Rehabilitation and Empowerment of Sanitation Workers in Assam: A Review of Welfare Schemes and Social Work Interventions

Abstract

This review paper examines the persistent issue of manual scavenging in Assam, despite its prohibition under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, with a focus on rehabilitation, welfare schemes, and social work interventions for sanitation workers. In urban centres like Guwahati, sanitation workers, predominantly from marginalized communities, face hazardous conditions and social stigma while performing tasks such as septic tank cleaning. Notably, urban residents pay property taxes that include septic tank cleaning services, yet mechanized cleaning is virtually non-existent, leaving manual scavengers to undertake this dangerous work. This paper examines the existing practices of manual scavenging and hazardous manual cleaning in urban centres like Guwahati despite its prohibition. It brings to light the socio-economic vulnerabilities, life threatening occupational health risks, and deep rooted social stigma faced by sanitation workers. It critically assesses the systemic gaps in policy implementation, limited effectiveness of key welfare schemes and the role of social work interventions and NGOs in advocacy, community based rehabilitation, stigma reduction, and empowerment.