‘NAMASTE’ Scheme

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment jointly launched the ‘NAMASTE’ (National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem) Scheme.

• It has been launched to improve occupational safety, access to safety gears and machines, skilled wage opportunities, and continuous capacity building.

• It will focus on sewer/septic tank workers, skilling, entrepreneurship programme for dependants of SafaiMitras, and providing subsidies for sanitation-related vehicles and equipment.

• It will also ensure that all SafaiMitras have been covered with health insurance.

• 500 cities have declared themselves as “SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar”. The government commits that all Indian cities will declare themselves as ‘SafaiMitra Surkashit’ by March 2024.”

• Under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, cities and states are committed to converting every ‘manhole’ into a ‘machine hole’.