Vol. 2, Issue 3, Part C (2016)

Abstract
Child ragpickers are a common sight in cities and towns across India. Rag picking is an off shoot of industrialization and urbanization, which is seen as a quick means of earning a livelihood by scores of untrained poverty ridden people in our country. Children as young as 5-6 years are seen to be involved in rag picking. The very nature of this activity poses a number of dangers for the young children involved in it. The current research assesses the daily personal hygiene practices and physical health status of child ragpickers. The sample for the study comprised of 200 children below 14 years of age working as ragpickers for at least past six months in and around Jammu city selected through non probability sampling technique/s. Self devised physical health checklist and interview schedule were used for data collection. Results reveal that sample ragpickers had poor personal hygiene habits and they were least interested in maintaining their physical health and hygiene. They were reluctant to even perform simple personal hygiene activities such as bathing, brushing teeth, washing hair, changing clothes on a regular basis. Cleaning of earns and nose was need based while the children were relatively more concerned about cleaning their feet and ankles. Changing clothes, cutting nails and hair were noted to receive least attention from these children. Older age group children were comparatively more concerned about their personal hygiene than the younger group. Majority of the sample ragpickers seemed unbothered about even washing hands before and after meals or even after toilet. Mostly the children washed their hands and face after finishing their work in the evening but changing clothes was not practices. There is an urgent need to improve the physical hygiene and cleanliness status of these children, as many illnesses and morbidities can be overcome through these initiatives.