Manual Scavenging
According to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE), only 66% of the districts in the country are free from “manual scavenging”.
According to MoSJE:
- Out of a total of 766 districts in the country, only 508 districts have declared themselves free from “manual scavenging”.
- In the surveys conducted in the years 2013 and 2018, all the people engaged in “manual scavenging” were identified. Their number was about 58,000.
- No person had died due to manual scavenging in the country in the last three years (2019 to 2022).
- The only current danger associated with this practice is ‘dangerous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks’.
Manual Scavenging:
- The act of manually removing human excreta from sewers or septic tanks is called manual scavenging.
- The definition of this practice also includes persons employed to clean septic tanks, drains or railway tracks.
- This practice is banned under the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013” (PEMSR).
- Violation of this law can be punished with imprisonment of up to 2 years or a fine of one lakh rupees or both.
Source – The Hindu
