Manual Scavenging needs to be defined, analysed and remedied
Manual Scavenging is far worse than Hazardous work and wet-sanitation is a necessity too. Ask anyone to touch explosives Vs a bowl full of drain water to know the difference between Manual Scavenging and Hazardous work. If creating ambiguity is a means to shirk responsibility, the effort isn’t well meaning. Manual Scavenging can be defined scientifically with a simple biological test as, ‘Exposure of a human being to waste material that contains E-Coli’. Importantly, the idea that dirt in the drain has value enough to generate profit and will take the hapless Manual Scavenger higher up in income and society is a farce. The litmus test of such a thought is confirmed by the absence of investment interest of VCs in wet-sanitation sector. Manual Scavenging can go away only by structured financial support to the Mechanized Sanitation and helping private sector in their efforts to change ‘Manual Scavengers into Sanitation Equipment operators’.
