After a backfoot on the irresponsible statement made in Parliament last week that no one died of lack of Oxygen during the Covid pandemic, the Centre has claimed that no deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging in the country in the last five years. Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment stated that no deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging in the last five years. The statement again invited severe criticism in and outside of parliament like the earlier statement.
The question was tabled by Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge and Dr L Hanumanthaiah, before the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale.
Strangely enough, this statement was made despite the fact that during the Budget Session of the Parliament in February, the government had said that 340 people had died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the five years till December 31, 2020. Back then, Athawale had said 43 people died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in Tamilnadu during the last five years, second highest after Uttar Pradesh, which reported 52 deaths.
The Ministry also acknowledged the presence of over 66,692 officially registered manual scavengers across various states, the highest being in Uttar Pradesh. Despite the inception of a legal regime like the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR 2013) prohibiting the practice of manual scavenging, it is still in practice as a hereditary vocation in India. In Safai Karamchari Vs Union of India, 2014, the Supreme Court came down heavily on State governments and directed them to strictly abide by their duty in implementing the PEMSR law.
Though, the erstwhile J&K state government had passed the J&K Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Probation) Act-2010 that is now replaced by the central law PEMSR 2013 after it became Union Territory, but it has failed implement the laws in practice.
The menace of manual scavenging is still prevalent even in the capital cities and other towns of the J&K UT, especially Srinagar and few district towns where thousands of people daily carry night soil on their shoulders.
The situation, however, is a bit better in Jammu Municipal areas. They said that the figures are not of manual scavenging but these reflect areas and households which don’t have modern flush system like septic tanks and their waste openly comes in the drains through pipes which in other terms can be termed as unhygienic, which is yet another public hygienic and health issue.
Manual scavenging is a blot on the face of free and democratic India that will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day. Sooner it ends, better for society and humanity.
