Thursday, September 27, 2007

NY Times: Delhi's Garbage Collectors

Copyright © J. Adam Huggins/International Herald Tribune-All Rights Reserved

The New York Times features a slideshow of Manwara Begum, one of the garbage collectors working in Delhi. More than 95 percent of New Delhi has no formal system of house-to-house garbage collection, so it falls to the city's ragpickers - one of India's poorest and most marginalized groups - to provide this basic service.

In the above photograph, Manwara hauls a garbage cart along her morning collection route in Netaji Nagar, blowing her whistle to notify residents of her arrival. It's backbreaking work, and Manwara earns about 40 rupees rupees a day, roughly a dollar. The NYT refers to Manwara as Ms Begum...which is incorrect. Manwara is Muslim and the name Begum is a honorific, not a surname.

Delhi's Garbage Collectors (Registration may be required)

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