“What can be done, Didi? We have no place or money to go anywhere” says 13-year-old Ramesh (name changed), the eldest among his siblings. 

I work with Prerana’s Sanmaan project. Our team works with children who live on the street, and children rescued from begging. Ramesh is one of the children who Sanmaan has been following-up with. A few days ago, I received a call from my colleague and as I heard her speak, I could feel the annoyance in her voice. My colleague informed me that the police had forcefully removed Ramesh’s family who had been living on a pavement. Without any prior notice or warning, the police had asked the families to leave and go somewhere else amid the crisis of the pandemic. 

We started working with Ramesh, when he was rescued from begging in November 2017. By the Order of the Child Welfare Committee, an Individual Care Plan was made involving him, and his parents to ensure that he was not pushed back into begging. Since then, Prerana has been following up with the child. Ramesh belongs to the nomadic tribe of Pardhi, who have migrated from Solapur district of Maharashtra to make a living in Mumbai. His parents work as daily wage earners. His father works odd jobs and his mother sells items like hair clips, combs, etc for a living. His family lives hand-to-mouth, through their daily earnings. The shelter that Ramesh resides in is a makeshift space, with few utensils to cook, few plastic bags consisting of clothes and other belongings of the family.  

In the current situation, the sudden imposition of the lockdown by the State has affected the family deeply. With no source of income, the family has been forced to buy essentials by pawning their belongings. While conversing with Ramesh he shared, “Ma had to pawn her mangalsutra (marriage locket), so we could pay for necessities. She got around Rs 4000 for it, but it is now depleting fast.” The savings could last the family only for the first month of the lockdown. Ramesh shared with the social worker that the family was surviving on the relief material being provided by the civil society organizations. His parents have grown up in Mumbai too and going back to their native place in Solapur is not an option for them. “We neither have anything in the village nor do we have any other place to stay here,” remarks Ramesh anxiously. 

On the same day, one of my colleagues visited Ramesh. The family informed that people staying in the neighboring society had complained that the families staying on the streets were causing trouble in the neighborhood. They had claimed that the people living on the street were ‘unclean’ and could pose a health risk. The statement was unfair and indicative of a class bias towards people from lower socio-economic groups. Ramesh’s family also added that the police had taken away almost all of their belongings. Our experiences tell us that this behavior by the police towards people living on the street is not uncommon. They often face harassment and humiliation at the hands of the police, including damaging their belongings. The plastic sheet that they were using to cover their shelter had been torn by police, the ropes attaching the plastic had been cut, and their belongings had been thrown away. They were expected to shift to another place on the same day. The family said that they didn’t know what to do as they neither had any money nor any place to go to. 

The next day my colleague conducted a visit again and spoke with Ramesh. He shared that the family had not cooked anything yet, as they feared that the police would come to remove them again and throw their utensils away. He and his family had tried to sleep under the bridges, but with the rains and fear of the police, he had trouble sleeping. While interacting with the social worker, Ramesh shared that he does not understand why such things are happening with his family. Meanwhile, Prerana’s staff contacted a local NGO to help the family with temporary shelter as well as tried to locate a shelter meant for the homeless. Prerana has also linked the family to other organizations to provide them with cooked food.

The story showed the plight of the people living on the street, struggling with little or no means of survival. The lockdown that has been imposed to slow the spread of the pandemic, has amplified the difficulties faced by the family to a large extent. To add to this, being removed from their makeshift shelters with no means, along with the abusive behavior by law enforcement authorities points to deep apathy of the state towards the less privileged. The insensitivity of the state towards the families added to their vulnerabilities and anxieties, amid the pandemic. While on one hand, the state is seeking that people must stay at home, they are creating a situation of homelessness for families on the margins. They are not only refusing to help the homeless but also violating their rights and dignity.