Manual scavenging has been banned in India since 1993. Yet, this practice continues to exist in cities and towns across India.
Manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or handling in any manner, human excreta in individual and community toilets, septic tanks, sewer drains, railway tracks or in other such spaces without the use of adequate protective gear.
A notion prevalent among city dwellers is that this practice is confined to the rural interiors of the country. However, in towns and cities, the government’s self-legitimized indifference, combined with public apathy, seems to dilute the fact that manual scavenging has an urban manifestation too.
Gaps In The Current Law Banning Manual Scavenging
A sanitation worker going down a manhole, septic tank or a sewage drain without wearing protective gear and equipment is not an unusual sight to be seen in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. If you have ever come across such a sight in the city you live in, then you have spotted a manual scavenger at work.
We could come up with euphemisms such as ‘unsafe sanitation work’ to veil the harsh reality in our cities, but that does little to address the issue. Cleaning of sewers and septic tanks by sanitation workers without the use of protective gear severely compromises their health. Workers get exposed to all kinds of poisonous gases that often lead to deaths due to asphyxiation. Surprisingly enough, these sanitation workers are either direct employees of the city municipality boards or are hired by contractors affiliated to the former.
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act clearly mentions that ‘hazardous cleaning’, i.e., manual cleaning of sewers without protective gear and safety precaution, is prohibited and employment of an individual for this purpose is a punishable offence. Yet, no one, not even the government authorities, hold the accountability to uphold the law.
There are gaps in the existing law on manual scavenging that allow the government bodies to skip accountability. The demands of the sanitation workers to have access to safety equipment go unheard. The law doesn’t elaborately explain what constitutes ‘protective gear’. Sanitation workers are provided with inadequate gear, if any.
If we interpret the definition of manual scavenging by adhering to the current law prohibiting it, then a sanitation worker wearing just a pair of gloves is not a manual scavenger because he is wearing ‘protective gear’ in some form.
Perpetuation Of Stigma: Whose Shoulders Does The Accountability Lie On?
Several deaths have occurred around Delhi NCR in the past few months on account of the sanitation workers not being provided with protective gear. Apart from the fatal risks, the element of caste continues to be associated with sanitation work. A vast majority of the sanitation workers in cities belong to socially and economically marginalised caste groups.
Due to illiteracy, societal subjugation and landlessness they are unable to gain social and occupational mobility. A lackadaisical attitude of the municipality is reinforcing existing discrimination and stigma accompanying sanitation work. The government, municipality boards and contractors have been exploiting the economic and social vulnerability of the community engaged in sanitation work by paying them low wages and depriving them of adequate equipment.
Scope Of Action Against ‘Unsafe Sanitation Work’ In Cities
Our increasingly atomized lives present us with little scope to reflect on the lives of the less privileged. Could knowledge about the prevailing law banning manual scavenging motivate us enough to go through even the slightest dint of discomfort to take action against an incident involving ‘unsafe sanitation work’? Employing someone as a manual scavenger is an offence that can extract a fine of up to ₹5,00,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
While we now know what manual scavenging really is, it is not enough. For us to be able to take effective action against manual scavenging, the law must first define what ‘protective gear’ consists of and make sure that it offers adequate safety to sanitation workers. Defining what is meant by ‘protective gear’ would eliminate gaps within the existing law which have impeded the effective implementation of the ban on manual scavenging.
The provision of adequate protective gear might not be enough to eliminate the stigma attached to sanitation work, but it would secure many lives and dreams from disappearing into the darkness of a manhole.