Cabinet approves extension of tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis for three years

What is the news?

The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of the tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) for three years.

What is the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK)?

National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) was constituted in 1994 as a statutory body as per the provisions of the NCSK Act, 1993.

It was initially set up for three years, i.e up to 1997. Later the validity of the Act was initially extended up to 2002 and thereafter up to 2004. However, the NCSK Act ceased to have effect from 2004.

After that, the tenure of the NCSK has been extended as a non-statutory body from time to time through resolutions. The tenure of the present Commission is up to 31st March 2022.

What is the mandate of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK)?

Recommend to the Government regarding specific programmes for welfare of Safai Karamcharis

Study and evaluate the existing welfare programmes for Safai Karamcharis

Investigate cases of specific grievance of Safai Karamcharis

To study and monitor the working conditions of Safai Karamcharis 

Make reports to the Central or State Governments on any matter concerning Safai Karamcharis.

Moreover, as per the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the NCSK has been assigned the following work:

– To monitor the implementation of the Act

– Tender advice for its effective implementation to the Centre and State Governments, and enquire into complaints regarding contravention/non-implementation of the provisions of the Act.  

What is the significance of the extension of NCSK?

The major beneficiaries of the extension would be the Safai Karamcharis and identified manual scavengers in the country. The number of Manual Scavengers identified as of 2021 is around 58,000.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘Cabinet approves extension of tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis for three years’ published in PIB on 19^th January 2022.