- Scroll.in India prohibited manual scavenging in 1993. But it took another 20 years to expand its legal definition to include the manual cleaning of drains, sewers and septic tanks. Mumbai, with the richest municipal corporation in India, was among the worst offenders when it came to the implementation of the 2013 law. Records maintained by the Safai Karamchari Andolan, a national organisation working for the rights of sanitation workers, show 19...
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Arvind Kejriwal flags off 200 Sewer Cleaning Machines
-PTI The machines have been provided to skilled manual scavengers making them ‘sani-entrepreneurs’, officials said. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off a fleet of 200 Sewer Cleaning Machines in New Delhi on Thursday. The machines have been provided to skilled manual scavengers making them ‘sani-entrepreneurs’, officials said. “It is a historic day for Delhi to start this initiative and ensuring safety and dignity of human life. These machines will put an end to...
More »Delhi govt imposes blanket ban on manual cleaning of sewers, offenders to be booked under culpable homicide
-IANS New Delhi: Delhi social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Monday announced a blanket ban on manual cleaning of sewers and warned that anyone found violating the rule will be booked under culpable homicide. He also said that a committee had been formed to find out the best possible ways or machines to clean the gutters, within 15 days. The directions came after Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Monday called a high-level...
More »No exits from these tunnels of death-Agrima Bhasin
-The Hindu Deep-rooted caste biases and the brazen disregard by civic authorities of court judgments are the main reason for the frequent deaths of sewerage workers across the country Earlier this month, a group of men set forth to unblock a drain sewer in the basement of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in Delhi. Two of the men, Ashok and Chhotu, entered the sewer but did not return....
More »Let the machines take over
-The Hindu Laws count for nothing when some of the worst offenders are government-run bodies, agencies and enterprises. The Central government is trying to push through the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, under pressure from the Supreme Court; but, going by the experience of the past few decades, there is no cause to assume the dehumanising practice of manual removal of human excreta will soon...
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