Chennai, May 13, 2013: The death of two workers in a sewage tank in Chennai revives the call for the eradication of manual scavenging. By R. ILANGOVAN
THAT manual scavenging continues to be a national shame became evident once again when two Dalits died of asphyxiation while cleaning a sewage tank in a private hotel in Chennai in Tamil Nadu on April 20. Shekar (45) and Robert (47) were the latest casualties of the abhorrent system of workers entering drains to clear blocks manually.

Feb 2013: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, vide its order no. 19014/12/2011-SCD-IV dated 4.4.2012 constituted a Committee for recommending modalities for conducting a survey of manual scavengers and their dependents, in the light of data available as per Census 2011, and the socio economic and caste census (rural), currently underway, under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and the Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as its co-chair. Committee submitted its report on 19.6.2012.

New Delhi, May 1, 2013: The government today approved amendments to a bill that seeks to eradicate manual scavenging.The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved official amendments to The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012.

Pune, Apr 30, 2013: Contrary to the state government's claim that Maharashtra does not have manual scavengers, Census 2011 has found a high prevalence of this revolting practice in many districts.

Aurangabad, Apr 19, 2013: As per the directives of the Supreme Court, the AMC has to collect the data of all persons involved in manual scavenging and submit it to the state by May 25.
The nodal officer of the survey and the chief animal husbandry officer in the AMC, B S Naikwade, on Thursday said that the state had directed the administration to give a report on whether the city is free from manual scavenging.

Puducherry, Apr 15, 2013: As many as 101 activists of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam were arrested following an attempt to march towards the railway station here demanding that the central government and railways enforce a total ban on manual scavenging.
The activists, who began march from Anna statue, were stopped by the police. The police then arrested them and released them later.
TPDK leader, M Ilango, said that manual scavenging is still practised in Indian Railways despite a ban on it since the introduction of the Act in 1993.

Hyderabad, Mar 29, 2013: Activism in India these days have become a style statement but very few care to put their feet in the filth of manual scavenging, or dare to act to eradicate the worst kind of human and civil rights violation.
Millions of Dalit’s across India are employed and often forced due to their caste hierarchy to clean animal or human waste/excreta (night soil) using brooms, tin plates and baskets from dry latrines.

Lucknow, Mar 6, 2013: For more than 35 years, MeeraDevi cleared human excreta from some 25 houses in her native village Mungera in Jalaun. All she got for the dirty job was left over food, used tattered clothes and woolies or a handful of food grain. In case of a wedding in the employer's family, she would get sweets and 'baksheesh'. She accepted all this as destiny till she met LaliBai, a human scavenger turned activist from Madhya Pradesh working to abolish the 'sin against humanity'.

New Delhi, Feb 18, 2013: Census 2011 has reported an existence of 12.76 household with insanitary latrines in rural areas of the country. These include 3.72 lakh households having latrines in  which night soil is disposed into open drain and 3.18 lakh households in which latrines are serviced by animals beside 5.86 lakh households in which latrines are serviced by human beings (dry latines).

New Delhi, Mar 4, 2013: Students from the prestigious Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) aren't just about number-crunching. They use social entrepreneurship to help underprivileged people in the national capital from facilitating micro-credit for autorickshaw drivers to reaching out and arranging vocational training to puppeteers, manual scavengers to helping manual scavengers earn a decent living.
Three months ago, debt-ridden Mangu was finding it difficult to make ends meet. Burdened by an immense debt from the contractor, his rickshaw rent outdid his earnings.