At the heart of a crisis

Let's rejoice in the fact that India's heart is in the right place

“Crisis doesn’t create character; it reveals it”

Denis Leary, American actor, writer and producer

On March 23, almost as soon as the lockdown in Uttarakhand, among everywhere else, came into force, the Waste Warriors teams sprang to life. Around 15 members of the Dehradun team immediately started locating the city’s waste pickers and their families who they knew lived on their daily earnings, picking waste at the city’s garbage dumps. A lockdown meant no food and a prolonged lockdown meant perhaps even starvation for them. Relief packages containing the basics — dal, rice, atta, oil, salt, sugar, turmeric, chilli powder