Manual scavenging

The workers have to move the excreta, using brooms and tin plates, into baskets, which they carry to disposal locations sometimes several kilometers away.

[3] The practice of employing human labour for cleaning of sewers and septic tanks is also prevalent in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In the caste-based society, it is mainly the Dalits who work as sanitation workers - as manual scavengers, cleaners of drains, as garbage collectors and sweepers of roads.

The law was extended and clarified to include ban on use of human labour for direct cleaning of sewers, ditches, pits and septic tanks in 2013.

It reads:[16] "Manual scavenger" means a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this Act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or a local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the Central Government or a State Government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, and the expression “manual scavenging” shall be construed accordingly.The definition ignores many other sanitation workers like fecal sludge handlers, community and public toilet cleaners, workers cleaning storm water drains, waste segregators, etc.

[17] The 2013 Act adds that a person engaged or employed to clean excreta with the help of equipment and using the protective gear as notified by the Union government shall not be deemed to be a manual scavenger.

[18] In 2021, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India advocated for the term to include other types of hazardous cleaning.

[18] The women involved are referred to differently - 'dabbu-wali' in Bengal, 'balti-wali' in Kanpur, 'tina-wali in Bihar, tokri-wali in Punjab and Haryana, 'thottikar' in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, 'paaki' or 'peeti' in Odisha, 'vaatal' in Kashmir.

[18] These names directly refer to the tools (dabbu, balti, tokri) used by the women to carry waste or dustbin (thottikar) or excreta (paaki, peeti).

[18] Manual scavenging is done with basic tools like thin boards and either buckets or baskets lined with sacking and carried on the head.

[17][20] Not all forms of dry toilets involve "manual scavenging" to empty them, but only those that require unsafe handling of raw excreta.

Container-based sanitation is another system that does not require manual scavenging to function even though it does involve the emptying of excreta from containers.

According to the contents of sacred scriptures and other literature, scavenging by some specific castes of India has existed since the beginning of civilization.

[17][better source needed] The caste-based assignment of cleaning jobs can be traced back to the rise of Hinduism and revival of the Brahmanical order during the Gupta period, considered the golden era in the history of the Indian sub-continent.

[29] The workers usually belonged to the Balmiki (or Valmiki) or Hela (or Mehtar) subcastes; considered at the bottom of the hierarchy within the Dalit community itself.

[33] Manual scavenging still survives in parts of India without proper sewage systems or safe fecal sludge management practices.

Another estimate from 2018 put the figure at one million manual scavengers, stating that the number is "unknown and declining" and that 90% of them are women.

[citation needed] Bezwada Wilson, an activist, at the forefront in the battle to eradicate manual scavenging, argues that the practice continues due to its casteist nature.

[18] Unlike infrastructure projects like metros, the issue receives little or no priority from the Government and hence the deadline to comply with the 1993 Act has been continuously postponed.

[18] An example that demonstrates the apathy of the government is the fact that none of the Rupees 100 Crore (1,000 million) allocated in the budgets for financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 was spent.

And in the event that they are able to find the means and support to stop manual scavenging, women still face extreme pressure from the community.

[44] The United Nations human rights chief welcomed in 2013 the movement in India to eradicate manual scavenging.

The act punishes the employment of scavengers or the construction of dry (non-flush) latrines with imprisonment for up to one year and/or a fine of Rs 2,000.

The hearing on 27 March 2014 was held on manual scavenging of writ petition number 583 of 2003, and Supreme Court has issued final orders and case is disposed of with various directions to the Government.

[52] The "Campaign for Dignity" (Garima Abhiyan) in Madhya Pradesh in India has assisted more than 20,000 women to stop doing manual scavenging as an occupation.

Scavengers try to earn a living from scouring through rotting rubbish, plastic bags and raw sewage for discarded things they can sell.