[Reader-list] wastepickers demand recognition

[Bharati Chaturvedi]

Wastepickers ask Delhiites to see them with new eyes
 

On Saturday evening, between 1000-1200 wastepickers from different parts of Delhi help a green cultural event at the historic India Gate, a monument to the unknown Indian soldier. The event comprised poems, dramatic and colourful art installations, collages and several rows of paintings strung along the lawns as an exhibition. 

 

The event was held just one week before Diwali, the festival of lights, prosperity and cleanliness, with the intention of reminding Delhiites that although Diwali was a time to clean their homes, it was also the time to remember Delhi's cleaners. The waste pickers asked to be recognized for their role in recycling the waste of the city and asked for light in their lives, otherwise ridden with dirt, disease and social disdain. In a highly innovative and unusual programme at India Gate this evening, the waste pickers hosted a special event for Delhi's citizens. 

 

The programme also comprised an art competition, where the waste pickers made paintings about their own lives. A panel of 3 eminent judges, artist Amitava Das, lawyer Malvika Rajkotia and DCP Crime Tejinder Luthra picked out the first, second and third prizes in both the children's and adult's categories. 

 

The prizes were given out in the children's category by the chief guest, Mr. Sachin Pilot, a well known Member of Parliament and in the adult's category by Ms. Nafisa Ali, a popular thespian and champion for HIV positive victims in India. 

 

Mr Pilot said that it was vital that citizens now begin to participate and recognize the work of the sector. He also said that he himself would like to help such poor persons find ways to have their demands heard. He also said that it was significant that the wastepickers' were congregating at a historic and public area India Gate in their quest for making citizens aware about their work. 

 

Ms. Nafisa Ali said that the work done by wastepickers was very important to the city and urged them to organize themselves. She also pointed out the callousness of citizens, saying how visitors were still littering the lawns with paper and plastic, forgetting that a wastepicker would have to pick it all up for recycling. 

 

Several citizens from various walks of live were present and they were joined by visitors to India Gate. 

 

The waste pickers put up a small cultural show on a stage named Kabarmanch, or a stage for waste. They recited poems and  appealed to the public to remember that while they cleaned their homes on Diwali, to also recall that there were over 80,000 people who the cleaned the waste they threw out. They also put on display many tableau, displays, art works and posters, with assistance from a group of artists,  in order to create public awareness. The choice of India Gate as the venue was also for this reason of public participation in the event. 

 

The waste pickers had earlier walked though the highly busy Sarojini Nagar Market with various tableaux they had made, dressed in capes made of waste, to educate the public about how to handle their waste in a manner that was responsible and safe. They were joined by school children for a half kilometer long chain that asked busy shoppers and shopkeepers to think of their waste and their waste pickers.  

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