URBAN POOR

The compulsions of demand and supply are dictating the state of affairs for migrant workers across the country after the second COVID wave. The packed trains from states like UP, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal are an indicator of the rush of reverse migration after the hellish return-to-home experience of last year. But as workers return, they are finding that employment conditions are not the same as earlier.  Migrant labour employed in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the most affected. As per government data, India has around 6.3 crore MSMEs. Delhi-based All India Trade Union Congress Secretary General Amarjeet Kaur…

The deadline for the “Housing for All by 2022” Mission is a few months away, but we have some way to go. I would like to draw public attention to a very critical subject - the land at Rifle Range Santa Cruz (CTS 12), Mumbai 400029 / 400055. It may not be critical for everybody but it definitely is for those residing on the land. Defence land, Golibar The land belongs to Air Force Station Mumbai, Ministry of Defence, Government of India as per the property card and records held by the Office of Defence Estate Officer, Mumbai. The said…

Hunger has stalked Maiduna Begam and her four children for the past 16 months. Except for a brief period after the first unlock last year, Maiduna’s husband, a mason’s helper, has been jobless for most of this period and lost his mother as they could not afford proper medical treatement.  “We manage two meals a day with difficulty,” says Maiduna, who hails from Raichur. “We have not paid rent for three months, and our landlord is threatening to evict us”. Two weeks ago, she found work as helper at a tailoring shop, but the job pays only around Rs 4,000…

Conservation Action Trust is a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation formed to protect the environment, particularly forests and wildlife. The main purpose of the Trust is to educate and enlighten decision makers and the public about the importance of forests for our survival. The role of forests in protecting the water security of the country is one of the major thrust areas of CAT. Debi Goenka is an Executive Trustee at Conservation Action Trust and a well-known environmentalist. Citizen Matters spoke to him about the threat to mangroves in Mumbai and other serious environmental concerns in the city. Vashi Creek and the Mangrove…

“The recession and inflation over the last year and more has broken the middle class and crushed low income groups,” says B.D Sharma, a retired director of public relations with the Himachal Pradesh government.  “Whatever I and my wife, who also retired from a government job, had invested in a Fixed Deposited (FD) scheme,” says Sharma. “The regular interest income from this has dropped by 45 to 50% due to cut in interest rates, but our monthly household budget is up by 120%!” Urban families, especially in towns like Shimla, a hill town known even during pre-pandemic times for its…

In Part I and Part II of our focus on urban jobs and livelihoods, we had examined the need for and feasibility of an Urban Work Guarantee scheme. Citizen Matters also spoke to two eminent economists on the various issues concerning creation of such a scheme. Amit Basole, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Employment at APU (Azim Premji University), has been advocating an urban employment guarantee programme since 2019, and particularly since COVID lockdowns. Dr Jos Chathukulam is lead author of an EPW paper about Kerala’s experiment with its Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. That such a scheme is…

Mukesh Kumar, a 34-year-old father of three, was a peon in a school till June 2020 when he was laid off. All his efforts to find a job since have been in vain. “There is no place I have not tried,” said Mukesh, a NOIDA resident. “I don’t have the guts to set up a cart to sell vegetables and deal with the local authorities”. Mukesh emphasises that returning to Kanpur, from where he moved to NOIDA over 15 years ago, was not an option even though he may get a few days of work and wages there under MNREGA.…

Vandhaarai Vaazhavaikum Thamizhagam ( Tamil Nadu is a land that provides livelihood to those who arrive here) has been an old adage about the state. A state welcoming migrants from all over the country and the world. Susheel Kumar of Deogarh in Jharkhand may not agree, though. Susheel, one of the many migrant workers in Chennai, has been in the city since 2017. With the fierce onslaught of COVID in the second wave and the resulting lockdown, the Alandur manufacturing unit where he worked shut down. “I am leaving as I have no income here now. I have been doing…

Every Indian city has at least one man-made mountain where ‘waste’ generated in our homes and businesses end up. About 90% of the staggering 150,000 metric ton of urban solid wastes generated everyday make their way to such locations. Called dump yards, landfills or garbage mountains, these toxic sites are the dark underbelly of India’s bustling, glittering cities and are home and workplace for tens of thousands of people. Swacch Bharat Mission-Urban’s 2021-22 budget of INR 1,41,678 crore indicates India’s desire for cleaner cities. The budget encourages garbage free cities but makes no specific provision to improve conditions for disadvantaged communities near landfills.…

At 9:00 in the morning, when commuters jostle to reach Borivali station in suburban north Mumbai and shops start lifting their shutters, it’s time for 24-year-old Lakshman Katappa to begin his work day too. Carrying a black cotton bag on his shoulder, walking barefoot along with his wife Rekha and his younger brother, 13-year-old Elappa, he stops in front of a closed shop. He opens the bag, and out comes a long green ghagra , a head band, a small box containing bandar (yellow oxide powder) and red kumkum , beaded neck ornaments, a small mirror, a chabuk (whip), and…