They are doing great service to the cause of India’s garbage disposal and world’s environment, risking their own lives. They dispose of the garbage in the most scientific way by taking the recyclable materials from the garbage to where it can be recycled. Without their service, those materials would have been burnt contributing air pollution and temperature to our environment. Given they collect recyclable garbage all around, their service also helps stop at least a part of the scattered garbage from going into our drains, water bodies and soil. Ironically, those ragpickers in their unclean appearances and facing the threat of allergy, skin rashes, tuberculosis and several other infections are trying their best to make India clean. Indeed, they should be rewarded for their service.
Instead of the prevalent practice of costly celebrity-photo-session of cleaning some “clean garbage”, adult ragpickers should be employed to help Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) to have more teeth. The need of the hour is to entrust local self governments to register all adult ragpickers in their respective areas and make them engage in garbage recycling, compost creation and management. Corporations, municipalities and panchayats are to provide each adult ragpicker under their jurisdiction with an identity card, a uniform, a sack and a stick (to shoo away street dogs and to rummage through a garbage).
They should also be given some money, food, soap, hand-gloves and pollution-masks every week. These will give them recognition, prestige and protection which they really deserve and need very badly. It will cause more recycling, more compost creation and less burning. Not only does it help to scientifically manage our garbage but also check air pollution and global warming into the bargain. Moreover, better look ragpickers with clean uniform and sack will makeover to some extent the appearance of our country. There is no question of disturbing the exclusive job of the cleaning staff to dispose of the non-recyclable garbage. As for child ragpickers, a government is not supposed to turn a blind eye to such colossal wastage of human potential. Child ragpickers must be attracted to school with food package and other incentives apart from midday meal.
