Introduction
In this article the profile of Tigri slum community is presented. Information about the community was collected by personal observation, primary sources as well as secondary sources of information is also included which consists of survey reports, records at local government as well as census data. A comprehensive data is not available for slums specifically, though generalizations can be made on the data available from different surveys and studies
History
According to local information Tigri emerged as an informal settlement with around fifteen to twenty hutment. The people were mostly employed in factories and industries nearby. The population and the number of hutment grew with time and it became a densely populated area. Local records (councillor’s office) shows that Tigri had a population of more than 70000 around twenty years back but now it has come down to around 40000 since most of the industries have now shifted to the outskirts of Delhi and Okhla . Also many households have been resettled during the course of time.
Geographical Location
Tigri is one of the largest slum areas of Delhi. It is situated in south of Delhi and is surrounded by Sangamvihar , Khanpur and Ambedkar nagar. It is located at 28 degree 49’N ,78 degree 09’E. It is well connected by Mehrauli Badarpur Road which is one of the important bus routes in Delhi. Other important landmarks are Vayusenabad and Devli. For administrative purpose it has been divided into eleven different blocks governed by an elected municipal councilor.
Tigri has a population of about 44,895. Males constitute 55 % of the population and females 45%. Tigri has an average literacy rate of 62 %, male literacy is 70 %, female literacy is 51%. In Tigri, 17 % of the population is under 6 years of age. Total number of households in the slum was 5,096 according to the census 2011.
Population
Delhi is divided into nine districts namely, North, South, East, West, South west, North east, North west, Central and New Delh. As per census 2011 the total population of Delhi was1.67 crore.
Districts of Delhi state
Population Characteristics
Like any other slum community Tigri also has a large number of people involved in the informal sector with low socioeconomic background. It was also observed that some of the households in the slum were not economically weak but still they were living in the slum area. It was also observed that majority of the population are migrated population from Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Working population constitute 28.50% of the total population, of which 47.39% are males and 5.88% are females. Population who are not involved in any economical gainful activities constitute 71.50% of the total population , of which 52.61% are males and12% are females.
Socio economic
The situation of the poor in Delhi in general, is summarized below.
Income and expenditure : The average monthly income of the household ranges from Rs. 1500-2500 among the poor. The expenditure of these families is around 5-10% more than their income. The per capita monthly income and expenditure is Rs. 245 & Rs. 423 respectively. Poor households, therefore, are increasingly dependent upon loans from the local moneylenders. The monthly income of around 25-30 % households is above Rs. 1500 and around 45-50 % household is below Rs. 1000.
Access to housing: Most of the poor do not have access to secure land tenure. 85% of the poor are squatters, and are vulnerable to frequent eviction. 65% of the poor live in rented accommodation and have to pay a substantial portion of their income for rent and even these accommodation do not have the basic facilities.
Occupation: 41% of these families work as casual labourers, as most of them are unskilled. However one- third of the poor also work in the service sector and only 20-25 % is self employed. Therefore, nearly 52% of the poor households do not have access to a dependable occupation and secure incomes.
Migration status of the poor: Most of the poor are migrants from rural areas , who come to the city in search of employment . In Delhi, 38% of the total poor have migrated to the city for employment purposes.
Access to infrastructure: A majority of the poor families (47 %) have access to water from community sources . 16 % of the families do not have any definite source of water. With respect to source of light, nearly 30 percent of the families depend on kerosene lamps. (www.ccs.india.org)
The residents of the slum community are mainly involved in the informal sector and work as daily wage earners, carpenter, local vendors, watchmen etc. Women generally work as housemaids. Also adolescent girls also work as housemaids to add an earning hand in the family. The average family income ranges between Rs. 2500-5000 among the slum dwellers.
Like other parts of Delhi, the residents of JJ clusters in Tigri lack access to public goods and services. These areas lack general health services, access to portable water and sanitation. In all the JJ clusters, residents have to travel average distances of 500m-700m to public water taps and have to wait for an average of 20-30 minuites. Also most of the jhuggis are 5-10 feet below ground level and vulnerable to flooding.
The houses consists of mainly one room , sometimes two rooms which are pucca or semi pucca. These jhuggis are either rented by the occupants or some of them own the houses in which they are living. The residents share the public toilet and use the public handpump for water. Each locality having their turn alternately for taking water from handpump.
Though there are government run schools and health centers in the area but the facility is not adequately utilized by the residents due to several reasons discussed in subsequent chapters.
NGOs involved in Tigri
Hope: This is a voluntary organization working for the education of the children of the poor . The HOPE foundation school was started in Tigri in May 2004 with the support of Oracle software company. It provides basic education for 260 primary school age children. It also provides training in basic life skills , such as hygiene , health , social manners. It also conducts training session for the parents once a month to ensure they understand the importance of education.
Mamta: It is a non government organization working for the welfare of the community. The organization is committed to integrated health and development issues in the context of poverty, gender and rights with life cycle approach. It carries out various projects related to various areas like health, education , child nutrition etc. It is also one of the Gender resource centers. It executes the project of GRC launched by the Delhi state government for the welfare of the women of low socio economic back ground. It organizes health camps and nutrition camps at regular intervals in the community. Besides that it also imparts vocational training like tailoring and beautician courses to women.
Swati : It is a project run by CRY( Child Relief and You), a non government organization, in Tigri. It is working for the education of the community . It focuses mainly on providing vocational training to the youths of the community. It is providing computer training, which is most popular, to around thirty five the children of this community. Besides this courses on typing, sewing, knitting, beauty culture etc. is also provided. It also supports the education of underprivileged children
Asha: Asha works to make community members aware of their right to safe water and sanitation. Asha focuses on training community members and enabling them to achieve change. It also puts stress on environmental issues and the women empowerment through education and financial independence. They also work in the area of healthcare and educate the people about health issues and encourage them to make the community people aware of health concerns through peer educators.
Resources present in the community
Some of the resources present in the community are:
Basti Vikas Kendra(s): Several Basti Vikas Kendra are present in the community which has been set up by the government to carry out developmental activities for the slum community. These are small structures of three to four rooms which are given out to organizations who would like to carry out welfare and development programs for the slum dwellers. Some are providing primary education to the children , some impart vocational skills like tailoring or computer applications etc.
Parks : Adjoining the jhuggi jhopri there are several parks in different blocks which can be used by the community people. The maintenance of these parks are supposed to be done by the local government as they are owned by the DDA and forms a part of the resettlement colonies of these areas. Marriage hall: The government has also made provision for a common marriage hall for the residents of the slum area so that they do not need to depend on external sources during marriage ceremonies.
Location of Tigri
Public Toilets: In order to provide some sanitation facility to the jhuggi dwellers , government has given the provision of public toilets so that the inhabitants, especially women do not have to defecate in the open.
Maternity centre: There is a maternity centre set up by the government to look into the health needs of women, so that they do not have to travel far and access medical care within the locality.
Non utilization of community resources
Though the government has provided certain resources for the community (as mentioned above), these are not optimally utilized by the residents of these areas. There are a number of Basti Vikas Kendras which are supposed to carry out development activities, remains merely NFE centres for small children some of whom are already enrolled in schools. Some of them have been given to NGOs working in the area.
There exists several parks in the locality though in the form of heap of garbage. They no longer remain places where children can play or one can go for fresh air. The local government pays no attention for their maintenance and neither the community members take the initiative to keep them clean.
The public toilets have been locked by the local government since they were not utilized properly or they were not able to maintain them. As a result the slum community members have nowhere to defecate but in the open. Similar is the case for marriage hall in the community. They remain inaccessible to the residents of the community . They have to spend from their own pockets on such occasions and also have to depend on resources outside the community. It was observed that people do not have the feeling of owning these resources hence the phenomena of non maintenance and no utilization.
Conclusion
This area is like any other slum in Delhi and the people face similar problems. Though the government has initiated certain facilities and schemes but the benefits either do not reach the people or the people do not take the lead in using the resources which are provided to them. Though the resources are very limited, focus should be on maximum utilization of the existing resources. Hence the need for social work intervention.