Impact of National Scheme For Liberation and Rehabilitation (Nslrs) on Occupational and Economic Status of Scavengers: a Case of Haryana

Scavenging is an old age practice. Its origin could be traced to the beginning of urban settlements (Sachidananda, 2004). It was not unique to India; it was also prevalent in European countries and America as well (Hamlin 1982). The circumstances prevailing in Muslim countries also suggest existence of cleaning night soil and its disposal (Pathak, 1991). In India, it involves some caste groups who have been condemned to do this profession since time immemorial; this inhuman practice includes manual scavenging which still exists in a large number of towns and even in some pockets of big cities. This is an area of concern not only for the government but also for the larger society (Sachidananda, 2004). The country has made multifaceted development in almost all areas since its independence. The concerning matter is that despite achievements, the country has not made desired progress in the area of social justice and social development. While a parliamentary law bans the manual scavenging and the government approves projects to wean the underprivileged section away from this dehumanizing occupation, cruel caste apartheid and brutalizing poverty perpetuate the practice (Sunil Kuksal, 2009). At the onset of new century even after 62 years of independence and 16th years of passing ‘the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act, the irony is that a few people of Scheduled Castes and among other religions are still involved in the hereditary occupation of manual scavenging. This occupation is despicable and degrading for those involved in it. (Akash Gulalia 2003) In this way, the practice of scavenging is rooted deeply in the traditional social and economic obligations of different castes and sub-castes and therefore the liberation of scavengers from unclean occupation implies breaking up of traditional bondages which many scavengers may not like. The liberation of scavengers is closely linked with its economic implications. (quoted from T. M. Dak, 2006-07). As elaborated by Trivedi Harshand R. (1976) in his study “Scheduled Caste Women: A Study In Exploitation” that the occupation of scavenging has been traditionally associated with female members even in rural areas. In brief, in the states of Gujrat, Andhra Pradesh and Mysore, there are about 30% to 40% of female engaged in scavenging. On the other hand, the percentage of females engaged in this occupation in rural areas in the states of Utter Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Orissa, Mysore and immigrant of Shillong Town”. Sweeping/ scavenging and allied occupations in different cities and towns of India are pursued by some particular castes of the respective areas. These castes have been categorized as Scheduled Castes of that area. Some tribes also have taken up this occupation in Hilly areas/towns of North India. In Churachandpur, the town committee (functioning as municipality) has recruited for the first time only two sweepers and both of them belong to the Kabui Naga tribe. In Silchar town of the Cachar district, the sweepers are mostly Nagas. In the towns of Aijol, Mizoram, the Mizos are the only group who work as sweepers. For this, the author collected information from 168 sweepers (153 Sikhs & 15 Hindus), to get a picture of the nature of immigration and the nature of monopolising the occupation, who employed in Shillong Municipality and Shillong’ Cantonment Board. The entire sweepers live in three colonies, i.e. 1). Gora line colony; 2) Bara Bazar sweeper’ colony and 3) the quarters of cantonment board. The data shows that 162 sweepers came from two districts of Punjab, namely- Amritsar (99) and Gurdaspur (63) and 6 persons from Motihari district of West Bihar. The author has made an attempt to draw an outline of immigrational pattern, economic condition, religious organization and political activities of the sweepers of Shillong. Lastly, it is observed in the study that sweeping occupation has been monopolized by Punjabi-speaking people, especially Sikhs, originally belonged to landless Mazhbi group. Shyam Lal (1984) conducted a study, “The Bhangis in Transition” in Rajasthan. His study shows that to some extent, the Bhangi Caste, which has been performing night soil work, has given up this job in Jodhpur. There are some evidences of changes from traditional to non-traditional occupations among the Bhangis. Bindeshwar Pathak (1991) pointed out in his study, named- “Road to Freedom” that the scavengers were placed at the lowest rung of the caste ladder. The nature of work traditionally associated with them or imposed upon them to the lowest stratum of the social hierarchy of exterior castes. The task of cleaning night soil was the most inferior job because this involved the touching of human excreta by the scavengers. Consequently, they didn’t get social justice and human treatment. Rama Sharma (1995) conducted a study about the Bhangi of Delhi under title “Occupational Mobility- Change and Continuity.” About 300 families were interviewed to examine the shifting away from traditional occupation of sweeping & scavenging. The occupations are categorized into two categories, i.e. 1. Skilled manual work, small business and supervisory work have been placed in first category and professions of sweeping & scavenging have been placed in the second category, i.e. unskilled manual work. In the study, 300 respondents were interviewed by using stratified sampling method. It is found in the study that 69.3% respondents engaged in the unskilled manual labour. settings in Bihar. It is intended to give a glimpse of the living and working conditions of the scavenger castes and to bring out the impact of different welfare programmes for their liberation and rehabilitation in the gender and human rights perspectives. Ram Gopal Singh (2004) conducted a study, under title “Status of Scavenging and Scavengers in Madhya Pradesh”. He highlighted the status of scavenging and scavengers in Madhya Pradesh. He recommends some important measures to improve the condition of scavengers that are as. Many of the sanitary problems arise either due to deficient or careless urban planning. Secondly, conversion of dry latrines into water seal latrines should be made mandatory for the owners of the household. Lastly, he advised that Government should involve NGOs or public institutions or voluntary organizations who can accomplish their work more satisfactorily, in such tasks as conversion of dry latrines in to leach pit or low cot pour flush water seal latrines and rehabilitation of liberated and non-liberated scavengers and their dependents. T. M. Dak (2007) carried out a project in the districts of Ajmer and Udaipur of Rajsthan with 554 beneficiaries and 138 non beneficiaries, entitled, “Impact of Scheme of Training and Rehabilitation on Socioeconomic Improvement of Scavengers in Rajsthan” He tried to meet mainly four objective, namely- 1 to find out the socioeconomic profile of the scavengers and the nature of occupational services being offered by them in rural and urban areas, 2 to find out magnitude of different policy interventions and their differential acceptance, 3 to assess the impact of different policy intervention particularly acceptance of the scheme of training and rehabilitation of scavengers on the labour absorption, occupational mobility and improvement in socioeconomic conditions of the group, and 4 to locate emerging changes in the caste relations, gender differences and inter-generational adjustments among scavengers as a consequence of policy interventions . The study shows that the sampled respondents concentrated more in Harijan Basties irrespective of their institutional affiliations and habitat, are overwhelmingly middle aged, illiterates or literate only, married and members of joint family with moderate family size and pursue scavenging and service as main sources of family income. The study concluded that the scavengers are continued segregated and secluded in harijan basties. Moreover despite liberation from manual scavenging, the majority continue to perform jobs related to scavenging in one or other way. The related literature shows that there is a voluminous literature which deals with the scavenging and scavengers in India, but there is no more study that gives comprehensive picture to understand the problem of scavenging and also to examine the nature and progress of the rehabilitation of the liberated scavengers in urban Haryana into alternative trades and corresponding changes in the

doubts the scavenger, the most neglected section among the dalits, are slowly yet steadily moving towards caste-free occupations. They are, of course, quite willing to liberate themselves provided they are given an opportunity, a helping hand from the government and the larger society. That is what makes us more optimistic that this endeavourer of ours while on the one hand would lead to more empirical studies on a problem of such magnitude in all its social, economic and political dimensions it would, on the other, open a window for the policy makers and implementing agencies to look afresh at the various schemes for the upliftment of the scavengers, to re-engineer them, to make them more effective and result oriented.

The significance of the present study is to assess “ Whether rehabilitation of the scavengers is taking place in a right way , especially in terms of training input , its utilization , financial assistance and the changes are taking place in scavenger’s life” after rehabilitation . Another significance of the study is to mention that a lot of research work has been done on SCs but very few studies have been carried out on scavengers among SCs particular in Haryana. So it has become fertile area for the sociologist to work on scavengers.

1. To identify occupational change occurred among scavengers as a result of implementation of this scheme. 2. To analyse economic condition of scavengers of Haryana after scheme implemented

Methodology not only systematizes the research but also determines the selection of the units, techniques of the data collection, analysis and research involves numerous steps and each step has various ways to be pursued and methodology guides us in our choice of these ways in given context. The present study was carried out in urban Haryana to know the occupational and economic condition of the scavengers after scheme implemented .The respondents were selected from the beneficiaries list issued by the Govt. of Haryana. There are about 6198 scavengers who are benefitted in the selected districts under the scheme of liberation and rehabilitation of the scavengers and their dependents up to Jan. 2002, out of which 2077 were rehabilitated in the selected district headquarters. Therefore, the total number of the scavengers in the interview schedule to get information such as occupation, income, nature and types of houses and report of various committees and commissions, census report and other concerned literature and research work done by various scholars have also been consulted in the present study as a secondary source of information.

In response to the question, what is the past occupation in your families before given the training or loan by Govt. under NSLRS? Responses indicated in the table 1.1 shows that 69.6% of the total respondents were engaged in the work of scavenging/sweeping in private houses or industries and 1.7% worked as a municipal workers while 12.5% respondents were found engaged in the work of labour and only 4.5% were running the petty shops like karyana, beauty parling and tailoring and 3.1% were engaged in other type of activities and 7.5% take care of house as a house wife as their past occupation. The examination of chi-square table (1.1) revealed significant differences between districts and past occupations of the respondents. An examination of chi-square table shows that the chi-square value, i.e. 48.621, is greater than the critical value, i.e. 36.42, for 24 degree of freedom, at .05 levels of significance. Thus, it does not support the null hypotheses.

respondents of Kurukshetra and Sonipat are found significant on ‘Scavenging/sweeping in the private houses or industry’ as their past occupation. The respondents of Ambala are found significant on “municipal worker’ the respondents of Ambala, Kurukshetra and Panipat are found significant on ‘labourer’, the respondents of Ambala and Panipat are found significant on ‘occupied petty shops like kiryana shop, beauty-parlour, tailoring shops’, the respondents of Ambala and Sonipat are found significant on ‘Street hawkers/reddiwala’ the respondents of Ambala and Panipat are found significant on ‘miscellenous or different types of works’ and the respondents of Kurukshetra and Panipat are found significant with ‘housewife’ as their past occupation.

in manyari, 2.9% in cloth feri, 7.0% in animal and dairy farming, 1.4% in electric wiring, 2.7% in govt. jobs (municipal workers) and 63.9% engaged in sweeping/cleaning occupation. An examination of chi-square table shows that the chi-square value, i.e. 10.513, is not greater than the critical value, i.e. 41.34, for 28 degree of freedom, at .05 levels of significance. Thus, it supports the null hypothesis. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is no significant relationship between districts and the present occupations of the respondents.

Annual income of the respondents has been categorized into four groups i.e. Rs. below 25000, Rs.25001-50000, Rs. 50001-75000 and Rs. above 75000 annually. It is exhibited in the study that only 5.8 % have an income less than Rs. 25000, 45.3% respondents’ family have 25001-50000, more than 1/3 (33.7 %) of the households between Rs. 50001-75000, and 15.2 % of the total respondents have an annual income more than Rs. 75000. The chi-square

In the present study, the houses have been divided into three types on the basis of their nature of type. The responses indicated in table 1.4 shows that 3% scavengers’ families have the houses of “Brick/Stone Wall + mud wall houses”, 56.1% have “Brick/Stone Wall + Tiled Roof” houses and 41% have the houses of “Brick/Stone Wall + RCC Roof”. The chi-square statistics (1.4) show that the chi-square value (2 =9.039, df=8, p>.05) is not significant, hence there is no correlation between districts and types of the houses of scavengers in selected area.

In reference with the size of their houses, it is found in the table (1.5) that 17.3% scavengers’ families have a one room and separate kitchen and bathroom in their houses, 64.1% have the size of two rooms and separate kitchen and bathroom and 18.6% have the others size of houses. An examination of chi-square table (1.5) shows that the table value of chi-square for df 8, at 0.05 level of significance is 15.51. The calculated value of chi-square, i.e. 3.142, is lesser than the table value. Hence, there is no significant relationship between districts and sizes of scavenger’s houses. Therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted.

To sum up, the respondents, as reflected in our sample, exhibit certain characteristics that are peculiar to their degradation and backwardness in their occupational and economic status. As far as the respondents in our sample are concerned there are three basic elements that determine the economic position of the family: 1. the condition and type of houses, 2. their income and 3. Occupation. Results shows that larger percentage of the respondents 56.1% have Brick/stone wall+Tiled Roof type of houses and 64.1% have the size of two rooms and separate kitchen and bathroom and majority of the respondents (51.1%) have annual income up to Rs. 50000/- per annum and maximum people are engaged in the work of sweeping/cleaning occupation (63.9%) . The difference between past and present occupation shows that only 5.7% respondent left their traditional occupation i.e. sweeping /scavenging after the implementation of this scheme and 5.5% more persons adopted the occupations of petty shop like karyana and there were increasement of 3.2% in profession of knitting and tailoring and only 1% more respondent benefitted in the form of govt. Job as a municipal worker after the implementation of above mentioned scheme. Therefore, it can be said that the respondents, by and large, do not form a homogeneous group on occupation and economic condition. These factors in turn, exert influence on the awareness of rehabilitation scheme and utilization of the benefits of such schemes. The chi-square analysis shows that there is no association between districts of the respondents and present occupations, size and type respondents.

On the basis of observations of data it may be concluded that in spite off the efforts of the govt. and other agencies the condition of scavenging community is still very poor in all aspects of life. Although at present they are not indulged in the activities of direct manual scavenging but despite liberation from manual scavenging, the majority of scavengers’ community continue to perform jobs related to scavenging in one or other way. Even today occupationally they are backward, their economic status is very poor and they have to lead miserable life.

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