Manual scavenging is not a career chosen voluntarily by workers, but is instead a deeply unhealthy, unsavoury and undignified job forced upon these people because of the stigma attached to their caste. The nature of the work itself then reinforces that stigma.1 Within the caste structure, Dalits who work as manual scavengers are usually from the Hindu Valmiki sub-caste, which is further subdivided into regionally named groups such as Chuhada, Rokhi, Mehatar, Malkana, Halalkhor, and Lalbegi, or the Muslim Hela sub caste.2 Prohibitation of manual scavengers to relieve them from inhuman, unhealthy and hateful practice of carrying human waste is a need of today. Indian Constitution provides various fundamental rights one of it is right to live with human dignity. But from adoption of constitution of India most violation of this right of manual scavengers happing that
is removing of human waste by human being.The dehumanizing practice of manual scavenging is closely interlinked with untouchability so to protect manual scavengers the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013 was enacted.Manual scavenging is rooted in caste and with very few exception, all the manual scavengers are from the Scheduled Castes. Manual scavenging is thus a caste based occupation, with a large majority of them being women The continuance of manual scavenging constitutes a gross violation of human rights and the worth of the human person and flies in the face of the Constitutional guarantee assured, in its very Preamble, of a life with dignity for every individual in the country.According to Government of India statistics, the states chosen have had the highest number of people engaged in manual scavenging3 Communities engaged as manual scavengers have distinct communal or caste names in various parts of the country.4
The government identifies those that belong to the most marginalized, so-called untouchable castes as Scheduled Castes, eligible for quotas in education and employment. Rights activists from the community refer to themselves as Dalits, literally “broken people.” However, many from manual scavenging communities also call themselves Harijan, a term used by Mohandas Gandhi to describe them as people of God.
Preamble to the Constitution contain that promoting among the citizens fraternity assuring the dignity of the individuals enshrined as one of the goal of government to be achieved and protected.
