Key Statistics (acc. to data provided by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as on December 8, 2018):
- 13,973 manual scavengers have been identified in the country.
- Uttar Pradesh (11,563) has the highest number of identified manual scavengers followed by Karnataka (732). Chhattisgarh (3) and Madhya Pradesh (36) have the lowest.
- Rehabilitation:
- Budget allocated for self-employment schemes declined from Rs. 448 crore in 2014 to Rs. 5 crore in 2017.
- The number of one-time cash assistance to beneficiaries is declining since 2015-16.
- The number of beneficiaries of skill development training is declining since 2016-17.
- Lives Lost:
- Manual scavengers’ deaths continue despite rehabilitation measures.
- Between 2015 and 2018, the highest number of sewer deaths were in Gujarat (26) and least in west Bengal, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh (2 each).
