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Source: The post is based on the article “530 districts reported as free of manual scavenging: Centre” published in The Hindu on 27th July 2023.
What is the News?
The Ministry of Social Justice has provided data on the Manual Scavenging.
What is the Status of Manual Scavenging in India?
Free from Manual Scavenging: Total 530 of 783 districts (as of March 2023) in India had so far declared themselves to be free of manual scavenging.
State wise Manual Scavenging: 100% of the districts in States such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and a few others had declared themselves to be free of manual scavenging.
– Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand are among the States and Union Territories that have the highest number of districts yet to declare themselves free of manual scavenging.
– Uttar Pradesh which had the highest number of manual scavengers (32,473) in two surveys conducted till 2018 has nearly 90% districts reporting to be free of manual scavenging.
Deaths: Between 2018 and 2023, 339 people lost lives while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India.
– Nine such deaths were recorded in 2023, 66 in 2022, 58 in 2021, 22 in 2020, 117 in 2019 and 67 deaths in 2018.
Caste with highest Manual Scavenging: According to data released by the government in Parliament in 2021, over 90% of manual scavengers identified in the surveys till 2018, were from the Scheduled Caste communities.
