Meet Sunil Yadav, the BMC Sweeper Who Is Pursuing His PhD

Meet Sunil Yadav, the BMC Sweeper Who Is Pursuing His PhD

Sunil Yadav, the BMC Sweeper with 5 degrees and currently pursuing his PhD.

(Photo Courtesy: The Quint)

Have you ever heard of a person who holds five academic degrees, is currently in the midst of pursuing his PhD, and yet, is forced to work as a sanitation worker for the municipality? I’m guessing not. However, I had the opportunity of meeting Mr. Sunil Yadav - a man who is doing exactly that.

Sunil comes from a family of sanitation workers. He got the job right after his father became paralysed and was unfit to work. When asked about his first day at work, this is what he had to say:

“In 2005, when I went to my first day on the job as a sanitation worker, that day was worse than hell. There were dead cats, rats kept running around and I had to work in those conditions. I kept covering my nose but my co-workers said I shouldn’t do that. So, I cursed my fate and worked that day.”

Sunil Yadav

Sunil had failed 10th grade. However, he regained his interest in studying when he started his job as a sanitation worker. He completed his Bachelor of Commerce from Yashwantrao Chavan University and soon realised that he wanted to study further. Subsequently, he also did a B.A. in Journalism, Diploma in Social Work, M.A. in Globalisation and Labour, and a Masters in Social Work.

So I asked him about how BMC had supported him through the process:

“If you look at the BMC, there is large-scale corruption. I applied for a study leave under a provision in the 1989 Act of the Mumbai Mahanagar Palika but there was no action taken regarding my application. Even after a year, I hadn’t received a study leave.”

Sunil Yadav

He says that an opening for a Labour Officer was available at the BMC and that he was not even allowed to give the walk-in interview despite being qualified for the job. Sunil feels that that definitely happened because of his caste. Here’s what he had to say about the caste system prevalent in India:

“The whole caste system is so dangerous. Our community was oppressed then, we are oppressed now and we might remain oppressed tomorrow.”

Sunil Yadav

Sunil is currently pursuing his PhD from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and hopes to be a role model for his community and pave a revolution.

Producer: Vishnu Venugopalan
Camera: Vishnu Venugopalan
Editor: Ashish Maccune