60.3% of India’s Waste Pickers Are Dalits — Upper Castes? ZERO Visibility in 2026 Official Data
February 3, 2026.
The Ministry of Social Justice quietly tables numbers that should have set every newsroom on fire. Through the Waste Picker Enumeration App, they profiled 1,52,813 waste pickers across India. The verdict is devastating and crystal clear: this back-breaking, hazardous, lowest-rung job is still overwhelmingly a scheduled caste occupation in modern India.
Over 60% — 92,089 people — are Dalits. Upper castes? Barely a blip at 10.7%. This isn’t ancient history. This is 2026 official government data screaming that India’s waste disposal system remains a caste-based labour pipeline. Your trash is still being handled by the same people society has historically forced to touch it.
1. The Numbers That Don’t Lie
Total profiled: 1,52,813
2. maharashtra Is the Caste-Garbage Capital
One state alone accounts for nearly a quarter of all profiled waste pickers in india — 36,699 people. And inside Maharashtra? A staggering 68% are Scheduled Castes. That’s not a coincidence. That’s concentration.
3. tamil Nadu’s Quiet Domination
26,012 total waste pickers enumerated. Of them, 19,540 are sc — almost 75%. That’s more Dalit waste pickers than Uttar Pradesh has, even though UP’s population is three times larger. tamil Nadu is quietly carrying a disproportionate load.
4. Gender Split That Should Shock You
Almost equal: 51.3% men, 48.7% women. One of the most dangerous, lowest-paid, and most stigmatised jobs in the country has near gender parity. Yet only 12 transgender persons were counted nationwide. Twelve. In a country of 1.4 billion.
5. The Line That Ends Every Excuse
This is not “choice.”
This is not “economic opportunity.”
This is India’s oldest garbage-disposal caste system, still running at full throttle in 2026, with official numbers proving the pipeline is alive and brutally efficient.
Your morning coffee cup, last night’s takeout box, the diaper your baby just filled — someone picked it up today.
And the data says with 60.3% certainty: that someone was almost certainly Dalit.
That’s not progress.
That’s a national disgrace, still wearing the same old caste mask.
The Ministry of Social Justice quietly tables numbers that should have set every newsroom on fire. Through the Waste Picker Enumeration App, they profiled 1,52,813 waste pickers across India. The verdict is devastating and crystal clear: this back-breaking, hazardous, lowest-rung job is still overwhelmingly a scheduled caste occupation in modern India.
Over 60% — 92,089 people — are Dalits. Upper castes? Barely a blip at 10.7%. This isn’t ancient history. This is 2026 official government data screaming that India’s waste disposal system remains a caste-based labour pipeline. Your trash is still being handled by the same people society has historically forced to touch it.
1. The Numbers That Don’t Lie
Total profiled: 1,52,813
- Scheduled Castes: 92,089 → 60.3% (the single largest group by a ridiculous margin)
- OBC: 20,954 → 13.7%
- ST: 16,039 → 10.5%
- General Category (Upper Castes): 16,329 → just 10.7%
2. maharashtra Is the Caste-Garbage Capital
One state alone accounts for nearly a quarter of all profiled waste pickers in india — 36,699 people. And inside Maharashtra? A staggering 68% are Scheduled Castes. That’s not a coincidence. That’s concentration.
3. tamil Nadu’s Quiet Domination
26,012 total waste pickers enumerated. Of them, 19,540 are sc — almost 75%. That’s more Dalit waste pickers than Uttar Pradesh has, even though UP’s population is three times larger. tamil Nadu is quietly carrying a disproportionate load.
4. Gender Split That Should Shock You
Almost equal: 51.3% men, 48.7% women. One of the most dangerous, lowest-paid, and most stigmatised jobs in the country has near gender parity. Yet only 12 transgender persons were counted nationwide. Twelve. In a country of 1.4 billion.
5. The Line That Ends Every Excuse
This is not “choice.”
This is not “economic opportunity.”
This is India’s oldest garbage-disposal caste system, still running at full throttle in 2026, with official numbers proving the pipeline is alive and brutally efficient.
Your morning coffee cup, last night’s takeout box, the diaper your baby just filled — someone picked it up today.
And the data says with 60.3% certainty: that someone was almost certainly Dalit.
That’s not progress.
That’s a national disgrace, still wearing the same old caste mask.