India’s Hidden Environmentalists : Profiling 3 Cities’ Waste-Picking Communities

Published on:

08 Jun 2021, 12:23 pm

"I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." - Ralph Ellison

photostory on Mumbai’s BMC sweepers

I. Delhi

RAG-PICKERS-AT-bALSARA-HILL---NEW-DELHI--gAURDIAN

RAG-PICKER-IN-DELHI---RT

Life-is-elsewhere-Raju,-12,-works-at-the-Balaswa-landfill---TEHELKA

II. Mumbai

Rag-pickers-at-Deonar,-where-more-than-4,500-of-Mumbai’s-daily-collection-of-6,500-metric-tons-of-garbage-is-deposited;-(below)-a-truck-enters-the-landfill-premises---Times-Of-India

BMC's-night-sweepers-clean-around-a-garbage-bin-at-LJ-Road,-Mahim-(West)---times-of-india

A-BOY-PLAYS-IN-THE-DUMP-OF-DEONAR--REUTERDS

A-worker-cleans-spare-parts-at-an-automobile-recycling-shop-in-Mumbai---REUTERS

III. Pune

swach-2

swatch

“I want to direct the call for reflection and change towards the public at large. I want the citizens to acknowledge their presence and contribution. I want to create images that drive home the point that without this workforce, life in the city would be rife with ill health, disease and even death.”

Amit-Kumar-Thavaraj---Amit-Kumar-Thavaraj

Words: Mandovi Menon & Rameez Shaikh

Unique-Indian-Communities

Culture

Opine

The-Green-Heroes-We-Need-Indians-Who-Are-Saving-The-Planet