User:Skandolan/Safai karmachari andolan

SAFAI KARMACHARI ANDOLAN

Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) is a national movement of people of safai karmachari communities (The word 'safai karmachari' literally refers to those engaged in 'unclean' occupations). SKA is committed to the eradication of manual scavenging, the liberation and rehabilitation of all those engaged as manual scavengers.

Manual scavenging is the most degrading occupation involving the removal of human excreta from dry latrines with bare hands and brooms. It is a descent based occupation in India linked to the Caste  system and untouchability. Thus majority of those employed as manual scavengers are Dalits, and among them majority are women (95% approximately).

While focusing primarily on the rights of manual scavengers, SKA is also committed to working with all those engaged in 'unclean' occupations, such as sewage workers, pit workers and sweepers, who fall within the ambit of 'safai karmacharis'.

The chief motivator and organiser of this liberation movement is Bezwada Wilson. Born into the Safai Karmachari community to parents engaged in manual scavenging, and witnessing the gruesome practice of manual scavenging by his own family, Wilson took the stand in Kolar Gold Fields in 1989 to end manual scavenging and liberate his community from the atrocious work by descent discrimination of caste system of manual scavenging. Since then he has persevered with the single minded goal and mobilised his people, educated them about their rights, enlisted the support of human rights activists, drew the attention of the mass media and relentlessly engaged the judiciary and higher ups in the political system to rouse the state machinery from its slumber and apathy to act to restore the dignity and rights of his people. It is for this reason that Wilson was acclaimed by a renowned Indian political weekly as one of the most influential people without power in the country.

History
The origin of SKA is traced to Bezwada Wilson’s struggle with the Gold Mining Industry in Kolar Gold Fields in 1989 which resulted with the industry converting the dry latrines to water seal latrines and rehabilitating all those it had employed as manual scavengers.

He then moved on to Andhra Pradesh where he was assisted by human rights activists like Mr.S.R.Sankaran and Mr. Paul Divakar. SKA was formally launched in 1996 as a national movement to end this inhuman practice throughout India. Since then, SKA has grown progressively with presence in at least seventeen states of India, with a national secretariat in New Delhi. The mission of SKA is guided by a National Board and its programmes are executed by the National Core Team along with a dedicated group of state Convenors, Organisers and Animators. Safai Karmachari Andolan also works in close cooperation and collaboration with other Dalit and Human Rights Organisations.

While focusing primarily on the rights of persons engaged in manual scavenging, SKA is also committed to working with all those engaged in ‘unclean’ occupations, such as pit or septic tank workers, sewage workers and sweepers, who fall within the ambit of ‘safai karmacharis’. SKA is one of the first organisations to organise women from the safai karmachari community to assert their right to a life with dignity. SKA has adopted several strategic programmes, including advocacy and legal intervention to achieve its goal of total eradication of manual scavenging. There is a Parliamentary Act prohibiting the practice called, “The Employment of Manual Scavengers and construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act, 1993.” But this social reform legislation has certain loopholes and has been conveniently ignored by the local implementing authorities. SKA brought this to the notice of the Supreme Court of India by filing a Public Interest Litigation in the year 2003. The litigation filed along with 18 other organizations and individuals led to unprecedented media attention and to the mobilization of political pressure on the local administrative bodies to eliminate manual scavenging. As petitioners, SKA and its allies argued that the continued use of dry latrines in various parts of the country is not only wholly illegal and unconstitutional but is also an affront to human dignity. There can be no excuse whatsoever to permit this degrading practice to continue, as it is in violation of all norms of human dignity as well as of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, in particular Articles 14, 17, 21 & 23.

Quoting the documents of several statutory bodies, Commissions and Committees, the petitioners first established the intensity and extent of the practice of manual scavenging throughout the length and breadth of the country. They also brought to the notice of the Court that even defense establishments, public sector undertakings, and the Indian Railways were employing manual scavengers in contravention of the 1993 Act. They submitted that the Union of India should formulate and implement a detailed plan for the complete eradication of manual scavenging in the various ministries and departments and for ensuring the rehabilitation of those employed as manual scavengers

With a view to further intensify its struggle and to force the Indian government and society to free its community members from the indignity of having to be burdened with the shame of the nation, SKA decided to launch the strategic action programme of ending the practise before 31st December 2010. This programme called ‘Action 2010” was formally launched at a National Consultation held in New Delhi in November 2007. This was like an ultimatum served on the governing authorities of the Indian nation. Accordingly ‘Action 2010’ started in January 2008 and ended with a national rally in December 2010 bringing safai karmacharis in Buses from all corners of India. The Bus journey was called ‘Samajik Parivarthan Yatra’, meaning Social Transformation Rally. Meanwhile Action 2010 was accompanied with a national sample survey collecting evidence and data regarding the actual practise of manual scavenging in 18 states to be produced before the honourable Supreme Court. During each year of the Action 2010 program, the movement engaged the nation’s conscience by highlighting the issue of the continuance of manual scavenging with a focused theme: A.	Year One– 2008: Manual scavenging –  ‘Occupational violence against dalit women’ B.	Year Two– 2009 : Manual scavenging –  ‘Stark reality of -untouchability’ C.	Year Three- 2010: Manual Scavenging –  ‘Violation of Human Rights’

Vision
We, Safai Karmachari Andolan, shall struggle and build solidarity to reclaim our dignity, equality and human personhood. Through eradicating manual scavenging, we will break the link imposed by the caste system between birth and dehumanizing occupations.

Mission
The mission of Safai Karmachari Andolan is the liberation and rehabilitation of all persons engaged in manual scavenging across India from their caste-based hereditary and inhuman occupation. Safai Karmachari Andolan’s major focus is to organize and mobilize the community around the issues of dignity and rights, accompanied by strategic advocacy and legal interventions

What is Manual Scavenging?
Manual scavengers in India are those engaged in, or employed for, removing human excrement from dry latrines with the minimum aid of brooms or metal scrapers and baskets or buckets. They carry away the human excrement in the baskets or buckets on their heads to dumping sites elsewhere.

Manual scavenging is considered one of the lowest, polluted and most degrading occupations. The caste system dictates that those born into particular Dalit sub-caste should engage in manual scavenging, and should remain doing so throughout their lives. Manual scavenging is thus the most extreme manifestation of caste discrimination, that is, discrimination based on work and descent Like other Dalits in 'traditional' denigrated occupations, manual scavengers are considered as untouchable by mainstream caste society, and are thus shunned and physically and socially isolated and excluded from development opportunities.

Key Issues
Manual scavenging means denial of the right to life with dignity.


 * Caste discrimination: Around 99% of manual scavengers are Dalits who face multiple forms of caste discrimination and untouchability.


 * Gender discrimination: More than 90% of Safai Karmacharis are women, who face triple discrimination on the basis of their intersecting caste, class (occupation as manual scavengers and economic status) and gender identities.

children having little or no access to education, or dropping out of school and slowly move into the only job society prescribes for them.
 * Child rights denied: Safai karmachari children often also face discrimination and untouchability practices related to their caste and parents' occupation. This often leads to


 * Economic rights denied: Manual scavengers are the poorest of the poor, denied access to a decent living wage and productive resources. Most earn less than US$1.00 per day,  sometimes being merely paid with leftover food collected from private households where they work. They are thus trapped in a cycle of economic exploitation. When they demand their rights, however, they are brutally suppressed.

public health services.
 * Health rights denied: Most manual scavengers endure unhygienic working conditions coupled with malnutrition. They are particularly vulnerable to various ailments and chronic ill-health, which are compounded by discrimination and humiliation faced when accessing

Ultimately, it is a matter of national shame that manual scavenging continues to exist while India claims its place as one of the world's largest developing economies and a nuclear power.

Legal Intervention
Since 1996, SKA is engaged in a protracted struggle to eradicate manual scavenging and liberate all safai karmacharis. SKA has been employing different strategies in their campaign - taking surveys to identify dry latrines, users and those forced into manual scavenging, filing petitions and complaints with government officials at different levels, educating and sensitizing the civil society and dry latrine users, filing of public interest litigation in the supreme court and networking with individuals, media and civil society organizations to form solidarity and pressure groups.

They filed a Public Interest Litigation, PIL, in Supreme Court in 2003 along with 18 other organizations and individuals in which they named the state governments, Central government ministries and departments as respondents. So far there have been 27 hearings.

There has been a noticeable pattern to state official responses. First, a total denial of any existence of manual scavenging in their respective jurisdictions, next partial admission, when SKA produced sample photographic evidence and finally, claiming complete compliance by dubiously destroying only those places which was presented as samples. In some cases, they (Govt. Officials) even misinterpreted the Act to intimidate and threaten Safai Karmacharis. The state local body officials have never used the provisions of the Act to take legal action against the owners of dry latrines.

Such responses by state bodies and the Apex Court’s order prompted SKA to undertake an extensive sample survey which is essentially the Government responsibility. SKA has conducted the sample survey in 274 districts of 18 states and has documented 7065 cases of persons engaged in manual scavenging.

The sample survey process has added to the numerical strength of the SKA movement with Community Resource Persons (CRPs) and volunteer enumerators and a host of other community members dedicating themselves and pledging to eliminate manual scavenging in their respective districts and states.

The campaign, since its inception has built up tremendous pressure on the government to implement the 'Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993’. It has opened a vision of a manual scavenging free India. And since 2007 SKA is engaged in an intensive strategic programme called ‘Action-2010’ to eradicate manual scavenging completely from India by December 2010. ‘Samajik Parivartan Yatra’ – The All India Bus Yatra of the final phase of Action 2010, was organized between October to December 2010.

Samajik Parivartan Yatra (Social transformation Rally): for Eradication of Manual Scavenging
Samajik Parivartan Yatra, a strategic programme of bus yatra, started from five different corners of India, traversing through 176 districts in 20 states. The Yatra culminated in New Delhi with a large rally and a 2 day public meeting.

The Yatra consisted of 5 routes:


 * Jai Bhim Marg: J&K, Punjab, Himahcal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Utter Pradesh and New Delhi


 * Savitri Bai Marg: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi


 * Birsa Munda Marg: Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Utter Pradesh and New Delhi


 * Jhalkari Bai Marg: Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Utter Pradesh and New Delhi


 * Periyar Marg: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Utter Pradesh and New Delhi

The yatra was effective in mobilizing the society, bringing together safai karmacharis and their supporters from different corners of the country, uniting them, spreading the message from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, giving hope, courage and confidence to about one million safai karmacharis.

During the Yatra....


 * States Covered: 20


 * Districts covered:176


 * Distance Covered:19,949


 * The launch meet in all the 5 routes were attended by about 1000 people


 * The community in various districts organized about 540 Street & Community meetings in which the Yatris participated.


 * About 1,35,000 people attended these Street and community meetings


 * On the whole 184 public meetings were organized which included public meetings in 18 State Capitals with 55,000 members.


 * Dharnas (protests) were organized in 84 districts


 * Rallies were organized in 108 districts


 * In 108 districts, 338 memorandum were submitted to various district officials


 * Burning the Baskets:78 districts


 * Press meet: 61


 * Press release: 145


 * Burning the Basket: The demonstrations during the Samajik Parivartan Yatra saw the burning of baskets by the workers. Baskets have been used by the scavengers over the years to lift human excreta. Burning the baskets symbolized their agitation against the inhuman occupation of 'Manual Scavenging' that is forced upon them by the society based on caste system.

PICTURES OF THE YATRA

Jai Bhim Marg: https://picasaweb.google.com/skandolan/SamajikParivartanYatraJaiBhimMarg

Savitri Bai Marg : https://picasaweb.google.com/skandolan/SamajikParivartanYatraSavitriBaiMarg#

Birsa Munda Marg: https://picasaweb.google.com/skandolan/SamajikParivartanYatraBirsaMundaMarg#

Jhalkari Bai Marg: https://picasaweb.google.com/skandolan/SamajikParivartanYatraJhalkariBhaiMarg#

Periyar Marg: https://picasaweb.google.com/skandolan/SamajikParivartanYatraPeriyarMarg#

Source http://safaikarmachariandolan.org/index.html