Officials claim those identified as manual scavengers may not be practising & govt aid is to remove stigma. But experts say it is still prevalent due to poor infra in urban, rural areas.
The new bill is still awaiting cabinet approval. It proposes to completely mechanise the process of cleaning sewers and septic tanks, among other changes.
'Swachhata Abhiyan' app launched in December will operate till May. Social justice ministry hopes to identify undocumented manual scavengers for rehabilitation.
Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, proposes to completely mechanise the process of cleaning sewers and septic tanks.
The absence of a statutory obligation to provide sanitation services by state agencies creates a situation where the rights of manual scavengers hang in the air.
Number of manual scavengers in India had come down from nearly 8 lakh in 2003 to about 13,000 in 2013. But despite Swachh Bharat, this figure shot up to 42,303 in 2018.
Modi government needs to extend the scope of the Swachh Bharat campaign and improve sanitation keeping in mind that many sanitation workers are Dalits.
Canada faces serious foreign interference issues, but these challenges must not be weaponized to unfairly target friendly and important allies like India.
In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.
Among 19 Indian firms sanctioned by US Treasury Dept was Lokesh Machines Ltd accused of coordinating with 'Russian defence procurement agent to import Italy-origin CNC machines'.
While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.
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