Social justice is the aspiration of the Indian Constitution that it strives to achieve. The Constitution mandates the state to ensure and secure social justice and order based on equal opportunity so that it is not denied to any citizen on any grounds. When we examine the country based on five basic indicators of poverty, inequality, employment, violence, and atrocities, the numbers are indicative of the marginalization of communities such as the Dalits and Adivasis, leading to widening inequalities.
‘Entitlements to economic rights become narrower and narrower the farther down the hierarchical ladders of the caste system. Without intervention, classically untouchables, or Dalits, who lie at the very bottom of the social order, find themselves restricted to the most despised occupations and the lowest wages’ writes Katherine S. Newman and Sukhadeo Thorat.
Discrimination, exclusion, inequality, and the system of untouchability based on caste continue to operate and thrive very securely in the country. Despite formal legal protection by the law, discriminatory norms continue to be reinforced by the state and non-state actors often through violence. There are very strong caste divisions between Dalits and other caste groups in housing, religious practices, employment, and marriage, among many others. The incidence of violence against the Dalit has not shown a decline and remains persistent in different forms like murder, individual and gang rape, physical assault, verbal abuse, naked parading, and so forth.
Exclusion and discrimination are not only visible in the civic and political spheres but also in the economic sphere, particularly in terms of occupation, labor employment, and market arrangement. Dalits are often restricted to particular kinds of occupations often considered polluting with low wages and with very less options of mobility.
Manual scavenging is one of the definitive examples reflecting their economic position in the labor market. Based on the caste hierarchy, Dalits make up the majority of the manual scavengers in the country, out of which Dalit women are seen in huge numbers. The entrenched concept of pollution and discrimination connected with manual scavenging makes it difficult for them to find any alternative livelihood opportunities pushing them into the age-old vicious circle of poverty and exclusion.
In our country, the accurate figure related to the population of persons engaged in manual scavenging is a subject of dispute. So, the real picture is away from the public view.
In India, it is sad to note that over the last few years, the deaths of sewage workers have increased, with 634 deaths related to manual scavenging recorded in the last twenty-five years. As per the data provided by Safai Karamchari Andolan roughly 45 deaths are reported annually in India while admitting that many of them even go unreported. With a lack of minimum wages, lack of protective gear, absence of alternate economic opportunities, social security, and health risks the practise of manual scavenging poses serious questions on the human rights situation in our country.
