India's Homeless crisis situation: "Too afraid to sleep"
Homeless women sit amidst their belongings on a pavement in New Delhi, which has among the most homeless people in India The phenomenon of homelessness is one of the worst forms of urban poverty and social vulnerability, and a glaring indicator of the failure of governance and the state’s commitment to a welfare state. It is tragic and unacceptable in a civilised society and independent India that a large percentage of our poor are homeless. No one wants to be homeless by choice – it is a situation people are forced into – like endemic poverty. Manjeet Kaur cannot say exactly how old she is or how long she has lived on the pavement of a busy street in New Delhi, her belongings in plastic bags, her washing hanging on the railing. Kaur was kicked out years ago by her husband's family in the northern Indian city of Ludhiana after a quarrel over property. She boarded a bus to New Delhi with her two young sons, going first to a Sikh gurudwara, a place ...