Articles by Shreyas Pande

As India completes 75 years of independence, it is important to critically examine freedom that is now reduced to mere symbols and performance. While the privileged enjoy comfortable lives, vulnerable communities, like lower-caste groups, live on scraps and do inhumane, caste-based jobs for a living. Generations of people are forced into cleaning excreta in sewers despite several technological and scientific advancements that should make the work of manual scavenging less labour-intensive. The state has repeatedly failed at bare minimum provisions to rehabilitate these workers, despite a ban on manual scavenging. Now, a nationwide campaign called Stop Killing Us is expressing…

In September 2021, volunteers at Muse Foundation, a Mumbai-based youth organisation that works to build awareness around manual scavenging among other pressing social issues, received a response to an RTI query they filed with the Sewerage Department of Thane Municipal Corporation. The RTI had sought information on the ‘provisional list of manual scavengers published’ and a ‘list of self-declared manual scavengers and information on their rehabilitation.’ TMC claimed that the questions are ‘Not Applicable’. Additionally, responding to a request for the list of manual scavengers submitted to the District Level Survey Committee, they replied, ‘’The Thane Municipal Corporation’s Sewerage Department…