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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
http://indusedu.org
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
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 80
http://indusedu.org
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.
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 81
http://indusedu.org
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
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 82
http://indusedu.org
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
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 83
http://indusedu.org
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)
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 84
http://indusedu.org
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
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 85
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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
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 86
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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
Graph No. 2: Percentage of homeless population to the total homeless population in
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
% of homeless population to the total homeless population in KMC area
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
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 87
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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
Graph No. 3: Percentage of homeless population to the total homeless population in
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
% of homeless population to the total homeless population in KMC area
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
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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
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
Management Development Institute (MDI), Murshidabad, West Bangal, India.
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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
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
Management Development Institute (MDI), Murshidabad, West Bangal, India.
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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
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
Management Development Institute (MDI), Murshidabad, West Bangal, India.
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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
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
Management Development Institute (MDI), Murshidabad, West Bangal, India.
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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.
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
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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
Special Issue-2 for International Conference on Sustainability Development – A Value Chain Perspective,
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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
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