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How public toilets around the world look like. (India's is the best)

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DailyBiteSep 01, 2015 | 16:28

How public toilets around the world look like. (India's is the best)

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Manual scavenging: A job India doesn't need

If we were to go by Twitter feeds, India’s 69th Independence Day will be remembered for Narendra Modi’s second August 15 speech, Taj Mahal’s social media debut, and the Delhi government’s celebration of Arvind Kejriwal Day. Sprinkle some patriotic videos, a little patriotism-blended outrage, few India-still-lacks-this graphs and memes, and you have covered what Twitter looked like this Independence Day. Well, almost.

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As Twitterati continue to sort out the most outrage-worthy trends, commentary on the hits and misses of Modi’s speech goes on. “Startup India, Stand up India” dominates conversations and his focus on creation of jobs is drawing applause. It is not the first time the PM has talked about jobs. He has touched upon this issue over and over again. He has talked about the fact that India needs more jobs, that the youth need skill training. The government has even launched a cover-all job portal with vacancies for blue collar workers, among others. However, Narendra Modi hasn’t talked about a job which exists but shouldn’t. Because if there is a “worst job in India”, it is this.

Every morning, 1.8 lakh households get up to do a job that could hardly be described as a “career option”. The job is manual scavenging, and these people clean shit for a living. This job is illegal, and everything about their work is despicable. The fact that it can even be categorised as work - as recently done by a government job portal - should offend any civilised society.

Assuming at least few households will have more than one family member working as a manual scavenger, the number may actually run into many more individuals, who pick up others’ waste or descend into manholes for sewerage cleaning. It also means these many people are humiliated by the society every single day owing to the caste they are born into. Read more here.

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Last updated: September 02, 2015 | 08:08
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