Goldman Sachs says U.S., Europe could end reliance on Chinese EV batteries by 2030 -FT


FILE PHOTO: A sign is pictured on an electric car charging station at the United Nations in Geneva

(Reuters) - The United States and Europe could cut their dependence on China for electric vehicle batteries through more than $160 billion of new capital spending by 2030, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing a Goldman Sachs forecast.

The investment bank's analysts believe demand for finished batteries could be met without China within the next three to five years, as a result of investments in the U.S. by South Korean conglomerates LG and SK Hynix, according to a Goldman report to clients viewed by the newspaper.

The report calculated that to achieve a self-sufficient supply chain, countries competing with China would need to spend $78.2 billion on batteries, $60.4 billion on components and $13.5 billion on mining of lithium, nickel and cobalt, as well as $12.1 billion on refining of those materials, FT said.

Goldman forecast that the U.S. market share of the Korean battery makers would soar to about 55% in three years, from 11% in 2021, FT said.

For now, China dominates battery production, including the mining and refining of raw materials.

The analysts said this dominance could be unwound by protectionist policies in Europe and the United States, coupled with alternative battery chemistries that require fewer critical minerals from China, FT reported.

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and Jamie Freed)

 Kyrgyzstan: Withdraw Draft Law Threatening NGOs – OpEd

 November 22, 2022 

By IPHR

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and CIVICUS call on the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to withdraw the highly restrictive draft law on NGOs, which was recently introduced, and to ensure that any legislation affecting freedom of association that is adopted is in line with the country’s international human obligations.

The draft NGO law, elaborated by the presidential administration, was put forward for public discussion on 2 November 2022 after it was prepared in what appears to have been a rushed manner without adequate consultation with experts and civil society representatives. The draft significantly increases state control over NGOs, provides for excessive restrictions on the operations of such organisations, and raises concerns that it could be used to target groups working on issues which are sensitive to authorities.

‘’This draft law mirrors NGO legislation seen in more repressive countries in the post-Soviet region. Going ahead with this initiative would seriously endanger the operating freedom of NGOs in Kyrgyzstan and undermine hard-won gains in terms of civil society participation in the country,’’ said Brigitte Dufour, Director of IPHR. “The Kyrgyzstani authorities should drop this ill-considered draft law and focus instead on securing an environment in which human rights and other NGOs can carry out their crucial work without hindrance and intimidation.” 

The introduction of the draft law is particularly worrisome as it comes in the context of a worsening environment for free speech and civic space in Kyrgyzstan. In recent months, the authorities have widened their campaign against critical voices, including through mass arrests and criminal charges initiated against activists, journalists and human rights defenders who have spoken out against the government. Activists and bloggers have also been intimidated and warned because of social media posts critical of the government – most recently a veteran human rights activist was singled out for pressure.

The draft law requires all NGOs, including branches and representations of foreign NGOs, to register with the authorities in order to operate lawfully in the country, unlike existing legislation that does not require compulsory state registration of such organisations. NGOs that are already registered would have to re-register within seven months after the law enters into force; otherwise, they would be liquidated. At the same time, some of the grounds on which NGOs may be denied registration are vaguely worded. For example, applications for registration could be rejected if the name of NGOs is considered to ‘’offend’’ ‘’morality’’ or ‘’national and religious feelings of citizens’’ or – in the case of branches of foreign NGOs – if they are deemed to ‘’pose a threat’’ to ‘’national unity and identity’’ or to ‘’cultural heritage and national interests’’. As these terms are not defined by the law, authorities would have wide discretion to apply them and potentially use them to deny registration to groups working on minority rights or other sensitive issues.

Moreover, the draft law grants broad powers to authorities to oversee NGOs’ compliance not only with national law but also with their statutes, thus affording state bodies the role of controlling and assessing whether NGOs ‘’correctly’’ implement their own mandates. As part of their oversight functions, state bodies would be able to request access to a range of NGO documents, including bank information; to send representatives to attend any events organised by NGOs; and to carry out annual inspections of NGO activities. In this way, they would be able to interfere in the internal affairs of NGOs and potentially put pressure on groups they do not like, including by issuing written warnings to them or threatening them with closure.

In accordance with the draft law, authorities would be able to request courts to close NGOs because of even minor violations of national laws; activities considered to be contrary to their statutes; or ‘’systematic’’ failures to provide required information. Authorities would not be expected to exhaust other, less harsh measures prior to taking this step. These provisions are inconsistent with international human rights standards, under which the forced dissolution of NGOs should only be used as a last resort when necessary and proportionate in response to serious misconduct. The implementation of these provisions could result in arbitrary decisions to close down NGOs which challenge public policies and seek accountability for human rights violations and other misconduct among officials.

Additionally, the draft law creates confusion by regulating the activities of ‘’non-governmental non-commercial organisations’’, although this term is not used in pre-existing legislation, which only distinguishes between commercial and non-commercial organisations. Several other provisions of the draft law create uncertainty for affected organisations because of their unclear and ambiguous wording. For example, the draft law states that ‘’restrictions’’ on permissible types of activities for NGOs, as well as on their income ‘’might be established’’ by national legislation without providing any further information on what such restrictions might be.

The draft law contains several discriminatory provisions, in particular provisions which prohibit foreign citizens and stateless persons from acting as founders of NGOs and which impose requirements and obligations on NGOs that do not apply to other types of non-commercial or commercial organisations. While the initiators of the draft law claim that one of its objectives is to ensure transparency of NGOs, this objective is already met by existing legislation, which sets out extensive reporting obligations for non-commercial organisations, including through a new, controversial financial reporting scheme introduced in 2021.

“If adopted, the draft NGO law would deal a serious blow to Kyrgyzstan’s vibrant civil society. It is so broadly worded that it can easily be used to arbitrarily obstruct the work of organisations that are ‘thorns in the side’ of those in power because they criticise government policies, expose human rights violations or stand up against injustice,’’ said Aarti Narse, Civic Space Research Officer at CIVICUS.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Kyrgyzstani authorities have an obligation to protect the right to freedom of association in a non-discriminatory manner and ensure that any restrictions on this right meet strict requirements of necessity, legality and proportionality. The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association has emphasised that associations should not be required to register in order to legally carry out their work and that registration procedures should be viewed as an exercise of notifying rather than asking for permission from authorities. Previously registered groups should not be required to reregister under newly-adopted laws to protect them against arbitrary rejection and any rejection of an application for registration must be clearly motivated.

States are also obliged to avoid measures that disproportionately target or burden civil society organisations and to ensure that such groups are able to carry out their activities without unwarranted state interference. In its recently adopted concluding observations on Kyrgyzstan’s implementation of the ICCPR, the UN Human Rights Committee specifically called on the authorities to ensure that any legislation governing NGOs ‘’does not lead in practice to undue control over or interference in the activities of NGOs’’. Authorities must ensure that the involuntary dissolution of NGOs is only used when there is a clear and imminent danger resulting in a flagrant violation of national law and other, less drastic measures have been insufficient.

The draft law runs counter to the commitments made by the Kyrgyzstani government prior to its recent election as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the period 2023-2025. As part of its membership bid, the government specifically undertook to enhance the capacity of civil society in the country. The draft law also endangers Kyrgyzstan’s GSP+ status, under which it enjoys generous trade preferences with the EU. In order to maintain this status, Kyrgyzstan is required to effectively implement its obligations under international human rights conventions, including the ICCPR.

The current public consultation on the draft NGO law will last at least one month, in accordance with national legislation. Following this, it will go to parliament for consideration and is planned to enter into force on 1 May 2023. The draft law has already been severely criticised by NGO representatives, human rights defenders and lawyers.

The draft NGO law was put forward shortly after another problematic draft law concerning media, also elaborated by the presidential administration. According to media reports, the presidential administration has now agreed to revise the draft media law based on feedback from the media community, as well as to submit it to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission for an expert assessment.

We urge the Kyrgyzstani authorities to put a halt to the consideration of the draft NGO law in its current format and to ensure that any draft legislation affecting NGOs is elaborated through close and effective consultation with civil society representatives and national experts. The authorities should also request and welcome international expert comments on such draft legislation from the Venice Commission, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) is an independent, non-governmental organization founded in 2008. Based in Brussels, IPHR works closely together with civil society groups from different countries to raise human rights concerns at the international level and promote respect for the rights of vulnerable communities.

Across Africa, Water Conflict Threatens Security, Health, And The Environment – OpEd

 November 22, 2022  Eurasia Review 

By Robin Scher

Water is a finite resource on our planet. We can only rely on what we have, which translates to about 2.5 percent of drinkable fresh water. Of that amount, only 0.4 percent currently exists in lakes, rivers, and moisture in the atmosphere. The strain of this limited supply grows by the day and as this continues, the detrimental impact will continue to be felt in places least equipped to find alternative solutions—in particular, the African continent.

The global population is estimated to reach around 9.6 billion people by 2050. This is triple the number of humans on the planet just a few decades ago, having to exist with the same amount of water, not taking into account the nonhuman animals and plants that also rely on water to survive.

More than a third of the planet’s population living without access to clean, safe water live in sub-Saharan Africa. And nearly two-thirds—some four billion people—live in water-scarce areas. With this number set to steadily rise, the United Nations predicts that around 700 million people across the world might be “displaced by intense water scarcity” by 2030.

Scarcity-Led Conflict and Crisis

Each year, the world is seeing extreme water-related events including heatwaves and droughts. In 2021 on the African continent alone, Madagascar, Kenya, and Somalia experienced severe water shortages. And with scarcity, conflict tends to follow.

A number of African conflicts are being fueled by competition for dwindling natural resources. At a state level, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have been engaged in a continuing dispute over fresh water in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Similar issues are playing out across every level of society.

Cameroon, for instance, experienced a violent dispute over water between fishermen and herders in a town near the border of Chad in December 2021. The disagreement over rights to water found in a shrinking Lake Chad led to the death of 22 people and a further 100,000 people displaced from their homes as the two groups fought.

“Once conflicts escalate, they are hard to resolve and can have a negative impact on water security, creating vicious cycles of conflict,” said Susanne Schmeier, senior lecturer in water law and diplomacy at IHE Delft.

This negative feedback loop fueled by conflict is further compounded by the effect on water quality, agriculture, and forced migration. “With very rare exceptions, no one dies of literal thirst,” said Peter Gleick, head of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute. “But more and more people are dying from contaminated water or conflicts over access to water.”

This insight speaks to the complex interplay between water shortage and conflict. According to research from the Pacific Institute, the impact of water on agriculture plays an even greater role in contributing to conflict—a view backed up by the fact that agriculture accounts for 70 percent of fresh water use in Africa.

Another conflict-causing factor is the social impact of water shortages. With up to a quarter of the world’s population facing serious water scarcity at least one month of the year, people are being forced to migrate. In 2017, at least 20 million people from Africa and the Middle East left their homes due to food shortages and conflict caused by serious drought.

Food Insecurity Due to Impact on Wildlife and Agriculture

Food insecurity caused by water shortages is being compounded by the loss of wildlife. With a drop in their rainy seasons, Kenya’s sheep, camels, and cattle have been in decline. This has led to a threat of 2.5 million people potentially going without food due to drought, according to the United Nations.

The impact of drought is taking a severe toll on agriculture, particularly in counties where this forms the mainstay of their economy. In South Africa, for instance, agriculture is key to the functioning of the country when it comes to job creation, food security, rural development, and foreign exchange.

Water shortages in the country impact both commercial and subsistence farmers. But it is the subsistence farmers who are hardest hit by the droughts, according to a 2021 paper published by a group of international scientists in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

While commercial farmers are able to offset a lack of rain through alternative water supplies, as well as storage and irrigation technologies, subsistence farmers who are reliant on rain, the scientists write, “are particularly susceptible to drought as they highly depend on climate-sensitive resources.” They also point out that the impact is worsened by the fact that this form of farming is tied to farmers’ own food security.

Adaptation

There is no way to avoid the impacts of water scarcity and drought. The best thing to do is manage and mitigate risk where possible. A tool proposed by the group Water, Peace and Security is an early warning monitor capable of tracking information on rainfall, crop yields, and political, economic, and social factors. According to the group, this tool would “predict water-related conflicts up to a year in advance, which allows for mediation and government intervention.”

Another common de-risking approach to conflict is water-sharing agreements. Since the end of World War II, 200 of these agreements have been signed. Despite this, the UN has consistently failed to introduce a Water Convention that would see over 43 countries sharing transboundary rivers and lakes.

A good example where a water-sharing agreement helped avoid conflict can be found in Southern Africa. In 2000, with tensions rising over shared resources, an agreement was reached between Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia that helped avoid further issues.

Reducing water loss remains the most recommended method countries should adopt to avoid future catastrophes. Agriculture and mining, in particular, are two industries that could do more to limit their water wastage. Another policy, suggested by Iceland, is to increase the price of water in relation to its supply, as a way to help curb water wastage.

Desalination is also a popular method used to free up more water, using seawater to increase supply. Saudi Arabia, for instance, uses desalination to supply the country with at least 50 percent of its water supply. Water recycling, known as “gray” water is another low-cost alternative used by farmers to offset the impact of drought.

As water scarcity continues to become more commonplace, so too will these mitigation and adaptation strategies. The question is, will they be enough?

Robin Scher is a writer based in South Africa. He is a graduate of the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University. Find him on Twitter @RobScherHimself.

Source: This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

 

How Women Are Targeted In Conflict-Ridden Sri Lanka – Analysis

 November 22, 2022  Eurasia Review  0 Comments

By P. K. Balachandran

Despite enacting progressive national policies and becoming a signatory to numerous international conventions aimed at eliminating gender-based violence, recent reports and official statistics indicate a steady increase in violence against women in Sri Lanka, says Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits, an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

In her paper in Extremism and Gender-based violence in South Asia(November 2022) done under the aegis of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism and the European Union, Jayasundara-Smits says that “the evolving nature of politics around Sri Lanka’s state-building process has generated dialectical relationships with its minorities—Tamils and Muslims. These relationships are partially enacted through gender violence which takes many forms—from physical and sexual violence to a national misogynistic polemic.” 

In other words, the continuing conflict between the majority Sinhala-Buddhists and the minority Tamils and Muslims manifests itself in gender-based violence and discrimination. Her paper spans both the war and post-war situations, but is primarily on the post-war (from 2009 onwards) scenario.   

Here are excerpts from the paper:

It was in 2018 that Sri Lanka conducted its first official survey on women’s well-being. It found that one in four Sri Lankan women (24.9%) had experienced physical and sexual violence by a partner or a non-partner, and that two in every five women (40%) had suffered physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence including controlling behavior by a partner.

The upward trend of violence against women and girls had become more prominent in the estate sector among plantation workers, where one-third of women had experienced physical violence.  

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019 played an added role in escalating violence against women. And specific structures, practices and the effect of the 30-year war against the Tamil militants have together resulted in violence against women. She identifies the sources of violence as:  State and societal militarization, majoritarian hegemony, military masculinities and the ways in which female subordination is ensured or patriarchy is reinforced. 

The socialist-era, under Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike, which was marked by social welfare and educational equalitarianism, had let to the progress of Sri Lankan women substantially. But President J.R.Jayewardene’s economic liberalization in 1977 gave a boost to patriarchal and masculinist values, leading to an iniquitous division of labor and a worsening of gender relations. 

Subsequently, in the 1980s and 90s, when the country resorted to help from international financial institutions, egalitarian policies were dismantled. This adversely affected marginalized groups like ethnic and religious minorities and women.   

The civil war which broke out in the 1980s led to a stark increase in households led by women in the Tamil and Muslim-dominated North and East Sri Lanka, which bore the brunt of the fighting. These “war widows” were left to fend for themselves. In 2010, there were about 89,000 war widows and 40,000 women managing households in the former war zone. 

Between 2009 and 2013, the number of sexual violence-related police complaints increased by 34%. The Judicial Medical Officer of Jaffna Hospital in the Northern province stated that 56 cases of rape and severe violence against women and minor girls were recorded within the first three months of 2012. This was an alarming increase compared to 102 incidents reported in the whole of 2010 and 182 incidents in the whole of 2011. 

Although the Tamil militant group, LTTE, recruited women into its fighting forces and broke gender taboos, their status after the war was one of subordination to men, just as it was before the war.  

However, the war-affected women did organize themselves to fight for their rights, especially for their physical safety both during and after the war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan and Indian military. The Northern Mothers Front (1984), Women for Peace (1984), Women’s Action Committee (1982) and Mothers and Daughters of Lanka (1989) played an important role in lobbying for the observance of human rights by the militaries. Later, after the war, they took up issues of legal and policy reform. They also demonstrated for the release of prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act without any legal justification, and for information about family members who had disappeared.  

But the post-war neglect of the war-devastated North and East in terms of development, led to economic decline, creating joblessness and a lack of economic opportunities. This led to domestic discord and violence against women perpetrated by frustrated husbands. Sexual exploitation was prevalent also during clean-up operations by the army after the war.  

According to some researchers, forcing Tamil women into prostitution— particularly those belonging to the war-ravaged areas of North and East Sri Lanka—was a form of psychological warfare, waged to humiliate the Tamil community.    

A significant number of sexual crimes were reported from Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala and Monaragala, districts adjacent to the North-Eastern war zone. The Sri Lankan army was also suspected of carrying out “grease devil attacks” in which semi- naked men smeared in grease sexually assaulted women in the North and East. 

To date, the Sri Lankan army has not been held accountable due to draconian laws such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, enacted to protect them from legal prosecution. In fact, the military has enjoyed near-total impunity due to support from the ruling Rajapaksa regime and Buddhist extremist monks—in the form of blessings and silent assent—proving claims of an unholy nexus between the two.

In Sri Lanka, violence against women and men (particularly from the Tamil minority) has followed a vicious cycle—empowered by the state, blessed by Buddhist religious extremists and inflicted by the Sri Lankan armed forces.

While on the one hand, the government kept imposing its majoritarian cultural values relating to women, women also came under the pressure of their respective communities to accept their misogynistic diktats.

Months after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as President in 2019, the Public Administration Ministry issued a circular stating that women employees and visitors could only wear saris or osaris (the Kandyan sari), ostensibly to ensure security in office premises. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka wrote to the Ministry Secretary that this violated fundamental human rights and restricted Muslim women from accessing public services.

Reformation of Muslim laws governing marriage and divorce further polarized the communities. While several South Asian nations managed to usher in progressive changes to Muslim law, hardliner groups such as the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama vehemently opposed any reform. In turn, the issue fueled Buddhist hardliners to campaign against the “burqa” or “hijab”, claiming to be “saviors” of Muslim women from their regressive society.

Kirama Vimalajothy, President of BBS also launched a campaign against the long dress worn by Muslim women, According to Vimalajothy, this dress was a symbol of danger—an opinion shared by law enforcement agencies. Buddhist extremists and the state justified the burqa ban by citing similar policies imposed by countries in the West.

Partly on account of the pressure to change from the majority Buddhists, Muslims began to impose fundamentalism on their community through Islamic schools, madrasas and other financial and social institutions. According to one study, Muslim women returning to the North said that, unlike before, they were pressured by members of their own community to wear head scarves. 

Buddhist extremists went to the extent of strongly urging Sinhalese women to bear more children and dedicate themselves exclusively to childcare to save the “vanishing” Sinhala Buddhist population from becoming a minority. There was propaganda about Muslim polygamy helping the Muslims to overtake the Sinhalese in the population of Sri Lanka eventually.  

In 2013, a minor female childcare provider, Rizana Nafeek was executed in Saudi Arabia for the death of a child in her care. The Rajapaksa government reacted by enacting a law which made it mandatory for women seeking employment abroad to get a signed approval from their spouses. The law also banned women with children below 5 years of age from employment abroad. Women with older children were required to demonstrate adequate plans for their care. But men were allowed to migrate at 18 years, and married men did not require their spouse’s approval before migrating.

Predictably, this law led to a sharp decline in women employed abroad. Women from the war-devastated areas of North and East were particularly affected, as many supported their families with income earned as domestic workers in the Middle-East.

Australian scientists discover Andromeda galaxy grew from 'galactic cannibalism'

By Josh Hohne

Nov 22, 2022

In their quest to uncover the origins of the Milky Way, a team of astrophysicists has made a morbid discovery.

They say our nearest galactic neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy, grew by feeding on other smaller galaxies billions of years ago.

The international team, led by a University of Sydney astrophysicist, uncovered evidence the Andromeda galaxy is a cannibal growing through "colossal intermittent feasts".

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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured stunning infrared views of the famous Andromeda galaxy to reveal insights that were only hinted at in visible light. Spitzer's 24-micron mosaic (top panel) is the sharpest image ever taken of the dust in another spiral galaxy. This is possible because Andromeda is a close neighbor to the Milky Way at a mere 2.5 million light-years away. The Spitzer multiband imaging photometer's 24-micron detector recorded 11,000 separate snapshots to create this new c (NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Gordon (Univ)

The team had suspicions for years that the Andromeda galaxy had formed by absorbing other small galaxies.

"A few years ago, we discovered that in the far outskirts of Andromeda, there was a sign in the objects orbiting it that the galaxy hadn't been grazing, but it had eaten large quantities in two distinct epochs," said lead author Professor Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney.

"What this new result does is provide a clearer picture of how our local universe has come together – it is telling us that at least in one of the large galaxies, that there has been this sporadic feeding of small galaxies."

READ MORE: NASA's mightiest rocket lifts off 50 years after Apollo

Astronomers predict that in about four billion years, the Andromeda galaxy will collide with our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Andromeda galaxy is our largest and closest neighbor in the universe. (Robert Gendler)

"We've come to realise over the last few decades that galaxies grow by eating smaller systems – so little galaxies fall in, they get eaten – it's galactic cannibalism."

The findings are based on the discovery of a structure of stars, known as globular clusters, in Andromeda that originated outside the galaxy.

Professor Lewis named this the Dulais Structure, drawn from the Welsh for black stream.

An image from the study highlights the leftovers from the Andromeda galaxy's feast (The University of Sydney/Geraint Lewis)

The research was made public last week, and may help to answer questions about how our own galaxy was formed.

"What we want to know is, has the Milky Way done the same, or is it different? Both of those have interesting consequences for the overall picture of how galaxies form," Professor Lewis said.

Galaxies collide in new deep space image


The lead astrophysicist also gave credit to two university students who were working on the project, who, to Professor Lewis' surprise, stumbled upon evidence of leftovers in the galaxy's spiral.

"We got a hint that something was going on from their honours work," he said. "You almost know what's going to come out at the end of it, but when they come to you and say, 'I keep getting this signal, and it's a bit weird,' – that's when it gets very exciting."

"It's opened a new door in terms of our understanding."

HINDUTVA CASTISM

World Toilet Day 2022: Realizing Safe Cities For Sanitation Workers In India – Analysis

 November 22, 2022  Eurasia Review 

By IMPRI

By Sameer Unhale, Dr Simi Mehta, Dr Arjun Kumar and Kushagra Khatri*

World Toilet Day is held every year on November 19. It has been an annual United Nations observance since 2013, which celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 3.6 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. It is about taking action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Water and Sanitation for All. The SDG 6.2 is the world’s promise to ensure safe toilets for all by 2030. This year, the theme is “Let’s make the invisible visible.” 

India, in its endeavour to achieve health, hygiene, and cleanliness along with universal sanitation coverage, launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) (SBM-U) or Clean India Mission in 2014 on the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation – Mahatma Gandhi (October 2), as a national movement. To ameliorate urban sanitation infrastructure, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart City Mission were also set in motion.

Sanitation Workers in India

According to a study conducted by Dalberg Associates in 2018, there are an estimated 5 million full-time sanitation workers, with 2 million working in high-risk conditions in India. Now, this high-risk or hazardous cleaning is often associated with the work performed by sewer and septic tank cleaners. For example, work includes emptying toilets, pits, and septic tanks; entering manholes and sewers to repair or unclog them; transporting faecal waste; working treatment plants; and cleaning public toilets or defecation around homes and businesses.

One of the pioneering government initiatives for manual scavengers is the ‘Self-Employment Scheme of Liberation & Rehabilitation of Scavengers’ (SRMS). It was put into place more than fifteen years ago by the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC), but it has not yet achieved its objectives. When SRMS was launched in 2007, its goal was to place manual scavengers and the people who depended on them in alternative occupations by 2009.

Recent Developments – Sanitation Workers Safe City 

On World Toilet Day 2020, the SafariMitra Suraksha Challenge was launched. This major initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is a leap forward towards achieving zero fatalities and putting a mechanised design and practise in place to deal with human waste. The various urban local bodies were challenged to eradicate hazardous cleaning, promoting mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. Capacity building and empowerment of SafaiMitra have featured as top priorities; thus, this initiative holds immense value.

In August this year, Urban India recommitted itself to ensuring all sanitation workers’ safety, dignity, and security. For the first time, 500 cities across India have declared themselves “SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar’. In doing so, they have established that the cities can achieve adequacy in terms of institutional capacity, manpower, and equipment norms as stipulated by MoHUA and are providing safe working conditions for SafaiMitras. The ‘SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar’ declaration by 500 cities aligns with SBM-U’s long standing goal of promoting sustainable sanitation practices and acting as a catalyst for turning every ‘manhole’ into a ‘machine hole’.

It has taken 75 years for us to come to this juncture, but any task started well is bound to achieve its goal. MoHUA is committed to ensuring that all Indian cities declare themselves as ‘SafaiMitra Surkashit Shehar’ by March 2024, along with ensuring ‘Zero Fatalities in Sanitation Work’. 

Namaste: Machinising City Sanitation and Circular Economy

Augmenting the ongoing efforts towards mechanisation and the safety of workers, MoHUA and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) jointly launched the ‘NAMASTE’ (National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem) Scheme, this year, to enhance occupational safety, improve access to safety gears and machines, provide skilled-wage opportunities, and focus on continuous capacity building while breaking the intergenerationality of sanitation work. In order to ensure enforcement and monitoring of safe sanitation work, strengthened supervisory and monitoring systems at national, state, and ULB levels are envisaged.  

Furthermore, the creation of a training ecosystem of present and prospective workers for core sanitation work that involves training on occupational safety by incorporating interactive pedagogy, both theory and practise, pre- and post-training assessment, and certification. 

Zero Fatalities of SafaiMitras

The intended outcomes of the NAMASTE scheme are to achieve zero fatalities in sanitation work in India. All sanitation work must be done by skilled workers who will have no direct contact with human faeces. Increased awareness among the citizenry to seek services from registered and skilled sanitation workers. The scheme involves institutionalising the workers into Self Help Groups, which are empowered to run enterprises and increase their social benefit coverage. All workers are entitled to pursue alternative livelihoods. The scheme seeks to increase the visibility of sanitation workers, empower them, and inject dignity into the profession. While working on specialised training, capacity building, and ensuring occupational safety.

In addition, for safe and sustainable sanitation, MoHUA has issued the Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) Policy, 2017, which emphasises implementation of the legal prohibition of manual scavenging under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and the Rehabilitation Act, 2013, and has also prescribed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for safe cleaning of sewer and septic tanks in November 2018. 

Sanitation Workers – Manual Scavengers

According to the MoSJE, of the 43,797 identified manual scavengers, over 42,500 of them belong to the Scheduled Castes (2021). The sanitation workforce is largely informal and stuck in a generational cycle; an estimated 75% of the women involved were born into or married into this profession. Regardless of the work being a hazard, the blanket of social security amongst the workers is absent, almost 90% of the workforce is without insurance. 

Significantly lower than the national average of 70 years, the average life expectancy of sanitation workers is 40–45 years. Furthermore, they experience high rates of prolonged illness and mortality because of the work they do. Work-related mortality is high: 375–475 people who work in manual scavenging died on the job over the past five years, primarily due to asphyxiation while cleaning sewers and septic tanks. Several workers turn to alcohol and drugs to placate their suffering.

Every now and then, deaths and plight of working conditions of city sanitation workers, shakes the morale of the nation and warrants immediate actionable solutions. The impact of Climate Change visible in the cities further demand the need for holistic sanitation ecosystem. The workers without safety gear like PPE kits (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic times), hard hats, and other supplies engage in life-threatening conditions. Sanitation infrastructure in most Indian cities is also outdated and difficult to operate with machines, thereby requiring human intervention. Replacing this infrastructure with modern options requires significant budgets and political will. The new sanitation infrastructure being planned across cities should be based on ‘zero human touch‘ design principles.

Embracing Technology and Effective Implementation – Need of Hour

In the past decade, India has made significant strides in cleanliness and sanitation through the success of the SBM-U. But since SBM largely led to the construction of toilets and behavioural change, the next natural step would be to do away with dry latrines and have a robust sewage infrastructure that requires no human touch, which is the focus of the SBM-U 2.0

Well-founded implementation and concerted effort are required to bring about significant changes in sanitation.To address the systemic problem of manual cleaning, a coordinated, united push is needed from the multifarious stakeholders, i.e., ministries, urban local bodies, public works departments, and layers of contractors and subcontractors, civil society and citizens.    

In the Amrit Kaal of New India, decisive steps in the right direction that target augmenting sanitation infrastructure, dignifying safai mitras, and educating the commons are needed. India must align itself to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve sanitation and water for all with dignity at the earliest, for which embracing technology and effective implementation is the need of the hour.

Authors:

Mr Sameer Unhale, Mission Director at Maharashtra Urban Development Mission Directorate Swachh Maharashtra Mission (Urban) and Visiting Senior Fellow at IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, and Dr Simi Mehta, Dr Arjun Kumar and Kushagra Khatri are with IMPRI

 

Logo for UN World Toilet Day. Credit: UN, Wikipedia Commons