AUTHORED BY: GAURAV PURI (MANAGING PARTNER, GLS LAW OFFICES)
RAINA MAHAPATRA (TRAINEE SOLICITOR (CDR), EVERSHEDS SUTHERLAND INTERNATIONAL LLP)
ABSTRACT
Manual Scavenging is an age old archaic practice in India. It originates from the times of Ancient India and had been imbedded as a part of our culture. Even though, the Indian Constitution imbedded the abolition of untouchability as a Fundamental Right, the practice did not come to an end. The work of Manual Scavengers always fell to the lowest caste in the Indian social-strata leading to multiple deaths and exploitation. Therefore, legislative measures were taken by successive governments to tackle the issue of Manual Scavenging and uphold the right to life and personal liberty. Even today, with legislations in place we see that the issue of manual scavenging has not ceased to exist and till now we have instances of health hazards and deaths due to the exploitative practice.
The Author in this paper studies the current legislative effort in the form of a comment i.e. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The study deals with the problem of manual scavenging and the history of the legislative actions taken by the government. The paper concludes by talking about the effectiveness of the act and the loopholes that the act must fill for proper implementation.
Keywords: Manual Scavenging, Untouchability, Prohibition, Rehabilitation
Published in: LEX HUMANITARIAE: JOURNAL FOR A CHANGE (ISSN: 2582-5216), VOLUME I ISSUE II, APRIL 2020
PDF Link: https://www.glslawoffices.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/lex-humantariae_vol-1-issue-ii.pdf