Justice
India's Quixotic Quest to End Human-Hauled Sewage
Hand-emptied toilets could be outlawed, but they're not likely to disappear any time soon.
For more than 750,000 Indian families, sewage is a way of life. They make their living scooping up and hauling out human waste from old-fashioned dry latrines not connected to any infrastructure. Known as manual scavengers, these people are doing a traditional job that dates back to the 19th century. Now the government finally wants the practice to stop, as The Hindu reports.
Legislation is moving forward that could make it illegal for anyone to employ people to perform the job of manual scavenging, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and nearly $9,000 in fines. Any dry toilet that requires manual emptying would have to be demolished within 9 months of the law passing. But it's not going to be as simple as passing a law.