The idea of “equity in education” in India has unfortunately remained just an idea… And this is despite the fact that a large section of the marginalized in our country has been involved in its pursuit. Access to education continues to remain difficult for the children of waste pickers whose relentless efforts and petitions have fallen on deaf ears, and don’t find a place within the agenda of the Maharashtra government.
14 months after the Central Government Included Waste Pickers into the ‘Pre-Matriculation Scheme for children of those engaged in “Unclean Occupations”, the Government of Maharashtra has not acted on the government GR.
Greetings from KKU! I am glad to inform you all that Sajag/Kachra Kamgar Union (KKU) has conducted a very successful campaign for enrollment of rag-pickers to the electoral rolls of Delhi and also facilitated their applications for ration-cards under recently passed Food Security Act.
This report from the union of waste pickers, KKPKP, in Pune, India details the interventions of the union to improve the health of their members, including the setting up of a municipally funded health insurance scheme, health advocacy and the use of trust hospitals.
Don’t Waste People captures the voices of a few of the hundreds of thousands of people who work as waste pickers in Delhi, India, sorting through trash from roadsides, municipal bins and landfills and selling the reusable material to make a living.
This petition urges the Pune (India) municipal government to 1. revoke the existing schemes offering cash rewards to meritorious students from privileged classes, and change the eligibility criteria to benefit marginalized children and 2. pay the welfare benefits due towards education of waste-pickers’ children for the period 2008-2013, and to pass a comprehensive welfare benefit scheme for them for the future.
Recently there was an article/video asking for a ban on waste picking and attacking the organization that is working to organize this section of eco warriors (they retrieve valuables like nobody can), they say waste picking should NOT be formalized. Listen to this lady whose livelihood depends on the waste the city throws.
I am writing this email on behalf of All India Kabadi Mazdoor Mahasangh(AIKMM). There has been a massive fire in Masoodpur in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi around 7:30 am on 25 April 2014, where waste recyclers live. Approximately 1000 huts (Jhuggi) were razed to the ground.
Chintan in partnership with the Indian Railways is celebrating Earth Day on April 22nd, 2014 at the New Delhi Railway Station.
SWaCH Cooperative in Pune, India, appeared on a national television show Satyamev Jayate in March. In the episode “Invisible Environmentalists”, the show’s host Aamir Khan interviews Laxmi Narayan, co-founder of SWaCH and SWaCH waste picker Saru Bai, who now runs a compost plant with her husband.
Through this latest 12-page issue of the newsletter, SWaCH shares the journey it has been on since it was founded five years ago – the excitement, the anxieties, successes and new ideas that have emerged for making Pune a better city for all in the years to come.
NDTV 24X7, a national news channel, made a short documentary titled ‘’Real women, incredible lives: From ragpicker to entrepreneur” and Rekha, a waste picker associated with Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group and Safai Sena, was a part of it.
In 2007 waste pickers in Pune stepped out of garbage containers to establish SWaCH, a workers cooperative to provide front end waste management services to their city. SWaCH enabled their transition from waste pickers to service providers.
Pressure against the private contractors has been mounting since the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal government (PCMC) withheld payment from the company for violating labor laws. The new contracts proposed by the city government are supposed to ensure that workers will be paid minimum wages.
KKPKP has advocated for the unclean occupations scholarship program at the state government level. Stree Mukti Sangatana, a women’s liberation organization that works with waste pickers, has also been involved in this process. KKPKP has also been working at the city and state levels around the Right to Education program for underprivileged children.
An update from Hasiru Dala, a member-based organisation of waste pickers seeking to improve our conditions of work and ensuring continued access to recyclables in the city of Bangalore. Hasiru Dala works towards accessing the benefits of various government programs to which waste pickers are entitled, enhancing educational opportunities for their children and advancing the quality of their lives.
Rag Pickers are the backbone of a neat and beautiful metropolis. The green workers manage entire trash of urban locates around the globe. However, their contribution to the city’s waste management remains unrecognized. Vulnerability is exacerbated by the municipal solid waste management rules 2013.
On August 28th, 2013, the Ministry of Environment and Forests released the draft MSW Rules 2013 for public comments. These draft Rules are updating the original landmark Rules passed in 2000. Thirteen years later, we have learnt a lot about how to manage solid waste management programs that can clean our cities, provide jobs, and help reduce our burden on the environment. But these draft Rules have missed this incredible opportunity to apply the lessons we have learnt thus far.
Each day waste pickers have to directly handle hundreds of soiled sanitary pads and diapers (baby and adult). SWaCH designed a S.T. disposable bag for the appropriate disposal of soiled sanitary pads. However, there has been an urgent need to look into the appropriate disposal of soiled diapers as well. Responding to this need, SWaCH has designed an identifiable label for the disposal of soiled diapers.
There is urgent need to assess the measures that the government has taken over the past decade to improve waste management in the country. Millions of dollars have been spent in large scale, centralised technochratic solutions with little impact or improvement in levels of recycling. The Draft MSW Rules, 2013, do nothing to reform the situation. Instead, they seek to continue with the status quo and only increase the already thriving presence of waste to energy plants across the country. Is this the answer to our waste management woes? A consultation of concerned stakeholders seeks to address this question.
