{"id":174196,"date":"2022-03-06T18:57:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T13:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=174196"},"modified":"2022-03-14T16:59:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T11:29:51","slug":"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-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/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-up\/","title":{"rendered":"[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."},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Mains: GS-II<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Introduction:<\/strong>\u00a0Give brief information about waste pickers in India.<br \/>\n<strong>Body:<\/strong>\u00a0Mention the challenges faced by the waste pickers and the remedial measures for their upliftment.<br \/>\nMention the conclusion.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>It is home to more than 4 million waste pickers who generate their livelihood by facing multiple vulnerabilities. India\u00a0<strong>generates 65 million tonnes of waste each year<\/strong>\u00a0and waste pickers play a significant role by reducing the amount of waste accumulated in cities, water bodies and dumpsites. They\u00a0<strong>form the base of a pyramid<\/strong>\u00a0that includes scrap dealers, aggregators, and re-processors.\u00a0<strong>Women<\/strong>\u00a0is the backbone of traditional waste management in most Indigenous cities.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Challenges Faced by the waste pickers<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Between 1.5 and 4 million waste pickers in India\u00a0<strong>work without social security, health insurance, minimum wages, or basic protective gear<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most informal waste pickers\u00a0<strong>remain invisible<\/strong>\u00a0despite doing the utmost important work contributing to our cities and the environment. They are\u00a0<strong>not registered<\/strong>\u00a0by urban local bodies<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Low Income<\/u><\/strong><strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0They are employed on the margins of the urban informal sector with a very less income which is an excessively big challenge to their livelihood<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Limited access to government social security schemes<\/u><\/strong><strong>:\u00a0<\/strong>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<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Job Insecurity:<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0Job insecurity is magnified by the fact that 70 per cent come from socially backward groups and over\u00a0<strong><u>60 per cent have no formal education.<\/u><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Health-shock vulnerabilities<\/u><\/strong>: One of the challenge being faced by the waste pickers is\u00a0<strong>not having have health insurance coverage<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong><u>only 20 per cent are linked to the government\u2019s flagship financial inclusion<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0programmes like the Jan Dhan Yojana.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Remedial measures for the upliftment of waste pickers<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some of the Remedial measures for the upliftment of waste pickers are as such:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Registration of Safai Saathis<\/strong>\u00a0by urban local bodies and\u00a0<strong>providing ID cards that recognize<\/strong>\u00a0them as municipal workers with a clear role is a great step in this regard.<\/li>\n<li>There is a\u00a0<strong>need\u00a0<u>to create opportunities<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0to graduate them towards safe, sustainable, and dignified livelihoods.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Waste pickers\u2019 cooperatives should be formed<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0as it will further strengthen their bargaining power enabling those higher prices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diversified solid waste management-linked livelihoods<\/strong>\u00a0like\u00a0<u>dry\u00a0<strong>waste centre managers<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>machine operators<\/strong>\u00a0is the need of the hour which will further broaden employment horizons for the workers.<\/li>\n<li>The priority should be to\u00a0<strong>design social protection schemes explicitly for waste pickers.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is essential\u00a0<strong>to generate awareness<\/strong>\u00a0among waste pickers by\u00a0<strong>proactively reaching<\/strong>\u00a0out to them for enrolment in government schemes,\u00a0<strong>minimizing paperwork<\/strong>\u00a0for linking them to government programmes.<\/li>\n<li>Need to\u00a0<strong>create better, safer, decent jobs<\/strong>\u00a0in the economy which is supported by efforts to enhance their skills.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The scope of upgrading infrastructure<\/strong>\u00a0and exploring\u00a0<strong>alternate, technology-led circular economy models should<\/strong>\u00a0be harnessed to eliminate the need for any person to do this hazardous work manually.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mains: GS-II Introduction:\u00a0Give brief information about waste pickers in India. Body:\u00a0Mention the challenges faced by the waste pickers and the remedial measures for their upliftment. Mention the conclusion. It is home to more than 4 million waste pickers who generate their livelihood by facing multiple vulnerabilities. India\u00a0generates 65 million tonnes of waste each year\u00a0and waste&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/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-up\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">[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.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10685],"class_list":["post-174196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","tag-waste-pickers-in-india","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704930763},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}