📅 May 6, 2025, Post 13: NAMASTE Scheme: Honouring the Hands that Clean India | Target IAS-26 MCQs Attached: A complete Package, Dear Aspirants!
NAMASTE Scheme: Honouring the Hands that Clean India
🔹 NEWS DROP — PETAL 013
📅 May 6, 2025
🎯 GS Paper 2 | Social Justice – Vulnerable Sections & Government Schemes
🌀 Intro Whisper
Dignity begins where danger ends — NAMASTE offers not a gesture, but justice to those who cleanse the unseen.
🔍 Key Highlights
- NAMASTE stands for National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem.
- Launched in July 2023 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment along with Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.
- It is a Central Sector Scheme aimed at eliminating hazardous manual scavenging by promoting mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
- Core focus: safety, dignity, and rehabilitation of sanitation workers, including:
- Profiling of Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs)
- Health Insurance under AB-PMJAY
- Occupational Safety Training
- Capital Subsidy for purchasing sanitation equipment
- Distribution of PPE kits and emergency response tools
- Awareness campaigns on sanitation dignity
- In 2024, waste pickers were also added to the scheme to ensure inclusive and sustainable livelihoods.
🧭 GS Paper Mapping
GS1: Society – Caste, Dignity of Labour
GS2: Social Justice – Welfare of Vulnerable Sections
GS2: Government Schemes & Rights of Sanitation Workers
Target IAS-26: Daily MCQs :
📌 Prelims Practice MCQs
Topic:
🧠 Prelims MCQ (Type 4 – Direct Question)
Q. The recently launched ‘NAMASTE’ scheme is primarily aimed at:
A) Enhancing rural sanitation infrastructure through Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
B) Promoting safe and mechanised sanitation practices among sewer and septic tank workers
C) Creating employment for waste management professionals in urban areas
D) Regulating private sanitation companies in smart cities
🌀 Didn’t get it? Click here (▸) for the Correct Answer & Explanation
✅ Correct Answer: B) Promoting safe and mechanised sanitation practices among sewer and septic tank workers
🧠 Explanation:
• NAMASTE focuses on mechanised cleaning, dignity of sanitation workers, and ending manual scavenging, while offering health, safety, and livelihood support.
