The Overlooked Price of Keeping India Clean
Nirnaya Bhatta Dhanya Gopal
Nirnaya Bhatta
Dhanya Gopal
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Abstract
Despite the outlawing of the practice of manual scavenging in India via the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (prohibition) Act, 1993, a 2002 to 2003 Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment survey identified 676,009 manual scavengers still working in the country. Of these, 95% belonged to the marginalized Dalit communities. India’s caste-based intergenerational system still played a role in allocating different professions. This case study examines the underlying forces that drove this outlawed practice and identifies the role of the market, institutions, and societal norms in its continued prevalence.
Keywords
India, manual scavenging, caste system, social mobility, health and safety, sanitation
Source Title
Publisher
Series/Report No.
LKYSPP Case Writing Competition; 2018
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Date
2019-03-19
DOI
10.25818/qbx2-at48
Type
Case Study