Assignment: Research Proposal

Group Details:
Name of the participants:

Chandrika podishetty
Dasari Swetha Rani
Deeksha
Naini Kumari
Nivedita Sharma
Rimsha Simran
Shreya

Course:BA Hons.Sociology
Semester:6th
Paper: Research Method II
Submitted To:Dr Binu Sundas
 Research Proposal 

Title:  A study on the Manual scavengers in the Delhi streets 

Introduction :
According to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011, there are about 1.8 lakh Indian
households who rely on manual scavenging for their survival; and Maharashtra has the
highest number of manual scavengers (i.e., 63,713), followed by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Tripura, and Karnataka (Venkat, 2015; Ingole, 2016). Manual scavenging, a caste-
based forced occupation, has been in practice in several parts of  India. It is the manual
cleaning of human and animal excreta with the help of brooms and small tin plates and
carrying them in baskets for disposal at a designated place, which is far away from the living
area (Bhattacharjee, 2014). Among these jobs, manual scavenging is the most menial
occupation imposed upon some specific sub-castes of the Dalits community who have treated
untouchables among untouchables (Siddaramu, 2013, p. 29). These defined that manual
scavenging is not just a practice that is socially acceptable but also socially constructed
within society. This social construction of manual scavenging as a social norm also
normalized the ideas around purity and pollution. 

Literature review :
There are pre-existing works on the practice of manual scavenging where various authors,
sociologists, and researchers from diverse disciplines have tried to capture the insensitivity
and marginalized understandings of manual scavengers. The official data have more inclined
towards the promotion of sanitation and abolition of dry latrines but they intentionally
ignored the systematic violence and ground-level segregation which still persists after the
abolition of untouchability in India. Vihasi shah (2018) in  “Manual Scavenging –Unresolved
problem in India” discussed that the practice of manual scavenging has been an assault on
human dignity. To ban this practice so many legislations does not work properly. To
eradicate the practice of manual scavenging the proper implementation of law must be made.
secondly Teltumbde (2014), in his piece on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan of the Prime Minister
(Narendra Modi), argues, “Bharat will not be swachh unless the caste ethos is completely
eradicated” (p. 11). He states that caste culture in India outsources the responsibility of
maintaining cleanliness to a particular caste, e.g., Bhangi, and stigmatizes the work as
unclean or filthy and workers as untouchables. 

This research will help us to find more answers to ignored questions. There is an invisibility
of manual scavenging by the over the visibility of technology lack and advancement. This is
one of the striking questions that is its practice of cleaning the human excreta and animal
dead bodies made them pollutants or the notions of pollution and purity leads them to engage
within the works of manual cleaning. 

Aim of the Research :

Our aim of the research is to look into the daily experiences of the people engaged in the
practice of manual scavenging. How is it that there is so much invisibility around the extreme
degree of discrimination in the living form of manual scavenging? 

Interview Questions :

1.Is it your caste that forced you to do manual scavenging? Or the abject poverty?

2.Are you aware of the acts that our constitution provides? Which protects you from working
as manual scavengers?

3.How does the job affect you in getting shelter?

4.Do you feel strong discrimination from the society and people?

5.Did you/ any of your mates ever try to reach out to the authorities or local bodies for the
rights provided?

6.Where do you mostly work? ( This question is specified from the article as data shows that
Indian Railways have many manual scavengers appointed to clean the tracks)

7.What kind of health problems did you face while working here and were you able to afford
the treatment?

8.Are you provided with the safety equipment before entering the manholes?

9.Did you try getting work in other sectors before working here?

Research methodology :

Our research will be based on the quantitative studies of the previous researchers and the tools used to
research is the interview method with open-ended questions, so that they can speak much and share
their experiences which helps us to get lengthy content. The interview will be structured. The people
engaged in these kinds of employment will give open-ended answers. Our field will be the Delhi
streets where we will interview the people engaged in the works like cleaning the sewage, human
excreta, animals waste and etc. 

Limitations :
-We are not trained in the interview process as being the undergraduate students we have theoretical
knowledge about the conduction of interview but we are going to have our fist field interviews .
-Secondly, the age factor as Age- In the study of Benney et al. (1956), he expected that if the
interviewer and respondent are of the same age, rapport would be maximum. However, it was found
out that interviewer experience was inversely related to accuracy in asking questions. It meant that
interviewers with more experience were the least accurate, since they became more relaxed or
overconfident or bored in asking questions.
-Reaching out to actual manual scavengers.
-Time constraint
-Limited sample size due to geographical constraint

References :

1.https://barti.in/upload/pdf/Manual_Scavenging_report.pdf

2.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
324007988_Manual_Scavenging_in_India_A_Literature_Review_and_Annotated_Bibliography

3.https://www.ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD1704032.pdf

4.https://www.academia.edu/36254023/
Manual_Scavenging_in_India_A_Literature_Review_and_Annotated_Bibliography

5.https://www.probono-india.in/Indian-Society/Paper/107_3.%20Vihasi.pdf

6.https://www.ili.ac.in/pdf/paper3.pdf

7.https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd26480.pdf

8.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
351927962_The_Face_of_Manual_Scavenging_in_India_An_Overview