92% of workers cleaning urban sewers, septic tanks are from SC, ST, OBC groups

In a first-of-its-kind attempt to enumerate people engaged in the hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks in India’s cities and towns, government data gathered from over 3,000 urban local bodies in 29 States and Union Territories shows that 91.9% of the 38,000 workers profiled so far belong to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), or other backward class (OBC) communities.  

Of the profiled workers, 68.9% were SC, 14.7% were OBC, 8.3% were ST, and 8% were from the general category.

Also read:Social Justice Ministry doubts app’s numbers on cases of manual scavenging

Between 2019 and 2023, at least 377 people across the country have died from hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, according to government data tabled in Parliament.  

Hazardous cleaning

The profiling of sewer and septic tank workers (SSWs) is being carried out by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as part of its NAMASTE programme, a scheme to mechanise all sewer work and prevent deaths due to hazardous cleaning work. In 2023-24, this scheme was brought in to replace the Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS). 

The Union government’s rationale is that manual scavenging as a practice has ended across the country and what needs to be fixed now is the hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. It draws this distinction based on a technical difference in how manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning are defined in the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.  

The NAMASTE programme targets “workers directly associated with sewer and septic tank cleaning including drivers of desludging vehicles, helpers, machine operators and cleaners”, the Ministry says. Its goal is to profile such workers in a nationwide enumeration exercise, give them safety training and equipment, and offer capital subsidies that could turn sewer and septic tank workers into “sanipreneurs“, or sanitation entrepreneurs. 

Only 66% districts in country free of manual scavenging: Social Justice Ministry report

One lakh SSWs

Since the scheme began a year ago, 3,326 urban local bodies (ULBs) have begun the process and profiled around 38,000 SSWs. So far, 283 ULBs have reported zero SSWs, and 2,364 ULBs have reported less than 10 SSWs each.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs estimates that there are 100 core sanitation workers for an urban population of five lakh. Based on this, the government used decadal growth rates to estimate that as of 2021, there are likely to be one lakh SSWs employed by India’s 4,800 ULBs. The NAMASTE programme intends to profile all SSWs across the country to create a central database.  

State efforts

Twelve States and UTs, including Kerala, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir have completed the profiling process, while the exercise is still underway in 17 States, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, and West Bengal are among the States which are yet to begin the profiling process. Tamil Nadu and Odisha are running their own programmes for SSWs, and are not reporting data to the Centre under this programme.

States such as Kerala and Karnataka are holding information, education, and communication (IEC) campaigns to profile workers at special camps. In Andhra Pradesh, ULBs are visiting workers’ homes and workplaces to profile them, with State data showing that around 30% of their profiling was done this way.  

By the end of the 2023-24 financial year, 31,999 SSWs had been validated, the Ministry’s annual report said. Capital subsidies amounting to ₹2.26 crore have been given to 191 beneficiaries and their dependants for alternate self-employment projects, while 413 sanitation workers and dependants have received capital subsidies of ₹10.6 crore for sanitation-related projects, the report said. 

‘No more manual scavenging’

Under the previous SRMS scheme, the government had identified 58,098 manual scavengers till 2018. Since then, it has insisted that no other manual scavengers have been identified, claiming that none of the 6,500-plus complaints reporting manual scavenging could be verified. 

Of the identified manual scavengers, the government said it had data on the social categories of 43,797, showing that 97.2% of them were from SC communities. The share of STs, OBCs, and others were each around 1%.

Ministry records showed that all the 58,098 people identified as manual scavengers till 2018 had been given a one-time cash transfer of ₹40,000. While 18,880 of them had opted for skills training in alternative occupations, 2,051 had opted for loans under the scheme’s subsidies to start alternative businesses as of 2022.