Provide relief to Homeless Indians
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target for the nation – every
Indian must have a house by 2022. On September 13, the Supreme Court took the
Centre and states to task, saying that there should be an audit by the
Comptroller and Auditor General of the money disbursed by the Centre to the
states for a scheme under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission
Homelessness in India has been a problem for centuries; causing the
average family to have an average of five generations being homeless. Homeless
people can either be described as living on the streets, in prison, in an
institution, or sleeping in other places not meant to be adequate nighttime
residences.
According to the 2011 Census, there were 1.77 million homeless people in
India, or 0.15% of the country's total population. There is a shortage of 18.78
million houses in the country. Total number of houses has increased from 52.06
million to 78.48 million (as per 2011 census). However, India still ranks as
the 124th wealthiest country in the world as of 2003. More than 90 million
people in India make less than $1 USD per day, thus setting them below the
global poverty threshold. The ability of the Government of India to tackle
urban homelessness and poverty may be affected in the future by both external
and internal factors. The number of people living in slums in India has more
than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of
Britain, the Indian Government has announced. Prior to the release of Slumdog
Millionaire in 2008, Mumbai was a slum tourist destination for slumming where
homeless people and slum dwellers alike could be openly viewed by tourists.
Some of the problems leading to homelessness include: disability (either
mentally, physically, or both), lack of affordable housing (considering that a
basic apartment in India costs approximately $177 USD per month), unemployment
(either seasonal or through economic hardships), and changes in industry.
Jobs involving heavy industry and manufacturing (that require only a high
school level of education) are being replaced by service industry jobs (which
may or may not require a high level of education). Since university is less
affordable for the average Indian than it is for the average North American or
European citizen due to their lower per capita income level, more people in
India are becoming unemployable for the jobs of the 21st century. The average
per capita income for a citizen of India is barely more than $1,200 USD;
compared to $54,510 USD in Canada and more than $64,800 USD in Switzerland.
Homeless children under the age of 18 are subject to child abuse, forced
labor (often involving picking up rags and sifting through garbage for
recyclable materials), illness, and drug addiction while being stripped of
their right to education and recreation. According to UNICEF, violence against
children in India include neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and
exploitation as the rate of child abuse increased to nearly 8000 child abuses
in 2007. Indian government study in 2007 stated that two out of every three
children in India were physically abused and that 50% of the nearly 12,000
studied children testified one or more forms of sexual abuse. The increase of
child abuse in India is reasoned to be the increase of freed criminals. Other
studies include that 7,200 children, including infants, are raped every year in
India, and the government refuses to comment on these serial child abuses that
continues in India. Many child activists believe that many other cases go
unreported. Many street children run away from their families after they were
being abused physically and mentally. When they run away from their families,
hoping that they will have a better life, these children face more abuses than
before including child labor and prostitution. A common problem that these
street children as young as 6 years face, is physical labor in which they sift
through garbage seeking money to buy their food. These children do 20% of
India's GDP work, garbage picking, luggage carrying and selling newspapers and
flowers.
An increasing number of migrants looking for employment and better living
standards are quickly joining India's homeless population. Although
non-governmental organisations are helping to relieve the homelessness crisis
in India, these organisation are not enough to solve the entire problem.
Attempts at gentrifying India's problematic neighbourhoods is also bringing
homelessness levels up. Laws passed by the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai
during the 1970s and the 1980s were held by the Indian Courts to be violations
of people's right to life in addition to their right to a decent livelihood. A
landmark case in 1986, however, would result in the favour of the homeless
masses of India.
About 78 million people in India live in slums and tenements. 17% of the
world's slum dwellers reside in India – making 170 million people "almost
homeless." The number of nouveau riche in India are not enough to supplant
the number of homeless people despite India's rapidly expanding economy. Up to
7% of homeless people in the major city of New Delhi are women. More than three
million men and women are homeless in India's capital city; the same population
in Canada would make up approximately 30 electoral districts.
It is estimated that more than 400,000 street children in India exist.
Mainly because of family conflict, they come to live on the streets and take on
the full responsibilities of caring for themselves, including working to
provide for and protecting themselves. Though street children do sometimes band
together for greater security, they are often exploited by employers and the
police.
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