Homeless people: India
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Urban homelessness increasing
India’s urban homeless increasing rapidly
Rohit PS, TNN | Aug 14, 2013
More than a lakh of India's urban population became homeless in the decade 2001-2010, according to a census summary, which experts attribute to large scale migration from rural areas to cities.
The data also shows that numbers of urban homeless are more compared to the rural homeless population, which began to decline since 2001.
Urban India now has 9.42 lakh homeless people, an increase of 1.64 lakh over 2001 census figures. The increase has caused urban homeless numbers to exceed that of rural homeless population, a reversal compared to 2001, when the urban population was 7.78 lakh and rural population was higher at 11.65 lakh.
"Migration is the primary cause for an increase in country's urban homeless and a decline in rural homeless population. Many people who migrated for jobs find work but do not have houses to live in," D H Pai Panandikar of RPG foundation, a New Delhi-based economic think-tank, told TOI.
NCT [NCR] Delhi recorded a whopping 95.5 growth rate in its urban homeless population in the last decade, data shows.
"The migrant population is so high in Delhi, that the government admits that it is unable to cope with the influx from rural areas," Panandikar added.
Among the southern states, Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest growth in urban homeless.
The figures show that compared to 2001, the number of urban homeless people was higher by 13.5 percent decade on decade in 2011.
Tamil Nadu on the other hand showed a steep decline of 35% during the decade. Kerala and Karnataka also fared better than AP.
State-wise data shows Uttar Pradesh recorded a decade on decade growth rate of 87.2 and Chandigarh recorded 54.2 in the last decade. Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala in addition to most northeastern states, have all recorded increasing growth rate in urban homeless population.
States with declining rates of homeless population
Some states showed a decline in rate of homeless population, with Tamil Nadu recording 35 percent and Karnataka, Goa and Bihar, also showing declining rates.
N Bhaskar Rao of Centre for Media Studies in Hyderabad said rural housing initiatives by governments are more in number compared to urban schemes.
"Rural housing and living conditions have been better addressed by governments through state and central schemes. It's a myth that urban population lives better. The living conditions of the urban poor are in fact worse than that of rural poor," he said.
Rights
Unlike Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, AP's urban homeless do not have adequate backing of rights based non-governmental organizations, explained Ananth Maringanti of Hyderabad Urban Labs.
"There is an absence of strong housing rights movement in AP. Also, real estate developers in urban areas of the state who have to earmark a tenth of their development space for low income housing, violate the norm. The crisis is aggravated by large scale evictions in urban areas like Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam," he said.
Rural homeless decrease
On a positive note however the country's total homeless population recorded a decrease, as the rural population came down by more than two lakh in the last decade. India now has 18.2 lakh homeless people, a decline of 8% over 2001.
Night shelters
2014-15 statistics
The Times of India Jan 02 2016
Dipak Dash
There may be a growing concern for homeless across big cities during winters, but progress in construction of night shelters has been very slow across most of the states despite the Centre providing 75% of funds required for building and refurbishing shelters for the urban homeless.
Government data shows, till mid-November, 601 shelters were sanctioned under the “Shelter for Urban Homeless“ (SUH) while only 226 were operational. States that have better record of implementing the projects are Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, While Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab are yet to build a single such shelter.
“We share 75% of the total cost involved in construction, refurbishment of abandoned government buildings and even for their maintenance for five years. All these projects are sanctioned under the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM),“ a housing and poverty alleviation ministry official said. sion of Central assistance for building night shelters has been there for a few years, both Centre and states took interest only after the apex court pulled them up for failing to provide shelter to the most vulnerable sections of the society .
In November 2014, the apex court had asked the Centre to find ways to provide temporary shelters for the homeless and directed it to hold a meeting with states to prepare an action plan. The issue is to be heard by the SC next week when the action plan will be submitted.
