NAMASTE Project for manual scavengers

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is currently getting ready to conduct a statewide survey to count all people involved in dangerous sewer and septic tank cleaning, a practice that has resulted in at least 351 fatalities since 2017.

About NAMASTE Project

• The National Action Plan for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem of the Union government includes an enumeration effort that will shortly be carried out throughout 500 AMRUT cities (NAMASTE).
• The Self-Employment Scheme for the Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), which was established in 2007, will eventually be merged with it and replaced. It will streamline the rehabilitation procedure for sanitation employees.
• The MoSJ&E and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs are working together on the NAMASTE program, which aims to end dangerous septic tank and sewer cleaning procedures.
• Benefits under the program include interest subsidies on loans, where the government would pay the remaining interest and recipients' interest rates will be regulated at 4-6%, as well as capital subsidies of up to 5 lakh on sanitation equipment costing up to 15 lakh.
• The plan also calls for training the workers to operate these devices, at which time they will get a stipend of up to $3,000 per month.
• The program will also allow sanitation workers to train for and enter any of the alternative vocations on the approved list in industries including agriculture, services, electronics assembly, handicrafts, and so forth.

Concerns associated with manual scavenging

• A subset of the Dalits, an outcast society commonly referred to as "untouchables" inside India's antiquated caste hierarchy, are mostly responsible for scavenging.
• "Untouchables" are frequently food insecure, rejected by society, and not even allowed to touch other castes of Indians or their food.
• Parts of India still have scavenging, mostly because of social prejudice and official disinterest.
• In the urban policies created for the city by the state and private businesses, there is no planning at all for the upkeep of sewage, septic tanks, and waste disposal systems.
• Over the past few years, there has been an upsurge in the frequency of fatalities related to septic tank and sewer cleaning.

Government Measures to Tackle Manual Scavenging

The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act of 1993.

• Pushing someone into manual scavenging was punishable by up to a year in prison and a Rs 2,000 fine.

Self-Employment Scheme for Manual Scavengers' 2017 Rehabilitation (SRMS);

• With the aim of rehabilitating remaining manual scavengers and their dependents in alternative vocations in a time-bound manner, it is a successor program to the National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers and Their Dependents.

Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013;

• Any manual cleaning, carrying, discarding, or handling of human waste was prohibited by the Act.
• According to the law, the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) would oversee the law's implementation and investigate complaints alleging that its terms have been broken.

2020 Amendment Bill

• The proposed legislation would fully automate sewer cleaning, include measures for "on-site" safety, and compensate manual scavengers in the event of sewer fatalities.
• Additionally, it will outlaw hiring workers to perform manual scavenging without safety equipment.

National Safai Karamcharis Commission;

• The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993, an Act of Parliament, established it as a statutory body in 1994 for a term of three years, or up to March 31, 1997.

Rehabilitation Program for Manual Scavengers;

• Except for one component, SRMS includes a one-time cash transfer of 40,000.

Mobile Swachhta app;

• More manual scavengers have been targeted in several ways, including via the Swachhta mobile app.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has given the Center a number of suggestions to halt manual scavenging, including:

• The Center should lend the family members of manual scavengers Rs. 10 lakh so they can establish a business.

Sewer deaths should be tracked by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its reports.

• The NHRC suggested creating a new regulation for hazardous cleaning or broadening the definition of manual scavenging to include other types of cleaning that pose a risk.

Supreme Court Instructions:

• In 2014, the Supreme Court gave instructions on how to stop and restrict the practice as well as how to prosecute those who engage in it.
• Additionally, it ordered the government to compensate the families of those who died in manual scavenging incidents since 1993 with a sum of Rs. 10 lakh.

Constitutional Protections

• The Fundamental Rights guaranteed in Part III of the Constitution include the right to live in dignity.
• On the other hand, Article 46 of the Constitution mandates that the State shall defend the weaker groups, in particular, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, against social injustice and all types of exploitation.

Way forward

• Manual scavenging is no longer practised in the nation since every single manual scavenger has been identified and engaged in the rehabilitation program.
• Swachhta Udyami Yojana: Eventually, the plan is to connect these sanitation workers to Swachhta Udyami Yojana, where the employees will be able to purchase their own sanitation equipment and the government will oversee it at the municipal level.
• The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should prioritize expanding the sewer network and develop a plan for scientific maintenance that will replace manual septic tank cleaning.
• To completely end hand scavenging, the laws should be strictly enforced.
• There should be trials and testing of safety equipment as well as provisions for better healthcare facilities, insurance coverage, pension schemes, and rules on educating manual scavengers in preventive and social medicine.

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