Uncovering the realities of the Urban Poor in India

The following account is written based on over 40 online interviews of the urban poor that I conducted as a student researcher with IMPRI during the lock-down. During the course of a week, I have been able to interact with women of lower income strata involved in various professions in and around the district of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. These women range from daily wage labourers to tailors to drivers to small business owners to housewives. Despite the differences in their professions, what unites them is that they are all fighters. They fight every day, more so during the lock-down to make ends meet and put food on the table. I am grateful to have been able to hear their stories and present them here in front of a larger audience.

Short narratives

One of the interviews that stood out to me is a simple story told by a daily wage labourer in Anantapur. The respondent is the mother of a nine-year-old son who had recently fallen ill with severe fever, cough and cold. At first, she presumed that these symptoms would go away on their own. When they persisted for an entire week, she started worrying that her son might have caught the Corona virus. Since there are no Government hospitals anywhere near her house and the private hospitals near by did not have doctors who could attend to her son, she could not admit him to a hospital. The word about her son being ill spread in her community and people were beginning to shun the family away. It was at this time that the woman had an idea. Because she herself did not possess a smart phone, she contacted her relative with a smart phone and asked for his help. Both of them together found a few helpline numbers from a Whats App forward which included the phone numbers of doctors. Fortunately, she was able to get in touch with one of the doctors through a video call. The doctor, after virtually examining her son concluded that it was a regular fever and cold. He went on to prescribe some medicines and the son recovered almost immediately. When the mother shared this story with me, I could sense genuine honesty and sincerity in her voice. She was extremely grateful to the system for the little help she received instead of complaining about a hundred other things including basic amenities like clean drinking water, sanitation and health services that her family currently lacks access to. The interview spoke to me because of how the mother has been able to find joy and happiness during these testing times. This serves as an example for us to look on the brighter side of things.

Another story that inspired me is that of a poor family of five who, despite having a limited supply of food for themselves, have been giving away a part of their ration to an orphanage for three months and they plan on continuing to do so. They are cutting down on their own consumption needs to feed and uplift others in need. I witnessed another instance of pure altruism among the urban poor wherein a family is taking care of 16 stray cats on a daily basis. Once again, the family in question does not have enough for themselves and yet, they have the humanity to help those around them in their own capacity. These small acts of kindness that I encountered during the interviews make me hopeful about the future.

General findings

Some women I interacted with have found new ways to earn their daily bread during the pandemic while some others are making do with some Government benefits like pension, free ration, cash transfers etc. One such innovative initiative of creating employment during the lock-down by the Government is that of handing over short-term contracts to women to stitch cloth masks. The women are paid 2/- per mask for their labor (cloth and thread are provided to them by the Government itself). These small efforts by the Government to compensate for the loss of livelihood of millions of people is a small step in the right direction.

From the interviews, it became clear to me that these women prioritize the education of their children over their other needs. While some have been able to send their children to private schools, some have not had the privilege to do so. Nevertheless, all of them want to ensure that their children get some basic education at the very least. However, I did notice the age-old patriarchy come into play in cases of two children per family as they send their sons to a private school while their daughters are sent to a Government school, although with a few exceptions. When probed further about why they were laying emphasis on education when they have more dire needs to be fulfilled, they said that they want their children to have a brighter future than them. This has instilled in me some confidence that the coming generations of youngsters will be those with a burning desire to do better both for themselves and for their country.

The bigger picture

The survey has changed my entire perspective about what the poor value. All this while I was under the assumption that as long as the Government is able to provide food and other basic necessities to the poor, they will be happy and content. However, I found out that these women (barring a few exceptions) want to be able to go back to work like before because they understand that there is only so much the Government can do. It was very heartening to hear that they value their work and identify themselves with it so much so that they want to work irrespective of whether the Government is giving them additional benefits. In fact, this conclusion can be drawn from the entire IMPRI survey of 3121 respondents spread across 50 cities and towns in the country. This brings me to an important proposition about Universal Basic Income (UBI). The major criticism of UBI that putting money in the pockets of the poor will only make them lazy is nullified by the above findings. I understand that the sample size is too small to act in this direction and implement the UBI or a variant of the UBI. Therefore, what I am suggesting is that empirical research to understand the practicality of UBI in a country like India should be encouraged.

Coming from a position of privilege and being able to have food to eat and a roof over my head, this entire exercise was enriching for me as it helped me reform some of my earlier perceptions and form new ones about the poor and their way of life. The readings on poverty provide a romanticized version of the poor. In the midst of the incoherent theories, the reality is lost. This is because the people writing about poverty are outsiders who observe the phenomenon from a distance. However, to truly understand the nature and extent of poverty, one needs to become an insider i.e. the emic perspective of poverty, which is currently lacking in the literature on poverty is important. Having said that, new research methods like Action Research that allow the researcher to become a part of the situation should be popularized. All in all, the survey has been enlightening for me not only in refining my idea of poverty but also in providing me with a glimmer of hope among all the darkness that currently exists.