A 65-strong group of natives of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — all of them former manual scavengers — is on a nation-wide tour educating the masses on the need to do away with manual scavenging. The National Maila Mukti Yatra (National Dignity Campaign) plans to travel 10,000 km across 200 districts in 18 States.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Sanjay Dumane of the National Dignity Campaign said despite statutory provisions, scavengers are still employed to remove human excreta from railway tracks and open spaces. According to the 2011 census, there are 7,94,390 dry latrines in the country, where human excreta is cleaned by humans.