By Matters India Reporter
Chennai: Manuel scavenging is the worst surviving symbol of caste-based discrimination and a sin against God and God’s people, asserts a joint meeting of top Christian bodies in Asia.
The participants of April 24-26 meeting urged Churches to take the lead to ensure the effective implementation of a law passed by the Indian parliament in 2013 to end manual scavenging practices in the country.
The “Abolition of Manual Scavenging in India: An Ecumenical Accompaniment and Advocacy Consultation” was organized by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Church of South India (CSI).
The meet wants Churches in the country to acknowledge manual scavenging as a sin and to work for its abolishment in all forms at all levels.
Manual scavenging is a caste-based occupation involving the removal of untreated human excreta from bucket toilets or pit latrines that has been officially abolished by law in India as a dehumanizing practice.
The consultation opened jointly by NCCI general secretary Reverend Roger Gaikwad and CSI General Secretary Reverend Ratnakar Sadanand.
The keynote was delivered by Bezwada Wilson, Magsaysay Award Winner of 2016 and founder of the Safai Karmachari Aandolon, a movement to eradicate manual scavenging.
Although the Church’s mission is to find the lost, it has refocus its attention from the center to the margins with relevant strategies, he told the gathering. “The bottom line of the mission mandate is to defend and advocate for human rights, and affirm the life of every human with respect and dignity,” he explained.
The Church, he noted, has infrastructure and human and financial resources that should be used to help abolish inhuman and un-Christian ideologies such as casteism and practices like manual scavenging.
The participants too said the Churches should not remain silent witnesses to manual scavenging but work collectively to abolish the practice and help those engaged in it gain respect and dignity, “following Jesus’ model of ministries as a faith response to affirm life, dignity and respect of all created in God’s image.”
Reverend Sadananda reminded the Churches of their call to propagate justice, peace and love and invited them to expand their missional interventions by joining hands with secular liberate movements.
In the valedictory address, CCA General Secretary Mathews George Chunakara stressed the importance of international advocacy on the abolition of manual scavenging, including the United Nations Human Rights mechanisms.
“The issue of manual scavenging should be addressed within human rights and human dignity perspectives and the CCA is committed to facilitate and accompany such advocacy initiatives,” he added.
The meet was attended by 48 people from various member churches of the CCA and NCCI in India.
Manual scavenging involves moving the excreta, using brooms and tin plates, into baskets, which the workers carry to disposal locations sometimes several kilometers away. The workers, called scavengers, wear practically no protective equipment. The term is mainly used in the Indian context only.
In 1993, India prohibited through law the employment of manual scavengers to empty “dry toilets” and it was extended ten years later to include insanitary latrines, ditches and pits.
According to Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, 180,657 households are engaged in manual scavenging for a livelihood. The 2011 Census of India found 794,000 cases of manual scavenging across India. Maharashtra, with 63,713, tops the list with the largest number of households working as manual scavengers, followed Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Karnataka.