A Job No One Wants To Do
In the bustling city of Delhi, every day starts the same way for 51-year-old Parmeshwar. He gets ready for work and prays to the Gods. Gathering his tools—a bamboo stick, a metal rod, and a hammer—he bids farewell to his wife and children and sets off for the day. He already has a list of customers who need his services. His workplace is not some fancy office or a workshop, but a choked sewer drain in a small lane. Today’s drain is particularly challenging, and he has been unable to reach the blockage using his tools, giving him no choice but to go down the drain himself without proper safety gear. This is the most dangerous part of his day and a lot can go wrong. Parmeshwar shares his fears:
When I leave my house in the morning, my children don’t know if I will make it back home alive. A sewer cap can crush my foot and break my leg. I can get poisoned by gas, or I can suffocate and die in the sever. My hands get scratched, I get cuts from mirrors and my elbows get scraped all the time. A lot of my neighbors who used to work in the sewers have died too. I feel awful as I climb down. I wonder what my life has become, and I feel that I am diving down into hell to make a living.”
More than 5000 miles of sewer lines stretch across India’s capital and surrounding area and Parmeshwar’s story is not uncommon, it underscores the harsh reality faced by several high-risk sanitation workers across India.
Hazardous Working Conditions and Meager Pays
A study by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences showed that 80% of sewer workers die by the age of 60. Unsafe sanitation works loosely captured under the catch-all phrase ‘manual scavenging’-still exists in India. A 2017 study by Dalberg estimates that over 5 million people are employed in sanitation work of some sort, with about 2 million of them working in high-risk condition. Official government numbers from the 2011 census show ~1,82,505 families identify themselves as manual scavengers. Sanitation workers in high-risk condition such as sewer cleaning are exposed to harmful gases like methane, hydrogen sulphide, and ammonia. These gases can cause respiratory problems, asphyxiation, and even death. In a Lok Sabha session, the Union Minister for Social Justice and Employment reported that between 2018 and 2023, 339 people lost their lives while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India. Unlike corporate high-risk jobs that come with high pay, most sanitation workers earn only the bare minimum wages. The situation is worse for contract workers, even those working on government tenders. The death of 3 contract sanitation workers who choked on toxic gases inside a narrow sewer line in Noida highlighted this plight. Private contractors, often hired through e-tenders awarded to the lowest bidders, do not provide their workers with any fixed payroll and instead pay them daily wages. Most of these workers live in slums and are generally at the mercy of their contractors and go into sewer lines without any safety belt, gas cylinder or gas mask. They are usually unaware of the risks and take on these jobs for a petty sum of Rs 200-Rs 250. These meagre earnings barely cover basic needs, pushing workers and their families into a cycle of poverty
The Legal Framework: A Promise Unfulfilled
India’s constitution guarantees the right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the constitution yet the plight of sanitation workers starkly contradicts these principles. Given the dangerous nature of their work and the clear violation of dignity and human rights involved in manual scavenging, the Indian government banned this kind of work under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. This act prohibits the employment of manual scavengers, the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective equipment, and the construction of insanitary latrines. It seeks to rehabilitate manual scavengers through alternative employment.
Section 2 (g) (b) of the act mentions that “a person engaged or employed to clean excreta with the help of such devices and using such protective gear, as the central government may notify in this behalf, shall not be deemed to be a manual scavenger.”
However, what constitutes protective gear is not clearly defined. It could just be a helmet, or a mask, or only gumboots. A worker may be provided only a safety belt but not the helmet, waterproof apron, or headgear. It defeats the whole purpose of safety from hazardous work and does nothing to maintain the dignity of a sewer worker
The Root Causes: A Systemic Crisis
The issue of manual scavenging in India is a multifaceted problem rooted in deep systemic issues. Several factors contribute to the persistence of this practice despite legal prohibitions and social advancements
Way Forward: Ensuring Dignity and Rights
To eliminate manual scavenging and ensure the dignity and rights of sanitation workers, a multifaceted approach is required.
领英推荐
At the end of the day, Parmeshwar unwinds with his wife and 3 children. They want him to quit because they have seen him suffer. His children have witnessed him come home injured and covered in bandages. They plead
“Dad, please find another job. This work is not good”.
His wife,Bhumika is also weary of the discrimination.
“People point out and say that this is the family of sewer cleaners and I have to lower my eyes after I hear something like that. I feel embarrassed when I discuss his work because people feel disgusted that he cleans sewers”.
However, despite this Parmeshwar feels he has no other choice.
“Sometimes we run out of flour because of lack of work, but I do not have any other choice because I don’t know anything else”.
Both Parmeshwar and Bhumika know one thing for sure, that they want different lives for their children. He says
"I pray that my children get educated and don’t become laborers like me"
All of us have encountered unsung heroes like Parmeshwar, who sustain our daily lives yet suffer in silence, their contributions unacknowledged and their rights ignored. Writing this article was challenging, not only because of the distressing stories but also due to the realization of how deeply embedded these issues are in our society. It also made me confront my own privilege and the ease with which I overlook these harsh realities. If this article has made you think about this aspect of our society and empathize with the sanitation workers, then it has achieved its purpose. Ultimately, a society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members. For India to become a more inclusive and just society, it must start by recognizing and uplifting its sanitation workers.
Sources, References and Documentaries:
Student at Annamalai University, Annamalainagar
8 个月A very well put article highlighting the plight of? people engaged in Manual scavenging. Manual scavenging is still a sore of Indian society. Govt. and NGOs have to make a concerted effort to eliminate this scourge from society and also ensure to provide alternative sources of livelihood for these downtrodden and outcast members of society .
Senior AVP, Analytics & Data science @ HSBC | Data Analytics Expertise | Exec MBA@IIMB
8 个月Very detailed article on a serious problem, I like you put in potential solutions instead of only stating the problems. There was a startup that came on shark tank with a solution to this problem. Also had read news about Delhi govt procuring machines to end manual scavenging, but don’t know the reality on the ground.
Learn,Improve,Lead,Disrupt
8 个月Very insightful article , no change in this sector and no strikes for this violation. Providing protective suits and gas mask shouldnt take 77 years of independence