Social Justice Ministry sets out what a desludging worker gets under the NAMASTE scheme

30 October 2026

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has published an account of how the NAMASTE scheme reaches a single sanitation worker, in a release issued on 30 October. It follows a 37-year-old desludging assistant from a Scheduled Caste family whose work involved hazardous conditions, poor safety equipment and little access to welfare, alongside low wages and social stigma. In 2025-26 he received a Personal Protective Equipment kit, an Ayushman Bharat health card and training in skills and safety. The Ministry says he now works more safely, can reach health care more easily and has seen a moderate rise in income. NAMASTE, which stands for National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem, is the Ministry's scheme to end hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks by profiling the workers, giving them protective gear, health cover and training, and helping them set up sanitation enterprises. The scheme is run with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the Ministry presents stories such as this one to show how the scheme's parts fit together for one household.