Cleaning sewers and septic tanks is occupation-based, not caste-based activity: Centre
However, official data showed that Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes together accounted for nearly 92% of such workers.
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
Cleaning sewers and septic tanks is an “occupation-based activity” rather than caste-based work, the Centre claimed in Parliament on Tuesday.
However, data cited by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment showed that Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes together accounted for nearly 92% of sewer and septic tank workers. Those from the general category accounted for 8.05% of the workers.
Those from Scheduled Castes alone constituted 67.91% of the workers, followed by 15.73 from Other Backward Classes and 8.31% from Scheduled Tribes.
The government collected the data as part of a scheme named National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem, or NAMASTE. The stated aims of the scheme include ensuring zero fatalities in sanitation work, eliminating direct contact with human faecal matter, and providing workers with occupational safety training.
As part of the scheme, the government profiled and validated 54,574 persons who work in sewers and septic tanks, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Athwale was responding to a question from Congress MP Kuldeep Indora, who asked about the details of sanitation workers and the status of the NAMASTE scheme.
In his response, Athawale said that 16,791 personal protection equipment kits and 43 safety device kits were provided to sanitation workers...
