A/HRC/45/10/Add.2 45. Monitoring of manual scavenging practices falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Under the Manual Scavenging Act 2013, local authorities are required to carry out survey of manual scavengers in areas under their jurisdiction and upload these numbers to the Ministry website. Further, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in 2018-2019, has also carried out a National Survey of Manual Scavengers in 170 districts of 18 States.26 A large disparity between numbers reported by local officials (4,505 identified manual scavengers by March 2019) and numbers reported by the National Survey (49,354 manual scavengers by March 2019) exists. 27 The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this disparity could reveal a lack of political will or of resources for addressing manual scavenging on the ground and in practice. PROGRESS LIMITED: The Special Rapporteur reiterates the need to establish a monitoring system to address the process of emptying pit latrines, which has become more urgent following the increased amount of toilets due to the Clean India Mission. 2. Recommendation on faecal sludge management RECOMMENDATION 13:“ Strengthen initiatives for implementing faecal sludge management, safe transport and disposal of grey water, and wastewater treatment, to reduce health hazards arising from the contamination of water;” (A/HRC/39/55/Add.1, para. 71(k)) 46. Sanitation not only concerns one’s own right to use a latrine or toilet, but also the human rights of others who can be negatively affected when wastes are not appropriately treated or disposed. To meet this standard, the Special Rapporteur clarified that India would also need to implement an effective faecal sludge management system for excreta stored in latrines and achieve a massive increase in wastewater treatment for the population served by sewerage systems, mostly in cities (A/HRC/39/55/Add.1, para. 33). 47. Limited information is available which indicate that implementation of faecal sludge management has been in place. The UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme reported that wastewater treatment covered only 9 per cent of the urban population in India in 2015 and in 2017, this was reported to have extended only to 10.5 per cent. In 2018, WaterAid India Report found that only a third of urban houses in India are connected to the sewer system; that only a fraction of the wastewater generated and discharged into sewers actually reaches wastewater treatment facilities; and that often sewers are silted up because of poor maintenance and pumping stations face unreliable power supply.28 48. Despite a lack of evidence for the improvement of wastewater management since the visit, the Special Rapporteur notes increased attention to faecal sludge management in sanitation policy, particularly in the next phase of the rural component of Clean India Mission from 2020 to 2025. Phase II introduces the concept of “Open Defecation Free Plus” to be used to designate villages where open defecation free status is maintained, and solid and liquid waste management is implemented. Similarly for urban areas, in September 2018, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released the criteria for Urban Local Bodies (the smallest unit of governance in cities) to certify as “ODF+”, a status that requires that all toilets needed to be connected to either sewer networks or safe containment systems, and all septic tank or pit cleaning service providers needed to be registered and operating through contract.29 49. Furthermore, for villages more than 10 km away from wastewater treatment plants, Phase II guidelines include descriptions on how to choose and implement faecal sludge management systems based on the local context, such as the depth of water table and the 26 27 28 29 12 Ministry of Social Justice Annual Report 2018-19 (2019), 13. Ibid., 14. WaterAid India, State of Urban Water Supply in India (2018), 26. Government of India, Declaring your City/Town SBM ODF+ and SBM ODF++ Toolkit for Urban Local Bodies (2018).