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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Census bares manual scavenging shocker by Basant Kumar Mohanty

Census bares manual scavenging shocker by Basant Kumar Mohanty

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published Published on Apr 9, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 9, 2012

Manual scavenging is still widespread and India has a long way to go in getting rid of the scourge, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has said.

Over 1 per cent of all households in the country still rely on the practice and neither urban nor rural areas are immune to it, Ramesh said on Tuesday citing recent census data.

“The census results are a shocker. Manual scavenging is very much there in the country. It is prevalent in rural as well as in urban areas. We have a long way to go to abolish it,” Ramesh told The Telegraph.

The admission comes in the middle of plans by the government to bring a law to stamp out the blight after an existing one remained largely on paper.

Around 25 crore households — nearly 12 lakh in rural areas and 13 lakh in urban areas — depend on manual scavengers to remove night soil from the latrines, Ramesh said.(See chart)

According to the census data, there are 7.94 lakh dry latrines in the country where excreta is cleaned by scavengers. In over 13 lakh toilets, the waste is flushed into open drains and cleaned by humans.

The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council had in October recommended that the government take steps in co-ordination with states to end the “shameful” practice of manual scavenging by March this year.

Parliament had enacted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act in 1993. Under the law, hiring scavengers and construction of dry (non-flush) latrines were offences punishable with imprisonment of up to a year and a fine of Rs 2,000.

However, the law has rarely been enforced, the NAC had said, and recommended amendments to penalise officials responsible for not implementing the act.

The government, though, is likely to repeal the old act and bring in a new one to tackle the problem, sources said. Earlier this week, the Centre told the Supreme Court during a hearing that the proposed legislation would be brought in Parliament’s monsoon session.

The new law may include provisions for rehabilitating those engaged in manual scavenging in other economic activities, according to the sources.

Ramesh said his ministry had decided to appoint over eight lakh accredited social health activists as “sanitation ambassadors” in rural areas.

The Telegraph, 8 April, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120408/jsp/frontpage/story_15348149.jsp#.T4JhupktidJ


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