What are the difficulties faced by manual scavenger? Describe the law on manual scavenger
Answers
Manual scavenging is a term used mainly inIndia for a caste-based occupation involving the manual removal of untreated human excreta from bucket toilets or pit latrines by hand with buckets and shovels. It has been officially prohibited by law in 1993 due to it being regarded as a dehumanizing practice (if not done in a safe manner). It involves moving the excreta, using brooms and tin plates, into baskets, which the workers carry to disposal locations sometimes several kilometers away.[1] The workers, called scavengers (or more appropriately "sanitation workers"), rarely have any personal protective equipment. The term is mainly used in the Indian context only.
The employment of manual scavengers to empty a certain type of dry toilet that requires manual daily emptying was prohibited in India in 1993. The law was extended and clarified to include insanitary latrines, ditches and pits in 2013.[2]
According to Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, 180,657 households are engaged in manual scavenging for a livelihood.[3] The2011 Census of India found 794,000 cases of manual scavenging across India.[4] The state of Maharashtra, with 63,713, tops the list with the largest number of households working as manual scavengers, followed by the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Karnataka.[5]
Similar occupations existed and still exist in other countries, usually known by other terms and given different degrees of government protection.