[Answered] The work that waste pickers do is of utmost importance to our cities and the environment, however, they still face multiple vulnerabilities. Discuss and suggest remedial measures for the upliftment of waste pickers in India.

It is home to more than 4 million waste pickers who generate their livelihood by facing multiple vulnerabilities. India generates 65 million tonnes of waste each year and waste pickers play a significant role by reducing the amount of waste accumulated in cities, water bodies and dumpsites. They form the base of a pyramid that includes scrap dealers, aggregators, and re-processors. Women is the backbone of traditional waste management in most Indigenous cities.

Challenges Faced by the waste pickers

Between 1.5 and 4 million waste pickers in India work without social security, health insurance, minimum wages, or basic protective gear.

• Most informal waste pickers remain invisible despite doing the utmost important work contributing to our cities and the environment. They are not registered by urban local bodies
• Low Income: They are employed on the margins of the urban informal sector with a very less income which is an excessively big challenge to their livelihood
• Limited access to government social security schemes: Many of the workers do not have income, caste or occupation certificate which becomes a hindrance in formalizing their work thereby gaining limited access to government social security schemes
• Job Insecurity: Job insecurity is magnified by the fact that 70 per cent come from socially backward groups and over 60 per cent have no formal education.
• Health-shock vulnerabilities: One of the challenge being faced by the waste pickers is not having have health insurance coverage and only 20 per cent are linked to the government’s flagship financial inclusion programmes like the Jan Dhan Yojana.

Remedial measures for the upliftment of waste pickers

Some of the Remedial measures for the upliftment of waste pickers are as such:

• Registration of Safai Saathis by urban local bodies and providing ID cards that recognize them as municipal workers with a clear role is a great step in this regard.
• There is a need to create opportunities to graduate them towards safe, sustainable, and dignified livelihoods.
• Waste pickers’ cooperatives should be formed as it will further strengthen their bargaining power enabling those higher prices.
• Diversified solid waste management-linked livelihoods like dry waste centre managers and machine operators is the need of the hour which will further broaden employment horizons for the workers.
• The priority should be to design social protection schemes explicitly for waste pickers.
• It is essential to generate awareness among waste pickers by proactively reaching out to them for enrolment in government schemes, minimizing paperwork for linking them to government programmes.
• Need to create better, safer, decent jobs in the economy which is supported by efforts to enhance their skills.
• The scope of upgrading infrastructure and exploring alternate, technology-led circular economy models should be harnessed to eliminate the need for any person to do this hazardous work manually.

Conclusion:

All the positive steps in this direction will go a long way in the upliftment of millions of waste pickers with better opportunities and a life of dignity.