Chennai: After the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry released data that said the number of deaths of sanitation workers while cleaning septic tanks and sewers have risen despite the ban on manual scavenging, it created an uproar by Tamil MPs like P Chidambaram and M Kanimozhi in both Houses of Parliament recently.
Unfortunately, Tamilnadu has the highest number of sewer deaths with 144 cases, followed by Gujarat with 131. In total, 620 cases were reported since 1993 of which 88 occurred in the past three years – 2017, 2018, 2019 till June. And data is from only 15 States and Union Territories that submitted details to the Ministry regarding sewer deaths.
News Today spoke to noted authors Aadhavan Dheetchanya and Kavin Malar who write frequently on manual scavengers, Dalit issues and oppressed people in the country.
Aadhavan Dheetchanya, a Hosur-based writer, who is also the general secretary of Tamilnadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, said everyone knows who and particularly which communities do scavenging works but no one wants to talk about it.
Quoting the recent survey that nearly 80 per cent of manual scavengers die before their retirement, Aadhavan questions why Independent India’s governments failed to do away with the colonial practice. The history behind the Dalit communities ordeal are coercion and they were pushed into this menial job.
“Before the colonial period, the Dalit community people were working in manufacturing kind of sector where they used to make products out of animal skin like footwear and they helped out in menial jobs during wars. But this soon changed after British conquered India and they familiarised the household toilet system which required periodic cleaning,” says Aadhavan.
They (colonisers) found that the particular community doing those menial and skin-related works would be the right fit and they were pushed into it after the skin-related works were down with the introduction of plastic, he adds.
After Independence, the governments should have abolished scavenging but they failed to do so because the people of the country also started adopting the colonisers’ practice and they wanted this particular community to continue the work.
“A postgraduate in the locality got an offer from the local administration regarding openings in manual scavenging work because he belongs to the particular community that does the job. This is the country we are living in,” says Aadhavan.
When the court has been taking up a large number of suo motu cases in recent years, why has it failed to act upon the government’s failure to eradicate manual scavenging, he asks.
Whenever a death happens while cleaning the sewer or drainage system, the local administration officials simply point out that it is not their fault but that of the contractor who employs them. Municipalities also have contract labourers who do the scavenging job.
“Our scientific achievements are going upward but why can’t they simply assign a team to work on the project and mechanism to eradicate manual scavenging by introducing machines; or we can simply import machines from developed countries just like we import in any other sector. But our government does not have the will,” charges Aadhavan.
Kavin Malar, a Chennai-based writer, who writes on Dalit issues, says it is slowly changing through awareness campaign
and theatre. But the people’s mindset about manual scavenging and the particular communities who do the job are taking longer than usual to change.
“During the 2015 Chennai floods, the city was devastated in many areas, people were not coming forward to clean the debris and the garbage that washed into the neighbourhood. Chennai Corporation brought scavengers from other districts to clean the areas. And the worst part is, they were taken in trucks just like animals.”
She adds that in this profession, people would not demand job or reservation because people think that the particular Dalit communities are the ones who should do this job. “Indian Railways, one of the largest employers in the world in public sector, assigns manual scavengers to clean the railway tracks. What does it say about the government and its mentality?” asks Malar.
Even after technological improvements, the government is deliberately delaying to eradicate scavenging, she adds.
| WHAT LAW SAYS |
| * The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 * The Bill prohibits the employment of manual scavengers, the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective equipment, and the construction of insanitary latrines. * It seeks to rehabilitate manual scavengers and provide for their alternative employment. * The District Magistrate and local authority will be the implementing authorities. * Offences under the bill shall be cognisable and non-bailable, and may be tried summarily. |
| IN NUMBERS |
| A total of 53,598 manual scavengers have been identified from 6 December 2013 till 30 June 2019. |