Nalini Shekar

Nalini Shekar is the co-founder of Hasiru Dala, an organization of wastepickers in Bangalore. She is also a co-founder of Kagad Kach Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), a union of wastepickers in Pune in 1997. Before coming back to India, she worked on the issue of violence against women for over a decade in the USA.Her main focus in Hasiru Dala is on the inclusion of wastepickers and other waste workers in the informal waste economy in the Solid Waste Management systems of Urban Local Bodies across Karnataka. Hasiru Dala is working on organising and skilling wastepickers to provide services in the waste management sector. Facilitation of access to social security entitlement offered by the government is another major goal of the organisation. Nalini was awarded the Kempegowda Award in 2015 from the City of Bangalore, the “Vasundara Mitra” Award 2016 by Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Limited, and Jijabai Award from Shivaji College, Delhi University 2017. She was a finalist for the Namma Bengaluru Award, which is nominated by citizens of Bangaluru. She was chosen as one of 100 women in India who make a difference in the society by BBC.com, and received several awards in the USA for her work with immigrants and women survivors of violence