We were waiting to meet a group of ragpickers. Five minutes later, five men appeared in uniform. We did not quite expect them to be ragpickers!

Just like our parents work in offices, these ragpickers too have a career. All the five that we interviewed had a work experiance of 22 years and they all looked around 30 years. Lives in Nizamuddin. In Delhi, there are 80,000 ragpickers today.

The rag pickers collect a few select articles, which includes paper, glass, rubber, and plastics (of any kind). This they sell to the ‘thekedars’ of the place. The material may pass many a thekedar’s hand, but finally ends up at the recycling factory. Since the rag pickers segregate the wastes into broad categories, the normal charge of plastic is about Rs 7 per kilo and each collects about 8 to 10 kilograms. Per month, they are able to collect about Rs. 3000 to 3500. The plastic used in packing foodstuff does not sell, and therefore are of no use to them. They were also quite in the know that PVC is used in cables, and for coating wires. PVC is sold at Rs 16 a kg. The copper wires however are sold at Rs 100 a kg. Most plastic wastes come from the commercial areas of the city. "Totally, the rag pickers of Delhi collect about Rs 6 lakhs worth of garbage." one says.

Asked what problems they're facing, all of them said the same. "Pulis wala hame maar peet kar bhaga deta hai" was the response of the one-handed Mohammed Hanizul Islam, a rag picker who works near Nizamuddin railway station. This group is paid Rs 200 per month (Rs 6 per day!!) by the government and a lot of harrassment comes free with this. Like an offer in a shop ‘paise ke sath dande muft’. The police are supposed to catch the thief; not be a thief. The cops keep asking or in fact forcing money. "We aren’t thieves. We only want to earn some money and satisfy our hunger…" they said. The MCD picks up their cycles. Certain garbage dumps are out of bounds unless of course you pay money. The cops even beat them mercilessly every now and then. These rag pickers have now formed a union or a group to get an identity. They say that the harassment has reduced and more people are aware. The rag pickers have a request. They say that their work will be easier and more safer if we separate the dry and wet garbage. It is easy to do and will help the city in turn but a response we got was not so positive. "It is too much of an effort", said a New Delhi resident.

Their lives would be much less miserable if the govt. proved shelter, gave jobs, and basic needs. The police now do not harass them, since they are now part of unions like the Sanchetna Manch or, in organizations like Chintan.With uniforms and more importantly an identity. The cops and MCD also came into control at least for this particular group. There are thousands of others. The union government is not for this as we realise. Every second day the court passes orders for stopping the work of rag pickers. The ragpickers say have no more patience to bear the government any longer and will revolt in the form of a strike. "The government treats us extremely well during the elections. If there is no poor there are no votes of the poor either. In public the human rights slogans are ‘garibi mitao’ but the government says softly and indirectly ’garibo ko mitao’. All these chess moves are understood by the poor and the uneducated."

The rag pickers save up to Rs 6,00,000 of the government per day which it doesn’t realise. The government receives Rs 6 crores from big companies a month. These people clean garbage dumps that you and I think too small a thing to do and will not do. They say that they are doing this work because of illiteracy, poverty, lack of support and jobs provided by the government. They are not demanding any thing except light, water, education, money and basic requirements. They too want to move ahead in life. If it were not for them, would we go and rummage through the smelly filth? And the irony is that they are called the "illegal". Shouldn’t they be called the "Knights in Plastic Armour" instead?