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About

• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping the Indian workers working in the waste segregation industry to move into the formal economy, by helping them to take benefits of government welfare programmes.
  • As part of the initiative, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General distributed the `Jan Dhan’ account kits to waste segregation workers.
• The opening of the `Jan Dhan’ accounts have been eased through the UNDP’s plastic waste management programme.
• The initiatives also ensure the well-being and financial inclusion of the `Safai Sathis’ or waste-pickers, by linking them to social protection schemes like the `Jan Dhan’ accounts, Aadhar cards, `Ayushman Bharat’, pension schemes, and scholarships for children, among others.
• A baseline survey done by the UNDP shows that;
  • Nearly 70% of them come from socially- backward groups and over 60% have no formal education.
  • More than 90% of workers reported owning an Aadhar card but only a few have an income, caste, or occupation certificate.
  • Less than 5% had any health insurance, indicating very high degrees of health-shock vulnerabilities”.
  • `Of Safai Sathis’ who had a bank account, only 20% were linked to the `Jan Dhan Yojana.

 

Social Security Scheme Workers

• The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) provide Life and Disability cover.
  • Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years. Risk coverage under this scheme is for Rs. 2.00 lakh in case of the death of the insured, due to any reason, at an annual premium of Rs. 436.
  • Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) is available to people in the age group of 18 to 70 years. The risk coverage under the scheme is for Rs 2.00 lakh in case of accidental death or total permanent disability and Rs. 1.00 lakh for partial permanent disability; due to accident at a premium of Rs. 20 per annum.
• Annual healths cover Rs. 5 lakhs per eligible family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
  • It is a completely cashless and paperless scheme.
  • The beneficiary families have been identified from the Social Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.
• Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) pension scheme provides old age protection.
  • It provides a monthly pension of Rs. 3000/- after attaining the age of 60 years.
  • The workers in the age group of 18-40 years whose monthly income is Rs. 15000/- or less and who is not a member of EPFO/ESIC/NPS (Govt. funded) can join the Scheme.
• Atal Pension Yojana.
• PM MUDRA Yojna to provide financial assistance.
• Direct Benefit Scheme to help needy people, remove middlemen and encourage Social Security
• Public Distribution System under National Food Security Act.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
• The e-Shram portal was launched to create a National Database of unorganized workers and to facilitate the delivery of Social Security Schemes/Welfare Schemes to the unorganized workers.

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About UNDP

• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides expert advice, and training grants support to developing countries, with an increasing emphasis on assistance to the least developed countries. It promotes technical and investment cooperation among nations.
• The UNDP Executive Board is made up of representatives from 36 countries around the world who serve on a rotating basis.
• It is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from member nations.
• UNDP is central to the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), a network that spans almost 170 countries and unites the 40 UN funds, programmes, specialized agencies and other bodies working to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The UNDP is considered an executive board within the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
• It is headed by an Administrator.

Waste management

• With a burgeoning population and even faster urbanisation, there has been an explosion in the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Indian cities.
  • This has severely damaged the environment and public health, and strained the capacity of urban local bodies to collect, transport, treat and scientifically dispose of solid wastes.
• Urban India alone generates nearly 0.15 million tonnes per day of MSW, with per capita generation ranging between 0.30 kg per day to 0.45 kg per day.
• The volume of waste is projected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2031 and 436 million tonnes by 2050, if existing policies, programmes and management strategies are not adequately addressed.
• It is important to note that the engagement of formal waste management systems remains low in the cities, primarily due to insufficient funds, low sectoral development and lack of know-how about sustainable waste management businesses.
• Hence, in many developing countries, including India, waste collection and material recycling activities are majorly performed by the informal waste sector

 

Role of Informal Sector:

• The informal sector may refer to individuals, families, and private sector enterprises working in solid waste management services, whose activities are not organized, sponsored, financed, contracted, recognized, managed, taxed or reported upon by governmental authorities.
• Informal stakeholders are waste-pickers in dumpsites and at communal waste collection points, informal waste collectors, itinerant waste buyers, small junkshop dealers and big waste godown owners.
• According to the Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM), 2016: “informal waste collectors” include individuals, associations or waste traders who are involved in the sorting, selling and purchasing of recyclable materials.
• The informal sector is often not officially approved, recognized and acknowledged, besides the fact that they potentially contribute to waste recycling practices of cities by collecting, sorting, processing, storing and trading waste materials in the recycling value chain.
• ‘Role and size of the informal sector in waste management — a review’, a paper published in Waste and Resource Management in 2013, estimates that the informal waste economy employs about 0.5-2 per cent of the urban population worldwide. Assuming an urbanization rate of 50 per cent, the world’s urban population can be calculated at 2.8 billion people.
• The informal recycling sector reduces the cost incurred in the treatment and disposal of solid waste by extracting recyclables before the mixed waste is subjected to any specific treatment or haphazardly dumped into landfills.
• The informal sector is the backbone of the recycling industry in the country, contributing a lot in terms of environmental sustainability and circular economy. It also enormously contributes to reducing the economic burden of urban local bodies.

Concerns:

• The informal sector lives close to dumpsites and works under unhygienic and unhealthy conditions.
• Often, the workers have no access to drinking water or public toilets.
• They do not have appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, gumboots and aprons.
• Due to the poor living and working conditions, malnutrition, anaemia and tuberculosis are common among them.
• Waste pickers are potentially exposed to a wide range of occupational hazards. Community waste bins and dumpsites act as breeding grounds for various bacterial and viral diseases.
• As a result, waste-pickers often face gastrointestinal ailments.
• Infections are also caused by their contact with human and animal excreta, bodily fluids and dead animals. They also get cut by sharp objects, ragged metal edges and broken glass in the mixed waste.
• Despite their crucial role, informal waste workers continue to be subjected to systemic marginalization, economically as well as socially.
• They are treated as dirty and unwanted elements of society, and they have to deal with exploitative social behaviour.
• Further, child labour is quite prevalent and life expectancy is low. In addition, waste-pickers are not covered under any labour legislation. As a result, they do not benefit from social security and medical insurance schemes. There is a dire need to initiate policy action for their social and economic upliftment.

 

Way Forward:

• There is a lack of clear and comprehensive laws and policies to protect the rights of waste pickers in India. There is an urgent need to frame and implement a uniform waste-picker welfare law that recognizes and integrates them into the waste management chain.
• The law must include basic provisions related to mandatory identity cards; access to waste for collection, segregation, and sorting; PPE to minimize occupational hazards; right to necessities like water, sanitation and facilities for clean living; and health insurance.
• The role of waste-pickers could be formalized by permitting them to use the designated collection and compaction stations (transfer stations, material recovery facilities) in a city for the segregation of recyclables.
• There is a need to identify, organize, train, and empower the waste-pickers. This can be done by designing an inclusive waste management model to integrate the waste-pickers. For example, involving them in the primary door-to-door collection of waste, or engaging them in material recovery facilities.
• There should be a provision of enough space for sorting, recycling, and trade of recyclables.

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