ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author addresses points of exchange between the various faculties, and deconstructs the clash between the non-formal and formal markets as well as patron–client relationships and ideological marginalisation. Reflecting on the evidence above, there is a subtle but clear subtext: mainstream society deprives the waste pickers of welfare under the guise of negotiation. They fall in the trap to break into quarrels and fighting among each other very quickly and easily. These statements reflect that the negotiation points between the community people and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) welfare schemes have failed miserably. The domestic life of the waste pickers of Calcutta deserves further exploration because despite inappropriate behaviours and endemic vices, it would be wrong to suggest that family life does not exist but it is complex and erratic. On a more prosaic level, the waste pickers' food, health and hygiene featured strongly in the people ethnography.
