The Act further states that the person must be engaged or employed on a regular or contract basis, and that persons involved in cleaning excreta with the help of “devices and using protective gear” shall not be deemed to be a ‘manual scavenger.’
What About Caste & Gender Composition of Manual Scavengers?
When asked whether more than 90 percent of the employees in the sanitation and cleaning sectors are Dalits, Minister of State Ramdas Athawale told the Lok Sabha on 27 July, “no such data is maintained by this department.”
As per SKA’s website, manual scavenging includes workers engaged in cleaning drains, sewers, septic tanks, railway tracks, among others. It further notes that 98 percent of the people involved in manual scavenging are women and Dalits and that the caste system is such that “only people of certain Dalit sub-castes” clean others’ excreta.
“Those born into these castes are forced to do manual scavenging until they die,” the website added.
“They are untouchables among…