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POLICY REVIEW
in low and middle- income
countries like India. Besides,
homeless, being the people of
the street, they lack access to all
civic services. Homelessness is
estimated to affect 100 million
people globally, comprising 20
to 40 million in the urban areas
and about 60 million in the
rural areas (UN Commission on
Human Rights, 2005). The recent
estimates show that around 150
million people are homeless
globally (UN Habitat, 2019).
Discussions of homelessness
tend to be shaped by several
discourses concerning
causation, definition, counting
the homeless and appropriate
responses (Robinson, 2003).
Homelessness is one of the
most persisting problems in
India. Many times, it considered
as one of the by-products of
the rapid urbanization, it is a
growing urban issue (Ballal,
2011). Homelessness is a strong
and evocative social issue that
has become emblematic of
social inequality and injustice
in otherwise affluent societies
(Barker, 2012). Homeless
people are found in both urban
and rural areas, but ‘the rural
dimension of homelessness has
been almost absent in policy
debates’ (UNCHS 2000). Rural
homelessness in India (as in
many developed and developing
countries) is a relatively hidden
and unknown phenomenon.
Historically, the rural poor
come to the city in search of
better job opportunities and for
the betterment of their living
conditions (Srinivas, 2005). term ‘homeless’ refers to those
Paradoxically, however, they
end up being more pauperized.
Cities attract poor people with
the prospect of improving their
life condition (Glaeser, 2011).
However, the majority of these
people are absorbed in the low-
end informal jobs. Therefore, it
is highly challenging for them to
find shelter in formal housing.
In India, about 32 per cent of the
population lives in urban areas
of which 26 percent live below
the official poverty line, and
40 per cent do not have proper
housing (Banerjee- Guha, n.d.).
Given this backdrop, the
present Study uses the census
of India 2001 and 2011 data
to comprehend the size and
magnitude of homelessness
in the country. Geographic
Information System (GIS)
mapping method is used to gain
insights into the distribution
of homeless population across
districts of India, separately for
rural and urban areas. Also, the
Study compares and quantifies
homelessness in Bihar vis-a-vis
India. Further, it makes use of
Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojna-
National Urban Livelihoods
Mission (DAY-NULM) data to
estimate the shortage of urban
shelters across states/UTs of
India. Additionally, the paper
briefly examines the government
schemes and policies for the
homeless in India.
WHO ARE THE
HOMELESS?
October 2020 Volume 21 No. 2-SHELTER 35
In the developing world, the
who live in open spaces without
having any basic shelter for their
possessions, such as ‘kuccha’
(unfinished), slum or shanty
house (Ghosh, 2020). According
to the United Nations, homeless
households that are without
shelter that would fall within
this scope. They carry their few
possessions with them, sleeping
in the streets, in doorways or
on piers or in another space,
on a more or less random basis
(United Nations, 2005). The state
of homelessness does not merely
indicate the absence of a home,
but it manifests the outermost
states of marginalization and
advanced levels of destitution
and denial of basic rights (Tipple
and Speak, 2009).
However, Census enumeration
also poses the problems related
to coverage of the homeless
population. The most common
questions about the homeless
concern numbers, composition,
and geographic distribution
(Lee et al., 2010). Sattar (2014)
pointed out that “according to
the Census of India definition,
the word houseless does not
consider people who live in
makeshift arrangements or in
deplorable housing conditions.
So, sections of the population
who are vulnerable of becoming
homeless are not considered.
Besides, the government’s
official surveys are conducted
during the day time, when it is
difficult to trace the homeless”