What does the term ‘count your blessings’ mean? Is it counting money or a lucky escape one had after being chased by a dog?
What it really means is that we should be thankful for the good things that happen to us. We should not expect that there will not be any difficulty, but learn from what it teaches us and not commit that mistake again.
Our learning is divided into four parts — in the classroom, in one’s surroundings, from society, and from one’s own experiences. When we go through some difficulty we always feel that we have been singled out and ask in anguish ‘why me?’ But when we see the difficulties that others face we do not feel so low.
Life, liberty, equality and dignity are four basic human rights. Dignity of an individual is most important but we fail to realise its relevance. What do we think of the plight of the poor people who are forced to eke out their livelihood by doing degrading menial work. Waste management is a huge problem and the clearing of human waste is a daunting task.
Night soil is a term for human excrement collected at night from cesspools and dwellings. In areas where there are no sewage treatments or individual septic disposal, physical removal is done.
The 2011 census revealed that nearly 50 per cent of Indians do not have proper toilets. They are forced to defecate in open spaces or dry latrines. In such latrines the faecal matter has to be physically removed and taken to specific places for bio degradation. This bio matter cannot be used as manure as it may contain disease causing pathogens. Improper composting also results in the spread of diseases.
Manual scavenging is banned in India. But still there are thousands of poor people who are forced into this work. Social organisations have estimated that up to 1.5 million Indians still collect such waste.
Workers involved in this are treated with contempt by society and live in habitats on the outskirts of the regular settlements. They have to marry among themselves and society offers little scope to improve their lives.
In many parts of the country the workers are forced to handle human waste with their bare hands and carry it to the disposal area. Imagine what will be the fate of a city or town if garbage is not disposed of.
We have seen in our cities how workers go down drains and lower themselves with their hands and remove the collected dirt. They are bare-chested and only smear themselves with plenty of salt as a disinfectant.
The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Creation of Dry Latrines Prohibition Act 1993 has made manual scavenging illegal, but its implementation leaves much to be desired. Now there is some awareness about the plight of sanitary workers thanks to the media and initiative from civil society. Mechanised equipment have been procured for unclogging drains. Efforts are being made to give dignity to these workers who are becoming aware of their rights.
There was a news story recently about a village sarpanch who asked a sanitary worker to help remove a dead cat from his house for Rs 100. The worker replied that he would give Rs 1,000 if the sarpanch’s wife would stoop to remove it herself!