India: Women push for better working conditions

DW (English)

99% of the world's population breathes air that exceeds WHO quality limits. Air pollution kills an estimated 6.7 million people worldwide every year. In New Delhi, one of the most affected cities, women are campaigning for safer working conditions.

Transcript

00:00This is the Bhalswa landfill. At about 32 hectares, it's the second-largest dumpsite

00:08in India's capital, New Delhi. More than 200,000 people live along its perimeter.

00:14For the last 25 years, Hema has lived and worked here as a waste picker.

00:19I used to go to work, then come home, send my child to school and do all the chores.

00:27But for the past year, my health hasn't been good, so I stopped going to work as often.

00:32I used to work 20-25 days a month, but now I work less.

00:40For people who live this close to the landfill, even the air they breathe is toxic. In a city

00:45that has some of the most polluted air in the world, improper waste disposal makes things

00:50much worse. Hema is part of a group of 40 women who have been learning about this issue

00:56and the reasons for their health problems. They are planning to reach out to the thousands

01:00of other women who do similar work. The group meets regularly with local representatives

01:05and conducts public hearings on social, medical and environmental issues.

01:10I think this is extremely important, to have this kind of community-level engagement. Because

01:18typically what happens is that people are not aware of the risk. They are unwillingly

01:23exposed to high levels of air pollution, heat, both outdoor and indoor. So the first

01:28step definitely is creating awareness among them. And some of these awareness programs

01:34I am aware of are also providing some individual-level strategy to really adapt to the situation.

01:43Few people are more aware of the need for these strategies than Rukhsana. She grew up

01:48in a family of waste pickers and has first-hand experience of the health problems faced by

01:53other women. Things that researchers have also seen in medical tests.

01:58In these PF tests itself, the pulmonary function tests, we found that waste picker women were

02:05about 3.6 times more likely to have worsened lung conditions and Safai Karamcharis were

02:12six times likely to have worsened lung functions as compared to men. And because they are cooking

02:19indoors and they are cooking on biomass fuels or chulhas as we call it.

02:28Rukhsana and the team at the Chintan Environmental Action and Research Group have set up air quality

02:34monitoring devices across the neighbourhood. This helps local women plan their work and

02:39daily activities. They avoid working in the waste dump when the monitor flashes red and

02:45take precautions like wearing masks even outside of work. Back at home, the women have taken

02:51steps to cook with less polluting fuels.

02:56The women here use biomass stoves. But when we heard about a government program to provide

03:01free gas cylinders, we looked into how to access the scheme. We helped at least 30 to

03:0735 people in the colony obtain gas cylinders.

03:11In 2022, the World Air Quality Report ranked Delhi fourth in a list of the world's 50 most

03:18polluted cities. Although air pollution affects everyone, workers in the informal sector suffer

03:24the most. Major infrastructure projects and construction sites rely on low-paid workers

03:29who have little to no protection for pollution on the job. Their homes are also near the

03:34construction sites, so they get little respite from the pollution.

03:40Pouring cement always created a lot of dust and it affected me. It went into our mouth,

03:44but we had no choice.

03:48Construction sector workers here are also organising and retraining to work in safer

03:52jobs. Mini Raj took part in an introductory workshop run by an NGO to learn how to use

03:59the proper safety equipment. She says it made a difference.

04:05I took part in this training for 15 days, where I was taught first and foremost what

04:09safety equipment I need to protect my health.

04:15The efforts of women like Hema, Rukhsar and Mini may be a drop in the ocean, but they

04:21hope that over time they will help raise awareness and promote better working conditions for

04:26all informal workers in Delhi.

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