Manual Scavenging

Six die in Jharkhand's Deoghar after inhaling poisonous gas inside septic tank

According to a police official, villagers broke open the tank and found all six lying unconscious. They were declared 'brought dead' at a local hospital

Physical agony, mental trauma, death: 4 accounts of what it means to work as a manual scavenger in Tamil Nadu

Over the past three years alone, 88 deaths related to manual scavenging have been recorded in India — despite a ban on the practice. Among Indian states, Tamil Nadu has recorded the highest number of manual scavenging deaths in India.

Monsoon Session of Parliament: Rajya Sabha members seek increase in compensation to manual scavengers under rehabilitation act

A RJD member Manoj Jha Friday moved a resolution seeking to give statutory status to National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) and take steps to avoid casualties due to manual scavenging

Seven, including four sanitation workers, die of suffocation while cleaning septic tank of Vadodara hotel; owner booked for negligence

Seven people, including four sanitation workers, died in Gujarat's Vadodara while cleaning a septic tank on Friday. They are believed to have suffocated to death while cleaning the septic tank outside a hotel in Dabhoi taluk.

By linking cleanliness to spirituality, Gandhi, symbol of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, valorised inhuman practice of manual scavenging

If we consider manual scavenging as an inhuman occupation, then it's important to ask why Gandhi supported the system instead of adopting water closet

Funds for scholarships to children of manual scavengers remain under-utilised; discriminatory rules exclude sewer workers of benefits

Though in existence in various forms since 1977-78, the scheme, Pre-Matric Scholarships to the Children of those engaged in occupations involving Cleaning and Prone to Health Hazards, has largely remained under-utilised with several states yet to identify manual scavengers, one of the main target groups of the scheme

801 sanitation workers died cleaning sewers in country since 1993: National Commission for Safai Karamcharis

The NCSK chief said that since 1993, 801 sanitation workers had died while cleaning sewers in the country. Various states had been told to provide safety equipment to the workers, he added.

Despite Dalit political assertion, casteism within community keeps issues affecting manual scavengers on the sidelines

The fact that some of the dominant Dalit communities engage in unleashing violence on the members of the scavenger community points at the limitations of the endorsed political ideologies of Ambedkarism, Marxism and feminism/womanism for scavengers

India's manual scavengers: Ugly truths of unsanitary sanitation work an open secret, law needs better enforcement

The perils of manual scavenging will stay unaddressed in India till the casteist attitude of washing their feet or trying to fix this problem from an economic perspective alone remain.

NHRC issues notice to Delhi chief secy, police commissioner after two men die while cleaning septic tank in Rohini; hauls up state govt

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary and Police Commissioner after two men died while cleaning the septic tank. The notices were issued by the commission after taking suo motu cognizance of media reports regarding the death of two labourers.