Manual scavenging in India persists as structural injustice of caste and governance

The study reframes sanitation worker deaths as structural killings, not isolated accidents. By linking these deaths to entrenched caste hierarchies, inadequate urban infrastructure, and governance failures, The author calls for a rethinking of how responsibility is assigned in cases of occupational death.

Manual scavenging, the hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, continues to claim lives in Indian cities despite being outlawed for decades. A paper, titled “Dying to Breathe: Caste, Law, and the Urban Political Ecology of Manual Scavenging in India” and published in EPE: Nature and Space, argues that the persistence of this practice is rooted in the intersection of caste discrimination, weak legal enforcement, and the fragmented urban governance of sanitation.

The author positions the Indian state as simultaneously prosecutor, perpetrator, and employer in the manual scavenging regime. The study shows that preventable deaths of Dalit workers in sewers and septic tanks are not tragic accidents but predictable outcomes of systemic negligence and entrenched inequality.

Caste and the urban political ecology of sanitation

Manual scavenging remains overwhelmingly borne by Dalits, particularly marginalized sub-castes historically relegated to sanitation work. Despite constitutional guarantees and modernization of urban infrastructure, this division of labor persists, with Dalits continuing to perform the most dangerous and stigmatized sanitation tasks.

The author situates this within an urban political ecology, showing how the growth of septic tanks, privatization of waste management, and outsourcing of sanitation services have merely shifted rather than eliminated the hazardous labor. These infrastructural and governance choices perpetuate what the author calls “environmental casteism”, wherein marginalized workers are exposed to sewage, toxic gases, and deadly working conditions while remaining invisible in official statistics.

The study argues that urban development policies often mask rather than dismantle caste-based labor hierarchies. The expansion of informal septic cleaning markets and contractual labor deepens precarity, leaving workers without protection, secure wages, or access to safety equipment.

Law, definitions, and the erosion of accountability

The analysis shows how legislation meant to eradicate manual scavenging has been undermined by both design and practice. The 1993 Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act and the 2013 Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act criminalize the practice and mandate worker rehabilitation. Yet, definitional loopholes, inconsistent enforcement, and insufficient funding have allowed the state to claim progress while hazardous work continues.

Lethal work inside sewers and septic tanks is often classified as “hazardous cleaning” rather than “manual scavenging.” This distinction enables authorities to report negligible deaths due to manual scavenging, even as workers die in sewer operations handling human waste. The Supreme Court has criticized this artificial separation, noting that both categories involve human excreta and that treating them differently violates principles of equality.

The paper also traces systematic undercounting of manual scavengers and related deaths. Official numbers often fall far below estimates by independent organizations and advocacy groups. The discontinuation of crime data collection on manual scavenging deaths after 2017 further weakens transparency and limits the scope for prosecution and policy action.

Contracting and the structural nature of death

The author argues that outsourcing sanitation services to private contractors is a central mechanism that perpetuates hazardous work and obscures state responsibility. While municipal authorities and public bodies such as the Indian Railways depend on Dalit labor to maintain urban sanitation, contracting fragments accountability. It lowers wages, strips workers of benefits, and makes it harder to hold employers responsible for violations of legal bans or for fatalities.

The study reframes sanitation worker deaths as structural killings, not isolated accidents. By linking these deaths to entrenched caste hierarchies, inadequate urban infrastructure, and governance failures, The author calls for a rethinking of how responsibility is assigned in cases of occupational death.

The research points to the contradiction at the heart of urban modernization: while cities expand and upgrade infrastructure, they continue to rely on the same caste-based labor systems that expose marginalized workers to toxic, life-threatening conditions.

Toward accountability and structural reform

The work argues for a multi-pronged response that addresses both the social and infrastructural dimensions of the crisis. This includes:

• Closing definitional loopholes and counting all categories of sanitation work that involve handling human waste.
• Restoring transparent data collection on deaths and injuries and recognizing them as state failures requiring legal accountability.
• Investing in mechanized cleaning technologies, protective gear, and proper training to replace manual entry into sewers and septic tanks.
• Reforming contracting practices to ensure fair wages, benefits, and legal protections for workers.
• Embedding anti-caste commitments directly in policy and urban governance, tackling the root social hierarchies that perpetuate the problem.

The study stresses that manual scavenging is not a remnant of the past but an ongoing feature of India’s urban landscape. It underscores that solving this crisis requires more than technology or legal prohibitions; it demands dismantling the intertwined systems of caste, law, and governance that sustain it.