A day in the life of an Indian shaker

GAUHATI, India (AP) – After finishing school for the day, 10-year-old Imradul Ali rushes home to change his uniform so he can start his shaking job in the far northeast of India. .

Armed with a cannon bag, he goes to a landfill in the slums of Gauhati, the capital of Assam. Here, he hunts through piles of other people’s garbage, looking for plastic bottles, glass or anything else salvageable that he can recycle or sell. Around him, cows graze on the mountains of debris that cover the site.

Ali comes from a family of garbage collectors or “rag pickers” – his father, mother and older brother earn all their income through him. He started doing it over a year ago to help his family make more money.

The family was hit hard last year by the COVID-19 pandemic because it could not go to the landfill and search the garbage to sell things. They fought during the closure of India for several months, but managed to get food through aid organizations.

Ali says he doesn’t want to spend his life doing this, but he doesn’t know what the future will hold. “I want to continue going to school and I would like to be a rich man,” he said.

He earns up to 100 rupees ($ 1.30) a day, while the rest of his family earns about 250 rupees ($ 3.30) each.

“It is very difficult to lead a family in the rag,” said Ali’s mother, Anuwara Begum.

Scavenging is a dirty and dangerous job. Although there is no exact number, aid groups say about 4 million people in India work as shields. It is effectively the primary recycling system in the country, but the work is not environmentally friendly. Those who do have few rights and are exposed daily to deadly poisons.

India’s latest census in 2011 raised the total number of child laborers between the ages of 5 and 14, including scouts, to about 10 million.

Thadeus Kujur, who runs the Snehalaya charity, says it’s always sad to see children collecting debris instead of going to school. His group runs five childcare facilities, caring for 185 boys and girls, and has helped 20,000 children over seven years. “We make motivational programs for poor parents to realize the value of education before introducing their children to schools,” he said.

According to a new analysis by the World Bank Group and the UN Children’s Fund, it is estimated that one in six children, or 356 million globally, lived in extreme poverty before the pandemic began – and the number is expected to worsen significantly.

Ali’s father wants his son to continue going to school, hoping to run his own store or get a coveted job in government when he grows up, ending their suffering.

As for Ali, he wants to drive a car and wants to own one in the future. “I want good food and clothes,” he said.