Maila Mukti Yatra comes to an end
Posted: January 31, 2013 Filed under: Reports, Videos | Tags: asif sheik, Jan Sahas, Maila Mukti Yatra, Manual Scavenging, Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, safai karamchari, sanitation Leave a commentA two month long national campaign against manual scavenging, Maila Mukti Yatra has come to an end 31 January, 2013. The campaign went around the whole nation, appealing to women and men engaged in manual scavenging to leave the inhuman practice. We, the Forum Against Manual Scavenging (FAMS), have followed their campaign closely and believe that the persistence of manual scavenging and the State’s attempts to eradicate it must be looked at closely.
The act of manual scavenging has been practised for long, unfettered by the complacent strands of a society wedded to an abominable tradition. Manual scavenging as an occupation is entrenched in caste discrimination. We find that this is practiced as a form of untouchability in many places.
The practice is not only confined to cleaning human excreta. The people who clean the filth from urban sewer lines and the sweepers of railways are scavengers.
It is striking to find that economic backwardness has got little to do with the issue as some of the most deprived districts of India, for instance Dantewada and Bastar, according to Census 2011 (provisional data) show no dry latrines being serviced manually.
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Maila Mukti Yatra 2012-13
Posted: January 1, 2013 Filed under: Reports, tnlabour.in, Videos | Tags: Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, Forum Against Manual Scavenging, India, Jan Sahas, Maila Mukti Yatra, Manual Scavengers, Manual Scavenging, Prohibition and Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers Act, Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, sanitation, tnlabour.in Leave a comment
The Maila Mukti Yatra 2012-13 has passed its half-way mark at Kolar, Karnataka on 30 December 2012.
The Yatra began on 30 November from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and will conclude on 31 January at New Delhi.
The Yatra is led by women who have chosen to stop the inhuman work of disposing/managing human excreta i.e manual scavenging. Almost 100 such manual scavengers who have refused to continue this caste occupation are on this Yatra to urge others involved in such work to also stop. These women have organised themselves into an organisation called Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan.
At Chennai the Maila Mukti Yatra held a press conference and further they held community level discussions with people engaged in manual scavenging on 29 December. They met women and men manual scavengers at Pallavaram, Chennai.
The women from the Yatra urged the locals to leave this caste occupation and find other work. In the discussions the locals argued that their only source of livelihood was manual scavenging, and that they would starve if they did not do this work. The women on the Yatra narrated their experiences and explained that it was no doubt a struggle, but that it is essential if they want a dignified life for themselves and their children.
Their message is clear, “stop this degrading work, it has brought us no respect in society and we refuse to engage in manual scavenging“, in the words of Lali Bai, one of the women who has left scavenging and is a campaigner in the Yatra.
The Maila Mukti Yatra is in Karnataka now and will continue its journey through the villages, towns and cities of western India till it reaches Delhi on 31 January.
To support the cause and express solidarity with them please call this TOLL FREE number: (0) 9266638869
The following are links to petitions and more information about this cause and manual scavenging in general.
1. Petition appealing to the Prime Minister of India to eradicate manual scavenging.
3. Follow the Yatra on Facebook.
5. “Safai Karamcharis: Untouchable and unheard”
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*hit still happens…
Posted: December 13, 2012 Filed under: Videos | Tags: ACJ, Asian College of Journalism, Caste discrimination, Chennai, Chennai Central Railway Station, Dalits, FAMS, Forum Against Manual Scavenging, India, Indian Railways, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Manual Scavenging, MIDS, Sanitary Workers, Tamil Nadu Leave a comment
“Approximately 13000 trains run daily out of which 9000 are Passenger trains and 13 million passengers traveling every day. As per Nanda report the railways have cited several reasons for the delay, including prohibitive costs, with one estimate pegging the amount required for bio-toilets at Rs.1,600 crore. With the Indian Railways running a total of 50,000 coaches on date, of which 43,000 coaches are engaged in the passengers service, this means that there are a total of 1,72,000 toilets which are functioning today using technology which is completely unacceptable, in that it requires the use of manual scavengers to clean the human excreta which is directly discharged on to the railway tracks.” (Maila Mukti Yatra 2012-13)
Interviewer: Who cleans the shit when it falls down the train toilet?
Safai karamchari: People like us…
Interviewer: What do you feel about doing this work?
Safai karamchari: Nothing leave it…
In Chennai Central railway station alone, over two hundred sanitation workers are forced to engage in the dehumanising caste-based work of ‘manual scavenging’. This is unconstitutional and perpetuates a caste-based occupation like ‘manual scavenging.’
Documentary was made for Hindu Shutterbug 2012 by Forum Against Manual Scavenging (FAMS) along with Amit Kaur, Kokila, Abdul, Manoj and Sudarshan Ramani. For more information on the competition and to vote, visit www.thehindushutterbug.com
To know more and support the fight to eradicate ‘manual scavenging’ follow links below:
Online Petition: End the scourge of manual scavenging – NOW!
Read an earlier post on this blog, “Safai Karamcharis: Untouchable and Unheard”
Journalism School Blog 