{"id":6861,"date":"2026-08-21T11:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T05:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lpu.in\/blog\/?p=6861"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T05:34:50","slug":"the-spectre-of-manual-scavenging-and-sewer-deaths-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lpu.in\/blog\/the-spectre-of-manual-scavenging-and-sewer-deaths-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spectre of Manual Scavenging and Sewer Deaths in India"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>

What is the worth of a human life in the republic of India? While Article 21 of the Constitution of India (1950) assures every living person the protection by state of his bodily integrity and his fundamental claim to liberty in avowed aspects of life, the essential and inherent dignity of a human being is continuously and systematically injured in case of the <\/span>manual scavengers in India<\/b>. The life led by a \u2018manual scavenger or a sewer worker is nothing short of a Shakespearean tragedy\u2019 and is characterized by social discrimination, callous neglect by the state agencies and legendary betrayal of the human soul. The work of a \u2018manual scavenger\u2019 is considered unclean and polluting by traditional and caste-based notions. The occupation is hereditary in character where he\/she is caught in a vicious labyrinth of servility. A manual scavenger manually removes and cleans human excreta mostly from dry latrines and carries the same to dispose it off to a place somewhere on the outskirts of human settlements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past two decades, several manual scavengers have lost their lives in the sewer manholes of India in various parts of India. A total of 1,035 people has reportedly died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks across India since 1993, the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Sh. Ramdas Athawale informed the Lok Sabha on March 14, 2023. Out of these, compensation had been given out to the families of 948 deceased <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>manual scavengers.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Pointedly, \u201cmanual scavenging\u201d was outlawed for the first time in year 1993 with the passage of the The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act (1993). Section 3 of this Act banned employment of any person as a manual scavenger and provided for removal of dry latrines (the traditional styled latrines to be cleaned manually by manual scavengers as per archaic social customs) and also provided for the construction of water sealed toilets and maintenance of same. The statute was not adopted by all the states and implementation was poor. As a result, the Parliament of India enacted The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. In the recent past, questions have been raised on the continued menace of manual scavenging. Parliamentarian Dr. Ashok Kumar Mittal raised the issue of the ignoble plight of the manual scavengers who continue to suffer despite manual scavenging being declared as a criminal offence. He urged the Government to classify the practice as a \u2018hazardous offence\u2019 under the <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code of 2020.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

On the judicial side, in the case of Dr. <\/span>Balram Singh<\/span><\/i> v. <\/span>Union of India,<\/span><\/i> the Supreme Court of India observed that mere economic measures cannot eliminate the practice of manual scavenging and both short term and long-term policies need to be framed to sufficiently rehabilitate the manual scavengers and this process should include employment, education and skills training. The Supreme Court of India in this case enhanced the monetary compensation in case of death in a sewer from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.30 lakh. Previously, in the<\/span> Safai Karamchari Andolan<\/span><\/i> judgment<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> the court had fixed the monetary compensation amount at Rs.10 lakh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In year 2023-24 the Government of India launched the <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>NAMASTE<\/span><\/a> ( (The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem) with an objective to ensure the safety and dignity of sanitation workers. The stated focus of the scheme is prevention of hazardous cleaning and promotion of safe cleaning practices through trained and certified sanitation workers. The objective of the scheme is to formalize and rehabilitate the persons engaged in hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks. The intended outcome of NAMASTE scheme is to achieve zero fatalities in sanitation work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, at the grassroots level, activists like <\/span>Bezwada Wilson<\/span><\/a> continue to question the half-hearted approach of the Governmental agencies to eradicate the menace and highlight the fact that they are coerced to enter into manholes without safety gear. This raises a fundamental question: <\/span>why sewer workers die in India<\/b> despite the existence of laws and government schemes intended to protect them. The answer lies partly in the continued use of unsafe practices, inadequate enforcement, lack of protective measures and the absence of effective alternatives to manual entry into hazardous spaces. Ensuring the <\/span>safety of sewer workers in India<\/b> requires strict enforcement of existing legal safeguards, proper training, supervision and access to appropriate <\/span>sewer cleaning safety equipment<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is vital to remind ourselves that the dignity and the well-being of a manual scavenger or a sewer worker is no less than any other citizen. In a cosmopolitan world where the frontiers of human rights are expanding with each passing day, it is indeed tragic that we continue to struggle to remove such inhuman practices from our society. Technology can be effectively utilized to remove the human agency from the activity of sewer cleaning work. The expansion of <\/span>mechanised sewer cleaning<\/b> can reduce the need for workers to enter dangerous sewers and septic tanks, while innovations in <\/span>technology to eliminate manual scavenging<\/b> can contribute to safer and more dignified sanitation systems. In the recent past, innovations like HomoSEP and Sewer Croc have been introduced to deal with sewer cleaning work. These innovations have introduced robotic technology to bring sewer cleaning <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>solutions.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The need of the hour is to work out a comprehensive rehabilitation package to ameliorate the lot of manual scavengers. They continue to lead sub-human lives and this is a betrayal of the grand promise of a dignified life held out by the Constitution of India. In the socio-political milieu of India, values of equality and liberty permeate the social fabric. The manual scavengers of India cry for redemption and freedom from the modern-day slavery of their occupation. Due to the myopic policy approach and continuing social disregard they are being pushed into an abyss. It is an opportune time to give them a warm embrace of dignity and respect.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the worth of a human life in the republic of India? While Article 21 of the Constitution of India (1950) assures every living person the protection by state of his bodily integrity and his fundamental claim to liberty in avowed aspects of life, the essential and inherent dignity of a human being is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":6865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-social-awareness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t