OUR SILENT ACQUIESCENCE TO FILTH

ROHINI MALUR REVIEWS ANKUR BISEN’S WASTED: THE MESSY STORY OF SANITATION IN INDIA, A MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE AND IS LEFT RATHER IMPRESSED

- ROHINI MALUR and ANKUR BISEN

The fact that India is better equipped to successfully launch rockets in space than to deliver sanitation as a matter of routine is a spectacular failure of the Indian democracy.”

Wasted: The Messy Story of Sanitation in India, A Manifesto for Change by Ankur Bisen was released in mid-2019, and has slowly garnered attention for its explanation of what Bisen calls, “the silent acquiescence of Indian society” regarding waste, contamination and pollution of our cities, rivers, land and countryside. Working at Hasiru Dala, an organisation that works in South India for informal waste collectors and advocates for formal, segregated waste management, this was one of the first books I had seen in mainstream bookstores (as opposed to from my office library) that discussed waste and sanitation in any degree. A quick peek at the references section highlights a lack of books on Indian waste management, a lack of interviews with experts in the field – these exist, but are hard to find unless you are immersed in the subject. Bisen has written this exhaustive book based almost entirely on public statements by legislatures, courts, governing bodies, and articles in print and online media.

This is not a criticism. There is a network of NGOs, academics, activists and citizens concerned with waste management, the informal waste collection and recycling sector, advocacy with various levels of government to formalize waste management across the country, but that network has limited reach with mainstream society unless the country is in crisis mode. (Hasiru Dala received as much exposure for its food relief efforts in two months during the recent lockdown than for nearly a decade of work with informal waste collectors.)