Shelter Less Persons In Delhi

Challenging Inclusive Growth Policies

Sponsored by Department of Social Welfare NCT of Delhi

Shipra Maitra Balwant Singh Mehta

INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT NIDM Building, 3rd Floor, IIPA Campus I.P Estate, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110 002 Phones – 2335 8166, 2332 1610 / Fax : 23765410 Email: [email protected], website:ihdindia.org

2007

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

i

Major Findings

ii-iv

CHAPTER- I : 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9

INTRODUCTION Characteristics of Shelterlessness Shelterless in India Definition and Number of Shelterless Persons Census coverage of Houseless persons in Delhi Concern for Shelterless in Delhi Master Plan 2021 Need for the Survey Objectives Methodology Limitations of the Survey

1-15 2 4 5 7 8 9 10 10 14

CHAPTER- II : PROFILE OF THE SHELTERLESS 2.1 Locational Concentration 2.2 Migration 2.2a Reasons for Migration 2.3 Socio Cultural Profile 2.3a Caste Profile 2.3b Religion 2.3c Marital Status 2.4 Age group Distribution 2.5 Occupational Pattern 2.6 Level of Education

16-28 17 18 19 21 21 22 23 23 25 26

CHAPTER–III : WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY 3.1 Demographic Characteristics 3.2 Level of Education

29-35 29 31

CHAPTER– IV : CHALLENGING INCLUSIVE GROWTH POLICIES 4.1 Economic Profile 4.1a Reasons for Coming to Delhi 4.1b Average Income Earned 4.1c Average Expenditure 4.1d Remittance 4.2 Livelihood Concerns

36-56 37 37 38 39 40 41

4.2 a Reasons for Leaving Home 4.2 b Dependent Family Members 4.2c Identification Documents (ID) 4.2d Strong Linkage with Native Place 4.2e Personal Belongings 4.2f Cooking Fuel 4.2g Duration of Stay 4.2h Long Working Hours

41 41 42 43 45 46 47 47

4.3

4.4 4.5 4.6 CHAPTER -V 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

4.2i Changing Sleeping Place 4.2j Awareness and Utilisation of Night Shelters 4.2k Support Towards Livelihood State of Basic Amenities 4.3a Health Concerns 4.3b Sanitation 4.3c Drinking Water Risks of being Shelterless Future Perception Estimates of Shelterless Persons GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES AND IMPLEMENTATIONS The Night Shelters Occupancy Alternatives to Housing Perceptions of the Inmates Major Problems Future Perception

48 49 50 50 50 52 53 53 54 56 57-67 57 61 63 63 66 67

CHAPTER - VI CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

68-73

ANNEXURE (TABLES & QUESTIONNAIRES) I- XII

74-85

PHOTOGRAPHS

86-89

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We express sincere thanks to the Director, Ms. J. Raghuraman and Joint Director, Ms. Rashmi Singh of Department of Social Welfare (DSW), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, for assigning the Survey on Houslessness in Delhi to the Institute for Human Development (IHD). This study required cooperation and involvement of various persons at different level. We are grateful to the three Joint Commissioners of Police, namely, Shri Alok Kumar Verma, Shri P.R. Meena and Shri Rajesh Kumar for extending all possible helps required during the survey. All the following nine District Commissioners could find time for interview despite their busy schedules and helped us in supplying relevant data; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Shri H. Rajesh Prasad, DC South Shri Rajib Kale, DC, South West Shri Hansraj, DC, North West Shri Sanjay Saxena, DC, West Shri K.K. Jindal, DC North Shri Ramesh Tewari, DC Central Ms. Rinku Dhugga, DC, New Delhi Ms. Rashmi Krishnan, DC, East Dr. V. Chandvellu, DC, North East

We express sincere thanks to all of them. Local SHOs and Beat constables helped us in organizing group discussions and roaming feely at night in various localities. We met several NGOs who kindly were involved in these discussions and also helped in organizing them. We are thankful to Ms. Paramjit Kaur of Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA) for helpful discussions. Dr. A.N. Sharma, Director, IHD, has been constant source of inspiration. He has guided us throughout the project with his widely acclaimed experience and knowledge in the field of human development. We are grateful to him for entrusting this assignment to us. Last but not the least, this work would never be completed without help from colleagues and staff of IHD. We are particularly thankful to Mr Shri Prakash Sharma and P.K. Mishra for word processing, Shri Prem Chandra, Ms. Madhavi Chauhan and Ms. Jyoti Girish for administrative help. Any errors and lapses are, however, ours.

Shipra Maitra Balwant Singh Mehta

i

MAJOR FINDINGS This report has generated data at two levels – (1) Total headcount of the shelterless and (2) the sample survey of 1997 persons, both carried out simultaneously. We targeted 2000 parsons in a detailed sample survey in order to generate a respectable critical mass but got responses from 1997 persons within the limited time period. This sample, selected at random, reflects district wise concentration of shelterless as was evident in the headcount survey. Only 92 women emerged along with 1905 males reflecting the male- dominated character of the shelterless. Similarly, religious dominance by Hindus and majority of population in the working age group were evident. The sample showed also the dominance of OBC as caste followed by the Scheduled Caste. Literacy rate has been found to be very low, much below the state average. Majority of the shelterless are married and left their families in the native places. In general, samples, taken at random, reflected the general characteristics of the shelterless persons in Delhi. Major objectives of this sample survey were to understand their conditions in depth. The questionnaire based survey focused their economic compulsions, livelihood patterns, reasons for being shelterless, duration of stay as shelterless, gains form city life, health conditions, sanitation practices, major risks of being shelterless and future plans. The head count survey reveals that there are a total of 46788 shelterless persons in Delhi, with 39465 (84.35 per cent) men and 7323 (15.65 per cent) women. Uttar Pradesh sends the maximum number of shelterless persons in Delhi, followed by Bihar. These two states taken together, account for about 69 per cent of total shelterless. The migrant shelterless almost uniformly cite the single most reason for migration as job prospects near their native place. OBCs have maximum share (about 45 per cent) of total shelterless in Delhi, share of the Scheduled Castes (SC) being second (34.05). There are 375 children below 5 years of age forming less than one per cent of total shelterless in the capital. The aged population (60 year and above) form almost 3 per cent of total shelterless in the capital. Persons in the working age group constitute more than 90 per cent of the shelterless, contributing significantly to the total labour force. Children between 11 and 14 years (3.16 percent of total shelterless population) also contribute to the labour force as many of them are employed in the informal sector despite being prevented under law. Relatively smaller proportion of children below 5 years compared to those above 60 may also indicate high child mortality rate The shelterless generally works as construction labourer and rickshaw puller. There is significant number of construction labourers among the women also. However, a large section of them earn their living as beggars. The shleterless work seven days a week and 9 to 10 hours a day without any gender bias. ii

Little children (5 to 1o years) also take to beggary (9.11%) and work as domestic workers (3.80%). Average literacy rate of the shelterless is almost one fourth of the city average. Female literacy is lower than the male literacy as has been observed in city average as well. The head count reveals that approximately three-quarter of the shelterless are illiterate. There are 208 elderly women compared to 1062 elderly men. Girls form more than 27 percent of total children below 14 years. There are only 58 children educated at primary level and 10 at secondary level in a total of 2777 children aged between 6 to 14 years. In the secondary level, there are only 7 boys and 3 girls in a total of 1480 children aged between 11 to 14 years. There are 146 adult male against only 25 adult female who read at secondary level in a total of 43502 adults. Only 9 men are educated up to graduation level whereas there is not a single lady graduate among the shelterless.. There are 2929 shelterless children, aged between 5 to 14 years, engaged in several occupations, majority of them being associated with construction work. More children are engaged in beggary than in rag picking, close to 3 per cent are employed as domestic help. Unemployed rate is much lower in case of girls compared to the boys, indicating the plight of girl child. Majority of them (nearly 63 per cent) has a monthly income ranging from Rs. 2000 to 3000. The shelterless in Delhi earns between Rs. 70 and Rs. 100 per day on average. On the average, men are able to send home around Rs. 12,000 annually. The women save almost half of that amount as they also earn less. Among 1997 persons surveyed, there are 110 persons with families in Delhi, 1534 persons with families in native places and 353 persons with no family. About one-third of them do not have any kind of documents to establish their identity, either in Delhi or in their native places. The most common document they possess is the voter ID in their native places. There is 35 per cent of the total shelterless who have these IDs. Primary reason of the shelterless for going home is to repay loans (74.5%). Majority of them (61.26%) keep their things with themselves. Majority of the shelterless use firewood as the main cooking fuel as it is the cheapest. Maximum duration of stay as shelterless is observed between 5 to 10 years. It is observed that close to 80 percent of them do not change their sleeping place, either in the open or in the night shelters, provided they are allowed to do so. iii

Only a little more than one third of the persons surveyed knew about the existence of night shelters. Even among those who knew about this scheme, nearly 70 per cent of them decided not to sleep in such shelters. Majority of the shelterless, who do not sleep in these shelters, consider the night shelters to be unsafe for sleeping. The shelterless women remain outside the Stree Shakti Camps organized by the state governments. They do not quality as beneficiaries. Majority of the shelter less do not consult doctors in the city for their illness. It is only 2 persons among 1997 surveyed who have taken advantage of pulse polio treatments though the headcount survey shows that the there are more than 300 infants among the shelter less. They suffer more from accidents than common diseases like cold/flu or diarrhea. Government hospitals are the most common place where the shelterless go for treatment. More than 36 per cent of men and more than 46 per cent of women still use open fields for defecation. Community tap is the most significant source of dirking water for the shelterless in Delhi. Eviction threat and police harassment are two major risks for the shelterless. The estimated number of shelterless person by 2016 is 141,091 according to IHD survey and 34,166 according to calculated Census Growth Rate of shelterless person.

SHELTERLESS PERSONS IN DELHI CHALLENGING INCLUSIVE GROWTH POLICIES

Chapter I INTRODUCTION

Houselessness is a historical phenomenon spread all over the world. In the United States, houselessness and the risk of being landless are on the rise. Los Angeles, the capital of fantasies, also shows the highest concentration of homeless in the USA. In Canada, houselessness is recognized as national disaster. In Toronto, one of Canada’s richest cities, thousands of people have been left without access to basic human needs. Japan has experienced increasing houselessness since 1992, when the recession began. In Japan, the term houseless refers to persons sleeping in open spaces only without including those living in night shelters.

This figure was 27,000 in 2005. In

Indonesia, the pavement dwellers and squatters are the poorest of the poor of the urban population. But they are generally not eligible for various poor-centric government programmes as they are considered illegal settlers. The problems of the shelterless have not found much favour with the urban researchers in India, even though research on urbanization and urban issues occupies an important place in the social science literature of the country. There has been an explosion of literature on urbanization and urban issues, some major ones relating to urbanization trends and processes, urban labour market, slums and urban poverty, land, shelter and local governance. Surprisingly, studies related to urban poverty or shelters have overlooked the plight of shelterless persons, possibly because they form less than one per cent of total population according to census estimates. Slums and squatter settlements have mushroomed in most large

cities, catering anywhere between 15 to

35 per cent of the total urban population. Majority of slum related studies were designed to investigate the demographic, economic and social conditions of the slum dwellers. Studies related to urban poverty have found in general that while the incidence of urban poverty has registered a decline in recent years, deprivation as shown by the proportion of persons without productive employment, shelter and services has increased substantially. Urbanisation of poverty is a universally acknowledged phenomenon. Rural poverty strategies have not been able to restrict this exodus of rural poor to urban areas largely

because of the inevitability of urban dynamics, prominently surfacing across the entire developing world. It has created two distinct dimensions in the cities; (a) deprived of a proper urban habitat, the poor have had to find residential foot hold in slums, and (b) in their search for employment and enterprise, they have been forced to find survival in the informal sector. Increase in urbanization of poverty has led to increase in size of informal sector. People who could not even find accommodation in slums have formed the shelterless group – the most vulnerable among urban poor. 1.1 Characteristics of Shelterlessness The disaster of houselessness may be broadly explained by two sets of factors: (1) Social factors – Violence at home, behavioral problem, living away from home, anxiety and obsessions, alcohol, drugs, crime, depression, lack of education, eviction and poverty are some of the major reasons citied as explanation for homelessness. (2) Natural factors: Earthquake, floods, lack of rain,

and other natural disasters

like Tsunami make thousands of persons shelterless. The

phenomenon

of

homelessness is

not

monolithic.

The manifestation of

houselessness varies not only globally but also nationally due to interest diversity of its causes and consequences. Simultaneously, the houseless also shares similarity on issues of social exclusion, life experience and felt needs despite their differentiation in terms of age, sex and social unit.

Homogeneous representation, through uniform

definitions as adopted in the census of different counties, may make intersections less effective in developing countries where the extent of homelessness is great and varied but resources are scarce. It is important to understand this dichotomy of diversitysimilarly component before preparing any policy framework. Access of the poor to home – a social- spatial realm – is a pre-condition for benefiting from human development practice that aims to improve upon people’s ability to earn, learn and live healthy. The concept of home generally is an ideological construct besides being a concrete setting or daily household production and reproduction. A given home is imbued with social and cultural values, operates under specific gender relations and guides familial and kinship patterns among its dwellers. These are more relevant in rural setting but applicable in urban towns and metro cities over a period of time. Hence, living without a roof over head does not capture homelessness in broader sense. From a social perspective, people can be homeless even when living in a legitimate shelter from reasons beyond their control. Loss of identity instead of only shelter contributes to a

given individual or group perception of homelessness, i.e. abandoned children, trafficked women etc. Home is also imbued with economic implications besides its commodity potential (own, sell or rent). A given home provides a setting for income generation and various subsistence activities essential for the day to day survival of its dwellers. Thus existence without a home has serious physical, social and economic consequences that can be summerised as rooflessness, rootlessness and resourcelessness. Relative extent and consequence of their severity vary from person to person. The major causes that lead to these consequences are mainly poverty, natural disasters and forced eviction. Homeless population is not homogeneous in terms of physical, social and economic consequences. The nature of residential circumstances differentiates homeless people; the consequences of sleeping situations at night of homeless people differ in terms of age (i.e. adults and children), gender and social units (individual and houseless). Three types homelessness may be observed depending on residential circumstances and consequences; (1)

Floating homelessness – It is the most visible type that is based on the physical criterion of rooflessness, referring to the situation where people live in streets or other public places without a permanent shelter of their own. They are often called pavement dwellers or destitute or shelterless or houseless, the common characteristics being their floating status for day to day survival.

(2)

Situated homelessness – From a physical perspective, residential circumstances of this type are situated at a particular space and under a given shelter. Squatters living illegally on public land have been the major contributors to this type of homelessness. The shelter they live in, does not conform to the notion of adequate shelter despite their owing or renting a shelter in illegal land. From a social perspective, absence of an identity as a participating

member in all

spheres of society constitute the basis of homelessness for groups like abandoned children and orphans, housemaids and child servants, trafficked women and children etc. (3)

Potential homelessness – Individuals or houseless at risk of becoming homeless include people living in slums, especially those who are in shared accommodation

(stranded refugees living in camps), single female workers

(house maids staying at employer’s place), children working in roadside eateries etc. People who are below or just above poverty line are also potential homeless due to their vulnerability to eviction, loss of jobs without notice and other social and natural causes.

The census definitions of homeless person in all countries are based on physical attributes only – the most visible floating homeless ness i.e. without a roof over head. In India, people are eligible for support under housing programs if they do not have a roof or land. However, if a household has a plot in a regularised area, but only a shack upon it, it is not regarded as homeless because of the land holding. The fundamental problem of development may be expressed through the missing link between planning and practice – that might actually be exacerbating houselessness rather than addressing it. There are often mismatch between the needs and expectations of the residents of informal settlements, and the solutions that government, development agencies and planners propose for them. The common buzzwords like consultation, participation and community involvement generally remain out of context as decisions are taken without actual involvement of the affected communities with diverse problems of homelessness. 1.2 Shelterless in India

The Census of India defines the shelterless as houseless, who does not have a roof over his head. A glimpse at last five censuses reveals that rural houseless households have declined steadily in number while in urban areas; the situation has almost remained the same (Table 1.1). However, houseless population has increased in both rural and urban areas, the increase being sharper in the later. This indicates the possibility of increase in the number of single houseless persons. In urban areas, persons come in search of employment leaving their family behind. Houseless persons in rural area not always signify deprivation as a significant proportion of them have left house for various socio-cultural reasons. There are some people of moving profession (Banjara etc.) who do not live in permanent place by choice. In contrast, urban houselessness is largely an indicator of deprivation. People migrate to urban areas in search of job and cannot find residence within their affordability.

Table 1.1: Houseless Households and Houseless Population in India (In lakh) Year

Houseless Households

Houseless Population

Total

Rural

Urban

1961

Total

Rural

Urban

12.65

9.70

1.95

1971

5.65

3.88

1.77

19.86

15.20

4.66

1981

6.16

4.13

2.03

23.43

17.24

6.19

1991

5.22

3.05

2.17

20.07

12.82

7.25

2001

4.48

2.60

1.88

19.44

11.65

7.89

Source: Census of India, various years.

Tenth plan document reveals that, whereas 56.4 per cent of rural and 49 per cent of urban population were poor in 1973-74, in 1999-00, these came down to 27.1 and 23.6 per cent respectively. The rural poor population, however, dropped from 261.3 million to 193.2 million during this period while the number of urban poor rose from 60 million to 67 million, despite being lower in percentage term. This highlights the rapid rise in the migration of the rural poor to urban locations. More over, the institutional and legal framework in urban areas create serious bottleneck in the poor’s search for shelter and employment. The rural poor is an integral part of the village while it is difficult for the urban poor to find a legitimate place in the city, thereby making the nature of deprivation more complex. Needless to add that the shelterless bears the most severe brunt of this situation. 1.3 Definition and Number of Shelterless Persons There is significant ambiguity regarding the size of shelterless persons in the national capital. The Census of India uses the notion of houseless population for persons who are not living in census houses and are located and enumerated from places such as the roadside pavements, in Hume pipes, under staircases, or in the open platforms, religious places etc. The international definition for homeless households mentioned in UN Global Shelter Strategy, 1988, refers to “households without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters. They carry their few possessions with them while sleeping in the streets, in doorways or parks, or in any other space on a more or less random basis”. In short, a homeless person carries implications of belonging nowhere rather than simply having nowhere to sleep. Delhi presents a unique contradiction in living standard. Census of India, Delhi (2001) reports 33.8 lakh houses and 25.5 lakh households covering a population of 137.8 lakh. It shows number of total houses exceeds the number of households by 8.3 lakh units.

Further break-up shows 30 lakh occupied houses and 3.8 lakh vacant houses. On the other hand, the number of houseless population in urban Delhi increased from 18,838 in 1991 to 23,903 in 2001, a decadal increase of 26.89 per cent, i.e. an annual increase of 2.68 per cent. Delhi Human Development Report (2006) on the other hand, observes, “Although data on households without shelter are sparse and scattered, estimates suggest that between 50,000 to 70,000 are homeless”. Some unofficial estimates carry this figure to nearly 100,000. The houseless population of Delhi consists of rickshaw pullers, cart pullers, rag pickers, shoe shine boys, cycle repair persons, coolies, construction labourers, and the like, majority of them being workers in the informal sector. Some of them sleep in their work places. They are not counted as houseless persons as they have roofs over their head though they do not have houses. Besides, there are persons who share the shelter space with others, as they cannot afford a shelter of their own. There are others who live under the threat of eviction on expiration of the lease, with no prospects for alternative housing. They are at the risk of being houseless and form part of concealed houseless ness, which is very difficult to enumerate. These difficulties lead to under estimation regarding number of

shelter less persons and the depth of their deprivation in the

capital. People living in substandard houses may also be included in houseless category. The census divides the conditions of dwelling units in two categories; one based on perception and the other on the quality of material used. According to the first, the housing stock is categorised as good, livable and dilapidated. The second classification is permanent, semi-permanent and temporary. In Delhi, 58 per cent of the households live in good houses and 5 per cent of them live in dilapidated houses. As per the quality of material used, 92 per cent of houses are made of permanent materials while 3.5 per cent of them use temporary material. People use such material in order to escape the conditions of houselessness. Households with insecure income are likely to live in such housing units. They are not counted as houseless but have all the possibilities of being potential homeless. An important characteristic of homelessness is that it is typically a temporary circumstance, not a permanent condition, which is why it has neither a clear or consistent definition, nor a precise method of measurement. Typically, houselessness applies to a person without a roof. Even in the most developed countries, governments only systematically collect statistics on these homeless persons who have applied to local authorities for help, usually families with children and others deemed to be

especially vulnerable. These statistics often do not include overall figures on the number of single homeless persons. A more appropriate measure, therefore, is the number of persons who experience houselessness over a period of time, indicating symptom of long-run deprivation. Studies on urban poverty in India have thrown light on collective and multi dimensional characteristics of urban poor, bearing strong similarity with other developing countries. These studies show that the urban poor do not necessarily live in slums and squatters; they are not all migrants; they are not all unemployed and they do not all work in

the

informal sector. However, rarely these studies have focused on the shelterless in urban areas, forming the poorest of the urban poor in terms of deprivation. 1.4 Census Coverage of Houseless Persons in Delhi Houseless population, though significant in absolute number, covers less than one per cent of total population both at the national and state level (Table 1.2). Rural houseless is much less in proportion than urban houseless indicating that the problem of houselessness is generally an urban phenomenon. The number of houseless persons in urban Delhi is much more than the rural figure as Delhi is largely urban. The reverse is true in distribution of houseless population for India. Delhi accounts for 1.28 per cent of total houseless population in India while its share in total population is 1.34 per cent. In absolute terms, houseless population in the country is equivalent to one class I city while, in Delhi, it is the size of one class III town. Table 1.2: Houseless Population – 2001 Comparative Scenario Rural India Houseless Population Total Population Delhi Houseless Population Total Population

Urban

Total

1,165,167 (0.15%) 742490639 (100%)

778,599 (0.27%) 286119689 (100%)

1,943,766 (0.18%) 1,028,610,328 (100%)

1,063 (0.11%) 944727 (100%)

23,903 (0.19%) 12,905,780 (100%)

24,966 (0.18) 13850507 (100%)

Source: Primary Census Abstract, Census of India, 2001 Table A-5

Houseless population declined in number from 1981 to 1991 but increased again during 2001 in Delhi (Table 1.3). However, it is showing continuous proportionate decline in relation to total population. This can be explained to some extent by the slowly declining migration rate. Migrations from the prosperous neighbours like Punjab and Haryana have declined considerably to bring down the proportion to less than one percent. The newly developed areas in the National Capital Region have also contributed to decline of migration from these states. On the other hand, recent policies of industrial relocation and eviction have contributed to the rise of number of the shelterless in absolute terms in

recent years. Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has slowed down its activities of resettlement while continuing the squatter removal programs following the Supreme Court order. This has resulted in the increase in the number of the shelterless. Table 1.3: Houseless Population in Urban Delhi (1981-2001) Category Houseless Population Total Population Houseless population as a % of total population

1981 22516 6048149 0.37

1991 18838 9152833 0.21

2001 23903 12819761 0.19

Source: Primary Census Abstracts of Delhi: 1981, 1991, 2001 1.5 Concern for Shelterless in Delhi Master Plan - 2021 Probably it is because of the insignificant proportion of shelterless in total population that the city planners and managers have not paid any attention to them for a long time. It did not find adequate mention in the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) that has entered in its third phase. The latest Master Plan, i.e., MPD-2021 expresses concerns regarding access to residential and commercial lands to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Lower Income Groups (LIG) as well as small and micro enterprises both in the formal and informal sector. It recognizes that the informal sector is the major source of employment in the economic fabric of the city. It has proposed to earmark ‘hawking’ and ‘no hawking’ zones at neighborhood and cluster level. It provides guidelines for identifying areas of informal trade like weekly markets spread all over Delhi and providing necessary facilities to them. It also proposes to institutionalize design of stalls, push carts and mobile vans. All these are welcome steps to handle the locational problems of informal workers, accommodating majority of the shelterless persons. However, it talks little of earmarking space for their accommodation. It is the pace and nature of implementation that has blocked the efforts of earlier Master Plans towards better land use. The latest Master Plan has taken a deeper look into the problems of the deprived sector, but spatial approach need to be matched with economic incentives for successful implementation. The shelterless, need not only a place to stay but minimum living facilities as well. Their number is quite significant in magnitude as well as regarding duration of stay. Many of them do not see any change in their status for last 20-25 years. They have come to city primarily in search of jobs but continue to stay as shelterless while sending the remittance back to the native place in order to build a secure future there. They cannot afford a shelter of their own in the city with their meager savings. They do not have any worthwhile assets, required to submit as proof of belonging. Consequently, they are unable to make any claim on tangible city assets and remain floating in nature though they share the same footpath year after year, with perpetual threat of being

driven away from their sleeping place from time to time. Their existence is characterized by this foot loose nature, thereby making their problems more complicated. The new Master Plan recognizes the need for providing more night shelters. These are proposed to be provided in crowded public places like the railway terminals, bus terminals, wholesale markets etc., many of them being also major work centers for the shelterless. Special provisions should be made for the more vulnerable section like women and children including the disabled, orphans and the aged. In addition, multi -purpose use of the existing facility buildings are proposed to be allowed for night shelter purpose. Provision should also be made for connecting existing building, wherever available, with suitable modifications into night shelters. It proposes to earmark at least 25 sites for night shelters on the basis of 2001 census of houseless population. In order to make the provision of this facility financially sustainable for the local body, the MPD-2021 suggests exploring innovative concepts like integrated complex with commercial space on the ground floor and night shelters on the first floor, towards developing self-sustaining night shelters. The norm to be followed is one night shelter for 1 lakh population on the basis of the existing ratio between the houseless and total population, (1:0.19) in urban areas. 1.6 Need for the Survey The definitions, size and composition of the shelterless in the capital is significantly heterogeneous. It is difficult to get a clear picture of the volume and nature of the problem and to estimate the extent of deprivation. Field studies generally refer to some specific areas and focus on specific groups. The Census carries on head count survey once in ten years. The number of shelterless is counted on a single night thereby failing to capture the volume in its entirety. There are some unpublished city specific reports, focusing on certain areas of vulnerability of the shelterless, i.e. the survey by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on children in night shelters (1985). Aashray Adhilkar Abhiyan (AAA) has carried a rapid assessment survey in 2000, with a headcount spread over the whole Delhi in ten days and interview with 690 persons. It gave detailed accounts of the existing night shelters and provided important insights regarding occupations, socio-economic background and living environment of the shelterless. The study counted close to 53000 shelterless persons in the capital and made an assumption that for each person counted, there is one missing and concluded that the number of shelterless persons is close to 1, 00,000.

In this background, it was felt that a more rigorous survey is required to be able to estimate the size of shelterless persons, to take a deeper look into their activities and to make projections for next 5 to 10 years in order to evolve an inclusive policy framework to tackle with the problem. Such a study is imperative to understand the intricacies of the urbanization process in an ever-expanding city. 1.7 Objective The objectives of the proposed survey are spelt out as follows: •

To specify, to the best of ability, the number of homeless persons through headcount.

•

To analyse their socio-economic background in terms of original residence, earning, education, nature of job, number of family members, duration of stay as homeless etc.

•

To look into nature and causes of homelessness

•

To describe their awareness level of shelter options and the willingness to accept such options

•

To project homelessness for a period of 5-10 years.

1.8 Methodology The survey has been conducted in two stages (a) total head count spread over all the nine districts of Delhi and (b) a sample survey of 2000 persons based on more detailed questionnaire. (A) Head count survey In the head count survey, following steps have been taken: 1. Identifying the areas in each district where the homeless population sleep. It required assistance from local NGOs, RWAs, District administration and the police. As the survey was conducted at night, the security concern was very important. The Joint Commissioners of Police issued letters to the area police stations under their respective jurisdictions directing them to provide the help required. 2. District maps were collected from the district administrators locating the areas of concentration of houseless persons.

3. IHD provided two – day training to the field investigators regarding the nature of jobs and familiarity with the local people before the survey. 4. We established networking with the concerned agencies to map out the areas where the homeless persons sleep in various parts of the city and to ascertain the timings of their availability.

5. The headcount survey was conducted every night between February 12 and March 14 with the help of 15 investigators during 8.30 pm and 1.30 am. Shelterless persons are largely day time workers. They come back to have their food at night and settle down by 9.00 p.m. Some of them have odd working hours. The fellow settlers provided information regarding them. It was not advisable to stay beyond 1.30 am as all the necessary information could be collected by then. 6. The census data for last three decades have shown that the number of houseless population in urban areas has slowly increased in the country while it fluctuated in Delhi. Our headcount has shown that houseless population has been more than double the census estimate. We have calculated annual growth rates on the basis of these estimates. Sample survey has provided the data related to duration of stay as houseless. This has helped in forming a growth pattern of the shelterless. Projections for shelterless persons for the next 5 to 10 years have been made based on this trend.

Three procedures were adopted in this survey.

(a) Questionnaire Two types of questionnaire were prepared for two stage survey. (i)

Data Sheet – this was prepared for every shelterless person to generate database on the areas where they stay, age –sex composition, religious affinity, marital and education status, occupation, state of origin, reasons for leaving home, duration of stay and change of sleeping place in a year.

(ii)

A more detailed three page questionnaire was prepared for sample survey of 2000 persons. This has provided database for their personal information, socioeconomic status, family status, migration status, identification documents, frequency of visiting native place, income earned and remittance sent back, health benefits, sanitation aspects and assistance received.

(b) Focussed Group Discussion (FGD) This was held with the NGOs working with the shelterless, those shelterless who were not included in detailed survey and other persons who lived in these areas, shared more or less the same occupations, but they themselves were not shelterless. It was held in every district. This helped in cross-checking the data and generating multi-dimensional insights into their problems. People staying in night shelters

were also included in

FGDs in order to generate wider perceptions. Discussions generally centred round the following themes- why people are shelterless, how do they manage their livelihood, what are there perceptions regarding future and what are the inadequacies in assistance provided to them.

(c) Interview Detailed

personal

interviews

were

held

with

the

Joint

Commissioners , Deputy Commissioners of Police in each district as well as the civilian administrators, i.e. the District Commissioners. Station House Officers (SHO) and the Beat constables were also interviewed in the areas with high concentration of shelterless persons. Police comes into direct contact with them every night and the shelterless often complains of harassment. It was necessary to hear both the groups in order to understand the problems in depth.

(b) Sample Survey

The sample survey consisted of a detailed formulation of questionnaire commensurate with the objectives of the survey. A very simple questionnaire was prepared keeping in mind the potential respondents and their language. The objective was to collect information regarding income, language spoken, occupation, willingness to go to a night shelter, type of problem faced and assistance expected etc.

Choice of Sample Size The number 2000 was chosen arbitrarily in order to generate a critical mass that was possible to cover within the short time provided. This was distributed over all the nine districts proportionately to the concentration of shelterless in each district.

Coverage We tried to follow the essence of census definition of a homeless person with a little modification: -a person without any private roof over his or her head. Sometimes, the shelterless tries to cover some area with materials like plastic and other non-permanent stuff. There are people who sleep in the public structures like the railway stations, market buildings, in the courtyard of private houses etc. They have been counted as shelterless. We have not included the construction workers who are tied with specific contractors. They also live in plastic-like non-permanent structures but they move on with the contractors. However, the labourers among the shelterless, not tied to specific contractors have been covered. These labourers line up daily for jobs in particular places that may be called the human market. We have not included the persons staying in the permanent night shelters though the persons staying in the temporary night shelters have been included. The former category has been included in the FGD in order to learn more about them. Domestic helps staying in the employers’ places have not been included though they may be classified as potential shelterless.

Survey Period The head count survey was completed in one month. The FGDs were over in 10 days. A 5-day pilot survey was conducted prelude to the main survey in order to be familiar with

the process. Sample survey was carried on within the same month involving different groups of investigators. The whole study was over within six months.

1.9 Limitations of the Survey The survey tried to count the number of the shelterless spread all over Delhi. We chose the period between mid-February and mid-March for primary survey.

This period

chosen reflected the end of winter. The climate was also helpful as it is the absolutely shelterless who will sleep in the open during this time. During summer, people like to sleep outside their residence with the possibilities of overestimating the number of the shelterless. However, our estimates may not escape the possibility of underestimation as some persons do visit their native places anytime during the year. We tried to minimize the error by asking such questions about them who left to the fellow pavement dwellers, the police and the NGOs concerned. There are many lanes and by-lanes where lone shelterless may be sleeping who have escaped our attention. Finally, some persons sleep on the rooftop of the factories or inside the shops in which they are working. They may bring other aquantaints also. We have not counted them. We have also excluded the inmates of the functional permanent night shelters. The survey figures, therefore, may be underestimated to the extent of 10 to 15 per cent on these counts. We have not estimated the potential shelterless also, whose number would be indicative of the full magnitude of the shelterless. We tried to minimize the limitations of censes estimates by increasing the

counting period from one day to one month in order to capture as

many of them as possible. The report is structured in the following way: 1. Chapter I provides the introductory background of the study. 2. Chapter II summarizes the major findings from the headcount survey highlighting their locational concentration, migration aspect, socio-cultural profile, age distribution, level of education and occupational pattern. 3. Chapter III focuses on women, children and the elderly; the most vulnerable components among the shelterless. 4. We have undertaken more in-depth survey of 1997 persons in order to understand their livelihood, health and sanitation practices, supports to family,

their monthly income, expenditure, major risks in living a life of shelterless and future perspectives. These findings are summarized in chapter IV. 5. We have excluded persons living in the permanent might shelters from an headcount survey. However, persons living in temporary night shelters are included. We have conducted FGDs with the persons living in permanent night shelters in order to understand their problems and priorities. The scheme of Night Shelters is the only welfare programme available to the shelterless as they do not possess the necessary documents to be eligible for other programmes meant for the poor. Chapter V describes the results of such analysis. 6. Conclusions and recommendations are summarized in chapter VI.

Chapter II PROFILE OF THE SHELTERLESS

Shelterless persons are scattered all over Delhi in different numbers. They have no stable address by definition, do not generally appear on any voting list and they do not want to maintain any contact with representatives of the state for fear of negative impact as they are generally rendered illegal by law. They concentrate mainly on the public places like temples, from where they are not thrown out, or in the railway stations, rooftops of their work places, markets and so on. These places are, however, too inadequate compared to their numbers. Hence, open streets and foot paths are their last resorts to sleep for a few hours.

The head count survey reveals that there are a total of 46788 shelterless persons in Delhi, with 39465 (84.35 per cent) men and 7323 (15.65 per cent) women (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1: District wise Distribution of Shelter less Persons in Delhi District

Male

Female

N

%

4528 2955 1317 6145 3623 7318 7290 1854 4435 39465

N 11.47 7.49 3.34 15.57 9.18 18.54 18.47 4.70 11.24 84.35

% 897 826 330 1160 784 1117 1335 238 636 7323

N 12.25 11.28 4.51 15.84 10.71 15.25 18.23 3.25 8.68 15.65

5425 3781 1647 7305 4407 8435 8625 2092 5071 46788

Figure 1: Male -Female Distribution (%)-Districtwise 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

83

78

80

84

82

87

85

89

87

84

Male Female 17

22

20

16

18

13

15

11

13

C en tr a l Ea N ew st D el hi N or N t or th h Ea N or th s t W es t S So ou t ut h h W es t W es t To ta l

Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Total

16

% 11.59 8.08 3.52 15.61 9.42 18.03 18.43 4.47 10.84 100.00

2.1 Locational Concentration Maximum concentration of these persons is observed in South district (8625), followed by North-West (8435). New Delhi district shows the minimum number of shelterless persons as they are generally not allowed to sleep in the open. This district accommodates the government and foreign residents with the offices and the residential areas. The reserved area for diplomatic affairs, the vast open spaces and spacious bunglows of political, administrative and social heavyweights represent the face of national capital with little trace of the shelter less. They concentrate on the religious places like Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Hanuman Mandir or the market places like the Connaught Place, Gole Market etc. that provide enough open space to sleep as well as to work. There are several religious and market places in South district also to provide enough public places

for the shelterless to sleep. The North West district shows the

second most concentration of shelterless persons. It has the biggest wholesale market in India, the Azadpur Mandi that offers manual job of loader to the poor migrants. These two districts together account for more than one third of total shelter less in the capital. North, West and Central districts account for another one third

of total shelterless in

Delhi. Central district is large trading area while industries are concentrated in North and West districts besides North- West. North district accommodates Delhi University and other institutes that offer occupations to domestic maids, rag pickers etc. besides the usual labourers

and transporters like rickshaw pullers. The rest one-third of the total

shelterless is distributed among the other four districts (Table 2.1). Figure 1 shows maledominated shelteless in all districts. It is quite natural as the shelterless generally leave their family behind. A comparison with the census figures shows interesting locational deviation apart from increase in absolute numbers. IHD survey shows the number of shelterless persons as almost double the census estimates. This difference indicates possible under-estimation related to census methodology as explained earlier. The table shows significant change in locational distribution of the shelterless. Census figurers show maximum concentration of shelterless persons in two districts i.e., North and Central whereas IHD survey shows the concentration has shifted to South and North –West. In general, however, it shows more even distribution of poverty.

The shelterless has increased in

number in all the districts except in Central and North, where the numbers almost remained the same with a little alteration. The comparatively richer South district now accommodates the highest number of shelterless persons

Will there ever be any roof over our head?

This may partly be explained by the increase in the number of temples in this district that provides space to them. The increasing construction and entertainment activities in this district also have attracted job seekers. Industrial relocation in North-West district may account, to a certain extent, for concentration of more shelterless here. However, it is a cause of concern that increasing prosperity of Delhi has been associated with more uniform distribution of poverty. Even in New Delhi, where the shelterless is strictly not allowed in many areas, their number has more than doubled (Table 2.2).

2.2 Migration The national capital draws people from all over India, in all income groups. The economically better- off come to Delhi with better job offer and gradually settle down in the city. Economically poorer, to a large extent, tries to keep strong linkage with native place, builds assets there with the hope to go back when he is not capable to work any more. The shelterless shows this tendency very strongly and cherishes the desire to go back among his own people one day, though many of them can not fulfill this dream and end up being permanent pavement dwellers. Uttar Pradesh sends the maximum number of shelterless persons in Delhi, followed by Bihar. These two states, taken together,

account for about 69 per cent of total shelterless.

Madhya Pradesh sends a little over

10 per cent of shelterless migrants to Delhi while Rajasthan’s share is almost 7 per cent. It should be remembered that we have not included the construction workers brought regularly by contractors under specific contracts.

Table 2.2: District wise Distribution of Houseless Population in urban DelhiCensus and IHD Survey Districts

North West North North East East New Delhi Central West South West South Urban Delhi

Census (2001) Total Houseless Population Population (No.) (No.) 2595506 (20.11) 734940 (5.69) 1626514 (12.60) 1445360 (11.19) 179112 (1.38 646385 (5.01) 2042114 (14.82) 1529587 (11.85) 2106262 (16.32) 12905780 (100)

IHD Survey (2007) Houseless Percentage Population (No.)

2536 (10.60) 7059 (29.53) 903 (3.77) 835 (3.49) 709 (2.96) 5676 (23.74) 1985 (8.30) 1524 (6.37) 2676 (11.19) 23903 (100)

8435 7305 4407 3781 1647 5425 5071 2092 8625 46788

18.03 15.61 9.42 8.08 3.52 11.59 10.84 4.47 18.43 100

Source: Primary Census Abstract of Delhi, 2001 and IHD Primary Headcount Survey, 2007 Note: Figures in bracket show percentage to respective column total.

A significant proportion of such construction workers come to the capital from Rajasthan. In the present study, migration from Rajasthan shows lower percentage as these laborers are excluded. The shelterless migrants from West Bengal show a little lower percentage than Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal account for nearly 24 per cent of the total migrants.

Share of other states excluding the five

mentioned above, is less than 8 per cent. It is quite possible that migrants from Bangladesh are also included in West Bengal state because of same language. The name of areas like Dhaka Colony in North West district suggests their presence but cannot be conclusively said as they possess no legal papers.

Comparatively richer states send very little poor migrants to Delhi. The states of Gujarat, Maharastra, Punjab and Haryana together account for 1.45 percent of total shelterless migrants. The three newly formed

states together also send less than one per cent

migrants even though their three bigger neighbours together have huge contribution to the flow of poor migrants (Figure 2). Shelterless migrants are spread all over Delhi, with

major concentration being observed in South, North West, Central and West districts, each accounting for more than 16 per cent of total migrants. Interestingly, residents of Delhi account for only 1.51 per cent of total shelterless, indicating the strong possibility of long term residents to come out of poverty line and homelessness (Annexure I).

Figure 2: Migration (%) from Major States

8.11 6.22 30.92

37.49

10.19 7.07

Blhar

MP

Rajasthan

UP

WB

Others

2.2a Reasons for Migration

The migrant shelterless almost uniformly cite the single most reason for migration as job prospects near their native place. Delhi offers maximum employment opportunity in variety of jobs that are not available else where. It is primarily the pull factor of the national capital that attracts people to this unknown city leaving their families behind. Some of the shelterless have left their native land in the expectation of getting better pays. Even if the jobs are available in their states, they will not be as rewarding in terms of income. They are prepared to compromise on living environment in order to earn more. Many of the shelterless have decided to come to Delhi as they know some body here. Some persons from their community have come here to try their luck and gradually they have brought other members. Living among the same community brings some sense of social security. This is reflected in the names of some of the localities, i.e. Harijan Basti, Dhaka Colony, Rajasthani Camp, Madrasi Camp etc. The residents of these communities are not all shelterless. The shelterless tries to find a sleeping place in these colonies with a sense of bondage and security in otherwise unknown place and unknown working environment. This

also helps the migrants in

keeping their

belongings and money to the persons known to them and creates the base for informal savings (Table 2.3).

Table 2.3 : District wise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Reasons of Migration District

Reason Better Job

Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

N 45 114 27 101 109 107 70 25 53 651

Better Pay

Near to Residence % N % N % 6.91 568 13.15 4373 11.51 17.51 360 8.33 2935 7.72 4.15 198 4.58 1258 3.31 15.51 676 15.65 5992 15.77 16.74 296 6.85 3582 9.43 16.44 701 16.23 6897 18.15 10.75 834 19.31 7187 18.91 3.84 277 6.41 1574 4.14 8.14 410 9.49 4200 11.05 1.39 4320 9.23 37998 81.21

Knew Somebody N % 437 11.51 370 9.74 164 4.32 532 14.01 419 11.04 724 19.07 528 13.91 216 5.69 407 10.72 3797 8.12

Others N 2 2 0 4 1 6 6 0 1

% 9.09 9.09 0.00 18.18 4.55 27.27 27.27 0.00 4.55 22 0.05

Total N 5425 3781 1647 7305 4407 8435 8625 2092 5071 46788

% 11.59 8.08 3.52 15.61 9.42 18.03 18.43 4.47 10.84 100

People coming in search for better job have spread all over Delhi. Majority of them have made it on their own and here they have found their own community. Proportion of persons coming here for better pay is close to 10 per cent. New Delhi, North, North West and North East districts accommodate such persons, while people who come with some body staying here already, are largely concentrated in the North West and South districts. This familiarity is spread in all kinds of occupations. However, the strongest pull factor remains finding job near to residence, that attracts mostly persons from UP and Bihar. 2.3 Socio-Cultural Profile The shelterless in the capital come from different socio- cultural background with heterogeneous characteristics. It is astonishing to learn the variety of livelihoods they adopt in their struggle for survival. However, poverty and rootlessness in the city remain two most common elements reflecting their conditions. 2.3a Caste Profile The central government publishes the list of Other Backward Castes (OBC) for the states. The head count survey of the shelterless shows that OBCs have maximum share (about 45 per cent) of total shelterless in Delhi, share of the Scheduled Castes (SC) being second (34.05).

STs

form nearly 10 percent of the total. OBCs and SCs

together form approximately 78 per cent of total shelterless indicating the extent of deprivation among lower castes (Figure 3). it shows the hollowness of reserving high

value education and jobs for the deprived without analyzing how many of them can reach that level.

North West and South districts showing maximum concentration of shelterless also show maximum percentage of OBCs and SCs (Table 2.4).

Table 2.4: District wise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Social Group District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

OBC N 2444 1438 845 3316 1696 4319 3633 857 2242 20790

SC % 11.76 6.92 4.06 15.95 8.16 20.77 17.47 4.12 10.78 44.43

N 1867 1320 497 2500 1551 2706 2764 780 1944 15929

ST % 11.72 8.29 3.12 15.69 9.74 16.99 17.35 4.90 12.20 34.05

Others

N

% 10.81 11.29 3.89 16.65 10.48 12.76 20.50 4.07 9.54 9.77

494 516 178 761 479 583 937 186 436 4570

N 620 507 127 728 681 827 1291 269 449 5499

Total % 11.27 9.22 2.31 13.24 12.38 15.04 23.48 4.89 8.17 11.75

N 5425 3781 1647 7305 4407 8435 8625 2092 5071 46788

% 11.59 8.08 3.52 15.61 9.42 18.03 18.43 4.47 10.84 100.00

Figure 3: Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Social Group 12% 10%

44%

34%

OBC

SC

ST

Others

2.3b Religion Hindus naturally form the majority of the shelterless (Figure 4) followed by the Muslims. Christians and Sikhs form less than one per cent of total. North, Central and North-West districts show concentration of shelterless Sikhs and Christians while maximum Muslim shelterless is found in the South district. (Table 2.5).

Figure 4: Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Religion

0% 1%

12%

87%

Hindu

Muslim

Christian

Sikhs

Table 2.5: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Religion District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Hindu N % 4688 11.51 8.16 3322 3.45 1406 6483 15.92 9.08 3699 7559 18.56 7233 17.76 4.33 1765 4572 11.23 40727 87.05

Muslim N % 654 11.46 449 7.86 219 3.84 740 12.96 708 12.40 777 13.61 1363 23.87 304 5.32 495 8.67 5709 12.20

Christian N % 22 25.00 5 5.68 0 0.00 22 25.00 0 0.00 19 21.59 14 15.91 4 4.55 2 2.27 88 0.19

Sikhs N 61 5 22 60 0 80 15 19 2 264

Figure 5: Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Marital Status 0.15 17.41 0.08

82.36

Married

2.3c Marital Status

Unmarried

Widow /Widow er

Divorced/Separated

% 23.11 1.89 8.33 22.73 0.00 30.30 5.68 7.20 0.76 0.56

Total N % 5425 11.59 3781 8.08 1647 3.52 7305 15.61 4407 9.42 8435 18.03 8625 18.43 2092 4.47 5071 10.84 46788 100.00

Majority of the shelterless are married and have left their families in the native places. There are more than 8000 unmarried persons forming a little over 17 per cent. Widow/ widowers form less than one percent of the total (Figure 5). Some of them have also faced social and legal problems like divorce and separation though their percentage is least. Aged widows are driven out of families to spend the rest of life as shelterless. Many of them are forced into beggary as no alternatives are open to them. Welfare schemes focusing on skill training may help them to come out of such misery. North West and South districts accommodating the majority of the shelterless also shows all their social characteristics (Table 2.6).

Table 2.6: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Marital Status District

Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Married N 4539 2808 1302 6003 3515 7062 7310 1715 4280 38534

% 11.78 7.29 3.38 15.58 9.12 18.33 18.97 4.45 11.11 82.36

Unmarried N 874 968 330 1279 880 1355 1294 377 789 8146

% 10.73 11.88 4.05 15.70 10.80 16.63 15.89 4.63 9.69 17.41

Widow/ Widower N % 5 7.25 5 7.25 0 0.00 17 24.64 10 14.49 11 15.94 19 27.54 0 0.00 2 2.90 69 0.15

Divorced/ Separated N % 7 17.95 0 0.00 15 38.46 6 15.38 2 5.13 7 17.95 2 5.13 0 0.00 0 0.00 39 0.08

Total N 5425 3781 1647 7305 4407 8435 8625 2092 5071 46788

% 11.59 8.08 3.52 15.61 9.42 18.03 18.43 4.47 10.84 100.00

2.4 Age –group Distribution The shelterless comes to the city primarily in search of job. Hence, naturally, the working age group will dominate the age profile. The survey shows that the two most vulnerable groups i.e., the children and the elderly also are forced to spend their lives in the open under extreme conditions.

There are 375 children below 5 years of age forming less than one per cent of total shelterless in the capital. They are exposed to all types of disease with very little resistance power.

The aged population (60 year and above) form almost 3 per cent of total shelterless in the capital. They are in need of special medical care besides other necessities. Many of them have spent almost whole of their lives in the street.

Persons in the working age group constitute more than 90 per cent of the shelterless, contributing significantly to the total labour force. Children between 11 and 14 years (3.16 percent of total shelterless population) also contribute to the labour force as many of them are employed in the informal sector despite being prevented under law. The vulnerable groups like small children and the old are however, significant in number requiring urgent policy interventions. Their relatively small proportion in total population is explained to a large extent by the fact that the shelterless is generally single male. However, relatively smaller proportion of children below 5 years compared to those above 60 may also indicate high child mortality rate. (Figure 6).

Figure 6:Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Age-group 1% 3%

3%

3%

90%

0-4

5-10

11-14

15-59

60 & Above

East district accounts for maximum number of children below 5 while the persons above 60 are found mostly in the South district. Population in the working age group constitutes 84 to 92 per cent of the total, distributed more or less uniformly in the districts. South and North districts display maximum concentration of children between 11 to 14 years indicating the possibility of significant

employment of children in these areas. This also

indicate another acute social problem; adolescent girls roaming in the streets and exposing themselves to sexual harassment. We will take up this issue in the next chapter. Children below 11 years also work in some occupations like domestic help and helpers in small stalls. Figures for locational concentration indicate the need for area-

specific policy intervention rather than general welfare schemes spread uniformly all over the capital (Table 2.7). Table 2.7: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Age-group District

0-4 N

Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

27 89 3 48 52 57 47 6 28 357

5-10 % N 7.56 179 24.93 226 0.84 74 13.45 230 14.57 174 15.97 174 13.17 230 1.68 50 7.84 112 0.76 1449

% 12.35 15.60 5.11 15.87 12.01 12.01 15.87 3.45 7.73 3.10

11-14 15-59 60 & Above Total N % N % N % N % 144 9.73 4891 11.58 184 14.49 5425 11.59 172 11.62 3182 7.53 112 8.82 3781 8.08 73 4.93 1460 3.46 37 2.91 1647 3.52 242 16.35 6621 15.68 164 12.91 7305 15.61 171 11.55 3857 9.13 153 12.05 4407 9.42 167 11.28 7838 18.56 199 15.67 8435 18.03 271 18.31 7786 18.44 291 22.91 8625 18.43 95 6.42 1905 4.51 36 2.83 2092 4.47 145 9.80 4692 11.11 94 7.40 5071 10.84 1480 3.16 42232 90.26 1270 2.71 46788 100.00

2.5 Occupational Pattern The shelterless generally works as construction labourer and rickshaw puller. There is significant number of construction labourers among the women also. However, a large section of them earn their living as beggars. The shleterless work seven days a week and 9 to 10 hours a day without any gender bias. The long working hours reflect the exploitative characteristics of informal economy, with no formal agreement regarding employment conditions. However, if the labourer continues to work, be it in a construction site or wayside restaurant or a shop, they are generally not sacked also. The long working hour is evident in all types of occupations reflecting unfavourable working conditions. There is hardly any gender discrimination in exploitation. However in two districts, women report a little longer working hours. Shelterless workers are generally occupied in one type of employment only. The long working hours suggest that there is hardly any scope to take up subsidiary employment activities in order to supplement income. In some occupations like newspaper selling, children who sell the newspapers in the morning and go to schools in the second shifts like late afternoons. Similarly, the part time sweepers work for two hours in the morning and take up other jobs during day or go to schools. Tow shifts in schools have opened up such opportunities for these children without compromising on family income. However, the majority of shelterless children as well as adults are engaged in jobs with long working hours with hardly any possibility of taking other options.

Age-groupwise occupational distribution (Table 2.8) shows that the little children and the elderly also work in the construction site that gives maximum employment to the shelterless. Little children (5 to 1o years) take to beggary (9.11%) and work as domestic workers (3.80%) also. A significant proportion of them are found as self employed, i.e. mainly the cobblers. Unemployment is maximum in the lowest age group revealing the terrible truth that as they grow up they will be engulfed by the low paying labour market without any opportunity of improving their lot. The elderly takes up begging in a significant way. When they are driven away from the family owing to their aged conditions, beggary remains the only option available. Table 2.8: Distribution of the Shelter less by Occupation and Age Group Occupation Rickshaw Puller Construction Labour Coolie and Loader Beggar Rag Picker Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream sellers Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Unemployed Total %

5-10 9.80 46.10 0.48 9.11 1.79 0.76 3.80 10.28 0.97 0.97 15.94 1449 3.12

11-14 15-59 11.55 30.44 48.65 39.33 0.68 1.41 9.66 8.19 7.36 5.25 0.88 0.85 3.11 2.61 10.07 9.69 0.74 0.04 1.35 1.20 5.95 0.98 1480 42232 3.19 90.96

60+ 24.57 34.88 0.63 22.13 3.39 0.31 1.50 8.50 0 2.99 1.10 1270 2.74

Total 29.04 39.72 1.34 8.64 5.16 0.83 2.64 9.69 0.09 1.25 1.61 46431 100.00

N 13482 18442 621 4013 2397 386 1224 4498 41 579 748 46431

On the other hand, persons in the working age group do not from very high percentage of beggars. Only less than one percent among them are unemployed. In the selfemployed category, there are more children compared to adults.

2.6 Level of Education Low literacy level among the shelterless accounts significantly for their lack of economic strength, especially in a city with very high level of average literacy. (Table 2.9).

Table 2.9: Comparative Literacy Level –Average Citizen and the Shelterless in Delhi

Category

Total

Male

Female

Delhi Average

81.82

87.37

75.00

Shelterless Average

25.82

26.17

23.92

Source: Census of India, 2001 and IHD Survey, 2007.

Average literacy rate of the shelterless is almost one fourth of the city average. Female literacy is lower than the male literacy as has been observed in city average as well. But the gap between these two rates are much lower in case of shelterless indicating the relative non-discriminating impact of general poverty – it robs both men and women of skill development opportunities.

The head count reveals that approximately three-quarter of the shelterless are illiterate thereby reducing the possibility of any skill development for improvement of their wellbeing. Less than a quarter is educated up to primary level, while the percentage of persons having secondary level of education is only 0.39. There are only nine persons who are educated up to graduation level and beyond. Even graduate level education has not been sufficient to help them coming out of shelterlessness (Table 2.10). Table 2.10: Level of Education of the Shelterless by Age Group Education Illiterate Upto Primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above Total %

5-10 76.60 21.12 1.86 0.41 0.00 1449 3.12

11-14 69.32 28.11 2.23 0.34 0.00 1480 3.19

15-59 74.29 23.07 2.23 0.39 0.02 42232 90.96

60+ 73.78 23.15 2.44 0.63 0.00 1270 2.74

Total 74.19 23.17 2.23 0.39 0.02 46431 100.00

N 34447 10759 1034 182 9 46431

These graduates are scattered over four districts as isolated cases. Generally in each district, close to seventy per cent of the shelterless are illiterate. In the North East district, this figure is close to eighty per cent. They have only physical labour to offer as primary input. This abundance of physical labour force tends to reduce the wage rate in the informal sector and makes it difficult for the shelterless to came out of poverty line. Even if some of them have acquired special skill, they are not open to more lucrative opportunities because of illiteracy.(Table 2.11).

Table 2.11 : Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Education Level (6 years and above) District

Illiterate

N Central 3929 East 2702 New Delhi 1165 North 5307 North East 3407 North West 6191 South 6359 South West 1441 West 3829 Total 34330

Upto Primary

% N 73.07 1305 73.95 794 70.99 441 73.33 1733 78.56 819 74.03 1969 74.36 2004 69.18 569 76.05 1093 74.18 10727

% 24.27 21.73 26.87 23.95 18.88 23.54 23.43 27.32 21.71 23.18

Primary N 117 135 32 154 100 179 163 60 92 1032

% 2.18 3.69 1.95 2.13 2.31 2.14 1.91 2.88 1.83 2.23

N 26 21 3 40 11 21 26 13 20 181

Graduate & Above % N % 0.48 0 0.00 0.57 2 0.05 0.18 0 0.00 0.55 3 0.04 0.25 0 0.00 0.25 3 0.04 0.30 0 0.00 0.62 0 0.00 0.40 1 0.02 0.39 9 0.02

Total

Secondary

N % 5377 11.62 3654 7.90 1641 3.55 7237 15.64 4337 9.37 8363 18.07 8552 18.48 2083 4.50 5035 10.88 46279 100.00

Rickshaw pullers and construction workers are spread in all districts. Even in New Delhi, where rickshaw pulling is not allowed in many areas, the shelterless assemble to operate rickshaws, wherever possible. Rickshaws are one of the easiest vehicle to acquire and it only needs one’s own physical labour to operate it. These vehicles are available on loan against daily payments and do not require a license to operate. Majority of the beggars can be seen in South district, one of the richest districts in Delhi. There are may religious places in this district which offer food and open space to sleep to the beggars (Table 2.12). Table 2.12 : Distribution of Occupational Classification (14+)-Total

Occupation Rickshaw Puller Construction Labour Coolie & Loader Beggar Rag Picker Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Unemployed Total

33.36 33.32

District New North North North South South West Total Delhi East West West Total N 31.09 22.58 31.86 32.69 27.72 25.13 35.81 35.27 30.27 13169 39.13 37.54 39.09 33.47 40.65 42.16 43.48 41.83 39.20 17054

Central

East

6.36

1.31

0

1.34

0.3

0.82

0.61

0

0.42

1.39

604

10.42 4.89 0.26

1.15 3.67 0.52

18.84 5.81 1.07

7.89 4.58 0.06

6.81 8.05 0.30

5.25 5.11 2.40

15.13 4.82 0.94

3.55 6.85 0.00

7.69 4.99 0.65

8.59 5.20 0.83

3738 2262 362

2.29 7.53 0.06 1.36 0.16 5075

6.44 12.23 0.12 3.46 0.88 3294

1.87 10.82 0.00 0.33 1.14 1497

2.83 9.31 0.03 1.30 1.71 6785

4.94 10.70 0.07 1.70 0.97 4010

2.00 14.32 0.00 0.80 0.92 8037

1.45 7.99 0.00 1.15 0.63 8077

1.08 6.65 0.10 1.55 0.93 1941

1.63 2.58 1123 5.58 9.65 4200 0.04 0.04 16 0.29 1.25 545 1.61 0.99 429 4786 43502 43502

Chapter III WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY

Women, children and the elderly constitute the most vulnerable section of the shelterless, requiring special intervention. This is not only economic problem but acute social problems as well. In fronts are exposed to several diseases, leading to high child mortality. Children constitute the child labour force in the informal sector, leading to various economic exploitation in terms of long working and low wages and more severe social exploitation specially related to girls child. Women also are explosed to several dangers related to health, economic and social including trafficking. The elderly are not capable of manual work in the fag end of their life, neither they are able to depend on anybody. This leads to severe mental depression apart from other health related concerns. The head count survey elaborates on some such major social and economic concerns with long term implications for framing any inclusive growth policies.

3.1 Demographic Characteristics

As has been observed before, women constitute 15.65 per cent of total shelterless persons in Delhi. It is interesting to note that number of girl children in all age groups are

less than half of number of male children. The majority of the shelterless do not bring their families. But some families are there whose children are born in the pavements. It is not possible to infer whether the number of girl child is less because of any kind of negligence but possibility of gender bias in terms of access to healthcare and other facilities may not be ruled out.

Children upto 14 years form close to 6 per cent of total male population while the percentage is double for female population. Generally, men move in singles while women come with families. It may be possible to correlate the number of women with number of girl child. Whenever women migrates, generally they migrate with families with possibilities of increasing the number of girl children and consequent need of urgent policy intervention to avoid social miseries. (Table 3.1). Table 3.1: Male Female Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Age-group Age Group Male Percentage Female Percentage Total Percentage 0-4 249 0.63 108 1.47 357 0.76 5-10 1024 2.59 425 5.80 1449 3.10 11-14 1109 2.81 371 5.07 1480 3.16 15-59 36021 91.27 6211 84.81 42232 90.26 60+ 1062 2.69 208 2.84 1270 2.71 Total 39465 84.35 7323 15.65 46788 100.00

Majority of both men and women however fall in the working age – group. Even though women move with the families, it may be a few cases where young girl accompanies father or elderly mother accompanies son. Shelterless women are also part of workforce, engaged in various kinds of informal jobs.

There are 208 elderly women compared to 1062 elderly men. The elderly constitutes close to 3 per cent of total shelterless. Many of them are driven away from their homes while some have left it on their own.

Youngest children (aged between 0 to 4 years) form less than one per cent of total shelterless persons, much lower percentage compared to the elderly. It may indicate possibility of high infant mortality rate through there is not enough data in the survey to establish it. The elderly shelterless also comes to the street after being driven away from families. Our sample survey in the next chapter shows more than 4 per cent of them were driven away from the families.

Table 3.2 shows district wise distribution of the shelterless persons above 14 years. Three districts, i.e. South, North West and North show maximum concentration of older women while Table 3.3 shows that East, North and South account for maximum concentration of girls children. This raises the possibility of employing girl children in occupations like domestic help in these districts and also other kinds of social exploitation. Girls form more than 27 percent of total children below 14 years compared to adult women who are less than 15 per cent of total adults. About 1000 girls roaming the streets of national capital are moving pictures of not only of economic poverty but more deep rooted social problems as they are mercilessly being exposed to various kinds of abuses including trafficking. Area specific micro studies are needed in order to reduce such exploitation and helping them to come out of conditions of helplessness.

Table 3.2: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons above 14 years District

Male N

Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Female %

4265 2645 1218 5770 3341 7017 6880 1738 4209 37083

N 11.50 7.13 3.28 15.56 9.01 18.92 18.55 4.69 11.35 85.24

Total %

810 649 279 1015 669 1020 1197 203 577 6419

N 12.62 10.11 4.35 15.81 10.42 15.89 18.65 3.16 8.99 14.76

%

5075 3294 1497 6785 4010 8037 8077 1941 4786 43502

11.67 7.57 3.44 15.60 9.22 18.48 18.57 4.46 11.00 100.00

Table 3.3: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons below 14 years District

Male N

Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Female %

263 310 99 375 282 301 410 116 226 2382

N 11.04 13.01 4.16 15.74 11.84 12.64 17.21 4.87 9.49 72.49

Total %

87 177 51 145 115 97 138 35 59 904

N 9.62 19.58 5.64 16.04 12.72 10.73 15.27 3.87 6.53 27.51

% 350 487 150 520 397 398 548 151 285 3286

10.65 14.82 4.56 15.82 12.08 12.11 16.68 4.60 8.67 100.00

3.2 Level of Education Illiterate children are source of social and economic despair with little scope for upliftment. More than 70 per cent of shelterless children are illiterate. Even those who go to school are educated upto primary level. There are only 58 children educated at

primary level and 10 at secondary level in a total of 2777 children aged between 6 to 14 years.

Illiterate girls are slightly higher in proportion compared to illiterate boys (Tables 3.5 and 3.6). There are 43 boys in primary standard against only 15 girls. In the secondary level, there are only 7 boys and 3 girls in a total of 1480 children aged between 11 to 14 years. There are several organizations providing education upto primary level in a informal way. This may have percolated down to the shelterless level to include some such children. But education at secondary level requires certain identification documents that the shelterless do not possess. Alongwith the economic inability of the shelterless, the lack of institutional flexibility also stands as a major hinderance towards skill development of shelterless children. Table 3.4 : Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Children by Education Level (6 to 14 years) Illiterate Upto Primary Primary Secondary Total N % N % N % N % N % District Central 193 63.91 105 34.77 4 1.32 0 0.00 302 10.88 East 258 71.67 83 23.06 15 4.17 4 1.11 360 12.96 New Delhi 108 75.00 35 24.31 1 0.69 0 0.00 144 5.19 North 344 76.11 100 22.12 7 1.55 1 0.22 452 16.28 North East 257 78.59 65 19.88 5 1.53 0 0.00 327 11.78 North West 250 76.69 64 19.63 8 2.45 4 1.23 326 11.74 South 328 69.05 133 28.00 13 2.74 1 0.21 475 17.10 South West 92 64.79 48 33.80 2 1.41 0 0.00 142 5.11 West 189 75.90 57 22.89 3 1.20 0 0.00 249 8.97 Total 2019 72.70 690 24.85 58 2.09 10 0.36 2777 100.00 Table 3.5: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Male Children by Education Level (6 to 14 years) Upto District illiterate Primary Primary Secondary Total N % N % N % N % N % Central 149 65.93 73 32.30 4 1.77 0 0.00 226 11.13 East 167 72.29 55 23.81 6 2.60 3 1.30 231 11.37 New Delhi 73 76.84 21 22.11 1 1.05 0 0.00 95 4.68 North 242 74.23 78 23.93 6 1.84 0 0.00 326 16.05 North East 188 78.66 48 20.08 3 1.26 0 0.00 239 11.77 North West 191 78.28 44 18.03 6 2.46 3 1.23 244 12.01 South 250 69.06 99 27.35 12 3.31 1 0.28 362 17.82 South West 65 59.63 42 38.53 2 1.83 0 0.00 109 5.37 West 149 74.87 47 23.62 3 1.51 0 0.00 199 9.80 Total 1474 72.58 507 24.96 43 2.12 7 0.34 2031 100.00 Table 3.6 Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Female Children by Education Level (6 to14 years) Illiterate Upto Primary Primary Secondary Total N % N % N % N % N % Central 44 57.89 32 42.11 0 0.00 0 0.00 76 10.19

East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

91 35 102 69 59 78 27 40 545

70.54 71.43 80.95 78.41 71.95 69.03 81.82 80.00 73.06

28 14 22 17 20 34 6 10 183

21.71 28.57 17.46 19.32 24.39 30.09 18.18 20.00 24.53

9 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 15

6.98 0.00 0.79 2.27 2.44 0.88 0.00 0.00 2.01

1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3

0.78 0.00 0.79 0.00 1.22 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.40

129 17.29 49 6.57 126 16.89 88 11.80 82 10.99 113 15.15 33 4.42 50 6.70 746 100.00

Adult Illiteracy Figures for adult illiteracy also shows the percentage of adult women illiterates are higher than their male counterparts (Tables 3.7 and 3.8). Adult illiteracy level is slightly higher than that of the children for both male and female. The adults who received education also did not proceed beyond primary level in general. There are 146 adult male against only 25 adult female who read at secondary level in a total of 43502 adults. Only 9 men are educated upto graduation level whereas there is not a single lady graduate among the shelterless. However, it is very disheartening to learn that higher level of education did not help men to rise above shelterlessness.

This study once again focuses on the necessity of carrying out adult literacy programmes. However, people do not find these programmes helpful as there is hardly any value addition of literacy in their lives. It is imperative to create some visible value addition along with flexible timing in these programmes in order to make them attractive to the target groups. It is also desirable to generate employment through these service creation. Poor educated persons may be encouraged to take up such activities with government support.

Table 3.7 : Distribution of Shelterless Male by education Level (14 years and above) District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West

Illiterate Upto Primary N % N % 3128 11.4 1015 11.7 1921 7.01 605 6.99 854 3.12 333 3.85 4217 15.4 1392 16.1 2607 9.51 642 7.41 5156 18.8 1689 19.5 5125 18.7 1602 18.5 1212 4.42 463 5.35

Primary N % 104 12.1 102 11.8 28 3.24 122 14.1 84 9.73 154 17.8 134 15.5 51 5.91

Secondary N % 18 12.3 15 10.3 3 2.05 36 24.7 8 5.48 15 10.3 19 13 12 8.22

Graduate & Above N % 0 0 2 22.22 0 0 3 33.33 0 0 3 33.33 0 0 0 0

Total N % 4265 11.5 2645 7.13 1218 3.28 5770 15.6 3341 9.01 7017 18.9 6880 18.6 1738 4.69

West Total %

3185 27405

11.6 100

73.90

919 8660 23.35

10.6 100

84 863

2.33

9.73 100

20 146

0.39

13.7 100 0.02

1 9

11.11 4209 100 37083

11.4 100

100.00

Table 3.8: Distribution of Shelterless Female by Education Level (14 years and above) District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total %

Illiterate Upto Primary N % N % 608 12.4 185 13.4 523 10.7 106 7.7 203 4.14 73 5.3 746 15.2 241 17.5 543 11.1 112 8.13 785 16 216 15.7 906 18.5 269 19.5 137 2.79 58 4.21 455 9.27 117 8.5 4906 100 1377 100 76.43

21.45

Primary N % 9 8.11 18 16.2 3 2.7 25 22.5 11 9.91 17 15.3 16 14.4 7 6.31 5 4.5 111 100 1.73

Secondary N % 8 32 2 8 0 0 3 12 3 12 2 8 6 24 1 4 0 0 25 100 0.39

Graduate & Above N % 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0.00

Total N % 810 12.6 649 10.1 279 4.35 1015 15.8 669 10.4 1020 15.9 1197 18.6 203 3.16 577 8.99 6419 100 100.00

Occupation There are 2929 shelterless children, aged between 5 to 14 years, engaged in several occupations, majority of them being associated with construction work. Child beggars are also significant in number. The children take up all kinds of available occupation in the informal sector to help their families. It is shocking to find out that less than one per cent of these children are still students. More children are engaged in beggary than in rag picking, close to 3 per cent are employed as domestic help. These figures show the ineffectiveness of laws banning child labour as only 5.53 per cent of these children are actually unemployed.

Male child workers are more than double in number compared to girls child workers (Table 3.9). But unemployed rate is much lower in case of girls compared to the boys, indicating the plight of girl child. Very few of them, i.e. less than one per cent are students. Even there, the percentage of girl students are lower than male student. This difference does not identify strong discrimination, rather it focuses on the helplessness of the shelterless in raising any hope for their children. Table 3.9: Occupational Classification of Children and Adults Male child 5 to 14 yrs)

Female Child (5 to 14 yrs)

Adult Male (Above 14 yrs)

Adult female (Above 14 years)

Occupation Rickshaw Puller Construction Labour Coolie Loader Beggar Rag Picker Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream seller Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Unemployed Total

number 264

% 12.38

number 49

991 16 0 199 114 16

46.46 0.75 0 9.33 5.34 0.75

24 203 20 29

% 6.16

number 12761

397 1 0 76 21 8

49.87 0.13 0 9.55 2.64 1.01

1.13 9.52 0.94

77 95 5

1.36

5

% 34.41

number 408

%

14192 563 17 2891 1918 286

38.27 1.52 0.05 7.8 5.17 0.77

2862 20 4 847 344 76

44.59 0.31 0.06 13.2 5.36 1.18

9.67 11.93 0.63

72 3493 15

0.19 9.42 0.04

1051 707 1

16.37 11.01 0.02

0.63

481

1.3

64

1

6.36

257

12.05

62

7.79

394

1.06

35

0.55

2133

100.00

796

100.00

37083

100.00

6419

100.00

Unemployment rate among the children is higher than among the adults (above 14 years). These unemployed children are not going to schools also. These children are in the danger of being potential drug addicts and quite vulnerable to other social abuses. In the school going age, they are either earning for a living, or are doing nothing while the parents are away for a living. Less than one percent of them are students, thereby showing the bleak future and no prospect for a majority of them to improve their lot. Many of them are born shelterless and are likely to remain so for the rest of their life.

Among the adult workers, rickshaw pulling and construction labour are the two major occupations of the shelterless as has been observed earlier. A women also take up rickshaw pulling, not for carrying persons but for carrying loads to a nearby distance. Next to construction work, the women work as domestic help, while less than one per cent of the men take up this occupation. Begging is also quite common among women compared to men. Less than one per cent of the shelterless women are unemployed, compared to one per cent of men. Unemployment rate among the children is much higher for both boys and girls only to indicate that they will be employed in the same low paying jobs once they come of age.

Proportion of child labourers ranges between 5 to 17.1 per cent in the districts. South district, accommodating the highest percentage of shelterless persons also accounts for the highest number of child labourers. However, in North-East, East and New Delhi districts, accommodating relatively less percentage of shelterless, the proportion of child

labourers are much higher. Majority of child workers employed as construction labourers are found in South district, while maximum number of children working as domestic help is found in the East district. Maximum number of child rag pickers as well as self – employed is also found in this district. Self –employed children are largely shoe-shine boys. Child beggars are concentrated largely in the North district. If also accommodates the highest number of unemployed children. Construction labourers are largely found all over Delhi with the least concentration in New Delhi District.

Chapter IV CHALLENGING INCLUSIVE GROWTH POLICIES

The headcount survey of the shelterless was carried on simultaneously with the sample survey of 1997 persons including 1905 men and 92 women. This was based on detailed questionnaires emphasizing different aspects of their livelihood pattern, economic activities, connection with their native places in terms of economic and social linkages, major risks in such conditions and future perceptions.

The demographic and socio-cultural characteristics of the sample population is tuned with the general characteristics of the shelterless reflecting their strong representative attributes (Table 4.1). The sample population is male-dominated with strong representation of OBC and SC. Majority of them are married and are Hindu by religion. A little more than one-third of them are literates. Sample literacy level (35 per cent) is a little higher than the total literacy level as children are not included in the sample. We took random sample of persons over 15 years. The elderly constitutes less than 3 per

cent of sample total, similar to what has been found in population total, majority being in the working age group. The primary observations regarding the sample characteristics show that the random sampling has been able to reflect all the attributes of the shelterless population in Delhi. The samples even reflect the same locational concentration as has been observed in headcount survey. Table 4..1: Demographic and Socio-Cultural Characteristics of Sample Persons (Total No. 1997) Sex

District

Social Group

Male Female OBC SC

ST

Religion

Others Hindu Muslim Others

Total Married Literate Age Group 15-59 60+ No. %

Central

9.71

9.78 11.98

9.30

1.15

7.09 79.90

19.59

0.52

79.90

43.81

97.42 2.06 194

9.71

East

8.92

7.61

8.68

8.92 12.64

8.11 89.83

9.04

1.13

82.49

29.38

96.05 3.95 177

8.86

New Delhi

5.35

7.61

7.21

5.28

0.00

2.70 82.57

16.51

0.92

74.31

49.54

95.41 1.83 109

5.46

5.43 18.95 13.07

5.75

7.09 80.35

19.65

0.00

81.05

47.37

95.44 4.21 285 14.27

North

14.70

North East

14.80

10.87 12.35 17.84 27.59

8.45 86.99

11.64

1.37

81.16

31.16

99.32 0.68 292 14.62

North West

17.27

15.22 17.11 19.72 21.84

9.12 92.42

7.29

0.29

86.88

25.07

99.42 0.58 343 17.18

South

16.06

29.35 11.37 12.44 26.44

39.86 49.55

49.55

0.90

86.19

26.73

99.70 0.30 333 16.68

South West

4.78

10.87

4.40

3.52

1.15

12.16 52.48

47.52

0.00

91.09

27.72 100.00 0.00 101

5.06

West

8.40

3.26

7.95

9.92

3.45

5.41 86.50

13.50

0.00

75.46

32.52

8.16

Total

1905

92

818

796

87

296 1563

422

12

1650

673

97.55 2.45 163 1958

34 1997 100.00

Occupational profile of sample persons also display the same characteristics. Rickshaw pulling and construction work are two major activities, followed by begging and rag picking. Begging attracts more persons than other occupations like domestic help or fruit selling or rag picking. Unemployment is very low as observed earlier. All of the women (92) in our sample are employed while we found only one man who was not working. (Table 4.2). Table 4.2: Occupational Distribution of Sample Persons Occupation Rickshaw Puller Construction Labour Coolie Beggar Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream Sellers Domestic Help Self Employed Others Unemployed Total

4.1 Economic Profile

Male 607 712 83 146

Female 1 22 0 44

Total (N) 608 734 83 190

Total (%) 30.45 36.76 4.16 9.51

20 2 181 53 1 1905

10 2 5 3 0 92

30 4 186 56 1 1997

1.50 0.20 9.31 2.80 0.05 1997

Shelterless persons have the only asset, i.e., physical labour to be used for employment. The construction labourers, many of them being semi-skilled, assemble every morning in specific places from where the contractors or others pick them on daily contract basis. These contracts may not come regularly. But they are employed 150-180 days on average. Rickshaw pullers are on their jobs regularly but their earnings fluctuate much more than the construction labourers. Some of the shelterless earn their living by selling vegetable and fruits. The owners of small shops are largely with shelter. It is the helpers in these shops who sleep in the open. Many of such workers in these shops, however, sleep inside thereby leading to underestimation of the number of the shelterless to certain extent.

4.1a Reasons for Coming to Delhi The findings here is complementing to earlier statement. It is the enormous economic strength of the national capital that attracts poor migrants with the hope that they will be able to

improver their lots. It shows that known persons in the city have not helped

many of the shelterless. They have just come to the city to try their luck. Nearness to residence has also not played much important role. It is clear from earlier tables that nearest states of Punjab and Haryana have not sent many migrants to the city. It is primarily the various opportunities compared to what is available in the native states that have pulled the migrants into the city. Similar kind of jobs in the native places offer much lower remuneration compared to the city. Hence, even if jobs are available, they are not as much paying as in the city. It is this economic charm that makes a person shelterless in the city. He is compelled to sacrifice his living environment for a better paying livelihood. (Table 4.3). Table 4.3 Reasons for Coming to Delhi Reason Better Job Better Pay Near to residence Knew Somebody Others Total * Multiple Answers

Male 44.8 42.5 9.6 3.0 0.2 3624

Female 45.8 45.3 5.0 3.9 0.0 179

Total* 44.8 42.7 9.4 3.0 0.2 3803

4.1b Average Income Earned Majority of the shelterless earns on daily basis. Their occupations, as has been observed earlier, though very much informal, are continuous in nature. There is no permanent employment contract, but same parsons continue in the services for years. Majority of them (nearly 63 per cent) has a monthly income ranging from Rs. 2000 to

3000. Very poor among the shelterless (earning less than Rs. 50 per day) forms the lowest percentage (nearly 8 per cent), while about 16 per cent of them earn more than Rs. 3000 (Rs. 100 per day) per month. It is interesting to observe that majority of the shelterless in Delhi are above the state poverty line (per capita earning less than Rs. 20 per day). It may be concluded that the shelterless in Delhi earns between Rs. 70 and Rs. 100 per day on average. There are persons who earn close to Rs.200—250 daily as well but their number is much smaller. (Table 4.4) Table 4.4: District wise Distribution of Individual Income (Monthly) District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total %

Upto 1500 4.52 11.61 7.74 21.94 4.52 6.45 28.39 5.16 9.68 155

1500-2000 12.00 8.73 10.18 17.09 11.27 10.55 14.91 5.45 9.82 275

2000-2500 9.62 9.94 5.77 10.90 12.82 21.63 16.03 3.37 9.94 624

2500-3000 9.86 7.00 4.61 14.31 15.90 19.40 17.17 5.41 6.36 629

3000+ 10.19 9.24 1.27 14.65 23.57 14.97 12.74 7.32 6.05 314

7.76

13.77

31.25

31.50

15.72

(Rs.) Total 9.71 8.86 5.46 14.27 14.62 17.18 16.68 5.06 8.16 1997 100

The poorest shelterless largely reside in North and South districts, followed by East. Symptoms of uneven economic development is very strong in the national capital. The South district that accommodates the richest in the capital, also accommodates the maximum number of poorest shelterless. Gender bias is prevalent even in this meager earning pattern (Table 4.5). In the lowest income group, the percentage of women is much higher than the percentage of men. In the highest income group, their percentage is one-fifth of their male counterpart. We have observed that all of these 92 women surveyed are employed. It is clear that their average earning is lower than their male counterparts. Feminisation of poverty is evident even among the shelterless. Table 4.5: Gender-wise Distribution of Individual Income (Monthly) Income (Rs.) Upto 1500 1500-2000 2000-2500 2500-3000 3000+ Total Total

Male 6.82 13.49 31.13 32.23 16.33 100 1905

Female 27.17 19.57 33.70 16.30 3.26 100 92

(Percentage) Total (Col%) 7.76 13.77 31.25 31.50 15.72 100 1997

4.1c Average Expenditure There is a striking similarity in the attitude of the shelterless as far as expenditure is concerned. Majority of them wants to spend minimum in the city for material comforts. There are very few persons in the highest expenditure range. It has been observed that drug-addicts tend to spend on drugs whatever they earn during the day. Some of them even earn Rs.200—250 per day, but do not save at all. They fall into relatively higher expenditure category but the nature of spending makes them poorer. Otherwise, the shelterless in general tries to save as much as possible. (Table 4.6) Table 4.6: District wise Distribution of Individual Expenditure (Monthly) District Upto 1500 1500-2000 2000-2500 2500-3000 3000+ Central 9.82 10.09 6.90 5.88 0.00 East 8.24 10.53 17.24 23.53 25.00 New Delhi 5.32 7.02 3.45 0.00 8.33 North 13.44 19.30 20.69 29.41 0.00 North East 14.20 18.86 10.34 0.00 25.00 North West 17.94 11.84 24.14 5.88 8.33 South 17.48 10.53 10.34 29.41 16.67 South West 5.14 5.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 West 8.42 6.14 6.90 5.88 16.67 Total 1711 228 29 17 12 % 85.68 11.42 1.45 0.85 0.60 Table 4.7: Gender wise Distribution of Individual Expenditure (Monthly)

Expenditure (Rs.) Upto 1500 1500-2000 2000-2500 2500-3000 3000+ Total

Male 85.62 11.44 1.47 0.84 0.63 1905

(Rs.) Total 9.71 8.86 5.46 14.27 14.62 17.18 16.68 5.06 8.16 1997 100.00

(Percentage) Female Total (Col %) 86.96 85.68 10.87 11.42 1.09 1.45 1.09 0.85 0.00 0.60 92 1997

There is not much difference in attitude between men and women so far as expenditure is concerned. Women seen to be a little more thrifty compared to men even in much adverse conditions (Table 4.7). No women came in the highest expenditure category. They try to keep expenditure as low as possible. 4.1d Remittance Results of such thriftiness are evident in their savings. On the average, men are able to send home around Rs. 12,000 annually. The women saves almost half of that amount as they also earn less. Moreover is mostly spent on her family, thereby reducing her savings capacity. More or less uniform patter in saving behaviours has emerged in the

districts. However, women have shown more fluctuations in saving behaviour compared to men in districtwise distribution (Table 4.8). Table 4.8: Average Annual Remittance Sent to Native Place District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Male 13,734 11,190 13,017 13,169 12,358 13,384 11,497 11,428 10,672 12,424

Female 13,000 7,950 4,250 10,000 6,400 5,727 8,333 7,033

(Rs.) Total 13,725 11,091 12,806 13,154 12,247 13,384 11,217 11,299 10,672 12,326

The shelterless person has informal ways of saving, mainly through persons known to them. They deposit money privately and occasionally send home through them also. The shelterless, on the average, are able to save annually about Rs. 12000 i.e. four times more than their earnings. There is more or less uniform response among the shelterless regarding the money sent home, yet it is observed that persons from Central district send maximum remittance followed by North West and North. Women also send significant amount of money back home. 4.2 Livelihood Concerns The shelterless becomes shelterless owing to natural calamities, eviction from native places due to political turmoil, war, etc., social turmoil or for pure economic reason of finding better livelihood. The shelterless in Delhi have come here primarily for economic reasons. 4.2a Reasons for Leaving Home The respondents reveal that economic reasons are main driving elements for leaving home, even for the women. Sociological reasons are comparatively insignificant though sociological impacts of shelterless are far reaching.

Persons who moved with families

are least in number among the respondents while number of persons home or

driven away from families together

ran way from

is less than 7 per cent of total

respondents. This reflects the level at which jobs are concentrated in the national capital that makes its neighboring states poorer and increase regional inequality. The schemes like night shelters are only short run solutions and unable to cure such long run maladies. (Table 4.9). Table 4.9: Reasons for Leaving Home

Male 4.30 2.47 91.65 1.10 0.47 1905

Ran away from home Driven away Searching job Came with family members Others Total

Female 1.09 1.09 89.13 7.61 1.09 92

Total 4.16 2.40 91.54 1.40 0.50 1997

4.2b Dependent Family Members The shelterless has to take responsibility of dependent family members both at the native place and in the city. Our survey shows that among 1997 persons there are 110 persons with families in Delhi, 1534 persons with families in native places and 353 persons with no family. Average household size of the shelterless is 5.6. Majority of the shelterless leaves the family behind to come to the city. Dependency ratios of these families are double compared to those who have brought their families or those who raised their families here. Sometimes people are evicted from their native place to come to the city. Sometimes, it is the death of the only bread earner in the family that compels the whole family to move to other places. They move with the elderly, children and infants, who are exposed to all kinds of difficulties and threats in life. (Table 4.10) Table 4.10: Dependent Family Members Category Adult (above 14 years) Children (between 1 to 14 years) Infant (less than one year) Total Dependence Ratio

In Delhi Male Female 127 344 285 298 22 434

32 674

Total 471 583 54 1108 2

At Native Place Male Female Total 1558 2228 3770 1641 1613 3247 60 3259

72 3913

132 7149 4

The high dependency ratios in native places compel the bread earners to move to the city in search of jobs and become shelterless. They are not in a position to spend more in the city neither can they leave the city for a longer time. They are very much in need of places like night shelters and sanitation facilities for a little improvement in their quality of life and to escape from hazards of spending nights in the open. 4.2c Identification Documents (ID) The shelterless do not generally get benefits of several welfare schemes for want of any identification documents. The sample survey shows that about one-third of them do not have any kind of documents to establish their identity, either in Delhi or in their native places. For the rest, the most common document they possess is the voter ID in their native places. There is 35 per cent of the total shelterless who have these IDs. This is one of the major reasons for visiting their native places.

Ration cards in native places is the next important ID, possessed by nearly 17 per cent of the shelterless. However, they do not carry them in Delhi for obvious reasons. These documents cannot be used in Delhi for getting any benefits. Persons with Delhi ration cards are small in number. They require permanent address in Delhi

in order to have

this document. Generally the shelterless use the employer’s address in the documents. They also use the address of the local residents known to them. It is easier for the persons working as domestic helps to find such address. The self-employed finds it difficult to establish his identity. It is interesting to find that there are more shelterless persons with local voter IDs than with ration cards though in both cases address is required. (Table 4.11)

Table 4.11: District wise Distribution of Persons with Identification Documents

District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total %

Ration Ration Card(D) Card(NP) 5.80 14.49 1.45 5.80 8.70 14.49 40.58 1.45 7.25 69 3.45

11.14 7.53 5.72 22.59 8.73 18.67 9.94 2.11 13.55 332 16.62

Voter ID(D) 6.82 16.82 4.09 16.36 9.55 13.18 25.00 2.73 5.45 220 11.01

Voter ID(NP) 14.04 4.92 7.38 19.10 9.41 18.96 9.84 7.38 8.97 691 34.60

Bank A/C(D) 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 0.05

Bank A/C(NP) 0.00 14.29 0.00 28.57 0.00 0.00 28.57 14.29 14.29 7 0.35

Driving No License Documen t 0.00 11.85 0.00 14.01 0.00 6.67 50.00 16.89 0.00 28.74 50.00 25.63 0.00 29.19 0.00 6.67 0.00 11.70 2 675 0.10 33.8

Total

9.71 8.86 5.46 14.27 14.62 17.18 16.68 5.06 8.16 1997 100.0

D- Delhi, NP- Native Place In our survey, only one person said that he has a bank account in Delhi while 7 more said that they have it in their native places. They rely more on informal ways of savings by keeping money among their own people. Only two persons have driving licenses in the city. Women hardly have any kind of ID excepting the voter IDs. They also do not have any financial account that could show their access to finance. Possession of driving license is very rare among poor women. Illiteracy is one major factor that prevents the poor to keep savings in any form other than cash. The three districts i.e. North East, North West and South, accommodating majority of the shelterless, also show the maximum number of them without any ID.

4.2d Strong Linkage with Native Place In our sample of 1997, we found 1644 persons having families either in Delhi or in native places or both. Some of them have brought the core families in Delhi, while relatives are left in native places. They keep strong linkage with families at native places by occasional or regular visits to fulfil social and economic obligations (Table 4.12).

Figure : Distribution of ID for Persons

3%

17%

34%

11% 0% 35%

Ration Card(D)

Ration Card(NP)

Voter ID(D)

Voter ID(NP)

Bank A/C(D)

Bank A/C(NP)

Driving License

No identification

Table: 4.12 Strong Linkage with Native Place Reasons To Repay Loan To Provide Monetary Help Agriculture Season To Meet Parents Festival No Work in Delhi Family Emergency Marriage & Social Ceremony Fell Sick Total

Male 1186 13 161 16 211 2 8 14 4 1592

% 74.50 0.82 10.11 1.01 13.25 0.13 0.50 0.88 0.26 100.00

Female 27 1 1 0 3 0 0 1 0 33

% 81.82 3.03 3.03 0.00 9.09 0.00 0.00 3.03 0 100.00

Total 1213 14 162 16 214 2 8 15 4 1625

% 74.65 0.86 9.97 0.98 13.17 0.12 0.49 0.92 0.24 100.00

Primary reason of the shelterless for going home is to repay loans (74.5%). This also explains to certain extent why they have become shelterless. They carry huge debt burden in their search or livelihood and time to time, they have to go home for meeting

debt obligations. The next major reason is the festival time where more than 13 per cent of the shelterless make a journey back home. Agricultural season also draws more than 10 per cent of them back home. They have to save money for marriages and illness in the families. Only 2 persons among the 1592 males have gone back home because they did not find any employment in Delhi. Very few persons went home because they fell sick. No women went home because of sickness. Among 92 women, only one-third reported going home, debt repayment being the major cause. Generally, one of the family members go home in order to save transport cost. Some women go home during festival time. This survey also reveals the fact that money transfer is the major reason for which the shelterless have to go personally. Following sections will bring out the fact more clearly that whether in keeping their belongings, or savings, or transferring money, the shelterless has various innovative informal methods that generally depends on mutual trust, but when it comes to carrying money home, they prefer to do that themselves. The formal sector has no opening for them either for depositing or for increasing their savings. They continue to remain outside the mainstream development. 4.2e Personal Belongings By definition, the shelterless has very little personal belongings. But spending life in the open with families, they accumulate things, however, little, and make innovative places to keep them. We have found clothes and other things hanging from trees. They think they can save their things from being stolen in this way. There are other ways of keeping things which they follow according to their convenience. The shelterless generally cook by themselves when they come back from work in the evening. Besides clothes, utensils are their major belongings. Majority of them (61.26%) keep their things with themselves (Table 4.13). This is possible for self-employed persons. Rickshaw pullers and construction workers also carry their own things in the vehicles or near the site. Sometimes, they keep the things in the shops or places where they work. Generally, the shelterless do not change their sleeping place, unless forced to do so. Hence, they keep their things where they came to sleep. Some night shelters also provide the space for them to keep the belongings. Coolias have the coolie rooms for this purpose, where they accommodate their friends also. A few persons have to pay from their meager resources to somebody for the safety of their belongings.

Mother nature takes care of our personal belongings.

Table 4.13: Keeping Personal Belongings Mans Male 1. Carry with themselves 2. Carry in the working place 3. Keep where stay at night 4. Hired a place on rent 5.Coolie Room 6. Paid a person Total

N 1167 314 401 4 5 14 1905

% 61.26 16.48 21.05 0.21 0.26 0.73 100.00

Clothes Female N % 74 80.43 6 6.52 12 13.04 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 92 100.00

Total N 1241 320 413 4 5 14 1997

% 62.14 16.02 20.68 0.20 0.25 0.70 100.00

Male N % 1645 86.35 157 8.24 52 2.73 47 2.47 4 0.21 0 0.00 1905 100.00

Utensil Female N % 91 98.91 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 1.09 0 0.00 0 0.00 92 100.00

Total N % 1736 86.93 157 7.86 52 2.60 48 2.40 4 0.20 0 0.00 1997 100.00

The same informal system continues for money (Table 4.14) as well. Majority of them keep cash with their employer in good faith, and are betrayed only in exceptional cases. Group saving is a way of informal savings occupation without the risk of carrying cash in persons. These savings are generated among very known persons with mutual trust.

Very few persons keep their savings with friends and relatives. Trust on individual is more risky than trust on communities.

One shelterless earns her living by keeping watch on other shelterless persons’ belongings.

Table 4.14: Accumulating Cash Means With the Employer Group Saving Friends/Relative Others Total

Male N 1645 157 99 4 1905

% 86.35 8.24 5.20 0.21 100.00

Female N 91 0 1 0 92

% 98.91 0.00 1.09 0.00 100.00

Total N 1736 157 100 4 1997

% 86.93 7.86 5.01 0.20 100.00

4.2f Cooking Fuel Major expenditure of the shelterless is on food. Cooking fuel constitutes a major item of food. In order to economies on this item, majority of the shelterless use firewool as the main cooking fuel as it is the cheapest. Kerosene is used by nearly 13 percent of surveyed persons, seven of them can even afford LPG. Electricity is used by almost 4

per cent of them while more than one-third of them do not cook and eat in roadside eateries (Table 4.15).

Table 4.15: Major Cooking Fuels Used Category Firewood Cow dung Kerosene Charcoal LPG Electricity Others Total

Male 745 100 266 23 7 87 677 1905

% 39.11 5.25 13.96 1.21 0.37 4.57 35.54 100.00

Female 35 9 7 0 0 4 37 92

% 38.04 9.78 7.61 0.00 0.00 4.35 40.22 100.00

Total 780 109 273 23 7 91 714 1997

% 39.06 5.46 13.67 1.15 0.35 4.56 35.75 100.00

4.2g Duration of Stay Period of stay as shelterless indicates gradual long term nature of establishment. In all districts, maximum duration of stay as shelterless is observed between 5 to 10 years. Short run stay (less than 1 year) constitutes the lowest percentage. There is a kind of stability in conditions of shelterlessness. It contracticts the myth that shelterlessness is a continuous phenomenon, i.e., persons keep pouring in Delhi to make the problem a never – ending

one. On the other hand, the problem is much deeper in the middle,

persons who come as shelterless, continue to remain so. New shelterless persons are fewer in comparison. It may indicate some kind of economic activities are taking place in neighbouring states. It may also indicate that conditions of shelterless are becoming permanent in nature. People, who came as shelterless, will remain so for at least two decades. This also may act as deterrent to coming to the capital in search of jobs. May be life in smaller towns are easier even with lower pay. There are however, significant number of respondents who are staying as shleterless of more than 10 years, again sending the very pessimist message.(See Annexure X). South district with the highest number of shelterless also have the highest percentage of long-term shelterless among them. The percentage of long-term shelterless is near to fifty per cent in North East, North West and South West districts as well. These are the major industrial belts in Delhi with concentration of manufacturing activities. Lure of economics activities bring people in the industrial centers. However, in Delhi, tertiary sector, the prime economic mover, is spread all over the city. Government and semi-

government offices in certain districts

also account for localization of the shelterless.

However, it is not always the center for work but the availability of open space that shows the concentration of the shelterless in these areas. This concentration will help in allocating spaces for night shelters in the capital. It is apparent that in every district, the maximum number of shelterless is staying since 5 to 10 years.

4.2h Long Working Hours Average shelterless work for seven days a week. Employed persons are entitled to one days leave, that is handly honoured. Wayside eateries, small shops, load carrying activities in markets and .. are never closed. The risk of loosing jobs compels the shelterless to make themselves available every day. Seven days’ work is associated with long working hours as well. In some districts, women report larger working hours than men. However, they also report 6 day per week sometimes. It is the floating character of jobs that compel the shelterless to work everyday of the week and for longer hours. It is equally true for the employed and the self-employed. (4.16) Table 4.16: - Long Working Hours District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total

Male Days 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Hours 9.5 9.3 9.6 9.7 9.7 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.4 9.6

Female Days 7 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 7 7

Hours 10.0 8.9 9.4 8.6 9.2 8.9 9.4 9.6 10.7 9.3

The rickshaw puller can hardly take rest in order to maintain the level of daily earning. The coolies, the loaders, the rag pickers are always on the job to earn their meager living. They have no other form of security than their own labour input. Ironically, they are still above the poverty line and are ineligible for various welfare programmes. 4.2i Changing Sleeping Place

There is a kind of permanency in the nature of floating populations. It is observed that close to 80 percent of them do not change their sleeping place, either in the open or in the night shelters, provided they are allowed to do so. They may have to travel 15-20 km to the work place, but come back in the evening in the familiar environment of persons

and places that is the substitute of native place left behind. They build up their small assets in this environment and do not want to be shifted, even if to better living conditions. This uniformity has been observed in all the districts. (Table 4.17). Table 4.17: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Changing Sleeping Place

District

Changing Place No Total N % N % N % Central 1029 10.65 4396 11.84 5425 11.59 East 807 8.35 2974 8.01 3781 8.08 New Delhi 365 3.78 1282 3.45 1647 3.52 North 1404 14.53 5901 15.89 7305 15.61 North East 787 8.15 3620 9.75 4407 9.42 North West 1894 19.61 6541 17.62 8435 18.03 South 1857 19.22 6768 18.23 8625 18.43 South West 517 5.35 1575 4.24 2092 4.47 West 1000 10.35 4071 10.96 5071 10.84 Total 9660 20.64 37128 79.35 46788 100.00 In our survey, only 84 men and 2 women said they did change sleeping place (Table Yes

4.18). The women made this change only once as their employers left the place. Among the men, 75 persons changed their sleeping place only once as they were evicted from that area. Six persons made such change thrice as they changed their jobs while only are is changing the place continuously as he is drug addict. The shelterless in general, create a community of their own and feel safe in known environment in their floating nature of existence. Table :4.18 Changing Sleeping Place Male % Female Frequent change of Sleeping Place Yes No No of Time of 1 2 Changing Sleeping Place 3 6 7 Total

84 1821 75 1 6 1 1 84

4.41 96.04 89.29 1.19 7.14 1.19 1.19 100.00

2 90 2 0 0 0 0 2

%

Total

%

2.17 97.83 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00

86 1911 77 1 6 1 1 86

4.31 96.13 89.53 1.16 6.98 1.16 1.16 100.00

4.2j Awareness and Utilization of Night Shelters It is the only scheme available for the shelterless persons. It is surprising to find that only a little more than one third of the persons surveyed knew about the existence of such a scheme. Even among those who knew about this scheme, nearly 70 per cent of them decided not to sleep in such shelters for various reasons cited below (Table 4.19). Table :4.19 Awareness and Utilisation of Night Shelters Male Female Components N % N % Awareness regarding Yes 688 36.12 25 27.17

Total N % 713 35.70

Night Shelter Sleeping in Night Shelters Reasons for not Sleeping in Night Shelters

No Yes No Not safe Too crowded No facility Others Total

1217 263 425 189 163 37 36 425

82.23 38.23 69.22 44.47 38.35 8.71 8.47 100.00

67 15 10 5 4 1 1 11

81.71 60.00 66.67 45.45 36.36 9.09 9.09 100.00

1284 278 435 194 167 38 37 436

82.20 38.99 69.16 44.50 38.30 8.72 8.49 100.00

Majority of the shelterless, who do not sleep in these shelters, consider the night shelters to be unsafe for sleeping while a significant proportion of them think there is not enough space to sleep in such shelters. We have taken up these issues in details in the next chapter.

Night shelters – What is that?

4.2k Support towards Livelihood The shelterless generally do not get any kind of support for lessening the hardships of livelihood. However, nearly 20 per cent of men and 12 per cent of women said they received some assistance from the NGos. These assistance come mainly in form of

blankets during winters and medicine. Very few have received any monetary assistance as donation. Sometimes, they receive food and clothings from some charitable or religious organizations. (Table 4.20). It is interesting to learn that the shelterelss women remain outside the Stree Shakti Camps organized by the state governments. They do not quality as beneficiares. Table 4.20 : Support to Livelihood Male Female N % N %

Category Receive Any Assistance Yes No Type of Assistance Money Blanket Medicines Others Total

Total N

%

364 1541

19.10 80.89

11 81

11.96 88.04

375 1622

18.78 81.22

20 278 30 36 364

5.49 76.37 8.24 9.89 100.00

1 5 5 1 12

8.33 41.67 41.67 8.33 100.00

21 283 35 37 376

5.59 75.27 9.31 9.84 100.00

4.3 State of Basic Amenities The shelterless requires medical facilities, sanitation and drinking water as minimum basic amenities for maintaining their health. They cannot afford to fall sick as cost of manhour loss due to sickness is very high for them. Physical strength is their only capital. However, they are largely deprived of access to those minimum basic services. 4.3a Health Concerns Majority of the shelter less do not consult doctors in the city for their illness. They go home instead to get traditional treatments or just neglect the illness. The survey shows that both men and women suffer maximum from malaria. Traffic related accidents are also major health related hazards. They are prone to other job-related accidents also. Some of them are aware of the pre/post natal healthcare and have taken their family members to seek medical help. It is only 2 persons among 1997 surveyed who have taken advantage of pulse polio treatments though the headcount survey shows that the there are more than 300 infants among the shelter less. They are quite unaware of any preventive medical care as is evident from the low percentage of persons taking any vaccination. Very few of them are treated for malnutrition or child delivery related problems. It is also quite disheartening to learn that they suffer more from accidents than common diseases like cold/flu or diarrlioea. (Table 4.21) Table4.21 : Seeking Medical Help Category Consult Doctor Purpose

Yes No Cold/Flu Malaria

Male 618 1287 65 335

% Female 32.44 30 95.19 62 10.52 5 54.21 17

% 32.61 92.54 16.67 56.67

Total 648 1349 70 352

% 32.45 95.07 10.80 54.32

Diarrhea Traffic related accident Other accidents Pre/post natal care Delivery care Malnutrition STDs Dental Pulse polio Vaccination Others Total

26 78 34 43 8 8 4 8 1 4 4 618

4.21 12.62 5.50 6.96 1.29 1.29 0.65 1.29 0.16 0.65 0.65 100.00

0 0.00 1 3.33 1 3.33 0 0.00 2 6.67 0 0.00 3 10.00 0 0.00 1 3.33 0 0.00 0 0.00 30 100.00

26 4.01 79 12.19 35 5.40 43 6.64 10 1.54 8 1.23 7 1.08 8 1.23 2 0.31 4 0.62 4 0.62 648 100.00

Even after consulting doctors, sometimes the shelterless do no go for follow up. Allopathic medicine is the most common form of treatment, both among male and female, while homeopathic treatment is most uncommon though the later is generally cheaper. This may be due to absence of good Homeopath doctors in the locality. Those who consult allopathic doctors also sometimes get back to traditional treatment because of the cost of medicines. Government hospitals are the most common place where the shelterless go for treatment. They also visit local Primary Health Centers (PHC). Health camps are quite common in Delhi but somehow, the shelterless may not have access to it as very few of them have ever gone there.

In rare cases they have also gone to private nursing

homes. It is heartening to learn that tuberculosis is not common disease among them. Their visit to such clinics is negligible. They have also not mentioned this as common disease. (Table 4.22).

The persons who do not seek medical care have cited affordability as the major hindrance. The cost of medicine and diagnostic charges are beyond their capability even if they go to government hospitals. Most of the medicines are not available in hospitals or PHCs. Diagnostic tests cannot be conducted in the hospitals as either the queue is too long or medicines are out of stock. Hence many of them keep on neglecting the disease with the belief that it will take its own course. Age related diseases are taken into consideration as it is believed that these are only natural. (Table 4.23)

Table 4.22 : Type of Treatment Taken and Place of Treatment Treatment

Place

Allopatic Ayurvedic Homeopathic Pvt Medical Practioner Others Total PHC FPC

Male % Female 579 93.69 26 20 3.24 3 3 0.49 0 11 1.78 0 5 0.81 1 618 100.00 30 125 20.23 5 5 0.81 4

% Total % 86.67 605 10.00 23 0.00 3 0.00 11 3.33 6 100.00 648 16.67 130 13.33 9

93.36 3.55 0.46 1.70 0.93 100.00 20.06 1.39

hardly

MCWC TC GH Nursing Home Health Camp Others

8 9 453 5 11 2

1.29 1.46 73.30 0.81 1.78 0.32

Total 618 100.00 PHC= Public Health Clinic FPC= Family Planning Centre MCWC= Maternity and Child Welfare Centre TC= TB Clinic GH= Government Hospital

0 0 21 0 0 0

30

0.00 0.00 70.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

8 9 474 5 11 2

1.23 1.39 73.15 0.77 1.70 0.31

100.00 648

100.00

Table 4.23: Unaffordable Medical Help Reasons Disease will take its own course Age related sickness Can not afford Medical facilities are far away Peak agricultural season Others Total *Multiple Answers

Male 208 376 564 84 20 29 1281

% Female 16.24 7 29.35 19 44.03 33 6.56 2 1.56 1 2.26 0 100.00 62

% 11.29 30.65 53.23 3.23 1.61 0.00 100.00

Total 215 395 597 86 21 29 1343

% 16.01 29.41 44.45 6.40 1.56 2.16 100.00

In Delhi casual agricultural labourers are very insignificant in proportion, yet some of them have stated that they could not continue with the treatment as they had to go back in peak agricultural seasons. Mistrust in the health care systems is also a major deterrent. The shelterless thinks that the whole healthcare system is anti--poor and nobody is willing to provide any facilities to them. 4.3b Sanitation Generally the shelterless go to the free public toilets, though they are very dirty and often without any water or electricity. Sometimes they use pay-and –use sulabh toilets also. The severe dearth of sanitation facilities is evident from the fact that more than 36 per cent of men and more than 46 per cent of women still use open fields for sanitation purposes. The need for increasing number of community toilets with proper facilities is a pressing one. The casual approach to one of the primary services in the national capital has increased the threat has increased the threat to city’s living environment (Table 4.24). Table 4.24: Access to Toilet Facilities Access Open Fields Public Toilet Sulabh Others Total

Male 689 953 253 10 1905

4.3c Drinking Water

% 36.17 50.03 13.28 0.52 100.00

Female 43 45 4 0 92

% 46.74 48.91 4.35 0.00 100.00

Total 732 998 257 10 1997

% 36.65 49.97 12.87 0.50 100.00

Community tap is the most significant source of dirking water for the shelterless in Delhi, hand pump being the next one. These two sources are used by 94 percent of them. Community wells are much less in number in Delhi. Some of the shelterless bring water from their work places. Supply of drinking water is not as acute a problem as sanitation facilities in the city.(Table 4.25)

Table 4.25: Access to Drinking Water Type Community well Community tap Hand Pump Others Total

Male 77 1085 714 29 1905

% 4.04 56.96 37.48 1.52 100.00

Female 12 63 16 1 92

% 13.04 68.48 17.39 1.09 100.00

Total 89 1148 730 30 1997

% 4.46 57.49 36.55 1.50 100.00

4.4 Risks of being Shelterless Eviction threat and police harassment are two major risks for the shelterless. Close to 42 percent are afraid of the eviction threat while 30 per cent fear police harassment as the major risk. The civic authorities are often armed with various regulations, especially those against encroachment of public land. The civic authorities can evict people in order to take control of public land without providing any

alternative arrangements for

them. The police are accused of taking money forcibly from the shelterless on the pretext of eviction. The shleterless do not change their sleeping places often as has been evident before but they remain under constant threat. The recent policies of industrial relocation and removal of

encroachment for expansion of metro rail or

construction of temple are examples of such threat implying that the shelterless not only have no place to sleep, they actually belong to nowhere.(Table 4.26). Table: 4.26 Major Risks Major Risks Police Harassment Eviction Threat Threat to life Others Total

Male 564 791 228 322 1905

% 29.61 41.52 11.97 16.90 100.00

Female 24 51 12 5 92

% 26.09 55.43 13.04 5.43 100.00

Total 588 842 240 327 1997

% 29.44 42.16 12.02 16.37 100.00

This is how we prepare ourselves to fight the winter.

4.5 Hopes for the Future Is their any gain for the shelterless from the city? Do they hope to live a better life? Unfortunately, the shelterless do not even ask these questions to themselves as there are no hope for any betterment for them. But on much insistence, they express their desire with much doubt, the primary of being a roof over their head. They do not want a permanent home, as this is a utopia, but some kind of shelter is their week demand. The construction of might shelters will require less than one tenth of what is spent on Delhi Metro but that urgency of implementation is pathetically absent. Even the existing night shelters are in deplorable conditions for want of maintenance. We have taken up these issues in details in the next chapter. Next to shelter, employment is the major concern for which they have come to the city. Some of them think that subsidized loans or provision of capital assets like rickshaw or cycle may be helpful. Generally they get these things from the private operators at much higher interest rate. Facilities like drinking water or medical help do not come to their

mind in a big way. This is not because they do not need it, but because of the frustration that they will not get it. Women are more scare of the evictin threat compared to men, Men are a little hopeful regarding childrens education though they answer with deep despair (Table 4.27).

Table 4.27: Aspirations of the Shelterless Suggestions/Facility for Male Female Total shelter less N % N % N Shelter, not Home 1572 82.52 88 95.65 1660 Employment 1526 80.10 70 76.09 1596 Money/Subsidized Loan 178 9.34 8 8.70 186 Facility of Drinking water 145 7.61 0 0.00 145 Capital Assets 16 0.84 0 0.00 16 Children for the 36 1.89 0 0.00 36 Education No Eviction 20 1.05 4 4.35 24 Medical Help 29 1.52 0 0.00 29 Police Security 33 1.73 1 1.09 34 Others 73 3.83 2 2.18 75 Total Number 1905 92 1997 Note: The percentage figures do not add up to 100 because of multiple answers.

% 83.12 79.92 9.31 7.26 0.80 1.80 1.20 1.45 1.70 3.75

Even with all the threats and hazards of staying in the capital, 67 percent of the shelterless think they have no other options than to stay here. Fifteen per cent have no idea of any future plans, reflecting the picture of desperation. Men and women think in the same way in this respect. There is no gender bias in frustration. They do not see any hope of going back, though they will love to as there is no prospect of better livelihood back home. Close to 10 percent think they can go back as they have built sufficient assets there. The assets are generally like acquiring a piece of land or constructing one or two rooms that can be given on rent or starting a shop at home to make both ends meet, when the most important input, i.e., manual labour cannot be used in old age. Some people also think that if the present job is not sufficient, they will have to go back. But for the majority, there is no hope of improving their conditions, no hope of going back, just a desperate compulsion to maintain the status quo. The streams of welfare activities for improving the lot of the under-privileged just bypass the shelterless.

Ironically, they still remain above the poverty line and pose the most formidable challenge to any inclusive growth policy. (Table 4.28) Table 4.28 : Future Perceptions Future Plan Will stay in Delhi Will go Back Home Depend on Job Did not Think Total

Male 1273 178 159 295 1905

% 66.82 9.34 8.35 15.49 100.00

Female 66 15 2 9 92

% 71.74 16.30 2.17 9.78 100.00

Total 1339 193 161 304 1997

% 67.05 9.66 8.06 15.22 100.00

4.6 Estimates of Shelterless Persons We have tried to project growth of shelterless persons in Delhi from 2007 to 2016. We have taken two growth rates – one emerging from the Census (1991 and 2001) and the other based on our example survey. In the sample survey we obtained data regarding duration of stay as shelterless and calculated the number of persons staying as shelterless in 2001, which was slightly higher than the census 2001 figures. Our headcount survey showed the figures for 2006. Based on these estimates. We calculated growth rate. On estimated growth rates are much higher than census growth rates. The estimated growth of shelterless population based on these two rates are presented in Tables 4.29 and 4.30. Table 4.29: Growth Rate of Shelterless Persons Source Year Population CAG IHD 2001 24,131 Survey 2006 46,788 11.67 1991 18,838 Census 2001 23,903 2.41 *Compound Annual Growth Rate Table 4.30: Estimated Growth of Shelterless Persons, 2007 -2016 Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

IHD survey 52,248 58,346 65,154 72,758 81,249 90,731 101,319 113,143 126,346 141,091

Census 27,574 28,239 28,920 29,616 30,330 31,061 31,810 32,576 33,361 34,166

Chapter V GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

The Central government and the states have launched several housing programs for the economically weaker since the First Five Year Plan. The National Housing Policy has recognized housing for all as the primary goal and facilitated several institutional and legislative reforms to enable both public and private initiatives in order to meet the annual target of 2 million houses (1.3 million in rural areas and 700,000 in urban areas) for the poor in the country. The homeless persons, however, till remain outside this scheme as they cannot fulfill the eligibility criteria for owning a house. The scheme of Night Shelters has been devised to provide some relief to them.

5.1 The Night Shelters The Central Government launched the Scheme for Night Shelters and Sanitation Facility for the Urban Footpath Dwellers in 1989-90, with subsidy up to 50 per cent of the cost of construction subject to a ceiling. Balance can be taken from Hudco or any other agency as loan. Land or site is provided by the state governments or local bodies or other implementing agencies. Hudco provides loan for land acquisition also if required. The states are the implementing agencies. They may recommend NGOs, CBOs, charitable institutions, clubs, public sector organizations and others for submitting proposals for construction and management of night shelters. The financial agencies ensure that the implementing agencies have made proper arrangements for maintenance before sanctioning loans. The state administrative departments

are

the

principal

coordinating

bodies

for

ensuring

smooth

implementation of the program. At the national level, Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation is the authority for preparing guidelines and release of funds to the implementing agencies. This scheme has two components—

1. Construction of community night shelters with community toilets and baths. 2. Construction of only community pay-and-use toilets/bath for the homeless.

These two components can be part of an overall complex of commercial or remunerative facilities. The scheme has been renamed as “Night Shelters for Urban Shelterless” and modified to be limited to construction of composite night shelters

with toilets and

baths for urban shelterless. These would be in the nature of dormitories or halls with plain floors to be used for sleeping at night and for other social purposes during the day e.g. health care centre, training for self-employment, adult education etc, the remunerative elements and provision for proper maintenance remain a part of the scheme.

The modified scheme also allows commercial use of the complexes. The ground floors of the night shelters may be used for shops, godowns etc. Existing commercial structures also may be renovated to construct an additional floor to function as night shelter.

The pattern of financial assistance remains the same subject to the cost ceiling of Rs. 20000 per bed for night shelter. Balance is to be taken as loan or other help from any agency. There is no ceiling amount of loan. The implementing agency will take the full responsibility for maintenance of the shelters.

Pay-and-use public toilets, however, remain seriously neglected. For example, MCD runs a total of 13 community toilets in Kalyanpuri, Janata Majdur Colony and Tigri slums. Of these, six are already closed and seven are in an unusable state as these toilets have neither water nor electricity (The Hindu, 4.6.07). The toilets have been closed by the MCD stating that they are being under-utilized and there is no money to maintain them,

A sample survey conducted by Mahila Progati Manch in these areas indicated that out of 228 households living there, only 25 per cent of them have their own toilets, the rest being dependent on the community toilets run by the civic body. They cannot use the toilets as they are not properly maintained. One can imagine the plight of the shelterless, whose conditions are much worse than the slum dwellers, without

access to these facilities. Public toilets are the only places where they can go for a hygienic sanitation. Absence of such facilities is going to affect their living environment. This problem is likely to be much more acute when night shelters are used for other works

during day time. The shelterless will be denied access inside

the night shelters for using the toilets as the occupants during day time may object common access to these facilities for security reasons. The modified night shelter scheme is going to spell more trouble to the shelterless in absence of public toilets.

There are two types of night shelters; - permanent and temporary. Permanent night shelters are constructed with permanent structures while temporary shelters are of porta cabin types, operational only for three months during winter. The governments provide tents to the operational agencies for running these shelters. Blankets, durries, drinking water, baths and toilets are the basic facilities provided

in these

shelters. Along with the state governments, the charitable and other agencies also donate these facilities. In the permanent shelters,

users pay some nominal charge

(Rs. 6 per blanket per night) for using the facilities. There are no such payments in the temporary shelters. The baths and toilets may be used during day time also on pay-on-use basis with nominal charges. Currently, this scheme has been transferred to the State Sector from the Central Sector.

The National Housing and Habitat Policy aims at providing shelter to all with timebound construction activities. The shelterless in the city, however does not always want to live in the city. They want to earn more and send the remittance back home. They do not like the idea of staying so far away from their relatives and communities. They also do not want to spend on housing in the city. Slum housing is also expensive for them and there are no alternatives than to sleep in the open. Night shelters are the right kind of scheme to address the floating nature of homelessness. Some times, very short visitors to the city spend the nights here as it is very convenient and cheapest place to stay provided the basic facilities are supplied. The scheme also provides the option for using these places as day-care centers or training centers during the day for making them self-sustainable. The states however have not shown much enthusiasm to implement these schemes despite the increase

in the number of shelterless persons. The following table shows the number of night shelters constructed in different states and the related costs.

Table5.1: State wise Summery of Night Shelters for Pavement Dwellers (As on 31.1.07) -----Cumulative States

Schemes

Project

Loan

Beds

(No.)

Cost

(Rs. Crore)

(No.)

(Rs. Crore)

Pay-anduse Toilet Seats

Baths

Urinals

(No.)

(No.)

(No.)

Andhra Pradesh

5

4.03

2.14

2116

210

0

0

Bihar

5

1.28

0.48

1967

0

0

0

Chhattishgarh

6

14.82

6.90

0

2905

760

1007

Gujarat

2

2.09

1.06

50

1109

0

0

Jharkhand

3

1.46

0.79

2284

0

0

0

Kerala

3

0.5

0.30

358

0

0

0

Karnataka

1

0.94

0.00

0

7962

28

9

Maharashtra

34

27.15

0.00

0

2018

52

449

Madhya Pradesh

14

15.70

2.95

7133

206

412

323

3

0.79

0.06

328

1038

206

0

Rajasthan

14

6.59

0.18

886

0

545

296

Tamil Nadu

1

0.09

0.06

150

0

0

0

Uttar Pradesh

2

0.97

0.50

1695

30

0

0

West Bengal

1

0.07

0.0

0

0

22

18

94

76.5

15.40

16867

15603

2015

2102

Orissa

Total

Source: Hudco, unpublished data.

The above table shows general apathy of the states towards solving problems of the shelterless. According to Census, there are close to 2 million shelterless persons in India, even with modest estimates. The major urbanised states however have been able to provide only 16867 beds to the footpath dwellers in the night shelters (0.86

per cent) covering less than one per cent of the requirement. Big urbanised states like West Bengal, Maharastra and Karnataka have not provided any data regarding these figures, even though Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi account for more than 70 per cent of the total shelterless persons in India. In majority of the cases, the states fail to generate their share of the funds and the schemes remain abandoned. The situation is worse in case of public toilets. Here the number of defaulting states is more, West Bengal being the least performer among the states who have supplied data. The states are preoccupied with the low-cost housing for the urban poor while the number of shelterless, the most vulnerable among them, keeps on multiplying. In the state plan schemes, the gap between target and achievement is the widest in case of night shelters.

Providing shelter only to 7.89 per cent of the shelterless

In Delhi, the Slum and Jugghi Jhumpri Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is the implementing authority of the Night Shelter scheme. They have constructed 31 buildings for such shelters till now with accommodation capacity of

4710 persons. However 10 units, with capacity of 2511 persons have been closed owing to various reasons. The shelterless was denied accommodation in the places where their concentration was one of the highest. The night shelters at Turkman gate ( capacity 350 persons), Jama Masjid (capacity 800 persons) and Gol Market (capacity 325 persons) were closed due to land disputes as MCD did not own the land. Boulward Road night shelter (capacity 90 persons) was closed as the land was required for the Delhi Metro project while one night shelter in Karol Bagh with capacity of 60 persons was closed as a Coffee Home of the Delhi Government was constructed on the land. There have been no alternative arrangements for providing shelters to these persons. The other five shelters were closed as the operating NGOs refused to continue further. Some of the buildings are being used for other purposes like Haj majlis, community halls etc. Presently, there are 12 permanent night shelters with a capacity of 2000 persons and 14 temporary ones with a capacity of 1970 persons (Annexure). MCD operates 10 of the 12 permanent shelters while the remaining two and all the temporary shelters are run by the NGOs, majority by the Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA). MCD provides all the materials like tents, blankets, wooden benches etc. while the NGOs provide for the medicines and other items. Temporary shelters are operational for three months in the winter. In the permanent shelters, essential facilities like drinking water, bath and toilet facilities are provided. MCD has involved the NGOs on experimental basis in the maintenance of the night shelters. It owns the capital assets and provides the cost of running expenditure to the NGOs. The private sector is also involved with donation of mats, blankets, clothes, medicines and the like. It used to charge Rs. 6 per inmate since 1999 but has made it free since this year. Tenth Plan for Delhi earmarked Rs. 3 crore for the Night Shelter scheme. However, none of the 5 new night shelters targeted to be built during the plan period has come up as yet.

5.2 Occupancy All the night shelters are, however, not fully occupied. Permanent shelters have 80 to 120 per cent occupancy while in temporary night shelters, more vacancy has been observed. In such a shelter in Raghubir Nagar in West district, only 20-25 persons were occupying the place though it has a capacity of 90 persons. It is the temporary nature of comforts that acts as deterrent. In the FGDs, it was discussed in depth and

people complained that they needed such shelters in summer and the rainy seasons as well. Many of them have made some arrangements for facing the cruelty of nature and do no want to disturb that for three months. There are persons who rent quilts to them, sometimes illegally keeping the local administration in good humour. These facilities are not extended to those who discontinue it. If the night shelters are not fully occupied, it does not mean that there is no need for them. People sometimes, do not want to disturb whatever meager arrangements they have made as the opportunity cost will be higher. That is why; it was found that occupancy in permanent night shelters are much better. In the permanent night shelters, some inmates are staying since 15-20 years. In the FGDs, many of them could not remember since when they are staying. They also do not change their sleeping place. They travel 20-25 km. distance during daytime to their work place and come back at night to the same night shelter. According to rule, a person cannot stay in a night shelter for long. But the familiarity with the watchman, guards and local area police leads to this advantage. The caretaker does not want to deprive the inmates of this meager facility. Prolonged stay in a particular area helps to generate certain kind of kinship. They form social network with inmates of other night shelters. This gives a kind of informal security that helps in building assets in their native places. They do not want to build houses in the city. Some of them prefer to spend for their children’s education rather than spending money on house in the city.

The occupants of the night shelters are generally single as families with children are not allowed. There are some arrangements for ladies in the temporary shelters, but hardly anything in the permanent ones. Sometimes, man and wife with no children take shelter in the temporary tents during winters. But families will children will have to stay in the open.

There are criminals and drug-addicts, who surreptitiously take advantage of these shelters. One cannot consume liquors inside the night shelters. So many of them have it outside and silently come to sleep without being noticed. There are petty thieves and burglars who come back very late at night. Sometimes, the inmates know about them and discuss it openly but do not report to the police. They are

united through the bondage of poverty. It is also the reason that many

shelterless

persons do not want to sleep in these night shelters for fear of pick pocketing.

Temporary shelter to be withdrawn after three months

5.3 Alternatives to Housing Permanent night shelters are seen as alternatives to housing. People from several occupations are staying in these shelters. Even beggars come to stay in these places. Sometimes, their daily charges are paid by their aquatints in these shelters. People staying in these shelters are privileged compared to those who sleep in the open. There are carpenters, masons, black smiths and other labourers whose average earning varies from Rs. 50 to Rs. 250. They keep their belongings and money in informal set-ups like shops as the shop owners

are known to them. Some

of them keep it with the local residents as they are from the same native place. The shelterless visit their native places during harvesting seasons or when they have accumulated sufficient savings or to meet some family priorities. They make such

journeys even twice or thrice a year, but come back to the same night shelters again. Their places are not occupied during their absence.

It is this kinship associated with the longtime stay that has generated a feeling of stability among the deprived. We attended marriage ceremony among the beggar families, who, with their meager resources, try to make the best of opportunities. It is the informal nature of arrangements that help them to access a stable future in terms of generating saving and asset. They cannot go to formal financial institutes as they do not possess the required documents. It is the trust among the permanents settlers, familiarized through long-term association that gets transformed into material gain of saving meager resources. Permanent night shelters thus help in solving the settlement problems to the floating population.

5.4 Perceptions of the Inmates Welfare schemes in the social sector are designed with good objectives but seriously lacking in implementations. Floating population may not like to spend on permanent houses in the city. They would have gone back to their native place but

for the job

opportunities. Night shelters are very good alternatives for them as the cost is very low. People staying in those shelters for long have been really benefited though it is illigal to stay beyond a few days. Permanent night shelters are very popular and much in demand. Temporary night shelters tend to aggravate the sufferings when the facilities are withdrawn. People get relief from extreme winters but there is no protection from heat and rains. Locational advantages are also very important. The night shelters in Turkman Gate, Dilli Gate, Nizammuddin etc. are over occupied, compared to the capacity measured in physical space (1.5 sq.mtr per person). These are the pockets of informal jobs as well. On the other hand, the night shelters in the North-West and South-West districts are occupied below their capacity. It does not indicate the abundance of these shelters or reduction of shelterless persons. Lower capacity may refer to lack of facilities that need to be addressed. The night shelter in Okhla is occupied below its capacity as people take shelter in the wholesale market building where they do not have to pay even the minimum cost.

The officials pay occasional visits to these night shelters but do not pay much attraction to the facilities provided. The night shelters in Jama Masjid and Old Delhi Railway Station have broken water coolers with no water. The main problem in Raja Garden night shelter is the stink from nearby drain. Fans are permanently out of order in Nizammudin and Azadpur night shelters.

Night shelters are the best alternatives to the shelterless as even beggars are utilizing these facilities. In Azadpur and Mangolpuri, we met a total of 30 beggars who earn Rs. 100-150 daily, have their food in the religious places and come to sleep in these shelters. Others take their meal in nearby roadside eateries.

Religious place also offer better sleeping spaces compared to pavements as has been observed in Connaught Place Hanuman Mandir, where approximately 150 persons including women and children sleep at night. But all religious places do not allow entry to outsiders for security reasons.

We covered approximately 200 inmates of different night shelters during our FGDs, spread over all the districts of Delhi. They have clear perceptions regarding advovatages and disadvantages of staying in night shelters. We try to summerise the major observations emerging out of these FGDs in the tables below.

Table5.2 Major Reasons for Staying in Night Shelters Reasons

Respondents

Reasons

(%)

Respondents (%)

1. Protection against bad weather

50

7. Near to work place

29

2. Less costly than slum accommodation

47

8. Near to work place of wives

27

3.Secured at night

55

9. Familiarity with local people

42

4. Basic facilities

67

5. Protection harassment

against

police

6. Permanent sleeping space

35

62

Note: Multiple Answers. Source: Results from FGD conducted by IHD

Majority of the inmates consider the provision of basic minimum facilities, i.e., bath, toilet, drinking water and electricity the most important aspect of the night shelters. The most vulnerable among the poor including the beggars also does not mind paying for these basic facilities at affordable cost. The inmates find the permanent sleeping place as another very desirable provision. The floating population is not so floating in nature. Many of them are staying in these places for years. These places have become almost like home to them. They do not want to spend on houses in the city and save fiercely to improve the quality of life in their native places.

Night shelters offer protection against police harassment and possibilities of getting killed by accidents or getting murdered. People are generally satisfied with security inside as the gates close by midnight. These are manned by the MCD staff and not by the police. Night shelters seem to be best alternative to people who cannot afford even slum housing. Rents in the slum are higher compared to their affordability. The basic facilities like electricity, water and toilet are also quite costly. The slum lords extract their pounds

of flesh from the poor though they themselves devise many ways to escape laws of the land.

5.5 Major Problems The inmates felt that the most significant problem in the night shelters in general is the lack of maintenance. Toilet seats are not clean, water coolers are broken, fans do not work, blankets and durries are torn. The maintenance persons are not serious about these inconveniences. Their attitude is not positive towards the inmates. The staff thinks that the inmates deserve no service as they pay very low charges. The purpose of the welfare schemes are defeated by the attitude of the implementing agencies. Some persons find it very difficult to go to the night shelters that are 5 to 6 km. away. Shelter less persons are found even in posh areas of south Delhi. They are unable to utilize these services as that would increase the transport cost. Shelterless persons are generally single. Yet many of them who are living this life for long have families as well. They cannot take advantage of night shelters as there is no provision for women and children.

Similarly, the rickshaw pullers and the venders find it convenient to sleep on their vehicles as protection to theft. Rickshaw pullers constitute a significant number of the shelterless. But they cannot take advantage of these facilities in fear that their vehicles will be stolen.

The space in these shelters remains unutilized owing to lack of awareness regarding location of such facilities. Shelterless persons are largely illiterate. They would not know about these provisions unless spread by word of mouth. The municipal staffs do not take any positive role to create such awareness.

Table 5.3 Major Problems in the Night Shelters Problems

Respondents (%)

Problems

Respondents (%)

1. Not properly located

62

7. Fans do not work

82

2. Not sufficient in number

87

8. Very dirty toilets

65

3.No place belongings

72

9.No water in coolers

68

4. No knowledge

47

10.Lack of privacy and security as inmates are not known

53

5. No. place for women and children

76

11. Attitude of the staff not helpful

56

6. Blankets are very dirty

65

12. Stinking neighbourhood

58

to

keep

Note: Multiple responses. Source: Results from FGD

A large number of homeless persons are drug addicts and alcoholic. Many of them have escaped from home to get rid of stressful environment. They earn even Rs. 200-250 daily to be able to pay for drugs and remain in that state forever. They cannot get rid of this habit even if they want to. There are not sufficient drug de-addiction centers in the city. The existing ones largely cater to children of the wealthy and the pavement dwellers hardly find a place in such centers. The lone drug-addict shelterless does not even know that any such center exists. He earns as much as to pay for drugs and keeps on taking it till the end comes. Sometimes he may enter a night shelter surreptitiously to sleep. He will be thrown out immediately if the inmates know of his habit. It is also the reason that many shelterless persons boycott the night shelters. They fear that they will be robbed of their meager savings by these drug-addicts.

5.6 Future Perception One cannot help noticing deep despair in shelter less persons who were surveyed or who took part in the FGDs. They perceive their future to remain the same in near or distant future as they have very little faith in government schemes or implementing agencies. Government schemes are not sufficient to provide shelter to all shelterless, even if they form less than one percent of total population. Night shelters are closed

either for want of maintenance or the land and buildings have been taken away for other purposes. The existing facilities are not adequate. But the inmates are reluctant to talk about it as the maintenance staff would not let them use even the meager facilities if they complain. They are tired of answering the survey questions that, according to them, will lead to nowhere. They are deprived of physical capital, but not of basic understanding or realization. They even pity the surveyors who, according to the inmates, have come to fulfill certain target numbers through these questions. These will be used to fill up official records but no meaningful benefits will flow to make the slightest change in their lives. This seems the greatest challenge towards forming any inclusive policy for growth. The deprived believe that they are permanently excluded from any redistributive economic programme.

Chapter VI

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Developing nations in general, have experienced rapid population growth and a slow-down in agricultural production, the expansion of jobs and opportunities in urban areas. These factors have caused a large increase in migration to urban centers while the urban authorities are simply not ready to catch up with the civic facilities in a short span of time. The consequences have been a large shortage of housing and the growth of slums and squatter settlements.

It is always argued that the government does not have the required fund to provide the required services. If we can classify the need for civic services according to income group, we may find a direct linkage between infrastructural need of the economically better off and comparatively narrower gap between target and actrievement. The gap is much lower in case of higher quality infrastructure. Globalization has accentuated the need farther. The pace at which highways, airports, flyovers, metro rail and high-end housing projects are getting completed with the public sector as facilitators does not reflect the real situation of other India, where plan schemes like construction of municipal school buildings, supply of text books to the poor, providing sanitation facilities to slums and building of night shelters fall 80 to 100 per cent short of targets. This cumulative non-fulfillment of targets leads to exclusion of certain section of people from the mainstream development. We are suffering from age-old economic malady i.e., mal-distribution, rather than shortage of

resuources. This is very explicitly reflected in case of

schemes related to shelter less population of Delhi.

This survey challenges the myth that the houseless needs a house in the city. The fact is that they do no even want a job in the city if they can find one in their native place.

They spend minimum on food and lodging in the city and send as much

remittance home as possible in order to make their lives comfortable in their native places. They want to be back in their familiar places among their own community. But ironically, may of them have to spend their whole life as shleterless in the city which provides them the only major livelihood. The shelterless does not want to

spend on housing in the city. All they need is some shelter in the city at the minimum cost. He would rather spend on his children’s education rather than on house as he does not want to spend the rest of his life in the alien city. The affordable shelter on a long-term basis matches with their floating nature of stay.

The government schemes of night shelters have tried to focus rightly on two components of service-- shelter and sanitation. The per-capita construction cost per bed in these shelters has been raised from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 20,000 at present. The central government used to finance 20 per cent of total cost as grant while the rest 80 percent finance was to be arranged by the implementing agency, generally the state governments, as loan from Hudco. The scheme has been transferred from the central to the state sector with the increase in central assistance from 20 to 50 per cent. However, the states do not show much seriousness in its implementation, as evident from the financial records.

In

the currently modified scheme,

some

remunerative elements and provisions for proper maintenance have been introduced. Public sector undertakings engaged in construction works will identify suitable sites for the night shelters.

The basic problem with this scheme is the casual approach of the states. In Delhi, none of the 5 night shelters proposed to be constructed under state 10th plan, have come up. Moreover, some of the existing night shelters are closed as land has been taken for other purposes. The community toilets are not worth using for want of water, electricity and maintenance. In many areas, deserted community toilets have become dens of criminal activities.

In the modified scheme, commercial use of shops and godowns on the ground floor has been allowed while the additional floor will be used as night shelter. This runs the risk of misusing the premises unless monitored very carefully. In cities like Delhi with very high market price for land, it is highly likely to use part of the additional floor also for commercial purpose living very little space for the shelter less to sleep. The night shelters may also be used for social purposes like

training for self-

employment during day time as envisaged under urban poverty alleviation programs.

This type of use is less likely for misusing the added land. However, given the poor record of monitoring agencies, the possibility of derailing the program remains quite high.

There is no time frame attached for implementing these programs. Welfare activities are treated like residual jobs. The inmates do not pay at all or pay very little for the services; hence it is thought they have no right to quality services ignoring the direct relationship between services and economic productivity. The shelterless may even come out of their misery with uninterrupted supply of basic services that would save time, the primary input of their productivity. The majority of shelterless are working persons, fulfilling several types of needs of the city.

If they fall ill get killed by

accident or vitiate the city environment with improper sanitation habits, enormous economic and social costs are generated. But we don’t deal with the matter on urgent basis as most of the losses are invisible. Opportunity cost of such deprivation is very high, leading to maldistribution of human capital. The economic importance of social welfare activities is hardly realized with the consequence that their provision often gets low priority.

The scheme has been transferred to the state sector with the possibility of farther reducing its level as the central government hardly has any effective control on the state sector schemes. They can stop the grants but that does not serve the purpose of reducing the level of deprivation. Centrally sponsored schemes like Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rojgar Yojana and Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan have stopped midway in many states as they failed to raise the matching financial assistance.

Even in much publicized. Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the emphasize is on capital expenditure in water supply, solid waste management and sewerage projects, rather than on welfare schemes. Schemes like provision of housing for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) are categorized as optional activity for the states, indicating the casual nature of

concern towards

reducing deprivation. Time frame for poverty alleviation programs is loosely mentioned as within seven years. The problems of the shelterless hardly find any

mention in the schemes of urban renewal. Land is not earmarked for night shelters and community toilets. The zonal plans also do not refer to them..

It seems the problems of the shelterless, however economically serious and socially acute, is not politically sensitive enough as the shelterless are hardly voters. They do not have any permanent address or any identity card owing to their floating nature of existence. Even if they are staying in the city for long and working almost in the same place for years, they cannot come out of their rootless characteristics and make any claim on the city assets. They constitute less than one percent of city population, thereby also reducing their weightage as vote banks. Hence,

their voice is largely

unheard even though their absolute number is significant.

The problems of shelter less is not only in terms of physical deprivation i.e., nonavailability of housing and infrastructure, but in terms of social exclusion as well. The attempts to provide decent housing to the poor in the absence of adequate access to educational or health facilities or livelihood options, they cannot come out of the vicious cycle of poverty. They are often identified with crime, substance abuse and all other negatives associated will bad development. The common characteristics of large metropolises is spatial concentration of poverty, deprivation and human suffering

in

terms

of

social

exclusions,

employment,

indebtedness

and

houselessness. At the heart of this process is the issue of land ownership, the right of land and the right to the city.

The shelterless has common access to the market of leftovers in downtown areas of the cities where things are discarded. Exclusion has provoked the re-creation of urban space, where the shelterless builts his home and establishes his place in the world. The vehicle used for livelihood purpose is one example of such recreation. It combines both functions-a work tool to pick up human beings or materials and a place to sleep. The shelterless keeps his personal belonging in the rickshaw, use it for livelihood and sleeps in it. It is his rootlessness character that prevents him to find a place in the society and to be integrated in the mainstream development process.

Recommendations Construction of night shelters at rapid pace is the prior requirement for the shelterless. At present, these shelters accommodate less than 8 per cent of the total shelterless in Delhi. Proper maintenance facilities in these shelters is a priority. These can be implemented with involvement of community-based organizations. There are significant employment generation possibilities through these welfare services. Involvement of slum women in maintenance and supervisory activities in night shelters may be considered. The problem of

lack of identification documents should be seriously

explored. They should get some kind of such document based on photograph with primary data about him or her self even if they do not have a permanent address. It is observed that generally the shelteress do not change their place to sleep or occupation. They need some kind of identity in order to establish credentials in work place or elsewhere. Pay-and-use toilets and community toilets are need of the hour. These are the only means of providing sanitation to them. These should be constructed in time-bound manner and maintenance should be given to CBOs, rather than any single organization. The government need to revamp its monitoring activities in this regard. It is a welcome sign that Delhi Master Plan 2021 has considered construction of more night shelters in crowded places. It is hoped that proper sites will be identified shortly and construction should begin immediately. The shelterless are not aware about night shelter schemes. The DSW should take proper initiative to popularize these schemes as and when they are available. Adult literacy programmes need to include the shelterless with proper value addition to their lives. The illiterate adult should be able to realize some economic benefits of literacy. They may be involved in maintenance of community assets and be paid for these activities. The services of the elderly may be considered in these programmes. The welfare programmes like Stree Shakti Camps should include the shelterless women as major beneficiaries.

Active government participation is required in spreading informal education at all level. The employers should be encouraged to be involved in such programmes with some tax benefits. We are used to offer huge tax subsidies to the SEZs all over the country. It is high time to link up welfare activities to tax subsidies. There should be a regular census of shelterless persons every three years in order to estimate their size and measure to what extent,

development

policies have been able to be inclusive. Local bodies may take up these tasks at ward level. The states are gearing to develop sophisticated database for getting benefits under the JNNURM. This opportunity should be exploited in removing the symptom of shelterlessness in a time bound manner. The state and the local bodies should prepare a time bound action plan with proper monitoring mechanism to deal with the problem of shelterless. The shelterless need to be included in the implementation welfare policies. They should not be only at the receiving end.

References

1.

Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan, 2001, The Capital’s Homeless

2.

Census Of India 1991, Instructions to enumerators for filling up the household schedule and individual slip, Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner for India, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi.

3.

DDA, 1989. “Survey of Pavement Dwellers in Old Delhi”, unpublished study, Slum and Jhuggi-Jhopri Department, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi.

4.

DDA, 1990. Master Plan for Delhi-2001, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi.

5.

Dupont (V), Tingal (D), 1997 “Residential and Economic Practices of Pavement Dwellers in Old Delhi”, Institute of Economic Growth, Working paper series, No.F/186/97, Delhi.

6.

Gupta (D.B.) Kaul (S), Pandey (R), 1993, Housing and India’s Urban Poor, Har Anand Publications, New Delhi.

7.

Jain (A.K.), 1996, The Indian Megacity and Economic Reforms, Management Publishing Co., New Delhi.

8.

Kundu (A), 1993, In the Name of the Urban Poor - Access to Basic Amenities, Sage, New Delhi.

9.

Kurvilla (J), 1990-91, “Pavement Dwelling in Metropolitan Cities - Case study Delhi”. Thesis, School of Planning and Architecture, Deptt. of Housing, New Delhi, Mimeo.

10.

NIUA, 1986, Dimension of Urban Poverty - A Situational Analysis. National Institute of Urban Affairs, Research Study Series No. 25, New Delhi.

11.

NIUA, 1989, Profile of the Urban Poor: An Investigation into their Demographic, Economic and Shelter Characterstics, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Research Study Series No. 40, New Delhi.

12.

SPARC, 1985, “We the Invisible”, Report on Pavement Dwellers in Bombay, SPARC, Bombay.

ANNEXURE Annexure 1: Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Migration State AP Assam Blhar Chttishgharh Delhi Gujarat Haryana HP Jharkhand JK Karnatka Kerala Maharastra MP Nepal Orrisa Punjab Rajasthan TN UP Uttranchal WB Total(%) Total(N)

Central East

New Delhi

North North North South South West East West West

Total Total (%) (N)

0.41 0.50 0.00 0.07 0.09 0.38 0.07 0.00 0.41 0.23 109 0.07 0.05 0.61 0.82 0.00 1.08 2.10 1.24 0.57 0.86 403 28.57 25.55 36.61 31.90 25.12 36.47 29.46 32.50 31.79 30.92 14465 0.15 1.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.28 0.00 0.02 0.18 82 1.14 1.22 1.82 2.27 1.41 1.24 1.57 1.10 1.56 1.51 708 0.02 0.16 0.36 0.08 0.07 0.00 0.35 0.29 0.16 0.14 66 0.65 1.06 1.52 1.04 0.48 0.68 0.30 0.62 0.53 0.68 320 0.09 0.21 0.00 0.01 0.11 0.18 0.00 0.10 0.16 0.09 44 2.78 0.45 1.70 1.88 1.38 1.22 2.03 1.43 2.03 1.72 805 0.63 0.21 0.00 0.37 0.00 0.20 0.03 0.10 0.16 0.21 99 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.30 0.43 0.00 0.06 0.00 1.05 0.21 99 0.13 0.08 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.05 0.14 0.04 20 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.34 0.04 17 12.85 7.91 8.01 10.29 7.37 8.84 9.77 13.81 13.47 10.19 4766 0.02 0.05 0.12 0.22 0.32 0.08 0.07 0.14 0.00 0.11 51 1.05 0.40 1.03 1.46 0.59 0.96 1.54 0.96 1.42 1.13 528 0.50 0.34 0.00 1.27 0.95 0.25 0.54 0.00 0.69 0.59 278 5.38 11.58 4.43 4.94 11.73 9.80 5.80 4.83 3.96 7.07 3310 0.07 0.00 0.18 0.07 0.00 0.08 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.05 24 38.05 44.88 35.40 36.41 42.34 34.32 36.92 37.57 35.59 37.49 17540 0.46 0.13 0.00 0.42 0.59 0.15 0.12 0.10 0.61 0.31 143 6.99 3.91 8.20 6.16 7.01 4.05 8.92 5.16 5.34 6.22 2911 11.59 8.08 3.52 15.61 9.42 18.03 18.43 4.47 10.84 100.00 46788 5425 3781 1647 7305 4407 8435 8625 2092 5071 46788

Annexure Table II: Location of Homeless Persons and the Night Shelters District

Areas of Major Concentration of Homeless Persons

Homeless Persons (No.)

Location of Night Shelters

Capacity (No)

Managed by

Central

Ajmeri Gate

5425

1. Jhandenwala Road

60

Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA)—(T)

2. Jhandenwala Road

60

3. Karol Bagh

50

Asaf Ali Raod Dariyaganj Dev Nagar Jhandenwala Karol Bagh Meena Bazar Minto Road Moti Nagar

AAA (T)

AAA(T) Nanak Pura New Delhi Railway Station Paharganj Turkman Gate

4. Yamuna Pusta

400 AAA (T)

5. Ram Nagar

70 AAA (T)

East

New Delhi

Yamuna Pusta Akshardham Mandir Anand Vihar Church Mission Road Geeta Colony Ganesh Nagar Jhilmil Karkardooma Kirti Nagar Kondli Sabji Mandi Krishna Nagar Laxmi Nagar Mayur Vihar Noidamore Preet Vihar Roshanara Park Trilokpuri Vivek Vihar, Vishwas Nagar Bapudham Bangla Shahib Gole Market Hanuman Manidr Mandir Marg Rajeev Chowk

3781

1647

6. Roshenara Road

250

7.Church Mission Road

500

8.Hanuman Mandir

150

MCD Slum Wing (P)

AAA (T)

Kirandeep Sharaan (T)

District

North

Areas of Major Concentration of Homeless Persons Shankar Market Anand Parvat

Contd. Managed by

Homeless Persons (No.)

Location of Night Shelters

Capacity (No)

7305

9.Delhi Gate

80

MCD Slum Wing (P)

10. Rani Jhansi Road

60

MCD Slum Wing (P)

11. Lahori Gate

250

MCD Slum Wing (P)

12.Chadni Chowk

200

Andha Mughal Chandni Chowk Delhi Gate Jama Masjid

Jamuna Bazzar Kamla Nagar

AAA (P) Kauria Bridge Khari Baoli Khoya Mandi Lahori Gate

13. Mori Gate

50 AAA(T)

Lal Qila Majnu ka Tila

14. Mori Gate

400 AAA (T)

Mukharji Road Purani Delhi Railway Station

15. Old Delhi Railway Station

60

Rani Jhansi Road Sadar Market Shakti Nagar Yamuna Bridge

16. Malka Ganj

150

AAA (T)

AAA (T) North East

Babarpur

4407

Bhajanpura D.U. G.T. Road Flyover Gagan Vihar Gokul Puri I.S.B.T. Loni Border

17. Shahadra

40

18. Nand Nagri

100

MCD Slum Wing (P)

AAA (T)

North West

Nand Nagri Seelampur Seema Puri Shahadra Aadarsh Nagar Ambedkar Nagar Azadpur Daya Basti Dhaka Colony

8435

19. Shehzada Bagh

200

MCD Slum Wing (P)

District

Areas of Major Concentration of Homeless Persons J.J. Colony Kashmere Gate

Homeless Persons (No.)

Lawrance Road Mukharji Nagar S.P. Mukharji Road

Contd. Managed by

Location of Night Shelters

Capacity (No)

20. Kashmere Gate

200

21. Jahangir Puri

100

MCD Slum Wing (P)

22. Nizammuddin Basti

120

MCD Slum Wing (P)

AAA (T)

Shehzada Bagh Salimar Bagh Sant Nagar Sarai Rohila Shadipur Shakar Pur

South

South West

Trinagar Wazirapur Amar Colony

8625

Ashram Badarpur Bhogal Chhatar Pur Chirag Delhi Govind Puri Hauj Khas Kalkaji Kasturba Nagar Lajpat Nagar Lodhi Road Nehru Place Nijamuddin Okhla Sabji Mandi Sangam Vihar Sarita Vihar Sundar Nagar Inder Puri

2092

Kabul Nagar Madhu Vihar Munirka Narayana Sadh Nagar Vasant Vihar

District

West

Areas of Major Concentration of Homeless Persons Ghanta Ghar

Homeless Persons (No.) 5071

Hari Nagar Zakhira Bridge Janakpuri Mangol Puri Maya Puri Najafghad Netaji Subhash Marg Patel Nagar Piragadi Pitampura Raja Garden Rajinder Nagar Rajouri Garden Uttam Nagar Total

Contd. Managed by

Location of Night Shelters

Capacity (No)

23. Raja Garden

100

MCD Slum Wing (P)

24. Mangol Puri

100

MCD Slum Wing (P)

24

3696(7.89%)

46788

Note; P—permanent, T—temporary. Temporary shelters are operational for 3 months during winter in a year.

Annexure III : Districtwise Distribution of Shelterless Persons by Education Level- Women (6 years and above) District

Illiterate

N Central 652 East 614 New Delhi 238 North 848 North East 612 North West 844 South 984 South West 164 West 495 Total 5451

Upto Primary

% N 73.59 217 78.92 134 72.56 87 74.32 263 80.85 129 76.59 236 75.11 303 69.49 64 78.95 127 76.08 1560

% 24.49 17.22 26.52 23.05 17.04 21.42 23.13 27.12 20.26 21.77

Primary N 9 27 3 26 13 19 17 7 5 126

Secondary

% N 1.02 8 3.47 3 0.91 0 2.28 4 1.72 3 1.72 3 1.30 6 2.97 1 0.80 0 1.76 28

Graduate & Above % N % 0.90 0 0.00 0.39 0 0.00 0.00 0 0.00 0.35 0 0.00 0.40 0 0.00 0.27 0 0.00 0.46 0 0.00 0.42 0 0.00 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0.39

Total N % 886 12.37 778 10.86 328 4.58 1141 15.92 757 10.57 1102 15.38 1310 18.28 236 3.29 627 8.75 7165 100.00

Annexure IV: Districtwise Distribution of Occupational Classification (above 14 years) Occupation

Ricksha Puller Construction Labour Coolie Loader Begger Rag Picker Unemployed Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Total

Centra East l 33.36 31.09 33.32 39.13 6.36 1.31 0.00 0.00 10.42 1.15 4.89 3.67 0.16 0.88

New North Delhi 22.58 31.86 37.54 39.09 0.00 1.31 0.00 0.03 18.84 7.89 5.81 4.58 1.14 1.71

0.26 0.52 1.07 2.29 6.44 1.87 7.53 12.23 10.82 0.06 0.12 0.00 1.36 3.46 0.33 5075 3294 1497

District North North East West 32.69 27.72 33.47 40.65 0.30 0.58 0.00 0.24 6.81 5.25 8.05 5.11 0.97 0.92

South South West Total Total West N 25.13 35.81 35.27 30.27 13169 42.16 43.48 41.83 39.20 17054 0.61 0.00 0.42 1.34 583 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 21 15.13 3.55 7.69 8.59 3738 4.82 6.85 4.99 5.20 2262 0.63 0.93 1.61 0.99 429

0.06 0.30 2.40 0.94 2.83 4.94 2.00 1.45 9.31 10.70 14.32 7.99 0.03 0.07 0.00 0.00 1.30 1.70 0.80 1.15 6785 4010 8037 8077

0.00 0.65 0.83 362 1.08 1.63 2.58 1123 6.65 5.58 9.65 4200 0.10 0.04 0.04 16 1.55 0.29 1.25 545 1941 4786 43502 43502

Annexure V: District-wise Distribution of Occupational Classification Male (Above 14 years) Occupation Ricksha Puller Construction Labour Coolie Loader Begger Rag Picker Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Unemployed Total

Central East 38.78 37.77 32.08 38.56 7.27 1.59 0.00 0.00 9.28 0.87 4.64 3.33

New North Delhi 26.35 35.86 36.70 38.09 0.00 1.46 0.00 0.03 18.06 7.18 5.67 4.78

North East 37.53 33.64 0.36 0.00 6.47 8.08

North West 30.74 40.22 0.67 0.21 4.39 4.97

South South West Total West Total 28.56 39.64 39.27 34.41 12761 41.09 40.22 40.08 38.27 14192 0.71 0.00 0.45 1.52 563 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 17 13.79 3.80 7.10 7.80 2891 4.96 7.02 4.87 5.17 1918

0.21 0.49 1.15 0.03 0.36 2.12 0.94 0.00 0.52 0.77 286 0.05 0.64 0.33 0.28 0.09 0.11 0.20 0.12 0.14 0.19 72 6.42 12.02 9.93 8.93 10.63 14.74 7.76 6.33 5.51 9.42 3493 0.07 0.15 0.00 0.02 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.12 0.05 0.04 15 1.01 3.63 0.41 1.51 1.92 0.83 1.25 1.73 0.29 1.30 481 0.19 0.95 1.40 1.84 0.84 1.00 0.73 1.04 1.71 1.06 394 4265 2645 1218 5770 3341 7017 6880 1738 4209 37083 37083

Annexure VI: District-wise Distribution of Occupational Classification: Female (Above 14 years) Occupation Ricksha Puller Construction Labour Coolie Loader Begger Rag Picker Unemployed Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Total

Central East New North North North South South Delhi East West West 4.81 3.85 6.09 9.16 8.52 6.96 5.43 2.96 39.88 41.45 41.22 44.73 32.59 43.63 48.29 71.43 1.60 0.15 0.00 0.49 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.39 0.00 0.00 16.42 2.31 22.22 11.92 8.52 11.18 22.81 1.48 6.17 5.08 6.45 3.45 7.92 6.08 4.01 5.42 0.00 0.62 0.00 0.99 1.64 0.39 0.08 0.00 0.49 14.07 13.33 0.00 3.21 810

0.62 30.05 13.10 0.00 2.77 649

0.72 8.60 14.70 0.00 0.00 279

0.20 17.34 11.53 0.10 0.10 1015

0.00 29.15 11.06 0.00 0.60 669

4.31 15.00 11.47 0.00 0.59 1020

0.92 8.60 9.27 0.00 0.58 1197

0.00 9.36 9.36 0.00 0.00 203

West Total 6.07 54.59 0.17 0.00 11.96 5.89 0.87

Total 6.36 408 44.59 2862 0.31 20 0.06 4 13.20 847 5.36 344 0.55 35

1.56 12.48 6.07 0.00 0.35 577

1.18 76 16.37 1051 11.01 707 0.02 1 1.00 64 6419 6419

Annexure VII: District-wise Distribution of Occupational Classification of Children (5 to 14 years) Central Occupation Ricksha Puller Construction Labour Coolie Begger Rag Picker

10.22 44.89 1.55 10.22 4.02

East

New North North North South South West Total Total Delhi East West West 5.03 6.80 6.78 13.04 9.09 8.18 3.45 11.67 8.43 247 33.17 59.86 39.62 37.68 39.00 51.70 66.90 45.53 43.97 1288 0.00 0.00 1.27 0.00 0.88 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.48 14 1.26 17.69 16.53 4.06 10.56 9.58 3.45 11.67 9.39 275 2.01 0.68 4.66 3.48 9.09 4.39 9.66 4.67 4.61 135

Vegetable, Fruits and 1.24 1.51 1.36 0.00 0.58 1.47 0.40 0.00 0.78 0.79 23 Ice Cream Domestic Help 1.86 7.04 2.72 3.60 3.19 2.35 2.00 2.76 1.95 3.18 93 Self Employed 5.26 18.34 4.08 5.93 11.88 6.45 9.38 4.83 4.28 8.60 252 Student 1.24 2.51 0.00 0.42 1.74 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.39 0.79 23 Others 15.79 24.13 4.76 12.71 18.26 14.37 11.78 6.9 8.56 14.24 417 Unemployed 3.72 5.03 2.04 8.47 6.09 6.74 2.59 2.07 10.51 5.53 162 Total 323 398 147 472 345 341 501 145 257 2929 2929

Annexure VIII: District-wise Distribution of Occupational Classification: Male (5 to 14 years) Occupation

Central East

Ricksha Puller Construction Labour Coolie Begger Rag Picker Vegetable, Fruits and Ice Cream Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Unemployed Total

18.26 10.63 46.06 35.83 2.07 0.39 10.79 1.57 4.98 3.15 0.83 2.36 2.07 0.79 4.56 23.62 1.66 2.76 0.41 5.51 8.30 13.39 241 254

New Delhi 7.29 61.46 0.00 18.75 1.04

North North East 10.00 19.12 42.94 37.85 1.47 0.40 15.00 5.18 4.71 4.38

North West 12.45 40.08 1.17 7.78 10.51

South South West 10.55 4.46 55.67 68.75 0.00 0.00 10.03 4.46 4.75 12.50

2.08 0.00 0.40 0.78 0.26 0.00 2.65 0.80 0.39 0.53 6.25 6.18 14.74 6.23 10.03 0.00 0.29 2.79 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.29 2.39 0.39 1.06 3.13 16.47 11.95 20.23 7.12 96 340 251 257 379

West Total Total 13.30 12.38 264 48.28 46.46 991 0.49 0.75 16 11.82 9.33 199 3.45 5.34 114

0.00 0.99 0.75 16 0.89 0.99 1.13 24 3.57 4.93 9.52 203 0.00 0.49 0.94 20 1.79 0.00 1.36 29 3.57 15.27 12.05 257 112 203 21332133

Annexure IX: District-wise Distribution of Occupational Classification: Female (5to 14 years) Occupation

Central East

Ricksha Puller Construction Labour Coolie Begger Rag Picker Vegetable, Fruits and I ce Cream Domestic Help Self Employed Student Others Unemployed Total

6.10 4.86 58.54 48.61 0.00 0.00 8.54 0.69 1.22 0.00

New North North Delhi East 7.84 2.27 9.57 62.75 40.15 47.87 0.00 0.76 0.00 15.69 20.45 1.06 0.00 4.55 1.06

2.44 0.69 1.22 18.75 12.20 18.75 0.00 2.78 1.22 1.39 8.54 3.47 82 144

0.00 0.00 1.06 7.84 6.82 11.70 1.96 6.06 20.21 0.00 0.76 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.06 3.92 18.18 6.38 51 132 94

North South South West Total West West Total 3.57 9.02 6.06 9.26 6.16 49 44.05 50.82 72.73 48.15 49.87 397 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.13 1 19.05 8.20 0.00 11.11 9.55 76 4.76 3.28 0.00 9.26 2.64 21 3.57 0.82 0.00 8.33 9.02 9.09 9.52 10.66 12.12 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.19 0.00 0.00 5.95 8.20 0.00 84 122 33

0.00 1.01 8 7.41 9.67 77 9.26 11.93 95 0.00 0.63 5 0.00 0.63 5 5.56 7.79 62 54 796 796

Annexure X: Duration of Stay as Shelterless District Central East New Delhi North North East North West South South West West Total %

upto 1 14.06 4.69 8.59 14.06 13.28 14.06 13.28 1.56

1-3 12.88 7.58 8.33 19.70 15.53 18.56 7.58 2.27

16.41 128 6.41

7.58 264 13.22

Duration (years) 5-10 8.56 8.50 8.56 8.15 5.35 3.90 14.17 10.33 14.44 15.38 14.97 19.63 19.25 20.21 6.68 5.63

3-5

8.02 374 18.73

8.27 871 43.62

10+ Total (%) Total (No) 5425 10.00 9.71 3781 13.33 8.86 1647 6.11 5.46 7305 20.00 14.27 4407 12.78 14.62 8435 13.61 17.18 8625 13.33 16.68 2092 5.28 5.06 5071 5.56 8.16 46788 360 1997 18.03

100.00

DATA BASE ON SHELTERLESS PERSONS IN DELHI District: _____________ No.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Area/ Ward

Name

Sex

Age

Caste

Religion

Marital Status

Education

Occupation

State of Origin

Reason for Leaving home

Duration Of Stay as shelterless (Months)

Changing Sleeping Place In a year