Raju Kamble has not heard the phrase “social distancing”, but he is aware of the government and media advisories urging people to work from...
Raju Kamble has not heard the phrase “social distancing”, but he is aware of the government and media advisories urging people to work from home, avoid crowds and maintain a safe distance from others to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Ask him if he practices any of it, and Kamble merely laughs.
“I am a safai karmachari, my job is to pick up other people’s garbage,” said Kamble, a sanitation worker in suburban Mumbai. “How can people like us work from home?”
With another sardonic laugh, he brings up the caste identity shared by thousands of garbage collectors, sweepers and sewage cleaners across the city. “All of us in this line of work are Dalit, so people have always kept their distance from us,” he declared.
At a time when a large section of urban India is isolating itself to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, another large section of the country – the blue-collared working class – perceives the idea of social distancing as a luxury it cannot afford.
For labourers like Kamble who provide essential services to the public, working from home or avoiding crowded public transport is not an option. For daily wage earners and those in the unorganised sector, staying off...
