Ragpickers in India

By Mohammed Aadil

Seemapuri is a place on the outskirts of New Delhi. Those

who live there are unlawful residents who came from
Bangladesh in 1971. It is a place where about 10,000 rag
pickers live. They live without identity and have no basic
amenities, yet they are happy here because they get food
which is more important than identity. It is a slum where they
could find many things and rag picking was their only means
of survival.
Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi, yet miles
away from it metaphorically. Squatters who came from
Bangladesh way back in 1971 live here. Saheb’s family is one
of them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is
no longer empty. Nearly 10,000 ragpickers live there in
structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. These
shanties are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water.
These people have lived there for more than thirty years
without an identity or permit. They have got ration cards that
enable them to buy grains and get their names on voters’ lists.
For them food is more important for survival than an identity.
The women put on tattered saris. They left their fields as they
gave them no grain. They pitch their tents wherever they find
food. Ragpicking is the sole means of their survival.
It has acquired the proportions of a fine art for them. Garbage
to them is gold. It provides them their daily bread and a roof
over the heads. Most of the barefoot ragpickers roam the
streets early in the morning and finish their activities by noon.
They seem to carry the plastic bag lightly over their shoulders.
They are clothed in discoloured shirts and shorts and denied
the opportunity of schooling.
Rag picking was the means of survival for the rag pickers.
According to the author, it is their daily bread, a roof over
their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. Thus, it is equivalent to
gold for them. Besides, for the children it is wrapped in
wonder for they, at times, chance upon a rupee, even a ten-
rupee note

For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it

is a means of survival.” What kind of life do the
ragpickers of Seemapuri lived?
The ragpickers led a life that was devoid of all basic facilities.
There was no sewage system, drainage structure or facilities
like running water. Many of them were immigrants from
Bangladesh and they often settled wherever they could find
some food. Such was the condition that they had grown
accustomed to the situation where the had ration cards to get
food but lived without a proper
identity and without permits.

There was such scarcity of food that to sleep without a

rumbling stomach was an aim in their day-to-day lives. The
huts were made up of mud, roof tins and tarpaulins. Children
walked barefoot as they could not afford shoes. Even if
someone had a good pair, they were surely rugged, used,
discarded ones, often mismatched and sometimes with holes.
But to own shoes, even as the ones mentioned before,was a

dream come true.

They lived in utter property devoid of education along with
other basic rights. With the means to move forward in life
unavailable to them and the harsh struggle they usually turned
into ragpickers. To them garbage was gold, not only because
they sometimes found some rupee notes in there because
ragpicking through the garbage helped them survive and earn
a livelihood.