Livelihood Management of Homeless people in Kolkata

Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,

Management Development Institute (MDI), Murshidabad, West Bangal, India.

International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences Page 79

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Livelihood Management of Homeless people in Kolkata

Biplab Nandy1, Amit Kumar Das

2, and Adrij Chatterjee

3

1,2,3(Students of M.Phil, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management

University of Calcutta, India)

Abstract: The “Pavement” is the home to nearly 1.5 lakh people in West Bengal, out of which

around 0.7 lakh people live in Kolkata (census 2011), the 2nd

largest metropolitan city after

Mumbai in terms of population. Most of the homeless people in Kolkata are migrants from

neighbouring districts or States. Homeless people can be divided into two categories: The

first category, having houses in other district/ state could not afford a shelter within the

manageable distance from the point of livelihoods and the second do not have any form of

shelter except the footpaths of the city.

This paper aims to understand the sources of livelihoods, capital and assets the homeless

population possess in light of Sustainable Livelihood Framework consisting of five capitals:

Human Capital, Natural Capital, Physical Capital, Social Capital and Financial Capital

(DFID, 2000). It has analysed the livelihoods of the second category of homeless population.

Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies have been used to analyse the extent of

capital and assets possessed by the homeless population. A CHAID analysis has been

performed to classify the practiced livelihood in terms of monthly income, the only capital to

survive. Findings of the study suggest that a “Big Push” (Rosenstein-Rodan) through

introduction of missing capitals like customized designed shelter, vocational training may

increase their assets which in turn will help them to get rid of vicious circle of homelessness.

It may also help city planners to design policy aiming to provide a dignified life to the

homeless population, thus encouraging the city to aspire for a higher position in terms of

human development index.

Key Words: Homeless population, Sustainable development, Livelihood management.

I. INTRODUCTION

Homelessness is often considered as one of the worst conditions of existence for a person

deprived of security, growth and dignity of life. There are 78 million (Business Standard,

2013, Slum Dogs) homeless people in India. Unfortunately their needs go unheard by the

policy makers or the State. Though there were few attempts by the civil society organizations

to survey and study the situations of the homeless, not much have happened in this line.

Simple things such as finding a job, taking a shower, etc., are things usually take for granted;

whenever there are problems for homeless people. How a homeless person goes about getting

a job? What address and phone number would they use as a contact? Frequently unemployed

homeless people are simply tagged as lazy, but there is a sizable homeless people who want




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to work, but face numerous stumbling blocks. When their appearance is unkempt and their

clothes are weathered, they are often shunned from simple restaurants where they may be

seeking a meal.

The entire homeless population can be divided in to two categories: 1) having houses in other

district/ state could not afford a shelter within the manageable distance from point of

livelihoods and 2) do not have any form of shelter except the footpaths of the city.

The paper has made an attempt to understand the sources of livelihoods, extent of possession

of capital and assets and quantification of daily income of the homeless population belonging

to second category. The above parameters have been analysed in light of Sustainable

Livelihood Framework consisting of five capitals- Human capital, Natural capital, Physical

capital, Social capital and Financial capital (DFID, 2000).

Human Capital is a measure of the skills, education, capacity and attributes of labour which

influence their productive capacity and earning potential. It is a quantification of

the economic value of a worker's skill set. This measure builds on the basic production input

of labour measure where all labour is thought to be equal.

Natural capital can be defined as the world's stocks of natural assets which include geology,

soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans derive a wide

range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible.

Physical capital refers to a factor of production (or input into the process of production),

such as machinery, buildings, or computers. It consists of manmade goods that assist in the

production process.

Social capital is a form of economic and cultural capital in which social networks are central;

transactions are marked by reciprocity, trust, and cooperation; and market agents produce

goods and services not mainly for themselves, but for a common good.




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Financial capital is any economic resource measured in terms of money used by

entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or to provide their

services to the sector of the economy upon which their operation is based. Variables such as

education facility, job opportunity, and financial support from others have been taken into

consideration.

The National Urban Housing & Habitat Policy (NUHHP), 2007 aims at promoting

sustainable development of habitat in the country with a view to ensuring equitable supply of

land, shelter and services at affordable prices to all sections of the society. However, the most

vulnerable of these are the urban homeless population. The Urban homeless persons

contribute to the economy of the cities as cheap labour in the informal sector; yet they live

with no shelter or social security protection. The urban homeless survive with many

challenges like no access to elementary public services such as health, education, food, water

and sanitation. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate livelihood management as it can

improve the quality of life of the homeless population.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Shwetank Mishra (2011); Choice less on Streets: Need Assessment of Homeless in Bombay,

has studied 300 samples of Homeless across pockets of Mumbai aiming to assess the need of

homeless in respect of Basic Facilities like Food security, health and Hygiene, Shelter,

Education for Children. The study helps to find (i) Whether the homeless are aware about

services, (ii) Whether they are able to access them and (iii) What are their aspirations about

them. Primary data has collected by interviewing the persons directly on the basis of

purposive sampling. The paper discusses the area wise issues as well as generic problems of

the homeless of Mumbai. It concludes that most of them are forced to live on streets in

absence of affordable housing options. There is food insecurity, inadequate drinking water




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facilities, and acute problem in assessing health facilities. Main problem for homeless are

Bombay Municipal Corporation and Police.

Catherine Cross, John Seager, with Johan Erasmus, Cathy Ward & Michael O’Donovan;

Skeletons at the feast: A review of street homelessness in South Africa and other world

regions (2010) studied the Homeless population of the different counties of the world. This

paper compares the historical causes of homelessness in Britain and Europe, India, the US

and South Africa, in order to approach a better understanding of South Africa’s own

homelessness situation. This paper identifies the main causes to be found in South Africa’s

homeless Population, tries to resolve the issue of street Homeless people’s need for space to

live in. This article is a comparative introduction to the origins, extent and dynamics of the

street homelessness problem in South Africa, seen in its world context. This paper examines

the effectiveness of policies on homelessness and studies a comparative view of the historical

development of homelessness trends in South Africa.

Dr A. G. Tipple and Suzanne - The Nature and Extent of Homelessness in Developing

Countries; DFID Project No. 7590; A study by CARDO in the School of Architecture,

Planning and Landscape, at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, set out to explore the

nature and extent of homelessness in ten developing countries. This empirical research was

conducted in Peru, Bolivia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Egypt, India, Bangladesh,

Indonesia and China. The common perception of homeless people as unemployed, drunks,

criminals, mentally ill or personally inadequate is inappropriate. In these countries

homelessness is largely a result of the failure of the housing supply system to address the

needs of the rapidly growing urban population. The study found that homeless people:

Have often migrated to the city to escape rural poverty or to supplement rural

livelihoods




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Are generally employed in low paid, unskilled work

Often choose to sleep on the streets rather than pay for accommodation, preferring to

send the money to their families

Are frequently harassed, evicted, abused or imprisoned

Suffer poor health with a range of respiratory and gastric illnesses

Are victims of crime, rather than perpetrators if it

Are predominantly lone males but increasingly couples and families with children

Thus a Big Push (Rosenstein-Rodan) in terms of capital infusion may enhance their assets to

come out of vicious circle of homelessness.

OBJECTIVE

Based on the above literature review and background of urban are, the paper aims to

Critical analysis of livelihood Management of the homeless people in Kolkata

To identify the measures to upgrade their standard of living (infusion of 5 Capital)

III. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH

Sample frame:-

Homeless for this Study mean persons who do not have a house and have been living in the

open on the roadside, pavements, drainage pipes, under staircase, or in the open, temple

mandaps, platforms and the like for at least more than a month’.

Sample size:-

Considering nature of target population, a convenient sampling method has been applied and

information has been collected on 730 homeless people living in three Boroughs (IV, V, VI)




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under Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Data has been collected through structured

questionnaire. 31 Wards1 under Borough

2 IV, V, VI have been considered for the study. As

per Municipal officials, these wards are found highly concentrated with homeless population.

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Descriptive research methodology has been followed to understand livelihood management

of homeless people in Kolkata by few statistical techniques. The research on which this study

is based was composed of two types of surveys: a statistical survey carried out during March

2018, covering a total sample of 730 individuals selected by area sampling from the main

concentrations of homeless people in the Kolkata city and in-depth interviews conducted

simultaneously with a sub-sample of 20 individuals.

Data analysis and Interpretation

Trend of houseless population in Kolkata (Ward wise)

Table no.1: Homeless population in 1971

Year 1971

Ward

no. Name of Areas

% of homeless population

to the total homeless

population

44 Burrabazar 9.98

46

Esplanade

surrounding 6.33

42

Jorasanko MG

Road 5.22

45

Esplanade BBD

bag 4.67

87 Kalighat 4.15

43

Burrabazar MG

road 3.76

32

Kakurgachi-

Ghoshbagan 3.76

Total 37.88

1 A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes

2 An administrative unit, bigger than ward and constitutes numerous wards




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Source: Census, 1971

Graph No. 1: Percentage of homeless population to the total homeless population in

KMC area

In 1971 homeless accounted for 1.59 percent of the city’s total population.

• 6 Wards out of 100 Wards had no homeless population.

• 64 Wards had a share of less than 1 % of the total houseless population accounting to

22.33% of the total houseless population in the city.

• 23 Wards accounted for almost 40% of the total homeless population having a share of 1-

3%

• The rest 7 Wards had a share of 37.88 % of the total homeless population with 3-9 %

• The centrally located Wards in and around the CBD had the highest share of the total

houseless population in the city.

The major concentration was found in Ward No. 44 (Barabazar) being 9.98

9.98

6.33 5.22 4.67 4.15 3.76 3.76

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Bu

rrab

azar

Esp

lan

ade

surr

ou

nd

ing

Jora

san

ko M

G R

oad

Esp

lan

ade

BB

D b

ag

Kal

igh

at

Bu

rrab

azar

MG

ro

ad

Kak

urg

ach

i-G

ho

sh

bag

an

44 46 42 45 87 43 32

% of homeless population to the total homeless population in KMC area



International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences 6

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percent, followed by 6.33 percent in Ward No. 46 (Esplanade surroundings), 5.22

percentinWard No. 42 (Jorasanko), 4.67 percent in Ward No. 45 (Esplanade-BBD Bag), 4.15

percent in Ward No. 87 (Kalighat) and 3.76 percent in Ward No. 43 (Barabazar and MG

Road) and 32 (Kankurgachi and Ghose Bagan) respectively.

Table no.2: Houseless population in 1981


KMC area

10.94

8.66 8.58

4.63 3.75 3.35

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Taratala-West Port, South Port,

Garden reach

sealdah Muchiparataltala Narkeldanga Ekbalpur, south port, Taratala

Burrabazar

86 36 51 33 83 42


1981

Ward

no. Name of Areas

% of homeless population

to the total

homeless population

86

Taratala-West Port, South

Port, Garden reach 10.94

36 sealdah 8.66

51 Muchiparataltala 8.58

33 Narkeldanga 4.63

83

Ekbalpur, south port,

Taratala 3.75

42 Burrabazar 3.35

Total 39.91




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In 1981 pavement dwellers accounted for 1.14 percent of the city’s population residing in 100

Wards of the city.58 Wards had a share of less than 1 percent of the total houseless

accounting to 22.21 percent of the total houseless.24 Wards accounted for almost 37.8

percent of the total houseless having a share of 1 -3 percent of the total houseless.3 Wards

had accounted for 11.73 percent of the total houseless with 3-5 percent of the total

houseless.3 Wards had 28.18 percent of the total houseless with 3-9 percent of the total

houseless.

Table no.3:Houseless population in 1991

1991

Ward

no. Name of Areas

% of homeless population to

the total homeless

population

45 Hare street 6.65

74 Alipore, Watganj 6.2

6 Kashipur, Chitpur 5.49

42 Burrabazar 4.44

9 Shyampukur 3.67

26 Jorasanko, Burtala 3.5

37 Amherst Street 3.15

Total 33.1


KMC area

6.65 6.2

5.49

4.44

3.67 3.5 3.15

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Hare street Alipore, Watganj

Kashipur, Chitpur

Burrabazar Shyampukur Jorasanko, Burtala

Amherst Street

45 74 6 42 9 26 37





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In 1991, 0.76 percent of the city’s population lived on the pavements. Altogether 65 Wards

had no houseless population, out of which 34 Wards were in the added areas and the rest in

the old Corporation area. Pavement dwellers were found to be residing in 76 Municipal

Wards. Most of the Wards (38 Wards) in Central, South-central, few in North and West

Kolkata had less than 1 percent of the population living on the pavements. Almost 23 Wards

(mostly in North and North-central Kolkata) had less 1-3 percent of their population living on

pavements. Nearly 11 Wards in Central and North-central Kolkata had 3-5 percent of

houseless population. 3 Wards in Central, and West-central Kolkata had 5-7 percent of

houseless population Only Ward No. 45 had more than 7 percent of its ward population

residing on pavements.

It has been observed that place of concentration of homeless people is not static till 1991.

The following aspect of homeless population has been analysed on the basis of our study.

Origin:

The origin of the homeless people has been analysed. It is found that a large part of the

homeless people is belonging to Kolkata. However, a considerable portion of the respondent

couldn’t give any answer. Again the average age of stay of families in the city has been

analysed and it is found that on an average families are staying in the city for last 22 years.

Graph No.4: Origin of homeless population




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Table No.4: Analysis of average stay of a homeless family

Statistics

No. Year

N Valid 725

Missing 4

Mean 22.16

Std. Error of

Mean .500

Median 21.00

Mode 20

Gender:

A skewed distribution of gender is found among homeless population in the city. Percentage

of male is 65% and that of female is 35% which is very alarming. However, the reason

behind this skewed distribution is unknown at this stage.

Table No.5: Analysis of Gender for homeless family

Frequency Percent

MALE 474 65.0




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Valid FEMALE 255 35.0

Total 729 100.0

Marital Status:

The analysis of marital status of the homeless people indicates that, around 53% of the total

sample population are married which indicates presence of social tie up among the target

population.

Table No.6: Analysis of Marital status for homeless family

Category Frequency Percent

MARRIED 384 52.7

UNMARRIED 145 19.9

SINGLE 104 14.3

NOT APPLICABLE 90 12.3

WIDOW 6 .8

Total 729 100.0

Literacy:

The literacy rate among homeless population is in a dismal condition. Only 15% of sample

population is found to be literate. This may be one of the reasons behind pulling them down

to the vicious cycle of homelessness. Even after staying in heart of the city they unable to

find time to go to school or education is not their immediate priority.

Graph No.5: Education of homeless population




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Considering five capitals for sustainable development, the homeless population of Kolkata

city is deprived of most of the capitals, specially physical capital and financial capital.

The Vicious Cycle of Homelessness

The most basic fact of a person considered homeless is the lack of a roof above his/her head.

This leads to the creation of a number of other conditions which keep reinforcing each other,

keeping a person trapped in street life. The operation of forces that keep a person homeless

can be understood by looking at the following diagram:

Diagram No.1: Vicious Cycle of Homelessness




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A person living on the streets does not have a house, so, cannot have a residence proof, which

is mostly required as an identity proof and of credit worthiness and credibility. The lack of

identity proof results in employers not hiring them in regular well-paying employment. As a

result the homeless are not able to have an income which allows them to save enough. Since

they are not able to accumulate savings they are not able to pay the deposits and rent required

for renting a space in the city of Kolkata. Thus a person without a roof ends up being caught

in this cycle: no house - no identity - low paying work - no savings - no house - no apparent

way of getting out without external support.

Each point in this cycle has a sub cycle of its own which further reinforces the larger

homelessness cycle and keeps a person on the streets. They are a) the identity cycle, b) the

work cycle, c) the savings cycle and d) the substance abuse cycle.

Once in to homelessness, the dignity of life is taken away from them, they lose their

confidence and are disempowered.

The different types of occupations performed by the houseless people surveyed show how the

economic functions of Kolkata are directly reflected in the major occupational groups of this

population.




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Table No.7: Occupational pattern of homeless people in Kolkata area

Occupation

Not

Known

Outside

WB

Within

Kolkata

Within

WB

Grand

Total

BEGGER 8 9 47 11 75

BUSINESS 2 2

CAR DRIVING 2 2

CATERING 1 1

COOKING 1 1

DAILY WORK 1 1 2

DEPENDENT 64 22 61 23 170

DIGGER 1 1

DRIVER 12 1 2 1 16

FACTORY WORK 3 3

FISH WORK 2 2

FRUITS SELLER 2 2 4

FUCHKA SELLER 2 2

GARAGE HELPER 1 1

GARDEN CLEANING 1 2 3

HANDICRAFT 1 1

HAWKER 3 2 5

HELPER 1 1

HOTEL CLEANER 2 1 3

HOUSE KEEPER 9 1 7 6 23

HOUSE WIFE 13 18 2 33

IRON SCRAP

COLLECTION 1 1 2

JOB 1 1

LABOUR 48 8 31 6 93

LOADER 1 1 2

MAID 16 3 19

MANSON 2 2

NO JOB 1 5 35 2 43

NOT APPLICABLE 8 6 2 2 18

NOTHING FIXED 6 6 12

NURSING 1 1

PAINTER 1 1

PAPER SELLER 1 1

PAPER/ BOTTLE

COLLECTION 9 1 22 4 36

PEON 2 2

PLUMBER 1 1

RETAIL SHOP 1 1 2




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Occupation

Not

Known

Outside

WB

Within

Kolkata

Within

WB

Grand

Total

RICKSHAW PULLAR 11 14 8 33

RUG PICKERS 8 8

SCREEN PRINTING 1 1

SERVICE 1 1

SHOE MAKER 3 1 4

SHOP 3 2 5

SHOP CLEANING 2 2

STUDENT 14 8 7 14 43

SWEEPER 1 1

TAILOR 1 1

TEA STALL 1 1

VAN PULLER 5 2 16 9 32

VEGETABLE SELLER 4 3 7

WORK AT SHOP 2 2

WORK FOR HOTEL 1 1

WORKER OF A

GODOWN 1 1

Grand Total 227 119 294 90 730

Occupational pattern has been taken into consideration of homeless people in Kolkata.

Occupational pattern provide a crystal clear scenario to understand their livelihood as well as

income profile of homeless people. It has been found that, different people are associated

from different zones with their income source. For getting income, people of different places

have migrated to another place with their family or individuals. Some got shelter, some

people are not and day by day a tendency of people are increasing to come close to urban area

or semi urban area for getting income opportunity. So numbers of shelter less people are

increasing. The large proportion of people from the neighbouring state of Bihar, Uttar

Pradesh conforms to the general pattern of migration to Kolkata; what seems more

remarkable is that the catchment area of the Kolkata pavements extends farther to eastern and

southern states such as Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Another reason to come

close to urban area is easy transport to reach their destination. From a research of united

nation it has been monitored that India’s rank one in the case of migration and in this study




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migration process is closely related with homeless people. People permanently leave their

place of origin to get better opportunity in the cities. A society may not build but gathering of

homeless people are increasing. From the above analysis it has been found that out of 730

data, 119 are from outside West Bengal ad 227 are unknown with no information. We can

conclude that approximately 48% people are migrated from another place of origin. In fact,

the work place and the community of workers in the same type of occupation provide the

main network of socialization for the homeless people during their stay in Kolkata. For

example, in the wholesale market of Girish park, College square and Burrabazar especially,

many handcart pullers can be seen staying together in groups at night, sleeping on their carts

or under the verandas of the market, and cooking food collectively on pavements.

Another important network of socialization among homeless people in an urban setting is

based on village or regional affiliation. The survey revealed several interesting examples of

migration channels rooted in familial or village tradition. This was the case with some of the

pavement dwellers working as cycle rickshaw drivers, handcart pullers or construction

labourers in Kolkata. Working on a seasonal basis during the lean agricultural months, some

were perpetuating a practice initiated by their fathers, or by other villagers. They followed a

migration channel already well established, going to the same labour markets, the same

rickshaw garages, and sleeping on the same pavements. Such groups of villagers can be

found in the wholesale spice and grain market of Posta area or Girish park area. Moreover in

has been seen in few areas that a group of homeless people use to stay together on pavement,

despite belonging to different castes, sometimes even cooked together and they are from

same state like Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. They returned together to their village for the main

festivals, and each month one member of the group went back to the village taking the

remittances from all the other villagers working in Kolkata in order to redistribute them to

their respective families. Thus, a community life had been reconstituted among the pavement




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dwellers, based on belonging to the same place of origin, and this link transcended caste

differences, at least during the temporary stay in Kolkata, where earning money was the

predominant preoccupation.

Mean income of houseless family in the city is around Rs.3858/- per month which is very less

to sustain in the city and would not allow to build other required capitals for sustainable

development.

Table No.8: Mean Income

Statistics

Income

N Valid 383

Missing 344

Mean 3858.36

Std. Error of

Mean 132.757

Median 3000.00

Mode 3000

A CHAID3 analysis indicates the mean income of different livelihoods practiced by the

homeless population of the city.

Diagram No.2: CHAID Analysis

3 Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) was a technique created by Gordon V. Kass in

1980. CHAID is a tool used to discover the relationship between variables. CHAID analysis builds a predictive

model, or tree, to help determine how variables best merge to explain the outcome in the given dependent

variable




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Table No.9: Gain Summary for

Nodes

Node N Percent Mean

3 120 31.3% 6172.92

1 105 27.4% 4245.24

2 90 23.5% 2213.33

4 68 17.8% 1353.68

Growing Method: CHAID

Dependent Variable: Income

The result of the CHAID analysis indicates a clear direction for sustainable livelihoods of the

homeless people of the city. The Node 3 has the highest mean income of Rs.6173.00

followed by Node 1, Rs.4245/-, Node 2, Rs.2213 and Node 4, Rs.1354.00.

The above result suggests that introduction of better skill (specially suitable to pursue jobs

mentioned in Node 2) may enhance mean income of people pursuing jobs in other Nodes.

IV. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS




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A qualitative analysis has been done through case studies to understand the other dimensions

of homelessness. The first case study has highlighted the social cohesion and the second on

reasons behind homelessness. These indicate that strong social values prevailing among

homeless population. Had they been given proper environment, they would have not been

identified as homeless population.

Homelessness is the state of Castelessness

Hasini Bibi, Pavement dweller for 40 years, is living with her grandsons MD. Fakirudin and

Raman Rao. Just opposite of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in front of Chaplin square when

we reached to call her a street dog barked at us. After the noise the old lady woke us herself

and scolded the dog. She is living there for 2 years. Previously she used to stay just a few

meters back under street shelter. Now an ATM at that place forced her change the Shelter.

The Big Chaplin’s hat has become the latest shelter and the Chaplin’s Boot is her Kitchen.

Her husband and her son died here only. MD. Fakirudin, the elder brother works in a hotel.

Raman, the Hindu younger one is tea seller just beside their shelter. They have monthly

family income of about 6000 only. Most astonishing part is that at this condition, Caste is not

there barrier rather it joins hand in hand to manage their livelihood.

Cancer made him Homeless

Rabindranath Murmu, a physically changed person living on the railway platform (presently

in Govt. Shelter, Krishnanagar) has lost his shelter for the cancer treatment of her wife Ganga

Murmu. He was a bus driver by profession. After his wife’s death he took his daughter and

moved to a rented house. He runs buses between Krishnanagar and Mayapur in Nodia, West

Bengal. This gave him an opportunity to enrich his knowledge on Indian Mythology. His

interest in this field encouraged him to gather immense insight about the truth of life. After

marriage, his daughter seldom visits him. Before few years he got paralysed due to cerebral




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attack and lost his memory. A lot of courage and strong belief in Almighty helped him to get

recover from that critical stage. He is stable and happy without any complain against his life.

The paper tells that homeless people are not always useless. In this regard, two special cases

have been analysed where one case supports the presence of strong social cohesion and other

symbolize the presence of talent among homeless population.

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The homeless population of Kolkata is an integral part of the metropolitan labour force,

which in terms of income seems to be able to stay above the poverty line. But yet the lack of

guaranteed and regular income constitutes a general concern.

Finally, the large variety of individual situations encountered indicates that the homeless are

not a single category of 'urban poor', nor are they necessarily 'the poorest of the urban poor'.

Big push (Rosenstein-Rodan) in terms of introduction of physical capital and

enhancement of human capital may help them to explore the benefit of other available

capitals. These capitals may be introduced through creating facilities for night shelters

at different places of the city and tying up with NGOs for skill developments of the

shelter less population. These two elements may enhance the resultant output from the

existing ecosystem of livelihood framework. This capital will help to enhance the

assets of the homeless population and to live a dignified life.

To enrich human capital education is very essential and for development of homeless

people literacy is another way. As very few literate homeless people have been found,

govt. should take initiative for their higher studies, can collaborate with NGOs.

Since these people are used to living in the open for a long time, keeping them under a

shelter might prove to be a socio cultural challenging task. Proper care should be




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taken that these people are informed completely about the advantages of living in a

shelter.

Government should team up to make some newest health centres especially for

homeless people who can avail the facility.

Proper savings policy and financial support through banking sector should be initiated

where these people, men and women alike, are made financially independent.

It is evident that more effort must go into poverty alleviation measures in general with

a focus on street based families, where most of the street children come from. Urban

poor need to be linked to social protection, employment and pension schemes. Till

this linking is achieved, institutions and shelter homes need to accept children from

very poor families.

Special security and safety is require for women homeless people to protect physical

assaults.

VI. REFERENCES

1. Md. shah alamgir (2009) Assessing the livelihood of slum dewellers in Dhaka city J.

Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(2): 373–380, ISSN 1810-3030

2. Shwetank Mishra (2011) Need Assessment Of Homeless in Mumbai by Bombay Urban

Industrial League for Development (BUILD)

3. Dr.D.kumuda (2014) Homeless Population in India : A Study, Global journal for

research analysis Volume-3, Issue-8, August-2014 • ISSN No 2277 – 8160

4. VÉRONIQUE DUPONT (2000) Mobility Patterns and Economic Strategies of

Houseless People in Old Delhi ISBN 81-7304-366-3

5. Anne B. Shlay & Peter H. Rossi (1992) Social science research and contemporary

studies of homeless by Temple University Libraries. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1992.18:129

6. Robert Biswas-diener and ED diener (2006) The subjective well-being of the

homeless and lessonshappiness76: 185–205 DOI 10.1007/s11205-005-8671-9

7. Government of India (2013) Operational Guidelines for the Scheme of Shelter for

Urban Homeless (SUH) under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) F.

No. K-14014/58(19)/2012-USD

8. Altamas Pasha (2016) Livelihood of slum dwellers Findings from Baseline Survey of

Ultra Poor Programme BRAC Research and Evaluation Division ISBN 978-984-34-

0997-3

9. Trond Vedeld and Abhay Siddham (2002) Livelihoods and Collective Action among

Slum Dwellers in a Mega-City (New Delhi)

10. Banerjee A., 2000. Plea For A Darker Dirtier City. Kolkata: The Statesman, 14 June.




http://indusedu.org

11. Biswas, A., 2004. Majority Of Kolkata Rag-pickers Are Women. Kolkata: The

Hindustan Times, 8 November.

12. Bhattacharyya, M., 2005. Sinster Sprawl The Sundown Streets. Kolkata: The

Telegraph, 24 March.

13. Census of India, 1981. West Bengal General Population Tables, 1971, Series 26, Part

IIA. Kolkata: Directorate of Census Operations, Census of India.

14. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/PCA_Highlights/pca_highlights_file/

India/Chapter-1.pdf

15. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Md_Alamgir5/publication/262262881_Assessin

g_the_livelihood_of_slum_dwellers_in_Dhaka_city/links/54405df90cf2be1758d00165

/Assessing-the-livelihood-of-slum-dwellers-in-Dhaka-city.pdf

16. http://www.buildindia.org/Binder2.pdf

17. https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdsa20/33/1

18. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d04e5274a27b2001595/R7905.p

df

19. http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers14-11/010023834.pdf

20. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journal-for-research-analysis-

GJRA/recent_issues_pdf/2014/August/August_2014_1408104924__16.pdf

21. http://censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/MapResult.aspx

22. http://www.glopp.ch/B7/en/multimedia/B7_1_pdf2.pdf

http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/PCA_Highlights/pca_highlights_file/India/Chapter-1.pdf

http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/PCA_Highlights/pca_highlights_file/India/Chapter-1.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Md_Alamgir5/publication/262262881_Assessing_the_livelihood_of_slum_dwellers_in_Dhaka_city/links/54405df90cf2be1758d00165/Assessing-the-livelihood-of-slum-dwellers-in-Dhaka-city.pdf



http://www.buildindia.org/Binder2.pdf

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdsa20/33/1

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d04e5274a27b2001595/R7905.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d04e5274a27b2001595/R7905.pdf

http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers14-11/010023834.pdf

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journal-for-research-analysis-GJRA/recent_issues_pdf/2014/August/August_2014_1408104924__16.pdf

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journal-for-research-analysis-GJRA/recent_issues_pdf/2014/August/August_2014_1408104924__16.pdf

http://censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/MapResult.aspx

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