SWACCHA BHARAT MISSION: MANUAL SCAVENGING, A QUESTION OF HUMAN DIGNITY

Abstract [English]

Shree Bezwada Wilson, the activist of safaiKarmachariAndolan& recipient of the Magsaysay award for the year 2016 aptly says” I realized we are not doing scavenging because we are illiterate and poor. We are doing it because of the way society is organized” His fight is “When technology has advanced so much, why the work cannot be done mechanically?”  When India has committed to a massive Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan making country swaccha by 2nd October 2019, immediate inevitable need is to address the miserable plight of country’s manual scavengers and pay focused attention acknowledging the fact that manual scavenging is a question of human dignity rather than sanitation issues. Even after seven decades since Independence, it is a matter of national shame that thousands of scavenger families still live a socially degrading and inhuman life in the twenty-first century. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, struggled throughout his life to ameliorate the working and living conditions of this section of society and to restore to them their lost human dignity. This article briefly highlights the curse of manual scavenging, weaknesses of the 1993 Law and rehabilitation program, proposed new Bill and suggests Action Plan to liberate and rehabilitate manual scavengers by the end of 2019 by drawing appropriate Road Map.