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Death of sanitation workers
Why is it in the news?
- Recently seven people died in Gujarat's Vadodara while cleaning a septic tank.
- They died of suffocation after inhaling toxic fumes while cleaning the septic tank outside a hotel in Dabhoi taluk.
Manual Scavenging in India
- Manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling in any manner, human excreta from dry latrines and sewers.
- It often involves using the most basic of tools such as buckets, brooms and baskets.
- Manual scavengers are amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in India.
- In 1993, India banned the employment of people as manual scavengers.
- In 2013, landmark new legislation in the form of the Manual Scavengers Act was passed which seeks to reinforce this ban by prohibiting manual scavenging in all forms.
- It also ensures the rehabilitation of manual scavengers to be identified through a mandatory survey.
Source
The Hindu.