From Manual Scavenging to Business Owner: One Worker’s Escape Reveals India’s Unfinished Battle
More than 89,000 sewer and septic tank workers have been formally validated under India’s principal sanitation-worker welfare scheme since 2023, and official profiling data indicate that over 90 per cent of those identified belong to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other Backwards Class communities — underscoring sanitation work’s long-documented association with caste in India. Against…