The plight of Sanitation workers

The Hidden World of Sanitation Workers :-

What were the demands of civil society? How did the government respond?

• Civil society started a movement in the 1990s to eradicate dry latrines, the focus now is on manhole deaths and provision of safety equipment to sanitation workers.
• Several State governments and the previous Central governments have reacted to these civil society demands by introducing different laws to stop manual scavenging and provide incentives to build toilets.

What are the issues with various government and civil society initiatives?

• Act barring the construction of unhygienic dry latrines and employing manual scavengers,1993: It defined ‘manual scavenger’ as a person engaged in or employed for manually carrying human excreta.
• It defined dry latrine as “latrine other than a water-seal latrine”.
• Manual scavenging was not just a practice related to dry latrines, but also to unhygienic latrines and open excretion.
• The Safai Karamchari Andolan which was a social movement that campaigned against manual scavenging filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court along with other organisations.
• The demand was to direct State governments and Union Territories to strictly enforce the law to stop the practice of manual removal of human excreta.
• The central government’s survey on manual scavengers (2013): The survey found that dry latrines and manual removal of human excreta still existed.
• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (2013): Though the construction of dry latrines has drastically reduced, the number of deaths in manholes, sewers and septic tanks continues to remain high.
• The issue of labour safety is not addressed in any amendments.
• The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, limits the issue of labour rights and the stigma attached to sanitation. For instance, in Tamil Nadu, all political parties have trade unions for government servants, except for sanitation workers.
• No permanent job status for sanitation workers: Most sanitation contracts are given to private contractors or self-help groups, and such staff hardly have ID cards, leave alone the protection of medical insurance policies.
• Particular caste members approached for hiring: During the last Chennai floods, sanitation workers from the Nilgiris district were made to travel in garbage trucks to Chennai.
• This situation has continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic as sanitation workers are asked to work in newly formed COVID-19 wards.

The issue of dignity of workers

• Unlike other labour forces, sanitation workers do not have a separate rule-book that lays down guidelines for their work timings, holidays, a proper place for roll call, removal from duty, etc. This is against the laws and ethics.
• There are no vehicles for sanitation workers to travel to their designated workspaces, and they have to either walk for kilometres or use garbage vehicles.
• This is a forced choice and is connected to the dignity of a worker as no supervisor would stand and travel with the sanitation workers.

Way forward

• In India, sanitation work is caste-ridden and hence, there is an urgent need to dissociate caste from labour.