On July 16, 2025, Union Minister of State (MoS) B.L. Verma, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE), launched the helpline number 14473 for waste pickers, during a special programme organised on the occasion of the ‘National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) Day’ in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
- He also distributed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and Ayushman cards to Sewer and Septic Tank Workers (SSWs) and waste pickers.
- Yogita Swaroop, Senior Financial Advisor, MSJE; Angela Lusigi, India Representative of United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), along with other senior officers from Centre and State Governments.
Key Points:
i.While addressing the programme, Union MoS Verma highlighted that under the NAMASTE Yojana, profiling of 85,067 sewer septic tank workers has been done so far and distributed PPE kits to 45,871 sewer SSWs, while Ayushman cards have been provided to 40,166 workers.
ii.He also launched an Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) training module for occupational safety training of SSWs and also a fashion was organised to explain the significance and utility of PPE kits under the NAMASTE scheme.
iii.A total of 933 and 1,563 waste pickers have been validated in profiling in Lucknow, out of which 20 SSWs and 20 waste pickers were symbolically given PPE kits and Ayushman cards were distributed to 24 sanitation workers.
iv.Apart from that, safety equipment was also distributed for Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ERSU).
About NAMASTE Scheme:
i.The scheme is a human-centric approach of the government, which aims to eliminate hazardous manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, ensuring the safety and dignity of sanitation workers in urban India.
ii.It is a Central Sector Scheme (CSS), jointly launched by MSJE and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in August 2022, with total budget outlay of Rs 349.73 crore for a period of 3 years i.e. from Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24) to FY26.
iii.The scheme is being implemented by the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) under the MSJE.
iv.The scheme offers a number of entitlements for SSWs like: access to safety equipment, occupational safety training, health insurance coverage, among others in the sanitation sector through subsidized vehicles/ machines related to sanitation.
About Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE):
Union Minister- Virendra Kumar Khatik (Constituency- Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, MP)
Union Minister of State (MoS) – Ramdas Athawale (Rajya Sabha – Maharashtra); Banwari Lal(B.L.) Verma (Rajya Sabha – Uttar Pradesh, UP)
