State Capacity, Caste, and the Failure to End Manual Scavenging

Manual scavenging is the dangerous and degrading work of manually cleaning human waste from toilets, drains, and sewers. Although it is illegal in India, the practice continues because of caste-based discrimination and limited job options—making abolition a critical issue of justice and dignity.

Bezwada Wilson is leading a nationwide movement in India to abolish the dehumanizing practices of manual toilet cleaning and scavenging in India. Bezwada and his organization, Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), have served as a watchdog, pushing for legal action to demolish dry toilets across India and preparing manual scavengers to achieve new sources of income. Central to this struggle is a critique of caste as a structural system that enforces degrading labor by birth, and demanding the state to uphold its constitutional duty to abolish manual scavenging by transitioning to mechanized sanitation work.