The Status of Manual Scavengers in India: A Legal Perspective Analysis on the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Rehabilitation Act (Pemsr)

After several decades of Independence, India is still struggling to extinguish the inhumane practice of manual scavenging completely. Many legislations were enacted to ensure an equitable society, but the scavenging communities are looking for change. Ironically, the Government of India took notice of manual scavenging in 1993, and recently, in 2013, state passed a dedicated legislation prohibiting the inhumane practice of manual scavenging. It is a long-awaited expectation of the manual scavengers and it is now imperative to analyse the status and impact of the implementation. This paper aims to study the status of Manual Scavenging in India to investigate the legal perspectives on implementing the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013.