The body set up to safeguard the interests and welfare of safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) and to monitor the abolition of manual scavenging.
- Originally a statutory body under the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993; that Act lapsed in 2004, after which the Commission has been continued as a non-statutory body by Government resolutions extended periodically.
- It monitors the implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, which bans manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
- It investigates grievances of sanitation workers, recommends welfare and rehabilitation measures, and reports to the Government.
- Its mandate links directly to Article 17 (abolition of untouchability) and the dignity of labour.
- Its present status is to be verified, as it has alternated between statutory and non-statutory phases.
The 1993 Act, the lapse in 2004, the link to the Manual Scavengers Act, 2013 and Article 17 are standard social-justice and human-rights facts.
The NCSK was statutory from 1993 to 2004 and has since functioned as a non-statutory body unless renewed; verify the latest status; do not confuse it with the SC/ST Commissions.
Welfare body for sanitation workers (statutory 1993 to 2004, since then non-statutory) overseeing the ban on manual scavenging.