Legislature on Eradication of Manual Scavenging

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013” (MS Act, 2013) has been enacted by the Parliament in September, 2013. The Act has come into force with effect from 6.12.2013 in whole of the country, except Jammu & Kashmir. This Act intends to, inter alia, achieve the following objectives:- i) Eliminate the insanitary latrines. ii) Prohibit:- a) Employment as Manual Scavengers b) Hazardous manual cleaning of sewer and septic tanks. iii) Survey of Manual Scavengers and their rehabilitation Central Government has revised the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers for rehabilitation of all the manual scavengers identified under the provisions of the MS Act, 2013. The main features of the Scheme include one-time cash assistance, training with stipend and concessional loans with subsidy for taking up alternative occupations to the target group. Under the Scheme a budget provision of Rs. 448 crore has been made for 2014-15. No expenditure has been incurred so far. This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha here today.