One Manual Scavenging Death Every Five Days: Official Data

4/11/22, 12:30 PM One manual scavenging death every five days: Official data | India News,The Indian Express
ENGLISH தமிழ் বাংলা മലയാളം हिंदी मराठी

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Home / India / One manual scavenging death every five days: Official data
One manual scavenging death

every five days: Official data
Data obtained by The Indian Express shows that only 109 of the 170 districts
have filed their response, and only 62 have identified at least one manual
scavenger.
Written by Shalini Nair

| New Delhi |
Updated: September 18, 2018 9:12:55 am
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/official-data-shows-one-manual-scavenging-death-every-five-days-5361531/ 1/15

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Panel counted 123 deaths since January 1, 2017. (File Photo)
SINCE JANUARY 1, 2017, one person has died every five days, on an average, while
cleaning sewers and septic tanks across the country, according to numbers collated
by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK), the statutory body that
was set up by an Act of Parliament for the welfare of sanitation workers.
The data, which is based mostly on newspaper reports and numbers supplied by a
few state governments, is the first such official attempt to account for the deaths of
sewer and septic tank cleaners.
According to NCSK, 123 people employed in hazardous forms of manual scavenging

lost their lives while at work since January 2017. The last one week alone has seen a
total of six deaths in the National Capital Region. Officials involved in the exercise
admit, however, that even this number could be a gross under-estimation,
considering the lack of data.

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READ | 53,000 manual scavengers in 12 states, four-fold rise from last

official count
There are no numbers available on those employed in sewer and septic tank
cleaning. All previous and ongoing exercises at compiling data have been restricted
to accounting for those removing human excreta from dry latrines, open drains,
and single pit toilets in villages.
According to NCSK, 123 people employed in hazardous forms of manual scavenging lost their lives
while at work since January 2017. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal/File)
The more hazardous forms involving the often fatal task of entering toxic sewerage
systems, mainly in urban areas, have not been documented officially. This, despite
the fact that the 1993 law outlawing manual scavenging in India was amended in
2013 to include sewer and septic tank cleaning.
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Of the 28 states and seven union territories, the NCSK data has reported deaths
from only 13 states and UTs.
“The death count is based on figures we could collate from a few states and mostly
English and Hindi newspapers. There might have been several instances of similar
stories in regional language papers which were weren’t able to account for,” said
an official involved in the exercise.
This is evident in the reported instances which are high in in Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh, Delhi, and Gujarat, in that order. On the other hand, the NCSK data shows
Maharashtra as having had just two deaths in this period. As per the Socio-
Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, rural Maharashtra alone has 65,181
households where at least one person is employed as a manual scavenger, the
highest in the country, accounting for 35 per cent of the total 1.82 lakh such
households in rural India.
SECC data doesn’t include urban India where sewer cleaning is more frequent. The
state with the second highest number of manual scavenging in its villages —
Madhya Pradesh at 23,105 as per SECC — doesn’t show any deaths in the NCSK data.
“We have repeatedly asked states to identity those involved in these jobs but the
states deny the existence of manual scavenging as the practice is banned under law.
As a result, in many cases, the families of the dead don’t even get the
compensation,” said NCSK chairperson Manhar Valjibhai Zala.
As per NCSK data, the Rs 10 lakh compensation that is mandated under law in case
of manual scavenging deaths, has been paid in only 70 of the 123 cases.

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Of the 28 states and seven union territories, the NCSK data has reported deaths from only 13 states
and UTs. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal/File)
The paucity of data is evident in the count of people involved in manual

scavenging, an exercise being carried out by an inter-ministerial task force led by
the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The count is limited to only 170
districts in 18 states. Again, it excludes sewer cleaners entirely as well as any form
of manual scavenging in urban areas.
The counting process was to be carried out by central government teams holding
survey camps in districts where those engaged in manual scavenging could come
forward for a self-declaration process. Following this, the states were to confirm the
numbers identified.
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significantly delayed as central government teams and state
far acknowledged the existence of only 20,000 out of around 50,000 people
identified.
Data obtained by The Indian Express shows that only 109 of the 170 districts have
filed their response, and only 62 have identified at least one manual scavenger.
Data obtained shows that only 109 of the 170 districts have filed their response, and only 62 have
identified at least one manual scavenger.
Bezwada Wilson, founder of Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), said that the central
government has ignored repeated recommendations for extending the survey to
include another 300 districts and sewer-septic tank cleaners.
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team that assisted the central government in carrying the recent survey in 170 How adult an
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districts.
“Their deaths are under-counted and so are their lives. Even the National Crime
Records Bureau was agreeable to our suggestion that they should document the
deaths separately. But nothing has happened on the front, either,” he said.
According to data and post-mortem reports maintained by the SKA, the actual death
count since January 2017 is about 300.
“The Social Justice Ministry, which is in charge of this subject, mostly deals with the
issue of compensation post deaths and rehabilitation of the handful identified as
doing this job. Ministries such as Housing and Urban Affairs should be looking into
the complete mechanisation of sewage cleaning, which is the only way to eliminate
the practice of getting people to clean it manually. But they have never taken
responsibility for the deaths,” Wilson said.
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4/11/22, 12:30 PM One manual scavenging death every five days: Official data | India News,The Indian Express

ENGLISH தமிழ் বাংলা മലയാളം हिंदी मराठी

One manual scavenging death

Written by Shalini Nair

Home Politics India Tech Cities Opinion IPL

Entertainment Lifestyle Premium Videos Explained Audio

Panel counted 123 deaths since January 1, 2017. (File Photo)

According to NCSK, 123 people employed in hazardous forms of manual scavenging

Home Politics India Tech Cities Opinion IPL

Entertainment Lifestyle Premium Videos Explained Audio

READ | 53,000 manual scavengers in 12 states, four-fold rise from last

Home Politics India Tech Cities Opinion IPL

Entertainment Lifestyle Premium Videos Explained Audio

The paucity of data is evident in the count of people involved in manual

🗞 Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access our in-depth reporting,

TAGS: Manual Scavenging

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Horoscope India News Home Politics

Delhi News Live

The Indian Express ieTamil.com

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Newsletters 26/11 Stories of Strength

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Light House Journalism

T&C Privacy Policy

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