“I have never liked picking up shit with my bare hands. Who in the world would? Society does not respect us. It is our fate. If I was born in an upper caste family I wouldn’t be a manual scavenger. But you’re born according to God’s wish, not your own wish or liking,” said Rajeshwari, 38, who collects human excreta from dry toilets for a living.
She has been a manual scavenger ever since her marriage, as was her mother-in-law. She is one of the five women in Bharatpur village, in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahajanpur district, who are yet to receive the relief package but are listed as rehabilitated nonetheless. The Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers Act (SRMS) was introduced in January, 2007 with the objective of rehabilitating manual scavengers and their dependents in alternative occupations. In 2013, a revised version of the SRMS was introduced. The revised version identified manual scavengers, and one from each family is provided a one-time cash assistance.
Lakshmi Devi, 37, is another manual scavenger who spoke about her removing waste with their bare hands and having to dispose it. “But then we stopped. The stench was unbearable,” she said, adding that her children felt ashamed of the work they did. Add to this was the ostracisation from the rest of the village.
A survey conducted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on January 10 identified 12,522 people across the country still engaged in manual scavenging. Of the total, nearly 80 per cent are women, and mainly in Uttar Pradesh. It is the only state with an overwhelming number (9,882) of female manual scavengers.
While male manual scavengers have been sometimes able to quit and move to urban areas to seek other forms of employment, women however, do not have that luxury of mobility and freedom. Many female manual scavengers are married and have children and families to support, especially when the men move on to urban pastures.
Traditionally, the task of removing biological waste has been relegated to those Hinduism describes as the low. Acknowledging the demeaning nature of the work, employing people for manual scavenging was banned in the country in 1993. The National Human Rights Commission noted in their 2011 Know Your Rights series called “Human Rights and Manual Scavenging” that:
“Despite laws banning dry latrines and the carrying of human excreta, thousands of people still make their livelihood this way, sometimes even working in government departments. Though the Central Government has made several schemes for this purpose and some States have taken very strong steps to eradicate such practice, there are still reports of the continuance of the practice and the failure of the State Governments in keeping their commitments.”
The New York-based Human Rights Watch claimed in a recent report that manual scavengers often face threats of violence, eviction and non-payment of wages if they attempt to quit or seek other forms of employment.
To assist Dalit families in quitting scavenging, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment offers a one-time aid of Rs 40,000 along with skill development training. Between fiscal years 2014 and 2016, Rs 21 crore were spent towards relief packages in Uttar Pradesh, according to the government’s statement in the Lok Sabha. Reportedly, about 52 per cent of the manual scavengers identified in the northern state were given financial aid.
However, there are still some who have yet to receive this aid. Government records show that 12 families in Bharatpur village (Shahjahanpur district) that had at least one manual scavenger were given the relief package. In reality, only seven families had received assistance.
Rajeshwari said that had she actually received Rs 40,000, she’d have stopped immediately.

One of the beneficiaries, Kanta, who worked as a manual scavenger until a year ago, said she could stop as soon as she received financial aid. Her husband, Chandrapal, claimed that the upper caste families in their village didn’t want lower caste people to work for them, which is why men like him have to go to cities and towns for work. While they do send money back home, the women have little choice but to continue scavenging.
Jitendra Gupta, the pradhaan of Bharatpur, said he planned to take up the case of those families who have not received aid. He said he wanted to put an end to manual scavenging in his village, contending that just because one was born to a particular caste shouldn’t imply they are doomed to a job that robs them of dignity.
Describing the importance of the Rs 40,000 aid, he said some beneficiaries had migrated to other places in search of work. Two rehabilitated families have opened a general merchant shop and are doing well and one owns a bicycle repair shop. Others work as labourers in fields or at a nearby sugar mill, he said.
Bharatpur is far from the only village where government data is inconsistent with reality. The records say one Leelavati, had been paid Rs 40,000 in aid in Budhiya village. However, the village pradhaan Sunil Kumar said that there was nobody with this name in the village. He said there had been a family engaged in manual scavenging, but they had quit eight years ago.
Manual scavengers are exposed to an array of health hazards: harmful gases, cardiovascular degeneration, musculoskeletal disorders, infections, skin problems and respiratory diseases. Entering manholes without an oxygen cylinder is extremely risky, as these manholes have a high amount of carbon monoxide, which can cause death. The Safai Karmchari Andolan–a human rights organisation campaigning for the eradication of manual scavenging–alleged that more than 1,327 manual scavengers have died due to the hazardous nature of the work over the past couple of years.
VK Rawat, convener of Uttar Pradesh’s Dalit Soshan Mukti Morcha, said political parties and governments have always seen Dalits as just a vote-bank.
“Every day you read of deaths owing to suffocation while cleaning the toilet chambers. Has the government really worked on ground? I do not think so. We’re just a vote-bank. Even today we’re considered untouchable,” he alleged.
Of the 35 states and Union territories, 22 have claimed there is not a single manual scavenger. This, despite the huge number of insanitary toilets (which are not connected to a sewerage system and can be cleaned only by manually emptying the pit in which the excreta goes) still in use.
According to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, there are 13 lakh insanitary latrines in India and more than two lakh insanitary latrines are cleaned manually.
Information obtained through the Right To Information act revealed that over the last 35 years, Rs 2.8 lakh crore of the amount allocated for the upliftment of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes remained unspent. More recently, after the NDA formed the government at the Centre, as much as Rs 32,979 crore allocated for the upliftment of lower caste people remained unused in 2014-15.
The government aims to eradicate the twin evils of insanitary latrines and manual scavenging by 2019, but how this target will be achieved remains to be seen.