SC seeks Centre’s reply on steps taken to end manual scavenging

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a detailed response from the Centre over the steps it has taken to stop manual scavenging that continues in the country even though it has been outlawed.

“People are dying every day. Can humans be dealt like this? What have you done for manual scavenging? In no other country, people enter manholes without protective gears. What have you done about it?” a justice Arun Mishra-led bench asked attorney general K K Venugopal while asking him to give his submissions in writing.the bench expressed concern over people dying during manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in India. It said nowhere in the world are people sent to “gas chambers to die.”

“This practice of manual scavenging is unconstitutional. Seventy years have passed since independence, but it is unfortunate that caste discrimination still continues in the country and governments have failed to protect them,” said justice Mishra. He called manual scavenging an inhuman practice.

The bench’s remarks came when it reserved a verdict on petitions demanding a review of the Supreme Court’s judgement last year banning automatic arrests in cases registration under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The Centre has supported the review. NEW DELHI: France will hand over to the Indian Air Force its first Rafale fighter jet on October 8, two government officials said on Wednesday. Defence minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Merignac in France along with senior air force officials for the induction ceremony, which will coincide with the IAF Day.

The ceremony was supposed to take place on September 19 but it was deferred due to lastminute changes in the programme, said one of the officials cited above.

The induction will take place barely a week after the IAF gets a new chief as Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa retires on September 30. The government is yet to announce his successor.

It is unlikely that the new IAF chief will travel to France as several ceremonial functions, including a parade and an ‘at home’, are part of the IAF Day celebrations, said the second official. India ordered 36 Rafale jets from France in a deal worth ₹59,000 crore in September 2016.