SRM Law School hosts lecture on ending manual scavenging and caste discrimination

SRM School of Law's Centre for Human Rights Studies and Centre for Social Justice hosted a Distinguished Public Lecture on Social Justice Day featuring Ramon Magsaysay Award Laureate Bezwada Wilson, National Convenor of Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA). Wilson spoke on ending manual scavenging and caste discrimination to students, faculty, and legal scholars.

Wilson highlighted the distinction between sanitation work and manual scavenging, describing the latter as a caste-enforced system of exploitation. He questioned how societies justify asking individuals to clean human waste for minimal pay while denying it is exploitative. He drew parallels between slavery and livelihood dependency, noting that refusal of such work often means loss of employment.

Drawing from his experience in Kolar Gold Fields, Wilson recounted realizing the nature of manual scavenging at age 15. He criticized bureaucratic apathy despite SKA's 40-year movement and landmark 2003 Supreme Court litigation addressing the issue.