The manacles of caste in sanitation work

Context:  Even today, the Indian government and civil society continue to grapple with the inhuman nature of manual scavenging. While in 1993, the government promulgated an Act to stop construction of unsanitary dry latrines and employing manual scavengers, the problem still continues.

Issues with the Act:

Problematic descriptions: The act defined dry latrine as “latrine other than a water-seal latrine”. Manual scavenging was not just a practice related to dry latrines, but also insanitary latrines and open defecation.

In 2013 the Supreme Court forced the Central government to conduct a survey of manual scavengers, on the basis of a PIL filed by Safai Karamchari Andolan. The survey found continuation of practice and hence, Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act was passed.

The construction of dry latrines reduced but the deaths remained high. The government had plans to amend the 2013 Act to completely mechanise the cleaning of sewer and manholes and build new sewers. But the issue of labour safety remains unaddressed.

Issues of dignity of the sanitation workers:

Most sanitation contracts are given to private contractors – such staff hardly have ID cards, leave alone medical insurance policies.

Unlike other labour forces, the 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.

There are no vehicles for sanitation workers to travel to their designated workspcases. There are hardly any exclusive trade unions for sweepers. Dalit movements have alos been found wanting int his regard.

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

Source: This post is created based on the article “The manacles of caste in sanitation work.”  published on 8^th April 2022 in The Hindu.