Release of the study report on homeless “City Makers in Bhubaneswar” undertaken by ActionAid & CCWD
Release of the study report on homeless “City Makers in Bhubaneswar” undertaken by ActionAid & CCWD
Bhubaneswar (22.9)-
ActionAid with its ally CCWD (Centre for Women & Children Development) undertook a study on the
living conditions of the homeless in Bhubaneswar mobilising more than 50 volunteers from different
slums, and educational institutions of Bhubaneswar.
So while the census data says the population of homeless people in Bhubaneswar is 1,245, the present
study done by the ActionAid India counted as many as 6,559 homeless people. But despite the fact that
there are so many homeless people in the city, the capacity of the shelter homes for homeless is way
below the requirements. There are just six functional night shelters in Bhubaneswar with a capacity of
less than 400 people.
Homeless populations have been termed as ‘Citymakers’ in ActionAid and other studies. In the present
study as well in other studies our finding was that majority of the homeless population work as
construction workers who literally build the city along with other homeless people. Thus the term
citymaker gives them more dignity to homeless population which recognizes their role in the city apart
from being citizens of the city.
The objective of the study is to enumerate the homeless people in Bhubaneswar, find about their living
conditions and recommend suitable action to improve their living standards and enable them to live a
life of dignity. The major findings of the study are:
The highest concentration of homeless individuals is found at places with the most opportunities for
employment and shelter like temples, shopping complexes, railway stations, bus stand, cinema halls and
hospitals. 79% of the homeless population is male. Females constituted 21%. 41% are STs and SCs and
41% OBC. 97% are Hindus. 93% migrated from various districts within Odisha and the rest largely came
from states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Construction work was the most
common form of economic activity that survey respondents is engaged in, representing 33% of the
sample population. Begging is the next most common, at 28%, followed by rag picking, vending/
hawking goods, and domestic work.
A strong correlation is also observed between gender and income. Nearly 30% of women earn less than
Rs.100 per day, compared to only 18% of their male counterparts. Out of 1,203 homeless people
interviewed, 35.08% are able to save some money while 64.34% are not able to save any money. An
individual’s daily income is found to vary considerably according to the specific economic activities that
he or she is engaged in. Construction workers, for example, have an average daily income of Rs.271 per
day, which is Rs.61 above the daily average for the total population. Beggars, by contrast, earn an
average of merely Rs.105 per day, which is only about half of the overall average. Among survey
respondents, nearly 60% work for more than 20 days per month, and 35% percent work for 11-20 days.
Only 2% of the survey sample work for less than 10 days per month.
Out of 1,203 homeless people interviewed, 66% sleep under the open sky on pavements in very
unhygienic conditions, 33% on verandas of shops, temples and public places. Just 0.58% of the homeless
surveyed stay in the night shelters. Mostly the people sleeping on the pavements face difficulties in the
form of bad weather, police and local goons. 47% still go for open defecation. 87% say they do not know
about any smart city proposal for Bhubaneswar. 99% people said they were not consulted for any smart
city proposal.
This study recommends bringing out a comprehensive policy for the homeless and urban poor. Apart
from shelters, homeless population need to access a host of government programmes on various
schemes on pension, ration card, education, health, livelihood, and employment guarantee programmes
like MGNREGA to come out of the cycle of poverty. The smart city planning should include the
homeless, who are there right at the middle of the city where it is going to be implemented.
Consulting homeless under the smart city would be important as their number is quite sizeable.
It is recommended that additional shelter options are required for older homeless people, with
a specific emphasis on the need for a shelter for older homeless women, children and for
disabled. Ensure separate shelters for single homeless women with or without children, with
provision of adequate security, child care facilities, in addition to the other basic amenities and
support services as outlined in the earlier orders of the Supreme Court. Ensure minimum wages
for all the homeless workers (including domestic workers and so on) in the city. On this
occasion MLA priyadarshi Mishra, Veteran Trade union Leader Jogendra Tripathy , Gender
Specialist of Bhubaneswar smart city Limited Sarojini Brahma, Regional manager of Action aid
Debabrat Patra , Programme manager Ghasiram Panda , Senior Journalist priya Ranjan sahu,
Pravas samantray, programme officer of Action aid BN Durga & Secretary of CCWD sadasiv
swain attended as guest
Bhubaneswar (22.9)-
ActionAid with its ally CCWD (Centre for Women & Children Development) undertook a study on the
living conditions of the homeless in Bhubaneswar mobilising more than 50 volunteers from different
slums, and educational institutions of Bhubaneswar.
So while the census data says the population of homeless people in Bhubaneswar is 1,245, the present
study done by the ActionAid India counted as many as 6,559 homeless people. But despite the fact thatthere are so many homeless people in the city, the capacity of the shelter homes for homeless is way
below the requirements. There are just six functional night shelters in Bhubaneswar with a capacity of
less than 400 people.
Homeless populations have been termed as ‘Citymakers’ in ActionAid and other studies. In the present
study as well in other studies our finding was that majority of the homeless population work as
construction workers who literally build the city along with other homeless people. Thus the term
citymaker gives them more dignity to homeless population which recognizes their role in the city apart
from being citizens of the city.
The objective of the study is to enumerate the homeless people in Bhubaneswar, find about their living
conditions and recommend suitable action to improve their living standards and enable them to live a
life of dignity. The major findings of the study are:
The highest concentration of homeless individuals is found at places with the most opportunities for
employment and shelter like temples, shopping complexes, railway stations, bus stand, cinema halls and
hospitals. 79% of the homeless population is male. Females constituted 21%. 41% are STs and SCs and
41% OBC. 97% are Hindus. 93% migrated from various districts within Odisha and the rest largely came
from states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Construction work was the most
common form of economic activity that survey respondents is engaged in, representing 33% of the
sample population. Begging is the next most common, at 28%, followed by rag picking, vending/
hawking goods, and domestic work.
A strong correlation is also observed between gender and income. Nearly 30% of women earn less than
Rs.100 per day, compared to only 18% of their male counterparts. Out of 1,203 homeless people
interviewed, 35.08% are able to save some money while 64.34% are not able to save any money. An
individual’s daily income is found to vary considerably according to the specific economic activities that
he or she is engaged in. Construction workers, for example, have an average daily income of Rs.271 per
day, which is Rs.61 above the daily average for the total population. Beggars, by contrast, earn an
average of merely Rs.105 per day, which is only about half of the overall average. Among survey
respondents, nearly 60% work for more than 20 days per month, and 35% percent work for 11-20 days.
Only 2% of the survey sample work for less than 10 days per month.
Out of 1,203 homeless people interviewed, 66% sleep under the open sky on pavements in very
unhygienic conditions, 33% on verandas of shops, temples and public places. Just 0.58% of the homeless
surveyed stay in the night shelters. Mostly the people sleeping on the pavements face difficulties in the
form of bad weather, police and local goons. 47% still go for open defecation. 87% say they do not know
about any smart city proposal for Bhubaneswar. 99% people said they were not consulted for any smart
city proposal.
This study recommends bringing out a comprehensive policy for the homeless and urban poor. Apart
from shelters, homeless population need to access a host of government programmes on various
schemes on pension, ration card, education, health, livelihood, and employment guarantee programmes
like MGNREGA to come out of the cycle of poverty. The smart city planning should include the
homeless, who are there right at the middle of the city where it is going to be implemented.
Consulting homeless under the smart city would be important as their number is quite sizeable.
It is recommended that additional shelter options are required for older homeless people, with
a specific emphasis on the need for a shelter for older homeless women, children and for
disabled. Ensure separate shelters for single homeless women with or without children, with
provision of adequate security, child care facilities, in addition to the other basic amenities and
support services as outlined in the earlier orders of the Supreme Court. Ensure minimum wages
for all the homeless workers (including domestic workers and so on) in the city. On this
occasion MLA priyadarshi Mishra, Veteran Trade union Leader Jogendra Tripathy , Gender
Specialist of Bhubaneswar smart city Limited Sarojini Brahma, Regional manager of Action aid
Debabrat Patra , Programme manager Ghasiram Panda , Senior Journalist priya Ranjan sahu,
Pravas samantray, programme officer of Action aid BN Durga & Secretary of CCWD sadasiv
swain attended as guest
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