Living Status/Shelter of Street Families of Kolkata: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

Kolkata is a densely populated city of eastern India with an estimated population of about 10 million and it is the fourth largest city in India (after Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore). A huge number of the population has settled their family on the pavements/streets or in the unauthorized slums (jhupri at canal side) of Kolkata for more than 40 years after migration from different districts of West Bengal and its neighboring states like Bihar, Orissa & Uttar Pradesh and from the neighboring country, Bangladesh and Nepal for securing their better living and it is a continuous process. But, there they live without requisite facilities and it is unprotected without any doubt. This present paper examines living status/shelter of street dwellers of Kolkata and their strategies for its improvement in future. For the purpose of the study, qualitative and quantitative data had been collected through adopting a random purposive sampling. Five hundred members of street families of different parts of Kolkata were interviewed in respect of their age, sex, religion, education, occupation, connecting person and etc. using a structured interview schedule. The information on their better shelter had also been collected through focus group discussion. From the study, it reveals that safe shelter was a prime hindrance for their survival. Due to absence of this, women’s privacy and security were violated. For their better shelter the majority of them were indifferent and only 10% of them had taken initiative on their own for safe shelter at the suburban area of the city.