New Delhi: A sanitation workers’ organisation has criticised the 2024-25 Union budget, claiming that schemes aimed at supporting marginalised communities, including those related to pre-matric scholarships and rehabilitation of manual scavengers, have been “discontinued”.
The budget was presented in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Safai Karamchari Andolan claimed that all previous schemes aimed at supporting marginalised communities such as the “Pre-Matric Scholarships to the Children of Those Engaged in Occupations Involving Cleaning and Prone to Health Hazards” and the “Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers” have been “discontinued”.
This has left families from these communities without crucial educational support, it said.
“With no mention of sewer and septic tank deaths in the budget, and no plans to survey those still engaged in manual scavenging, the government’s apathy is evident,” said the organisation’s national convenor Bezwada Wilson said.
“This negligence aligns with the government’s stance of not recognising the practice of manual scavenging at all. A government that refuses to acknowledge this inhuman and casteist practice cannot be trusted to eradicate it,” Wilson said.
The scholarships scheme was essential in alleviating the financial burden associated with schooling, allowing children from these communities to continue their education without interruption, the statement said.
This scholarship significantly reduced dropout rates over the years. However, the “sudden termination” of this support has thrown the children of manual scavengers into a dire situation, it said.
Wilson stressed on the urgent need to reintroduce both the pre-matric and post-matric scholarships, along with the rehabilitation scheme for manual scavengers.
He also called for the immediate establishment of childcare centres for sanitation workers’ children, special scholarships for technical and vocational courses with a focus on girls, and skill development training for dropouts from these communities.
The organisation also demanded full scholarships and special coaching facilities for children of safai karmacharis to enrol in foreign universities and prepare for competitive exams like NEET, UPSC, JEE and CLAT.
“A good education is perhaps the only way for children of marginalised sections to break free from the centuries-old caste system,” Wilson said and added that the government, however, “seems determined to deny them this opportunity, thereby perpetuating the shackles of caste and patriarchy”.
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