For hand-to-mouth ragpickers, Independence Day means little

While it was Independence Day for many, for Raveena Kumari, it was simply a Tuesday as she neither got a day off work nor attended any sort of celebration. The 15-year-old ragpicker spent the country’s 71st Independence Day doing what she does daily to make ends meet.

“Do you think we are independent? We are still enslaved by poverty and inequality. If I had attended the flag hoisting event being organised in the society where my aunt works, I would have lost a day’s income,” said the resident of makeshift jhuggis under the iconic iron bridge of north-east Delhi’s Seelampur area.

Kumari was denied admission in a government school for not having a birth certificate. “People told me my mother died while giving birth to me in a jhuggi here. Still, the government wants me to give my birth certificate. I once asked my aunt to give them my mother’s death certificate,” the sombre teen said.

Away from the fervour and the festivities, thousands of such homeless ragpickers spent their day doing their daily chores. “How would hoisting flags and celebrating Independence Day change our lives? It does not make us less patriotic. We also love our country and want to do something, only if we get a chance,” said 14-year-old Karan, while standing in a queue to collect water from a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) tank.  “Who would have collected our share of water for the day? We would have spent a waterless day instead of Independence Day,” Karan said, bursting into laughter. He has been selling balloons on Delhi streets since the age of five.