Childhood lost: Salman, a
13-year-old slum dweller, features in one of the photographs on display at the
four-day exhibition on waste pickers which began in the Capital on Friday.
Salman is a 13-year-old slum dweller who lives near the Shahbad
dairy here. He longs to attend school like children his age. But every morning
he earns his livelihood by going to Rohini Sector 18 to help his relatives
collect, segregate and sell recyclable waste.
Salman is one among hundreds of children working as waste pickers
in Delhi. But on Friday, this boy was a special guest at the Art Gallery in
India International Centre Annexe where he inaugurated a four-day photo
exhibition on waste pickers of the city.
Salman says June 15 will always be a special day in his life. “I
have never been to an art gallery before. I not only inaugurated but also interacted
with so many people. Life is tough for me. As my father is an alcoholic, I live
with my maternal grandparents. My goal in life is to attend school like other
kids. But schools refuse to take me. So I was being educated at home by mammu,
but he cannot do so now.”
His grandfather Oiinul Kazi migrated to Delhi from West Bengal
three decades ago looking for work. Everyone in the family contributes because
every set of hands means a little more money.
According to Kausiki Sarma, whose three dozen pictures are on
display, visuals at times communicate more than words and the pictures focus on
the problems and issues concerning waste pickers.
Titled “Flowers in the dust: The waste pickers of Delhi”, the
exhibition has more than three dozen photographs. Every photo-panel has a brief
description of the context in which it was photographed.
Photography is an efficacious medium to provide the much-needed
shock to the affluent class which does not get an opportunity to interact with
waste pickers.
The exhibition seeks to highlight that a large numbers of child
labourers, who earn their livelihood through waste picking, are not only being
deprived of education but are also highly vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses.
Without opportunities of acquiring other professional skills, they get trapped
in a vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy and hopelessness.
“The exhibition will make the waste pickers feel empowered by
giving them a sense of recognition and make them heard and seen by people who
they usually work for. It will also be held in other States where
non-government organisation Aman works like Bihar, Gujarat and Kashmir.”
Kausiki has been to every part of the city to capture the
deplorable conditions in which waste pickers or rag pickers work. “They make a
living by collecting waste and selling recyclable material. The waste pickers
live and work in inhuman conditions. Unhygienic working conditions take a toll
on their health. Without hazard-protection equipment such as masks, gloves or
boots, they rummage through putrefying waste, come in direct contact with toxic
material and acquire respiratory and gastro-intestinal infections.”
After the exhibition's ends, a seminar will be held to sensitise
members of civil society, government, political parties and media on the
deplorable living conditions of waste pickers in Delhi. It will focus on the
occupational hazards experienced by waste-pickers.
According to All-India Kachra Shramik Mahasangh general secretary
Dharmendra Yadav, the Delhi Government has already privatised waste picking in
some parts of the city. “Even in Rohini, there is one company which has been
given the task to clear the waste. Waste pickers believe this move will lead to
unemployment and displacement. We will make recommendations and suggestions to
the Delhi Government to improve the social-economic and working conditions of
waste pickers with full respect to their civic and human rights.”
No comments:
Post a Comment