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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Yatra against manual scavenging reaches Patna

Yatra against manual scavenging reaches Patna

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published Published on Dec 11, 2012   modified Modified on Dec 11, 2012
-The Hindu

Patna: “I will die hungry, but won’t do this work anymore,” avowed Lad Kunwar from Madhya Pradesh. When this intrepid Balmiki woman from the Bundelkhand region gave up working as a manual scavenger, she discovered dignity.

“The work is horrible. It is so disgusting when it rains and the waste that you are carrying on your head sullies your body. All we got in return was stale roti. When I left this profession, my in-laws said this is the profession of our caste. I saw opposition from the village too. The Balmiki community is in dire straits. Why are we only made to do this dirty work? Why can’t we get good work? Why can’t our children?” she asked.

Kunwar was part of a yatra against the inhuman practice of manual scavenging held under the banner of Maila Mukti Yatra (National People’s March for Eradication of Manual Scavenging in India). TheYatra which began in Madhya Pradesh last month reached Patna on Monday.

“According to the Census 2011 data, there are 48,593 dry latrines in Bihar, where manual scavenging still continues. Of these, 13,584 latrines are for human excreta and 35,009 for animal excreta,” a statement from the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan (RGA) said.

“There are many small towns in Bihar with no drainage system. Therefore, there are these chambers built next to the septic tank. The workers have to clean the waste from these chambers. This practice exists in Buxar, Ara, Danapur, Champaran and other areas of Bihar,” Rajendra Singh of RGA told The Hindu .

Not only are manual scavengers discriminated against because of the squalor related to their work, their children too bear the brunt of segregation in schools.

“My kids were facing discrimination in school because I was in this profession. So, as they were growing up I quit. Now they are treated equally,” Chotibai from Rajasthan said. Many of the former manual scavengers are now working as conservancy workers still earning a paltry sum that can range from a few tenners a day or a few hundred rupees a month.

Mr. Singh pointed to newer forms of scavenging, such as workers employed in the Indian Railways or those who clean up after a religious event at a pilgrimage site. The yatra will continue to Jharkhand. It is slated to end in New Delhi on January 31, 2013.

The Hindu, 11 December, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/yatra-against-manual-scavenging-reaches-patna/article4186183.ece


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