Safai Karmi Scheme of Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh government has a scheme to appoint rural sanitation workers. Open to all castes as government jobs are, this was intended to break the link between caste and occupation, especially in sanitation and manual scavenging works. However, a close look at the operation of this scheme in select districts of the state demonstrates the ways in which caste hierarchy and occupations overwrite the best of policies and continue the practices which these are meant to destroy.