Title: Employing legal interventions and policies for the comprehensive abolition of manual scavenging practices

Authors: P. Satheesh; P.R.L. Rajavenkatesan

Addresses: VIT School of Law, Vellore Institute of Technology – Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600127, India ' VIT School of Law, Vellore Institute of Technology – Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600127, India

Abstract: Even after 74 years of independence and the enactment of the constitution of India, which is the highest law of the land and guarantees social justice and fundamental rights to every citizen of India, this is still a distant dream for some subsets of the people who make up society in India. Scavenging is caste-restricted. The Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment reported that 97% of manual scavengers are scheduled caste members, with rare exceptions (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, 2021). Manual scavenging breaches human dignity and ethical employment. Hand-scavenging is one of the most inhumane jobs today and one of the oldest types of caste discrimination. Manual scavenging causes untouchability. This study focused on manual scavengers, who often laboured for life for little pay. Most must work for minimal pay or risk losing their jobs. The running competition says job loss is the worst fear. The Indian Constitution guarantees the right to employment, including decent labour. Everybody can work. No one can stop Indians from working in any legal field. Despite decades of legal and political efforts to stop it, lower-class individuals are exploited and degraded for profit.

Keywords: discrimination; freedom to work; government; judicial; manual scavengers; untouchability; ethical employment; railway administrations; fundamental sanitary.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEF.2025.145260

International Journal of Electronic Finance, 2025 Vol.14 No.2, pp.246 - 261

Received: 19 Apr 2023
Accepted: 28 Jun 2023
Published online: 31 Mar 2025 *

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