were not filed and in 6% of incidents respondents do not know if FIR had been filed. In the total number of cases where the FIR had been filed (18 cases), the research team was able to furnish copies of the FIR for 13 cases during the investigation.

• Legal Proceedings:

1. In the FIRs, section 304 and 304 A of  IPC was charged 77% cases (10 cases  out of 13 cases where FIR was filed and furnished), which is related to death caused due to negligence and for the remaining 3 cases out of 13 cases  where the FIR was filed and furnished, sections 174 of IPC  (Non-  attendance in obedience to an order from public servant) and 284 (Negligent conduct with respect to a poisonous substance) and 7 and 9   of the MS Act 2013 had been charged. But, not in a single case except in that of Bengaluru, the arrest of the employers or the contractors was made. In cases where the FIR had not been filed, the reasons cited by the family were that of compromises being made, pressure and intimidation faced and at times, they have been threatened that they would lose their current jobs.

2. In the 51 cases interviewed, prosecution did not happen in any of the cases.

3. The same goes for the pre-Matric scholarship also. Not a single child of the families who are involved in this hazardous and demeaning practice have received the scholarship for their children. As the pre-Matric scholarship is demand driven, not a single state has raised their demand for the scholarship in the year 2014-15 to 2018. Same goes for the year 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 except for Gujarat in the year 2015-16 and Maharashtra in the year 2016-17.

• The highest death rate of 37% was recorded in the age group of 15-25 followed by 35% and 23% in the age group of 25-35 and 35-45 respectively.

• 67% of the total deceased were married. Valmiki, Arunthutiyar, Dom, Mehtar, Rukhi, Kumbhar, Matang, Meghwal, Chambar, Rai Sikh and Hela are the communities engaged in cleaning and sanitation related work in the different states covered by the research.

• 94% of the families of the deceased belong to the Scheduled Caste category, 4% to   the Other Backward Classes and 2% to the Scheduled Tribe.

• Out of the 94% Scheduled Castes families of the deceased, 65% of the families’ interviewed belong to the Valmiki caste, a group pushed to engage in sanitation and cleaning related work mostly in the northern parts of the country.

• 49% of the deceased were found to have studied below the 10th standard whereas another 45% were uneducated.[3]

Human Rights Watch also found some instances in which women and men from the Valmiki caste are engaged by urban municipal corporations, both directly by the government and through contractors, to manually clean excrement.

 A municipal corporation worker, who has worked as a safai karmachari, or sanitation worker, for the Bharatpur municipal corporation since 2004 explained her work:

 I clean my area, these two lanes. I clean twice a day because it is so dirty. I sweep the roads and I clean the drains. It is extremely dirty because the houses here flush the excrement from the toilets directly into the drains. I have to pick out the excreta, along with any garbage from the drains. I have to do it. If I do not, I will lose my job. Some women said they faced threats of violence when they refused to practice manual scavenging.

 In November 2012, when Gangashri along with 12 other women in Parigama village in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district voluntarily stopped cleaning dry toilets, men from the dominant Thakur caste came to their homes and threatened to deny them grazing rights and expel them from the village. Despite these threats, the women refused to return to manual scavenging. Soon after, some 20 to 30 upper caste men from Parigama confronted the community.

Gangashri recalls: They called our men and said “If you don’t start sending your women to clean our toilets, we will beat them up. We will beat you up.” They said, “We will not let you live in peace.” We were afraid.

Such threats have been particularly effective in binding communities to manual scavenging because the affected communities face extreme difficulty in securing police protection. They are especially vulnerable to police refusal to register complaints due to caste bias by police and local government officials.[4]

NCSK Report points out that “The manual scavengers, who are mainly women, are doing this unhygienic work to earn their livelihood, but in most of the cases, even now, they are paid in kind after six months or so without getting any wages on regular basis. (10Kg grains to one family or even one or two basi roties – District Ghaziabad, Meerut etc.)[5]

This translates that they earn only about Rs.300 a month in the form of grain and do not get any cash. Even in this day and time no thought has been given as to from where expenditure for their other needs will come from? In other cases where monthly wages are paid for such a lowly and inhuman work to the manual scavenger these are as low as Rs.One per day (wages range from Rs.15 – 25 a month per family).”

The Commission has found during its tours that dozens of deaths are occurring in almost all the States which are covered up by the administrative machinery, urban local bodies and these deaths remain unreported and non-compensated most of the time. No remedial measures are taken at District, State or Central level even when these deaths of safai karamcharis are reported in national newspapers. They are usually hired on daily wages through a contractor. These safai karamcharis are neither trained to do the job nor provided with any equipment, what to say of life saving paraphernalia. The person, here, has to enter into the sewer/drain, without any mask or equipment and remains within it till he cleans it manually or is killed by the poisonous gases.

In December, 2003 the Safai Karamchari Andolan along with six other civil society organizations as well as seven individuals belonging to the community of manual scavengers filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution on the ground that the continuation of the practice of manual scavenging as well as of dry latrines is illegal and unconstitutional since it violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 17, 21 and 23 of the Constitution of India and the1993 Act.

Based on the data submitted by the petitioner, the court observed on 27 March, 2014 that

“The aforesaid data collected by the petitioners makes it abundantly clear that the practice of manual scavenging continues unabated. Dry latrines continue to exist notwithstanding the fact that the 1993 Act was in force for nearly two decades. States have acted in denial of the 1993 Act and the constitutional mandate to abolish untouchability.

 For over a decade, this Court issued various directions and sought for compliance from all the States and Union Territories. Due to effective intervention and directions of this Court, the Government of India brought an Act called The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 for abolition of this evil and for the welfare of manual scavengers. The Act got the assent of the President on 18.09.2013. The enactment of the aforesaid Act, in no way, neither dilutes the constitutional mandate of Article 17 nor does it condone the inaction on the part of Union and State Governments under the 1993 Act.

 What the 2013 Act does in addition is to expressly acknowledge Article 17 and Article 21 rights of the persons engaged in sewage cleaning and cleaning tanks as well persons cleaning human excreta on railway tracks.”

Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR) was passed by both the Houses of Parliament on September 7, 2013. The PEMSR Act,
2013 received assent of the President on September 18, 2013 and subsequently published in the Gazette of India on September 19, 2013.

· The Act prohibits the employment of manual scavengers, the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective equipment, and the construction of insanitary latrines.[6]

· Its main objectives are:

i. Prohibition of employment as manual scavengers;

ii. Rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

· The Act recognizes the link between manual scavengers and weaker sections of the society. It therefore, views manual scavenging as being violative of their right to dignity.

· Under the Act, each local authority, cantonment board and railway authority is responsible for surveying insanitary latrines within its jurisdiction. They shall also construct a number of sanitary community latrines.

· Each occupier of insanitary latrines shall be responsible for converting or demolishing the latrine at his own cost. If he fails to do so, the local authority shall convert the
latrine and recover the cost from him.

· The district magistrate and the local authority shall be the implementing authorities. · Offences under the Bill shall be cognizable and non-bailable, and may be tried
summarily.

· It provides for detailed vigilance mechanism and monitoring committee at district, state and central level.

· The Act specifically provides for carrying out surveys for identifying persons employed as manual scavengers.

Some of the suggestions from the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan Report are as follows:

Prevention:

• Technology induced intervention

• Training of the workers and Sanitation Inspector

• Proper awareness and sensitization of the authorities

Rehabilitation:

• Providing relief certificate

• Ensure compensation for the families

• Comprehensive Rehabilitation of the families

• Coverage of worker who has met the fatal injuries

• Scholarship for the children

Prosecution:

• The Police to register FIR along with invoking appropriate sections of the MS Act 2013 and The POA Act 1989.

• Penalizing the implementing the agency: the authorities must be held accountable and responsible for the deaths and must be penalized, as per MS Act 2013 and recent amendment of POA Act in relation to manual scavengers

Standard operating Procedures (SOP):

• Standard operating Procedures for sewer and septic tank cleaners

Inspite of all safeguards are legislative provisions, the humanly degrading practice of manual scavenging is rampant. The primary reason for it seems to be the fact that the ost vulnerable amongst the vulnerable groups are engaged in this practice, ie, majorly Dalits of Valmiki caste, and a significant number of them being women.

It thus becomes an easy task to hush them up by various means: violent threats, fear of unemployment, token payment and in other cases, washing their feet and declaring their job to be a “spiritual experience”, right after cutting their rehabilitation funds by half. [7]

While there exists penal provisions and fines for employing anyone to clean septic tanks, under the Government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan 2 crore new toilets were built but they did not come with the better infrastructure or design than traditional toilets and have added on to the misery of the manual scavengers. Many newly built toilets in urban households are spawning more septic tanks and sewers, thereby continuing the practice of employing manual scavengers to clean them.

It will take much more than lip service and feet washing for us to realise that the our society has been committing millions of its least empowered people to death in order to maintain our so called ‘hygiene’ with their blood.

The post Death by excreta: The cursed lives of India’s manual scavengers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Vikas Choudhary

The report itself may be read here:

The lives and deaths of manual scavangers and sanitation workers

Manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually sanitation work such as cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling human excreta from dry latrines and sewers and involves the use of basic tools such as buckets, brooms and baskets. The practice of manual scavenging is inextricably linked to India’s caste system where those born into the supposed lower castes, such as Valmiki or Hela, were made exclusively responsible to perform this job.

Manual scavengers are, thus, at a double disadvantage. For one, they face enormous discrimination in society by being members of lower castes, and for another, they are disadvantaged because they are manual scavengers who clean human excreta. Their caste-designated occupation further reinforces the social stigma that they are unclean or “untouchable”. (See UN Brochure on Rehabilitating Former Manual Scavengers)

In their report, PUDR differentiates sanitation work into two kinds of tasks that both urban and rural sanitation work is divided into: the manual cleaning of toilets and carrying of feces from toilets (pre-dominantly performed by women) and the manual cleaning of septic tanks, sewers and gutters amid noxious gases with minimal or no safety precautions (performed by men).
 
[Note: The PUDR report has contended that official bodies have attempted to create a false distinction between the manual scavengers and sewer/septic tank cleaners so as to give priority should be given to manual scavengers. PUDR argues that such official narratives cause sanitation workers to be relegated to the background and questions as to the rights of sewer workers are left out of the debate.]
 
According to the data collated by the National Commission for Safai Karamchari, since 2017, one sanitation worker has died every five days in India while cleaning sewers or septic tanks. While a definite number of manual scavengers in 2018-19 has not been agreed on (see articles by The Wire, The Tribune India), at least 40,000 persons have been identified as such.
 
The main cause of deaths among sewage cleaners is the depletion of oxygen and presence of toxic gases, mostly hydrogen sulphide. At the bottom of septic tanks etc., the intake of hydrogen sulphide can result in death due to asphyxiation. Intake can also be irritating to the respiratory system, and result in nausea, delirium and convulsions and conjunctivitis. It is known that most sewage cleaners suffer from tuberculosis. Besides the severe health hazards, the sewage workers also become prone to frequent headaches, dizziness, sore throat, eye and skin irritation, poor memory, pneumonia and diarrhea among others. The extreme health risks caused by such noxious fumes were recently discussed in the Supreme Court. A three-judge bench while expressing serious concern over people dying during manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in India, said that nowhere else in the world are people sent into “gas chambers to die” like this.

Safai Karamchari Andolan’s (SKA) National Convenor and Magsaysay Award winner Bezwada Wilson has said that the smell of the gases in the sewage is so foul that it is humanly unbearable and the sewage cleaners consume massive amounts of alcohol before entering the pits so as to numb their senses to bear the state of sewerage. This results in these workers gradually getting addicted to alcohol and many die young due to the effects of alcoholism.  While the deaths inside the sewers have caught public attention, the longtime health hazards that either eventually lead to death or to a life infested with disease, are equally closely associated with this fatal occupation. Besides the recorded deaths caused by the toxic fumes, deaths are also caused by health risks that are not immediately fatal such as cardiovascular degeneration, skin diseases, respiratory ailments, jaundice, trachoma, etc.
 

Mobilising support and the legal scenario built around their protection

Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 outlawed the manual carrying of human excreta, construction and maintenance of dry latrines. Sanitation workers engaged in sewage cleaning were not recognized as a category to be protected under this Act. The power to file a complaint against any violation of the Act rested with the sanitary officer or the collector, and not the aggrieved worker.
 
The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993 provided for the constitution of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK). Under the Act, a ‘Safai Karamchari’ was defined as a person engaged in, or employed for, manually carrying human excreta or any sanitation work.
 
In 2011, the Supreme Court proffered a judgement in National Campaign for Dignity & Rights of Sewerage & Allied Workers v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi wherein the Court issued a list of directives to provide legal protection to sewerage workers. The SC directives stated that sewerage workers must be provided with protective equipment by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, employment of workers is not to be terminated in the event of illness, medical treatment is to be provided to workers free-of-charge and surviving family must be given compensation in the event of a worker’s death. As the PUDR report notes, however, these reliefs fail to address the safety and caste-based stigma related concerns surrounding the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
 
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 was the first to note that the practice of manual scavenging arises from “a highly iniquitous caste system” and acknowledge the urgency of rehabilitating manual scavengers. This Act recognises manual scavenging as not only to cleaning of dry latrines and carrying of human excreta but also the handling of an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of’. The Act defines a sewer as “an underground conduit or pipe for carrying off human excreta, besides other waste matter and drainage wastes” thereby bringing in sewer workers within its ambit.

The Act outlaws the employment of any person for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank, imposes a maximum imprisonment of two years and a contravention with imprisonment would extend it up to five years, and makes the local authorities duty-bound to use technological appliances for cleaning of sewers, septic tanks in order to eliminating the need for the manual handling of excreta in the process of their cleaning.
 
In Safai Karamchari Andolan and Others v. Union of India and Others, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the treatment meted out to sanitation workers is violative of the constitutional provision that abolished untouchability under Article 17 as well as the workers’ fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. The Supreme Court issued directives saying no fperson would be forced to enter sewer lines without required safety gear, and that for each worker’s death caused due to cleaning of sewers, a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh be paid to the family of the deceased. It also ruled that the government was liable to compensate those families of those as well who died in the sewage tanks or manholes in and after 1993. Through this order, a writ was issued to the central and state governments as well as the union territories to effectively implement the Acts of 1993 and 2013.
 
In 2015, Safai Karmachari Andolan launched a unique 125-day protest against the deplorable working conditions faced by sanitation workers. Named “Bhim Yatra”, the protesting sanitation workers travelled through 500 districts in 30 Indian states to testify to the indignities still suffered by them. They covered more than 35,000 km across the country, and culminated their journey in Delhi on the eve of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125^th Birth Anniversary. (See Stop Killing Us, the Bhim Yatra of India’s Manual Scavengers tells the Indian Government)
 
In the first six months of 2019, even by the most conservative estimates, fifty workers have died cleaning sewers in 20 states, according to data available with the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK). Looking at these numbers, it is clear that even as of today protection to sanitation workers is only really offered on paper. 
 

PUDR’s investigative findings

The PUDR report details findings from their investigation into six incidents of deaths of sanitation workers in Delhi that occurred while they were cleaning sewers/septic tanks between 2017 and 2019. The report then looks into the commonalities of pattern and context within these cases and and other similar incidents while casting light on the workers’ lives and their labour conditions.
The six cases of sewer deaths covered in the report span all corners of the city, and include two commercial malls: DLF Capital Greens, Moti Nagar and Fun Republic, Anand Vihar. In discussing potential reasons for the sewer deaths, the report notes these three patterns in each case.

First, there is a lack of urban planning with respect to maintenance of the concerned sewerage and septage systems by the concerned authorities including the state, municipal bodies, institutions and private companies.

Second, the sanitation workers appointed to clean the sewers/septic tanks are offered no training for the job or provisions for safety gear and safety equipment. In many cases, the report notes, the workers were coerced into working even after they specifically refused to do the work owing to its hazardous nature and stating that they did not have the necessary training or experience to do the work. In instances where their specific reluctance has not been noted, those called to do such work were clearly not trained for it, and were either unaware of the dangers of the work or believed that they had no other option.

Third, no criminal proceedings are initiated against those guilty of deploying these sanitation workers into these hazardous working conditions. Total socio-economic vulnerability of the victims allows for their mistreatment and subsequent denial of rights. Predominantly, state government or courts only award monetary compensation against such deaths and grievous injuries when such cases are brought up to them. In the incident that took place in Bhagya Vihar, Rohini, while the owner of the property was being prosecuted, he belonged to a relatively socially and economically disprivileged background as well. It can be seen from these instances that those directly responsible for these deaths may avoid being indicted if they are powerful.
 

Sanitation v/s Sanitation Worker

The estimated expenditure of the Swachh Bharat Mission geared to make India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2 October, 2019 was $9 billion at the time of its inception. Only little focus is spared for the treatment of septage and waste water from the newly-made toilets and manual scavengers that would be employed to maintain the sewage system.
 
Similarly, while the 2015 Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna provides for building houses in rural India, it does not focus on any components of the sanitation value chain. These limitations are also recognised in National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) and Septage Management: A Practitioner’s Guide, 2017.
 
As PUDR notes in its report:
“The absence of official data serves as the best evasive response to questions of injustice. While the government basks in the glory of initiating a ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, recognizing the right to sanitation of all except the rights of sanitation workers, initiatives such as these actually retrench practices of manual cleaning in the absence of shift to technological resources. Such initiatives rely on forms of manual labour by making them appear as economic choices.”
 
In contrast, the monetary allotment for Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers reduced from Rs 4600 crore on its passing in 2013 to Rs. 5 crore in 2017. What’s worse, not a single rupee off these allotments was released by the present government. By August 2018, the government had not even spent the funds released by the previous UPA government for this purpose. (See also: 2019-20 SC-ST budget allocation only for accounting purposes and not for real implementation)
 

Improper urban planning

The report quotes the “Sewerage Master Plan of NCT” to note that only about 50% of the population of Delhi NCT is covered by the sewer network. This existing 7000 km sewerage network also suffers from disrepair, siltation and settling or collapse. The sewage generated by the other half of the population belonging to the unsewered areas—the part often found living in unauthorized colonies, JJ clusters, and rural villages—goes into Yamuna River through a number of surface drains. These areas tend to rely more on septic tanks which need regular cleaning to remove waste water and fecal sludge accumulation.

Thus, such a debilitated waste disposal structure creates the need to frequently clean the sewage systems and septic pipes, and this requirement is primarily met by hiring sanitation workers. As has been observed by the Centre for Policy and Research, high-risk sanitation work is also increasingly informalised—the deceased workers often had no institutional relationship with the owner of the infrastructure and were hired either by contractors responsible for infrastructure maintenance or on-the-spot for a specific job. While at least officially, maintenance of state sanctioned sewerage is supposed to be a public and municipal matter, septic tank maintenance is private responsibility, making their monitoring more difficult. Because sewage network connectivity is not properly constructed, it also means that Delhi’s 34 Waste Water Treatment Plants are only utilised upto about 57% of their official design capacity.
 

Consistent failure of legal implementation

One common thread among all law and policy directives chosen with a view to benefit sanitation workers is the consistent failure in their implementation. As PUDR states:
“What makes these incidents significant is also the fact that they have been occurring repeatedly, apparently growing in frequency, at a time when the law (Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013) mandates that sending people to manually clean sewers, sewerage facilities and septic tanks without safety equipment, training and protection is a grave offence that carries stringent penalties. The Act has come to be better known through the frequency and impunity with which it is violated. Questions of lack of safety gear and absence of proper training of workers sent to clean sewers/septic tanks seems to dominate public discussion on the issue. Fundamental questions around whether manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks should be permitted or not, mostly evade the debates both in the law and outside.”

While the 2013 Act has proven to be a significant improvement in the legal backing for the rights of sanitation workers, its biggest drawback is that while it defines cleaning of the sewers without safety gear and without safety precautions as hazardous, it does specify what can constitute ‘safety precautions’ and ‘safety gear’. This legislation notably does not recognise that, in most cases, the reason for death of sanitation workers is asphyxiation caused by exposure to poisonous gases. Such asphyxiation cannot be helped with gear and precautions.
 
Even in the Safai Karmachari Andolan case, it took the apex court twenty years (since the passing of the 1993 Act) to specify that sending persons in to manually clean sewers and septic tanks, closely handling waste materials can be included in the same category of violation as manual scavenging, and was a punishable act. It is also significant that continuous pressure had to be put upon the judiciary by the social movement of sanitation workers for their fundamental rights to be legally granted and underscored. The SC order in 2014 had asked the states to identify people who had died cleaning sewers 1993 onwards and award compensation to families. Over five years later, most states are yet to provide the data.
 
The crass disregard with which the government treats the issue of manual scavenging was exposed in 2015 when the Prime Minister’s lauded National Skill Development Mission listed manual scavenging as a possible ‘employment opportunity’ for people. (See this 2016 PUDR article)
 
National Commission for Safai Karmachari (NCSF) chairman M. Shivanna has directed local bodies and government departments to provide safety outfits to sanitation workers and to ensure that the workers wear them.
 

How complacence turns into casteism

Much has been said about the poor conditions faced by sanitation workers and how they reflect the continued indifference of the society at large. It is imperative to delve into how an incomplete understanding of the sanitation challenge can result into detrimental policy-making and implementation. The PUDR Report has contended the following points in this regard:
 
That Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan’s study from 2011 shows the perniciousness of caste nearly seventy years after the adoption of the Indian constitution. It stated that 94% of the sanitation workers who died were from Scheduled Castes, 4% were from Other Backward Classes and the rest from Scheduled Tribes. A few attempts to justify this deployment as traditional ‘ssuper-specialisation’ are made by authorities and dominant sections to relegate these hazardous and stigmatised jobs to these vulnerable communities. Such deployment of dalit workers in these occupations in modern contexts reinforces this link.
 
That the lack of attention to maintenance of sanitation systems is an absence which is completely caste driven, structural and systemic. There is no provision in the designing of these systems of sanitation (sewerage, septage etc.) that are crucial to the setting up and running of modern cities and towns, for their running and maintenance is also likewise not an innocent error but a systemic one. The policy makers’ fragmented approach to sanitation, their target driven approach (counting numbers of toilets, length of sewerage etc.,) and lack of attention to how the systems will run (whether or not there is water supply, and provision for maintaining toilets and sewers etc.), their neglect of and callousness towards who would do the work and how – are rooted in their deep acceptance of caste attitudes and hierarchy.
 
That even the NCSK, which was incorporated to protect the interests of the safai karamchari, recommended that mechanisation of sewer and septic tank cleaning should focus training those who are ‘traditionally’ engaged in sanitation work in its Annual Report of 2017-18. The Commission ‘strongly recommends’ that preference be given to the Valmiki community for the posts of safai karamchari as they have been ‘traditionally’ involved with the work.
 
Given the prevalent caste-based social attitudes towards the work of cleaning human and other wastes, the NCSK’s suggestions seem to reinforce the exclusive, indeed hereditary connection between these groups and the work of sanitation and cleaning wastes even if it is mechanized. Such interlinkages made between caste and identity result in workers remaining trapped in circumstances in which they have to keep performing unsafe and humiliating sanitation work, in spite of the heavy price they have to pay for it.
 

Is mechanisation the next step forward?

PUDR reports that some of the survivors of the discussed incidents were given machines for sewer cleaning by the state government in 2019. These machines, acquired at a cost of Rs. 40 lakhs each, are capable of negotiating narrow spaces, and work by “jetting” (the process of using a high pressure pump to remove different waste material), “grabbing” (hydraulically desilting the manhole) and rodding (rods rotating at high levels to remove the sludge).

Those given the machines, will be given the money earned from running the machines, directly into their accounts. The actual running of the machine will be done by private operators chosen through a process of tendering. Machine owners will be part of a consortium which will help others with the paperwork, working with the Delhi Jal Board (the authority handling waste management in Delhi) and sorting out problems with the running of machines. This consortium will be monitored by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), an organization that promotes entrepreneurship among members of the Dalit community. The report notes that 200 machines have been acquired by Delhi government and 250 drivers and 500 helpers have been hired (who will all be paid minimum wages).

As has also been observed by other sources, the main problem with this model are that by making manual scavengers owners of the machines the policy ends up reinforcing caste, and linking the people with caste-based work more firmly. By passing on the responsibility of implementation to DICCI, the state is further reinforcing caste-based labour and the template of attitudes towards sanitation work that caste brings, and abrogating its own responsibility towards ensuring the rights and safety of sanitation workers. Thus, while mechanisation could be a temporary fix to the problem, it cannot not be tackled by making descendants of manual scavengers continue the same work in a different form.
 

Demands made

It is clear that it will take a lot more than loans and gleaming new machines to bring long-overdue justice to sanitation workers. The PUDR report has demanded specific actions from the state, which include due implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and the directives in Safai Karamchari Andolan and Others v. Union of India and Others; criminal accountability of employers guilty of compelling workers to clean sewers/septic tanks; direct responsibility for sewerage allotted to the state, etc.

It is important to note that the right to sanitation should not be sought to be provided at the cost of the basic fundamental rights of sanitation workers. We must factor in the repeated deaths of sewer/septic tank workers into the design of present and future sanitation policies and campaigns of ‘cleaning’ India. The underlying caste-based attitude to sanitation work and workers should be identified and strong action taken against it.
 

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New Delhi: Eleven Indians died while working in the last seven days, out of which six died in Delhi. One Indian dies every five days while cleaning sewers and septic tanks. The price of manually cleaning human excreta in India is death. What’s more, it’s practically been made legal.
 
The Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) led by activist Bezwada Wilson, has announced a protest on Tuesday, 25 September, at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi from 11 am to #StopKilingUs.
 
Speaking to Sabrang India, Mr. Wilson said, “We just have one demand, stop killing us in sewers and septic tanks. That’s it. Just one demand.”
 
“In the last few months, 83 persons have been killed. 221 persons were killed in sewer holes since 2017. Who is responsible? The buck is passed from PM to the contractor. With everyone denying responsibility where does it stop! Manual scavenging is killing our fellow citizens in sewer holes every day. 1790 persons killed inside the sewers and still counting! The silence of the state and authorities is deafening. Blatant violation of the Manual Scavenging Prohibition Act 2013. Zero implementation of Supreme Court Judgement on strict enforcement of the law (Civil Petition 583/2003) This can’t go on as normal. We demand answers and accountability. How long will we allow this killing of our fellow citizens with impunity?” he wrote in the invitation for the protest.
 
#StopKillingUs is a battle cry for ‘manual scavenger’ who have been left defenceless.
 
“The more hazardous forms involving the often fatal task of entering toxic sewerage systems, mainly in urban areas, have not been documented officially. This, despite the fact that the 1993 law outlawing manual scavenging in India was amended in 2013 to include sewer and septic tank cleaning,” reported Indian Express.
 
“We have repeatedly asked states to identify those involved in these jobs but the states deny the existence of manual scavenging as the practice is banned under law. As a result, in many cases, the families of the dead don’t even get the compensation,” said NCSK chairperson Manhar Valjibhai Zala to IE.
 
Rs. 530 crores were spent on Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan advertisements in the last three years but as per National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) data, the Rs. 10 lakh compensation that is mandated under law in case of manual scavenging deaths, has been paid in only 70 of the 123 cases.
 
“In his book, Karmayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks of manual scavenging as a “spiritual experience”. I urge him to ask a manual scavenger if s/he feels even remotely spiritual while cleaning other people’s excreta, whether the daily round feels like a pilgrimage. Without exception, they do it because there is no option, no alternative employment for those born into castes identified with scavenging. It’s this kind of ‘spiritual’ whitewash that prevents the government from allocating money for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers. Even the little that is allocated is squandered on government departments, and more committees and surveys. These might provide employment to government surveyors but not to manual scavengers,” wrote Bezwada Wilson in India Today.
 
If the country’s governments had proper drainage systems that need not be needed to be cleaned by humans, then there wouldn’t be so many people who lost their lives. PM can’t also say ‘it is a state affair’. How is Swachh Bharat a central affair then? When you want to construct the toilet, it’s a central affair. When people die cleaning them, it’s a state affair. How will this solve the problem?” he asked in a report by the Huffington Post.
 
Stories like Anil’s became social media sensation and the families have received much-needed help from the fundraiser. Meanwhile, many continue to die as the govt and contractors pass the buck and a solution refuses to be implemented. Who is to blame for every Indian death that occurs once in five days?
 

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The spiral of sewer deaths continues. A week after 5 young men died after entering a sewage tank, one more sanitation worker has lost his life in Delhi

 

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