Manual Scavenging and Sewer Deaths

Why the banned practice of manual scavenging persists in India, the deaths of sanitation workers in sewers and septic tanks, and the push to mechanise.

Manual scavenging means handling human excreta by hand: cleaning dry latrines, sewers and septic tanks without protection. It is closely linked to caste: it has been forced on Dalit communities, especially certain sub-castes.

Laws

The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 banned manual scavenging.
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 strengthened the ban, covered cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective gear, and provided for rehabilitation.

Sewer deaths

Despite laws, workers still enter sewers and septic tanks to clean them, often hired by contractors. Toxic gases can kill them. Government data show hundreds of deaths over recent years, and activists believe many go unreported.

The Supreme Court has ordered compensation of 30 lakh rupees to families of those who die in sewer cleaning (raised in 2023).

Why it persists

Caste discrimination and lack of alternatives.
Cheap labour hired by contractors.
Weak enforcement.
Lack of machines in many towns.

Solutions

Mechanised cleaning with jetting and suction machines.
The NAMASTE scheme, launched in 2023, aims to ensure safety and dignity of sanitation workers through training, safety gear and mechanisation.
Rehabilitation and alternative livelihoods.
Accountability for employers.

Economics

Human lives are not cheap inputs. Laws, compensation and mechanisation raise the cost of unsafe practices and aim to eliminate them.

The machine

A municipality buys sewer-cleaning machines and trains former manual scavengers to operate them. Workers no longer enter sewers, and their jobs become safer and better paid.

Thinking manual scavenging ended when it was banned

Despite laws, workers still die cleaning sewers and septic tanks.

Key takeaways

Manual scavenging was banned in 1993 and 2013.
It is linked to caste discrimination.
Sewer and septic tank deaths continue; the Supreme Court set 30 lakh rupees compensation in 2023.
Mechanisation and the NAMASTE scheme aim to end unsafe practices.