The problem is simple: waste pickers do the city’s most essential work, yet they’re locked out of the safety nets everyone else takes for granted. They can’t afford to take time off to navigate complex government paperwork. They work daily wages—every hour away from work is money lost. So they skip health insurance, work documentation, bank accounts, and everything else that might protect them.
In 2024, CFSD launched Utthan to change this. We’re bringing the schemes to them instead of asking them to come to the schemes.
What we do. Utthan connects waste pickers to five critical government programs: Ayushman Bharat (health insurance up to ₹5 lakhs), e-Shram (work documentation linked to pension eligibility), Jan Dhan Yojana (zero-balance bank accounts), Bima Yojana (life insurance for their families), and Ladli Behna Yojana (₹1,500 monthly allowance for women). Rather than sending waste pickers to multiple offices and government departments, we coordinate everything at once.
The real innovation? We partnered with Punjab National Bank to place bank operators directly in waste picker settlements—Chikhli, Bhandewadi, Wadar Moholla, Rahate Nagar Toli, and beyond. Waste pickers can open accounts, link their schemes, and complete enrollment without missing a day of work. We handle the paperwork. We manage the coordination. We make sure nothing gets lost.
Why it matters. Waste pickers work in brutal conditions. They’re exposed to disease, injury, pollution, and constant risk. But they’ve had no way to access healthcare—not because it wasn’t available, but because they couldn’t afford the time or money. Ayushman Bharat changed that. We’ve now seen beneficiaries actually use their insurance, visiting hospitals for treatment instead of suffering through infections and injuries.
Beyond health: Jan Dhan accounts give them their first formal bank account. That opens doors to loans, savings, and financial stability they never had access to before. e-Shram documentation legitimizes their work and guarantees pension eligibility after retirement. Bima Yojana protects their families—if something happens during work, their dependents aren’t left with nothing. And Ladli Behna provides direct cash support to women waste pickers every month.
The results. Since 2024, through Phase 1 (2024-2025) and now Phase 2 (2025-2026), we’ve issued 1,500 scheme enrollment cards across Nagpur’s waste picker community. More importantly, we’ve seen real behavior change: people accessing healthcare, families opening bank accounts, documentation finally recognizing waste picking as legitimate work.
Utthan isn’t about charity—it’s about removing the barriers that keep people from accessing the support they’ve already earned.
