92% of sewer cleaners are SC-ST-OBC, but Modi government has something else to say
#News Bureau November 18,2024
The Modi government’s Ministry of Social Justice told Parliament on Tuesday (December 17) that sewer and septic tank cleaning is “occupation-based”. It is not a caste-based job. It said this through the data of its first survey of sewer and septic tank safai karmacharis (SSWs) in all the cities and towns of the country. If you remember, Modi washed the feet of some safai karmacharis in Allahabad (Prayagraj). But all of them were from the SC community.
453 deaths have occurred in the country since 2014 while cleaning sewers. This is the official figure. Since 2014, there is a BJP-RSS government in the country, which is being run by Narendra Modi.
Two-thirds of sewer and septic tank workers (SSWs) come from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, the government told the Lok Sabha. In its written reply in the Lok Sabha, the government said the number of workers belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups collectively constitute 92%.
This data of the government confirmed that whatever profession was created for whom on the basis of caste system in India, people of those castes or communities are still in the same profession. The ministry said that the profiles of a total of 57,758 sanitation workers were looked at in the country, out of which 54,574 were taken from 33 states and Union Territories (UT).
Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale told the House that of these, maximum 37,060 (or 67.91%) are from Dalit category, followed by 8,587 (15.73%) OBC and 4,536 (8.31%) ST category, adding that only 4,391 or 8.05% Safai Karmacharis are from General category. The minister then said, “The work of cleaning sewers and septic tanks is not a caste-based but a profession-based activity.”
The ministry said efforts are underway to integrate SSW data from Odisha and Tamil Nadu into a central database aimed at ensuring “safety, dignity and social and economic empowerment” of sanitation
He informed that a total of 16,791 PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and 43 safety equipment kits have been supplied to such sanitation workers under the Namaste scheme for emergency response sanitation units (ERSU). Ayushman cards have been issued to 13,604 beneficiaries.workers.
The government claimed that “capital subsidy of ₹13.96 crore was released to 503 Safai Karamcharis and their families for sanitation-related projects.” Additionally, ₹2.85 crore has been provided to “226 beneficiaries” of the “manual scavenger” category to help them take up alternative self-employment projects, the ministry said.
The Centre also informed that since the beginning of the financial year 2023-24, a total of 837 workshops have been organised on prevention of hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks for workers in municipalities, municipalities and other such organisations.
The central government’s report comes at a time when the Supreme Court last week expressed concern over the slow progress in eliminating the practice of manual scavenging. The central government does not classify sewer cleaning workers as manual scavengers. The Modi government gave this information about sewer septic cleaning workers only when Congress MP Kuldeep Indora asked questions related to it. MP Indora had demanded to know the details of SSW as well as the current status of the National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme. The Modi government started this scheme in 2023-24. But it has discussed it less.
