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Our Activities

Safai Sena works though local fortnightly meetings, one monthly meeting with leaders, an annual meeting and through various committees:

Facebook Committee
Rehabilitation Committee
Safai Nama Committee
Finance Committee
E-Waste Committee

Film: Credits vs Carbon Credits

Santu and Aasma Bibi are Delhi based recyclers and activists with Safai Sena. They are acutely aware of how waste recyclers' livelihoods are being endangered as the government privatizes waste management. In this film, Asma Bibi and Santu ji travel to Mumbai and Kanpur to assess the effects of waste management projects driven by large companies vying for carbon credits on the livelihood of wastepickers.

Safainama

We also bring out our newsletter, Safai Nama. Read current and past issues:

Find us on Facebook

Our Facebook page is run by a Facebook committee comprising five Safai Sena waste recyclers, along with external help. Join our page here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safai-Sena/114925988599337

Waste-to-Energy Plants

Hundreds of Safai Sena members work at Gazipur and Okhla landfill sites and are very dependent on the waste coming to the both landfills. This waste will be diverted to two waste-to-energy plants, as they begin functioning. This can cause loss of livelihoods to Safai Sena's members, and force them to make their children work, at least part time. We have debated this issue many times and decided that this is also an opportunity to improve our working conditions, which are very bad on the landfill. So, we have made a ‘Re-habilitation Committee', and are looking for a re-habilitation scheme where we can work and earn equivalent or more money than we do currently. Many of us will look for waste related work and some are looking for new work. All of us want to live a better life where our work is recognized, safer cleaner and our children can study.

U-ID Smart Cards

The Indian government took an initiative to provide identification to all Indians, called U-IDs. Safai Sena is helping its members to get these U-IDs, because usually wastepickers and kabaris have no documents and they are harassed all the time. First of all Safai Sena waste pickers were made aware about the UID smart card through meetings. Several workshops were held with leaders on how to fill up the UID smart card form. Then we started filling up the form of waste pickers in our working area. In the first 4 months, from October 2011 to January 31st, 2012 a total of 503 UID smart cards were registered for Safai Sena members from Sihani Chungi, Bhopura, Khajuri, Bhopura, Taikhand, Tuglakabad Extension, Pushta, Jahangir Puri, and Seemapuri.

Door-to-Door waste collection in Partnership with Ramky Enviro Limited

One of Safai Sena's main objectives has been to ensure decent green jobs for our members. A part of this has been to ensure that wastepickers either directly undertake doorstep collection or they work with contractors in a transparent, fair manner. After Ramky got the contract for doorstep collection in Faridabad, Haryana, Safai Sena worked with them to ensure that the existing wastepickers were able to upgrade their work through becoming the doorstep collectors under the new system. We have signed a contract and over 200,000 households will be serviced in the year 2012. Ramky will pay for the costs of supervision, uniforms, and help-lines and Safai Sena will run the doorstep collection, ensuring its members are able to earn living wages or more. Chintan will help with training and liaoning, if needed.