After highlighting the need for improving sanitation across the nation, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has taken up the cause of eradicating manual scavenging, an inhuman and outlawed practice still existing in some parts of the country.

Ramesh will launch a two-month-long yatra being organised by an NGO next month in Bhopal demanding eradication of manual scavenging, and social, political, economical rehabilitation of liberated night soil carriers.

The Maila Mukti Yatra, being organised by the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan on November 30, will cover 200 districts in 18 states.

"The yatra will conclude in New Delhi on January 31, " Ramesh said. As per 2011 Census, there are 7,94,390 dry latrines in the country, where the human excreta is cleaned manually.

The NGO said there are 13,14,652 toilets where human excreta is flushed in open drains and these toilets are also cleaned the same way.

"Pressurising panchayats, local administration and the government to take appropriate actions to end manual scavenging is an essential aspect of the 'National People's March for Eradication of Manual Scavenging'," it said.