Background

Delhi houses one of the largest populations of homeless groups out of all the states in India. To put some numbers here, the 2011 national Census showed that New Delhi, Central Delhi, and the Northern districts of the state fall within the category of six Indian regions that have high rates of homelessness—with the other two major states being Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. These states are immigrant hotspots, or, in other words, they attract a huge number of migrants who arrive in urban spaces hoping to find better job opportunities. In contrast, however, these migrants fall into a vicious system that isolates them socially and economically, leaving them little room anywhere in the city to take shelter. It has thus become the preoccupation of social service organizations and civil rights groups to gather response data from these underserved groups who are left to their fate in the urban spaces of Delhi. Estimates from these studies suggest that numerous migrants find temporary arrangements either near religious premises or labor markets, with the exact number still uncertain. 

One of the grave predicaments that plague these displaced homeless people is the climatic extremes that Delhi as a city experiences every year. The city has shown a geometric progression in its summer temperatures, and consequent urban heat effect; impacting a large number of people who are already deprived of shelter by bringing them to the verge of heat strokes or extreme dehydration. The winters in Delhi give no refuge either, when about 200 people were found to have had extreme impacts of cold waves that reduced their body temperatures to subzero. Though the former government attempted to address this tragic state of reality, the bureaucratic mechanism and lack of awareness amongst the underserved group have made the efforts futile. Moreover, when considering this problem from the vantage point of urban planning, the G20 summit, developmental projects, and city renovation plans demonstrate an acute negligence on the part of the governance in understanding the needs of this socioeconomically challenged community. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that slum dwellers and informal workers who migrate to Delhi for better employment chances do not find any avenues to meet the rising costs of living, leaving them seriously challenged to make ends meet in the absence of skills that can gain them more secure prospects. 

It is to address this dual problem of homelessness and lack of skill training that the project THEN intends to address via its multi-pronged support system for the migrants suffering on the streets of Delhi.