There is no report of people currently engaged in manual scavenging in the country.

Manual scavenging as defined under Section 2 (1) (g) of the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, 2013)” is prohibited with effect from 6.12.2013. No person or agency can engage or employ any person for manual scavenging from the above date. Any person or agency who engages any person for manual scavenging in violation of the provisions of the MS Act, 2013 is punishable under Section 8 of the above Act, with imprisonment upto 2 years or fine upto Rs. One Lakh or both.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, since October 2, 2014, more than 10.94 crore sanitary toilets have been constructed in rural areas and over 62.65 lakh in urban areas and insanitary toilets have been converted into sanitary toilets. This work made a huge contribution towards ending the practice of manual scavenging. After receiving reports from the social institutions working in this field, about continuation of this practice, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched a mobile app “Swachhata Abhiyaan” on 24.12.2020 to capture the data of insanitary latrines still existing and manual scavengers associated with them. Any person can upload the data of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers on the mobile app. Thereafter, the data is verified by the concerned district administration. However, not a single insanitary latrine has been confirmed so far.

(e) Two surveys have been conducted at the initiative of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment during the year 2013 and 2018 for the identification of Manual Scavengers. State-wise details of identified manual scavengers are at Annexure-I.

State-wise details of persons who are reported to have died due to hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks during the last five years are at Annexure-II.

Annexure-I

Annexure-I referred in reply to part ( e)  of the  Rajya  Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3169 for answer on 30.03.2022 regarding Scavengers in the country.

 

State-wise number of manual scavengers identified

S. NO.	Name of State/UT	No. of Eligible Manual Scavengers identified
(1)	(2)	(3)
1	Andhra Pradesh	1793
2	Assam	3921
3	Bihar	131
4	Chhattisgarh	3
5	Gujarat	105
6	Jharkahand	192
7	Karnataka	2927
8	Kerala	518
9	Madhya Pradesh	510
10	Maharashtra	6325
11	Odisha	230
12	Punjab	231
13	Rajasthan	2673
14	Tamilnadu	398
15	Uttar Pradesh	32473
16	Uttarakhand	4988
17	West Bengal	680
	Total	58098

 

 

Annexure-II

Annexure-II referred in reply to part ( e)  of the  Rajya  Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3169 for answer on 30.03.2022 regarding Scavengers in the country.

Details of death of persons in sewers and septic tanks during the last five years (2017 to 2021)

S No	Name of State/UT	Total Number of sewer death
1	Andhra Pradesh	13
2	Bihar	2
3	Chhattisgarh	1
4	Chandigarh	3
5	Delhi	42
6	Gujarat	28
7	Haryana	33
8	Karnataka	26
9	Kerala	1
10	Maharashtra	30
11	Madhya Pradesh	1
12	Odisha	2
13	Punjab	16
14	Rajasthan	13
15	Tamil Nadu	43
16	Telangana	6
17	Uttar Pradesh	52
18	West Bengal	13
	Total	325

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Ramdas Athawale in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MG/DP/RK

(Release ID: 1811403)