Election season is here and all the parties are out with their manifestos. In such times, the manifesto of the party in power becomes a special attraction for voters and oppositions. Therefore, in this regard, analysis of the ruling party’s manifesto becomes imperative on our part.
In this context, the BJP government is facing criticism from its political opponents for omitting the word ‘manual scavenger’ from its election manifesto. Manual scavenging which has its long sad history in Indian politics is now again in the limelight because of this incident. So let’s dig deep into the world of manual scavenging.
The Sad History Of Manual Scavenging
Dreaded were the words like human waste, filth, and latrines before Swachhta Abhiyaan became a household campaign opening our minds to address these dirty words as serious problems. Over the time, people are getting comfortable in talking about these issues plaguing our cities, but still, the real heroes who clean out the dirty mess of our cities to keep it clean are missing from our conversations.
Manual scavengers are treated as 3rd-grade citizens who are just seen through the lens of their occupation, which in turn subjects them to the torments of the caste hierarchy of our country. Upper caste considers this job to be the obligation of lower caste people which further alienates these sections from the society. Also, they live in deplorable conditions, suffer humiliation and blatant discrimination.
The work that Gandhiji himself described as ‘Godliness’ is now seen as repulsive. Much goes unrecognised about the manual scavenger’s contribution to society. They work in inhuman conditions with bare hands and deal with toxic fumes in the manholes and septic tank. The unsafe work environment is made even worse by the absence of safety gears. The hazardous conditions of working further affect their physical and psychological well-being, sometimes leading to their death in the worst cases.
Steps Taken And Their Analysis
So to address the suffering of this section and rescue these workers, the parliament came up with the Manual scavenging act 2013, which attempts to give some remedial provisions from the 1993 Act for the manual scavengers and restore the dignity of their work. As the bill prohibits the manual scavenging without proper equipment, it’s a great strike at the major concern of this section. Also, the provision of rehabilitation of manual scavengers and finding alternate employment for them is a welcome step. And to give protection of the law, it lists the offences under the bill as cognizable and non-bailable. It also provides for the setup of vigilance committees at various levels to monitor the situation.
Though the act has noble intentions and healthy provisions it falls short on the implementation part. The execution of the manual scavenging act 2013 is not up to the mark – as it has been more than five years since its implementation and yet, there have been hundreds of deaths of manual scavengers in sewer and manholes and not a single person has been convicted for the fault till date. The sorry state of the situation can be assessed by the fact that though the government wants to be the leader in eradicating this practice, it’s own department (Ministry of Railways) is the largest employer of manual scavengers on a contractual basis.
Also, since neither the state nor the centre is mandated to provide for conversion of insanitary latrines, there is a lack of will from both the authorities hampering the development of a clean environment. Further, the social behavior of citizens toward manual scavengers is disheartening. Political will is also lacking leading to tardy execution of the bill. No party is taking up this section as their priority. Their welfare is excluded from the developmental plan.
Furthermore, the Act is silent on the specific details of rehabilitation making it an ill effort towards ensuring the dignity of these individuals. Neither the data representing their strength is accurate, as the latest data by inter-ministerial task force has counted their number as 53,000 in 12 states. The labour cleaning the sewers are not counted in this tally for whatsoever reason. And only 600 districts have been covered which presents only half the picture of this sad reality.
But, not all is trash when we talk about improvement in the conditions of manual scavenging. The government has started a dialogue by inviting various stakeholders to solve the crisis; the appropriate compensation is reaching to many workers’ families in case of death, providing a way of stability for their families. The reporting of the incidents of death due to laxity is getting wider media attention. Various NGOs and people like Bezwada Wilson have come to lead the cause.
Way Ahead
But also, on the other hand, it is evident that more steps need to be taken in to deal with the situation. Political will alongside administrative skill is the need of the hour, making the governance system empathetic to the manual scavengers. The research and technology need to be developed to find a safe and economical way to treat human feces. Learning from Japan in this regard can be very beneficial. Then people should be sensitized towards this cause, and the perception about it needs to be changed if we really want to achieve Gandhiji’s dream of Clean India.