More than 90 percent of people employed as manual scavengers belong to the scheduled castes. Since 1993 more than a thousand people have lost their lives through this casteist practice of employing SC as manual scavengers for the work of cleaning the septic tanks, directly or contractually in India. In the last ten years, there has been a four-fold increase in sewer deaths.

The government is introducing The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament which started on 14th September. This bill is an amendment to the existing Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013. The Amendment Bill proposes a complete mechanisation of sewer cleaning and a proposal of introduction of ways for the ‘on site’ protection and compensation of the manual scavengers in the case of sewer death.

Various organisations and activists point out that the text of the proposed Bill was not put in public domain and no comments have been sought from the public. A document published by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on its website in March offers no analysis of the reasons for failure of the 2013 Act. The changes suggested mainly focus on the technological aspects of the problem, completely ignoring the imperative to identify and rehabilitate those workers who had been forced by caste-based Indian society to engage in this undignified occupation for generations.

They have written an open letter to the Members of Parliament demanding that the government follow the due process in the passing of the Amendment Bill, which should have been through a public consultation and after discussion on it in the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The letter has been published in the Eradicate Manual Scavenging blog. A Twitter campaign is going on as well, on behalf of the same collective.

Open Letter to Members of Parliament regarding the Amendment to Prohibition of Engagement as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013

 Dear Members of Parliament,

We the undersigned are writing to you to express our extreme concern over amendments being made to the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 (PEMSR Act 2013) without any form of public consultation.

‘The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020’ has been listed by the Government in the list of new Bills proposed to be introduced during the on-going session of the Parliament. The Bill seeks to amend the existing Act which was brought in 2013 to put an end to the undignified caste-based practice of manual scavenging. It is of particular concern to us that the existing Act has not only failed to put a stop to the daily occurrence of manual scavenging, but it has not even been able to curb even the most disastrous consequences of this inhuman practice in the form of death due to manual scavenging. Another stark failure of the Act has been in the near complete failure in identifying and rehabilitating those engaged in this occupation.

In light of such failures, there is a definite need to make suitable amendments to the existing Act. But unfortunately, the government has chosen to undertake this necessary process in a completely non-consultative and non-transparent manner. The text of the proposed Bill was not put in public domain and no comments have been sought from the public. A document published by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on its website in March offers no analysis of the reasons for failure of the Act. The changes suggested in the Act as part of this document mainly focus on the technological aspects of the problem, completely ignoring the imperative to identify and rehabilitate those workers who had been forced by caste-based Indian society to engage in this undignified occupation.

In the legislative agenda, the purport of the amendment Bill is listed as ‘complete mechanization of sewer cleaning and to provide better protection in work, the compensation in case of accidents’. The absence of any reference to the lives and demands of the workers suggests that even the proposed Bill may be narrowly focused on technological solutions. Any process of reform in the law should necessarily begin with the workers engaged in this occupation and the proposed changes should be available in all Indian languages to enable full democratic participation from all citizens. Public consultation processes would have offered a necessary corrective to these and other posing lacunae in the amendment Bill. Several groups have been working on different aspects of manual scavenging. Their inputs, based on their own experiences and interactions with workers, over the last several years, would strengthen and add value to the process of amending the Bill. It is also keeping with the process of consultation.

Hence, we urge you, as representatives of the people of the country, to demand that this amendment Bill be either sent back to the Ministry for public consultation or be referred to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee, so that we the people get an opportunity, based upon our grassroots experience, to enrich the Amendment Bill with the much-needed but missing concepts and provisions.

Endorsed by

Organizations

Individuals

Feature image: Down To Earth