What a shame!

Anti-manual scavenging bill has been passed. But, will the new law ring in change for the 3,000 households of Valmiki Nagar near Sultan Shahi in Old City?

Nearly 95 per cent of the work force are women and belong to landless families and they live in ghettos. The appalling practice continues even six decades after the country achieved independence

Bhagyashree Tarke

Mahatma Gandhi had once said that untouchability is a blot on Hinduism Manual scavenging is still a worry. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described manual scavenging as one of the darkest blots on the country’s development process. Even today we hear people die asphyxiated after entering septic tanks. In a welcome relief to manual scavengers, , the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill was passed by the Parliament on September 7 that prohibits employment of individuals as manual scavengers.

Nearly 95 per cent of the work force are women and belong to landless families and they live in ghettos. The appalling practice continues even six decades after the country achieved independence. According to 2011 census, there are 8 lakh households in the country which depend on manual scavenging. They occupy the lowest position in the caste system and among them; the dalits are the most disadvantaged.

Nearer home, Valmiki Nagar in Old City near Sultan Shahi is a place where manual scavenging community resides. The colony gets its name as more than 70per cent of the manual scavengers, belonging to the Valmiki community, live there. There are about 3,000 households in the colony and at least one member of a house, mostly women, is a manual scavenger. The women work as toilet cleaners in apartments and independent houses in areas like Abids, Khilwath, Himayatnagar, Mehdipatnam etc.

“I have been doing this work as a scavenger for the past 20 years. My father used to do this work too. He told me that our caste is supposed to do this work, and I have followed his words since then,” says Nookaraju (name changed), sewage cleaner.

“I have gone down a man-hole many times cleaning most sewage with my bare hands, then later they came up with a septic tank cleaner, which was sometimes a relief but not always. Many times I have got down to these septic tanks, according to the instructions of my contractors. They say doing this work in this manner is illegal but I was never asked to stop,” added Nookaraju.

The practice of manual scavenging persists in the city, with the authorities refusing to recognise its existence and promise of working towards eliminating it. This lack of sensitivity on the authorities’ part was revealed by a survey conducted by an NGO, Shaheen. Most of the ‘safai karamcharis’ are not aware of the fact that the practice of manual scavenging is prohibited since 1993. When they are told that it is illegal, all they do is they express their helplessness.

“Already there was an Act which was passed in 1993, prohibiting manual scavenging. But implementing this is the most vital part. This is nothing but another prolonged process towards liberation of these sects in the society,” says Bejwada Wilson, National Convener, Safai Karamchari Andolan.

The horrendous profession passes on from generation to generation. And the sad part about it is that the position or the job of the mother-in-law is transferred to the daughter-in-law who must take it up, even if she doesn’t want to, as it is the part of their culture.

It is not only a violation of human rights but also a disgrace to human dignity and humanity at large. There is an urge to make sincere efforts from both sides- first the vulnerable community should stop doing this work and secondly, the society should accept them by giving them equal status without any discretion.

“What if we give up the job? What next? The community that we are born in is a cursed one. Even if we want to work somewhere else, we cannot as people don’t give us a job as soon as they come to know of our caste”, says Savitha, a widow of the community who has two daughters.

The women cover around 30 houses everyday on foot no matter how long the distance and get paid just 10 to 20 rupees per house, per month. They can’t even afford a place of shelter. “These women are also the victims of immense domestic violence and exploitation by their own family members where one can see the wives working hard to earn a living while their men do nothing, get drunk, and relax at homes”, says Jameela Nishat, a social activist and the founder of Shaheen, NGO.