NL Interviews: Bezwada Wilson talks on the perils of dealing with ‘shit’

Born to a Dalit family in Karnataka’s Kolar gold fields, Bezwada Wilson has led a long fight against the practice of manual scavenging in India and this week, he received a very special recognition for his efforts. On July 27, Wilson was named for the Ramon Magsaysay Award, 2016, for “reclaiming the human dignity of Dalits”.

Wilson started his Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) in 1995 to bring together people who have been in the ‘traditional’ profession of collecting night soil, and to eradicate the practice of manual scavenging. The practice was declared outlawed with The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, and later with The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, but despite this, it continues in many parts of the country.

In 2015, SKA organised the Bhim Yatra, in which manual scavengers undertook a 125-day bus journey across 500 districts to raise awareness and mobilise support for their movement.

Watch Wilson in conversation with Biraj Swain, Consulting Editor to Newslaundry as he talks about his family’s employment as manual scavengers, his decades-long fight against this shameful practice and his thoughts on the central government’s flagship programme on sanitation.