New Delhi: For 27 years, Faizan Ahmed has been working as a barber in Southeast Delhi’s Sukhdev Vihar. The job, he says, is not easy — financial losses incurred during the Covid-19 lockdown have left him unable to afford any staff at a time when customer requirements in terms of services have grown.
The 50-year-old says that his community — the Salmanis, who are traditionally involved in the craft of hairdressing and grooming — has been left to fend for itself by successive governments in Delhi. “No help has come through from the AAP-led Delhi government as well,” said Ahmed.
It’s an irony of sorts.
In 2019, reaching out to the barber community, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced the setting up of a ‘Kesh Kala Board’, which was to be dedicated towards facilitating welfare measures for them — through skill development, advanced training and financial assistance.
This was meant to help the Capital’s barbers keep up with modern techniques and earn more.
However, close to four years since the Delhi Cabinet approved the proposal to constitute the board, Ahmed is clueless about its constitution and whether it actually exists. And so are other barbers in the city.
According to Mohd Imran Salmani (58), president of the Azad Barber Association Delhi Pradesh, the city has roughly 1.5 lakh barbers, of which “close to 70 percent are from the Salmani community”.
“I hail from the Salmani community, and we are traditionally involved in the line of hairdressing and grooming,” he said.
“I would say plenty of barbers in the city hail from this community. But putting this aside, the concept of a salon has evolved over the years. Now, one needs to upskill, a simple haircut and shave does not suffice for the customer and having an air conditioner is a must,” said Ahmed.
When ThePrint reached Rajendra Pal Gautam, who was the Cabinet minister for Social Welfare, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes when the board was announced in 2019, he said “surveys were conducted” at the time in order to assess the total count of barbers in the city and other aspects.
When asked for further details, he said the survey findings were submitted to the department and not publicly disclosed. “I no longer hold the portfolio, you must get in touch with the current minister,” he added.
His successor Raaj Kumar Anand said that “surveys will be conducted once the [Kesh Kala] board is set up”, adding that there has been a delay in setting up the board due to the government’s ongoing tussle with Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena.
When mentioned that the proposal was cleared in 2019, prior to Saxena’s arrival in Delhi, Anand did not provide a clear response and said he would respond later. However, despite multiple phone calls, he did not respond.
According to a report by news agency PTI, Anand had, in July, given in-principle approval to the proposal to establish the Kesh Kala Board, and it was sent to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for final approval.
Senior Delhi government officials told ThePrint, however, that the file for setting up the board has been “circling within the department” since 2019.
“No proposal has been made to date regarding the creation of posts for the board. Had it been made, we would have studied the proposal and reverted,” said a senior Delhi government official.
ThePrint has reached Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by email for a comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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No clarity
While for Ahmed, the losses incurred during the pandemic forced him to do away with staff at his salon, street-side barbers such as Roshan Kumar Thakur (29) were left staring at uncertainty.
“I vaguely heard that the Delhi government will provide some welfare specifically for barbers,” he said. “But neither have I been able to gather more details about this, nor has the government said anything concrete about it over the past few years,” he added.
Kumar’s makeshift ‘salon’ — which has been located on a footpath near the city’s Bharat Nagar for the past nine years — consists of nothing but a chair, a mirror, and a few essential tools. One can get a shave here for Rs 20.
Ten steps ahead is another such set-up, run by Azad, who also said he remains largely unaware about the welfare measures promised by the government.
For Ahmed, Azad and Thakur, the welfare announcement by the government holds little value, mainly due to the lack of information.
But the case is different for Imran, who registered his association for the welfare of barbers in 1996. Imran said the last concrete welfare measure was delivered in 2010, by the then Sheila Dikshit government.
“Barbers were given training, this included theory lessons at an institute near Siri Fort followed by practical classes in salons,” he added. “It was a certificate course, but this programme was discontinued in 2011.”
The years that followed saw Imran reaching out to the government to seek concrete measures that would ensure the welfare of his fellow community members, “and there was some relief when the proposal to form the Kesh Kala Board” was cleared by the Cabinet, he said.
In a release dated 5 November 2019 on the AAP’s website, the party notes that “hundreds” of barbers from the Salmani community had visited the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to “thank him” for constituting “the Kesh Kala Board”.
The release also notes that members of the board will be drawn from the said community, in order to ensure its smooth functioning and to convey “the demands of the community of the government”.
Imran had led the delegation that “thanked” the chief minister. Speaking to ThePrint nearly four years later, he said “the government has done no work” after the initial announcement.
“It has been four years, and we have not received any help from the government. Nor has there been a steady flow of updates on what is happening with the board,” he added. “We are banking on the promises made,” said Imran, who resides in Northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad.
Imran said he had also visited Anand to thank him based on the above-mentioned PTI report, but there is yet no clarity on the timeline of when the board is to be constituted.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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