Labour file:
The Shame of Manual Scavenging Continues
Even after 72 years of so-
called independence the abhorrent
feudal practice of manual
scavenging is continuing in our
country. This profession is not only
hazardous and inhuman but also
eternal shame to our nation.
Despite various laws banning
this despicable practice of manual
scavenging, this practice continued
in our country shows how dubious
could be the implementation of
laws that protect the interests of the
dalits and downtrodden people
who are forced by our social
system to take up such menial jobs
through coercion of the caste
system.
According to the census of
2011, there are 1,82,505 families
that are engaged in the manual
scavenging in rural India to serve
7,40,078 houses in rural areas.
Moreover Indian Railways is the
largest employer of manual
scavengers who clean the human
excreta from railway tracks,
stations and platforms.
Neither modernity nor super
technological advancement is
helpful to ending manual
scavenging or coming to the rescue
of lives of manual scavengers.
Every day we hear deaths of
manual scavengers while cleaning
septic tanks, manholes and
clogged sewage lines, mostly
employed by the local municipal
authorities throughout the country.
But these authorities are criminally
apathetic towards the safety of
these manual scavengers and do
not provide them with safety gear
or safety precautions to rescue
them from these deaths. They even
not bother to pay them
compensation often denying their
responsibility and throwing the
10
onus on to the contractors and
subcontractors.
Despite a 2013 law prohibiting
employment
of
manual
scavengers, a government survey
identified 54,130 people engaged
in this job as of July 2019. This
figure is understated as the survey
was carried only in the areas where
“there are reasons to believe
existence of manual scavengers”.
The survey was only conducted in
170 districts in 18 states. Yet the
Minister for Social Justice Athavale
said in the Lok Sabha that there is
no record of any state punishing
anyone for employing manual
scavengers.
The sewer deaths also tell the
same story of understatement and
apathy. Tamil Nadu had registered
206 deaths of manual scavengers
while engaged in cleaning work
between 1993 and 2019, followed
by Gujarat with the record of 156
deaths, Uttar Pradesh 78 and
Karnataka 73. 15 states and UTs
have not reported data on deaths.
Kerala had not compensated to the
contd from page 12
minimum alternative tax for
companies not availing incentives
under income tax.
The captains of big business
and so-called experts hailed the
concessions as a “great respite for
the corporates”. But none of them
talked about how the job cuts will
be reconciled ot how those tax cuts
would benefit the purchasers of
vehicles. There is no guarantee
from the corporates that the prices
of cars will be lowered or take back
all the workers that have been laid
off and retrenched from the auto
sector on the ruse of slow down.
Even the government has not
mandated that the laid off workers
families of victims to the extent of
83 per cent out of 20 reported
deaths. 63 per cent of victims’
families in West Bengal were not
compensated. (From the report of
National Commission for Safai
Karmacharis)
This National Commission
rightly to the Parliament that
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has
concentrated on the construction
of toilets but has not cared for the
banning of manual scavenging and
for the rehabilitation of manual
scavenges. That is why even today
communal dry toilets are being
maintained in many municipalities
of Madhya Pradesh.
Besides the caste system,
poverty too is trapping the poor
dalits to take up this job of manual
scavenging. The continuation of
this inhuman practice in our
country not only exposes the
skewed feudal caste system but
also the economic system that
disallows the dalits to obtain a
dignified means of livelihood
ending their poverty.
be re-instated.It remains that
saving 50% jobs in manufacturing
sector to be an empty talk, while it
once again exposed the class
nature of our rulers who happen
to be the sole representatives of
exploiting classes, but not of the
exploited workers and people.
The workers movement in India
shall rise and prepare itself to meet
those challenges of anti-worker
and pro-corporate policies adopted
by the government and fight
against them by preparing workers
into a class oriented force ready
to conduct struggles for ending the
class rule and class system of
exploitation.
Class Struggle