Abstract
This chapter attempts to foreground the question of migrant labour and their survival in contemporary Kolkata with a study of workers in both ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ sectors of the solid waste management industry. In the age of ecological awareness and hygienic aesthetics, the image of a solitary woman/man sweeping the city streets in the early mornings, carrying the hazardous waste on her/his shoulders, clearing the overflowing litterbins with sharp dexterity produces a strong and darkly ironical visual effect. Apart from these heart-wrenching stories of exploitation and under-appreciation, there are other aspects of the waste disposal industry which deserve attention—especially the institutional details of their participation in the city workforce. In this chapter, the authors look at these issues by exploring work forms and life stories of conservancy workers who have migrated from different parts of the country and have been employed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and of homeless rag-pickers who participate in the apparently non-official systems of waste management in the city. Closely looking at a group of ‘settled migrant’ rag-pickers, mostly women, this chapter seeks to understand the time, territory, family structures and the pattern of shifts in occupation taking place in and around a particular dwelling area. Put differently, it explores the relationship between the contingencies of occupation and the question of social reproduction, keeping the question of space alive in the context of a burgeoning rent economy in the city.
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Notes
- 1.
The estimate was done in 2011.
- 2.
More than 50 % of the solid waste generated in Kolkata is biodegradable (Das and Bhattacharyya 2013, p. 149).
- 3.
The All India Trinamool Congress is the party in power in the state of West Bengal at the time of publication of this chapter. It also has the majority of councillors in KMC. The mayor himself is a member of the same party.
- 4.
The Budget statement mentions areas such as the neighbourhoods of the Writers’ Building, Indian Exchange Place, Fairly Place, BB Ganguly Street, BBD Bag, Bankshall Court, and Koilaghat Street. All these places are located in central Kolkata and constitute the business centre of the city which includes the headquarters of the nationalized banks, the state secretariat at the Writers’ Building and the main offices of major commercial enterprises.
- 5.
The National Human Rights Commission provides a long list of books and articles on manual scavenging on their website: http://nhrc.nic.in/bib_manual_scavenging.htm; accessed on 14 August 2015.
- 6.
http://ncsk.nic.in/index2.asp; accessed on 14 August 2015. This Commission works under the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Government of India.
- 7.
Circular, Government of West Bengal, Office of the Labour Commissioner, Memo No. 756/Stat/RW/108/568/2012/LCS/JLC, dated 12.06.2013.
- 8.
The full list of municipalities under Zone A are as follows: ‘Areas Notified under Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), (ii) Asansol Municipal Corporation, (iii) Durgapur Municipal Corporation, (iv) Siliguri Municipal Corporation, (v) Digha-Shankarpur Development Authority, (vi) Thermal Power plant areas including Township areas, (vii) All the Municipal areas in different Districts, (viii) All the Sub-Divisions in the districts of Howrah, Hoogly, Burdwan and 24-Parganas (N) [excluding Barasat and Basirhat], (ix) Alipur Sub-Division and Baruipur Sub-Division in the district of 24-Parganas(S), (x) MidnaporeSadar Sub-Division and Kharagpur Sub-Division in the district of West Midnapore, (xi) Siliguri sub-division in the district of Darjeeling, (xii) Bankura Sub-Division and Bishnupur Sub-division in the district of Bankura, and (xiii) Raghunathpur Sub-Division in the district of Purulia.’ See Circular, Government of West Bengal, Office of the Labour Commissioner, Memo No. 756/Stat/RW/108/568/2012/LCS/JLC, dated 12.06.2013.
- 9.
In one of the paragraphs, the circular states, ‘Where the existing rates of wages of any employee based on contract or agreement or otherwise are higher than the rates notified herein, the higher rates shall be protected and treated as minimum rates of wages applicable for the purpose of this notification to such employees’ (paragraph (e), Circular, Government of West Bengal, Office of the Labour Commissioner, Memo No. 756/Stat/RW/108/568/2012/LCS/JLC, dated 12.06.2013).
- 10.
Bhangis are an ‘untouchable’ low-caste group originally from Punjab whose traditional occupation is scavenging. For details on the Bhangis, see Sharma (1995).
- 11.
List of Scheduled Castes in West Bengal http://www.wb.gov.in/portal/banglarMukh/CMSPage/BMCMSPortletWindow?action=1&in.gov.wb.portal.MENU_ID_PARAMETER=47&fileId=75&in.gov.wb.portal.MENU_ID_PARAMETER=47; accessed on 14 August 2015.
- 12.
The literary meaning of the term ‘Dalit’ is oppressed. It is mostly used by political activists to denote the lower caste groups. It was first used by the nineteenth-century Marathi social reformer Jyotirao Phule in the context of caste hierarchies and the system of untouchability in India. ‘Although the term is quite widespread, it still has deep roots in a tradition of political radicalism inspired by the figure of B.R. Ambedkar’ (Mendelsohn and Vicziany 1998, p. 4). The term, however, does not feature in government policies where the preferred terms are Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- 13.
Interviews with few sweepers in KMC Ward No. 2 reveal that the contractual system has started in the present generation (last 20 years) while the earlier generations of workers enjoyed some sort of job security, employment benefits like pension and fixed monthly wages from KMC. The KMC officials have, however, stated that most of the workers in the conservancy department still enjoy these benefits whereas the private waste management services do not provide any such facility.
- 14.
A visit to such an official quarter at Ward No. 11 (between Maniktala and Hatibagan) confirms the complaints often made by the residents of these quarters. Although there are electric and water connections available to the residents, they are infrequent and inadequate. The rooms are small and dingy and shared by more than five occupants oftentimes.
- 15.
It is the same posh South Kolkata neighbourhood which found a mention in the budget statement of the Municipal Corporation regarding improvement of waste disposal systems in the city. Gulbahari’s narrative follows from her conversation with Debarati Bagchi over 1 year (2014–15) as part of her research on the migrant waste pickers in Kolkata.
- 16.
As in August 2015.
- 17.
Mother Dairy is particular brand of milk products.
- 18.
Primarily, in Hardt’s and Negri’s conception, ‘immaterial labour’ is defined as ‘labor that produces an immaterial good, such as a service, a cultural product, knowledge, or communication’ (Hardt and Negri 2000, p. 290). In their later work, they have expanded the definition and included ‘a relationship, or an emotional response’ in the list of ‘immaterial products’ (Hardt and Negri 2004, p. 108). In this book, Hardt and Negri make a distinction between the two forms of immaterial labour: the first is ‘primarily intellectual or linguistic’ and the second is that which produces and manipulates affects such as a feeling of ease, wellbeing, satisfaction, excitement, or passion. They call the second form ‘affective labor.’ In this context, also see Hardt (1999, pp. 89–100).
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Bagchi, D., Mitra, I.K. (2017). Life, Labour, Recycling: A Study of Waste Management Practices in Contemporary Kolkata. In: Mitra, I., Samaddar, R., Sen, S. (eds) Accumulation in Post-Colonial Capitalism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1037-8_8
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