The central government has released the data of waste pickers for the first time under the ‘Namaste’ scheme. 1.52 lakh laborers were identified across the country, of which 84.5% are from SC/ST/OBC and 10.7% from the general category. Its purpose is to prevent deaths caused by hazardous cleaning.
New Delhi: The central government on Tuesday released data on the count of ragpickers across the country for the first time. In this, information has been given about the profiling and verification of a total of 1.52 lakh such laborers so far in urban areas of 35 states and union territories. At the national level, 84.5% of the total waste pickers belong to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), while 10.7% are from general category communities.
Some differences were also seen at the state and union territory levels, where the number of waste pickers from the general category was significantly higher. For example, in Delhi and Goa, the number of people from the general category was more than the number of SC, ST and OBC communities combined. In West Bengal, 42.4% of all people profiled belonged to the general category of waste pickers.
Ministry gave information in Parliament
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment presented this data in Parliament on Tuesday. The count is part of the ministry’s ‘Namaste’ scheme. Sewer and septic tank workers as well as waste pickers are being counted across the country so that urban local bodies can formally recognize them and provide them with safety equipment. The objective of this scheme is to eliminate deaths caused by hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
The data showed that till January 23 this year, urban local bodies have profiled and verified a total of 1.52 lakh waste pickers under this work. Of these, about 48.7% are females (74,427), 51.3% are males (78,374) and 0.007% are transgender (12).
Social class data showed that of the total laborers, 60.3% belonged to the SC community (92,089), 13.7% to the OBC community (20,954) and 10.5% to the ST community. It states that 16,329 waste pickers (10.7%) are from communities falling under the general category.
More people from general category in Delhi, Goa
In Delhi and Goa, most ragpickers belonged to the general category. In Delhi, 4,289 out of more than 6,500 waste pickers belonged to this category. Similar was the case in Goa, where out of the total 1,286 labourers, 729 were from general category communities.
Under the Namaste scheme, waste pickers are defined as people who are engaged in “informally” collecting and removing recyclable solid waste from streets, dustbins, recycling facilities, and waste disposal facilities.
other category
The data presented by Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale said 7,402 laborers belonged to “other” communities. This data was shared by DMK’s Erode MP K.E. It was issued in response to a question from Prakash, who asked about the Namaste scheme, which also includes the recent enumeration of waste pickers.
Around 89,000 sewer and septic tank workers have been counted so far under the scheme, of which 95.8% are men. Parliamentary data for December 2024 showed that of the sewer and septic tank workers profiled till then, 91.95% were from SC, ST and OBC backgrounds and about 8.05% were from general category communities.