<p>As the country celebrates the high voter turnout, there is a significant chunk of the population – some tens of thousands – that never had an opportunity to exercise their franchise. <br /><br />Its the vast army of ragpickers, who live literally on the streets or around garbage dumps, most of whom are migrants, and yet there are no provisions for them to get themselves enrolled as voters as they all lack identity proofs.<br /><br />This means they remain untouched by India's democracy which never meets their aspirations. <br /><br />According to NGOs working for their cause, in Delhi alone there are close to 50,000 rag pickers and nationally their numbers can be as high as 200,000, out of which half are children.<br /><br />“My day starts early, and never really ends. I reach the landfill at 7 every morning and sometimes spend my nights there. Where do I take out the time to vote?” asked Yasmin, a rag picker who spends her day among the filth and squalor at south Delhi's Okhla landfill. Hailing from Assam, Yasmin, who goes by her first name, added that her work, which involves picking out metal scrap, helps her earn at least Rs 200 per day.<br /><br />Rag pickers, who eke out a living by scavenging rags and other rubbish, form an important link in the waste management cycle. Yet they have been continuously ignored by the government. <br /><br />With constraints of not being able to take even a day off, these workers also do not have valid proof of identity that will help them to access the means to vote. </p>.<p>“Except a birth certificate, I don’t have any identity proof; so it is not possible to vote,” Sudhano Mondal, a 24-year-old ragpicker, said.<br /><br />Mondal, who is from West Bengal, said that though a drive to give Aadhar cards to the people in his area was initiated, it was stopped mid-way.<br /><br />As the ragpickers climb mountains of filth and sneak their way into a landfill, this also poses a lot of health hazards. <br /><br />“But no one gives them the importance they deserve. Imagine the condition of this already overflowing site had they not been working,” the official in-charge of the Okhla landfill said, pointing to the rag pickers busy rummaging through the mountain of waste.<br />According to Sanjay Gupta, director of Chetna, an NGO working for street children, “there are no official figures on the rag pickers’ population”. <br /><br />Without identity, their problems keep increasing. <br /><br />“There are no schemes for us to take loans. Hence we end up taking loans from local money lenders at very high interest rates. It gets extremely difficult to make ends meet and pay off our debts. The government was not bothered in the past and no government will be in future,” said Raju, a 32-year-old resident of Tughlaqabad village.<br /><br />Another ragpicker, Murshida said, “Not having a voter card is a big issue, especially when you want to apply for a gas connection. We have to pay a three times higher price for getting a cylinder.”<br /></p>
<p>As the country celebrates the high voter turnout, there is a significant chunk of the population – some tens of thousands – that never had an opportunity to exercise their franchise. <br /><br />Its the vast army of ragpickers, who live literally on the streets or around garbage dumps, most of whom are migrants, and yet there are no provisions for them to get themselves enrolled as voters as they all lack identity proofs.<br /><br />This means they remain untouched by India's democracy which never meets their aspirations. <br /><br />According to NGOs working for their cause, in Delhi alone there are close to 50,000 rag pickers and nationally their numbers can be as high as 200,000, out of which half are children.<br /><br />“My day starts early, and never really ends. I reach the landfill at 7 every morning and sometimes spend my nights there. Where do I take out the time to vote?” asked Yasmin, a rag picker who spends her day among the filth and squalor at south Delhi's Okhla landfill. Hailing from Assam, Yasmin, who goes by her first name, added that her work, which involves picking out metal scrap, helps her earn at least Rs 200 per day.<br /><br />Rag pickers, who eke out a living by scavenging rags and other rubbish, form an important link in the waste management cycle. Yet they have been continuously ignored by the government. <br /><br />With constraints of not being able to take even a day off, these workers also do not have valid proof of identity that will help them to access the means to vote. </p>.<p>“Except a birth certificate, I don’t have any identity proof; so it is not possible to vote,” Sudhano Mondal, a 24-year-old ragpicker, said.<br /><br />Mondal, who is from West Bengal, said that though a drive to give Aadhar cards to the people in his area was initiated, it was stopped mid-way.<br /><br />As the ragpickers climb mountains of filth and sneak their way into a landfill, this also poses a lot of health hazards. <br /><br />“But no one gives them the importance they deserve. Imagine the condition of this already overflowing site had they not been working,” the official in-charge of the Okhla landfill said, pointing to the rag pickers busy rummaging through the mountain of waste.<br />According to Sanjay Gupta, director of Chetna, an NGO working for street children, “there are no official figures on the rag pickers’ population”. <br /><br />Without identity, their problems keep increasing. <br /><br />“There are no schemes for us to take loans. Hence we end up taking loans from local money lenders at very high interest rates. It gets extremely difficult to make ends meet and pay off our debts. The government was not bothered in the past and no government will be in future,” said Raju, a 32-year-old resident of Tughlaqabad village.<br /><br />Another ragpicker, Murshida said, “Not having a voter card is a big issue, especially when you want to apply for a gas connection. We have to pay a three times higher price for getting a cylinder.”<br /></p>