What is Manual Scavenging?

Scavenging is the practice of manual cleaning of human excreta from service/ dry latrines. The scavengers crawl into the dry latrines and collect the human excreta with their bare hands, carry it as head-load in a container to dispose it off.

A caste based and hereditary profession, which is handed down, as a legacy from one generation to the next; “manual scavenging” has been an age-old routine for this community, which is untouched by technological advancement in sanitary practices. Not only does the prevalence of this culture seem antediluvian, but what is worse is the fact that those born in this community are considered agents of pollution due to their background of social hierarchy, based on birth. They are the most oppressed and suppressed class of Indian society – hated, ostracized, vilified and avoided by all other castes and classes. The appalling hardship, humiliation and exploitation they face, have no parallel in human history. The practice started in the Pauranic period continued in the Buddhist, Mauryan, Mughal and British periods.

It involves moving the excreta, using brooms and tin plates, into baskets, which the workers carry to disposal locations sometimes several kilometers away. The workers, called scavengers (or more appropriately “sanitation workers”), rarely have any personal protective equipment. The term is mainly used in the Indian context only.

According to Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, 180,657 households are engaged in manual scavenging for a livelihood.The 2011 Census of Indiafound 794,000 cases of manual scavenging across India The state of Maharashtra, with 63,713, tops the list with the largest number of households working as manual scavengers, followed by the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Karnataka.

The official definition of a manual scavenger in Indian law from 1993 is as follows:

“Manual scavenger” means a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this Act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or a local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the Central Government or a State Government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, and the expression “manual scavenging” shall be construed accordingly.’’

Legislation in search of dignity

In 1993, the Government of India enacted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act which prohibited the employment of manual scavengers for manually cleaning dry latrines and also the construction of dry toilets, that is, toilets that do not operate with a flush. It provided for imprisonment of upto a year and a fine. In 2013, this was followed by the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, which is wider in scope and importantly, acknowledged the urgency of rehabilitating manual scavengers.

Key features of the Act :

• Prohibits the construction or maintenance of insanitary toilets
• Prohibits the engagement or employment of anyone as a manual scavenger
• Violations could result in a years’ imprisonment or a fine of INR 50,000 or both
• Prohibits a person from being engaged or employed for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank
• Offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable
• Calls for a survey of manual scavengers in urban and rural areas within a time bound framework

There remain several challenges in implementing the legislation to ensure that manual scavengers can work and live with dignity. These include :

• Time frame within which land is to be allotted as part of the rehabilitation package for former manual scavengers as provided for in the 2013 Act
• Correct and timely identification of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers
• Implementation of provision regarding prohibiting ‘hazardous cleaning’ of sewers and septic tanks
• While the Act is encouraging in that it focuses on the responsibility of officials to ensure its implementation, it does not outline administrative measures beyond conduct rules that can be imposed if officials do not implement the Act

Towards comprehensive rehabilitation

Manual scavengers are at a double disadvantage. They are members of lower castes and as such, face enormous discrimination in society, and second, are disadvantaged because they are manual scavengers who clean human excreta. The challenge of rehabilitation is urgent, and requires a comprehensive approach that moves beyond expanding income generation or providing loans, to focus on various aspects crucial to secure the future of the next generation of liberated manual scavengers.

A comprehensive rehabilitation package could:

• Ensure discrimination-free, secure and alternate livelihoods by providing skill development and livelihoods training to women, linking them to government employment schemes and entitlements as well as ensuring their land rights. Vocational training linked to employment for young people, and support to liberated manual scavengers in building alternate livelihoods could go a long way in ensuring steady, stable livelihoods for the future.

• Create a favourable environment through community awareness and sensitization of local administration.

• Build the capacity of the community to promote rehabilitation efforts and self-reliance and also build leadership in the community with a particular focus on Dalit women

Adopting technology to end manual scavenging

“It is not going to be possible to eliminate manual scavenging unless we create the right technologies,” Wilson told media last week. There are reportedly about 15 innovations developed across the country to replace manual scavenging. According to reports, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board is using 70 mini jetting machines that can access narrow lanes and smaller colonies to clear the choked sewer pipes. In Thiruvananthapuram, a group of engineers has designed a spider-shaped robot that cleans manholes and sewers with precision.

While technology is considered essential to end this scourge, Ashif Shaikh, the founder of Jan Sahas social development society, is of the opinion that focusing only on technological fixes to end manual scavenging may not work. “It is a social and gender issue and can be eradicated by sensitising people about its ills. In 2012-13, we launched a nationwide march covering 200 districts across 18 states. Our objective was to make women aware of their right to live with dignity. We managed to liberate some 6,000 women during that yatra, and so far, we have liberated about 30,000 scavengers,” Shaikh tells Down To Earth.

“Our job does not end at liberating these women. To assure them of ‘sustainable freedom’, they need to be provided with an alternative livelihood option, which is difficult in many parts of the country as people belonging to this community are still looked down upon and refused jobs,” Shaikh rues. He urges the government to turn its attention away from toilet construction and explore ways to empty pits without human intervention.