The ragpickers of Ahmedabad
Ragpickers, or waste pickers, make important contributions to solid waste management and recycling in India. Yet these informal workers often work under hazardous conditions, earn low incomes and are subjected to discrimination and stigmatization. In collaboration with the NGO Saath I conducted field research in slum areas of Ahmedabad to learn about the lives and working conditions of the city's ragpickers. These are some of their stories.
Born in the dustbins
“I come from a family of ragpickers. Every day I work at Pirana dumpsite with my mother, father, two sisters, three brothers, husband, daughter, brother in law and niece. We all live together in a small rented house in north Behrampura. The neighbors never speak to us because we are ragpickers. At the dumpsite we work together as a team: half of the family goes to the top of the dumpsite to collect waste, while the other half stays down to do the sorting. We collect all kinds of materials: plastic, glass, toys, bottles, aluminum, lightbulbs, wires, mattress filling, even human hair. Every other day someone accidentally cuts him or herself with a sharp piece of glass. When this happens, we wrap the wound with an old piece of cloth which we find among the garbage. Our work is very tiring, we work every day from 6 am till 8 pm. Sometimes I get breathing problems due to all the smoke from burning garbage everywhere. I would like another job, but I don’t know what. We have no other option than to do this work, we cannot do anything else.
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No-one in my family ever went to school. I never really thought of going to school. We were born in the dustbins, before we could walk we were already sorting waste. My youngest brother is twelve years old. We asked him if he would like to go to school, but he doesn’t want to. My three-year-old niece and six-months-old daughter also come with us to the dumpsite every day. My niece is starting to learn how to sort waste. My daughter is still too young; she just plays with whatever she finds. I have not thought about sending her to school yet. Maybe in a few years I will."
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- Bharti, 20 years old
The work is hot and heavy, but I have freedom
“I was born and raised in the village of Sanand. From early my childhood I worked in the fields with my parents. No one in my family went to school. We were farmers; education was not important. After marriage I moved to Khodiyarnagar slum area in Ahmedabad to live with my family in law. My older sister, who had moved to the city a few years earlier, introduced me to ragpicking. In the beginning we collected waste in the city, but there was a lot of competition. Other ragpickers claimed their own territories and would not let new people in. After three years we started working at Pirana dumpsite, which is much more efficient: all the garbage is piled onto one huge hill, so you don’t have to walk around the city to find and collect it. My sister and I always work with eight other ragpickers from Khodiyarnagar. We keep each other company and help each other in case of problems.
I have been working on the dumpsite now for more than twenty years. The work is hot and heavy, but I have a lot more freedom than if I had a government job. I am the only ragpicker in my household. My husband sells utensils and my eldest son works in a medicine manufacturing factory. My eldest daughter moved out of the house when she got married and now works as a tailor. My younger son and daughter are still enrolled in secondary school. Next year, after graduating, my daughter wants to study to become an accountant. I encourage my children to study and get a good job, because I do not want them to become ragpickers like me.”
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- Jassiben, 42 years old
Go away! You are not from here
“I was born near Kolkata, in the border region between India and Bangladesh. When I was five years old, my parents decided to move to Ahmedabad in the hope to find work. We ended up living in a Bengali community in Chandola. Finding a job here was difficult, but by doing different kinds of labor work, my father managed to sustain our family. I did not get any education, nor did my brothers and sisters. We mostly stayed in the community and never learned to speak proper Hindi or Gujarati. After I got married, I got a job as a maid, but the house where I worked was very far away and they only paid me 500 INR per month because I am Bengali. In order to earn more money, my husband and I started collecting waste in different parts of the city center. After one or two years we realized we could earn more money collecting waste at Pirana dumpsite and this is what we have been doing for almost ten years now. As our household size increased it became more and more difficult for us to earn enough money to feed the whole family. We were forced to take our eldest son out of school two years ago at the age of twelve, to help us with the work on the dumpsite. His four younger brothers and sisters are still enrolled in school. I want them to study and get a better job when they grow up.
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On some days, my husband and son stay on the dumpsite during the night, because the garbage trucks keep coming the whole night long. One night my husband was resting and one of the truck drivers did not see him and drove over his foot. He could not work for one month and the doctor’s costs were very high. I do not like working on the dumpsite. It is dangerous, hot and tiring and sometimes the local ragpickers get angry at us. They are with more people and some have worked on the dumpsite for many years. They yell at us: "Go away! You are not from here, you are from Bangladesh. We will call the police to send you back!". And they ask us for 10 INR per person to work there. Sometimes we get scared and give them the money. I would like another job, but nobody will employ me. Even though I officially obtained the Indian nationality, I will always carry the stigma of being Bengali.”
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- S., 35 years old
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