A rap on the knuckles from the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) for its failure to eradicate the shameful practice of manual scavenging in the country has prompted the government to consider amendments to the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and see how the existing scheme for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers can be recast.
The NAC wants the humiliating practice abolished by the end of the Eleventh Plan — which means by next year. This deadline set by the NAC has come following the Centre and states failure to stick to past deadlines on eradicating manual scavenging. India has been unable to eradicate the abhorrent and degrading practice of the manual lifting of night soil even 18 years after it passed the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and despite successive Central government schemes meant for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers.
Egged on by the NAC’s observations, the Central ministries of social justice and environment as well as housing and urban poverty alleviation held a two-day long consultation with state government officials earlier this week to see how manual scavenging can be eradicated. Many states were asked to pull up their socks and work harder on eradicating manual scavenging.
Among the decisions taken at the consultation was to bring in amendments to the Manual Scavengers Act of 1993. The NAC in its resolution had noted that this legislation’s implementation has been “weak” and “almost no one has been punished under this law in 17 years” for employing manual scavengers or having dry latrines.
Also following the NAC’s suggestion that the social justice ministry “formulate a 100 per centrally sponsored scheme to support the rehabilitation initiatives”, the Centre will be undertaking a review of its self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers (SRMS), which was launched in January 2007. Prior to this, the Central government had a scheme called the National Scheme of Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers and their Dependents between 1992 and 2005.