Source: PIB
Context: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched a Nationwide Waste Picker Enumeration App under the NAMASTE scheme to formalize, empower, and provide social security to waste pickers.
About the Waste Picker Enumeration App:
- What is it?
- A digital platform to enumerate, identify, and support waste pickers through social security and livelihood-based interventions under the NAMASTE Scheme.
- Ministry Involved:
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE)
- In collaboration with Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)
- Implemented via National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation (NSKFDC)
- Objective:
- To recognize waste pickers as essential workers in India’s solid waste management system
- To provide them with identity, protection, and integration into formal urban systems
- Key Features:
- Large-Scale Profiling: Targets enumeration of 2.5 lakh waste pickers and issue’s occupational identity cards for formal recognition.
- Health and Safety Coverage: Provides health insurance under Ayushman Bharat and distributes personal protective equipment and seasonal safety kits.
- Skill and Livelihood Support: Offers skill development training and capital subsidy for waste collection vehicles to promote sustainable livelihoods.
- Strengthening Waste Management Systems: Supports formation of waste picker collectives to manage 750 dry waste collection centres across urban areas.
- Knowledge-Based Empowerment: Releases key resources like the Mainstreaming Waste Picker Collectives Guide and Charting Change socio-economic insights report.
About NAMASTE Scheme:
- What is it?
- National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) is a Central Sector Scheme launched to formalize and rehabilitate sanitation workers engaged in hazardous cleaning and solid waste management.
- Launched In: July 2023
- Ministries Involved:
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Nodal Ministry)
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) (Convergence Partner)
- Implementing agency: National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation
- Aim:
- To ensure dignity, safety, and livelihood for sewer workers, septic tank cleaners, and now, waste pickers
- To eliminate manual scavenging and promote mechanized, skilled sanitation services
