NCSK Act

NCSK Act

About:

• • In accordance with the NCSK Act of 1993, the NCSK was founded in 1993 with the mission of advising the government on particular initiatives for the welfare of Safai Karamcharis.
  • The NCSK Act was no longer in force as of February 29, 2004.
  • Following that, the NCSK’s term as a non-statutory body was periodically extended by resolutions. It looks into specific grievance cases, assesses the welfare programmes currently in place for Safai Karamcharis, and more.
  • In accordance with the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the NCSK has been tasked with overseeing the Act’s implementation, providing advice to the Centre and State Governments on how to implement it effectively, and investigating complaints pertaining to the Act’s violations or non-implementation.
  • The Commission’s Chairperson and Members travel the nation extensively in order to research the socioeconomic circumstances and standard of living of Safai Karamcharis and their dependents.
  • The Commission urges the relevant authorities to provide factual reports regarding these complaints/petitions and puts pressure on them to address the concerns of the impacted Safai Karamcharis.

Status:

• • In the last ten years, 631 people have lost their lives in the nation while cleaning septic tanks and sewers, according to NCSK (2020 data).
  • The most deaths from manual scavenging occurred in 2019 compared to the previous five years.
  • 110 workers lost their lives while clearing septic tanks and sewers. Comparing this to 2018, there were 68 cases of similar deaths, a 61% increase.
  • According to data gathered in 2018, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of manual scavengers of any State in India at 29,923.

Related Schemes:

Prevention of Atrocities Act:

• • With the passage of the Prevention of Atrocities Act in 1989, sanitation workers were protected by an integrated guard; over 90% of manual scavengers were members of the Scheduled Caste.
  • This became a significant turning point in the liberation of manual scavengers from officially recognised traditional jobs.

Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge:

• • On November 19, 2020, World Toilet Day, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs introduced it.
  • The government issued this “challenge” to all states, requiring them to automate sewer cleaning by April 2021.
  • In the event that a human must enter a sewer line due to an unforeseen emergency, they must be equipped with the appropriate gear, oxygen tanks, etc.
    ‘Swachhta Abhiyan App’:
  • In order to replace unhygienic latrines with hygienic ones and to restore the dignity of life to all manual scavengers, a system for identifying and geotagging data about both types of latrines has been developed.

National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation:

• • Under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, it is a non-profit organisation.
  • This corporation’s main goal is to improve the social and economic standing of the SafaiKaramcharis, Scavengers, and their dependents.

SC Decision:

• • A Supreme Court ruling in 2014 mandated that the government identify every person who has perished while working on sewage systems since 1993 and give their families compensation of Rs. 10 lakh each.
  • Act of 2013 prohibiting the employment of manual scavengers and providing for their rehabilitation. The Act forbids building unsanitary latrines, hiring people to perform manual scavenger work and cleaning septic tanks and sewers by hand without safety gear.
  • No individual, local government, or organisation (such as Municipal Corporations) should hire or contract out the dangerous cleaning of septic tanks and sewers.
  • Septic tank cleaning by machinery is the recommended standard. It aims to give manual scavengers alternative employment opportunities and rehabilitation.
  • The surveying of unsanitary latrines within their respective jurisdictions is the responsibility of each local authority, cantonment board, and railway authority.
  • They will also build several hygienic public restrooms.
    It is the tenant’s responsibility to pay for the conversion or demolition of any unsanitary latrine.
  • The local government will convert the latrine and collect the cost from him if he doesn’t comply.
  • There has been a bill introduced called the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020.