Govt betrays promise, Parl agenda mum on manual scavenging

Describing the Centre’s failure to introduce a bill against the inhuman practice of manual scavenging in the Monsoon session a “total betrayal”, social activist A Narayanan, who has been at the forefront campaign in Tamil Nadu, today appealed to the National Human Rights Commission to “immediately take up the issue” with the government. NHRC, which conducted a two-day public hearing in Chennai on complaints on atrocities against SC/STs, interacted with members of the civil society from the state this morning. [caption id=“attachment_414242” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A municipal worker attempts to unblock a sewer. AFP[/caption] Speaking to Firstpost, Narayanan, who submitted a petition to the NHRC to take up the issue with the government, said that in the last 14 months alone, 14 people had died from manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks in Tamil Nadu. (The Madras High Court banned manual scavenging in 2008.) In response to Narayanan’s affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking amendments to the existing ‘toothless’ national law - The Employment of Manual Scavenging and construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act,1993 - the Centre had assured the apex court in March that it would introduce changes in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. “The monsoon session has begun, but there is no mention of it in the agenda. This is a total betrayal. President Pratibha Patil in the previous Parliament session had said that the government would bring a new comprehensive law for the emancipation of manual scavengers in Monsoon Session. But it has not done that either. There is no political will to act against manual scavenging. This is very shameful,” Narayanan said. In April, in response to a PIL filed nine years ago by a leading campaigner for the rights of manual scavengers Safai Karamchari Andolan, the government had repeated the same promise to the Supreme Court. “I have received written instructions that a bill is being introduced in Parliament in monsoon session which will take care of the entire matter,” the additional solicitor general Harin P Raval had told the SC then . In July, following an episode on the TV show Satyameva Jayate, that highlighted the miserable plight of manual scavengers, actor and show anchor Aamir Khan met the Prime Minister and the Union Social Welfare Minister Mukul Wasnik and was again assured of action by the government. Cut to the monsoon session, the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, or amendments to the Manual Scavengers Act, 1993, doesn’t seem to figure in the ambitious agenda of the Parliament’s current session. “While even the Prime Minister has called manual scavenging one of the darkest blots on India, why is the government stalling on introducing amendments or the bill in Parliament? Unless they pass the law, money and resources for new technology will not flow,” Narayanan said. By the government’s own admission, not a single person has been convicted under the existing Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. Elaborating on the amendments sought to the existing Act, Narayanan said,“The Manual Scavengers Act, 1993, only talks about dry latrines. It doesn’t cover people employed in cleaning septic tanks, sewerages and so on. With more and more urbanization, dry latrines are being replaced by western toilets and centralized treatment plants. So whether it is in Delhi or Chennai, sewerage blocks are happening and people are being employed to clean septic tanks. So manual scavenging is taking another form which is not recognized by the law. “Secondly, the 1993 allows government servants to escape through a clause which says that government servants employing manual scavengers for a public purpose cannot be penalized. This cannot be allowed. The Act needs to be strengthened to ensure punishment for violations,” he said.