Previous Year Question
‘Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan’ is a national campaign to:
Rehabilitate homeless and destitute persons and provide them with suitable sources of livelihood
Release sex workers from their practice and provide them with alternative sources of livelihood
Eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate manual scavengers
Release bonded labourers from their bondage and rehabilitate them
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan sought to eradicate manual scavenging and secure rehabilitation and dignified alternative livelihoods for persons, particularly women, engaged in the practice. Therefore, option (c) is correct.
It should be understood that Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan was not a general government scheme for poverty eradication or rehabilitation of homeless persons. It operated as a national campaign against the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, caste-based discrimination and the socio-economic exclusion of affected communities.
The principal legal framework in this field is the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The Act:
Prohibits the employment of a person as a manual scavenger.
Prohibits the construction and maintenance of insanitary latrines.
Prohibits hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
Provides for the rehabilitation of identified manual scavengers.
Prescribes penalties for violations.
The question is not related to the rehabilitation of homeless persons, sex workers or bonded labourers. Separate laws and welfare programmes deal with those groups.
Current status (2026)
Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan itself is not listed as a current Central Government scheme. The present government framework is principally based on:
The 2013 law prohibiting manual scavenging and providing rehabilitation.
NAMASTE—National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem.
NAMASTE is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Its principal objectives include:
Achieving zero fatalities in sanitation work.
Ensuring that no sanitation worker comes into direct contact with human faecal matter.
Mechanising sewer and septic-tank cleaning.
Identification and profiling of sewer and septic-tank workers.
Providing occupational-safety training and PPE kits.
Linking eligible workers and their families with Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY health cover.
Providing alternative livelihoods and capital subsidy for sanitation-related projects.
Thus, the original objective of the campaign is now carried forward through legislation, mechanised sanitation and rehabilitation programmes such as NAMASTE.