Manoj Kumar reaches the waste dumping site early every morning when the city is still asleep and dawn is just beginning to break. He wheels his bicycle along the empty, silent road, suffused with dim yellow light from overhead street lamps.

His job is gruelling, and the hours are unpredictable. As a waste worker, or Safai Mitra, his job is crucial to the city's functioning, but the conditions under which he works are harsh. He spends hours sorting through waste, sometimes into late evenings. The unpredictability of his work hours and income often leaves him with little or no food for days.

Yet, despite his exhaustion and hunger, Manoj pushes on, knowing that his family depends on whatever earnings he can bring home.

The 35-year-old waste worker and his wife Manju, a domestic worker, had migrated from the eastern Indian state of Bihar to Faridabad in Haryana, part of Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), in search of a better life, especially for their three children. After all, Faridabad is a major industrial city in Delhi NCR and offers livelihood options to thousands of migrant workers like Manoj. But he still struggles to put food on the table for himself and his family.

“My energy levels are always low because I don’t eat enough,” Manoj admits, his voice tinged with resignation. For waste workers like Manoj —known as Safai Mitras—the lack of consistent access to food, let alone nutritious food, is more than a daily challenge. It is a way of life they have learnt to live with – although it shouldn’t be because food security is a basic human right, as declared by the United Nations, and a vital component of the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2), which aims to end hunger and achieve food security by 2030.

But for marginalized communities like the Safai Mitras this is often a distant goal.

Recognizing this, UNDP has stepped in under its Utthaan initiative, along with its partner organization the Centre for Education, Governance & Policy (CEGP) Foundation. Through awareness sessions in communities where Safai Mitras live, they connect vulnerable families to essential government schemes designed to provide food security. A vital aspect of this effort is ensuring access to Ration Cards, an official document issued under India's National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, to households eligible to buy subsidized food grains from the Public Distribution System. 

This is important because according to UNDP’s assessment of the socio-economic status of waste pickers in India, only about 50% of Safai Mitras possess ration cards. The rest are either unaware of this essential document or do not know how to obtain it. 

But this card can change lives.

After Manoj received his ration card with the support of Utthaan linkage camps organized by CEGP, he no longer worries about his children going to bed hungry. His family now receives monthly staples such as wheat, rice, and pulses at a fraction of market price. And thanks to the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme, even if they migrate to another city for work, they can still access their food entitlements without being tied to their place of origin. “Having regular access to food lets me dream about my children's future rather than just survive from day to day,” Manoj says, his voice filled with relief and hope.