City of Shame.....

Its been a painful struggle.For the complete month,we were on night patrolling,just spotting the people ( women,aged,disabled,abondoned) lying on pavements without adequate coverings and provide them with blankets,fire woods etc.We would attend to minor medical requirements,guide people to the closest shelters available or just cover them and move on....In cases where immdiate medical intervention of serious nature was needed,we would take them to hospital.

Can you belief that we picked up almost frozen bodies many times....Actually almost every day.....10's of minutes of continuous rubbing them would make their limbs move.......

You ask a person his name or place where he could be taken and he doesn't respond...and then you realize..mouth is frozen....its only after several minutes of rubbing hard that his jaws moved.....

Imagine a man in dlehi winter night with rains in just one shirt....yelling out of pain...knees bent and almost entering the stomach..mud on the ground being dug out....head buried in that pit...with the hope of protecting slef from the killing chill....I was shocked to see the level of sufferings....

Will probably share more when am able to.

Thought of calling few close freinds many times during this period ,in order to gain some strength to bear this, but then decided not to.Probably wanted to test my own boundaries of how much of this i could take.....

Human Life is the Cheapest Thing in this Country

I used to love the cold winds of winters.Bright sun of the cold December morning was my favourite.Laziness that winter evenings bring were superb.

But it was all till few years back.Not any more.Now the same cold winds or the lazy evenings,may be accompanied by little rain drops only scare me.
Since the time i began understanding the issue of homelessness, the charm of winters has turned into fears.

Winters are the most severe season for the poor homeless citizens.Not that other weathers are any kind but winters probably are the peak of nature's injustice towards its people.
Yes,some do feel,'winters are to be enjoyed' but these are those people who have the comforts of their homes and warmth,both mechanical and human.

With nothing to hold on to,not having enough in terms of material and most often relations too broken down,with no alternative support systems,homeless people don't have the luxury to enjoy the weather that continuously tests your will and determination to survive.

Past few weeks have been extremely severe on the people living on the streets.With temperature going down with each passing day,problems also kept increasing.Government's response has been shocking.Hundreds of people,including old,disabled,women and small children are out in the open and our systems couldn't find enough space to put up tents to protect them from winds.

You and me,we don't die of cold.But homeless people do die because of extreme cold. Because they lack the protection of shelter that can save them; clothes that can keep them alive! Because they are homeless; because there lives mean nothing to anybody.

Imagine,people spending night after night surrounding the little fire that they manage to make by picking up torn clothes,wood,paper etc.They have hardly anything to cover themselves up.Not getting sleep is only obvious.

Its such a painful sight to see small children crying because they can't get sleep. Due to the cold and dew.
When we go out on night patrolling,many times we find people who are almost frozen and unable to even utter a word.

Person carries some load whole day and in the night when he folds himself in order to protect him from the cold,he looks exactly like a bundle of the load that he carries all day long.
Poor ricksaw pullers who do such hard labour through out the day,can't even sleep peacefully.Whats the worth of human labour?

Or may be i should ask another question: when so many people die just because they couldn't protect them from the cold,what's the worth of human life?

Isn't it shameful for us as a society that when so many people die in the silence of the chilly nights, entire city sleeps peacefully.

A friend of Koshish has rightly put it: ' Human Life is the Cheapest thing in this Country'.

Myths vs Truth

1. Beggary Gang: This seems to be based more on popular notion and myths surrounding around the issue of begging rather than on the basis of any evidence based report or investigation. There is no recorded evidence of any such gangs existing.
An individual might have been involved in crime of some nature but it can not be treated as general nature/characteristics of the population. In fact, most of the people in begging themselves are the victims of various circumstances and exploitations.
In almost 4 years of our direct work with the people into begging, we haven’t come across any such gangs or organized grouping. What we have seen is informal and unstable living patterns where people come together but its more for the fulfillment of the very basic element of life, which we call as ‘emotions’ than because of any economic motives.
Somebody who is seen as an exploiter through the eyes of social worker and the authorities could be the only support available to the perceived exploited person.
If however, there is any trace of gangs in operation that must be investigated and dealt with as per the legal provisions but any action must be based on facts and not on popular notions.
2. Presence of Beggars is source to other crimes: Here again it seems to be a matter of imagination. Very often groups like alcoholics, drug addicts etc are seen as beggars and therefore such notions are created. There could be incidents of pick pocket, stealing etc for the want of drugs but it is completely unjustified to club such groups with people who are into begging out of destitution and otherwise.
3.Promotes Laziness: This is again one of the perceived notions that have been built around this population including homeless people that begging provides easy money and therefore such people do not want to work. This is far from the reality. If one is willing to spend time and invest energies, it will not be difficult to ascertain actual reasons for the person to beg. Probably at present, person looks comfortable in begging but in most of the cases, the start must have been very traumatic and forced one. It’s a situation of ‘no –alternatives’ when a certain degradation of self dignity takes place in an individual and it is only after that, that the person is able to spread his hand out.
4. Burden on city and need to be sent back: Begging is an extreme form of destitution and it is state’s responsibility to provide care and protection to its vulnerable and destitute citizens. Unfortunately, most of this destitution is the result of ill-planned ‘planned development’ where people living on margins have been further marginalized.
By sending the people back to other parts will be nothing more than washing off hands as the problem will still continue. State of begging is the creation of many other processes and unless we adopt a model of development where vulnerable and weaker sections of the society are included and seen as an integral component of city space, nothing will change.
Through implementation of legislations like BPBA, 1959 we will only continue this process of marginalization further and punish the victims of state’s failures.
Its time now that beggary is acknowledged as a social and contextual problem and serious, honest efforts are made to address it. There must be a comprehensive national policy and programme on rehabilitation of those into begging and structures to check processes that create such extreme state of destitution.

On counter – On Social Perspective
On ‘Assuming but not accepting’ the arguments raised against this ppulation, let us see how implementation of BPBA 1959 will not make any positive impact.
1. Beggary Gang: Even if the gangs were existing, BPBA 1959 does not really help for primarily two reasons: 1. The fine or punishment that this legislation prescribes for the person forcing others into begging is not really a deterrent (maximum 3 years as compared to maximum 10 years for one who begs himself). 2. People who are seen begging on streets, in the event of gangs being operational, will become the victims of those gangs and therefore, must not be treated as offenders themselves. And since BPBA 1959, is not strong enough to address the problem of gangs, matter must be investigated by police and action be taken as per CrPC.
This is in similarity with ITPA. However, in ITPA women are rescued and seen as victims where as in BPBA, person into begging is seen as offender and is arrested. If gangs are there indeed, then why does police not investigate the matter and rescue the large number of poor helpless people who would be the victims and forced to live a life of harassment and abuses because of those gangs.
2. Presence of Beggars is source to other crimes: When we are opposing the implementation of BPBA 1959, it is not all meant that person committing crime be left. Beggary as a phenomenon is a result of combination of factors which make an individual very vulnerable and it has to be addressed with social perspective but person himself can not be and should not be left free if he commits any crime. Opposition is to idea of punishing person who is begging not to protect him if he indulges himself into any other criminal activities. Such matters/cases should be dealt under CrPc and IPC as in any other case of those crimes.
3. Promotes Laziness: Until and unless we have safely nets for people who are unproductive largely like aged, disabled or abandoned, people will be forced to be in destitution.
Can we expect an 80 year old man who has been abandoned by his family or a disabled person who has no support system to work and earn his livelihood?
In the BPBP 1959, what is there that will make these people work? Once detained, person simply spends his period of detention and goes out without any change whatsoever.
4. Burden on city and need to be sent back: Sent back? Where? Won’t they be burden to the cities they’ll be sent back to? Whose responsibility are these people? Let’s not play with poor people’s lives in this politics. If one studies and understands the profile of people who are processed under BPBA,1959 or who are into begging, it will become very clear that most of the people are either working unorganized sector homeless workers or helpless, dependent destitute who have nowhere, no one to go to.
In the background of this, lies a situation where person is forced out of rural economy and also denied entry into urban economy. Traditional skills no more fetch a living and the way begging has been defined in BPBA 1959, alternatives that a poor migrant with no capital with him, can think of, have been made an offence.
The manner in which more and more people are pushed out of their natural habitat and forced to live on streets in unfamiliar spaces and then many of them getting processed under BPBA 1959,is a classic illustration of how poverty is being criminalized and certain class of people are eliminated systematically.
In addition, BPBA 1959 can not be used to this effect as the Constitution of India, which is the highest authority of the land, allows for free movement and stay in any part of the country.

Whose fault? Who pays!

Sanjay is 18 years old boy from a small village in Uttar Pradesh. He came to Mumbai two years ago in search of work after his father died of prolonged illness. He has his mother and two younger daughters to support.
He found a job at a restaurant where he was getting Rs 4000 as a salary along with food. He would stay at the restaurant itself.
In addition, in the morning he would deliver newspapers for that extra income. He would send money to his family every month. However, last month when he was returning after delivering the newspaper; he was stopped by the policemen. He was told that some furniture was to be shifted in the police station so he should go with them. However, on reaching the police station; he was kept with 30 odd people who were arrested by the police. Most of them were the migrant workers, doing odd tasks in different trades.
He was taken to court which sent him on remand to beggars home. Probation officer didn’t have enough time to check with his case. However, after he had spent 10 days in custody, a social worker met him and offered to contact his family and get him released.
But Sanjay turned down this help fearing that on knowing that he is into jail, his mother would be completely shattered. Also, nobody would marry his sisters. Thinking all this, he had decided to stay in beggars home. He thought that after remand period, he’ll be out and then everything would be fine.
However, when he was released, he was shocked to know that his employer was not ready to keep him on work. Also; he refused to pay his previous dues. His position was that he can’t trust somebody who has been arrested by the police.
Today, Sanjay is unemployed even after a month. He is back to the street: lifestyle of abuse and exploitation that he had managed to come out of after very long struggle.
( From the naratives prepared from real cases two years ago.)

Losing what i had:

Rajesh was a small time vendor who used to sell old books outside the local railway station. A police squad out on arresting the probable beggars in the city asked him to sit in the van. On contesting and asking why, he is being told that he’ll be left after some questions in the police station. Fearing the police, he sits in the van, while his shop is left unattended there on the pavement.
However, he is not left as promised to him. Instead he is taken to the court on the beggary charges. There he is not given any chance to speak; in fact, he is not even produced before the magistrate and sent on remand to beggars home. There he is made to stay for 14 days in inhumane conditions. Nobody from his family is informed about the incident. Neither was he allowed to make any calls to them or to any lawyer.
After his remand period is over, he is left as he was found not to be a beggar. But on reaching the station he finds that nothing was there, which was quite obvious.
After three days of hunger, he started working at a small tea stall at the station itself. Once he had the dignity of running his own business, although small, but today he is serving tea and washing used glasses and utensils.