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Condition of sanitation workers in India: A survey during COVID-19 and

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Research · June 2020

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 CONDITION OF SANITATION WORKERS IN INDIA:
A SURVEY DURING COVID-19 AND LOCKDOWN

Summary Report

Authors:

Dhamma Darshan Nigam

Sheeva Dubey

June 2020

Reviewed by:
Prof. Ravikant Kisana, Assistant Professor, FLAME University

Special thanks:
We are deeply thankful to all our surveyors, study participants and Prof. Kisana for his inputs.

Suggested citation:
Nigam, D. D., & Dubey, S. (2020). Condition of sanitation workers in India: A survey during COVID-19 and
lockdown. Delhi, India: Independent study report.

Available at: https://www.academia.edu/43470203/Condition_of_sanitation_workers_in_India_A_survey_during_COVID-

19_and_lockdown
Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

HIGHLIGHTS

This report presents the findings of a survey done with 214 sanitation workers at multiple locations in India during
April and May 2020, the initial months of COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide lockdown. This study was initiated
with the idea of assessing work conditions of sanitation workers during this lockdown. The major areas covered in
the survey include the states of Assam and Madhya Pradesh, and metropolitan cities of Delhi and Mumbai.

We found that even before the COVID-19 crisis, the work conditions and socioeconomic status of sanitation workers
were appalling. These are the highlights:

● About 95% of the sanitation workers were from Scheduled Castes.

● Only about half of the sanitation workers had ration cards, the situation worst in Assam.
● Majority of the sanitation workers were getting their salaries irregularly, more so for contractual workers.
● Sanitation jobs involving cleaning of wet waste and toilets have been contractualized far more than the
jobs involving cleaning dry waste only.
● Most of the sanitation workers were already working without being provided enough of basic
provisions/facilities like tools, uniforms, emergency kits and health insurance.

The pandemic and lockdown crisis affected a large number of sanitation workers while some positive impact of the
crisis was also observed:

● 71% of the sanitation workers who were not getting salaries regularly finally started getting regular
salaries.
● 9.3% workers could not work during the lockdown and had absolutely no income.
● Majority of those working could not maintain the needed physical distance form their family members
after returning home from sanitation work.
● Many were struggling financially, and some were in need of medicines and ration out of which 3 sanitation
workers were experiencing starvation.

The work conditions of sanitation workers were the most shocking when compared with the extreme safety
measures being taken for all other “frontline workers”:

● Majority of sanitation workers worked during the pandemic without sufficient masks, gloves, soaps and
sanitizers.
● Most of the workers hired privately or through contracts neither got any safety instructions for work during
COVID-19 nor received any assurance from the government.
● Most of the sanitation workers, including government employees, received no assurance of health checkup
or treatment if they caught COVID-19.

The study brings out key trends regarding the employment and work conditions of sanitation workers. The
importance of caste playing a role in undermining the sanitation workers and their development cannot be denied.
This, coupled with the burden of duty on sanitation workers during the disastrous COVID-19 pandemic suggests
deeper structural problems.

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

CONDITION OF SANITATION WORKERS IN INDIA: A SURVEY DURING COVID-19 AND LOCKDOWN

The role of sanitation workers has always been indispensable in human society but their perceived importance in
India has increased tremendously only in the recent history since the arrival of COVID-19 pandemic in the country
in early 2020. Sanitation has suddenly become a question of life and death. However, while the importance of
sanitation has increased, it has hardly translated into any improvement in the work conditions of sanitation
workers. Instead, as we report here, the conditions of India’s sanitation workers have worsened during the first
two months of the pandemic and a nationwide lockdown in India. In this summary report, we have shared the
major findings of a study we conducted during this time to understand how sanitation workers were doing and
how they were surviving being frontline workers.

In a survey we conducted for two months in April and May this year, 214 sanitation workers participated from
multiple urban locations across India. Our youngest participant was 20 years old and the oldest was 60 years old
while the average age of our participants was 37.5 years. The survey was conducted telephonically using
convenience sampling among the workers and their networks known to us. An attempt was made to reach out to
diverse sanitation workers with regards to their employment terms, type of sanitation work done, and their
locations. Sanitation workers from multiple states including Assam, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and
Uttar Pradesh responded to our call for this survey. In addition, the workers in metropolitan cities of Delhi and
Mumbai also participated in the survey.

The survey mainly sought information about the changes in the work and employment conditions of sanitation
workers due to the pandemic and lockdown. It included a range of questions from job and wage security to
protection and facilities provided at work during the lockdown. The idea was to understand the impact of the crisis
on sanitation workers. Additionally, we have tried to find out what sanitation workers need in the current situation
to survive and carry out their work safely.

In the following sections of this report, we present only the key findings of this study. Owing to the small sample
size and limited geographical coverage of this study, these findings cannot be generalized at the national level.
However, the findings still being statistically valid indicate some local and regional trends that provide insight
regarding the condition of sanitation workers in India during COVID-19.

Demographics of Study Participants

Out of the 214 participants, 150 (70.1%) were male and 64 (29.9%) were female. Out of these, only 119 (55.6%)
participants had ration cards. Almost 203 (94.9%) study participants were from Scheduled Castes (SC) including
Basfor, Bhangi, Mahar, Mehtar, Tanti and Valmiki. Among
SC participants, 184 out of 203 (90.6%) participants had
caste certificates. The coverage of entitlements among
participants differed with their regions. Figure 1 illustrates
their geographical distribution (also see Table 1 in
Appendix A). As it indicates, the main participants in the
study were from four regions that include two states,
Assam and Madhya Pradesh, and the two metropolitan
cities of Delhi and Mumbai.

Figure 1: Location-wise distribution of participants

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

While 80 of the 214 (37.4%) participants were government employees, 117 (54.7%) reported being hired by
contractors. Only 17 (7.9%) participants were working independently, directly taking up sanitation work in non-
governmental spaces. The numbers indicate a high level of contractualization of sanitation work across all
categories of cities. More participants working with contractors reported frequent delay in getting their salaries
(83.8% out of 117) than those working with governments (63.8% out of 80). The trend indicates higher financial
insecurity of those hired by contractors as compared to those hired by governments directly.

Based on the kind of sanitation work the participants did, we categorized them into three major categories - a) 89
participants out of 214 (41.6%) were handling dry waste only, b) 111 participants (51.9%) were handling wet waste
(manual scavenging), often also along with dry waste, and c) 14 participants (6.5%) were mainly hired for cleaning
toilets, often along with other cleaning work as well (see Table 2 in Appendix A). For those 89 participants handling
dry waste, governments were primary employers (for 51.7%) while 38.2% of them were hired by contractors. On
the other hand, for the 111 participants engaged in manual scavenging, contractors were leading employers (for
65.8%) while only 28.8% of them were hired by governments. The trend indicates contractualization of the jobs
that involve manual scavenging.

Impact of COVID-19

There was one change with COVID-19 pandemic that was in the right direction for sanitation workers and we want
to begin this section with that - 110 participants (71%) out of the 155 participants who did not get their salary on
time earlier started getting their full salary on time. Among them there were both, those employed by the
government and those working for contractors. It is likely that the change in trend could be due to increased
importance of sanitation workers in ensuring safety from COVID-19. As reported in the news media, sanitation
workers were also pressurized to continue working despite the pandemic and lockdown in the country.1 Making
their payments regular could be another strategy to lure them to work.

In comparison, only 3 out of the 17 participants who were directly employed reported no impact on their income.
Most of them either stopped getting their income or it was delayed or reduced. This indicates increased income
uncertainty in direct employment. Other reasons for the directly hired workers to face loss of income are their
inability during the lockdown to go outside seeking new work and that many private offices, commercial buildings,
schools, and other such workplaces were shut during this time. However, no conclusion can be derived
from this because of insufficient data.

20 participants (9.3%) reported that they could not work during the lockdown out of which 18 did not get any
income. The reasons cited included inability to find work, inability to travel to work, being fired from work or
subtly told not to come to work for the time being, and workplaces being closed during the lockdown. Among
those told not to come to work and were not paid during that period were also some contractual sanitation
workers employed at municipal corporations. Most of these workers had no clarity whether they would at all get
their jobs back once the lockdown was over.

23 participants shared that one or more of their family members had got COVID-19 infection. Additionally, among
the participants who were working during the lockdown, 7 participants reported that their family members got
COVID-19 infection through them. In total, one or more family members of 30 participants (14% of 214) had tested
COVID-19 positive by the time they were surveyed. This should be seen in the context of sanitation workers’

1
https://www.thequint.com/my-report/coronavirus-mumbai-sanitation-workers-mcgm-masks-protection

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

inability to maintain physical distance from their family members. Often this is the case because of their small
homes and lack of enough space for family members to maintain mutual distance. 121 participants out of the 194
working (62.4%) reported that they could not maintain distance from their family members after returning from
sanitation work. Only 50 participants (25.8% of 194) said that they were able to maintain distance from their family
members after work. No death of family members was reported by any of the participants.

85 participants of the total 214 (39.7%) reported being financially challenged and in need of help during the
lockdown. Most of these participants facing financial difficulty were from Assam. 42 participants (19.6% of 214)
shared that they were in need of ration. Among these, majority were from Delhi, followed by those from Madhya
Pradesh and then Maharashtra. Three participants, all of them from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh reported facing
starvation. 14 participants (6.5% of 214) were in need of medicines, most of them were from Delhi. Additionally,
6 participants reported that they were facing health-related challenges during the lockdown.

Working during COVID-19

The work conditions of those sanitation workers who could

work during COVID-19 pandemic tell a disappointing story.
Among the working participants who responded to these
questions, 30.7% received masks, 22.4% received gloves,
31.1% received soaps, and just 18.9% received sanitizers as
per their requirements (see Figure 2, also see Table 3 in
Appendix B for details). The remaining workers either did not
get these things at all or got them in insufficient quantities or
of poor quality. This rendered the work conditions of
sanitation workers very unsafe, especially because often the
kind of waste they worked with could infect them easily. 4
participants reported being injured during sanitization work.
Figure 2: Safety provisions for sanitation workers

However, the story of neglect of sanitation workers’ safety is not a new one. As per the responses, even before
the lockdown, 92.5% workers did not get the tools they need to do the cleaning work (see details in Table 4 in
Appendix B). Additionally, 89.9% workers do not get any uniform for work, they work in their own clothes which
often get soiled by the time the work ends. Moreover, 96.1% workers do not get any emergency kit for first aid in
case they get injured on duty. And, 89.7% workers did not have any kind of health insurance or healthcare facility.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, 120 working participants (63.8% of the 188 who responded) received no
instructions or training related to their safety from COVID-19 infection (see Figure 3, also see Table 5 in Appendix
B). 6.4% (12 out of 188) among these received partial safety instructions such as the need to use mask, gloves and
maintaining physical distancing. 48 of them (25.5%) received generic safety instructions that included regular use
of mask, gloves, sanitizer, frequent hand washing, avoiding touching face and other surfaces, and maintaining
physical distancing. Merely 8 participants (4.3%) reported getting any kind of training to handle waste during
COVID-19 pandemic.

178 of the 192 working participants who responded to this question (92.7%) reported that they were not given
any instructions regarding health checkup. 8 participants (4.2%) had been asked to regularly report their health

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

status to the employers. 5 participants (2.6%) had been promised health checkup in case they experience any
health issue. And only one participant reported getting a health checkup since the beginning of the pandemic.

On being asked whether they have received any instruction for after being tested COVID-19 positive, 178
participants out of the 191 who responded to this question (93.2%) told us that they got no such instructions. 8
participants (4.2%) had been asked to inform at work in case they test COVID-19 positive. Only 3 participants
(1.6%) were promised free checkups and 2 participants (1.0%) were promised free treatment on getting infected.
And merely one participant was promised that he
would get his full salary even if he caught COVID-
19.

We asked women participants whether there was

any special arrangement done at work to ensure
their protection from COVID-19. 55 out of the 57
working women participants (96.5%) reported no
special arrangement was done for them at work.
Only one woman participant shared that she was
getting paid leave during the lockdown. Another
woman participant shared that her employer was
making concessions at work for pregnant women
workers.
Figure 3: Security of sanitation workers

The participants were also asked whether they have been assured any kind of support from the government or
their municipal corporation department. A manual scavenger from Delhi questioned, “Who is there to give us any
assurance?” 182 participants out of 208 who responded to this question (87.5%) declared that they did not get
any kind of assurance from governments, be it regarding ration, salary, job security, health insurance or free
treatment during the pandemic. Merely 8 participants (3.8%) were assured that they would not lose their jobs.
Also, only 8 participants (3.8%) had assurance of free of cost treatment if they fell sick while working during the
COVID-19 pandemic. 3 participants also mentioned that they have been verbally promised a health insurance of
Rs. 50 lakh by the government. However, the central government scheme of Rs. 50 lakh worth insurance for
frontline workers does not cover sanitation workers.2

Alienation through Contract

As mentioned earlier, the numbers indicate that sanitation work is getting highly contractualized despite the
regular nature of the work. 117 of the 214 participants (54.7%) were hired on contract while only 80 participants
(37.4%) reported directly being employed by the government (see Table 6 in Appendix C). Once workers are
delinked from the government, the responsibility of ensuring rights and facilities for them also gets transferred to
contractors. However, the contractors taking up sanitation projects get away with a lot of violations because they
work under barely any supervision. As a result, sanitation workers lose out in the long run.

2
https://www.bloombergquint.com/economy-finance/nirmala-sitharaman-press-conference-live-finance-minister-likely-to-unveil-coronavirus-relief-
measures

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

Another difference mentioned earlier being higher contractualization of wet waste cleaning (65.8%) as compared
to dry waste cleaning (38.2%). Wet waste cleaning in Indian cities still mostly happens manually, without the
needle safety and protective equipment. With
an increasing public awareness in recent times
and the framing of this fatal practice as a
modern form of manual scavenging, the
pressure on the government to stop this
practice is immense. However, this pressure has
not translated into safe practices of wet waste
cleaning as the work has been merely
transferred from the government domain to the
realm of contractual work. More participants of
our study reported cleaning wet waste (111 out
of 214, that is 51.9%) than only dry waste (89
out of 214, that is 41.6%).
Figure 4: Division of work based on type of employer

Another trend, as mentioned earlier, was that 83.8% (98 out of 117) contractual workers reported that their pre-
COVID-19 salary payments were mostly irregular as compared to 63.8% (51 out of 80) government employees
getting paid irregularly. Also, merely 35% (41 out of 117) contractual workers held ration cards while 81.3% (65
out of 80) government employees reported having ration cards. The trend is across other parameters of work
conditions before COVID-19. 94.6% contractual workers reported not getting the needed tools for work while
87.7% government employees reported working without tools, which is also a shockingly high figure. 85.3%
government employees did not get emergency kits while 100% contractual workers did not get them. Last, 83.8%
government employees had no health insurance while 94.9% contractual employees worked without health
insurance.

The trend continued in the work conditions of sanitation workers during COVID-19 pandemic. 71.1% contractual
employees, as against 62% government employees, worked without sufficient masks. 81.9% contractual
employees, as against 71.4% government employees, worked without gloves. 86.4% contractual employees, as
against 39.7% government employees, worked without enough soap. And 87.1% contractual employees, as
against 65.9% government employees, worked without enough sanitizers.

Moreover, 82.2% contractual employees, as against 37.3% government employees did not get any safety
instructions for working during the COVID-19 pandemic. 94.1% contractual employees, as against 91.0%
government employees, were not assured health checkups. And 93.1% contractual employees as well as 93.5%
government employees did not get any instructions for their well-being if they caught COVID-19 during work. Last,
96.6% contractual employees reported not getting any assurance from the government as against 74.7%
government employees reporting no such communication to them.

The number of participants who took up direct work assignments were too low in this study to draw any trend.

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

Assam

In Assam 59 sanitation workers from 4 different towns participated in this survey out of which 12 were women.
All the sanitation workers were Scheduled Castes, out of which 48 (81.4%) were from Basfor caste and 11 from
Tanti caste. 58 participants (98.3%) did not have ration cards, and 2 (3.4%) did not have caste certificates. 56
participants (94.9%) worked for contractors and 3 have their government service under municipality. 50
participants (84.7%) said that their routine sanitation work included cleaning sewer, manhole and septic tanks
(manual scavenging) as well. And all 59 participants were without any protection of health insurance or card to
cover the cost of medical treatment.

All participants said that they were getting their salaries on time after lockdown started, but before the lockdown
57 participants (96.6%) reported that they were not getting their salaries on time. 58 participants (98.3%) said
that they were not getting even basic tools required for their cleaning work. 58 participants did not get gloves, 56
participants did not get masks, and 57 participants did not get sanitizers and soaps for work during this pandemic.
57 participants did not get any safety instructions for work during COVID-19 pandemic and all 59 participants got
no assurance of government assistance, health checkup or treatment once detected COVID-19 positive.

58 respondents (98.3%) said that their financial condition was not good. Nobody was able to maintain distance
from their family after coming back from work. This also indicates their poverty and lack of space at home for
maintaining physical distance from family members. The poor condition of almost all the sanitation workers in
Assam made us curious. We went back and asked our local surveyor why their condition was so bad. We were
told that contractual sanitation workers in the state were getting paid below minimum wages standard, with
salaries from INR 1000/- to INR 6000/-. We also got to know that sanitation workers of Assam needed ration and
clothes. This was unique, we did not come across the need for clothes at any other location across India.

Additionally, we were told that most of the sanitation workers in Assam were not native to the state. Before
independence sanitation workers were brought in the state of Assam from neighbouring states by the British
rulers. For example, among many other castes Basfor caste which was predominantly engaged in sanitation work
was originally from Bihar. In addition, some other migrant communities had recently started doing sanitation work
in the state because of poverty.

We were also informed by the surveyor that because of their migrant status, sanitation workers in Assam faced
difficulties in getting ration cards and caste certificates. Our reading is that the sanitation workers, like other non-
Assamese have faced discrimination and marginalization in the state. It could be primarily because of two reasons,
their caste and caste-related work of sanitation, and because of their migrant status and non-Assamese culture
and dialect. We were also told that a common saying among local Assamese for the sanitation workers asking for
rights was “Mehtar jyada hi ban ke dikha raha hai,” which means “Mehtar is showing off to be so important.” This
commonly used demeaning reference to a caste-based social location for sanitation workers lays bare the deep
seated casteism in the Assamese society.

Madhya Pradesh (MP)

66 sanitation workers from 9 different towns in Madhya Pradesh participated in our survey, 26 among them being
women. 65 out of 66 participants (98.5%) were from Scheduled Castes including 36 from Mehtar caste and 20
from Valmiki caste. 10 participants (15.2%) did not have ration cards while no participant reported not having

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

caste certificate. 52 participants (78.8%) were government employees, 12 participants (18.2%) were hired by
contractors and 2 participants (3%) took up work directly. Also, 33 participants (50%) handled only dry waste, and
30 (45.5%) cleaned wet waste (manual scavenging), often along with other kinds of sanitation work. 10 (15.2%)
participants were also engaged in cleaning toilets along with other cleaning work.
In MP, the lockdown affected the income of 10 participants only with 5 participants with no income at all. Instead,
while merely 20 participants (30.3%) reported getting salaries regularly before the lockdown, 56 participants
(84.8%) were getting their salaries regularly since the lockdown started. This could also be due to an
overrepresentation (52 participants) of sanitation workers directly employed by the government in MP. Out of
the 66 participants, 42 did not get enough gloves, 41 did not get enough masks, 18 did not get sanitizers, and 15
did not get enough soaps for use during work. Additionally, 24 participants received no safety instructions at work
for precaution against COVID-19, 60 participants were not promised any health checkup, 62 participants got no
instruction or assurance of support in case they were detected COVID-19 positive, and 50 participants got no
assurance of any government support.

The condition of the participants from Rewa was the worst among all participants of this study. 3 sanitation
workers from Rewa participated in this survey and all three of them were working under contractors. One of them
had a below-poverty-line priority ration card while two did not have ration cards at all. All 3 participants reported
not getting their salaries while they were working during the lockdown without having a single weekly holiday. As
part of their work, all the 3 participants were also cleaning wet waste (manual scavenging) and toilets as well. 2
of these participants said that people practiced untouchability with them at their workplace, while one said that
people’s behaviour was not good towards him. The worst part was that all 3 of them reported undergoing
starvation during the lockdown in addition to facing other financial challenges.

Delhi - National Capital Region

In the Delhi-National Capital Region, 34 sanitation workers participated in this survey out of which 12 were
women. All these participants were from Scheduled Castes. 16 participants (47.1%) of them had no ration cards
and 3 participants had no caste certificates. 19 participants (55.9%) were hired by contractors, 10 (29.4%) by the
government and 5 (14.7%) took up work directly. 12 participants handled only dry waste, 19 participants (35.3%)
cleaned wet waste (manual scavenging) and 6 participants (17.7%) cleaned toilets along with other cleaning work.
23 participants (67.7%) did not have any health insurance or card to cover the cost of their healthcare.

Due to the lockdown, the income of 26 participants (76.7%) was affected. 11 participants (32.4%) reported not
getting any income despite 5 of them working during the lockdown. Out of the 34 participants, 27 did not have
enough gloves, 14 did not have enough masks, and 33 did not have sanitizers and soaps. 27 participants had not
received any safety instructions for work during the pandemic, none of all 34 participants had been promised any
needed health checkups or given any instructions of what to do when tested COVID-19 positive, and 28
participants had no assurance of any help from the government.

17 participants (50%) from Delhi asked for ration, which is higher than the number of participants in need of ration
in any other region covered in this study. Also, 11 participants (32.4%) reported that they were struggling
financially. While in all other locations, men were able to travel to work, the case was not so in Delhi. 2 participants
reported that they were unable to work during the lockdown because of a lack of transport. The bus they took to
work had stopped during the lockdown. All forms of transport were affected. As a result, they were financially
struggling to survive. On being asked their challenges, one of them said to us, “Sanitation work itself is a

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

challenge.” This participant reported experiencing untouchability at work and was unable to work during the
lockdown.

In addition to our survey questions, the Delhi participants were also explicitly asked whether they experienced
untouchability while at work during the lockdown. 21 participants (61.8%) reported that they were experiencing
some or the other form of untouchability at work. 3 of them said that such behaviour of people had increased
since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)

32 sanitation workers including 11 women sanitation workers participated in this survey from across MMR. 24 of
the 32 participants (75%) reported being from Scheduled Castes. 25 participants (78.1%) had ration cards while
only 14 (43.8%) had caste certificates. 12 participants (37.5%) were hired by contractors, 12 (37.5%) were directly
employed by the government, and the remaining 8 (25%) were employed directly at mostly residential properties.
26 participants (81.3%) handled only dry waste in their work while 5 participants (15.6%) also cleaned wet waste
(manual scavenging) and one participant cleaned toilets at a school. 30 out of 32 participants (93.8%) in MMR
reported that they did not have any kind of health insurance or healthcare coverage.

15 participants (46.9%) reported that their income was impacted during the lockdown, out of these 6 were unable
to work and as a result did not get any money from their employers during the lockdown. 15 participants in MMR
were still not getting enough gloves, 16 reported not getting enough masks, 15 were not getting sanitizers and 11
were not getting soaps during work. Additionally, 16 participants had received no safety instructions for work
during COVID-19 pandemic, 26 had no assurance of health checkups, 28 had no instructions for when tested
COVID-19 positive, and 24 did not get any assurance from governments.

Travel was one of the major concerns of 11 Mumbai participants (34.4%) despite public buses arranged for
essential service workers. They explained that while their worksites were in Mumbai city being employed by
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), their homes were outside the main city in suburbs and
satellite towns and entailed long hours of travel. This is so because the cost of housing in Mumbai Island city is
one of the highest in the country. “80% of sanitation workers live outside Mumbai city and they face a lot of
difficulty to travel. Otherwise they have to pay a lot of money for rent if they want to live closer,” shared one
participant. Two participants pointed out that travel should not be a concern for sanitation workers employed at
municipal corporations because they should get housing near their worksites. However, MCGM had been unable
to provide housing to many of its sanitation workers.

Normally, workers manage to get to work in 2 hours thanks to the fast local trains in MMR. However, as the local
trains were not running during the lockdown, the workers were dependent on government buses that would take
much longer. Also, they were less frequent. One participant even reported having to walk to work if the bus
wouldn’t come. MCGM sanitation workers were mandated to report to work during the lockdown.3 While the
workers needed to travel from faraway places, usually the expenses were never covered by the employers. It was
only during the lockdown that 300 INR travel allowance per day was promised to MCGM workers. However, two
participants reported that MCGM workers had not received the allowance even once. One participant who worked
for a residential building also reported being hit by police while traveling to work because of not having any proof
of employment as a sanitation worker. His employers refused to give him any such letter in writing.

3
https://www.thequint.com/my-report/coronavirus-mumbai-sanitation-workers-mcgm-masks-protection

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

While travel was a concern to both men and women, it affected women workers who lived far away from their
work sites more than men. Two women participants reported being unable to go to work and thereby losing their
entire incomes. Their compounded challenges included not knowing the bus routes during the lockdown well
enough, the buses being less frequent and therefore entailed more waiting time, and fear for their safety while
stepping out early morning in darkness on deserted streets. While male workers could dare the deserted streets,
long walks and police abuse in case they didn’t have a travel pass or I-card, women lagged behind in going to work
during the lockdown despite knowing that this would cost them their salaries.

7 participants from Mumbai requested for the arrangement of food, water and refreshments at work. They
explained that due to lockdown, markets and small tea stalls were closed from where they used to get food and
water earlier. Many of them travelled to work from faraway places and left from home early morning to report to
work at 7 am. This gave them no time to prepare and carry food. Some participants also reported that their
workplaces were such that they couldn’t leave their water bottles and lunchboxes anywhere. They couldn’t even
carry them during work. Therefore, they prefer to not carry any food or water. While working during the lockdown,
if no food was sent at their work sites, they remained hungry from the time they left home until they returned.
The fear of COVID-19 infection had also limited their as well as people’s comfort in sharing food and water.

Another peculiar complaint that came from Mumbai, to be particular, from 4 MCGM workers is that there was no
safe space for sanitation workers, especially women workers, to change and wash before and after work.
Participants reported that in absence of any such space, the workers had to travel in public transport wearing
their work uniforms which could carry traces of COVID-19 infection. Also, an absence of washing space meant that
they couldn’t clean themselves well before being around others in public transports. They were most scared of
exposing their family members to the infection as they reached home wearing their work uniforms and without
cleaning themselves well after handling potentially infected waste.

The contractual workers of MCGM also shared that the requirement of sanitation workers cleaning roads had
reduced during the lockdown. As a result, some sanitation workers also lost jobs. One of our participants reported
that his group of 35 sanitation workers were all told not to come to work. They all lost their livelihoods together,
leaving them unable to help each other. One participant even reported a contractor reducing workers’ payment
per shift from 625 INR to 250 INR during the lockdown. In order to protect their coworkers from complete loss of
income due to fewer shifts, 2 participants reported that contractual sanitation workers were circulating their shifts
among their coworkers so that all of them could earn during the lockdown. This reduced their monthly income by
30% to 50%. It was only their collective support to each other that helped them survive these tough times.

The behaviour of employers also changed during the lockdown. MCGM workers were forcibly shifted to a
biometric attendance system a few years back. Sanitation workers did not like it because it resulted in major fines
even for a few minutes of delay in reaching work. Having to travel via crowded Mumbai trains, the pressure to
reach the worksite on time can be distressing. This system was done away with since the onset of the pandemic
to avoid physical touch. However, 3 participants reported that sanitation workers were prohibited to even enter
their offices for the fear of infecting others. They had to stand near the door and give attendance orally. While the
lives and safety of other staff members at MCGM were highly valued, sanitation workers were undervalued and
alienated by knowingly sending them to risky areas for cleaning without the needed protective equipment.

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

CASTE

Caste is still at the core of sanitation work in India. It is not a coincidence that 95% of our participants were from
Scheduled Castes. The study findings suggest that multiple institutions play a role in upholding the caste system
and subjecting Scheduled Castes to sanitation work and deprived conditions.

Through caste-based employment. In a prior study conducted by one of the authors, caste networks were found
to be used for recruitment of cheap labour for sanitation work even in urban regions like MMR.4 We found
something similar in this survey as well. Two women participants from Mumbai who were hired at residential
buildings reported that their young sons were always assisting them at work but were not getting paid additional
salaries. “They always give us one salary even if our entire family works,” shared one of them. They shared that
this was a common practice.

While modern forms of employment hire individuals and not families, traditional and feudal caste-based vocations
in India were ascribed to entire families, not individuals. The caste-based work used to be the duty of an entire
family regardless of which member took up the job. In absence of other opportunities, clienteles were often
treated as family heritages and were handed over to next generations within families. Such clientele, also referred
to as jajmani for manual scavengers in rural India meant that children of manual scavengers would continue to
clean the human waste in the houses where parents cleaned.5 Often the caste-based practice involved poor
compensation and no rights for manual scavengers, but they had to do it for lack of alternatives. That is, jajmani
system helped enforce the caste system through mandatory engagement of progeny into caste-based vocation.

While we can still find such feudal practice in rural India, the literature on its existence in urban India is sparse.
There is some information on the institutionalized form of the jajmani system in municipal corporations. The
Warsa Hakka system in MCGM in Mumbai enables recruitment of nominated family members of sanitation
workers when they retire or die before their service ends. As a result, once recruited, a sanitation worker’s many
coming generations can continue to work as sanitation workers.6 As said before, “the Warsa system of the
Maharashtra government is no less than a modern incarnation of the law of Manu" that helps maintain the caste
system.7

The story of the two women sanitation workers in Mumbai are evidence of the existence of the jajmani system in
the city’s civil space as well in addition to the government. These women are part of the Valmiki community from
Haryana which has migrated to MMR in large numbers in search of work. It is mostly this Valmiki community that
is engaged in sanitation work at residential buildings. The better paying government and contractual work at
municipal corporations are mostly taken up by Maharashtrian Scheduled Caste communities and earlier migrants
to the city. Late entrants have fewer opportunities and the worst kind of jobs left for them.

These Valmiki women hired by affluent people living in tall buildings in the city were expected to get the cleaning
job done regardless of the number of their family members having to assist or replace them at times. In both the

4
Dubey, S. Y. (2018). Subaltern Communication for Social Change: The Struggles of Manual Scavengers in India (Doctoral dissertation, University of Miami);
Kadlak, H., Salve, P. S., & Karwade, P. (2019). Intersectionality of caste, gender and occupation: A study of Safai Karamchari women in Maharashtra.
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 11(2), 1-9.
5
Singh, B. (2012). Unseen: The truth about India’s manual scavengers. (R. Talwar, Trans.). New Delhi: Penguin Books.
6
Kadlak, H., Salve, P. S., & Karwade, P. (2019). Intersectionality of caste, gender and occupation: A study of Safai Karamchari women in Maharashtra.
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 11(2), 1-9.
7
https://thewire.in/caste/sanitation-workers-deaths-caste-swachh-bharat

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

cases, two workers were working for the price of one. In the underbelly of urban India, the caste system exists
strong and unchallenged, and is continuing to facilitate the socioeconomic exploitation of Scheduled Castes at the
hands of privileged castes.

Through a secondary status at work and in policy. As we found in this study, the majority of sanitation workers
were not given enough safety and protection during the lockdown despite a high risk of infection through their
handling of waste. Also, sanitation workers were not even assured of free treatment, job security and paid leaves
in case they caught COVID-19 while working. While we see reports of doctors and hospital staff facing lack of
equipment, it was at least provided to them until the supply chain stopped working.8 This does not appear to be
the case for sanitation workers. Since before COVID-19 pandemic, it was a norm for sanitation workers to not get
any protective equipment. Sparse supply of gloves and masks comes across as a half-hearted attempt at the show
of care for sanitation workers probably because they were being applauded as frontline workers during the crisis.9

The trend of neglect of sanitation workers reflects at higher levels of governance as well. While doctors were
called ‘Gods in white coats’ in this fight against COVID-19, the contribution of sanitation workers remained
completely ignored.10 Despite the critical role played by the ones in “brown dresses” for ensuring hygiene and
safety for all during this pandemic, they were not named among the “frontline warriors” promised medical
insurance worth Rs. 50 lakh each.11 Again, when the central government announced online training programs in a
bid to prepare fresh force to replace the frontline workers, it used the term “hygiene worker,” avoiding even a
mention of “sanitation workers” and any obligation to them.12 While all this planning was happening at the central
level and not a single relief measure was announced for sanitation workers, our finding that sanitation workers
did not get to hear of any such government support is not surprising at all.

The data from Delhi and Assam also suggests caste-based ill-treatment of sanitation workers by society. As
mentioned before, 61.8% participants from Delhi shared that they have experienced some or the other form of
untouchability by people they come across while working. This is a very high percentage for any urban region, and
this came from our national capital region where policymakers reside. The condition in smaller towns and rural
areas would be worse. The participants from Assam also reported being discriminated against by the society.
While their migrant status was also a reason for this discrimination, their caste-based identity and work were
playing a major role in the social bias against them. As mentioned before, the workers frequently experienced
casteist slurs from the local people in Assam. The nation’s law meant to protect oppressed castes from caste-
based discrimination and atrocities has failed to protect sanitation workers from such one-to-one
microaggressions and offenses as the Indian society continues to view and treat sanitation workers as the lesser
ones.

Through the obligation of duty. The caste system imposes a burden of duty on the caste groups deemed lower in
the hierarchy. These duties come with no privileges. 14 participants reported that they were working during the
lockdown without salaries. 14 other participants reported getting partial salaries while working during the
lockdown. MCGM employees in Mumbai were asked to compulsorily come to work during the lockdown and face

8
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/ppe-shortage-throws-doctors-out-of-gear/article31307053.ece
9
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-sanitation-workers-waste-pickers-coronavirus-pandemic-6414446/
10
https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/modi-calls-doctors-gods-condemns-their-harassment-for-coronavirus-fear-
120032501149_1.html
11
https://www.bloombergquint.com/economy-finance/nirmala-sitharaman-press-conference-live-finance-minister-likely-to-unveil-coronavirus-relief-
measures
12
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1612437

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

suspension if the order was violated.13 No such threat was needed for contractual workers - they anyways got
compensation for only the days they worked. Many of them were also forced to work to be able to feed their
families. Among those forced to report to work were also the sanitation workers above 55 years of age. They were
not given any concession owing to their high vulnerability to COVID-19 infection.

Those employed directly in residential buildings in Mumbai were also threatened to be fired if they stopped
working during the lockdown. One such woman was severely scolded for not coming to work for a day when the
lockdown was implemented initially. For the fear of losing her job, she started going to work. Another such female
worker was fined 1500 INR out of her 4500 INR salary because her son who went to work in her place did not do
everything he was asked to do. She was helpless at that time because she was stuck in her village in Haryana and
could not have reported to work. A male participant working at a residential building in the city reported being
forced to do manual scavenging during the lockdown.

The obligation of duty for sanitation workers has been noticed not just during the COVID-19 pandemic and the
following lockdown in the country. The flamboyant Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) of the central government
brought on the system of tracking sanitation workers while at work through GPS devices named “Human Efficiency
Tracker” to make sure they work for the whole duration of their shifts.14 Such tracking, while being highly
offending, affected sanitation workers’ ability to use washroom as needed and rest if exhausted from work that
demands constant standing or walking. While the government could spend money on these trackers, it hasn’t
spent enough to protect manual scavengers from dying while cleaning sewers.15

While the government and society has no obligation towards the life, safety and development of sanitation
workers that come mostly from Scheduled Castes, the burden of duty imposed on them doesn’t get reduced at all
with time. They remain at the bottom of the hierarchical Indian society, strictly held accountable to serve and
easily forgotten and side-lined when it comes to their rights. They remain exploited and subjected to caste-based
norms at every level of their productive engagement with society, rendering their development at par with the
rest of the society an impossibility.

DISCUSSION

Our study documents the dismal work conditions of sanitation workers in India during the lockdown. While there
were some bare minimum improvements in the provisions for sanitation workers during lockdown, they were still
left unprotected, having to work during the pandemic without a lot of basic provisions. Also, some masks and
gloves can protect sanitation workers only to an extent, however, financial insecurity and lack of healthcare
coverage can leave them highly vulnerable in case they catch COVID-19 or any other infection through work. Lack
of the needed healthcare while expecting sanitation workers to clean during the pandemic suggests that their
lives remain grossly undervalued. As discussed in the previous section, the role of caste is also indispensable while
looking at the current condition of sanitation workers in the country.

Our findings can also be corroborated by many news reports revealing that sanitation workers were cleaning
garbage, medical waste, open drains, sewer, and gutter without enough protective gear even during the

13
https://www.thequint.com/my-report/coronavirus-mumbai-sanitation-workers-mcgm-masks-protection
14
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/swacch-bharat-tags-sanitation-workers-to-live-track-their-every-move_in_5e4c98a9c5b6b0f6bff11f9b
15
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/number-deaths-due-manual-scavenging-rose-62-2019-118018

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

pandemic.16 The situation remains the same despite experts warning us that COVID-19 can also spread through
the sewage waste of infected people.17 We hope that this study helps push the case for better care of sanitation
workers across India.

As mentioned before, the study indicates some critical trends, however, the data remains limited and short of the
ability to give us results that can be generalized. There were also some limitations in sampling that remained
different in different regions based on the reach of local surveyors. Also, we observed some differences in the
wording of our survey questions at different locations which resulted in different types of data coming from each.
The authors take full responsibility for any misrepresentation and misreporting of data that might have happened
in this study.

16
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/09/india-lockdown-sanitation-workers-manual-scavengers-masks-gloves-coronavirus/
17
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/apr/21/coronavirus-can-spread-through-sewage-systems-says-cpcb-in-its-latest-guideline-
2133093.html

15 | Page
Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on our study findings, we put forward below listed recommendations for improving the work conditions
and safety of sanitation workers in India:

Recommendations for immediate action during COVID-19 pandemic

1. Considering the high risk to health, all full-time sanitation workers, regardless of their employer being
government, contractor or private entities, must be provided unlimited healthcare facilities at all
government hospitals.
2. Considering the high risk to the life of sanitation workers from COVID-19 pandemic, all sanitation workers,
full-time or part-time, regardless of their employer being government, contractor or private entities, must
be provided life insurance by the government.
3. Entire PPE must be availed sufficiently to all sanitation workers at nodal offices, regardless of their
employer being government, contractor or private entities.
4. Sanitation work, especially for highly risky situations like COVID-19 pandemic, must be mechanized and
automated as much as possible with least human contact possible.
5. The work conditions of sanitation workers hired by contractors and private entities must be regularly
reported and the inspection reports must be shared on publicly on a website.
6. The government should initiate a helpline for sanitation workers to anonymously report malpractices and
unfair wages by their employers.
7. The helpline should also avail food supplies and needed medicines to the sanitation workers reporting
hunger and starvation due to loss of work during disaster situations.
8. All offices and chowkis (smaller office setups at worksites) must have changing rooms and washrooms for
all sanitation workers.
9. Provision of water and food during work, being the responsibility of employers, must be ensured for all
sanitation workers, in absence of which, due action must be taken with speedy process.

Recommendations for long-term action and ensuring rights and decent work for sanitation workers

1. Sanitation work and caste must be delinked through transformative strategies and policies by the
government.
2. Sanitation workers must be regarded as professionals and must be professionally trained in waste
management, safe sanitation practices, and operation of sanitation technology.
3. Salaries of sanitation workers must be regulated by central or state government to maintain a minimum
wage considering the risk involved in sanitation work to health and life.
4. Waste pickers should be recognized as sanitation workers and their contribution to the reduction of
India’s carbon footprint must be calculated and acknowledged.
5. A welfare board for sanitation workers, similar to Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW)
welfare board, must be established where employers should be mandated to pay welfare cess for
sanitation workers.
6. All sanitation workers including waste pickers, regardless of their type of employer and terms of
engagement, must be eligible for registration at the welfare board.
7. The Government of India must also pay to the welfare board monetarily equivalent of carbon credit
calculated as per the recycling and waste management work done by sanitation workers.

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

APPENDIX A

LOCATION PARTICIPANTS RATION CARD CASTE CERTIFICATE

Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Assam 59 27.6% 1 1.7% 57 96.6%
Madhya Pradesh 66 30.8% 56 84.8% 65 98.5%
Delhi 34 15.9% 18 52.9% 31 91.2%
Mumbai 32 15.0% 25 78.1% 14 43.8%
Uttar Pradesh 13 6.1% 10 76.9% 13 100%
Jharkhand 8 3.7% 7 87.5% 7 87.5%
Chhattisgarh 2 0.9% 2 100% 2 100%
TOTAL 214 100.0% 119 55.6% 189 88.3%

Table 1: Location-wise distribution of participants and their entitlements

TYPE OF TOTAL HANDLING ONLY DRY HANDLING WET CLEANING TOILETS

EMPLOYMENT PARTICIPANTS WASTE WASTE (MANUAL ALONG WITH
SCAVENGING) HANDLING DRY
WASTE
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Contractual 117 54.7% 34 38.2% * 73 65.8% * 10 71.4% *
Government 80 37.4% 46 51.7% * 32 28.8% * 2 14.3% *
Direct 17 7.9% 9 10.1% * 6 5.4% * 2 14.3% *
TOTAL 214 100.0% 89 41.6% ** 111 51.9% ** 14 6.5% **

Table 2: Distribution of participants as per their type of work and type of employer

* These percentages under each category have been calculated for vertical categories. For example, the percentage
of contractual participants cleaning toilets (71.4%) have been calculated using the total number of participants
cleaning toilets (14) as base.
** These percentages have been calculated based on the total number of participants. For example, the percentage
of participants handling dry waste (41.6%) have been calculated using the total number of participants (214).

17 | Page
Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

APPENDIX B

PROTECTIVE MASKS GLOVES SOAPS SANITIZERS

EQUIPMENT AND Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
MATERIAL
Still unavailable 124 69.3% 135 77.6% 111 68.9% 120 81.1%
Available 55 30.7% 39 22.4% 50 31.1% 28 18.9%
No response 15 - 20 - 33 - 46 -
TOTAL 179 100.0% 174 100.0% 161 100.0% 148 100.0%
RESPONSES *

Table 3: Availability of protective equipment and material among study participants

* This does not include the number of records with missing values / no responses.

PROVISIONS AT TOOLS UNIFORM EMERGENCY KIT HEALTH INSURANCE

WORK Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Not provided 147 92.5% 143 89.9% 124 96.1% 192 89.7%
Provided 12 7.5% 16 10.1% 5 3.9% 22 10.3%
No response 55 - 55 - 85 - 0 -
TOTAL 159 100.0% 159 100.0% 129 100.0% 214 100.0%
RESPONSES *

Table 4: Provisions at work to the study participants

* This does not include the number of records with missing values / no responses.

SECURITY FROM INSTRUCTIONS AT ASSURANCE OF INSTRUCTIONS IF ASSURANCE FROM

COVID-19 WORK HEALTH CHECKUP COVID-19 POSITIVE THE GOVERNMENT
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Not provided 120 63.8% 178 92.7% 178 93.2% 182 87.5%
Provided 68 36.2% 14 7.3% 13 6.8% 26 12.5%
No response 6 - 2 - 3 - 6 -
TOTAL 188 * 100.0% 192 * 100.0% 191 * 100.0% 208 ** 100.0%
RESPONSES

Table 5: Ensured security from COVID-19 for the study participants

* Calculated only for the participants who worked during the lockdown. Among them, this does not include the
number of records with missing values / no responses.
** Calculated for all the participants. This does not include the number of records with missing values / no
responses.

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Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

APPENDIX C

TRENDS BASED ON TYPE OF ALL PARTICIPANTS CONTRACTUAL GOVERNMENT DIRECT

EMPLOYER WORKERS EMPLOYEES EMPLOYMENT
Number % Number % Number % Number %
Number of participants 214 100% 117 54.7% 80 37.4% 17 7.9%
Handling dry waste only 89 41.6% 34 38.2% 46 51.7% 9 10.1%
out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
Handling wet waste 111 51.9% 73 65.8% 32 28.8% 6 5.4%
out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
Cleaning toilets and handling 14 6.5% 10 71.4% 2 14.3% 2 14.3%
dry waste out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
Irregular salary payment before 155 72.4% 98 83.8% 51 63.8% 6 35.3%
COVID-19 out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
Ration card holders 119 55.6% 41 35% 65 81.3% 13 76.5%
out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
Caste certificate holders 189 88.3% 104 88.9% 77 96.3% 8 47.1%
out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
No health insurance provided 192 89.7% 111 94.9% 67 83.8% 13 81.3%
out of 214 out of 117 out of 80 out of 17
No tools for work provided 147 92.5% 88 94.6% 50 87.7% 9 100%
out of 159 out of 93 out of 57 out of 9
responses responses responses responses
No uniform provided 143 89.9% 89 89.9% 43 87.8% 10 100%
out of 159 out of 99 out of 49 out of 10
responses responses responses responses
No emergency kit provided 124 96.1% 87 100% 29 85.3% 8 100%
out of 129 out of 87 out of 34 out of 8
responses responses responses responses
No/insufficient masks provided 124 69.3% 69 71.1% 44 62.0% 11 100%
out of 179 out of 97 out of 71 out of 11
responses responses responses responses
No/insufficient gloves provided 135 77.6% 77 81.9% 50 71.4% 8 80%
out of 174 out of 94 out of 70 out of 10
responses responses responses responses
No/insufficient soap provided 111 68.9% 76 86.4% 25 39.7% 10 100%
out of 161 out of 88 out of 63 out of 10
responses responses responses responses
No/insufficient sanitizer 120 81.1% 81 87.1% 29 65.9% 10 90.9%
provided out of 148 out of 93 out of 44 out of 11
responses responses responses responses
No safety instructions provided 120 63.8% 83 82.2% 28 37.3% 9 75%
at work out of 188 out of 101 out of 75 out of 12
responses responses responses responses
No assurance of checkup 178 92.7% 96 94.1% 71 91.0% 11 91.7%
provided out of 192 out of 102 out of 78 out of 12
responses responses responses responses
No instruction if caught COVID- 178 93.2% 95 93.1% 72 93.5% 11 91.7%
19 out of 191 out of 102 out of 77 out of 12
responses responses responses responses
No assurance from the 182 87.5% 112 96.6% 56 74.7% 14 82.4%
government out of 208 out of 116 out of 75 out of 17
responses responses responses

Table 6: Trends based on type of employer

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 Condition of Sanitation Workers in India during COVID-19

CONDITION OF SANITATION WORKERS IN INDIA:

A SURVEY DURING COVID-19 AND LOCKDOWN

This study on the condition of sanitation workers in India during COVID-19 pandemic discloses the unsafe
conditions and financial pressures under which sanitation workers of the country worked to keep others
safe and protected. Conducting this study at the time of COVID-19 pandemic helped compare the value
attached to the safety of sanitation workers as compared to other “frontline warriors” engaged in this
fight with the virus. The study was conducted mainly in four regions of the country - Assam, Madhya
Pradesh, Delhi NCR and Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The differences and similarities in the situation of
sanitation workers in these four regions provide an insight into how “development” has manifested in
the work conditions of sanitation workers that remain at the bottom of society. Most importantly, the
study reveals critical links between the everyday realities of sanitation workers and the invisible yet all
pervasive caste system that is still deeply rooted in the Indian society.

About the authors:

Dhamma Darshan Nigam
Dhamma Darshan Nigam is an anti-caste scholar, activist and poet. He has worked extensively with Safai
Karmachari Andolan (SKA) for more than 6 years and contributed tremendously to the movement against
manual scavenging and has published substantially on the topic. He has completed his M.A. in Social
Exclusion and Inclusive Policy from Jamia Millia Islamia and M.Phil. in Sociology from Delhi University.
Sheeva Dubey
Dr. Sheeva Dubey is an anti-caste scholar and activist based in Mumbai. Her critical academic work
focuses on the practice of manual scavenging in urban areas. She has completed her Ph.D. from
University of Miami in Communication for Social Change. She is currently working as a researcher at
Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (VUVA) where she is looking into labour, housing and climate crisis
related issues of urban poor communities.

Contact us:
Dhamma Darshan Nigam - ddnigam@gmail.com, +91 99902 07121

Sheeva Dubey – sheeva.dubey@gmail.com, +91 75068 20030

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