Mudasir Nazar
When sun sets and the homeless congregate, second city becomes visible and which is neither Saint Augustine’s ‘City of God’ nor city of heaven fallowed by doomsday but worldly city opposite of Paris night; followed by day and finishes with sunrise as their dwellings become with sunrise pavements, streets, road dividers and shopping corridors. It is the city of night in Indian metropolitan cities like Delhi but with different population who are neither enrolled in electoral rolls nor in ration depot. Such marginalized folk can only meet at evenings and seen during nights. The city of starvation and disturbance presents a grim picture of the human reality and reverse to the India’s propaganda development, when everyone from the corners is fascinated by the television news, “India’s economy is growing very fast and is going to emerge as regional economic giant in 2020”. The news fascinated, Sara Bai too, eighty year old ‘bag lady’ on the grimy portion of pavement in the street of Delhi said ironically to me, “where is this India? I want to become its citizen and live a better life there.
No surprise, because the homeless population lacks the elementary markers of citizenship of poverty such as ration cards and voter identity cards and are deliberately rendered anonymous in order to promote a better picture of India in the world. Even misrepresented by census by using term slum dwellers because these people have no shelter over their head and escapes census enumerators to whom they wary off and are seldom noticed by officials. Thus the 1.94 million homeless described by 2001 Indian census is a grass underestimation of homeless population and so this second city must be surveyed properly to discover India in reality.
There is a strong link between development and homelessness. While the average growth rate from 2007-2011 was 8.2%, poverty declined by only 0.8 and more than three fourths of the 1.2 billon population have faced further marginalization. The India’s neo-liberal exploitative system is thriving out of their abundant cheap labour and development upholds more by sweeping them out of their habitat. Over 74% homeless are involved in hard physical labour. State denies them right to city and put them into more exploitative relationship. Moreover, development of cities leads to city cleaning operations to eliminate the slum dwellers, thus, slum demolitions and evictions without rehabilitation bring them on road side which gives a huge cheap labour force to state and elites. One must have a trip to the skid row of second city, because the situation of tramps or vagrants strikes one’s mind while going through the actual reality behind the success of India’s economic development.
This houseless population lives on places not meant for human habitation such as roadside, pavements, drainage pipes, under stair cases, parks, sidewalks, platforms or open ground and sleep without shelter. They live without facilities and amenities for bare existence and are deprived of basic means and needs of livelihood. Life of second city is extremely undesirable with several negative consequences. Life on the streets usually involves surviving in a physically brutalized and challenging environment, with denial of even elementary public services and assured food. Street life puts them at risk to atrocities and devoid them Government services.
When night falls it becomes a living hell, when homeless-women, men, children and even babies coexist alongside the stray dogs, rats and rubbish dumps. Each snatches and each person’s hand is at every body’s throat. Besides the vulnerable and exploited, beggars and thieves sleep alongside sex workers and pimps and predators share their limited space. Living in discomfort and indignity but all united in poverty. To differentiate between them is very difficult. Nobody is bad by nature but rendered by circumstances and compulsions. However, that does not mean the city is devoid of pious people.
The manner of life is different and the family relations are very strained. The subjects of this marginalized folk suffer from increased anger and depression. Without food, water and shelter, psychological comfort could not be fulfilled, result is increased abusing, fighting over pity issues, harsh language and undesirable socialization. This sub-human population considered by middle class people, lives in open, bath open and has to pay for it. Women and girls frequently face sexual abuse.
Indian city streets are extremely unsafe for women, with theft, murder, rape, kidnapping, sexual exploitation and gender based violence is common. The women folk undergo multiple vulnerabilities and homelessness subjects them to several forms of exploitation. However, roadside vending and other related practices too are present here. Everything is done for belly. Everything is reverse, the women who defecates in open and bath rarely are good women of homeless society because they doesn’t prefer to go places where men taunt them or harass them. Women undergo often verbal abuse. Spending sleepless nights to guard their adolescent girls is common feature by parents. The world instead of looking with suspicion should appreciate those women who still save their chastity even under such circumstances- a noble price job.
These unfortunate wretches need suitable shelters to live and basic essentialities to continue their living. The Central Government seems indifferent to their needs and is not sincere to their demands. Only commissions are appointed and money is grabbed and no improvement comes. The irony is instead of providing shelters, homeless people are deprived from sleep by the administration. The homeless are not allowed to sleep on public places by police and in streets by middle class people and more shocking is that they have to pay for sleep at railway platforms. Those unable to pay wonder from place to place and sleep while walking and at every occasion suffer from humiliation. This is shame for the Government that they collect 10 or 20 rupees from homeless unlearning lot for sleeping in each platform. There lies the logic of India’s neo-liberal economic development and GDP growth rate.
Instead of providing sleep, they are deprived from right to sleep, which is a basic human right termed by supreme court, On 25 Feb. 2012 and declared, “sleep is essential for a human being to maintain the delicate balance of health necessary for the very existence and survival, sleep is therefore, a fundamental and basic requirement without which the existence of life itself would be in peril”. The judgment though given for other case when Ram Dev’s supporters were attacked by police while sleeping, provide a vast scope and ample opportunities to homeless and organizations fighting for it to press Supreme Court to include homeless into its ambit.
The rehabilitation of these people is a living challenge to the state of India. Present picture provides a glaring evidence of governance failure because the Indian approach remained more exclusive and less inclusive towards them and measures taken are grossly inadequate. This homeless group has remained invisible in national discourse and unfortunately they are unable to demonstrate their presence. They need to acquire visibility possible only by building capacity and entering into politics to desire change through the same means which empowered other categories of people. They need to enter into united demonstrative politics and formation of collective bodies is necessary to articulate their interests.
( The author is M.Phill scholar of south Asian studies, SIS centre, JNU, New Delhi )
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