Catch 32: Poor, and well below misery line-Sep 22, 2011

Catch 32: Poor, and well below misery line

TNN | Sep 22, 2011, 06.12AM IST


The poor can't have a life. That's what Planning Commission's new definition of urban poverty implies in Delhi. In order to keep body and soul together on Rs 32 per day - the per-person spending limit for being judged poor - in these times of double-digit food inflation, they must forgo other necessities like a roof above their heads. The bus ticket is a luxury, and education for children a vain hope. When medical emergencies arise, two square meals become an indulgence and debts mount. Jayashree Nandi & Prerna Sodhi take a look at life near the new poverty line

VINOD JHA (65) | GAS CYLINDER DELIVERY MAN |

Lugging 30kg domestic gas cylinders up floors is not a job for someone his age, but Jha still does it to support his large family. He earns around Rs 1,500 a month but after paying Rs 800 as rent, his income is not enough to see the household through the month. "Fortunately, one of my sons started working recently and he is also contributing to the family's finances. That helps pay my grandchildren's tuition fees and our expenditure on food. I can't imagine a person living on Rs 32 these days. Just a cup of tea costs between Rs 5 and Rs 7 here," he says. Jha's family of 12 spends around Rs 2,000 per month on tuition fee and food. He charges Rs 3 to deliver one cylinder and manages to deliver 15 to 18 cylinders in a day.

RAM SINGH (32) | SELLS WATER FROM A CART |

Singh says he spends more than Rs 32 on his baby alone everyday, "for his milk and his food" . Another Rs 1,500 goes towards rent. Having spent two years in Delhi, Singh says he finds the city expensive. He now spends Rs 1,800 per month on food and says the cost has been shooting up due to inflation. "The cost of vegetables has been particularly high. At least food should be within reach of the poor." With villagers steadily migrating to Delhi for livelihood, Singh worries about the future. "From whatever I earn everyday, I have to pay Rs 40 to my employer. In winter, we have no option but to go back to the village because there is no work here. So, I feel the Rs 32 benchmark for determining poverty is unjustified," he says.

KAYUM KHAN (25) AND AMIRUDDIN KHAN (24) |

RICKSHAW PULLER AND TONGA-WALLAH |

A prefabricated bridge section, open to rain and wind on two sides, is home to these brothers' 10-member family. Saving money is out of the question, and with no hope of paying off their rising debt that's already exceeded Rs 15,000, they often go without a meal. Two sisters in the family suffer from psychological conditions that need regular medication, but keeping everyone fed is more important. "We go hungry when we can't buy a meal. How did the government arrive at the Rs 32 limit?" says Khayum. They spend around Rs 150 per day on their meagre meals comprising mainly chapatis or rice with some vegetables or pulses. And when the earning brothers are sick, the family runs up some more debts at the grocer's . Their biggest dread? The day construction starts on the bridge and they are made to leave.

SHANTI DEVI (40) | STREET FOOD VENDOR |

There is no way she can bring her family's daily expenditure below Rs 100, says Shanti Devi. The street food vendor has been passing through a really bad patch ever since her husband met with an accident and stopped earning. Her two sons have grown up eating only the oily fare she sells from her stall near Angoori Bagh - bread pakoras and paranthas with tea. The sole breadwinner of her family, she earns Rs 150 a day. But when she fell sick recently, her daily medical expenditure also added up to the same amount. "To eat, or fill up your stomach with medicines? That is the dilemma that my family goes through often," she says. Inflation has affected this vendor most cruelly. While she is trying hard to break out of poverty, price rise is making things difficult.

VINOD TIWARI (32) | STREET FOOD VENDOR |

"Just Rs 32? I spend Rs 40 daily just to buy milk for my four children. Even the most ordinary rice costs at least Rs 20 these days. And I am not even counting other expenses like travel, education and rent," says Tiwari, who has a kachori stall near Yamuna Vihar. The family of six pays a rent of Rs 1,500 a month for a room in Sonia Vihar. The children's education at a private school costs Rs 275 each. "Most of the time we are under debt and cannot manage small expenses," says Tiwari, who came to Delhi two years back with the hope of earning more than what his farmer father ekes out of their land in UP. But it is a rare month when he can send some money back home, and then it is not more than Rs 500
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SULEIMAN (30) | RAGPICKER |

A migrant who came to Delhi two-and-a-half years ago for his livelihood, Suleiman is one disappointed man. Not only is his income meagre, he finds himself reduced to a social outcast. The Rs 50 or so he earns in a day pays for his meals but there's little left over to send his daughter back in the village. Suleiman can't afford to pay rent and stays under an overbridge near Angoori Bagh with other ragpickers. "A roadside meal in Delhi does not cost less than Rs 20. I have no money left over for anything else." Suleiman says he has no way of going back and now his health is also beginning to fail. "I had come to Delhi with a reference, but I lost the address. Circumstances forced me to become a ragpicker. My wife left me around six months ago. I have little hope left now."

RAMESH KUMAR (27) CONSTRUCTION LABOURER |