A new book on Indian urban spaces examines the worrying extent of homelessness in Delhi
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The city has turned into a battlefield where the strong wrestle down the weak and the rich exploit and tyrannise over the poor.
Delhi is no exception to what Kahlil Gibran says about cities. Compared to other cities of India, Delhi actually fares the worst in terms of the way the poor are treated. Among the poor, the homeless (which includes children, women, the elderly, destitute, disabled, mentally challenged, men, etc.) – i.e., the people who sleep on pavements, rickshaws, handcarts, rehris (carts), railway platforms, flyovers, in parks, under bridges, etc. – are really in a vulnerable position.
This is not to say that slum dwellers fare any better. But from the point of view of a homeless person, slum dwellers at least have a place to sleep in – good or bad, small or dingy, doesn’t matter too much. Also, in contradistinction to the homeless, slum dwellers do form a constituency for political parties, whereas the homeless have no ration card or voting rights in the city. Which is why they are in a condition of extreme deprivation and neglect, and are facing social ostracisation. And this has given rise to the myths and misconceptions about the homeless, spawning and abounding. Little wonder...