New Delhi: 20th February, 2014

The National Human Rights Commission has been deeply concerned about the inhuman and degrading practice of manual handling of night soil, which, it understands, is prevalent even today in certain parts of the country despite the Central Government notifying the 'Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993'. The Commission considers this to be an affront to human dignity and one of the major causes of social evil.
The Commission has taken up the issue of manual scavenging with the Government. The Chairpersons, NHRC wrote letters to the Prime Mister, concerned Ministers and Chief Ministers of States urging that steps be taken for replacing dry latrines wherever they existed, with flush latrines and stressing the fact that for implementation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, concrete measures were needed.
It is disconcerting to note that total eradication of this social evil is far from achieved even after the Planning Commission formulating a National Action Plan for total eradication of Manual Scavenging by 2007. The Census of India, 2011 has established that the inhuman practice of manual scavenging is still continuing in India.
According to the census data there still are 7,94,390 dry latrines in the country where the human excreta is cleaned manually. 73 per cent of these are in rural areas whereas 27 per cent are in urban areas. Apart from these, there are 13,14,652 toilets where the human excreta is flushed in open drains. In all, there are more than 26 lakh (2.6 million) dry latrines in the country where the practice of manual scavenging is still prevalent.
The Central Government has been implementing two schemes, namely, the Integrated Low Cost Sanitation Scheme (ILCS) since 1981 and the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) since 2007. ILCS seeks to provide funds to poor urban households to convert dry latrines to water flush latrines. SRMS was launched to provide manual scavengers with skill training, loan and subsidy for undertaking alternative occupations. However, there has been no material change in the conditions of manual scavengers.
The Commission has held a number of meetings with the representatives of the Central and State Governments and other stakeholders in this regard from time to time emphasizing upon a holistic approach for ending this menace.
The last review workshop on Manual Scavenging and Sanitation was held in New Delhi on the 11th March, 2011 under the Chairmanship of Justice Shri K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, NHRC and the recommendations emerged from the detailed deliberations were sent to the Central/State Governments to take necessary action and send action taken report.
Only 19 States/UTs have certified that the practice of manual handling of night soil is not prevalent in their States/UTs. These States/UTs are Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Manipur, Odisha, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Kerala and UTs of Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and NCT of Delhi.
The States/UTs of Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarkhand (except Pithoragarh district which is free from manual scavenging), West Bengal, Gujarat, Punjab, UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu are yet to submit their action taken report to the Commission.
In this background, the Commission is organising a day-long National Conference on Manual Scavenging and Sanitation on the 21st February, 2014 at the Vigyan Bhawan Annexe. The Conference will take up issues related to effective implementation of the recently passed Prohibition of employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and also provide inputs for framing model rules based on the Act. The objectives of the National Conference will be to:
1. discuss the status of compliance of recommendations pursuant to the National Workshop organised by the NHRC on the 11th March, 2011 regarding eradication of Manual Scavenging and review the steps taken by Central and State authorities and other organisations thereupon;
2. identification of gaps/constraints in implementation of rehabilitation schemes for people involved in manual scavenging and in order to facilitate eradication of the practice;
3. discuss strategies to make possible the complete and expeditious implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013; and
4. share best practices of States, Union Territories and non-governmental organisations and decide upon the future plan of action to eradicate manual scavenging.
The participants of the National Conference will be officers of concerned Union and State Ministries/Departments like Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, etc., Chairperson of National Commission for Safai Karmcharis; Chairpersons of National Commissions for SCs and STs; Chairman of Railway Board and Chairman and President of HUDCO. Besides, representatives of State Human Rights Commissions, Core Groups of NGOs and other organizations working for Dalits/SCs including representatives of Civil Society will also participate in the discussions.

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