Prelims 2016 · Q16
Medium'Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan' is a national campaign to
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate the manual scavengers
Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan ('national campaign for dignity') is a civil-society campaign to end manual scavenging and rehabilitate the people, mostly Dalit women, pushed into it. The Government of India itself named it among the NGOs associated with identifying and rehabilitating manual scavengers. 'Garima' means dignity, which is exactly what manual scavenging denies.
- ✓ (c) The campaign targets manual scavenging, the carrying of human excreta from dry latrines, which the 1993 Act prohibited and the 2013 Act (in force from 6 December 2013) outlawed together with a duty to rehabilitate.
- ✗ (d) Release of bonded labourers is governed by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and is not the aim of this campaign.
- ✗ (a) Livelihoods for the homeless and destitute are addressed by government shelter and livelihood schemes, not by the Garima Abhiyan.
Remember · Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan = campaign against manual scavenging (dignity for safai workers). Law: Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
Sources
- PIB Special Feature: Freedom from Manual Scavenging (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, 14 August 2015) ↗ “Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has associated reputed NGOs like Safai Karamchari Andolan, Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, Sulabh International etc. for identification of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation.”
- UN OHCHR (hosting a submission by the International Dalit Solidarity Network to the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, 2024) ↗ · reference work “Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan – Jan Sahas is a national level movement which works for the total eradication of manual scavenging and the empowerment of Dalits and other vulnerable section of society.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·