Humble Bees
May 06, 2020
Years have passed since Mahatma Gandhi claimed that ‘sanitation is more important than independence’. As absurd as it seems, during the dire times of Coronavirus, one is able to see light in Gandhi’s madness. Now, we are politically independent but how do we fare in the former? It is a truism that even though there is a long way to go, we are better than never before, but one thing doesn’t seem to have changed that much- the attitude towards sanitation and sanitary workers.
This apathy to the plight of sanitary or conservancy workers has been prevalent among the general public and also amongst the people in the government; more so in times like this. The coronavirus lockdown has shown how absurd the living and working conditions of these workers has been. Why has this flyblown condition persisted? We shall look at three basic reasons- the social, political and economic.
The Social Hiccup
Hiccups are weird. They are a remnant of the genetic code passed down by our amphibian ancestors when they first came out of water learning to breathe air and water at the same time. So the human brain fires neurons in reflex thinking we are still amphibians, but essentially hiccups have no specific use and are a great hindrance; the similarity with untouchability and caste discrimination is uncanny. Untouchability and discrimination based on caste in today’s world has literally no use other than acting as a hindrance to an equal society. But unfortunately, it has been ingrained in our society’s genes and keeps firing unnecessary reactions remnant of the decrepit past.
One need not be a keen observer to see the societal fault lines and the disproportionate representation of depressed classes in menial jobs like garbage collection; it is that obvious. The lack of apathy for these workers and their conditions has roots in historical caste discrimination and the unfair assumption that these jobs should be done by the depressed classes. As late as 2012, the government of Rajasthan advertised for recruitment of sanitation workers and also stated that people belonging to the Valmiki and Hela (SC) would be given preference.
This social hiccup brings back history of our past and leads to incidents like the one recently in Chennai where an old man abused a private conservancy worker saying that ‘Yes, you are eating feces; only because you are cleaning our feces, you are eating food’.
Lack of Intent & Prioritization
Apart from historical social wrongs, another reason why sanitary workers are not respected is due to the lack of intent and prioritization from the political establishment. The basic contention for this reasoning is that the state always overrides the voice of sanitary/conservancy workers. Lack of intention leads to shabby or half-done works thereby destroying the image of the frontline worker with whom people directly interact. Say if the streets are not as clean but you see the garbage collection vehicles daily, one would conclude that the workers are doing a sloppy job and thereby lose respect.
Besides the above said concerns, basic sanitation and its related activities are planned in a top- down approach by the government rather than bottom- up approach. This structural flaw in the Indian state in undermining its frontline workers who work to keep the surrounding clean is despicable. Moreover, major city corporations recruit conservancy workers as contract labourers without any social security net. This prominently gives space for the establishment to loot and scout the meagre funds pledged for this section of workers.
With absence of a feedback loop with the end consumer(the public), there is no incentive for the officer and the frontline worker to do their job satisfactorily on a continued basis which is fundamental to run an organisation successfully for longer periods. Say if there was a feedback loop like a public forum where the local government interacts with the public on a regular basis. They will have the incentive to not get bashed every week by the people thereby doing their jobs. This ripple makes cleaner neighbourhoods thereby reducing the discontent among the public and increasing respect for the frontline workers.
Economic Underpinnings
Primarily, social reasons said above are very much intertwined with the economic reasoning. These sanitary workers are paid very less which directly reflects in their enthusiasm to do their job.
The mode of recruitment which is mostly by contract for a period of some years is done in places of slum dwellings where people take up this job as a means of survival thereby reducing their developing potential. This contract recruitment for a lesser period of time inflicts tremendous damage in their jobs productivity. There is no social security net, no health insurance, no proper training, no proper accomodation and it goes on. All these deficiencies can be singularly pointed to the lack of priority given to these frontline workers. Poor fund allocation, corruption, red- tapism are add-ons in the plight of sanitary workers. All these are interestingly interconnected to how people view the frontline garbage collector who is an actor of sorts- the face of the dysfunctional government.
These frontline workers need a respectable pay in the first hand. The case begins with the fund allocation where states should devolve more taxation powers to local governments. The government should provide the sanitary workers with health insurance, social security net.
Status Quo
Just like bees, frontline sanitary/ conservancy workers toil hard on a daily basis. Just like bees which is an indistinguishable part of the eco-chain, sanitary workers are an indistinguishable part of the civic-chain. They have long been overrun by social, political and economic stigmatization and it's time that this pandemic leaves a permanent change in the lives of sanitary/conservancy workers towards a better living. If doctors, paramedics dealing with Corona patients need top class protective gears, these frontline workers who touch and interact with potential patients also need the same protective gears and preventive measures. Status quo shouldn't continue anymore.
by Admin
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