User:Jasleenkaur118/sandbox

=Pehchan= Pehchan is a non-profit organization based in the state of Maharashtra in India, located in the heart of Mumbai and run by Mr. Brijesh Arya. Pehchan strives to help the working homeless of Mumbai uplift themselves out of absolute poverty by assisting them in obtaining documents such as identity cards and ration cards that make accessing better employment opportunities easier. I will be working along Mr. Brijesh Arya to identify the health care needs of the population that Pehchan serves and to begin forming partnerships with local hospitals.

Sector - Access to Housing for People Living in Extreme Poverty

 * 1) Homelessness in India

Although this article mentions some governmental and non-governmental services for the homeless in India, it lacks information about the history of efforts to redevelop or improve slum conditions in big cities like Mumbai where migration is a major cause of homelessness, and major historical efforts by government and NGOs to address homelessness.

Area - India

 * 1) Below Poverty Line

This article explains the criteria of the poverty line in India and how it has changed over time. I am interested in learning about and adding to the article how the types of services available for the homeless have changed with how the poverty line is measured in India.

Article Evaluation

 * 1) Homelessness in India

Everything in this article is relevant to the article topic, but it has been flagged by Wikipedia because it does not stand up to Wikipedia's standards. I think that the page lacks information on how homelessness in India impacts physical and mental health of the poor, especially women and children. There is not enough information about the recent (post 2013) governmental and non-governmental measures in India to tackle homelessness, major cities where homelessness is concentrated and increasing, and particular NGOs and initiatives advocating for homeless people's rights. The article is neutral in that it highlights what Indian policies have and have not helped in addressing homelessness. Some links to sources do not work and some sources cited are very old; no bias has been noted throughout the article. The article is a part of WikiProject India and is rated as "Start-Class". The way Wikipedia discusses this topic differs from the way we've talked about homelessness in class because Wikipedia ignores the larger social, political, and economic forces (especially in history) that are the root causes of homelessness in India.

Sector Article Sources

 * 1) Desai, Renu B. Producing Urban Informality in Mumbai: Policy, Politics, and Practice in Jari Mari and Shantiniketan. University of California, Berkeley, 2003.
 * 2) This book contains detailed information and analysis on slum development in Mumbai based on research done by RB Desai. I can use the information on slum policies and specific case studies to incorporate into my sector article, "Homelessness in India". I will add a new section to this article which will have specific information pertained to Mumbai, as it is one of the major cities of India with a large homeless population. Or, I can add a new section called "Informal Housing" where I include the case study of Mumbai. Desai's PhD thesis will help me identify key policies and efforts in addressing poverty in Mumbai which I can add to my sector article.
 * 3) Important Quotes
 * 4) "With the 2001 census putting the total population of Greater Mumbai at 11.9 million, one may estimate that the slum population is today more than 5.5 million. This half of the city's population lives on 8 percent of the total land of the city" (38)
 * 5) "This large slum population owes its origin most to the large-scale in-migration between 1930-1970, coupled with little public housing built during that time. The population influx during these years resulted in a rise in Mumbai's population from 1.69 million in 1930 to 8 million in 1970 [...] since the city emerged under British colonialism and developed under it for more than four centuries (from 1616 to 1947) colonialism has obviously impacted its structure and development" (39)
 * 6) "The establishment of industrial areas in the suburbs also encouraged the emergence and development of informal housing near these industries. The lack of space for informal settlements to develop in south Mumbai also points to the fact that these settlements emerge on land not claimed for other uses" (39)
 * 7) After the implementation of laws like the MHADA and MSAA, another program called the Prime Minister's Grant Project (PMGP) emerged in 1987; this "involved for the first time, slum redevelopment, that is, the building of new structures, usually on the same site [...] the PMGP marked the beginning of a paradigm shift from 'enabling communities' to 'enabling markets' [...] The 'enabling markets' approach, on the other hand, stems from neoliberalism, which calls for policies of decentralization, privatization, and deregulation. This approach makes the provision of housing for the urban poor into an 'economic, and not a social sector'" (46)
 * 8) Example/case study of Dharavi: "The new structures built in Dharavi in Mumbai was medium-rise buildings, and involved cross-subsidy by simultaneously building apartments that could be sold on the free market [...] Slum residents paid part of the redevelopment costs which were broken down into monthly installments. The project, however ran into difficulties since it did not take into account the investment that people already made in their existing houses, often going into debt in the process. The project also did not consider the additional servicing costs of living in formalized apartments, which soon resulted in a sale of apartments by people who then moved into other slums" (46)
 * 9) The second program in the neoliberal path to development was called the Slum Redevelopment Scheme (SRD) which "for the first time involved private developers in the construction of housing for slum residents". This program came into place as the Shiv Sena Party "promised free housing to 4 million slum residents through slum redevelopment if the Shiv Sena won the state elections. Although the Shiv Sena did not come to power at the state, the winning party, the Congress Party, felt obliged to introduce at least a modified SRD in March 1991. This scheme did not provide free houses to slum residents, but it did go a long way into setting up the first guidelines for providing incentives to attract private developers to participate in slum redevelopment (by building apartments for slum residents and partially cross-subsidizing these by building apartments for free market)". When Shiv Sena won in 1995, it implemented the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme which provided bigger incentives for the private sector to get involved in order to make slum redevelopment financially possible (47)
 * 10) Shah, Svati Pragna. Street Corner Secrets: Sex, Work, and Migration in the City of Mumbai. Duke University Press, 2014.
 * 11) This book analyzes in detail the issues surrounding migration, employment in the informal sector, and women. I can use information presented in it to add to the "Causes" section of my sector article, as migration to Mumbai is a major cause of homelessness and residences in informal housing.
 * 12) Important Quotes
 * 13) "Nakas are often the first and last resort for securing paid work among the groups of migrated people in Mumbai, and serve as a barometer for the city's ability to absorb ostensibly "unskilled" workers into its paid workforce. People who seek paid work at nakas are landless lower-caste and tribal migrants from rural areas seeking a sustainable livelihood, something that, according to naka-based workers, was lacking in their villages [...] In their villages, they had worked as agricultural wage laborers who did not own the land they farmed. They came to the city with the expectation of earning a better livelihood, of having access to an infrastructure (the public distribution system, schools, roads, water, that did not have to purchased exclusively from the '[water] tanker mafia' that did not exist to the same degree, or at all, in their villages, and to leave behind at least some aspects of a system of caste-based violence that also entailed severe economic privations" (42)
 * 14) "During the 1980s and 1990s, the narrative of access to the possibility of a more stable sustainable livelihood in the city was contextualized by the boom in the building construction industry, which began near the end of the decline in textile manufacturing. By the mid 1990s, Mumbai's industrial sector had stalled, leaving even fewer formal sector jobs than thre had been previously. Rural migrants who had hoped to work in the textile mills, as well as those who had been laid off, responded by trying to secure livelihoods through the far more insecure day wage labor market. Day wage labor markets form at nakas throughout Mumbai and constitute the most visible aspect of the city's vast informal economic sectors. This phenomenon has been more pronounced during employment crises in the city, as during the textile mill closures in the 1980s and early 1990s" (42)
 * 15) "Beyond the legal battles about land ownership and use, these slum clearances are tied to rural economic policies and growing numbers of rural agricultural workers migrating to cities as life becomes harsher and more economically untenable in their villages. In some instances, this migration is a result of outright displacement, such as that associated with the Bargi Dam Project" which drowned an entire set of villages and forced the people to migrate to the slums in the cities in Madhya Pradesh. "The more common impetus for urban migration throughout India, however, conforms to the narrative of the villagers who, finding it increasingly difficult to maintain access to basic necessities, including water, found it necessary to migrate to the city where sustainable access to both work and water might be more readily available" (69)
 * 16) Kothari, Miloon, and Nasreen Contractor. Planned Segregation: Riots, Evictions and Dispossession in Jogeshwari East, Mumbai/Bombay, India. YUVA, COHRE, 1996.
 * 17) This book concentrates on the location of Jogeshwari East in Mumbai, an area that suffered multiple riots in the late twentieth century. The author explains the events that led up to the riots and views them from a housing perspective to analyze the tensions that surround inadequate housing conditions in the slums of Mumbai and the lack of municipal accountability associated with it. I can add this information to my sector article under the new section called "Homelessness in Mumbai" which will focus on the housing issues specific to Mumbai. Or, I can also add a section called "Other issues surrounding housing insecurity in India" where I can address the case study of the Jogeshwari East in Mumbai and talk about the impact of housing insecurities on people living in slums.
 * 18) Important Quotes and information
 * 19) "The issues related to land tenure and house security are yet another source of daily tension under which residents of poor communities live. Disputes over rent, ownership, etc., are given a communal color and spill over in rioting" (39)
 * 20) "Most of the homes are contained within a maze of narrow lanes with poor lighting. Some lanes offer enough space for people to move only in a single file. Some lanes lead to dead ends. Such a layout offers anti-socials opportunities to engage in stock-piling of weapons and fleeing after quick attacks" (40)
 * 21) "Such conditions cause tensions and hardships in the day to day living of residents of poor communities. These find cathartic relief during communal riots. Having no faith in legal avenues for settling disputes, the riots provide an opportunity for use of muscle power to settle scores. The persistence of inadequate housing is strategically utilized by politicians and anti-socials to foment riots. For instance the common stereotype built around scapegoating of minorities as the cause of poor amenities by labeling them as "outsiders" whose rapid "increase in population" is responsible for the depletion of amenities, would not have been possible had the demand for amenities of people been adequately fulfilled. Unfortunately real issues of inadequate planning and response of the State get subverted into simple communal equations" (40)
 * 22) The role of the state: "The State's flawed role in the management of relief and integration processes has also served to further eviction. The management of curfew hours keeping in mind the needs of women and children, sending relief and protection to the most affected and sensitive areas, keeping schools open in order to restore confidence in people, these are some of the measures the State could have taken to facilitate the quick return to normalcy and reintegration of the community. Instead, the declaring of closures of schools only served to prolong the period of uncertainty and kindle tension. In the post-riot period, the State had given a blanket clearance to families to reconstruct their homes in the pre-riot site. In spite of this the Municipality demolished five houses in Jogeshwari East which were in the process of being reconstructed. The lack of coordination between the various Government departments has earned the State the reputation of playing a double role. In this manner the State both advertently and inadvertently has contributed to riots and evictions" (48)
 * 23) Impacts on housing: "43 persons reported that their homes were damaged due to fire and stone throwing; 14 persons' homes were completely destroyed and 52 persons' belongings were completely looted. This destruction has resulted in financial losses ranging from "Rs. 5,000 to over Rs. 30,000. Besides families have lost valuable documents pertaining to the legal security of their houses, ration cards, birth certificates, medical papers, and education certificates" (52)
 * 24) Other impacts: reduction in income due to loss of work days, increased insecurity and vulnerability for women, children missing school, loss of properties, reduction in size of the home, separation within families, decrease in quality of housing, loss of educational opportunities, and criminalization of the youth involved.
 * 25) Legislations for slum clearance and improvement: (i) The Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 (MSAA) - gave the government the power to declare a geographical space as a "slum area" and then take action to improve it as deemed appropriate; the government could provide services to physically improve the space or also ask its inhabitants to move to another place without providing other options of living sites. But this does not apply to all slums; slums that already receive services on municipal land cannot "get declared". As a result, "while they continue to pay service charges to the BMC for amenities, residents face extortion and harassment from slum lords who collect the rent". (ii) Maharashtra Slum Improvement Board Act, 1973 (MSIB) - local groups authorized by the government called panchayats can oversee the slum improvement initiatives enacted under the MSAA. (iii) Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976 (MHADA) - gave the state government the power to "acquire lands for carrying out the Acts' objectives"; five Housing Boards were set up to work on "housing accommodation, slum clearance, amenities development as well as for understanding and promoting prefabrication and mass production of building components and manage property/houses and buildings belonging to the MHADA". (iv) Development Control Regulation Act - gave private builders "access to construct on land on which slums were located" (72 - 73)
 * 26) Impact of legislation/laws: "This Chapter has sought to draw attention to the inadequacy and vagueness of legislations which instead of fulfilling the intentions of the law in fact serves only to benefit vested interest groups and hinder resolving of conflict compelling people to resort to anti-social ways of dealing with situations (people become criminalized) which are very often converted into communal tensions. For instance laws have stopped at protecting tenants from eviction without according security of tenure. Moreover, protection is illusory when self proclaimed owners can intimidate tenants at will and when authorities choose to turn a nelons's eye due to apathy or patronage of the slum lords. If legislations were implemented both in letter and spirit, residents would not have to turn to political representatives for basic services." (75)
 * 27) Dewit, Michael, and Hans Schenk. Shelter for the Poor in India. Manohar, 1989.
 * 28) This book has a chapter that delves into the role of NGOs in addressing housing issues in India. I can use this information to improve the "non-govenmental efforts" section of my sector article. I can add what the NGOs can and cannot do.
 * 29) Indian NGOs "active in shelter activities" have increased in number due to the following reasons: "governmental urban development plans are generally presented without sufficient financial means for implementation; the absence of an 'urban lobby' within the main public bodies; the insufficient attention that is being given to urban problems at Indian universities; the preoccupation with land prices without tackling land speculation; the lack of communication between the urban elite and the urban masses" (28)
 * 30) "A number of governmental policies can be interpreted as counterproductive in the light of the welfare state as a long-term goal. One can summarize the creation of a welfare state as follows: the implementation of such policies as to ensure access to food, clothing, shelter, health care and education for all." (29)
 * 31) "Many NGOs view their development  work (including housing) in a political perspective. They advocate and initiate dwellers' participation and self-help as emanicipatory vehicles and not merely because these methods are cost-reducing" (30)
 * 32) "The proper location of a self-help - or any low-cost - shelter project is crucial for its success, whereas an NGO an hardly exercise any influence in this respect. Of course this problem only rises in the case of reallocation in contrast with slum upgrading which takes place in situ. As a result of land prices reallocation projects are often planned at city fringes - far away from employment opportunities, often with higher food prices, irregular and relatively expensive public transport, while the connection of the project with the city services network is often to complicated, that the dwellers remain without sufficient water and sewerage connections. This criticism seems very realistic; the choice of location is a result of societal processes which an NGO cannot influence. As long as land prices push the urban poor to the city fringes, NGOs will have to try and make the best of it." (31)
 * 33) "As indicated before, the application of self-help techniques by NGOs can be interpreted in two ways: as a way to overcome the lack of funds and still be able to do something'; or, as a conscious choice, a development technique that reaches further than mere charity, a method that makes people conscious and independent." (33)
 * 34) "The compulsory location of a shelter project (at the city fringes) will always exercise its influence on the quality of the project; neither genuine NGO involvement nor mutual help techniques can negate this impact. The only thing an NGO can do is to reduce the negative consequences. Mutual help and an integrated approach may enable the NGO to create a community at the new location that may have better chances to consolidate its position than aggregate of individual self-helpers, e.g. through the generation of employment in situ" (35)
 * 35) Another possibility, being tried by an NGO in Bombay (SPARK) is to organize soon-to-be-evacuated pavement dwellers in groups which travel the city to spot vacant lots. After having chosen some appropriate lots they start negotiations with the municipality. This way, a forced choice relocation is sought to be circumvented. Such action is possible only when the self-helpers are organized in a group. Moreover, this is an excellent example of the shelter issue being used as a means of conscientization" (34)
 * 36) "Chowdhary (1971) recognizes the advantages of NGO-implemented projects (as compared to governmental projects) as follows: flexibility and possibility to experiment; high sensitivity to local problems; a good rapport with the people involved in the project; opportunities to make use of mutual help; aid of international organizations (expertise); inspiring enthusiasm; possibilities to tackle controversial issues" (37)
 * 37) “Introduction.” Claiming the State: Active Citizenship and Social Welfare in Rural India, by Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2018, pp. 3–28.
 * 38) This book discusses the relationship of active citizenship, claim-making, and the government in India. I can use this source for both my area and sector articles.
 * 39) "In most places, though, the state -- even where weak, corrupt, or capricious -- remains an important provider of services, particularly for the poor. This is true despite decades of economic liberalization that sought to reduce the size and role of the public sector. Under these conditions, marked by economic and social dislocation, the state - even as it is constrained - is all the more critical as a source of social protection. Indeed, as Sandbrook et al. note, 'The state remains the only entity with the legitimacy and capacity to capture and redirect the wealth that society produces, despite the immense challenges that globalized capital flows pose to its autonomy and robustness'" (11)
 * 40) "Despite decades of rapid economic growth, India lags behind in social development, ranking 130th out of 188 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index (which jointly assesses per capita income, education, and life expectancy). Twenty-two percent of Indians live under the national poverty line of roughly $1.90 per day, adjusted for purchasing power parity. The national poverty line, however, has been criticized for being too low to meet basic human needs. Other, international estimates set a higher bar and, accordingly, find a higher incidence of poverty: The World Bank, for example, reports that 58 percent live on $3.10 per day or less, while the UNDP classifies 54 percent of Indians as poor according to a multidimensional poverty index. Roughly a quarter of the adult population cannot read, while over 40 percent of Indian children younger than five are underweight - one of the highest rates of child malnourishment in the world. There is, in other words, a yawning gap between procedural democracy - marked by regular elections and commitments to civil and political rights - and its substantive outcomes, assessed in terms of well being" (12)
 * 41) "While the scope of India's welfare commitments has increased steadily since independence, social spending has accelerated most dramatically over the last twenty years - beginning in the 1990s with a wave of social rights legislation. This legislation prompted a proliferation of centrally sponsored and (subnational) state welfare schemes, among them the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), and the "Education for All" Campaign, to name but a few. Unprecedented amounts of goods, services, and money are thus being funneled into the social welfare sector. And yet these resources are rarely allocated in a rule-bound or regularized fashion; rather, they are subject to the discretionary - and, at times, arbitrary - control of local officials, as well as to leakage and graft at all levels of the administrative hierarchy
 * 42) "In fact, since 2005, the state [of Rajasthan] has enjoyed some of the fastest income poverty reduction in the country, with rates falling from 34 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2011. These poverty-line estimates though, fail to capture the intensity of deprivation in health, educational attainment, and other indicators of human well being. This deprivation is deepest in rural Rajasthan, which is home to 75 percent of the state's population and 80 percent of its poor. Literacy rates in rural Rajasthan hover around 60 percent - well below the national rate of 74 percent. Just 40 percent of rural households in Rajasthan have a source of drinking water in the home, compared to 56 percent nationally; and a staggering 74 percent of rural Rajasthanis practice open defecation, compared to 44 percent across India [...] And yet, social spending on education, health, and other services has increased, accelerating in 1990s to outpace other similarly poor states. The allocation of resources, however, remains uneven. " (22)
 * 43) Zufferey, Carole, and Nilan Yu. “Faces of Homelessness in the Asia Pacific.” Taylor & Francis, Routledge, 20 July 2017, www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315475257.
 * 44) This source discusses homelessness in specific parts of Asia in depth. In the chapter on India, the authors talk about "the destitute street homeless" living on the streets of Delhi, India. The authors analyze and discuss "their stories and different values" to "interpret the state of homelessness, especially in Indian culture" (48). I want to add a section called "challenges faced by the homeless" and use information from this article.
 * 45) "The abandonment and destitution of the aged, infirm, mentally ill, poor divorced women, single pregnant women, girl children, dependent parents was previously unheard of. However, this has become the main cause of homelessness in Indian society today." (47)
 * 46) "Some people have lost their homes because of personal and household crises, including family bereavement, family disputes or break-up. These people fall in the 'crisis category' of homeless people who live on the streets, without having any choice and control over their situation. Having faced dejection, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and other forms of severe mental health issues" (48)
 * 47) "The issue of defining homelessness has been contested on several grounds. The main argument revolves around whether homelessness means a person living without an adequate shelter, or whether it means losing their 'home' which relates to loss of family connections and relationships. The United Nations Economic and Social Council Statement view the issue of homelessness as more than an absense of shelter: 'When we are talking about housing, we are not just talking about four walls and a roof. The right to adequate housing is about security of tenure, affordability, access to services and cultural adequacy. It is about protection from forced eviction and displacement, fighting homelessness, poverty and exclusion" (49)
 * 48) "In India, it is the census authorities who count the number of homeless in each state and territory, and this is considered reliable data for official policy and planning purposes. The Census of India (2001) defines a homeless household as 'houseless' persons who are not living in a census household and found living in the open, on the roadside, pavement, in concrete pipes, under flyovers and staircases, in open places of worship, or on railway platforms. However, the enumeration of this population group poses certain challenges and the 'point in time' method of counting carried out throughout the nation is not sufficient to capture the magnitude of people who are homeless" (50)
 * 49) "The United Nations Development Program conducted a survey of homeless people in Delhi in 2010, and for a more inclusive count, they adopted a much broader definition than the census. It included men, women, eunuchs, and children who do not have a home or settled place, and it included people not only living in open places - but also people living in night shelters, transit homes, children homes for a short term stay, and people sleeping in work places or in their hand/push carts and in temporary structures at construction sites. This definition provided a much broader scope, to include people who work in the informal sector and are homeless" (50)
 * 50) While the Census of 2011 in India recorded 938,348 homeless people living in urban India (with 46, 724 in Delhi), the actual numbers are much bigger; the Indo-Global Social Service Society, an international NGO, counted them to be 88, 410. The Delhi Development Authority, a state government organization, counted them to be 150,000. (50)
 * 51) "It is argued that the magnitude of the issue of homelessness in the metropolitan city is much bigger than what is being projected by the government. The intention to count fewer numbers of homeless people is closely linked with what the government would like to recognize as a social issue and thus, allocate funds for services to address it." (51)
 * 52) "There are two ways of looking at the issue of homelessness: one is the absence of a shelter or inadequate shelter that is temporary, insecure, and inhabitable. The other aspect of homelessness is non-materialist and relates to the concept of 'home', losing contacts with family, friends and kinship networks, and feelings of exclusion and dejection associated with it. According to Kellett and Moore "part of the experience of homelessness is the feeling of being socially and culturally excluded" (51)
 * 53) DENIAL OF RIGHTS TO CITIZENSHIP: "Homeless people are not accorded a voter identity card and ration card in India, a card that entitles them to acquire food and goods from the Public Distribution System (PDS). These two cards are required as proof if you want to open a bank account or access health services and even to lodge a complaint with the police. A survey undertaken by UNDP India in 2010 reported that only 3% of homeless people had a voter ID and the rest did not have identity proof. This marginalizes and excludes them from their full participation as citizens." (51)
 * 54) In 2011 and 2012, many homeless people were able to receive a voter ID through the efforts of Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (51)
 * 55) "The state views homeless people on the streets as 'beggars' and treats them as 'criminals' under 'The Prevention of Begging Act', 1959, detaining them in a beggar's home run by the state government department. People who are found wandering or congregating near religious places are then caught and detained to serve a term in the beggar home under the law. They lose the freedom to move out of the beggar home until charges against them have been dropped by the jury. Therefore, losing their own home becomes a criminal offence and then, they receive punishment by losing their freedom as a citizen. This Act which is regarded as hostile towards the most vulnerable people of the society is still prevalent, although NGOs like AAA working for homeless persons have been advocating to repeal it." (51)
 * 56) "Furthermore, policymakers and state bureaucrats identify the main causes of homelessness as being associated with individual issues such as mental illness, drug and alcohol misuse, domestic violence, and relationship breakdowns. This directs responsibility to the individual, who is perceived as not keeping up with the standards and norms of the society, and who has personal issues that contribute to them becoming homeless. Policies around the deinstitutionalization of care for mentally ill people and subsequent abandonment of a family member with mental illness by the family, have also given rise to the number of people on the streets who suffer from mental illness" (52)
 * 57) Governmental efforts in providing shelter - there are a limited number of night shelters (for example, only 64 in Delhi) that cost Rs. 6 per person for one night, and the same amount for the day; people that cannot afford the amount cannot use this help from the government; furthermore, "these shelters are often deemed unfit for residing in by the street people, as they find them dirty, uninhabitable and they are unable to secure their belongings. Especially, those homeless who are entrepreneurs and self-employed, who have no parking place for their three-wheel hand carriage (called rickshaw)" (52)
 * 58) "Another big challenge that street homeless people are facing relates to the demolition of people's temporary shelters, slums, and the forced movement of homeless people from one area to another" (53)
 * 59) "The overall perception of people in power in the metropolitan city towards homeless persons is that they are antisocial and unclean, and thus society needs to remove them from places which are meant for socialized and morally good people. According to Mander (2008), people living on the streets are perceived as 'vaguely dangerous and intractably on the wrong side of the law'. Certain labels are used to identify homeless persons that rupture their dignity and deny them equal rights as citizens" (54)
 * 60) "Societal perceptions of homeless persons as mentally ill beggars and thieves, often determine how they are treated by others. The visibility of homeless people in a dishevelled mental state, with unclean looks, torn clothes, and shabby appearance, is a result of changes and failures of social policies regarding the institutional treatment of mentally ill persons. With inadequate institutional and community care, and abandonment by family members, such persons are forced to live on the streets in the state of homelessness" (59)
 * 61) "Patra and Anand (2008) reviewed studies on the health status of homeless persons in India and identified several issues that contribute to ill health, and the complete negligence of the health of homeless people. Contributing factors included the lack of identity documents to get appropriate medical services; the attitude of health care providers towards the homeless; the inability to pay for health services; and the focus on meeting basic daily needs such as food, as barriers to seeking health care. Such findings highlight current economic and political ideologies that are discriminatory and inequitable for the poor and disadvantaged in society such as homeless persons" (59)
 * 62) "Within this small sample, we also have evidence of homeless people working for their living and contributing as valuable citizens, with the goal of making a difference in their own situation and society at large. It needs to be acknowledged that many homeless persons, while living on the street, work to meet their basic needs" (59)
 * 63) Vikas, Ram Manohar. “Chapter 4 - Shelter for Homeless: Ethnography of Invisibility and Self-Exclusio.” Alternative Organisations in India - Undoing Boundries, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 95–124, www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/998FBFE8BA331618D3BCD08A9343281C/9781108381000c4_p95-124_CBO.pdf/shelter_for_homeless_ethnography_of_invisibility_and_selfexclusion.pdf.
 * 64) This source contains information about the Five Year Plans; I can use this to add to the "governmental services article".
 * 65) "The Indian state adopted a five-year plan model of development and as of date has released twelve five year plans. These plans lay financial provisions for various state interventions. In the section titled 'Social Welfare' in almost all the plans, the state mentions its attention to deal with marginalized groups including the homeless" (98)
 * 66) "The absence of the homeless in the plans excludes them from receiving state resources. Until the third five-year plan no fund was allocated for the homeless. Between the Third and Eighth Five-year plans there is no reference of shelters for the homeless." (98)
 * 67) In the Eighth Five-year Plan (1992-97), the Footpath Dwellers Night Shelter Scheme (NSS) was executed, with funding of only INR 2.27 crores. In the 10th plan (2002-2007), NGOs were encouraged to set up 'Homes for the Aged/Homes for the Destitute/Homes for the Dying'. The 10th plan "recognized that the urban shelter-less and pavement dwellers have not been offered necessary assistance by the state. It is declared that there is a need to rejuvenate scheme for night shelter. The Eleventh Plan (2007 - 12) declared the right to shelter a fundamental right. The Twelfth Plan (2012-17) offered to "promote creation of the night shelters. It also mentions about night shelters for beggars and recognizes that there is a need for shelter for elderly persons. The plan contends that the Development Plan (DP) of city should include provision of old age homes, orphanages, working hostels, and night shelter" (99)
 * 68) "The second level of invisibility in the plan documents is portrayed through absence of implementation details. In the Third Plan, details of night shelters were not laid out except the number of night shelters and the budgetary outlay. It was not mentioned how these shelters would be operated as no outlay was made for operation and management (O&M) of the night shelters. In absence of O&M fund, the NSS could not pick up. Plan documents mentions that the NSS was unsuccessful and could not provide shelter and the homeless were left to the vagaries of nature. However, plan documents do not offer any remedy or hold anybody accountable for the same" (100)
 * 69) "Homeless persons die every year due to extreme weather condition during summer and winter. Mander (2010) contends that between 1 January 2005 and 21 December 2009 seven homeless persons died daily in Delhi. he argues that not a single death of homeless was recorded by the police. The crematorium or burial ground used by the police to dispose dead bodies does not maintain records of a homeless person's death [...] This corroborates Foucault's (2007, 16) idea of biopower, which is a 'set of mechanisms through which the basic biological features of the human species became the object of a political strategy'. A doctor mentioned that a third person who has only access to post-mortem reports cannot know about the habitation condition of the deceased, for example death due to exposure to extreme cold or heat conditions in the absence of a shelter" (100)
 * 70) "Proper operation might have pulled many homeless persons to the shelter. The homeless who are also afflicted by mobility problems prefer to live on footpaths as they are not confident about how shelters operate" (109)
 * 71) "The operational opaqueness in further compounded by the definition of homeless provided by the Census of India. In the absence of a definition, anybody who is without a shelter occupies it." (111)
 * 72) "shelters are invisible because of spatial and operational reasons. Shelters are spatially invisible because of inaccessible location, camouflaged architecture and poor layouts of the interiors of these buildings. The operational opaqueness, which is created by the absence of operational strategy, budgetary provisions and appropriate human resources, reinforces the invisibility" (112)
 * 73) "I found that the homeless maintain certain perceptions about shelters and many of them have been there at least once. Most have subsequently chosen to live on road-side as they did not find enough value to remain in shelters. The homeless argue that shelters are unkempt and dirty. They are correct as all the shelters' toilets and washrooms were dirty. The homeless argue that the sanitation level in a shelter is inferior to the road-side sanitation level." (112)
 * 74) "The poor sanitation level of a shelter is one of the factors that keeps the homeless away. The homeless are not comfortable with the living conditions as well. The homeless often associate shelters with drug addicts who keep fighting all the time and thieves who steal anything. The homeless also perceive the shelter as a violent space where inmates pick up fights without any reason" (114)
 * 75) "The homeless are vulnerable but they value their freedom. Most of the homeless who choose to live on the road informed me that they felt claustrophobic in a shelter because of poor infrastructure and bad behavior of the shelter officials" (115)
 * 76) "The homeless maintain a strong desire for personal belongings but they are not allowed to keep any. Shelters lack amenities and their norms construe personal belongings of the homeless as dirt." (119)
 * 77) "The homeless are perceived as a group though the various types of homelessness also make it a specific type of group or collection of persons. The differences and distinctions among the homeless do not qualify them to be in 'autonomous domain of subaltern classes and groups'. This almost disqualifies them from developing a collective consciousness to resist subordination"
 * 78) "When the homeless avoid living in shelters, there is no negative consequence for shelter officials. They still exist. Caretakers do not bother to come and open shelters. Even if they do, they are there during office hours and return back home at stipulated time. Supervisors and higher officials' are also not affected either. There is no accountability. The infrastructure and other operating conditions are too bad for the homeless to motivate them to live in shelter." (121)
 * 79) Chopra, Geeta. Child Rights in India - Challenges and Social Action, Springer, 2015, link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-81-322-2446-4_5.pdf.
 * 80) This source discusses the reasons why many children in India "become a part of the streets" and end up working at such a young age; it also discusses the challenges they face and laws associated with street children. I can use this to add to the "street children" section.
 * 81) "It is believed that India is a home to the highest number of child laborers in the world. The Census (2001) report clearly points to the increase in the number of child laborers in the country from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001. The total number of working children in the country has declined from 12.6 million as per the Census 2001 to 4.35 million as per Census 2011 which shows 65% reduction. According to Census 2011, the number of child laborers is 43.5 lakh in the age group 5-14 years of which 32.7 lakh are in rural areas and 10.8 lakh are in urban areas. As per UNICEF State of World's Children (2013), 12% of India's children aged 5-14 years are child workers.
 * 82) "Poverty has been accused to be the biggest reason for swarming child labor in India. Poor parents perceive many advantages in children taking up jobs. They feel that job disciplines them, protects them against delinquency and also provides opportunity fo learning financially viable work" (110)
 * 83) "Mostly children work as the parents are not able to financially support their families. Parents are forced to send their children to work for reasons of survival, at times even in hazardous occupations wrong. Monetary constraints, need for food, shelter, clothing forces the children to premature labor." (110)
 * 84) "Children in especially difficult circumstances (CEDC) are tho se children whose basic needs are not met. Children in difficult circumstances represent a large and diverse group. Some form of social disruption is common to their lives. All of these children have special needs, specially the need for psychosocial support. The needs vary greatly, especially as the circumstances and reasons for difficulties in existence vary and are every changing. Some of these children live with their families, while some do not or could be orphans. Some are working or are found vagrant on the streets, while others could be in conflict with law or affected by armed conflicts or natural calamities. Children could be sexually exploited, trafficked or forced to work in bondage hence taking away from them the delights and the innocence of childhood"
 * 85) Street children are "often treated as an eyesore and nuisance [...] Street children have to fight for survival day after day. From finding food, looking for a safe place to spend the night to protecting themselves against the violence that constantly threatens them, life is a constant struggle. Victims of discrimination and revulsion stemming from societal apathy, their needs are seldom considered, forget being met. They are the most marginalized of all categories of children in especially difficult circumstances. They live on the fringes of the society, sometimes with their families and sometimes without. They are exposed to harsh life on the streets fighting for their subsistence. Poverty, broken homes, migration, breakdown of social networks, crime and conflict, street children are exposed to all the risks and abuses: substance abuse, physical and moral violence, sexual abuse, health risks like STD/HIV-AIDS, promiscuity and prostitution"
 * 86) Prashad, Lokender, et al. “An Enquiry into Migration and Homelessness - A Developmental Discourse: Evidence from Mumbai City.’” International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, vol. 2, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 33–39.
 * 87) This study highlights issues related to migration and homelessness (based in Mumbai). In my new section on Mumbai, I will be using information from this article.
 * 88) "Among the homeless people, nearly 40% from Maharashtra and 60% migrated from other states of India and among them around 95% are migrated from rural areas while migration from their native place near half of them reported that they migrated with their family. Around 88% are working and among them around 38.3% are working as laborers followed by beggars 16.3% and hawkers 12.8. Among them, more than 50% are earning below Rs. 5000 per month. Only one-fifth of people could send the remittance to support their family for family and other purposes. Majority of people are living in temporary shelters at roadside followed by streets, parks under over bridges, etc. which is more hazardous to their health, personal safety and security." (33)
 * 89) "Evidences suggest that migrant workers are easy supplier of labor to the destination area. There is also more employer preference have seen for taking migrant labor partly due to labor costs and partly because of the ease to discipline the migrant labor. Migrant workers often ready to work on areas where a local worker denied working, because of preference or due to the work is unsafe" (34)
 * 90) "Usually migrant labor lives in a deplorable situation and inadequate access to drinking water and basic services. Usually migrants who migrate to cities live in open spaces, parks, and on the pavements. Plenty of migrants have not registered and have no access to the pDS system and ration cards. Therefore, they have to spend a lot for food and other expenses. Existing studies show that due to living in unhygienic condition, they are vulnerable to different kinds of diseases. Due to unaffordable rent of habitation and low economic capacity, they start living in temporary shelters, pavements or open area and become the homeless" (35)
 * 91) Bhagat, Ram B, and Gavin W Jones. “Population Change and Migration in Mumbai Metropolitan Region: Implications for Planning and Governance.” ser. 201. 201, www.researchgate.net/profile/R_Bhagat/publication/236896613_Population_Change_and_Migration_in_Mumbai_Metropolitan_Region_Implications_for_Planning_and_Governance/links/00b7d51a0df52840df000000/Population-Change-and-Migration-in-Mumbai-Metropolitan-Region-Implications-for-Planning-and-Governance.pdf.
 * 92) This source is specific to Mumbai and I can use it to add information to my section on Mumbai.
 * 93) "Mumbai contributes 40 per cent of the GDP of Maharashtra - the second most populous state in India with 112 million population in 2011 - and 5 per cent of the national GDP" (3)
 * 94) "Mumbai city is spread over a geographical area of 603 sq km harboring a population of 12.47 million as per the 2011 Census. The density of population is very high i.d. 20,692 persons per sq km for the city as a whole." (6)
 * 95) Mumbai experienced a significant economic transition during the 1980s and 1990s. This transition has much to do with the closure of the textile mills, followed by the prolonged strikes by textile workers. Subsequently, there was also a large scale relocation of engineering, chemical and pharmaceutical industries to areas adjacent to the city. The de-industrialization of Mumbai in the 1980s and 1990s was so prominent that it turned into a service city. The greater part of the service economy falls under informal activities, where the average income for a worker is hardly Rs.6,000 per month (about 120 US$)" (6)
 * 1) "Mumbai contributes 40 per cent of the GDP of Maharashtra - the second most populous state in India with 112 million population in 2011 - and 5 per cent of the national GDP" (3)
 * 2) "Mumbai city is spread over a geographical area of 603 sq km harboring a population of 12.47 million as per the 2011 Census. The density of population is very high i.d. 20,692 persons per sq km for the city as a whole." (6)
 * 3) Mumbai experienced a significant economic transition during the 1980s and 1990s. This transition has much to do with the closure of the textile mills, followed by the prolonged strikes by textile workers. Subsequently, there was also a large scale relocation of engineering, chemical and pharmaceutical industries to areas adjacent to the city. The de-industrialization of Mumbai in the 1980s and 1990s was so prominent that it turned into a service city. The greater part of the service economy falls under informal activities, where the average income for a worker is hardly Rs.6,000 per month (about 120 US$)" (6)

Area Article Sources

 * 1) “Report of the Expert Group to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty.” India Environment Portal, Government of India, Planning Commission, Nov. 2009, www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/rep_pov.pdf.
 * 2) I can use this article to improve my area article because it contains information on changes made in the measurement of poverty in India and how that changed the statistics of people labeled as "poor". My area article needs to be updated with information about how changes made in measurement of poverty impacts the services available for the poor. This article also contains criticisms of previous methods of measuring poverty in India which I can use to edit different sections in my Wikipedia article.
 * 3) Heshmati, Almas, and Esfandiar Maasoumi. Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia. Edited by Guanghua Wan, Asian Development Bank and Springer International Publishing AG, 2016.
 * 4) The chapter called “Non-income Dimensions, Prevalence, Depth, and Severity of Poverty: Spatial Estimation with Household-Level Data in India” discusses the non-income dimensions of poverty in India such as education, religious factors, gender-related problems, and issues surrounding employment. An argument that is backed by evidence in the chapter is that although the measures of poverty in India show reduction in the numbers, the gap of inequality has actually increased among the rich and the poor; that is exactly why examining factors other than income are crucial to understanding the reality of both absolute and relative poverty. This is relevant to my practice experience as my PE organization strives to help the homeless in non-income dimensions such as quality of employment and wage related matters that impact the overall well being of individuals. I can use the information from this article to add a section called “Non-income Based Poverty Line in India” because a section called “Income Based Poverty Line in India” already exists but lacks information on the non-income factors of poverty.
 * 5) Datt, Gaurav. “Poverty in India and Indian States: An Update.” University of Minnesota Twin Cities, International Food Policy Research Institute, July 1998, ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/97044/files/Poverty in India and Indian States.pdf.
 * 6) This article discusses the changes in the measurement of poverty line from 1951-1994. One particularly interesting fact from this published paper is that National Sample Survey Office focuses on capturing absolute poverty by looking at the per capita consumption as representative of overall welfare of individuals. This may leave out other factors that are involved in individual social and economic well being. I will add this criticism to my Wikipedia article under the section “Criticism of BPL Criteria”. This paper is relevant to the work of my PE organization because my PE organization must also decide the criteria for determining “need” to help homeless individuals. It also specifically focuses on the working homeless, so it must also define employment and poverty to determine need.
 * 7) de Haan, Arjan. Rescuing Exclusion from the Poverty Debate. Vol. 517. International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University (ISS), 2011, https://repub.eur.nl/pub/22626.
 * 8) This working paper discusses the impact of categorization based on caste (particularly for the Dalits and Adivasis) on the BPL and policies connected to poverty. I want to add a new section to my area article and name it "BPL Beneficiaries".
 * 9) "While the poverty debates highlight the severe inequalities that groups based on social identity are exposed to, the poverty focus within the debate and policies under the 'Inclusive Growth' agenda tend to pay insufficient attention to the nature of exclusion these groups suffer from. This article explores the risks of the way in which 'SC/ST' (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) categories are applied in analysis and policy" (5)
 * 10) There were debates around the comparability of the 1999-2000 NSS data with 2004-05 data, especially for rural areas. "With an unchanged poverty line, India's headcount poverty for rural areas in 2004-05 became 28 percent, down from 36 percent in 1993-94, but much higher poverty rates in [...] areas with large 'tribal populations'". At the state level, different groups recommended different ways to measure poverty, but the Planning Commission accepted the Tendulkar Committee's method. The TC brought the rural poverty line "very close to the urban poverty line". The Tendulkar committee "updated the expenditure basket and revised the poverty line and consequently estimated the percentage of poor people in India at 37 percent, or 435 million, almost 10 percentage points higher than the earlier estimate. This estimate is of crucial relevance, including because it sets the norm for the number of people that are entitled to anti-poverty schemes" (6)
 * 11) "While the number of BPL beneficiaries at state level should remain below the NSS data, in practice it exceeded it, while some of the poor that remained excluded were told that the quota had been reached. NSS data for 2004-05 showed that only 44 percent of the poorest households (lowest quintile) possessed a BPL card, while 17 percent of the households in the top quintile had one; 61% of the poor were excluded, while 25 of the non-poor were included" (7)
 * 12) "The NSS measure of the consumption shows that in 2004-05 (61st NSS round) the average consumption o Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes, or ST) was a mere 70 per cent of the average, and that of Dalits (Scheduled Castes, SC) less than 80 per cent of the average. Moreover, between the mid 1990s and mid 2000s, the rate of increase in consumption was lower for Adivasis than for the average, while Dalits too did not catch up with the population" (8)
 * 13) "Targeted government programmes do reach out to poorest groups, but tend to be weakly implement and insufficiently progressive, particularly in many of the poorest states. Moreover, Adivasis tend to be subjected to development-induced displacement, while Dalits in particular continue to suffer from practices in untouchability, and caste-based violence including against expressions of increased voice and upward mobility" (9)
 * 14) There are laws, such as the 'Anti-Untouchability Act' of 1955 and the Scheduled Caste/Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989
 * 15) "States can make special provision for the advancement of deprived groups, through reserved seats for SCs and STs students, supported by number of financial schemes, scholarships, special hostels, concessions in fees, grants for books, remedial coaching etc. A range of income generation programs for poverty reduction exist, and apex financial organizations to develop entrepreneurial skills and provide credits for deprived groups" (10)
 * 16) What services/programs are there for the poor identified by the BPL?
 * 17) "Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan focuses on ensuring that primary education reaches the children of poor families, with community-planning and management key features of the realization of these objectives. The National Rural Health Mission similarly aims to ensure access to health services in India's poorest areas, and also has a strong emphasis on community-based management, and promoting education and empowerment of - and representation in local committees by -Adivasi and Dalit women. The UPA government's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee implies a legal entitlement for every poor rural family to 100 days of work at the minimum wage, and aims to end food insecurity, empower village communities, and create assets in rural areas. The scheme is self-targeted - only people who are willing and able to work will enter" (11)
 * 18) Chin, Aimee, and Nishith Prakash. “The Redistributive Effects of Political Reservation for Minorities: Evidence from India.” The National Bureau of Economics, Journal of Development Economics, 2011, www.nber.org/papers/w16509.pdf.
 * 19) This working paper discusses the concept of political reservation in India and its impact on alleviating poverty, using the data from 16 states in India from 1960-2000. I can use information from this publication to add under the new section "Beneficiaries of BPL".
 * 20) SCs = "groups having low social and ritual standing"; STs = "groups distinguished by their tribal culture and physical isolation" (6)
 * 21) "in 2004-05, the share of the population living below the official Indian poverty line was 46% of STs and 37% of SCs; in contrast, it was 23% among non SC/STs. Thus the STs and SCs account for a disproportionate of India's poor: STs make up 8.6% of India's overall population but 14% of its poor, and SCs make up 20% of the population but 27% of the poor" (6-7)
 * 22) "To improve the well being of the SC's and ST's, various affirmative action policies for SCs and STs have been instituted in the Indian Constitution (which took effect on January 26, 1950, creating the Republic of India) mandates representation for SCs and STs in the lower house of Parliament and the state legislative assemblies. Additionally, the 73rd and 74th Amendments of 1992 mandated representation for SCs and STs at more local levels of government. The seats for SCs and STs are set aside in proportion to their respective share of the total population in the state or part of state. Only members of the SC (ST) may stand for election in constituencies that have been reserved for SCs (STs)" (7)
 * 23) "India accounts for one-third of the world's poor, with about two-fifths of its population living below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. It also has the the largest and among the most aggressive affirmative action programs in the world, with seats explicitly set aside for members of disadvantaged minority groups (i.e., the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)) in higher education, public sector employment and political representation. Obviously these affirmative action programs, though in place for over 60 years, have not been sufficient to eliminate poverty. However, India's poverty rate has declined rapidly over this time period-between 1981 and 2005 alone, it declined from 60% of the population living below $1.25 per day to 42%" (2)
 * 24) "ST and SC reservation in state legislative assemblies have different policy effects, with the former increasing spending on ST welfare programs and the latter increasing the number of state government jobs set aside for minorities. Welfare programs primarily target the poor whereas reserved jobs are open even to better off minorities, so it is not unexpected given Pande's results that ST reservation would reduce poverty (while SC reservation would not)" (3)
 * 25) "Some potential explanations for the differential impact of ST and SC reservation: geographic isolation (ST's tend to be more segregated, which might facilitate targeting of aid), social heterogeneity (greater caste fragmentation might make cooperation more difficult) and support for the Congress Party (which under Indira Gandhi has a well advertised aim to reduce poverty)" (3)
 * 26) "Pande finds that increasing minority representation increases transfers to minorities: ST reservation increased spending on ST welfare programs, and SC reservation increased the share of state government jobs set aside for minorities. Additionally, ST reservation lowered education spending and overall government spending. These results clearly establish that legislator identity matters for policy outcomes" (4)
 * 27) At the village level, some seats in the "Gram Pachayat" (a political body responsible for administration of public goods), "are reserved for minorities and women, with the reserved seats randomly assigned across Gram Panchayats. This random assignment feature has been exploited by researchers to identify the effects of political reservation for minorities and women on the allocation of local public goods". One study found that "Gram Panchayats that are randomly assigned a female pradhan tend to spend more on public goods that women consider more important, such as drinking water and roads in West Bengal and drinking water in Rajasthan. Besley, Pande, Rahman and Rao (2004), using data from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, find that having a SC/ST pradhan significantly increases the probability that SC/ST households have a toilet, electric connection or private water line provided by a government program since the last local election" (5)
 * 28) "Previous studies have found that political reservations for minorities tend to change policies and the allocation of public goods in favor of minorities. Such changes can be expected to improve the well being of at least some minorities, and even non-minorities in poverty might benefit to the extent that these changes encapsulated more general anti-poverty measures than would otherwise have been undertaken. However, there might be elite capture (in which only the better off among the minorities receive the benefits) or the displacement of resources for non-minorities in poverty (40% for SCs and STs compared to 23% for the rest of the population in 2004-05), the number of peoople in poverty is higher among non-minorities (12 million in poverty among SCs, and STs compared to 17 million in poverty in the rest of the population). In this context, helping minorities is not synonymous with reducing poverty - it could be that benefits are mostly going to the SCs and STs above the poverty line, or that the costs are borne predominantly by the non-minority poor. Thus, it is an empirical question whether minority political representation on net reduces poverty" (10)
 * 29) "The empirical evidence in this paper suggests that the effects of affirmation action policies estimated in one context may be hard to generalize to other contexts. We found that while political reservations for one social group, the STs, did help reduce poverty, political reservation for another similarly impoverished group, the SCs, did not" (30)
 * 30) Cyriac, Shruti, et al. “The PDS System in Kerala: A Review.” CCS, Centre for Civil Society, 2008, ccs.in/internship_papers/2008/PDS-in-Kerala-204.pdf.
 * 31) This paper discusses the Public Distribution System in Kerala and how it has changed over time. I aim to use information from this paper to add to the "Kerala" section of my area article., as well as the "BPL Beneficiaries" section.
 * 32) "PDS is primarily a social welfare and antipoverty programme of the Government of India. Essential commodities like rice, wheat, sugar, kerosene and the like are supplied to the people under the PDS at subsidized prices. It has been one of the most important elements in India's safety net system for almost 50 years and also the most far reaching in terms of coverage as well as public expenditure on subsidies [...] The PDS is said to distribute commodities worth more than Rs. 15,000 crore to about 16 crore families each year" (3)
 * 33) Prior to 1997 in Kerala
 * 34) "around 95% of all households were covered by PDS and possessed a ration card. Though the ration cards issued alone does not necessarily translate to mean that all these card-holders are using the ration cards, ,this is the measure used by most studies to calculate the reach and coverage of the PDS and Kerala's PDS was internationally acclaimed as being a model system worth emulating by the other states in the country" (7)
 * 35) "the benefits of the system were equitably spread across income groups in both rural and urban areas. There were 14, 234 fair price shops through which rice and wheat were procured by the Food Corporation of India, sugar and kerosene were distributed by the State Civil Supplies Department. Significantly, 12,203 of these shops were in rural areas. Each retail outlet served about 400 households and according to the State Government, no individual needed to walk more than 2 km to fetch his ration" (7)
 * 36) "Kerala was rated among the best performers in raising rural houshold consumption and reducing rural poverty, patly because its effective system of public distribution. A survey found about 85 per cent of consumers met all or part of their rice requirements from fair price shops" (7)
 * 37) in 1997, the Indian Government changed the PDS Targeted PDS to target the poorest; special cards were issued to BPL families and PDS outlets used specially subsidized prices
 * 38) "Introduction of targeting or specifically, the division of the entire population into below-poverty-line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) categories, based on the poverty line defined by the Planning Commission" (8)
 * 39) "those households below the poverty line (BPL households) are entitled to ration cards, which allow them to buy more quantity at a higher subsidized price" (8)
 * 40) The TDPS in Kerala
 * 41) While the Planning Commission identified 25% of Kerala's population as BPL, the Kerala government identified 42% of households as BPL and is providing the BPL subsidy from the state budget. "TPDS has changed the share of the PDS in the total grain requirements of Kerala" (9)
 * 42) "because of the various schemes and different prices under the TPDS scheme certain distortions are created - consumers have information problems when PDS prices are frequently changed, rolled-back, and differentiated according to scheme and card, there is confusion among customers" (9)
 * 43) "with the higher APL prices, ration shops have lost their advantage in relation to private stores for the majority of the population and it is reported that people have begun to shift to private traders"
 * 44) "Though the TPDS has not achieved anything remarkable in the State, it cannot be said that continuing under the universal PDS would have been better for Kerala. What the targeted system aims to do is basically provide more subsidies for the poor who need it the most, and to reduce subsidies to APL families who are thought to be able to afford to pay more. the government could then narrow down the allocation of grains and reduce its food subsidy bill. However in practice the TPDS has its own share of problems such as the unclaimed stock for APL families being sold in the black market and ration shops claiming that they are out of stock, denying food to those woh need it most, because it is more profitable for these owners to sell their stock to the private markets on the side" (16)
 * 45) Thomas, Bejoy K, et al. “Multidimensional Poverty and Identification of Poor Households: A Case from Kerala, India.” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, vol. 10, no. 2, 10 June 2009, pp. 237–257. Taylor & Francis Online, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19452820902940968?scroll=top&needAccess=true.
 * 46) This article argues that the participatory approach (also called the local method), where the poor people themselves define poverty, is the best method to approach poverty. It also discusses the limitations of defining poverty based on income and gives the example of Kerala, India. I can use this information to add to the "Criticism" and "Kerala" sections of my area article.
 * 47) The participatory approach "seeks to provide an alternative to expert-led approaches whereby lay and poor people themselves define poverty. The methods used are flexible, often evolving during field studies, thus aiming to reflect local realities better [...] it results in power reversals from experts to lay people, ultimately resulting in their empowerment"
 * 48) "Beginning from 1992, the Government of India has been conducting a quinquennial below poverty line (BPL) census to identify poor households in rural areas to be targeted for assistance. Taking into account the widespread dissatisfaction over the income and expenditure methods used in 1992 and 1997, respectively, the Government of India, on the basis of expert recommendation, adopted an indicator based method for the 2002 BPL census. The new method - henceforth 'the BPL method' - identifies poor households using 13 indicators relating to size of landholding, type of house, availability of clothing, food security, sanitation, ownership of consumer durables, literacy status, status of labour, means of livelihood, status of children, type of indebtedness, reasons for migration and assistance preferred from the government. Each of these could be scored from zero to four so that score for a household could range from a minimum of zero to a maximum of 52. The higher the score, the better-off is a household"
 * 49) "Since the late 1990s, the Government of Kerala in south-western India has been using a multidimensional method oriented to the settings of the region - henceforth 'the Kerala method' - to identify poor households in the state. Originally developed by non-governmental organizations and subsequently implemented through Kerala's decentralized government bodies (panchayats), the method uses nine core indicators and eight additional criteria to identify poor households."
 * 50) "The core indicators relate to housing, sanitation, literacy, income sources, food, presence of infants, presence of alcoholics and caste/tribe. The eight additional criteria relate to contextual factors to be taken into account wherever applicable. The presence of four or more of the core indicators qualifies the household to be categorized as poor (a 'risk family'), while households with eight or all of the indicators present are placed in the very poor ('destitute') category"
 * 51) The process of identification of the poor involves discussions among neighborhood groups called ayalkoottangal; "this method assumes that perfect knowledge of each other ensures transparency in identifying poor households"
 * 52) "The BPL method emphasizes basic needs (food, clothing, housing and sanitation), assets (land, consumer durables and debt), capabilities (literacy and school attendance of children) and livelihood (labour status, means of livelihood and migration). However, the approach is top-down, with experts choosing the indicators and weights, with no involvement of the lay people or the target group. The BPL method assigns equal weight to severity within each indicator, thus arriving at a final single score for the household"
 * 53) "The Kerala method, in addition to basic needs (food, water, housing and sanitation) and capabilities (literacy), emphasizes socio-cultural (caste) and local factors. The Kerala method takes a bottom-up approach, through Participatory Poverty Assessments, involving the target groups. However, even while the local communities were consulted during the design of the method to select the indicators, they were not involved in the process of assigning weights. The Kerala method attributes equal weight to the different indicators, relative to the other as well as for severity within each, to screen-off the non-poor households"
 * 54) "The local method emphasizes one predominant dimension of poverty - namely, livelihood insecurity - and assigns relative importance to different means of livelihood. It identifies a number of vulnerability indicators for poverty and, through differential weighting, stresses the severity of each indicator relative to the other. Although it was eventually the researchers who assigned the weights to the indicators, the process involved triangulation of evidence gathered from number of local sources. The approach was open-ended and bottom-up"
 * 55) "Even poor households in Kerala invest large amounts of money for higher education of their children, anticipating future returns. The directives of the government liberalizing the eligibility conditions have made the process of receiving loans easier. Many households in the study village had borrowed from banks as well as from informal sources for professional nursing education"
 * 56) Sachin Kumar Jain. “Identification of the Poor: Flaws in Government Surveys.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 39, no. 46/47, 2004, pp. 4981–4984. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4415796.
 * 57) This article discusses the issues related to the design and implementation of the poverty line. I can use this to add to the "criticism" section of my area article.
 * 58) "Based on a rapid evaluation of the process of BPL identification and its outcomes by the Democratic Alliance Campaign for Good Governance in coordination with ActionAid (Bhopal), it has been found that it is very difficult for honest poor to prove that he/she is poor" (4981)
 * 59) The food indicator of the BPL "focuses on the number of the times the family avails food, whether the family has one or two meals. However, the quality and nutritional aspect of food and even the means of livelihood, which is an important indicator linked to food intake, have been completely ignored. For example, a person may fill his belly by begging, eating from garbage or thrown food, by prostitution, or by manual scavenging but this is immaterial. As per the analysis any person who has two square meals straightaway earns four points" (4981)
 * 60) "The midday meal scheme has attracted children from the poorest families to school. But again this has been misread as their enhanced economic capacity to send children to school; earning them more points and keeping them out of the BPL list. Just a little education or possessing traditional skills, even without having any productive work, has driven many out of the list as the underlying belief in the schedule is that possession of these qualities secures productive means" (4981)
 * 61) "The below poverty line politics does not consider social marginalization as an important aspect of identifying the poor. As a result, some major categories of people like persons with disability (mental or physical), who very often find it difficult to earn their livelihood and thus fulfill their basic needs, are not considered as poor. Further, communities who have been forced to live a life devoid of self-esteem and dignity - manual scavengers and communities involved in caste-based prostitution - are denied the right to be categorized as poor" (4983)
 * 62) "According to government records, out of a total 11.31 lakh disabled people in Madhya Pradesh, 8.9 lakh (78 per cent) live below the poverty line, but only 3.8 lakh disabled are receiving a social security pension. It is clear that the government does not consider disability as an indicator of poverty and the evidence of this is the recent BPL survey list, which has set various indicators to identify the families living below the poverty line. It is surprising that the list gives weightage to the possession of two to three pair of clothes, fans, cycles, etc, but disability is not addressed in any form." (4983)
 * 63) "In Madhya Pradesh 23,000 families live on the pavements and roadside but are deprived of any benefit from the government schemes. Their fault is that they reside on the pavement and therefore have no address, and hence cannot be allotted ration cards. It is worth quoting that the ration card is not only for availing cheap food grains but is also used as evidence to prove one's identity as a citizen. But these pavement dwellers are denied this document. This section is one, which experiences extremel natural calamities and is yet neglected. Due to instability and no house to live in they are not even able to cook for themselves. In such a critical situation these helpless children purchase food, beg or search for food in the garbage to fill their stomachs" (4983)
 * 64) "The communal violence/riot affected families have to begin life from scratch but there are no criteria to bring them into the fold of government programme. At present 18,000 affected families are seriously struggling to get a stable means of survival and have been forced to accept poverty and starvation. The problems faced by leprosy and HIV patients are similar. On the one hand, they are struggling with their illness to survive and, on the other hand, they are ostracised by society. This makes their survival difficult - as they do not get livelihood support" (4983)
 * 65) Another Source
 * 1) Another Source

Summarizing and Synthesizing
Policy and urbanization have made a major impact on migration which in turn has changed employment and housing patterns in major cities like Mumbai. Nearly all of my sources for my sector article discuss the implementation of laws like the MSAA and MHADA that intended to improve the conditions of housing in slums but failed to take many factors into account. While Miloon Kothari analyzes the contributions of insecure housing on social relations among different communities living in the Jogeshwari East of Mumbai, Svati Shah discusses how lack of formal employment opportunities leads to income insecurities. Both authors would agree that increased migration and lack of successful policy to address it are the root causes of inadequate housing in Mumbai. Desai's PhD Desai examines the issues of migration and employment that Kothari and Shah mention in their books, and connects it to specific efforts on the part of the government. While all of the sources discuss problems surrounding housing, there is little discussion on the people who have absolutely no access to housing (not even slums) - the people that work in the informal sector of India, the people that work during the day and have no safe place to sleep at night.

Sector Article "Homelessness in India"
Add a new section called “Homelessness and Informal Housing: The Case of Mumbai”

Mumbai, located in one of the most populous states, Maharashtra, is home to 12.47 million people, as per the 2011 Census. The city has an extremely high population density of 20,692 people per sq km, and a total area of about 603 sq km. It contributes to nearly 40 per cent of the state’s gross domestic product and 5 per cent of the national GDP. Much of Mumbai’s economy today falls under the informal sector where the average income of a worker is about Rs. 6,000 per month (equaling to about 120 US dollars).

The population of Mumbai dramatically increased from 1.69 million in 1930 to 8 million in 1970 due to people moving from rural areas. Migrants move to the city when working in a rural area does not supply enough income to support their families. In the city, employers are more attracted to migrants than local workers because migrant workers supply labor at a cheaper cost and are more willing to work in unsafe conditions.

However, an income of less than Rs. 6,000 leaves many migrant workers without access to clean drinking water and basic amenities. Many are not able to pay for rent and thus are forced to live in pavements, streets, parks, and other open public spaces. One study showed that nearly 60 percent of the homeless of Mumbai are from migrants from other states, and most in this category moved from rural areas. Most of them work in the informal sector as laborers and live without a permanent home. Many of these migrants do not have any sort of identity documents and thus are not registered for social welfare benefits such as the Public Distribution System. These migrants originally worked on agricultural lands that they did not own themselves; they moved to Mumbai in search of a better livelihood - better roads, better access to clean drinking water, better roads, better sustenance. Many left their villages to escape “caste-based violence” that destroyed their ability to make a living.

A smaller portion of migrant laborers are able to afford to live in slums. Today, more than half of Mumbai’s population, nearly 5.5 million people, lives in slums which make up only 8% of the land. Slums suffer from overcrowding, tight spaces, poor lightiing, lack of electricity, scarcity of clean water, and unhygienic conditions. Slum inhabitants also suffer from housing insecurities resulting from pressure from their landlords to pay rent on time.

In Maharashtra, several programs and policies were enacted by the government to address inadequate housing issues, especially related to slums. The Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act (MSAA) in 1971 was established to “improve environmental conditions” in slums by providing a range of services; it gave the government power to declare a geographical space as a “slum area” and then take action to improve it as deemed appropriate. It could ask the inhabitants of a slum to move to another space without offering alternative spaces of living. The Slum Upgrading Program, funded by the World Bank, aimed to help residents secure leases. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act (MHADA) in 1976 gave the government the power to “acquire lands for carrying out the Acts’ objectives”.

The policies associated with informal housing have slowly taken a neoliberal path, as seen through the Slum Redevelopment Scheme (SRD) that involved the private sector for the redevelopment of slums.

Informal housing and homelessness remain a major issue in Mumbai as migration from rural areas continues and low incomes force people to locate to streets and pavements.

Add a new section called “Challenges faced by the homeless”

One challenge the homeless face is the inaccessibility to shelters. Although shelters are available for the homeless in certain cities, many homeless people choose to not utilize them and live on the streets instead due to various different reasons. One reason is that homeless individuals who are affected by mobility issues cannot access them and are unsure about how shelters function. Another is that sometimes shelters are located in unreachable areas and have “camouflaged architecture and poor layouts of the interiors”. Shelters often lack funding and resources to make them more attractive for the homeless population. Shelters also demand a small fee per night, immediately rendering them inaccessible for many homeless. The homeless may view shelters as crowded spaces with poor sanitation where drug addicts and thieves may also take refuge. Sometimes shelters do not allow individuals to bring personal belongings with them which is another factor that discourages homeless individuals from using the shelters. Furthermore, shelter officials, managers, and caretakers are not incentivized to keep the shelters clean and welcoming. Temporary shelters also run the risk of being demolished and often force the homeless to change location of stay.

Another challenge faced by the homeless is exposure to extreme weather in summer and winter. A study found that between January 2005 and December 2009, seven homeless individuals passed away every day in Delhi. Their deaths were not recorded by the police and they also did not receive a funeral.

Homeless people also suffer from bad health and extremely limited access to medical facilities. Some of the reasons include: lack of proper identity documents required by medical facilities, cost, and inclination of health care providers to outright reject them. In 2010, the UNDP India conducted a survey that found that only about 3% of the homeless people possessed a voter ID or ration card.

Introduction Section

After the second sentence “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines ‘homeless’ as those who do not live in a regular residence due to lack of adequate housing, safety, and availability”, add this sentence: “The United Nations Economic and Social Council Statement has a broader definition for homelessness; it defines homelessness as follows: ‘When we are talking about housing, we are not just talking about four walls and a roof. The right to adequate housing is about security of tenure, affordability, access to services and cultural adequacy. It is about protection from forced eviction and displacement, fighting homelessness, poverty and exclusion.’”

After the sentence “There are 1.77 million homeless people in India, or 0.15% of the country’s total population, according to the 2011 census consisting of single men, women, mothers, the elderly, and the disabled”, add this following sentence: “However, it is argued that the numbers are far greater than accounted by the point in time method. For example, while the Census of 2011 counted 46,724 homeless individuals in Delhi, the Indo-Global Social Service Society counted them to be 88,410, and another organization called the Delhi Development Authority counted them to be 150,000.”

The "Causes" Section

Add this after the first sentence of the first paragraph: "Migration to urban areas can occur for a variety of reasons ranging from loss of land, need for sustainable employment, lack of clean water and other resources, and in some cases like the Bargi Dam Project, loss of all property and complete displacement."

After the sentence “Some other problems leading to homelessness include…” add this following sentence: “Desertion of the old, mentally ill, unmarried pregnant women, helpless divorced women and girl children also are some of the main causes of homelessness in India.”

After this after the last paragraph of this section: “Policymakers attribute the following factors as the main causes of homelessness: drug abuse, mental illness, relationship failures, and domestic abuse. These place responsibility and blame directly on the homeless. Policies related to ‘deinstitutionalization of care for mentally ill people and subsequent abandonment of a family member with mental illness by the family’ have also increased the number of people living without a roof over their heads.”

The "Street Children" Section

Add this as the first sentence: “Street children fall under the broader category of children in especially difficult circumstances (CEDC), and are considered the most threatened of all children in CEDC.”

In the end, add the following paragraph: “Homelessness and poverty are the main causes of child labor in India. Census 2011 reported that there nearly 43.5 lakh children aged 5-14 years work to support themselves and their families. According to UNICEF, nearly 12% of all of India’s children are laborers. In many cases, poor parents have no choice but to send their children to work in unsafe and hazardous conditions.”

The "Governmental Services" Section

The section should begin with the following paragraph: “After India gained independence in 1947, the nation created its own set of Five-Year Plans for economic development. The state did not develop any programs for dealing with the poor and the homeless until the Eighth-Five Year plan (1992-97). In this plan, the Footpath Dwellers Night Shelter Scheme (NSS) was created and funds of INR 2.27 crores were allocated for two years. The 10th plan (2002-2007) asked NGOs to creates homes for the homeless and also recognized that the the homeless were not being addressed by the government to an extent that they should have been. The 11th plan (2007-12) declared access to roof over one’s head as a “fundamental right”. The 12th plan (2012-17) promoted the creation and development of night shelters for beggars and the aged; it also gave city planners the responsibility to build and provide spaces for the homeless.”

Add the following paragraph towards the end of this section: “The Public Distribution System (PDS) is one of the major services offered by the government to people living below the poverty line (BPL) in India. This system provides food and grains to low income families at a cheaper rate. However, it requires identity documents to determine eligibility, which many homeless people lack. Although programs like the Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan and NGOs like Pehchan in Mumbai work with the homeless in obtaining documentation of identity, only about 3% of the homeless people in India have identity proof, meaning that most are excluded from becoming beneficiaries of the BPL.”

The "Non-governmental Services" Section

Add the following paragraph in the beginning: “Under the "Non-Governmental Services" section, add a new paragraph towards the end: "Indian NGOs have increased dramatically over the years for a number of reasons. A few of these reasons include: programs developed by governmental organizations often lack "sufficient financial means for implementation", lack of discourse around urban issues at Indian universities, and the gap between social classes in urban areas”

Add the following paragraph towards the end: “Many NGOs working in housing sector utilize “self-help techniques” that can be viewed in two perspectives; one is that NGOs can work to “overcome the lack of funds and still be able to do something”; and the other is that NGOs can work to spread awareness about issues related to homelessness and help make people more “conscious”. Some advantages that NGOs have are: “flexibility and possibility to experiment; high sensitivity to local problems; a good rapport with the people involved in the project; opportunities to make use of mutual help; aid of international organizations (expertise); inspiring enthusiasm; possibilities to tackle controversial issues”. However, NGOs that implement shelter projects are limited to what they can do because the location of the project always impacts the quality of the shelter, something that is out of the NGO’s control.”

Area Article "Below Poverty Line"
The "Criticism" Section

Add the sentence in the beginning: "The National Sample Survey Office originally focused on capturing absolute poverty by looking at the per capita consumption as representative of the overall welfare of individuals. This left out factors that are involved in individual social and economic well being".

After the previous sentence, add: "These factors are the non-income dimensions of poverty - such as education, religious factors. gender related problems, and issues surrounding employment"

After the previous sentence, add this sentence: "Although the measures of poverty in India show reduction in the numbers, the gap of inequality has actually increased among the rich and the poor; that is exactly why examining factors other than income are crucial to understanding the reality of both absolute and relative poverty."

Add the following after the previous sentence:

The BPL method employed to measure the number of people living in poverty in India takes food, clothing, housing, and sanitation into account along with literacy and labor status. This approach is top-down, meaning that officials in power decide what indicators to use and how much each indicator should weigh. This method is criticised to be exclusive of the people it is assessing, as it does not take their opinions into account.

The food indicator of the BPL method counts the number of meals a family has and completely ignores the quality and nutritional factors. For instance, if an individual eats by begging on the street or picks up food from garbage, he or she still earns four points. There is an emphasis on school attendance as an indicator of better opportunities; quality of education and skills is ignored measuring poverty.

Physical and mental disability are also factors that the BPL does not take into account. As government records show, there are a total of 11.31 lakh disabled people in the state of Madhya Pradesh, 8.9 lakh of which live below the poverty line; yet only 3.8 lakh receive government help in the form of social security pension.

In order to become a beneficiary of the BPL and receive benefits like the Public Distribution System, the government requires identification documents and a permanent address. For families that are homeless and reside on pavements and parks, they have no means of obtaining ration cards and cheap food grains. They are essentially denied their rights as citizens and left vulnerable in a critical situation.

The BPL also does not count families that are affected by violence and crime and afflicted by conditions like HIV and leprosy. These families may be struggling to make ends meet but do not receive benefits of the BPL due to the criteria of the BPL.

'''Combine the “Ninth Plan” and “Tenth Plan” sections and call it “Five-Year Plans”. Under this section, add the following:'''

"There were debates around the comparability of the 1999-2000 NSS data with the 2004-05 data, especially for the rural areas. Data showed a decline in poverty from 36% to 28%, but higher poverty rates in certain areas. Different groups proposed different methods of measuring poverty, but the Planning Commission chose the Tendulkar Committee’s method that “updated the expenditure basket and revised the poverty line and consequently estimated the percentage of poor people in India at 37% or 435 million in 2004-05."

The "Kerala" section

Add this paragraph to the section: “Beginning in the 1990s, the government of Kerala started utilizing a multidimensional approach to measuring poor households in the state. This method, called the Kerala method was developed by NGOs and then executed through the local governments called panchayats. This method employs nine parameters as core indicators, and eight more criteria to measure poverty in the state. The core indicators of poverty are related to housing, caste/tribe, source of income, presence of babies, presence of drug addicts, literacy, and sanitation in the household. The additional indicators are composed of socio-cultural factors unique to local regions. Each of the indicators are weighted unequally and severity of each is taken into account. This method was created by involving neighborhood groups called “ayalkoottangal”. This approach is viewed as bottom-up because the local people were engaged in the creation of this approach and selection of indicators of poverty; this marked the Kerala method as more participatory than the BPL.”

After the bullet point list already in this section, add the following paragraphs: “Kerala experienced significant changes in its social welfare system for people living below the poverty line. Before 1997, nearly 95% of Kerala’s families held a ration card and were able to reap the benefits of the Public Distribution System (PDS). The beneficiaries were ‘equitably spread across income groups in both rural and urban areas.’ Fair price shops were conveniently located in both urban and rural spaces, and ‘no individual needed to walk more than 2 km’ to access rice and wheat. The PDS system of Kerala was among the most effective in the entire nation and as a result, Kerala was among the top states in lowering overall poverty.

In 1997, the Indian government changed the PDS to focus on the poorest families; PDS became Targeted PDS. The government issued new cards to families living below the poverty line and restricted access to the fair price shops to the beneficiaries of the TDPS only. While the BPL counted 25% of Kerala’s families as eligible for the PDS, the Kerala government identified 42% of the population as poor households and beneficiaries of the BPL. Due to this discrepancy, the state itself provided subsidies from its own budget. But due to the new schemes, constant changes and variance in prices led to confusion among the beneficiaries. With higher food prices for people living above the poverty line, many ration shops lost business.

Add a new section called “BPL Beneficiaries”

Certain groups, specifically those under Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), suffer from exclusion in the poverty debates. While the National Sample Survey (NSS) data showed a decline in overall poverty from 36% in 1993-94 to 28% in 2004-05, the numbers told a different story for areas with tribal populations. The 2004-05 NSS also showed that “the average consumption of Adivasis (ST) was a mere 70% of the average, and that of Dalits (SC) less than 80% of the average.” This census also showed that STs and SCs make up a large proportion of India’s poor. The government’s programmes for the these groups tend to be executed not as strongly and also tend to progress very slowly. STs and SCs also suffer from displacement, caste-based violence and discrimination in education and employment. States hold the power to make special arrangements for these groups through “reserved seats” in educational institutions and special grants and scholarships. In addition, certain “income generation programs” along with financial organizations that provide coaching in “entrepreneurial skills” do exist for these groups. A certain number of government jobs are set aside for these minority groups as well. A study found that in an area where member of SC/ST groups are assigned roles of leadership, more funds are allocated towards welfare programs. In other words, political representation of the poor makes a huge impact on allocation of resources.

Other programs available for the beneficiaries of BPL include: Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan (SSA), the National Rural Health Mission, National Rural Employment Guarantee. SSA works to bring education to children from poor families and incorporates community work and organization. The NRHM focuses on accessibility to health care in some of the poorest areas of India, and encourages education and uplifting of Adivasi and Dalit women. The NREG “implies a legal entitlement for every poor rural family to 100 days of work at the minimum wage, and aims to end food insecurity, empower village communities, and create assets”.