NEW DELHI: A Central programme that aims at bringing about a change in the lives of manual scavengers seems to be limping. Only 32 beneficiaries have been identified across India for a skill development training programme for manual scavengers — being implemented by the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) — this year (2018-19).
Moreover, the skill training programme, which is aimed at rehabilitating manual scavengers, has itself been faulted by experts not keeping the ground realities in mind — especially in rural India where untouchability still exists — thereby defeating the very purpose of the exercise.
Data available with this reporter regarding the training in 11 states shows only 32 people have been identified for skill development so far this year and all of them are in Uttar Pradesh. The figure is minuscule considering the high number of manual scavengers in the state — 16,661 people had registered themselves in UP till October 25 in an ongoing survey, being conducted by NSKFDC in 18 states. The government has recognised only 6,126 of these people as manual scavengers, though.
For Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the data reveals that mobilisation of manual scavengers for skill training is currently “under progress” while in Bihar, Odisha and Rajasthan, even the mobilisation process has not started.
Last year (2017-18), the data for the same 11 states showed 336 manual scavengers began their skill development training programme while in 2016-17, 4,300 people were imparted with skills, of which 4,200 were from Uttar Pradesh alone.
“The commencement of training, especially for manual scavengers, takes significant time. Currently, the identification survey is on and the figures of manual scavengers being identified are being digitised. So, mobilisation is under progress for most states,” said an NSKFDC official.
Under the rehabilitation scheme, manual scavengers are to be rehabilitated with a slew of measures, of which one component is skill development training up to two years with a stipend of `3,000 per month. In the absence of rehabilitation programmes, manual scavengers have no choice but to return to their profession, say experts. Experts working in the field to eradicate manual scavenging pointed out several flaws in the skill training scheme.
The denial of states in acknowledging that manual scavenging exists even today is the primary reason why the skill development training programme has failed to take off as desired, said Ashif Shaikh, convener, Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan. The first step towards rehabilitation is to identify the manual scavengers and offer them a comprehensive rehabilitation package, he added. “The process should be designed in consultation with the stakeholders. The government needs to map if the practice of untouchability is prevalent in an area and work towards social rehabilitation,” Shaikh added.
The NSKFDC acknowledged the operational challenges in running the modules. Also, the dropout rate was high, it said. More women completed the programme diligently, but only a few could take up employment, said an official. “It is difficult to break the cycle and introduce them to alternative livelihood. We are aiming towards more local training programmes,” he added.
