Government records 498 cleaning fatalities in India since 2019
Since 2019, 498 people have died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India, a number revealed by the government after Rahul Gandhi raised the issue in Parliament.
Interestingly, officials say none of these deaths count as "manual scavenging," which is a specific legal term for manually handling human excreta from insanitary toilets, open drains, pits, railway tracks or other notified places before it fully decomposes.
Government classifies incidents as hazardous cleaning
The government classifies these cases as "hazardous cleaning" (working without proper safety gear) not manual scavenging.
A recent survey even claimed there are no manual scavengers left in India, down from 58,098 found in surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018.
As for support, families of most victims received ₹10 lakh each, and some got ₹30 lakh after a Supreme Court ruling, but dozens of cases still have incomplete or missing payments.