Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the challenge of Manual Scavenging

Abstract

The much celebrated Swacch Bharat Abhiyan by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) completes its third year in 2017. Though the BJP leadership enthusiastically continues to promote the cleanliness campaign, its silence on the practice of manual scavenging raises a serious doubt about its commitment towards making India clean in coming years. It is in this context that, the paper argues that eradication of manual scavenging is the most important step to achieve the objectives of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. It argues that the aim of clean India would remain impossible without eradication of manual scavenging in India.