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Government of India
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
15-December-2015 17:27 IST
Manual Scavenging

Houselisting and Housing Census, 2011 data released by the Registrar General of India in March, 2012, has, inter alia, provided number of households by type of latrine facility, including latrines from which night soil is manually removed. According to this data, such latrines existed in all States/Union Territories except in the States of Goa, Sikkim, and the UTs of Chandigarh and Lakshadweep. Existence of manually serviced latrines in the States/UTs points to the fact that the practice of manual scavenging is yet to be eliminated there.

            As per the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC-2011) data of manual scavengers released by the Ministry of Rural Development on 03.07.2015, there were 1,82,505 manual scavengers in the rural areas of the country. State-wise details age given is:

Socio Economic and Caste Census-2011

Number of Households Any Member Belonging to  Manual Scavenger (Rural)

Zone

Code with States/ UTs Name

Number of Manual Scavanger

All India

 

182505

North Total

 

14898

North

01 - JAMMU & KASHMIR

2904

North

02 - HIMACHAL PRADESH

1

North

03 - PUNJAB

11951

North

06 - HARYANA

42

East Total

 

14411

East

10 - BIHAR

7268

East

19 - WEST BENGAL

2526

East

20 - JHARKHAND

4153

East

21 - ODISHA

464

West Total

 

68681

West

08 - RAJASTHAN

3498

West

24 - GUJARAT

2

West

27 - MAHARASHTRA

65181

West

30 - GOA

0

South Total

 

16362

South

28 - ANDHRA PRADESH

388

South

29 - KARNATAKA

15375

South

32 - KERALA

100

South

33 - TAMILNADU

334

South

28 - TELANGANA

165

Central Total

 

41516

Central

05 - UTTARAKHAND

483

Central

09 - UTTAR PRADESH

17388

Central

22 - CHHATTISGARH

540

Central

23 - MADHYA PRADESH

23105

North Eastern Total

 

20083

North Eastern

11 - SIKKIM

51

North Eastern

12 - ARUNACHAL PRADESH

1286

North Eastern

13 - NAGALAND

274

North Eastern

14 - MANIPUR

1

North Eastern

15 - MIZORAM

1025

North Eastern

16 - TRIPURA

17333

North Eastern

17 - MEGHALAYA

113

North Eastern

18 - ASSAM

0

UT Total

 

6554

UT

04 - CHANDIGARH

0

UT

07 - NCT OF DELHI

6

UT

25 - DAMAN AND DIU

6277

UT

26 - DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI

142

UT

31 - LAKSHADWEEP

1

UT

34 - PUDUCHERRY

66

UT

35 - ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS

62

 

SECC-2011 data of manual scavengers is based on respondent input as revealed by the households to the enumerator. Under the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, 2013)” which has come into force with effect from 06.12.2013, the claim of any person of being a manual scavenger is to be got verified by the local authority for inclusion in the list of identified manual scavengers to become eligible for rehabilitation as per the provisions of the MS Act, 2013. Accordingly, the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations have been requested to verify the SECC-2011 data of manual scavengers and upload the list of identified manual scavengers on the website www.mssuvey.nic.in for their rehabilitation.

            As per the latest information available on the basis of survey undertaken so far, 12,226 manual scavengers have been identified in 12 States, State-wise details of which are given is:

 

State-wise details of identified Manual Scavengers

Urban-A

S.No.

State

Identified Manual Scavengers

 

 

1.       

Andhra Pradesh

124

2.       

Bihar

137

3.       

 Chhattisgarh

3

4.       

Karnataka

302

5.       

Madhya Pradesh

36

6.       

Odisha

237

7.       

Punjab

86

8.       

Rajasthan

577

9.       

Tamil Nadu

462

10.   

Uttar Pradesh

2404

11.   

Uttarakhand

137

12.   

West Bengal

104

Total-A

4609

Rural-B

1

Punjab

5

2

Uttar Pradesh

7612

Total-B

7617

Grand Total (A+B)

12226

                                   

The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment does not maintain the statistics of such cases. As per Section 21 of the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013” (MS Act, 2013), Executive Magistrates who have been conferred judicial powers of first class are empowered to try any offences committed under the Act.

The sole cause for manual scavenging is the existence of insanitary latrines. Section 5 of the MS Act, 2013 prohibits construction of insanitary latrines and engaging of manual scavengers from the date of commencement of the Act i.e. 06.12.2013. The Act provides for identification of insanitary latrines and their demolition/conversion into sanitary latrines on a time bound basis. The Municipalities, Cantonment Boards and Railway authorities have been mandated to construct adequate number of community sanitary latrines within a period of three years from the date of commencement of the Act to eliminate the practice of open defecation. The Act also provides for identification and rehabilitation of the existing manual scavengers, which includes skill development training with stipend and concessional loan for taking up an alternative occupation on sustainable basis.

This information was given by the Minister of State, Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha here today.

 

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AKP/ASB