The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 has not eliminated hazardous cleaning deaths, with the government recording 294 sewer and septic-tank deaths between 2020 and 2024. Discuss the gaps between the law and the lived practice and the role of the NAMASTE scheme.
Subtopic: Social Justice · Mechanisms, laws and institutions for protection of vulnerable sections
How to structure your answer
Introduction: The PEMSR Act 2013 banned manual scavenging and made hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without safety gear a punishable offence, building on the 1993 prohibition.
Body: Three dimensions — (i) Statutory and judicial scaffolding: PEMSR Act 2013, Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India (2014) directed Rs 10 lakh compensation per sewer death, raised to Rs 30 lakh in Balram Singh v. Union of India (October 2023); (ii) Persistent deaths: Government told Rajya Sabha 294 sewer/septic-tank deaths in 2020-2024 (with zero 'manual scavenging' deaths reported, exposing the definitional dodge); (iii) NAMASTE scheme (launched 2023, replacing SRMS) — mechanised desludging, Profiling of Sewer-Septic-Tank Workers (PWSSWs), PPE kits, capital subsidy for sanitation enterprises; convergence with Swachh Bharat 2.0.
Way forward / Conclusion: Merge 'manual scavenging' and 'hazardous cleaning' for legal accountability, criminalise non-mechanised entry, vest enforcement in Municipal Commissioners with strict liability and ensure caste-disaggregated NAMASTE data.
Written within the word limit
226 words · target 250 words · 14 min
Introduction:
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013, building on the 1993 prohibition and Articles 17 and 21, banned manual scavenging and criminalised hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without safety gear. The government has nonetheless recorded 294 sewer and septic-tank deaths between 2020 and 2024.
Statutory and judicial scaffolding: The PEMSR Act 2013 defines 'manual scavenger' and 'hazardous cleaning' separately and mandates rehabilitation. Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India (2014) directed Rs 10 lakh compensation per sewer death; the Court raised this to Rs 30 lakh in Balram Singh v. Union of India (20 October 2023) and ordered municipal liability for non-mechanised entry.
Persistent deaths: The government told Rajya Sabha (December 2024) that 294 sewer and septic-tank deaths occurred during 2020-24 while reporting zero 'manual scavenging' deaths — a definitional dodge that allows non-mechanised entry to continue under the 'hazardous cleaning' label. Castist occupational reproduction persists.
NAMASTE response: Launched in 2023 to replace SRMS, the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) profiles Sewer-Septic-Tank Workers (PWSSWs), distributes PPE kits, provides capital subsidy for sanitation enterprises, and converges with Swachh Bharat 2.0. Coverage of Class-I cities is uneven; profile data are caste-disaggregated only in some States.
Way forward / Conclusion:
Merge 'manual scavenging' and 'hazardous cleaning' for legal accountability, criminalise non-mechanised entry without exception, vest enforcement in Municipal Commissioners with strict liability, and publish caste-disaggregated NAMASTE outcomes — turning the 2013 prohibition from a statute on paper into lived dignity.
What an examiner expects to see
- PEMSR Act 2013 covered dry latrines plus septic-tank and sewer cleaning; criminalised hazardous cleaning
- Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India (2014) — Rs 10 lakh compensation per sewer death
- Balram Singh v. Union of India (October 2023) — compensation raised to Rs 30 lakh
- MoSJ&E to Rajya Sabha — 294 sewer and septic-tank deaths in 2020-2024; zero 'manual scavenging' deaths reported
- NAMASTE — National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (2023), supersedes SRMS
- Identifies and rehabilitates Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs), provides PPE and ayushman cards
- Caste profile — over 90 percent of victims from Dalit communities, per SKA tracking
- Constitutional anchor — Article 17 (abolition of untouchability), Article 21 right to dignity
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India (2014)
- Balram Singh v. Union of India (October 2023)
- NAMASTE scheme (2023)
- Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) (1990s, repealed)
- Bezwada Wilson (Magsaysay laureate) and Safai Karamchari Andolan