March 22, 2022
Dola Sen makes a Special Mention on the use of child labour and violence in manual scavenging
Sir, while the Government has recognized only 58,098 manual scavengers for rehabilitation and compensation across the country, a survey of 14 States conducted by ‘The Wire’ found that the number of manual scavengers in the country, including children and those working under conditions that can be classified bonded labour, is increasing. Previously, it was mostly women who worked as manual scavengers in dry latrines in toilets built under the Swachh Bharat Mission but the survey shows that children under the age of 12, particularly girls, are now being hired as manual scavengers in local settlements through unknown middlemen. In this regard, Maharashtra has the highest number of child labourers numbering 12,562. Violence, beatings and rape threats have been recorded by over 3,189
women working as manual scavengers. Around 260 women claimed that service-providers had raped or abused them. While about a hundred of these women stated that they had filed complaints against private house
owners and service-providers who had raped or molested them, their complaints were not recorded in 95 per cent of these cases dues to their caste, gender and occupation. Six women alleged that they were sold as manual scavengers to private house-owners and then sexually exploited for an average of 2-3 years at a time. Hence, I urge the Government to take cognizance of this overlapping set of problems and put a programme in place to conclusively end manual scavenging and protect the dignity of sanitation workers.
