Hey friends I am back blogging again and this is with reference to the SIFE’s current case study on RAG PICKERS.
To start with I feel rag picking has been a common sight for every individual like us. I have seen many people in and around my native doing the same for their livelihood but what strikes my heart the most is that even their children see the pleasure in this job rather than building a bright future. These so called “rag-pickers” walk barefoot through mounds of trash and sift through them looking for recyclable materials, such as plastic and metal but sometimes I see a child rag picker and I can’t help but notice the happiness in his/her face about finding some treasure in that stinking garbage bin!!!
There is a place in Udupi called Beedinagudde. This is a dump yard and a paradise to these rag pickers, especially for those children who jump around the place because sometimes someone turns up with a pair of worn out shoes, discarded files, jackets and what not!! Some child rightly said “I always walked barefoot hence the used but torn shoe is any day a surprise gift”. So basically these children are just waiting for yet another surprise every day. There is more add on’s to this problem which really shocked me. These children are regularly treated for conditions such as intestinal worms, anemia, malnutrition, leprosy, and scabies, a painful skin infection caused by mites that burrow deep into the children’s skin. What do we do regarding this?? To move on with this.. India has world-class private hospitals, yet most people lack access to the most basic medical services. Perhaps people feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem; over six million people in Mumbai live in slums, most of them who are professional “ rag pickers” !!!
And now for those questions that should be discussed:
1)Should they quit, or should they continue and support their family ??
I think they should quit. A Child should never be a source of support for the family.
2) These children should be sent to school.
3) Step by step process is what we need here. Awareness is the most important thing .These children need to be convinced that they are capable of widening their horizons, break the boundaries and be a free bird. Getting the children into school is the best way to keep the children off the streets and away from situations like these. Unfortunately there are many elements that distract or prevent them from doing this, family pressure, lack of support from family members and sometimes the lack of government support too.
It’s not a child's choice, it a matter of inevitability. Either the helplessness of a poor child himself or the parent who are too poor to admit the child in a school and want to make him a wage earner as early as possible and thus force the child into rag picking .
But the valid argument is that even if he/she gets educated, how far? Who will pay for it? Education closes many options of earning livelihood with being ' the educated', even primary school dropouts ,feeling insulted to do any job other than a white collar job. Education sadly is one of the reasons why traditional crafts and even rural agriculture are vanishing. With educated opting to migrate to cities and ending up nowhere, where should we place these rag pickers??? All these add to number of mouths to be fed and nothing else, sad but true...And worse, many rag pickers slowly switch to crime too!
Ignoring an issue like this is like accepting an illusion and I feel ending our acceptance of this illusion is the first step towards making a difference.

-SKK