ponsored by: Dalit Freedom Network USA
Every day, 1.3 million people in India (of which 97% are Dalit women and children) are forced to clean human excrement with their bare hands in a practice known as manual scavenging.
On June 17, 2011, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, in a moment of historical precedent, called manual scavenging “one of the darkest blots on [India’s] development process” and asked all State Ministers in the country to pledge to eliminate this “abominable practice” from every corner of India.
The Central Government of India is in the midst of proposing a stricter law that will be more effective in ending this form of slavery as well as rehabilitating workers who have been subjected to such degrading practices for decades. The new proposal identifies this not simply as an issue of sanitation but of human dignity.
We as global citizens unanimously support the complete abolition of manual scavenging in India. By signing this petition, you agree that this horrific form of slavery must stop!
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