Tweet
Manual scavenging: Idle States irk SC
Out of the country’s over 24 crore households, human waste from 7.94 lakh insanitary (open) latrines are serviced by humans. But the shocking story of how human excreta get disposed does not end here.
There is an equally strong army of animals, led mainly by pigs, which renders free service to mop up the defecated matter from roughly five lakh households in the country.
On a day when the Centre introduced the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill 2012 in Parliament, a report was tabled before the Supreme Court on the extent of manual scavenging in the country.
The report was submitted before a bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and SJ Mukhopadhaya on Monday by NGO Safai Karamchari Andolan, which has spearheaded a PIL since 2003 for a complete ban on the dehumanising practice of manual scavenging.
Senior advocate PS Narasimha, who prepared the State and district-wise tally based on the Census figures of 2011, informed the court that a total of 7,94,390 households are currently being catered by human waste-carriers with their major presence in Uttar Pradesh (3,26,082), Jammu and Kashmir (1,78,443), West Bengal (1,30,330), Tamil Nadu (27,659), and Odisha (26,496). Besides human scavengers the majority of the waste as nightsoil get dumped into open drains (1314652) leaving the deficit 4,97,236 households at the mercy of the animals.
In seven States, the contribution of animals was found to be significantly large compared to human scavengers. These included Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. In some States animals’ contribution is comparable to that of humans, for instance Tamil Nadu and Odisha where the former has 27,659 open latrines serviced manually and 26020 by humans. The corresponding figures for Odisha were 26,496 and 24,222.
The court had directed all States to supply details on manual scavengers but UP, MP, Bihar and J&K failed to supply the data. Furious over the attitude of the States, the court directed the Health/Social Welfare Secretaries of the States to deposit a fine of `10,000 for non-compliance of its order and directed them to be present in court on the next date of hearing, after four weeks.
Out of the country’s over 24 crore households, human waste from 7.94 lakh insanitary (open) latrines are serviced by humans. But the shocking story of how human excreta get disposed does not end here.
There is an equally strong army of animals, led mainly by pigs, which renders free service to mop up the defecated matter from roughly five lakh households in the country.
On a day when the Centre introduced the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill 2012 in Parliament, a report was tabled before the Supreme Court on the extent of manual scavenging in the country.
The report was submitted before a bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and SJ Mukhopadhaya on Monday by NGO Safai Karamchari Andolan, which has spearheaded a PIL since 2003 for a complete ban on the dehumanising practice of manual scavenging.
Senior advocate PS Narasimha, who prepared the State and district-wise tally based on the Census figures of 2011, informed the court that a total of 7,94,390 households are currently being catered by human waste-carriers with their major presence in Uttar Pradesh (3,26,082), Jammu and Kashmir (1,78,443), West Bengal (1,30,330), Tamil Nadu (27,659), and Odisha (26,496). Besides human scavengers the majority of the waste as nightsoil get dumped into open drains (1314652) leaving the deficit 4,97,236 households at the mercy of the animals.
In seven States, the contribution of animals was found to be significantly large compared to human scavengers. These included Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. In some States animals’ contribution is comparable to that of humans, for instance Tamil Nadu and Odisha where the former has 27,659 open latrines serviced manually and 26020 by humans. The corresponding figures for Odisha were 26,496 and 24,222.
The court had directed all States to supply details on manual scavengers but UP, MP, Bihar and J&K failed to supply the data. Furious over the attitude of the States, the court directed the Health/Social Welfare Secretaries of the States to deposit a fine of `10,000 for non-compliance of its order and directed them to be present in court on the next date of hearing, after four weeks.
