Tag: safai karamcharis

15 Years Later, Govt Scheme to Rehabilitate Manual Scavengers Has Made Little Progress

The government’s obstinate denial of the existence of manual scavengers is proving to be detrimental in making any real progress.

The Self-Employment Scheme of Liberation & Rehabilitation of Scavengers (SRMS) is one of the most important government interventions for manual scavengers. Implemented by the National Safai Karmacharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) more than ten years ago, it is far from meeting its goals. Launched in 2007, the objective of SRMS was to rehabilitate manual scavengers and their dependents in alternative occupations by 2009.

Following the enactment of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013, the scheme was revised in November 2013 until 2016-17. The Act prohibits insanitary latrines, manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. The scheme has since then has been extended periodically, with very little outcome progress.  

The government’s obstinate denial regarding the existence of manual scavenging is proving to be detrimental in making any real progress. Even though the mobile app launched in December 2020 to identify existing insanitary latrines and manual scavengers engaged therein has had 6,000 cases uploaded, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) told the Rajya Sabha that it could not confirm the existence of any insanitary latrines, concluding that the practice of manual scavenging does not exist anymore. However, this does not correlate with the findings of Census 2011 that 26 lakh insanitary latrines existed.

Further, it is important to remember that while manual scavenging under Section 2(1) (g) of the PEMSR Act, 2013 is defined as the lifting of human excreta from insanitary latrines, it is not just limited to dry latrines, but also applies to cleaning sewers, septic tanks and railway tracks as India has not fully mechanised these processes yet.

The MSJE though, while maintaining that there is no report of people currently engaged in manual scavenging, has also reported in the Lok Sabha the death of 340 people involved in the cleaning of sewers and septic tanks in the five years before December 2020. Engaging persons to clean sewers and septic tanks, whether they are called manual scavengers or sanitation workers, by definition violates the PEMSR Act 2013, which prohibits hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

Additionally, last year the government informed the Lok Sabha that up to November 2021, two surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018 had identified 58,098 eligible manual scavengers. This is severely understated as the 2018 survey was conducted in only 170 identified districts in 18 states, leaving out data from 11 states.

The MSJE said that all identified eligible manual scavengers have received One-Time Cash Assistance (OTCA) of Rs 40,000 per head amounting to Rs 232.39 crore as of March 2021. However, only 2.7% and 31.3% of total identified manual scavengers have received the capital subsidy and skill development training respectively. State-wise data shows that in Uttar Pradesh, a state with the highest number of manual scavengers (32,473), only 2.4% have received the capital subsidy. As many as seven states have not disbursed any capital subsidy at all. Even states like Maharashtra and Assam that have significant numbers of manual scavengers (6,325 and 3,921 respectively) have not disbursed any capital subsidy.

Abysmally low achievement against skill development training and capital subsidy indicates that the government has not been able to fulfil the long-term objectives of rehabilitation of manual scavengers in terms of sustained livelihood. Further, considering the level of physical progress and how many manual scavengers out of already understated data have been left out of capital subsidy and skill development training, a reduction in budget allocation for the scheme makes little sense.

An analysis of the budgetary resources available to the SRMS and NSKFDC clearly indicates their inadequacy to rehabilitate and empower manual scavengers. Although the scheme saw a gradual increase in fund allocation and utilisation post the national survey on manual scavengers in 2018 from 2017-18 to 2019-20, the utilisation declined substantially in 2020-21 (Figure 1). The allocation has also declined since then, and the 2022-23 budget saw a decline by 30%. 

Figure 1: Status of Budget Allocation and Fund Utilisation under SRMS (In Rs crore)

Source: Compiled by CBGA from Union Budget Documents, various years

Interestingly, the budget allocation for NSKFDC (Figure 2) which is supposed to implement various other loan and non-loan-based schemes for the welfare of safai karamcharis and manual scavengers, has also declined by half. As per the MSJE’s response in the Rajya Sabha, funds amounting to Rs 192.16 crore have been released by the ministry to NSKFDC in the last five years before December 2021.

During the same period, NSKFDC has utilised Rs 211.84 crore (including funds spent out of the unspent balance of previous years). This suggests that underutilisation has not been an issue by NSKFDC in recent years. In spite of that, the allocation has been halved in 2022-23. Combined the budget for SRMS and NSKFDC as a proportion of total budget allocation for MSJE of Rs 13,135 crore in 2022-23 (BE) is 0.7%. 

Figure 2: Trend in Budget Allocation and Utilisation for NSKFDC (In Rs crore)

Source: Compiled by CBGA from Union Budget Documents, various years

Another important scheme under the MSJE, that could aid not just in the rehabilitation of manual scavengers and sanitation workers but lend sustainability to SRMS by breaking the intergenerational cycle, has been rationalised. The scheme, called “Pre-Matric Scholarship for the Children of those Engaged in Occupations Involving Cleaning and Prone to Health Hazards” has been merged under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs and Others since 2021-22. Although the scheme had low utilisation of funds in 2017-18 (12.9%), the utilisation had picked up to around 60% in 2018-19 and 2019-20. The allocation for the scheme also picked up in 2020-21, after which it was clubbed. In the absence of disaggregated data under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs and Others, there is no telling how much goes towards families of manual scavengers. This does not just reduce accountability, but also indicates the lack of commitment and focuses priority towards this group. 

Apart from budgetary issues, the implementation of the scheme is further impacted by various administrative and design issues. For instance, the documentation process to avail of the loan is tedious and the documents which are required are not always available to the targeted beneficiaries. Awareness regarding the scheme, both within the government apparatus as well as among the beneficiaries, is limited, leading to its constrained outreach. The amount of OTCA is not adequate to fulfil the employment need of manual scavengers and should be increased.

In terms of monitoring and evaluation, it is a challenge to track the scheme implementation under the NSKFDC, owing to the unavailability of any information/data in the public domain. The fund for the SRMS flows through the NSKFDC, and its budget allocation and utilisation is only reported in the Union Budget. The scheme budget is not reported in the Detailed Demand for Grants (DDGs) or SCSP at the state level, or through any separate Management Information System (MIS) as in the case of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) or Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), thereby making any state-level budget analysis difficult. 

Therefore, to strengthen the SRMS scheme, it is very important that first and foremost, all the manual scavengers in the country are identified and a regular state-wise database is maintained for the same. Disaggregated budget data for different levels of the government needs to be provided in the public domain for transparent implementation and monitoring. It is also necessary to make changes in the SRMS guidelines to address the bottlenecks constraining the utilisation of allocated budgets. Improvement in physical progress will also improve the utilisation of funds. The demand can be increased through increasing awareness regarding the scheme among beneficiaries as well as within the government apparatus. Regular monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the scheme have to be carried out to keep the outcome progress on track and increase accountability. 

Jawed Alam Khan and Rahat Tasneem work at the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, New Delhi.

Three Men Died Cleaning Septic Tanks. Their Widows Ensured Maharashtra Gave Compensation

In a significant judgment, the Bombay HC held the state government accountable despite the fact that they were killed while working on a private contract.

Mumbai: Govind Sangaram Chorotiya, Santosh Kalsekar and Vishwajit Debnath.

These names would have disappeared, like those of innumerable others’ who are killed while cleaning septic tanks in the country, had it not been for their partners who decided to take legal recourse.

The wives of the three men – Vimala Chorotiya, Nita Kalsekar and Bani Debnath – had moved Bombay high court soon after their death in December 2019, seeking compensation and rehabilitation as guaranteed in the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers Act (PEMSA), 2013.

Calling the case “an eye-opener”, the Bombay high court, on September 17, directed the Maharashtra government to disburse compensation to the families within four weeks, in addition to furnishing an elaborate rehabilitation plan for the families. 

This is perhaps the first case in Maharashtra where the court has held the state accountable when it comes to compensating family members of septic tank cleaners, despite the fact that they were killed while working on a private contract.

Bombay HC orders Maha government to pay compensation by The Wire on Scribd

Along with the compensation, the court, referring to the landmark judgment of 2014 in the Safai Karamchari Andolan vs Union of India case, has directed the state government to impose both “power” and “responsibilities” on local authorities, to ensure that legal provisions are honoured. 

Although prohibited, manual scavenging is rampant across the country. Most municipal authorities nefariously engage sub-contractors in an effort to escape legal liabilities – as in this case where the three men were found dead inside the septic tank. Govind had suffered a head injury; the other two were killed after inhaling toxic gases inside the tank. 

Also read: RTI Reveals Threefold Rise in Number of Manual Scavengers Despite Ban

Vimala Chorotiya, the main petitioner in the case, says the legal fight was in no way easy. “But it had to be fought for the future of my three young children, who were suddenly robbed of a parent,” she says.

Vimala, along with Nita and Bani, is also pursuing a criminal case filed against the treasurer of the housing society at Chembur in central Mumbai for engaging the deceased men in an illegal and dangerous act of cleaning a septic tank. The accused, Pawan, was booked only under Section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code for causing death by negligence and was let off on bail immediately. 

The women, through their lawyer Isha Singh, are trying to push for relevant sections under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and PEMSA laws to be applied in the case. The Chorotiyas and Kalsekars belong to the Scheduled Castes. The Debnaths are from an Other Backward Class (OBC) community, originally from a small village in north Bengal.  

Caste location

Vimala, an unlettered woman from Nagaur district in Rajasthan, married Govind when she was barely 16. The couple lived in Mumbai’s Chembur area and did odd jobs to take care of their three children. “My husband was a naka kamgaar who worked at construction sites and buildings. He never did cleaning jobs. I still can’t make sense of what must have happened and how he ended up taking up a septic tank cleaning job,” Vimala says.

However, Vimala is certain that it was simply their caste location that made it easy for the contractor to push her husband into the “gutter”. 

Born in the Mochi (cobbler) community, which is classified as a Scheduled Caste in Rajasthan, Vimala says that no one in the family has ever worked as a manual scavenger.

Nita and Bani too say the same thing. Nita’s husband, Santosh, and Bani’s husband, Vishwajit, too had only worked as labourers before this incident. “My husband was a skilled plumber. But on days when he did not get any work, he would work as a loader. Cleaning toilets and gutters were off limits,” says Bani. 

The fact that none of the three had even cleaned septic tanks is crucial.

“They were not equipped, their safety was not taken into consideration, and yet they were sent there to do such a dangerous job,” advocate Isha Singh points out. The women, Singh says, have been wronged on too many levels.

“First, the men were hired to do a job they have never done by some private contractor. Upon their death, the police let the perpetrators off with an ineffective FIR. The state too had shirked its responsibilities by leaving the women in the lurch,” Singh says.

Also read: Rehabilitating Manual Scavengers Must Go Beyond Reinforcing Caste Hierarchies

When the writ petition seeking compensation was filed, the government tried hard to wriggle out of it. Government pleader P.H. Kantharia had pointed to the government resolution passed by the Maharashtra state just a few days before the incident, claiming that the state is not liable to pay compensation in case such a death has occurred while working with a private contractor. The resolution passed by the Social Justice Department on December 12, 2019, states that the government would only help in the process of getting compensation from the private contractor.

“This government resolution clearly goes against the 2014 Supreme Court ruling in the Safai Karamchari Andolan case, which holds the state responsible. It is for the state to ensure that such an abominable practice is brought to an end. Failing to do so, it is on them to ensure the families of those killed are taken care of,” Singh had argued in court.  

Bigger fights

The three widows say that the compensation money will ensure that their children continue their education. Months after the incident, the pandemic broke out and the women had to rely on charity to survive. Over time, they gathered themselves. Now, Vimala makes imitation jewellery with a relative to earn a living. Nita and Bani are domestic workers.

Bani, who is 28 years old, is the youngest of three. Just 20 days before her husband’s death, Bani had given birth to her second child. “I have since moved three houses as I was not able to pay rent. Now, I am living with my husband’s friend’s family who have been kind enough to accommodate us. This money will at least ensure a roof over our heads,” Bani says.

Also read: When it Comes to Manual Scavenging, Enacted Laws Have Persistently Failed

This case, lawyer Singh says, is only the beginning of a larger fight ahead.

“The state has to both stop manual scavenging and also take the responsibility of rehabilitating the families,” says Singh, who also has a public interest litigation pending in the Bombay high court. In the course of arguing her petition, she had sought information on the number of deaths caused while cleaning septic tanks and sewers. The Bombay Municipal Corporation had blatantly lied in its response. “It claimed no one died since 2014,” Singh says. 

Similar claims were recently made by the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry too. In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the social justice minister Ramdas Athawale claimed that 66,692 persons have been identified as manual scavengers in the country, but no deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging.  

Singh, in her petition, has sought implementation of the 2014 Supreme Court ruling. “The apex court has given an exhaustive list of measures that need to be taken. From setting up a vigilance committee to chalking out an elaborate rehabilitation plan. But for that, the states will have to first acknowledge that there is a problem. Only then would any of this be possible,” she says.

Madras HC Says Heads of Municipalities Must Ensure No Manual Scavenging Work Is Done

The high court issued orders directing all heads of municipal bodies and corporations to sign undertakings declaring that no manual scavenging work will occur in their jurisdiction and that they will be held personally liable if it does.

New Delhi: The Madras high court on Wednesday directed all heads of corporations and municipalities in Tamil Nadu to file written undertakings declaring that no manual scavenging work will be carried out within their jurisdictions, Live Law reported.

The two-judge bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu further held that, in the future, the court may pass an order requiring incumbent commissioners or heads of municipalities to furnish such an undertaking when they assume office. 

The act of manual scavenging is banned under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and punishments for the same are laid out in a 2013 amendment to this Act, known as the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

The Madras high court’s orders also included that municipality heads would be held personally liable if any individual is found to be engaged in manual scavenging work within their respective municipalities.

“There cannot be any manual scavenging at all and it will continue to be the responsibility of all municipal bodies and Corporations across the State to ensure that there is no manual scavenging activity undertaken. The Commissioners of the Corporations and the heads of the Municipalities will be personally held liable in case any manual scavenging activity is detected or any mishap occurs in course thereof,” the bench said, according to news agency PTI.

Also read: Here’s What Needs to Change for Sanitation Workers in India

The court’s remarks came while issuing interim orders on a batch of petitions seeking to put an end to manual scavenging and to ensure that those who are engaged in it are rehabilitated in a proper manner. Among these petitions was one filed by the NGO Safai Karamchari Andolan.

“There cannot be any manual scavenging at all and it will continue to be the responsibility of all municipal bodies and Corporations across the State to ensure that there is no manual scavenging activity undertaken,” the court further noted.

The court also remarked that it was “heartening” to note that no deaths of “safai karamcharis” have been noted recently. However, reports have pointed out in the past that alternative terminologies have been used to avoid the deaths of sanitation workers from being classified as “manual scavenging deaths”.

When the government told the Rajya Sabha in this year’s monsoon session that there were no deaths due to manual scavenging were reported, activist Bezwada Wilson rejected the claim. He said the statement assumes that manual scavenging only comprises cleaning dry latrines. “So, he [social justice minister Ramdas Athawale] must mention in his statement very clearly that in dry latrines people may not die but here in septic tanks people die. The government is denying everything and in the same manner, he is denying deaths due to manual scavenging,” he said.

The court also advised the state to obtain the requisite machinery or to improve the functioning of sewer lines so that manual scavenging is no longer necessary anywhere in the state. The court also added that, if any independent person is found to be engaged in manual scavenging, the heads of corporations and municipalities will still be held responsible.

The state was ordered to issue critical guidelines relating to the matter before the next date of hearing, which is slated for November 10.

(With PTI inputs)

Occupational Safety of Sanitation Workers Is Not Just a Technical Problem 

Treating occupational safety for sanitation workers as a technical issue about personal protective equipment is not enough to understand the various elements involved, from changing behaviour to the larger context of sanitation workers’ lives.

At 8 am every morning, Murali, a de-sludging operator bids his two children goodbye and leaves his house. He cleans his vehicle, removes and tucks his chappals in a corner of his truck, and begins his workday.

As a de-sludging operator, his day comprises driving his truck to a customer when he is called, mechanically emptying (de-sludging) septic tanks or pit latrines, and carrying this waste for disposal or treatment. Murali reveres his vehicle as god and refuses to wear footwear inside. He has been told to wear gum-boots for his safety, but this interferes with his religious beliefs.

In addition, he narrates how his gumboots once caused him to slip. ‘Occupational safety’ thus lies at a complex intersection of beliefs, culture, design and trust, and less in technical specifications of ‘Personal Protection Equipment’ or PPE, a word that has become so much more common in the post-COVID era.

We will never address occupational safety if we approach it merely as a ‘technical’ problem that we need to solve. 

While the near-invisible virus that made its way into our lives in 2020 continues to bring swathes of destruction, it managed to shine some light onto some invisible, dark places of society, and brought into spotlight among other things ‘frontline work’.

While we contemplated the meaning of the phrase ‘essential services’ from the safety of our homes, many braved the virus to serve us. Sanitation is one such essential service, with de-sludging operators such as Murali as frontline workers. 

COVID-19 also brought to us new realities such as doctors and nurses demanding PPE kits and better safety protocols, and we finally understood that some kinds of work carry more risks, and some professionals need more protection. This is a place where we can begin to better understand the term ‘occupational safety’. 

Also read: Across Waves of COVID-19 in India, Sanitation Workers Remain Most Ignored

The complexities of occupational safety 

With or without COVID-19, occupational safety is a concern for a range of professions. While we’re now familiar with PPE, this is the last line of measures, when other steps fail.

In what is called a ‘hierarchy of controls for occupational safety’, there are a set of actions in decreasing order of importance –elimination and substitution (of hazards), engineering and administrative controls (related to changing technologies and processes), and finally PPE. 

Representative image of a sanitation worker disinfecting streets in New Delhi. Photo: Reuters

While this is common in formal industries such as petroleum and oil industries, this frame is yet to be accepted, much less implemented, in informal area like sanitation. A study was conducted in two cities in India to try and apply this pyramid to de-sludging operators.

In several cities, on-site systems (like pit latrines, septic tanks) are still cleaned manually which is a violation of both the Manual Scavenging Act, 2013, and of human rights. In such cases, the first step is to enable transition to mechanical systems like de-sludging trucks. However, even where mechanical de-sludging is in place (as in the case of the concerned study), there are safety concerns such as exposure of sludge. 

A set of actions emerge in ‘elimination’ and ‘substitution’, which would involve changes in household behaviours such as not putting menstrual products, blades and miscellaneous items in toilets; and building proper septic tanks or pits. Then come the technological interventions like improvement in vehicle design and better tools. Then there are improvements in the process of desludging , and the institution of emergency protocols. Finally, there is better design and access to PPE. While these specific set of actions may interest only sanitation professionals, the larger learnings are unmistakable.

Informality and the sanitation sector 

The informal nature of the sanitation work is one of the first things that affects planning and implementation of occupational safety. There is little standardisation across various aspects of sanitation – the design of septic tanks designs vary, de-sludging trucks are often retrofitted, and there is no standard PPE.

Additionally, climatic variations in India raise the question whether standardisation of equipment and processes will work universally. Further, enterprises who work on aspects like de-sludging are informal and often as small as just two people, who cannot afford the necessary investments. Any intervention or programme needs to recognises the nature of this informality for it to work.

Also read: A Year Into Pandemic, Chennai’s Sanitation Workers Still Don’t Have the Right Gear

Narratives around safety often make the workers seem negligent 

While sanitation workers have to cope with several issues that arise out of the informal nature of their work, counter-productive narratives that assign blame on the workers are also common. ‘Sanitation workers are negligent about their own safety’, or ‘We tried giving them PPE, but they do not use it’ are commonly used lines.

Such narratives do not acknowledge the lived reality and knowledge of the workers. In our interactions with workers, we heard their (often valid) reasons for not using the PPE given to them, such as poorly designed gear that can actually increase their exposure to danger.

For instance, as in the case of Murali, gumboots that do not offer a good grip can lead to higher chance of injury from slipping.  We encountered reports of gloves causing boils and blisters, or hindering lifting of heavy items.  

Further, even if workers are given equipment, they may not have the money to maintain them. Sometimes, they are simply not convinced about the efficacy or need for protection, something we saw across society in resistance to wearing masks during COVID-19. 

A woman wearing a protective mask walks past a graffiti of healthcare workers, Navi Mumbai, March 8, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

Change needed at multiple levels 

Responsibility for safety lies with multiple stakeholders, and not just sanitation workers. The ‘upstream’ aspects like changing household behaviour is required by the general public, as well as establishments. Local governments need to do more, including investing in safety tools and equipment for the enterprises. However, with COVID stretching their already fragile finances, this may not be possible.

Importantly, we need to listen to the sanitation workers, who have significant tacit knowledge, both about the risks they are exposed to, as well as indigenous methods to improve their safety. Thus, they must be included in the process, not as beneficiaries but as active participants.

Also read: Invisible Sanitation, Invisible Women

Finally, occupational safety cannot be examined in isolation, and should take into account the overall well-being and empowerment of workers. 

Occupational safety should be viewed within larger context of sanitation workers’ lives. COVID-19 has forced each one of us to assess one risk against another – the risk of venturing outside vs. losing our jobs, risk of travelling vs. never being able to meet a loved one. We have all made these decisions, invariably painful, and often foolish in other people’s eyes.

While infinitely more precarious than any of our lives, sanitation workers also make these choices.

When they ignore occupational safety, they may do so because their primary health and safety concerns might not be occupational safety ones. In absence of adequate social protection, other facers like their families not having access to medical facilities, unsafe home environment, and stigma and hostility from society might take precedence.

Kavita Wankhade works on sanitation and other urban issues. She is part of the Practice team at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.

The author wishes to thank the sanitation workers who have let us into their lives with grace, compassion and often amusement, the team behind this specific study and other team members who are working on the ground with the community, and to Rekha and Archita for editorial support. 

Across Waves of COVID-19 in India, Sanitation Workers Remain Most Ignored

The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis chairperson has said that coupled with absence of Central data, state governments too have not even bothered to reply to the panel’s notices for data.

New Delhi: Even with a recent data study showing that over half of the COVID-19 deaths among employees of the three municipal corporations of Delhi were among safai karamcharis, there is still no nationwide record of similar data. Nor is there uniform insurance or compensation schemes for sanitation workers who have been at the frontline of the fight against the pandemic.

Talking to The Wire, Chairperson of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, M. Venkatesan, said despite the high number of deaths among safai karamcharis due to COVID-19, the states have not come up with a uniform policy for the welfare of these workers.

“We have been speaking to all the states to protect the lives of the safai karamcharis. This is with respect to both their work during COVID-19 and manual scavenging. We have asked for details from all the states on the schemes for their welfare. But so far no state has provided any details,” Venkatesan said.

Venkatesan added that since the Commission is a non-statutory body, it is limited in scope. “Every year we ask the states for reports. Since the start of COVID-19, we have written to all states on two occasions. The problem is being a Commission we cannot even approach the Supreme Court to assist us in getting a feedback or response from the states.”

The state governments, he said, provide details on manual scavenging and other issues to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as the finance and development corporations under the ministry also provide development funds to the states.

Also read: Sanitation Workers Holding the Fort Against COVID-19 Have No Protective Equipment

“But COVID-19-related details have not been coming to us from the ministry,” he said, adding that the Commission has asked state government to provide insurance cover for all sanitation workers.

‘At least Rs 25 lakh compensation’

Now, Venkatesan said, the Commission was pushing individual state governments to at least provide Rs 25 lakh compensation to families of safai karamcharis for deaths due to COVID-19. “We recently wrote to Tamil Nadu chief minister in this regard,” he pointed out.

Tamil Nadu is one of those states which have witnessed a number of deaths among sanitation workers due to COVID-19. In July last year, there were reports that six Chennai sanitation workers had succumbed to the novel coronavirus.

It was also pointed out that since these deaths were not recorded as COVID-19 deaths, the families of the deceased were not eligible for the Rs 50 lakh compensation and job for an immediate family member which the Chennai corporation had announced for COVID-19-related deaths.

Though the Madras Corporation Red Flag Union urged compensation for them saying they had “contracted the infection during the work”, and the hospital details of these patients showed that they tested positive for the coronavirus while they were on duty, as per the reports they have not received any compensation.

Delhi municipal employees 

The recent revelation that a high percentage of municipal workers in Delhi, who died due to Covid-19, were sanitation workers has once again shown how vulnerable safai karamcharis remain.

The data provided by the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi revealed that sanitation workers comprised 16 of the 29 dead employees in South MCD, 25 of 49 in North MCD and 8 of 16 in East MCD. In all, 49 of the 94 municipal employees who died were sanitation workers.

Also read: Sanitation Workers: At the Bottom of the Frontline Against COVID-19?

Together, the three civic bodies employ around 50,000 sanitation workers, who include both permanent and temporary employees.

Incidentally, the number of deaths among safai karamcharis was found to be much high than even healthcare workers – 13 of whom lost their lives due to COVID-19 during the same period.

Compensation 

In Delhi, too, compensation for deceased safai karamcharis remains a political issue.

East Delhi Mayor Nirmal Jain, who belongs to BJP, said, “Every sanitation worker should be given Rs 1 crore compensation in a week and permanent jobs should be provided to their dependents”. But, added that the Delhi government under Aam Aadmi Party leader and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal would be approached in this regard.

The other corporations, also under BJP, are also raising a similar demand with the AAP government but the outcome of these moves remains uncertain.

There have been similar instances in other parts of the country where safai karamcharis have been dying due to COVID-19 and yet their families struggled to access the promised compensation. Earlier in May this year, a sanitation worker was a garbage collector died to COVID-19 in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.

His death triggered a demand for payment of the Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia, that was promised to all frontline workers in the state, to his family. Former Mayor of Shimla, Sanjay Chauhan, was among those who raised the demand saying, “The city didn’t lose a sanitation worker but a COVID-19 warrior.”

‘Sanitation workers lack safety gear’

At the start of the pandemic in India, The Wire had reported on how it may impact the sanitation workers very adversely considering the hazardous conditions they work in. The report had pointed out how many of them were forced to work without proper protective equipment.

Also read: A Year Into Pandemic, Chennai’s Sanitation Workers Still Don’t Have the Right Gear

It quoted Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and National Convener of Safai Karamchari Aandolan (SKA),  Bezwada Wilson, as saying: “Right now, sanitation workers do not have any safety gear and the loss of their lives hardly matters to anyone.”

The report also had chief executive of WaterAid India, V.K. Madhavan, wondering “why the society doesn’t care about the people doing our most essential work”.

Over the past year, these words have proved true. While the working conditions of the sanitation workers have not improved much, the pandemic has only exposed them to greater hazards. From picking garbage from COVID-19-positive households to being tasked with the disposal of bodies of COVID-19 victims, sanitation workers have had to shoulder all kinds of responsibilities. A case in point being Chhattisgarh where some sanitation workers were employed in April this year to ferry bodies of COVID-19 victims in a garbage van.

‘No data on safai karamcharis with Union government’

The absence of data was acknowledged by Union Minister of State Ramdas Athawale in Parliament in September last year when in response to a question by MP Bhagwat Karad, he said: “Hospitals and dispensaries being a state subject, no data is maintained in the Union Government about Safai Karamchari, who have died due to health and safety hazards related [to] cleaning hospitals and medical waste during COVID-19 pandemic.”

On being asked about the measures taken to protect the health of sanitisation workers, Athawale said that the Ministry on Health and Family Welfare had provided guidelines on the rational use of PPEs and Infection Prevention and Control Practices.

He added that Infection Prevention and Control Committees were constituted in States to monitor the exposure status of healthcare workers. An advisory for managing health-related work in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 areas of hospitals was also issued by the Ministry on June 18.

Watch | More Than 100 Sanitation Workers ‘Arbitrarily Dismissed’ by Delhi University

On International Workers Day, safai karamcharis at Delhi University staged a protest outside the Arts Faculty in North Campus after their contract was abruptly cancelled by the administration.

On International Workers Day, safai karamcharis at Delhi University staged a protest outside the Arts Faculty in North Campus after their contract was abruptly cancelled by the administration.

The move, effective from Wednesday, will render hundreds of workers unemployed.

Srishti Srivastava speaks to the workers to understand what their demands are.

Sanitation Workers Protest ‘Arbitrary Dismissal’ by Delhi University

The workers say they were sacked for demanding better working conditions, provident fund and health insurance.

New Delhi: On International Workers Day, safai karamcharis of the Delhi University staged a protest outside the Arts Faculty in North Campus after their contract was abruptly cancelled by the administration. The move effective from Wednesday, will render hundreds of workers unemployed.

While some workers said they were informed a week ago through various sources about their possible termination, others reported they are yet to receive any official communication. Many of the karamcharis have been working in the university for 10-15 years.

Since 2005, the DU administration has employed safai karamcharis on a contractual basis through Sulabh International. Being contract workers, they were not provided with either Provident Fund or Employees’ State Insurance. This prompted them to file a case in a labour court against Sulabh International.

Also Read: Manual Scavengers, Women and Farmers Come Out with Manifestos of Their Own

The DU has terminated the contract with Sulabh International and engaged a private company, Nex Gen Manpower Services Pvt Ltd. This company has refused to employ the existing workers. It will reportedly employ a set of “well-trained workers”.

On Wednesday, the protesting workers demanded immediate reinstatement, giving them permanent employment and releasing pending PF and ESI.

Students and safai karamcharis protest in DU North Campus. Credit: Riya Bhardwaj

Workers say they weren’t given notice 

Almost all safai karamcharis belong to the Valmiki caste, a Schedule Caste community. They work in hazardous conditions without safety-equipments and are forced to work overtime without compensation.

38-year-old Vimlesh, who has worked as a safai karamchari for 12 years, says, “We were not given any notice. We arrived this morning to find they have employed other people to work. We have an experience of 10-12 years and work very efficiently. Why do they want to remove us?”

Guddi, 40, has been working as a safai karamchari with the Delhi University for over 15 years. She informed The Wire that karamcharis cannot avail sick leaves or even take a leave on government holidays.

“There is huge workload as one person has to do the work of four people. If some person takes a leave, we are forced to cover for them. Sometimes people take leave for 15 days, but we do not get paid for the extra work. The person who took leave also loses wages for that particular period.”

A sanitation worker at the protest. Credit: Riya Bhardwaj

Another worker, requesting anonymity, said, “We clean toilets with various chemicals. We are not given any masks or gloves to protect ourselves. Because of this, I have rashes on my skin.”

A group of young workers present at the protest were hesitant to speak. One of them said, “The administration doesn’t like people who speak. We are not a part of any union either.”

Deepak, from Parivartankami Chhatra Sanghtan (Pachhas), added that the workers have not been given PF and ESI since they started working. “Workers are over-exploited, especially during the NAAC visits. They are made to work extra hours without any remuneration,” he said.

The workers and students have had multiple rounds of negotiations with the DU administration. They reported that the administration has shrugged off its responsibility and refused to take any action. The administration was unavailable to comment.

Similar incidents in the past

Workers told The Wire that most of the safai karamcharis who have been terminated are either embroiled in litigation against Sulabh International or are vocal about their rights.

The DU administration has in the past let go of workers who demand better working conditions. In 2016, a group of Dalit women were terminated from their jobs. They were reinstated after 3-month-long struggle by workers, teachers and students.

In Lady Sri Ram College, workers were not paid their wages for months. It was only after weeks of protests by workers and students, that the workers were paid their dues.

Also Read: Modi Govt Has Not Released a Single Rupee for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers

Recently, there has been large-scale contractualisation in the university, including professors, library staff and workers.

Paroma, an M.Phil student, from the university who came to the protest to extend solidarity with the workers said while ad-hoc appointment of teaching staff is talked about widely, the issues of safai karamcharis have been ignored. “While pension for middle-class people is advocated for, pension and PF for safaikaramcharis is not talked about,” she said.

Riya Bhardwaj is an editorial intern with The Wire.

Watch | Modi And Sanitation Workers: What is the Truth Behind this Picture?

Arfa Khanum Sherwani asks questions why the government has done nothing about the issue of sanitation workers in the last five years. 

New Delhi: Prime Minister Modi on Sunday washed the feet of the sanitation workers and presented them “angvastram“.

Weeks Before Modi’s ‘Tribute’, Protesting Kumbh Sanitation Workers Were Detained

Sanitation workers demanding better wages were picked up by the police and threatened with being booked under the National Security Act.

New Delhi: On Sunday, after taking a dip in the Ganga in Allahabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘honoured’ sanitation workers employed to keep the grounds, roads and toilets of the Kumbh mela area clean. He felicitated a few sanitation workers and washed their feet in the presence of TV crews.

But leading up to Modi’s visit, the Uttar Pradesh police and administration in Allahabad displayed a starkly different attitude towards sanitation workers and their concerns.

On February 7, two leaders of the Dalit Safai Mazdoor Sangathan were whisked away by the police in Allahabad. “A few policemen in plain clothes took us away without telling us why,” Anshu Malviya, a poet and one of the two people detained, told The Wire.

According to Malviya and Dinesh (the other person who was detained), the duo were then taken to different police stations in the city. “We were told that we are engaged in anti-national activities and that the National Security Act would be applied against us,” said Dinesh, who is a sanitation worker.

After six hours, when hundreds of workers gathered outside the police station, they were let off without any charge.

Dalit Safai Mazdoor Sangathan protests. Credit: Special arrangement

Protests to increase wages, provide safety equipment

What irked the local administration and the police was the activism of the Dalit Safai Mazdoor Sangathan, of which Dinesh and Malviya are a part. Since January, when the Kumbh mela began, the duo had organised several protests and written several letters to the administration.

They demanded that sanitation workers contracted to clean streets, grounds and toilets in the Kumbh mela be provided higher daily wages, payment for overtime, better equipment, better facilities and insurance cover.

“Our key demand was regarding wages. When the mela began, they were paying Rs 295 per day,” said Dinesh. After the protests led Dalit Safai Mazdoor Sangathan, the daily wage was increased by Rs 15, to Rs 310 per day.

“The increase was nominal. But the workers were not even getting that amount. They continued to be paid Rs 295 per day and the rest of our demands were mostly overlooked,” said Dinesh.

Also Read: Modi Pays Tribute to Sanitation Workers After Five Years of Ignoring Them

The protests continued. “In January, when we were staging a protest, we were called by the district administration. They told us that we are causing harm to the nation, that the Kumbh mela is a matter of national pride for India. By protesting, they said we are bringing disrepute to the nation and will be booked for sedition and under the National Security Act,” said Malviya.

Many of the workers who have been employed in the Kumbh mela have been employed through agents spread across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Haryana.

The demands include payment for overtime and better wages. Credit: Special arrangement

Deceitful agents

As the Indian Express‘s Somya Lakhani reported, many workers do not even know that they are being brought to the Kumbh mela to clean toilets. “No one told me I had to clean toilets. The thekedar said my husband and I would pick up the flowers devotees put in the river… I cried the first few days. I have never done this before,” 50-year-old Ghuriya said in the report.

Dinesh told The Wire that the agents also promise high wages. “The agents just bring thousands of people from their villages, promising high wages. But, when they reach here, they realise what they have to do and that the wages they get are not what they were promised,” he said.

The agents also pocked 10-20% of the wage as “commission”, Dinesh said. “The workers travel with their families because it is a three month mela. They do not have the option of going back also,” he said.

According to the Dalit Safai Mazdoor Sangathan, almost 14,000 sanitation workers have been brought in for the Kumbh mela. All of them are employed on a contractual daily wage basis.

“In addition to the low wage, workers are also made to work more than 8 hours a day, sometimes for 14 hours. There is no payment for overtime,” said Dinesh.

Also Read: Modi Govt Has Not Released a Single Rupee for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers

The administration has also not provided basic equipment such as boots, masks and gloves to a large majority. “Only about 1% of workers have received the basic equipment. We have continuously asked the administration, but to no avail,” said Malviya.

The accommodation tents provided to the sanitation workers are often on marshy land. “Many people are put up on marshes, far away from where they are supposed to work. People come with their families and it also becomes an issue of safety,” Malviya said.

According to government provided figures, 1,24,000 toilets are in place for the Kumbh mela. Each is connected to a plastic tank to collect human waste. “From the tanks, it is picked up by machines. But, workers are involved in connecting the machines and handling the tanks,” said Dinesh.

On the days when the crowd is large, the toilets get blocked. The sanitation workers need to push the waste out, so that it is collected in the tanks. In this process, the workers come in contact with faeces and urine, Dinesh said.

The administration has dismissed the demands. Credit: Special arrangement

Demands not met

“Now, the mela is almost over and our demands have not been met,” he said, terming Modi’s act of cleaning the feet of sanitation workers ‘a political stunt’. “It is sad to see our Prime Minister engage in such kind of politics. How will we benefit if he cleans our feet? We will benefit if our wages are increased, we are paid for overtime and provided proper equipment.”

Vijay Kiran Anand, officer-in-charge of the Kumbh mela, however, dismissed the protests of the Dalit Safai Mazdoor Sangathan. “These people are not real sanitation workers. They just want to create trouble. That is why we took action against them,” Anand told The Wire.

He also dismissed the other problems highlighted by Dinesh and Malviya. “We have ensured that the workers receive the payment within seven days. All workers have been provided top quality equipment. They have been put up in colonies. There is no problem whatsoever.”

Modi Pays Tribute to Sanitation Workers After Five Years of Ignoring Them

Government documents and budget data reveal that the prime minister’s feet-washing act is just optics.

On Sunday, a video uploaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his personal Twitter account showed him washing the feet of four safai karamacharis in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

Within two hours, 19,000 Twitter users had liked it, 7,200 had retweeted it and 1,700 had commented on the link. Uploading the video, Modi had tweeted that washing the feet of safai karmacharis constituted moments he will “cherish for his entire life!”

Is Modi expressing his heart’s truth when it comes to safai karamcharis? As the prime minister, does he really care for them?

Unfortunately, government documents and budget data reveal he doesn’t much.

Declining budget allocation

In the 2019-20 Interim Budget, the Modi government allotted just Rs 39.87 crore for five national commissions, including the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Backward Classes, as against the allocation of Rs 33.72 for 2018-19. Just Rs 9 crore has been set aside for the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.

Also read: The Nine Kinds of Manual Scavenging in India

According to Indian Budget data, in 2018-19, when Rs 33.72 crore was allotted for all five commissions, only Rs 5.92 crore was set aside for the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis and in 2017-18, it was Rs 4.5 crore.

In a December 2018 Lok Sabha session, minister of state in the Ministry Of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, had said that the socio-economic and caste census of 2011 had identified 1,80,657 households as dependent on manual scavengers across India.

In a bid to rehabilitate the identified manual scavengers and their dependents to alternate professions, in 2007 itself, the government of the time had launched a Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS).

The scheme mandate was slated to end in 2010. However, in November 2013, the government revived the scheme and increased its scope by widening the definition of manual scavenging and enhancing the entitlements available to identified beneficiaries.

The revival followed the passing of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 (MS Act).

Cash-strapped corporation

The scheme is run by the National Safai Karmacharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) – a government-owned, not-for-profit undertaking under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Interestingly, data reveal that allocations for the scheme had been declining. If the rehabilitation scheme received Rs 448 crore in 2014-15, it became Rs 470 crore in 2015-16. But in 2016-17, it became Rs 10 crore and, in 2017-18, it became Rs 5 crore.

Also read: Understanding India’s Sanitation Workers to Better Solve Their Problems

Allocations, however, increased significantly in FY 2018-19. Rs 20 crore has been allocated to the scheme – four times the allocation of the previous year. Additionally, an analysis reveals that there have been significant gaps between the budget estimates (BEs), revised estimates (REs) and actual expenditures. At the start of FY 2014-15, the first complete financial year since the launch of the revived scheme, Rs 439 crore was allocated by the Indian government. This was, however, revised to Rs 47 crore in the REs.

Similarly, while the BE for FY 2015-16 was at Rs 461 crore, the RE was at Rs 5 crore.

According to a response to unstarred question number 594, answered in the Lok Sabha on 19 December 2017, the reduction in budget allocations was due to the existing corpus of funds available with the NSKFDC. At the end of FY 2015-16, Rs 35 crore was available with the NSKFDC. Between FY 2014-15 and FY 2017-18, just Rs 56 crore had been spent under the scheme.

In fact, no expenditure had been incurred by the Indian government under the scheme between FY 2014-15 and FY 2016-17.

Counting manual scavengers

According to the MS Act 2013, a manual scavenger is defined as “a person engaged or employed by an individual or a local authority or a public or private agency, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which human excreta from insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track, before the excreta fully decomposes”.

This definition includes both permanent and contractual employees, but excludes from its ambit mechanised operators and sanitation workers who use protective gear as defined by the Indian government. Dependents include any family member or dependent who is not employed other than in manual scavenging. Coverage and rehabilitation are hampered by the lack of reliable information on the actual number of manual scavengers in the country.

There are three main sources for information on the number of manual scavengers. Firstly, there is the house listing and housing census of 2011, which provides information on the number of insanitary latrines – either serviced manually or emptying into an open drain, and thus requiring manual scavenging. Then there is the SECC 2011, which lists the number of households with at least one member involved in the profession. Finally, in accordance with the MS Act 2013, states are to conduct their own surveys to identify manual scavengers in need of rehabilitation.

According to the 2011 census, there were 26,06,278 insanitary latrines across India, of which 31% (7,94,390) were found to be serviced manually, and another 50% (13,14,562) were found to be emptied into an open drain. The SECC 2011 identified 1,68,066 rural manual scavenger households across the country, which had at least one member involved in manual scavenging. There are, however, inconsistencies in SECC 2011 numbers reported in different sources.

Thus, in the Lok Sabha, the answer to unstarred question no. 276 held that the total number of rural manual scavenger households as per SECC 2011 is reported as 1,67,487.

In the Rajya Sabha, unstarred question no. 1,296 – answered on 28 July 2016 – revealed that the SECC 2011 is reported to have identified 1,82,505 manual scavenging households. In this brief, the number reported on the SECC database (1,68,066) is used for analysis.

As per the surveys conducted under the SRMS mandate, only 13,465 manual scavengers were identified till 26 December 2017. While SECC 2011 data reveals that the SRMS surveys are meant to verify the claims presented. SRMS had found only 8% of the manual scavenger households listed in SECC 2011 after verification, till 26 December 2017.

There are also significant state variations. The SRMS survey identified more manual scavengers than recorded in SECC 2011 in Tamil Nadu and Assam. In fact, 154 manual scavengers were identified in Assam by the state survey, although the SECC did not list any manual scavenger households. In contrast, the proportion of manual scavenger households identified in the survey were less than 10% of those listed by SECC 2011 in six states, namely,  Rajasthan (10%), Karnataka (5%), West Bengal (4%), Bihar (2%), Punjab (1%), and Madhya Pradesh (less than 1%).

Manual scavenging Act

Interestingly, manual scavenging is prohibited under the MS Act 2013 in all the states and union territories except Jammu and Kashmir, with effect from December 6, 2013.

The act says that, from the above date, no person, local authority or agency shall engage or employ – either directly or indirectly – a manual scavenger, and every person so engaged or employed shall stand discharged immediately from any obligation, express or implied, to carry out manual scavenging.

Also read: Modi Govt Has Not Released a Single Rupee for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers

Those who contravene the above provision shall, for the first contravention, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with a fine which may extend to Rs 50,000 or with both, and, for any subsequent contravention, with imprisonment which may extend to two years or with a fine which may extend to Rs 100,000, or with both.

In parliament in 2017, minister of state for social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, said that whenever any case of manual scavenging comes to the notice of the ministry, the same is referred to the concerned state government for verification and inclusion in the list of manual scavengers for their liberation and rehabilitation.

Manual scavenging still exists

In March 2018, the government agreed in the Lok Sabha that still manual scavenging is still reported from some parts of the country.

To a question raised over the number of reported deaths of manual scavengers while cleaning septic tanks and sewers between 2014 and 2018, and compensation paid to the families of the victims, Athawale stated that there were 323 deaths and 204 families received the full compensation of Rs 10 lakh, while 47 families received partial compensation. The maximum number of cases were reported from Tamil Nadu – 144 deaths with 141 families compensated. In Uttar Pradesh, 52 cases were reported and, unfortunately, only one family was compensated.

Interestingly, in Kerala, there were 12 cases reported and not one family was compensated.