The new bill on rehabilitating manual scavengers fails to learn from failures of past acts. Do you agree with this view? Comment (200 Words)
Refer - The Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· The Bill based on this Action Plan emphasises on the eradication of manual scavenging in India through complete mechanisation of sewer cleaning.
· This not only includes stricter measures for the protection of manual scavengers in terms of provision of safety gears but also stricter enforcement of compensation regulations in cases of sewer deaths.
· The National Scheme of Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers (NSLRS, 1992) and SRMS, 2001 lay emphasis on skill development procedures. They talk of providing jobs but there is no provision of hand holding people who are targeted for such rehabilitation.
· Even, compensation varies after the death of a sewer worker without any concrete explanation of the estimation of the provided compensation. There is no provision of legal consultation, pension provisions or insurance cover in these schemes making the restoration and rehabilitation procedure more fractured than ever even after the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers Act, 2013 that focused more on rehabilitation than the previous Acts.
· The important thing is these Acts and schemes should also focus on all other categorisation of sanitation workers like the faecal sludge handlers, sewage treatment plant sanitation workers, toilet sanitation workers (community, public, school, domestic household further classified into dry/wet handling etc.
· The “contractual employment system” that perpetuates unregulated contractual hiring fails the existing Acts because unless there is a clear cut reassessment of this system, the number of cases of sewer deaths will keep increasing.
· The lack of licensing, accountability and enforcement of the punishment of the third parties make the movements to eradicate manual scavenging in India weak. Unless we revisit this system, no Act or Scheme will help in the absolute eradication of manual scavenging in India.
