It is difficult to believe, but it is true, a well educated person named Sunil Yadav, who got his four degrees in the last nine years is working as a garbage collector in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai. Sunil, who is 36 yrs old states, “We were born as scavengers. Right from our birth we have been slaves. We never really had any rights. We are trying to get out of it, and there is only one way to do that. Baba Saheb Ambedkar said ‘if you study, you will grow’, but people still don’t accept us.”
Sunil has completed his B Com, BA in journalism, MA in Globalisation and Labour, Masters in Social Work in a time span of 9 years, from 2005 to 2014. Presently, Sunil is studying in a well-known Tata Institute of Social Sciences from where he is pursuing his M Phil.
Thinking of his past, Sunil maintains, “I got down into a drain on my first day of work. For days after that, the smell didn’t leave my mind. I walked through water with dead animals. That’s when I decided I had to study and get out of this vicious cycle.”
Sunil got the job in BMC in the place of his father as his father was termed medically unfit for job. Sunil represents the fourth generation of his family who is into manual scavenging.
Sunil says in sarcasm tone “Not every Dalit is a scavenger, but every scavenger is a Dalit. There is 100 per cent reservation in that category.”
Deficiency of money never stopped Sunil, he kept working at BMC and with it he also continued his studies. He told “I worked in the night from 9 pm to 2 am and studied during the day and even though BMC rules state I am entitled to a study leave, it took me 18 months to get it approved.”
Sunil’s wife, Sanjana became a graduate only after the marriage and here is what she told NDTV about her highly qualified husband, “He has always been very supportive. He told me to complete my graduation and explained that society will respect me only if I was educated.”
A bill had been passed in the year 2013 in Parliament for putting a ban on manual scavenging but if we listen to experts there is long distance yet to be covered.
As stated by Safai Karamchari Andolan’s National Convenor, Bezwada Wilson, “A new act has come in 2013, two years have gone, and we have not prosecuted even a single person across the country. So, when the law is not working, the bureaucrats are not working, when political will is not there, when the society is not sensitive, where is the question that we can achieve our target?”
What will you say about this garbage collector who has more degrees than many officers and politicians? Share your views in the comments section below.
