-The Telegraph New Delhi: The just released socio-economic and caste census data show more than 1.8 lakh manual scavengers in the country at a time virtually every state government has been denying their existence. Hundreds if not thousands in almost every state, including 2,500 in Bengal, told the surveyors they manually remove untreated human excreta from dry toilets, railway tracks and sewers - a practice banned by Parliament 22 years ago. State...

-IANS The Socio Economic and Caste Census of 2011 released on Friday reveals that over 1.8 lakh people from rural India are still engaged in manual scavenging despite the law prohibiting it. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act of 2013 prohibits any employment as manual scavengers and also promotes rehabilitation of these workers and their families. About 1,80,657 people are engaged in the practice, according to the census...

-Outlook The Supreme Court today asked all the state governments and Union Territories to fully implement legislation for eradicating manual scavenging and take action against violators, while issuing directions for education, employment and rehabilitation of affected people. A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana also directed them to take appropriate action for non-implementation as well as violation of the provisions contained in the Prohibition...

-The Hindu Compensation sought for those who died of asphyxiation Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Hundreds of members of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) seeking abolition of manual scavenging were arrested when they picketed the arterial Anna Salai on Tuesday. Their demands included compensation for those died of asphyxiation in manholes, abolition of manual scavenging on the premises of railways and framing of rules under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 does not give the same rights to those who manually clean drains and septic tanks in urban areas. This is also manual labour and involves the use of hands in cleaning excreta. Workers have to enter manholes to physically clean blockages. Government bodies have brazenly ignored court orders on mechanisation and bans on manual cleaning...