Addressing an ASSOCHAM conference on Social Inclusion and Affirmative Action, he said around 50 per cent of Indians defecate in the open and there were around 13 lakh insanitary latrines of which some were serviced by humans and others by animals.
"All the state governments have informed us that none (of the manual scavengers) remain to be rehabilitated. The states don't have the problem but Census 2011 has given us some information.
"...There are some insanitary latrines serviced by human being and others are serviced by animals. If such latrines are there, it means that there is bound to be manual scavenging. To what extent it is, we will have to go into that.Government is finalising its strategy in this regard," Wasnik said.
The Minister expressed concern over the fact that even after over 65 years of independence, the scourge of manual scavenging still exists and "problem of human scavengers still remains to addressed".
On the issue of open defecation, Wasnik said there were 24.66 crore households in the country of which over 12 crore don't have access to toilets.
"49.8 per cent people of India defecate in open. Just imagine the situation that we are facing," he said.
He said women suffer the most in such households as they get to answer the call of nature either before sunrise or after dark which can have serious impact on their health. (MORE)