Forty-seven sanitation workers died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks across India in 2025, the Union government said on Wednesday. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of deaths at 10, followed by Haryana with seven and Tamil Nadu with six, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said in response to an MP’s question. Responding to a question on the effectiveness of existing laws, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said that the scheme was evaluated in 2025. It also noted that the Union housing and urban affairs ministry had issued standard operating procedures for cleaning sewers and septic tanks. In July 2023, the Union social justice ministry’s Central Monitoring Committee claimed that the practice of manual scavenging had been eliminated .