Bilal Dar, an 18-year-old rag picker who earned his living by picking up waste from the Wular Lake in Bandipora district of north Kashmir, was appointed the brand ambassador of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) on 15 July. Bilal, who is a resident of Laharwarpora of Bandipora district, has been doing this job for around five years now. He picks up trash from the lake and sells them for a meagre sum of Rs 150-200 per day. It is with this money that he supports his mother, Mughali, and two sisters. Dar’s father, Mohammad Ramzan Dar, a ragpicker on the Wular himself, died of cancer in 2003. Every right thinking Indian will appreciates the work that Bilal has been carrying out on the Wular lake of Kashmir. Kashmir is known as the ‘Paradise on Earth’ and Bilal is surely playing his  role in preserving history.