Stench of Manual Scavenging: History of Pride, Politics and Practical Brahmanism

From the traditional or religious texts to the centuries of internalized oppression, manual scavenging is the stench of social injustice pervading the legal rights and obligations of a certain section of Indian citizens. The menial job of cleaning human excreta, sewers, and streets was imposed on the Dalits to the extent of blinding them to the injustice and considering the job as their custom, inheritance, and even pride. Today, despite the practice being legally banned, discrimination against manual scavengers continues to pervade the generations. This paper is a comparative study of the practice of manual scavenging in pre-independent India and post-independent India to show the continued existence of manual scavenging for more than 70 years. The paper asserts that the framing of anti-scavenging laws or improving sanitation alone cannot remove manual scavenging. There is also a need to render the practice as inhumane, not just illegal.