Why India’s sanitation workers are nobody’s priority

One big obstacle before evolving policies for the welfare of sewage and septic tank workers is lack of data. There are no numbers available on those employed in sewer and septic tank cleaning as opposed to those engaged in the relatively less hazardous occupation of cleaning dry latrines, open drains, and single pit toilets

Over the past seven days, six people lost their lives in the national capital region while cleaning sewers after inhaling toxic gases, says the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK), a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament for the welfare of sanitation workers. Clearly, the law banning employment of human labour to clean sewage tanks is toothless. In theory, no person, local authority or agency can hire people for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. The Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, was amended in 2013 to include a ban on employing or engaging people to clean sewer and septic tanks. But according to a reply by the central Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the Lok Sabha in December last year, more than 300 people died due to asphyxiation while working in septic tanks in 2017 alone.

NCSK founder and Magsaysay award winner, Bezwada Wilson, says one big obstacle before evolving policies for the welfare of sewage and septic tank workers is the lack of credible data. There are no official numbers available on those employed in sewer and septic tank cleaning as opposed to those engaged in the relatively less hazardous cleaning of dry latrines, open drains and single pit toilets. Also, since most of those employed to do the cleaning of septic tanks are hired on a casual basis, contractors seldom bother to follow safety norms or provide gas masks, safety harness belts and helmets to them. The law enjoins upon the government to provide Rs 10 lakh to the families of those who die inside sewers. However, data presented by the Central Monitoring Committee in 2017 said only seven states had paid compensation for such deaths in the past 25 years.

Experts say the biggest reason why the mechanised cleaning of septic tanks, the prescribed norm, remains only on paper, is lax implementation by enforcement agencies, whether it is the inspectors of civic bodies in the cities or magistrates and district collectors in rural India. If the law on manual cleaning of sewers is to be effective, the penalties — less than 10 arrests have been made across the country according to Mr Wilson and the first information report rarely reaches the charge-sheet stage — have to be stricter and even-handed. Casual workers who endanger their lives for as little as Rs 300 to clean septic tanks don’t seem to be a priority either with the law enforcement agencies or politicians. This is a blot on the record of a country that boasts the largest public cleanliness programme in the world.

Source: Hindustan Times, 18/09/2018

India can tackle the problem of hot cities

South Asia has a unique opportunity to show the rest of the world the way to providing cooling access for all

The intense heatwave that has struck South Asia in the last few months has proved to be particularly challenging for those living in cities. While global temperatures are rising, urban temperatures are climbing at even faster rates.

The problem is only likely to get worse as South Asian cities grow more crowded, while heat waves are expected to become more extreme, last longer and happen more frequently. One study predicts that cities can expect the average high temperature to increase by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius and their lowest temperatures to increase by 3 to 7 degrees Celsius by 2050. Extreme heat, already the deadliest natural disaster in an average year, will become even deadlier.

This dangerous mix of extreme heat trends was seen, for example, in Karachi, where 65 people died in the span of three days in May. It underscored the threat of extreme urban heat and the life-or-death risks it creates for poor, vulnerable populations. Chilling Prospects: Providing Sustainable Cooling for All, recently issued by the UN-affiliated Sustainable Energy for All and the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, illuminates the massive scale of the challenge facing South Asian cities — but also offers solutions to address the problem.

The report reveals that more than 630 million urban dwellers worldwide, most of them in South Asia, are at risk because of a lack of access to basic cooling services that they need to survive and thrive.

Addressing urban heat is much more than “avoiding a negative”. It is an investment that would boost urban economies around the world — from Phoenix and New York City to New Delhi, Karachi and Dhaka. A growing body of research finds that the broad benefits of cooling down cities — such as improved energy efficiency, worker productivity, air quality, health and equity — are potentially worth billions of dollars to a single city. This represents an economic benefit for vulnerable low-income urban populations.

A 2017 study published in the journal Nature Climate Change estimates that the failure to act on urban heat will cost the average city nearly 6% of its GDP by 2100. On the other hand, the study found that investing in sensible heat mitigating measures, such as so-called “cool roofs” or painting roofs white or other light colours to reflect sunlight, would generate a 1,200% return! As the Cooling for All report highlights, capturing this “cooling access dividend” should be the focus of global efforts to address rising temperatures.

One example to emulate is Almeria, Spain, which has a unique tradition of whitewashing its greenhouses. Remarkably, based on a 20-year study comparing weather station data, researchers found that Almeria cooled down by 0.4°C compared to a 0.3°C rise in temperatures in surrounding regions lacking whitewashed greenhouses.

We also know that cool surfaces can make a meaningful difference in indoor air temperatures. Field studies of dwellings in Sanand in Gujarat indicate that a building without mechanical cooling can be 3-4°C cooler with cool roofs and walls. An alternative strategy is the introduction of “green roofs,” which involves the planting of vegetation on roofs, which also reduces urban temperatures.

Fortunately, some South Asian cities, including Ahmedabad and Dhaka, are recognising the importance of cool and green roofs to combat high urban temperatures and are implementing programmes to encourage their use.

These programmes can also be coordinated with new urban development plans that offer opportunities to radically rethink the design of building to optimise cooling loads and technologies that can deal with them. In India, for example, 75% of the buildings required by 2030 have yet to be built and so there is a huge opportunity for designing for passive cooling or retrofitting buildings to promote natural cooling and ventilation.

Adopting these strategies is important in another way. The growing middle class in South Asia is likely to buy more air conditioners to beat the heat. But many devices will be low-cost and inefficient models that will only consume more energy powered by the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. We face the prospect of a vicious cycle where a warming planet creates the need for more cooling that could result in more damaging emissions.

South Asia already has at hand simple, affordable and efficient solutions at the local level to deal with the problems of rising urban heat. This provides a unique opportunity for the region to show the rest of the world the way to providing cooling access for all.

Source: Hindustan Times, 18/09/2018

Log on to Inner Self

Technology such as the internet enables us to access a wealth of information from all fields of knowledge with a few keystrokes at our computer. But with all this compiled knowledge from all over the world, are there questions for which you still cannot find answers? There is a source of wisdom within you that cannot be accessed through a search on the internet. You have a wisdom awaiting you deep within. Instead of logging on to the internet, you can log into your own inner essence or soul through meditation to lead you to a wisdom that will enrich your life. Within us is a wisdom greater than any we can ever accumulate on earth. We have inside us a source of knowledge from which all other knowledge flows. When we access the divine wisdom, we reach a state of all-consciousness, one in which we know the answers to life’s mysteries and our purpose in life. We see life as more than a string of meaningless events and find a lesson and message in all that occurs. Those who have tapped into their soul through meditation look at life from a refreshing perspective. Rather than be tossed about on the sea of life, dashed by every wave, they watch their life like a movie with subtitles, in which the words at the bottom of the screen let them know what is going on at the spiritual level. They may still experience the thrashing waves, but they observe them with the inner knowledge that there is reason and purpose to the particular situation.

Source: Economic Times, 19/09/2018

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 53, Issue No. 37, 15 Sep, 2018

Editorials

‘Dalit’ Cannot be Reduced to ‘Scheduled Caste’

Punjab Sacrilege Bill Is a Vigilante Legislation

Legalising Sexualities in a Patriarchal State

Ht Parekh Finance Column

Non-performing Power Sector Assets - Signalling a Larger Crisis

C P Chandrasekhar

Commentary

Trade Wars of the United States

Biswajit Dhar

AYUSH and Health Services - Policy and Practice in Maharashtra

Milind Bansode, Jyoti Rai, Mathew George

Redefining the Purpose and Rules of Shelters

Prita Jha

Somnath Chatterjee (1929–2018) - Remembering the ‘Gentleman’ of Indian Politics

Suvojit Bagchi

Book Reviews

Internationalisation of the Renminbi

Horacio Ortiz

Class, State and Islam in Pakistan

S Akbar Zaidi

Engage Articles

Section 377: Whose Concerns Does The Judgment Address?

Saptarshi Mandal

Perspectives

A Less Acknowledged Source of Gandhi’s Ideas of Trusteeship

Jaithirth Rao, Shishir K Jha

Special Articles

All India Radio’s Glory Days and Its Search for Autonomy

Coonoor Kripalani

Urban Canals and Peri-urban Agrarian Institutions - A Study of Budhera Village in Gurgaon

Pratik Mishra, Vishal Narain

More than Just Water - Participatory Irrigation Management in Maharashtra

Varun Panickar

Notes

Food Insecurity and Malnutrition among Santhal Children in Jharkhand

Manjari Sinha

Current Statistics

Current Statistics

Postscript

Greenwashed Policies

Neha Sinha

Of Pain and Human Suffering

Nilabh Kumar

Vignettes on the Go

Tapas Mitra

Last Lines

Letter

How to Feed a Billion?

Jaydev Jana

Somnath Chatterjee (1929–2018)

Amitabha Bhattacharya

From 50 Years Ago

Issues to the Fore?

No land’s people

Cooperation among governments and tolerance among citizens will help us find a solution to the refugee crisis

A large number of people in the world today are stateless and are thus deprived of the rights that the majority enjoy. This problem is particularly significant in the Indian context now — not only because of the Rohingya crisis that is unfolding in the subcontinent, but also because of the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). It is worrying that over 40 lakh people in Assam have been left out of the draft NRC, and that many of them have reportedly not been given reasons for their omission. Even within families, some members have been recognised as citizens, while others have to refile their claim for citizenship. If rejected again, these people stand the risk of losing citizenship and even being deported. But where will they go?

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The imperative to offer refuge

 

The NRC situation sounds eerily similar to how the Rohingya Muslims were ousted from Myanmar. And the attitude of various governments towards stateless people is similar. Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has drawn a lot of criticism from the international community for the treatment of the Rohingya, so much so that she has been stripped of many prestigious international titles. India has argued that taking in the Rohingya would be a national security concern as well as a drain on its resources. These concerns trump the basic concern for the lives of these people.

Election promises

This pattern is repeated across the world. It is ironic that the U.S. has condemned the attacks on the Rohingya given its own “zero-tolerance” policy towards illegal immigrants. Recent reports of the U.S. separating children from their families and keeping them in enclosed quarters were reminiscent of the infamous political leadership of Germany in the 1930s and ’40s, and provoked former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to say that the U.S. can no longer be considered a champion of human rights. U.S. President Donald Trump promised during his campaign to get tough on illegal immigration, which helped him ride to Republican nomination and subsequently to the White House.

Similarly, the BJP promised during its campaign before the Assam Assembly elections to scrutinise citizenship in the State. This helped the party clinch the State. These examples seem to suggest that votes are being cast, among other things, on the promise of delivering results akin to ethnic cleansing.

In Germany, the influx of refugees nearly cost Chancellor Angela Merkel her office; in Britain, the refugee question was the key deciding factor in the Brexit referendum. The question is, even if the political leadership is willing to accept immigrants, would the general populace today accept them or has xenophobia swept over compassion? Disturbing images of families and even children being washed ashore seem to do little to affect the ethnocentrism of today.

No international cooperation

There seems to be no political consensus or international cooperation on refugee rehabilitation. This is a grave concern, because the fate of these people does not hang as an albatross around any country’s neck. The inability to take a stand will only worsen the situation, as has been the case in Palestine, where over a million people have been living in camps as refugees since the 1940s. Their descendants are also treated as refugees. These refugees have been without an identity for seven decades now, which shows how prolonged a migrant’s ordeal can be when no nation is willing to treat the problem as its own.

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In the city of refugees: Rohingya camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar

 

Receiving little media attention is the fact that Africa is taking in a disproportionate number of refugees — currently 80% of the world’s refugee population, according to the UN. Developing countries have fewer resources, which is why it is heartening that countries like Ethiopia choose to value the lives of refugees over nationality, ethnicity and polity considerations.

The importance of protecting borders and containing threats to national security cannot be undermined. But the key factors that have led to the refugee crisis in some places seem to be the need to appease voters, and growing jingoism. The trends indicate that this is only set to rise, if it is not checked. Hegemonic countries cannot adopt isolationism in dealing with a situation that involves such a significant number of the world’s inhabitants. Cooperation among governments and tolerance among citizens will help us find a solution to this conflict.

Source: The Hindu, 18/09/2018

Lethal filth: India's manual scavenging problem

The law should be enforced vigorously to eliminate manual scavenging in its entirety

The death of five young men who were employed to clean a septic tank in an upmarket residential community in New Delhi is a shocking reminder that India’s high-profile sanitation campaign has done little to alter some basic ground realities. Around the same time as the Delhi incident, five workers died in a septic tank in Odisha. The law is not being enforced, and there is no fear of penalties. The workers in Delhi were apparently asked to perform the task in violation of Section 7 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013; a violation can be punished with two years of imprisonment or fine or both. Under the provision, no person, local authority or agency should engage or employ people for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. Mechanised cleaning of septic tanks is the prescribed norm. But in spite of a well-funded programme such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in operation, little attention is devoted to this aspect of sanitation. The requirements of worker safety and provision of safety gear for rare instances when human intervention is unavoidable are often ignored. Mere assertions by the Centre that it is pressing State governments to prosecute violators, therefore, ring hollow. More and more incidents are being reported of workers dying in septic tanks. In the absence of political will and social pressure, more lives could be lost because more tanks are being built in rural and urban areas as part of the drive to construct toilets.

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Get real on Swachh: on manual scavenging

 

If the law on manual scavenging is to be effective, the penalties must be uniformly and visibly enforced. It is equally important for State governments to address the lack of adequate machinery to clean septic tanks. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in its manual of 2016 on toilet design acknowledges that in rural areas, mechanical pumps to clear septic tanks are not available. In the southern States, sanitation has expanded along with urbanisation, but it has brought with it a higher number of deaths as workers clean septic tanks manually. For instance, Tamil Nadu recorded 144 fatalities of workers engaged for septic tank cleaning in the past three years, according to official data. On the other hand, toilet designs proposed by the government include those in which fully composted waste must be removed from pits every two years. The Centre must ensure that this does not become a fresh avenue to oppress members of some communities who are expected to perform such work, reflecting social inequalities. India’s sanitation problem is complex, and the absence of adequate toilets is only one lacuna. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should make expansion of the sewer network a top priority and come up with a scheme for scientific maintenance that will end manual cleaning of septic tanks. The law should be enforced vigorously to eliminate manual scavenging in its entirety.

Source: The Hindu, 17/09/2018

HP India launches affordable mini desktop for students

Starting at Rs 19,990, the HP 260 G3 desktop will enable schools and institutes to set up or upgrade computers in their STEM labs at a minimal cost, HP said in a statement.

HP India on Monday introduced an affordable mini desktop to help students learn and collaborate in schools and educational institutions across the country.

Starting at Rs 19,990, the HP 260 G3 desktop will enable schools and institutes to set up or upgrade computers in their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) labs at a minimal cost, the company said in a statement.

“As technology becomes integral to businesses and consumers’ daily lives, students need to learn digital skills that equip them well for the future,” said Sumeer Chandra, Managing Director, HP India.

When paired with HP Integrated Work Center and HP EliteDisplay, teachers can read and present files effortlessly. With the wide range of input display connectors, documents can also be shared across multiple monitors.

“Driven by our goal to empower students, HP has launched the mini desktop solution to enable easy and affordable digital learning for students across India,” Chandra added.

The Pentium Dual Core with 18.5-inch monitor system is available at a starting price of Rs 19,990 while Intel Core i3 with 18.5-inch monitor is available at a starting price of Rs 25,990.

“We are hitting a new price band with the HP 260 G3 desktop mini. With this, HP will be able to address the market’s need for cost-effective desktop PCs,” said Vickram Bedi, Senior Director, Personal Systems, HP Inc. India.

The company is reaching out to schools and educational institutions as well as in smaller cities, where affordable digital learning devices can be highly useful.

The system runs Windows 10 Pro and houses memory up to 32GB of DDR4.

Source: Hindustan Times, 17/09/2018