poverty discourse - ckf.org.in

28th Poverty Discourse

Homeless and the LabourProcess: Exploring

through Visual Sociology

Dr. Manindra Nath ThakurAssociate Professor, Centre for Political Studies,

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Friday, 27th January, 2017

Lokashraya FoundationA 101, Gauri Sadan, 5-Hailey Road,

New Delhi-110001

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Lokashraya FoundationA-101, Gaui Sadan,5 Hailey Road,New Delhi – 110001Phone: 011-23705511/12Fax: 011-23705550Email: [email protected]: www.lokashraya.org

Homeless and the LabourProcess: Exploring through

Visual Sociology

Dr. Manindra Nath ThakurAssociate Professor, Centre for Political Studies

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Abhay Kumar, Executive Director, LokashrayaFoundationbegan the Talk with a welcome address. Dr.Kumarwelcomed the guest and said that the audience will see a filmcalled “Nether World” and then will have a discussion on“Homeless and Labour Process Exploring Through VisualSociology”. This video hadbeen prepared by DevelopingCountry Research Centre(DCRC) and Prof Thakur had beeninvolved in the research and field work. The speaker willfurther discuss how visual sociology can be used as amethodological tool in research. Dr. Kumar then gave a briefintroduction of the chairperson and the Speaker.Thechairpersonof the Talk was Prof John Chattanad. He is aprolificacademician and got his academic qualification fromUniversity of Chicago. Earlier, he was working as a Vice-President of Indian Social Institute (ISI) at Lodhi Road, NewDelhi. Currently, he is engaged with St Xavier’s School Societyin civil lines. Dr. Chattanad has held various capacitates at

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Homeless and the Labour

various places. He was Principal of Vidya Jyoti College ofTheology and had been visiting Professor inmany theologicalinstitutions. He has been a great contributor in the field ofpoverty and hunger issues and edited six books till date andhad published more than 200 articles in India as well asabroad. Dr Kumarwelcomed the Chair on behalf of the entireLokashraya Foundation.

Dr Kumar also welcomed the Speaker of the Talk. Dr. ManindraNath Thakur is is academician, scholar, and activist. Hecurrentlyteaches in Centre for Political Studies (CPS),Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). His earlier teachingassignment was with University of Delhi. He has been workingon Gandhian philosophy and Ambedkar-Gandhi debate. Hewelcomed Dr. Thakur .

Father John in his Chair remarkssaid that he is pleased withthe work of theLokashrayaFoundation. Hesaid that both Dr.Thakurand himwere associatedfor along time forcompiling anedited book onpoverty. In 2006,they had a majorseminar on“Wounded History

and Social Healing” in collaboration with University of Delhiand it was a great success. He requested Prof. Thakur to screenthe movie and begin his Talk.

Presentation

Dr.Thakur thanked everyone and acknowledged the briefintroduction of him given by Dr. Abhay Kumar. The speakersaid that he wanted to show the movie to everyone and


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movie will speak for itself. The speaker first gave a briefbackground of the movie making process. He said that heused to spot lots of street dwellers near ISBT and he used towonder who these people are? He got down and startedtalking to them. He discovered it for the first time that thesepeople stay onstreets 24 x 7. Itcame as a bigsurprise. Hestarted workingon this peopleand startedgettingacquainted withthem whilecommutingevery day towork. During aworkshop on human rights,the speaker and Ms. Shaliniwanted to do something with the street dwellers. DCRCagreed to make afilm but Prof John Harris had abig debate onfilm being used as a research method. In London School ofEconomic, a scholar submitted a thesis in the form of film andit was rejected. It was anticipated that it will get rejected inIndia too. Therefore, the entirefilming was taken up as achallenge. Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies(CSDS) also started workingonhomeless population but theyfailed because of sampling difficulties. In the meantime, V.V.Giri National Labour Institute was approached to work onthe homeless population but it turned down the proposal asthey refused to acknowledge this problem as a part of labourproblems. The speaker had a debate that propelled him to usevisual sociology to portray the labour issues of shelter less inDelhi. There are few issues - firstly, homeless should not betreated as charity and proper lawsshould be implemented todeal with them; secondly, written words are not the only wayof conducting research, the hegemony of written wordsshould be broken. The technology was not cheap a decade

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ago and finance was a challenge. The success of the projectwas that V. V.Giri National Labour Institute started a projecton homeless being part of a labour process and took this upto many universities and suggested to train this methodology

to the students.The project hadan impact on thehomelesspopulation also.In research mostof the time thefindings does notcome back to thepeople and it ismostly evaluatedby the examiners.On contrary, in

this type of visual sociology the people can see, give feedbackand organize themselves. Such typeof methodologies hadbeen proposed in CPS, JNU but it was not accepted. Thespeaker then wanted the audience to see the movie forthemselves and decide on the relevance of the methodology.

The movie depicted that how cities belong to the rich andbeautiful and hadalienated the poor and the marginal-ragpickers, beggars and pavement dwellers. A large section ofthem had migrated from the neighboring states in search ofbetter jobs or just in search of better life. A section of themhad found no job and fallen prey to drug addiction. A ladywas also interviewed who was terribly assaulted on the streetsseveral times and had lost her senses. No sound or no worldlycharm does ever reach her ears. Most of them found a shelteron thestreet below the bare sky; only few lucky ones had gotshelter in the make shift shelter madeby the government.These homeless people had no rights because they do nothave any identity. They stay in the city as a complete stranger.Md. Omar was a man found on the street in Paharganj whohadlived almost 50 years of his life in Delhi and 15 years on


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the streets. He survived on the food and clothes given byothersand don’t have a single penny of his own as he is tooold to work. He had been deserted by his relatives and nowhe has lost the ability to earn. A section of the homelesspeople is neither beggars nor idlers but waspart of activeinformal workforce and had contributedto the smoothfunctioning of the city day and night. They were not aware oftheir rights and contributions let alone their problems.

A carpenter (Bhagwan Das)turned into rag picker, coolie(Vinod) turned to scrap dealer; admittedly most of them hadaddiction in some form or other. Is there were some kind ofpattern? Research suggested in positive. The migrants cameto the cities for various reasons - economic, societal andfamilial. Once in the city they form part of semi-skilled ormanual labour. Gradually, circumstances like ill health, severalvices etc. push them in a downslide and connection begin tobreak. So, a loss of home which began when he left his nativeplace translated into loss of all rights- he had no address andtherefore not a part of census process, had no ration card, verylittle access tohealth,education andlegal facilities.Denied of allhuman andcitizenshiprights, hebecame non-entity. A citytakes a lot fromhim but givesnothing inreturn. The phenomenon of leaving home is not restricted toyouth and adults but also to kids largely due to familial issues.The kids lose their childhood on the streets. The kids getacquainted to the street sand often do not want to go backto their home. Kids are often abused on roads by police and

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it is the direct result of inadequate and contradictory statepolicies. On the one hand there are rules to treat streetchildren affectionately; on the other hand beggary laws allowthe police to mistreat the children on the roads and get awaywith it. The women doubly suffer than men just because sheis a woman. Each women on the road hadvery sad story totell; their faces had untold miseries etched on them. The smallchildren on the streets use strange things like a type of fluidwhich they smell to get a high. Onething leads to another andsoon they are hooked to smack. Unfortunately, authorities dovery little to stop drug peddling.

Politics of urban space and various municipal and land lossadd up to more and more deprivation for homeless. Very fewnight shelters are there in Delhi; one of them runs in fountainchowk in old Delhi. Mansoor livedthere who migrated to thecity in search of good job but had to settle as menial wagelabourer. He was a spirited person and was found fighting forthe cause of homeless. He said there were problems duringday time. The health was a major problem as homeless people

were oftenrefused on thecontext of nothaving anyresidentialaddress. Thenight shelter wasonce dismantledbut later it wasreestablishedoutofcontinuousstruggle; all theseraise questions

that all these images were reflections of growing societalisolation.

After the screening of the movie, the speaker expressed thatit is heart wrenching to talk after viewing the movie. He saidthat the number of homeless people had gone up. The neo-


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liberal policies and withdrawal of state support has probablycaused more harm. There is no labour law as yet for this kindof workers. The film had strictly showed how formation ofdestitute is a combination of the work process. This is not onlya phenomenon of Delhi or India. Many European cities alsohave experienced this; City like Copenhagen also hashomelesspopulation whooften tookshelter in thechurch. InDelhi,they move fromone temple tootherthroughout theweek and year.The populationis absolutely atthe margin ofthe society. People mostly have lost the urge and the need ofa normal people. The speaker has also worked on thepsychological dimension of homelessness. Home is apsychological construct. Home how bad it is gives a sense ofstability. People not having any address are not only a politicalissue but also a psychological issue. Gradually, destitutiontransforms in to mental illness. Despite this hopelessness, thespeaker had found a ray of hope that sense of organizingthemselves will give them their right. Ashray AdhikaarAbhiyaan had taken the initiative and guaranteed them thevoting rights. The role of the NGOs in this sector should notalso be undermined and is very crucial. The homeless peopleneed someone who can talk to them, listen to their storiesand sympathize with them. It is the NGOs which can performthese roles.

The speaker then spoke about the method of visual sociologyas he felt that people working in the field of poverty shouldconsider this also as a methodological tool. The quantitative

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and qualitative research techniques and writtendocumentation prevalent in the current research worldcannot capture all kinds of data, information and emotion.Also, through visual techniques one can go back to thememory lane and bring back certain connections. Generationto come may use this resource as a methodological tool totheorize it very differently. For example, first time the speakercould not reflect on the natureof the Indian state; next timeit was taken in to account. So, in social science there is a majorargument that knowledge isgenerated through humanreflexivity. Human reflexivity will comegradually and will notcome in one go when engaging with the reality. So, ifdocumentation is done and one keeps going back, differentissues can be highlighted in different scale. Epistemology of

the society has tobe enhanced andthey have to usethis type oftechnologybecause a largeportion of dataislost whenconverting in tonumbers.Ethnographicresearch also failsto record all thedata in

comparison to visual sociology. The speaker spoke aboutchaos theory where linear relationship between two variablesis challenged. For example,for rupee one,one gets one mangoand for Rs 100 one will get 100 mangoes. Similarly, for Rs 1000one may get 1000 and extra 5. Thus,once numbers areincreased the other side becomes more chaotic. Many movieshad been made on it; for example, Chaos Theory, teen patti,etc. Earlier approach was if one has knowledge of the initialconditions, past and future can be theorized. Now,they aresaying initial conditions donot matter; minor changes in the


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reality may bring major change in the result. That haschanged the perception of society. Society has large numberof variables and one cannot do any prediction with numberstudies. If there is complexity then reflexivity hasto be usedmore than epistemology. And visual sociology is one of theimportant tools of reflexivity.

The speaker said that thefilm has been used to prove thepoint that homelessness is the product of labour process.They are workers who got converted in to destitute. Theycome from the villages and get into unorganized andcasualsector in the cities. They are either unskilled, semi-skilled or child labourers. If something happens to them inbetween theylose their jobbecause of badeconomy, badhealth anddegrade to muchmore casual jobsas rickshawpuller, rag picker,sex workers andbook sellers onthe road. Fromthere, if theyfurther decline they convert in to destitute. The speakerargued that certain kind of security system in terms of labourlaws must be there. Government should take measures muchbeyond providing night shelters. The government has notprovided the human dignity by providing them security asworkers. The homeless cut across all caste, class and all thetheories collapse badly. The film was screened to them andthe message that reached to them is getting organized is thesole way out. It is a film of hope. But the homeless may notthemselves get organized but the middle man/NGOs have toinstill in them the idea that they haveto get organized.

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Discussions

The chair said that he was really touched with the depth ofthe issue and wanted to know the feelings of the audiences.He opened the floor to discussion.

Mr. Santosh raised the question that he belongs to a very poorfamily and could not afford a private hostel while pursuinghigher education. He was deprived of a hostel room in hisuniversity and he wanted to know howthe speaker willaddress this issue. The speaker on this appreciated the JNUmodel of deprivation points where students from backwardcommunities are given hostel on priority basis. There is nodoubt that if India wants to take the advantage of her youngpopulation, it has to spend in its education. The literacyprogramme alone will not help but boasting thedignity of thepeople is essential. Our ancestors have not worked enoughto ensure that education should be given irrespective of classand creed. The speaker hoped for more egalitarian societyand wished to cooperate for any organized struggle.

Mr. K. N.Goswami raisedconcern that thepeople workingin theunorganizedsector are noteven given theminimumwagelet alonethe living wage.The speaker saidthat the irony is

that for homeless people question of wage does not exist. Oursocietyand city getsextremely exposed if one travel at night.

Dr. Rajneesh raised the issue that MGNREGA wanted to stopmigration from rural to urban areas. People are coming toDelhi and working in the unorganized sector. It will thus be


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appropriate for thegovernment to get at the root cause i.epoverty. The speaker said that his experience tell that insteadof doling out resources one should create assets for them-land and small scaleindustry. Chinaon this similar line hastackled the issue by involving the population in productionprocess. MGNREGA is not a great success model as moneygets siphoned to the stakeholders and never reaches thepeople. It is just created by state to establish its legitimacy. Itis often used to keep people numb against the massiveexploitativestructure createdby neo-liberalregime.

Dr. Talreja askedabout theCopenhagensituation ofhomelessnessand he askedwhether there isany successfulmodel to combat this situation. The speaker said that he hasnot come across any model. England probably hasgoodmodel of education, housing and health but after Brexit theycould not manage.In the modern capitalism structure thereis a big problem which they are unable to handle. In US,homelessness appeared because of economic crisis butIndian problem are not comparable.

Mr. Pankaj wanted to know how to incorporate homelessperson in the newly launchedPradhan Mantri AawasYojna(PMAY) scheme. The speaker said if governmentdevelops labour colony and anybody migrating to Delhi isgiven a room as a hostel, the problem can better be tackledsubstantially. The expenditureincurred on this would not evenbe higherbut unfortunately capitalism needs vary cheaplabour sothey are not regulating the flow of the migrants. Ifmigration stops in Punjab dueto decrease in out-migration

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from Bihar the whole economy of Punjab will collapse.Unfortunately, Bihar has been kept underdeveloped for thissame reason. The construction business will get badlyaffected. In capitalism, migration cannot be stoppedas this isthe core of development project but then basic facilities canbe created for the migrants. Because migrant labourers arecontributing to the development andit is not a charity. Thiswill also enable them to contribute in the best possible way.If labourersdo not get proper resources to recharge for next

morning, itslabour value willstartdeclining.Labour powerwill declineandeventuallydecline todestitute stateisinevitable.

Mr. Thavasi askedhow the streetdweller take thespace they

belong as their own –both emotionally and psychologicallyand as a society are their rights been taken away? The speakersaid that as per his experience he had found that there is nosense of attachment as they move from one place to another.Children of all class and community are important need somespace of their own. The possibility of human psychology is ofowning an own space and that possibility is not there forhomeless. There is no guarantee that they will occupy thesame space every day. Thus there is no identity. They are livingat the rate of nothing.

Dr. Amit Singh asked what the suggestions were after theresearch. The speaker said that their main suggestion was totreat them as the working force of the city. Labour laws canbe implemented on them. The second suggestion was tomake them active.


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Chair Remarks

Father John said in his concluding remarks said that in thedeveloped world homeless people are found because ofeconomic crackdown. The government in US at least hasprovisions to serve food through various agencies. Homelessis also present in the richest countries of the world but mostof them have ensured that they get food. Iskcon temple trustfeeds about 3 crorespeople aday all over the world. CorporateSocial Responsibility also has taken initiatives to arrange foodfor homeless. But, that is temporary and cannot be apermanentanswer. Steven Hawkings once said that it isdifficult for human being to survive in the next 20 years.Instrument of mass killing will be cheaper in the future andnew type of political organization has to be created toorganize the society.

The Chair added that he was speechless after the talk. Heshared his experience of visiting Japan. He found that Tokyowas shattered in 1946 and by 1966 they came with bullet trainwhen other countries could not even think of it. One of theeconomists in Tokyo once said that economics is not a moneyproblem but it is about relationship with the people. Theculture of relationship and respect for each other has madeJapan what it is. InIndia, it is not a labour problem;rather it isa dignity problem. They have to leave their native place andsettle in city which is totally unknown. Universities andacademicians can take a hard look at the system and dosomething about. The accumulation of wealth to a smallsection of people is a major problem. Gandhiji once said thatthere is enough for need not for greed. Poverty will generallyincrease with present system irrespective of political parties.The chair said that the whole cause is moral and noteconomic. One has to look at the value system that the societyand individual is moving with. Even in the world history it isseen that when the morality declined the entire Romanempirecollapsed.

Dr. Kumar finally thanked the Chair and the Speaker tomakingthe Talk a great engagement. Dr. Kumar also thanked

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all the discussants and participants for making a very fruitfuldiscussion. Dr Kumar also discussed about the Ahimsa Gramproject that is run under the aegis of Chetanya KasyapFoundation to give a perspective of poverty of LokasrayaFoundation. It is felt that poverty can be ended sustainabilitythen asset has to be built. The organization’s focus of assetbuilding is on housing as housing is treated as fulcrum onwhich education, skill, health is developed. So, model housingisbuilt in Ratlam where 100 houses have beenconstructed andit has been provided with five key attributes - housing,livelihood,education, health and culture. The prima facieresults of the impact assessment survey is amazing. Two-roomhouse in the complex with the skill development centres areproviding employment opportunities. He said that theperspective of eradication of povertybased on asset buildingmeasure is similar to the concern of the speaker and he wishto continue working together in further discourses.

Dr. Abhay Kumar finally thanked everyone for attending themonthly talk and requested everyone to attend the futuretalks which will be generally organized on the last Saturdayof every month to further the cause of poverty and motto isto eradicate poverty and requested to join hands to removethe menace of poverty from the society.


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About The Speaker

Dr. Manindra Nath Thakur teaches in Centre for PoliticalStudies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His researchinterests includeSocial Science Research Methods; MarxistTheory; Indian Politics; Religion and Politics and NewReligious Movements. Dr.Thakur on some occasions spoke onexploring Ambedkar-Gandhi relations and recent intellectualupsurge among Indians to pit Ambedkar against Gandhi. Hisacademic credentials include publications, presentations andlectures at several national and international platforms. Hehas to his credit several books and research papers. He is alsoa prolific columnist and contributes regularly to Jansatta apopular Hindi daily.

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List of Participants

Dr. Abhay Kumar, Executive Director, LokashrayaFoundation,New Delhi

Mr. Varun Bhusan, Assistant Professor, PGDAV College, NewDelhi.

Shri Kedar Nath Goswami Social and Environment Activist,New Delhi

Dr. Amit Kumar Singh, Associate fellow, LokashrayaFoundation

Mr. Aniruddha Deka, Research Officer, LokashrayaFoundation, New Delhi

Dr. Manish Priyadarshi, Associate Professor, IIHMR New Delhi

Dr. Pankaj Talreja, Assistant Professor, IIHMR New Delhi

Mr. Pankaj Kumar, National coordinator, Jalbiradari

Miss. Richa Bhutani, Research Associate, IAPPD, Khel Gaon,New Delhi

Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Research Officer, IIPA, New Delhi

Mr. G. Thavasi Murugun, Ph.D scholar, JNU, New Delhi

Mr. Nishikant Singh, Ph.D scholar, JNU, New Delhi

Mr.Gopal Kumar, Post graduate student, Delhi University

Mr. Kaiser Mirzapuri, Ph.D scholar, Delhi University

Mr. Nasrat Mirzapuri, Ph.D scholar, Delhi University

Mr. Ajeet Kumar, Senior Statistical Officer, NSSTA, Noida

Mr. Jaipratap Singh, Ph.D scholar, Delhi University

Dr J. S. Tomar, Deputy Director, Mospi, New Delhi

Mr. Sudheer Kumar Shukla, Research Associate, LokashrayaFoundation, New Delhi

Shri Amrendra Kumar, Rajya Sabha, New Delhi.

Dr. Monorisha Mukhopadhyay, Research Associate,Lokashraya Foundation, New Delhi


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