352 Manual Scavenging Deaths in the Country Since 2017, UP Records Most Deaths at 57

There were 352 deaths due to manual scavenging in the past five years across the country – despite the ban on the practice, as per data shared by Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale in Parliament. While the number was highest for Uttar Pradesh (57), Tamil Nadu (46) and Delhi (42) recorded the second and third-highest number of deaths in sewers and septic tanks.

The data was shared by the MoS in a written reply to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Jayant Chaudhary. The Rashtriya Lok Dal leader took to Twitter to share the response on Wednesday and said, “352 deaths in the last five years for manual scavenging; prohibited by a law enacted by Parliament back in 2013! The highest number of deaths have occurred in Uttar Pradesh (57). Who is responsible for this??”

The practice remains banned following the implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. Prior to the 2013 law, the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, prohibited the employment of manual scavengers as well as the construction or continuance of dry latrines.

Five years ago, the Supreme Court of India passed a clear judgment emphasising the need to adhere to the 2013 law, including “monitoring of manual scavenging across the country and effective rehabilitation of manual scavengers with payment of proper compensation”.

As per the data shared by the MoS, the states which recorded the lowest number of deaths are Kerala and Chhattisgarh with one each, followed by two each in Bihar and Odisha.

The MoS in his reply noted: "There is no report of people currently engaged in manual scavenging in the country."

It should be noted that Athawale had told Lok Sabha earlier this year that the ministry had launched a mobile application called ‘Swachchata Abhiyan’ in December 2020 to capture the data on insanitary latrines and manual scavengers associated with them,

This minister, in a response to BJP MP Jayant Sinha’s query, had claimed that the government had conducted a survey in 2018 to identify manual scavengers.

The data he provided in April this year had also put Uttar Pradesh at the top with the highest share (56%) of manual scavengers in the country, as the state identified 32,472 manual scavengers – followed by Maharashtra (6,325), Uttarakhand (4,988), Assam (2,927), and Karnataka (2,673).

In October this year, the Supreme Court had asked the Union government to file an updated affidavit in a plea that sought initiation of criminal proceedings against officials, agencies, contractors or any other person involved in engaging or employing manual scavengers resulting in their death at work, according to a Live Law report. The advocate for the petitioner -- Criminal Justice Society of India – had submitted: “Every five days, one manual scavenger dies,” as she highlighted the urgency of the matter and the apathy of the Centre.