Hyderabad/New Delhi, June 30 -- In March 2014, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Safai Karamchari Andolan vs Union of India, a landmark ruling meant to protect the lives of India's sewer and septic tank workers - overwhelmingly Dalit - who clear the country's waste with their bare hands and bodies. The verdict capped more than a decade of litigation and directed the government to fully implement the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, which had been passed the previous year.

More than a decade on, that promise remains largely on paper. Despite the legislation and repeated Supreme Court directives, successive governments, regardless of which party is in power, have failed to enforce...