Despite the ban on manual scavenging — a practice that forces individuals to manually clean and dispose of human excreta — only 249 out of 766 districts in India have officially declared themselves “manual scavenger-free” so far and uploaded certificates to the portal. This was disclosed by the Government in Parliament on Tuesday.
Under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act), manual scavenging has been illegal since December 2013, following a Supreme Court ruling. Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, shared this in response to a written question in the Lok Sabha.
In a move to address the deep human rights violations associated with this practice, 22 families of individuals who died while engaged in manual scavenging have received Rs. 30 lakh in compensation as per the Supreme Court’s directions. However, no incidents of disability linked to manual scavenging have been reported, leaving a critical gap in the monitoring and protection of workers.
The MS Act, 2013 explicitly prohibits any individual or agency from employing people in manual scavenging. Those who violate this law face severe penalties, including imprisonment for up to 2 years and fines of up to Rs. 1 lakh. However, the continued prevalence of this practice indicates a significant failure to uphold human dignity and rights. No fatalities from manual scavenging have been reported in recent years, yet the systemic violation of human rights remains widespread, particularly in the lifting of excreta from insanitary latrines.
To tackle these ongoing violations, the Supreme Court has ordered a comprehensive survey of manual scavengers, with States/UTs required to form District-Level Survey Committees to identify and document those affected. A mobile application and portal have been developed to track data on manual scavenging and insanitary latrines in both urban and rural areas. Despite these efforts, the persistence of manual scavenging remains a grave human rights issue that continues to demand urgent and sustained action.
