Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/beginning-of-the-end-4520.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Beginning of the End | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Beginning of the End

Manual scavenging persists, but community and political mobilisation of workers has initiated change.

Only those who are in denial are surprised by the continued existence in India of casteism and inhuman practices associated with stigmatisation, despite institutions of the state decreeing their abolition. But progress has been made in fits and starts, and agency – in the form of community and political mobilisation – has played a role in their slow removal. The horrific practice of manual scavenging – the worst form of untouchability and casteism under which certain communities are forced to carry human waste, and clean dry latrines and sewers – is one where the agency of community and political mobilisation has begun to have an impact.

Despite the enactment of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act in 1993, manual scavenging continues across the country. Apart from having to earn their livelihood by manually carrying or cleaning excreta, the workers are also discriminated against by stigmatisation and are forcibly hidden from the public sphere. Newspaper reports have suggested that 99% of those involved in manual scavenging are dalits and among them 95% women. In 1995, according to a Planning Commission study, more than six lakh people were engaged in scavenging. And the practice is not restricted to the private sphere. The Indian Railways, argue activists, employ a large number of people for manually clearing the tracks of sewage and human waste. For years after the legislation of the 1993 Act, there was little punishment for the hiring of workers for manual scavenging. But things have begun to change for the better.

A nationwide awareness campaign in October was launched by a community organisation of former conservancy workers and manual scavengers – the Safai Karamchari Andolan. The organisation had filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court in 2003 highlighting the non-notification of the 1993 Act in various states and the failure by other states to implement it. The states largely denied the existence of manual scavenging, but work by the Andolan has made the apex court sit up and take notice, forcing some states to respond and act. The Andolan mobilised the workers to bring into public focus the large number of people involved in this form of labour and besides attracting judicial scrutiny, the campaigns have ensured that many states have finally notified the Act and have initiated punitive measures against the violators. Reports suggest that in Haryana, following the mobilisation and after 21 people were convicted under the 1993 Act in 2005, the number of manual scavengers and dry latrines in the state has come down considerably.

It is incorrectly argued that economic development will by itself accelerate modernisation and lead to the eradication of practices like manual scavenging. The continuation of such a practice is not merely a consequence of a lack of awareness about sanitation. It is intimately linked with societal prejudice about the role of certain communities in the caste system. As activists belonging to the Andolan point out, manual scavenging is prevalent even in urbanised and modern spheres, for example, in the national capital. The Supreme Court recently called into question the non-notification of the 1993 Act in Delhi.

Besides community organisation, political mobilisation of communities within scheduled castes who are identified with this humiliating form of labour has also helped to rehabilitate former manual scavengers. Political demands in states like Tamil Nadu have progressed beyond eradication of the practice and are now for rehabilitation and a concomitant restoration of dignity. The Arundhatiyar Reservation Act 2009 of Tamil Nadu, which provides for a 3% sub-reservation among the 18% reservation for scheduled castes in educational institutions and state services is an example. The state government was forced to enact this measure after a popular movement launched by the Arundhatiyars, supported by parties such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Yet, this measure has drawn criticism from even dalit groups who resent a compartmentalisation of reservations.

India has a record of sorts in creating institutions and laws that conform to the liberal democratic model. But without sufficient agency from within society, both through civil and political means, no amount of legislation can effect change for the better. In the abolition of manual scavenging agency has fortunately come to play an important part in both highlighting the practice as well as in attacking institutionalised notions of purity and enforced humiliation.