• ●NCSK was set up in 1994 under the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993, and functions under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
• ●Its statutory status lapsed in 2004; since then it has continued as a NON-statutory body whose tenure is extended by government decision — the Cabinet extended it by three years beyond 31 March 2025, up to 31 March 2028. This lapsed-statute status is the most commonly tested fact about the Commission.
• ●Mandate: recommend welfare programmes for safai karamcharis, investigate specific grievances, and monitor implementation of laws and schemes affecting them.
• ●The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 bans manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and provides for rehabilitation; it replaced the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, which had banned dry latrines and their manual cleaning.
• ●NAMASTE (National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem), launched in 2023-24 as a Central Sector Scheme, covers the welfare, safety gear, training and livelihood support of sewer and septic tank workers.
• ●Contrast for the exam: the National Commission for Scheduled Castes is a CONSTITUTIONAL body under Article 338 (Scheduled Tribes have their own commission under Article 338A), while NCSK is neither constitutional nor currently statutory.

Which of the following is a NON-statutory body whose tenure is periodically extended by a decision of the Union Government?