Skip to main content

Union leaders sacked for protesting "illegal" practice of manual scavenging in small Gujarat town

By Our Representative
Manual scavengers of a small town in Gujarat, Dudhrej of Surendranagar district, are on warpath. Following the refusal of the state government authorities to heed to their demand to regularize them, the scavengers – who mostly work as contractors workers under the local municipality – took out their maiden rally in Surendranagar to protest against the “discriminatory attitude” of the authorities. They allege, instead of rehabilitating them in respectable jobs, they are forced to manually clean up human excreta, or else quit the job.
In a written representation following the rally to the district collector, Surendranagar, the Safai Kamdar Hak Rakshak Samiti, which is fighting for their rights, has said, “Instead of heeding to the demands of the manual scavengers, the chief officer of the municipality has sacked one of our chief leaders, Hireshbhai Bariya, as also several others who had sought to protest against the despicable practice.” It adds, “These workers were removed unceremoniously. They were not even given a written order. They were told orally not to come for work from the next day.”
The representation said, apart from rehabilitating them from manual scavenging, one of their major demands was that the contractor, who employs them under the banner of Navalgadh Majur Sahkari Mandali, should hand pay them in accordance with the minimum wages applicable for the work they were made to do. The representation said, the minimum wages payable to them is Rs 230.40 per day, which they are not being paid.
“Instead of complying by minimum wages law, the contractor has refused to deposit with  authorities the employees’ provident fund (EPF) amount deducted from wages. We have been demanding to hand over EPF slips suggesting how much of EPF has been deposited, but the contractor refused to give any details”, said Baldevbhai Rathod, who signed the representation on behalf of the manual scavengers. He adds, “This is happening despite the fact they have been working without break under the municipality’s fire station.”
“The chief officer, during a Lok Darbar with us, agreed to ensure that minimum wages are paid to us, and also that our EPF amount would be deposited and we would get the receipts. Instead, however, he has sought to sack manual scavengers who were in the forefront of the demand, suspecting that they were behind information being given to the media”, Rathod said, adding, “it is a clear case of corruption, which should be investigated into.”
Putting up a list of demands, the representation insisted that the payment of their wages should be straight deposited in the nationalized banks, the difference caused by the failure to implement the minimum wages should be paid to them with effect from the day on which they had begun to work on contract, and FIR should be lodged against the contractor, who has not deposited their EPF money with the authorities.
The representation further asked the district collector to institute a case under the anti-atrocities Act against those who were forced them to clean up manual excreta, lying next to public toilets. “The new law, Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 should be applied on those responsible”, it said. The Act prohibits manual scavenging, manual cleaning of septic tanks and sewers and unsanitary toilets. 

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk  the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative  Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Why is green revolution harmful for nutrition, food safety, environment, climate change

By Bharat Dogra*  A lie repeated a hundred times will not turn a lie into a truth. The big media should realize this and stop perpetuating the lie of the green revolution saving India from hunger, long after the world has awakened to the reality of how harmful the green revolution has been from the point of nutrition, food safety, environment and climate change.

Alarming Odisha arrests, 'illegal' detentions ahead of Vedanta bauxite public hearing

Counterview Desk  More than 80 lawyers, legal academics and researchers have written to the Governor of Odisha raising concerns about the “alarming arrests and illegal detentions” of about two dozen persons from Rayagada district in Odisha in anticipation of the upcoming public hearing for the Sijimali bauxite mine proposed by M/s Vedanta Ltd.