New Delhi – In just less than six months between the two budgets this year – the interim budget ahead of the general elections on February 1, 2024, and the federal budget for the new term of the Modi government on July 23, 2024 – 43 garbage workers have died while cleaning the sewers and septic tanks in the country. Yet, the cases of garbage collection and deaths in the sewers are not even mentioned in passing in the federal budget 2024.
Such deaths are not only a gross violation of human rights, they are also in violation of the various Supreme Court orders to prevent manual scavenging. Moreover, since every single person involved in this work and dying in the pits belongs to the Dalit community, these deaths are also a clear violation of the Prevention of Atrocities Act and also amount to untouchability, which is illegal in India. But ironically, the Indian government hardly cares about these facts.
Deaths of garbage workers in sewers and septic tanks are an ongoing human rights crisis in India, but the government continues to deny it. The government has no system in place to comprehensively record such deaths. Whenever such an incident occurs, the government's first response is to disguise it as an accidental death.
Comments are closed.