This document summarizes the work of Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA), an organization working to support homeless people in Delhi, India. AAA was established in 2000 to advocate for the rights of homeless people as protected under the Indian constitution and international law. It estimates there are over 1.5 lakh (150,000) homeless people in Delhi, many of whom are migrants from rural areas with no access to basic services. AAA works to empower homeless communities, provide temporary and permanent shelters, facilitate collective action, conduct legal advocacy, and operate mobile health clinics.

1. AAA
AASHRAY ADHIKAR ABHIYAN
2011
S-442, School Block, Shakarpur, Delhi-110092
Phone: 011-22481609
Mobiles: 9868122997, 9312668807, 9810711644
E-Mail: creatinghomes@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.homelesspeople.in
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2. AAA
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan came into existence in the year 2000 as a direct project of
ActionAid on the issue of urban homelessness in Delhi. Since then it has been working
in Delhi towards realisation of the rights of the homeless people as enshrined in the
Constitution of India as well as in various International Conventions and Treaties.
Homeless People in Delhi
Homeless people have been defined by AAA as people who live on the streets, under
bridges, in parks or in any other place not meant for human habitation including people
who live in night shelters.
The majority of homeless people in Delhi are migrants from nearby states such as Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Facing poverty, displacement, natural
calamities, violence, etc. in their villages, they come to Delhi in search of employment
and end up working largely as casual labourers, rickshaw pullers, construction workers,
etc.
There are destitute people as well. Some destitute people are born on the streets. But,
most of them have runaway from their homes because of family problems, that is to say,
being beaten, death in the family, property dispute, etc.
Poverty and unemployment in rural India is the root cause of homelessness in Delhi.
Moreover, the State is very insensitive to the needs of homeless people. In fact, it
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3. makes the lives of homeless people more and more difficult. Homeless people are
criminalised by various legislations. The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 is the
most rampantly used instrument to get them rounded up for lack of proof of residence
and occupation in Delhi. They are excluded from government social welfare plans and
schemes due to lack of residential address, ration cards, election identity cards, bank
accounts, birth certificates, etc. Homeless people are subject of constant police
harassment in the form of abuses, beatings, arrests in false cases under various laws,
etc. Civil Society too does not treat them with equality and respect.
Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) in the year 2000
In a Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) in the year 2000, AAA counted 52,765 homeless
people in Delhi. This number was the minimum number of homeless people in Delhi as
the said survey had certain limitations which made it impossible that every homeless
could have been counted. One can easily imagine what the number could be in the year
2008 and the coming years.
Survey on homeless women in Delhi in the year 2007
A survey conducted by Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan in the year 2007 revealed that there
were ten thousand homeless women in Delhi.
Approach of Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan to Combating Homelessness in Delhi
AAA has adopted a rights based approach. It is based on the belief that homeless
people, too, have the right to live with dignity, in peace and security. The United Nations
Universal Declaration on Human Right states:
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4. “Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself [sic]
and of his [sic] family, including food, clothing,
housing and medical care and necessary social
services…”
This declaration is reinforced by the Indian Constitution which recognises basic rights
such as the right to life and personal liberty, the right to shelter, right to health, right to
freedom from violence, right to work, right to freedom from exploitation, etc as
fundamental rights. However, unfortunately the rights of homeless people are violated
day in day out in Delhi. The homeless people are denied access to civic amenities like
water and sanitation. They are not provided adequate food, cloth, shelter, medical care,
employment, etc by the government. They are forced to work for wages below the
minimum wage. They face daily beatings and harassment at the hands of police as they
have no option but to sleep in the open because of lack of shelter.
Aims of Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan are multi-fold
 To empower, strengthen and mobilise the homeless people so that they are able to
assert their rights in order to live with honour and dignity.
 To make the homeless people capable of gainful employment.
 To make the citizens and the State recognise that the homeless people, too, have
inalienable rights and that it is their responsibility to help the homeless people live
with honour and dignity enjoying such rights.
 To provide certain services to the homeless people such as shelters, medical care,
clothes, food, legal aid, education to homeless children, etc.
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5. Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan’s activities and interventions
Shelters
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan has been working to secure safe shelters to the homeless
people of Delhi where the homeless live with dignity. It runs permanent (round the year)
shelters in buildings provided by MCD. It also runs temporary (during the winter)
shelters in buildings provided by MCD. Moreover, it runs temporary (during the winter)
shelters in tents erected by Govt. of Delhi. AAA has shown the model of multiple uses of
government buildings by running shelters in school, college buildings; community
centres.
According to an estimate of AAA, currently there are about 1.5 Lac homeless people in
Delhi. Unfortunately a very small percentage of these homeless people find refuge in
the MCD run night shelters. Therefore, the objective of Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan is to
increase the number of shelters for the homeless people, especially for homeless
women. It is important to note that till date MCD has not set up a single night shelter for
homeless women in Delhi. This is being achieved through the support of government,
NGOs, religious organizations, educational institutions, etc. Further, homeless people
are being encouraged to support in the shelter management.
Winter Campaign
Every year during the winter season, AAA in collaboration with Delhi Govt. makes
efforts for the creation of additional shelters. During last winter season (December, 2007
– March, 2008), AAA managed 41 shelters accommodating about four to five thousand
homeless people. All the shelters were managed by the trained homeless community
workers.
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6. The progress of shelters work from the year 2002 till now is as under:
YEAR NUMBER OF SHELTERS
2002-2003 13
2003-2004 23
2004-2005 46
2005-2006 50
2006-2007 54
2007-2008 41
2008-2009 42
2009-2010 35
2010-2011 40
Facilitating Collective Action
Facilitative Collective Action aims at the realization of the rights of the homeless
persons of Delhi as guaranteed by the Constitution of India and International Covenants
and Treaties. It strives to achieve the said goal through various ways and means. It
works to bring together and strengthen the homeless of Delhi in order to enable them to
fight for their own rights. It believes in making the homeless persons themselves
capable of demanding their own rights from the government and the civil society instead
of some organization doing the same on their behalf. Mobilization and meetings of the
homeless from different street points, Bal Panchayat – Children’s meetings, Mahila
Panchayat- women meetings, Abhyas Mandal- exercise for sharing, learning and
planning, workshops, exposure trips, cultural activities, celebrations of festivals of all the
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7. faiths and religions and mahapanchayat- large assembly of the homeless are some of
the activities organized by FCA to achieve its objectives. Opening of zero balance
saving bank accounts with the Union Bank of India, securing voter identity cards and
issuance of AAA identity cards for the homeless persons are some of the most
important activities organized by FCA towards capacity building of the homeless
persons.
Law research and advocacy
The intervention intends to provide legal aid to the homeless people of Delhi and,
through the work of providing legal aid, to understand the fallacies of the laws adversely
affecting the homeless people so that the constitutional validity of such laws can be
challenged in due course of time on the grounds of being violative of the rights of the
homeless people. The understanding developed and the research conducted during the
course of providing legal aid can also be used to influence future laws and policies
concerning the homeless people through suitable advocacy. The intervention currently
focuses on providing legal aid to the homeless people apprehended under the Bombay
Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, which criminalizes homelessness in the name of
preventing begging and rehabilitating beggars.
Health Outreach
The activity focuses on enabling homeless to access health care by operating a mobile
health outreach clinic (on every Monday and Thursday at Jama Masjid, Delhi between
7.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. in summer and from 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 in the winter and on every
Tuesday at Aarambagh, Delhi from 7.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. in summer and 6.00 p.m. to
7.00 p.m. in winter), running street based drug counselling relevant to street life at Jama
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8. Masjid and Fawwara Chowk (on every Wednesday from 6.00. p.m. to 7.00 p.m. in
summer and 5.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. in winter and on every Friday from 6.00 p.m. to 7.00
p.m. in summer and 5.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. in winter respectively) and providing health
services on basis of community health approach at various shelters and street contact
points. Further, it works for building up a cadre of homeless community health workers
and volunteers to reach larger number of homeless.
Programme for mentally ill homeless people
Recently Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan started a programme in collaboration with Institute of
Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) and Delhi Legal Services Authority
(DLSA) for the treatment of mentally ill homeless people. Under the programme a
mobile clinic is organised at Jama Masjid, Delhi with the help of the doctors from
IHBAS. DLSA helps in securing the presence of a Metropolitan Magistrate to pass
appropriate orders under the Mental Health Act for the said treatment. Aashray Adhikar
Abhiyan undertakes the responsibility to bring the possible beneficiaries (mentally ill
homeless people) to the clinic from different areas of Delhi for the treatment, to keep a
record of the mentally ill homeless people who come to the clinic so that their presence
can be secured next time as required by the doctors, and to look after other logistics for
running the clinic.
Sensitization:
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan organises various activities for sensitizing the civil society,
corporate and the government (executive, legislative and judiciary) towards the
homeless people of Delhi.
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9. Night Outs
Night outs are planned to reach out to homeless people in their different concentration
areas in Delhi at night (on every Tuesday and Friday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.). Night-outs
help to address medical emergencies, intervene in cases of police atrocities, assist
homeless people in seeking shelter and respond to immediate basic needs such as
blankets and/or clothes in winter.
School Going Children
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan runs a programme for the homeless children. Under the
programme the children are sent to government schools for regular formal education. All
their expenses towards food, cloths, books, school fee, etc. are taken care of by
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan.
Food for elderly and sick persons
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan also runs activities for providing free food to the elderly and
sick homeless persons. The activities aim at ensuring that no elderly and sick persons
go to bed hungry.
Research & Documentation
Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan has been undertaking primary research to find out the needs,
aspirations and problems of homeless people using participatory research tools. AAA
also brings out various types of publications for society as well as for homeless people
like reports, updates, etc.
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10. AAA Publications
1. The Capital’s Homeless (A Preliminary Study on the Homeless People of
Delhi).
2. BASERE KI KAHANI (A Study of the Problems in the Night Shelters in Delhi
Using Participatory Research).
3. Reflections of AAA TeaMembers ... Towards Reclaiming Our Humanness.
4. Health Care Beyond Zero (Ensuring a Basic Right for the Homeless by Health
Initiative Group for the Homeless [HIGH])
5. People Without Nation (A documented outcome of the National Consultation
on Urban Poor: Special Focus on Beggary & Vagrancy Laws – The issue of
de-custodialization (De-criminalisation) July 15-16 2005.
6. Save the lives Campaign -2010
7. Treatment of homeless with severely mentally ill-2011.
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11. The AAA Core-Team
Paramjeet Kaur
Sanjay Kumar
Sushil K. Singh
Prashant Singh
Jabar Singh @ Babloo
Pramod Kumar Das
S-442, School Block, Shakarpur, Delhi-110092
Phone: 011-22481609
Mobiles: 9868122997, 9312668807, 9810711644
E-Mail: creatinghomes@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.homelesspeople.in
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