Manual scavenging is an unclean work in which humans are engaged to clean or dispose of waste including human excreta. Manual Scavenging still exists in India. They are engaged in cleaning work under the authority of corporations, municipalities and railway administration nowadays. The various programmes had been launched by our Indian government to eradicate the manual scavengers as well as to rehabilitate manual scavengers. The humans still carry out basic sanitation works in rural and urban areas. Even though various steps had been taken to eradicate these types of practice, it is still in vain. There are several obstacles in the way of eradication and rehabilitation of manual scavengers in the name of caste, illiteracy, poverty, unawareness etc. There is no proper implementation of the acts relating to manual scavenging in Tamil Nadu for eradicating these types of practices. The eradication of manual scavenging is still the continuing challenge. No one should be forced to do manual scavenging as well as there should not be any discrimination relating to work otherwise it shall be treated as violation of human rights and constitutional right of a manual scavenger. Manual scavenging is a grave social evil, in violation of human dignity and all principles of decent work. Manual scavenging represents some of the worst surviving forms of both caste discrimination and dehumanizing forms of work. The study is to analyse the problem in eradication of manual scavenging in Tamil Nadu.

Keywords: Manual Scavenging, Discrimination, Rehabilitation, Eradication, Violation, Human Dignity