1. With Delhi as a Case
Rag Pickers in the City
Nipesh P Narayanan

2. Contents
1. Rag pickers in Delhi
2. Who are the rag pickers
3. What is rag picking
4. Identity of rag pickers
5. Impacts of rag picking
6. Delhi and Rag Pickers
7. Rag pickers in Delhi
8. Seelampur – a case study
9. Conclusion

7. WHO ARE THE RAG-PICKERS?
Data Source : CHINTAN

8. WHO ARE THE RAG-PICKERS?
RAG
PICKERS
Data Source : CHINTAN

9. WHO ARE THE RAG-PICKERS?
Data Source : CHINTAN

10. WHAT IS RAG PICKING?
Photo Source : manas

11. WHAT IS RAG PICKING?
Municipality saves
6 lakhs per day
due to rag picking

12. IDENTITY OF RAG-PICKERS
An invisible anonymous layer in the city
No identification required to work
Odd work hours (hence no one see them)
Inaccessible work areas
Exploitation of the anonymity
Illegal migrants
Thieves
Information agents for police
Drug peddlers

13. IDENTITY OF RAG-PICKERS
Results of exploitation of anonymity –
Police harassment to all the rag pickers
Exploitation by the kabaris
Identity crisis
Rag pickers association demanding uniforms
Chaukidars of neighborhood not letting the rag pickers take their
collection outside the neighborhood.
Strange enough even the stray dogs bark at them!!!

14. IMPACTS OF RAG PICKING
Unskilled treatment of hazardous waste (e-waste etc.)
Photo Source : Author

15. IMPACTS OF RAG PICKING
One generation remains uneducated and with ill health
Photo Source : www.childeducation.org

16. IMPACTS OF RAG PICKING
Promotion of drugs
Photo Source : www.antinarcoticdrive.org

17. DELHI AND RAG PICKING
Delhi the biggest recycler of wastes in India
Cheap Labour
Established recycling industry
Reputed raw material market
Development of kabari-walas and reciprocating the need for
rag pickers

18. RAG PICKERS IN DELHI
Raj Ghat (on Yamuna bank)
Nizamuddin
Amrit Nagar
Map Source : CHINTAN
NDMC Area

19. RAG PICKERS IN DELHI
Raj Ghat (on Yamuna bank)
Laxmi Nagar
Trilokpuri
Sarojini nagar
Nizamuddin
Harkesh Nagar
Madanpur Khadar
Chiragh Dilli
Map Source : CHINTAN
MCD Area

20. SEELAMPUR A CASE STUDY
Seelampur
Map Source : CHINTAN
LARGEST
E-WASTE DISMANTLING
UNIT OF INDIA

21. SEELAMPUR A CASE STUDY
•India generates 350,000
tones of e waste and
imports another 50,000
tones every year
• 90% e waste is recycled
by informal sector
•Delhi alone gets 70% of
the e waste generated in
developed parts of the
world
Data Source : http://www.icpeenvis.nic.in/pdf/Delhi%20could%20be%20soon%20be%20global%20ewaste%20capital.pdf

22. Map Source : Author
Shahjahanabad (Collection)
Seelampur (Extraction of
raw materials)
Shahdra (Recycling)
Laxmi Nagar (Recycling)
NOIDA (Recycling)

23. Living
&
Primary Processing
Processing
Living
&
Primary Processing
Map Source : Author

24. BasicSegregation
(Crushing&Burning)
BasicSegregation
(AcidTreatment)
FineSegregation
andStorage
FineSegregation
andStorage
RawMaterialStorage
WasteDump
(IntoNullah)
Photo Source : www.downtoearth.org
Source : Author

25. RAG PICKERS
An essential component in the functioning of the city
Unrecognized sector, but highly organized and a major
contributor for recycling waste
Often harassed by people and required space for them to
operate is not provided
Often children are drawn into it due to its unskilled nature
Current working pattern is susceptible to high health risks
Pragmatic collection methods lead to environmental hazards
(e.g segregation of e-waste)

26. Thank you
Rag pickers a disconnected entity of the city, still so connected….
Photo Source : Wikipedia