Rag Pickers are a community, unfortunately, ignored by society. An NGO called "My Green Society" in Mumbai has honoured the Rag Pickers in the Mumbai city area with gifts this Diwali. Rag Pickers are considered by society as part of Sweepers and cleaners, but often get ignored as they are unorganised. While they have tremendous contributions in keeping our cities clean, all the credits often go to the Sweeping and Cleaning staff, as they are an organised lot.
When everyone celebrates festivals, these people are busy cleaning the mess created by the 'citizens'. Even PM Narendra Modi had worshipped and honoured the sweepers in Varanasi a couple of years ago to express gratitude. But even after the awareness created by PM Narendra Modi, the unorganised rag pickers often remain ignored by society.
My Green Society in Mumbai decided to change things this year and organised a drive to honour the rag pickers with gifts and meethai (the Indian traditional sweets) on the occasion of Diwali. They completed the task in three days, from 28 to 30 October. 'My Green Society' has also decided to help the rag pickers open saving bank accounts and register them for central government schemes so that the unorganised city cleaners start getting benefits from the various welfare schemes launched by the central government.
With inputs from VSK
