Waste-pickers face bleak future

Privatisation of solid waste management is endangering their livelihoods

Rag-pickers are losing their jobs due to dominance of private companies in solid waste management programmes across Delhi, threatening their families’ right to survival, say NGOs.

Members of All India Kachra Shramik Mahasangh (AIKSM) said the government is privatising garbage collection, allowing private companies to make profit.

“The government’s intentions are clear. On the one hand, they are privatising the distribution of all essential civic amenities like water, electricity and commodities available from ration shops, and on the other, they are transferring the management and ownership of garbage to private companies,” said Dharmendra Yadav of AIKSM.

Chintan, an NGO that works for the rights of rag-pickers, said most waste-pickers in Delhi are migrants from Bihar, Assam and West Bengal. “In Delhi, women and girls do not go for waste-picking, but are involved in sorting the waste at home. This makes it difficult for us to determine the exact number of rag-pickers in the city,” said a Chintan member.
Meanwhile, rag-pickers say they come to Delhi from far-flung corners of the country in an attempt to escape poverty.

“I do not have a house. I came to this big city thinking that I will be able to earn some money by picking garbage. But now I see contractors bringing their machines to carry garbage to various dumping grounds. It is becoming difficult for me to survive and support my family,” said Shambhu, near Jantar Mantar. 

Children are being dragged in to rag-picking as they do not have access to basic education. According to a survey done by AIKSM, there are around 40,000 waste-picking children within the NDMC limits.

“These estimates do not include children who assist their parents in their work by sorting waste at home but only children visible independently picking waste,” said Krishna Bansal, a child rights activist working with different organisations in Delhi. 

Rashid, another waste-picker, said earlier people were not bothered about who came to collect waste from their homes. “Their only concern was that the waste be collected on time. However, now people ask children to send their parents for collection of waste and do not give the garbage bag to children,” he added.

AIKSM is now organising conferences at state and regional levels with an agenda to prepare a draft of existing issues and present it to the government. The suggestions are likely to include cancellation of contracts with private companies to collect garbage from households, implementation of garbage management ordinance 2000, provision of education and health facilities to children and giving Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards to all families.