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As per Section 2 (1) (g) of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, (MS Act 2013), the definition of manual scavenger is as follows:-

“Manual Scavenger” means a person engaged or employed by an individual or a local authority or a public or private agency, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the Central Government or a State Government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, and the expression “manual scavenging" shall be construed accordingly.”

Two surveys have been conducted in the year 2013 and 2018 to identify the manual scavengers. During these surveys 58,098 eligible manual scavengers were identified. State-wise details are given at Annexure-I.

No death has been reported due to engaging in Manual Scavenging (which is lifting of human excreta from insanitary latrines as defined in Section 2(1) (g) of the MS Act, 2013). However, 188 persons have died due to accidents while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks during the last three years and current year. Year-wise and state-wise details are given at Annexure-II.

An amount of Rs. 266.16 crore has been spent by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment under the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers since 2013-14.

In accordance with the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s Judgment dated 27.03.2014 in Civil Writ Petition No. 583 of 2003, compensation of Rs. 10 lakh each is paid by the State Governments to the families of those who have died while cleaning sewers/septic tanks from the year 1993 onwards. National Commission for Safai Karamcharis and Department of Social Justice have ensured such compensation payments. State wise details are given at Annexure-III.

During the current financial year 2022-23, under the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), there is an allocation of Rs. 70.00 crore. However, so far no fund has been released during 2022-23 to the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC).

 

(The cases filed in this regard are at different stages and have not come to the logical conclusion.

Annexure-I State-wise Number of Manual Scavengers Identified
S.No.	State	No. of manual scavengers identified
	Andhra Pradesh	1793
	Assam	3921
	Bihar	131
	Chhattisgarh	3
	Gujarat	105
	Jharkhand	192
	Karnataka	2927
	Kerala	518
	Madhya Pradesh	510
	Maharashtra	6325
	Odisha	230
	Punjab	231
	Rajasthan	2673
	Tamilnadu	398
	Uttar Pradesh	32473
	Uttarakhand	4988
	West Bengal	680
	Total	58098

 

 

 

Annexure-II

Year-wise and State-wise details of death of persons during last three years and current year due to hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks

	Name of State/UT	2019	2020	2021	2022
S. No.		Total No. of death	Total No. of death	Total No. of death	Total No. of death
	Andhra Pradesh	2	0	0	0
	Bihar	0	0	0	0
	Chhatisgarh	0	0	0	0
	Chandigarh	0	0	0	0
	Delhi	10	4	4	2
	Gujarat	14	0	5	0
	Haryana	14	0	5	2
	Karnataka	7	2	5	0
	Kerala	0	0	0	0
	Maharashtra	15	4	0	4
	Madhya Pradesh	1	0	3	0
	Odisha	0	0	2	0
	Punjab	3	0	1	0
	Rajasthan	5	0	0	0
	Tamil Nadu	13	9	5	5
	Telangana	0	0	2	0
	Uttar Pradesh	26	0	0	4
	West Bengal	6	0	4	0
	Total	116	19	36	17

 

 

Annexure-III

Details of death of persons in sewers and septic tanks during the years 1993 to till date (As on 30.06.2022)

S No	Name of State/UT	Total Number of sewer death	Status of payment of compensation in terms of Supreme Court Judgment dated 27.03.2014
			10 Lac	Less than 10 Lac
1	Andhra Pradesh	23	13	4
2	Bihar	2	2	0
3	Chhatisgarh	1	1	0
4	Chandigarh	3	3	0
5	Delhi	99	72	15
6	Goa	6	0	6
7	Gujarat	136	83	23
8	Haryana	81	63	12
9	Karnataka	84	84	0
10	Kerala	13	13	0
11	Maharashtra	41	16	6
12	Madhya Pradesh	16	16	0
13	Odisha	2	2	0
14	Puducherry	9	8	0
15	Punjab	40	34	4
16	Rajasthan	38	28	5
17	Tamil Nadu	218	207	1
18	Telangana	18	15	2
19	Tripura	2	0	2
20	Uttrakhand	4	2	2
21	Uttar Pradesh	105	60	30
22	West Bengal	25	20	1
	Total	966	742	113

 

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

 

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MG/RNM

 

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