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Gallery|Poverty and Development

As India’s capital gets makeover for G20 summit, poor say ‘lives destroyed’

For the street vendors and those crammed into shantytowns, the makeover has meant displacement and loss of livelihoods.

India G20 New Delhi's Poor
Migrant labourers climb over a wall that has been newly painted in preparation for this week's G20 summit in New Delhi. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
Published On 4 Sep 20234 Sep 2023
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New Delhi’s crowded streets have been resurfaced. Streetlights are illuminating once dark sidewalks. City buildings and walls are painted with bright murals and graffiti. Planted flowers are everywhere.

But many of the city’s poor say they have been simply erased, much like the stray dogs and monkeys that have been removed from some neighbourhoods as India’s capital got a makeover ahead of this week’s summit of the Group of 20 (G20) nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government hopes the elaborate effort to make New Delhi sparkle – a “beautification project” with a price tag of $120m – will help showcase the world’s most populous nation’s cultural prowess and strengthen its position on the global stage.

The two-day summit will take place at the newly constructed Bharat Mandapam building, a sprawling exhibition centre in the heart of New Delhi.

Scores of world leaders are expected to attend. The G20 includes the world’s 19 wealthiest countries plus the European Union. India currently holds its presidency, which rotates annually among the members.

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But for many street vendors and those crammed into New Delhi’s shantytowns, the G20 makeover has meant displacement and loss of livelihoods, raising questions about the government’s policies on dealing with poverty.

In a city of more than 20 million people, the 2011 census put the number of homeless people at 47,000, but activists say that was a vast underestimate and the real number is at least 150,000.

Since January, hundreds of houses and roadside stalls have been demolished, displacing thousands of people. Dozens of shantytowns were razed to the ground. Many residents received eviction notices only a short while before the demolitions got under way.

Authorities say the demolitions were carried out against “illegal encroachers”, but human right activists and those evicted question the policy and allege that it has pushed thousands more into homelessness.

Similar demolitions have also been carried out in other Indian cities like Mumbai and Kolkata, that have hosted other G20 events leading up to this weekend’s summit.

Activists say it was more than just a case of out of sight, out of mind.

Abdul Shakeel of the Basti Suraksha Manch (Save Colony Forum) says: “In the name of beautification, the urban poor’s lives are destroyed.”

“The money used for the G20 is taxpayers’ money. Everyone pays the tax. Same money is being used to evict and displace them,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

India G20 New Delhi's Poor
In July, a report by the human rights group Concerned Citizens Collective found the preparations for the G20 summit had resulted in the displacement of nearly 300,000 people, particularly from the neighbourhoods that foreign leaders and diplomats will visit during this weekend's meetings. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
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India G20 New Delhi's Poor
At least 25 shantytowns and multiple night shelters for the homeless were razed and turned into parks, the report says, adding that the government failed to provide alternative shelters or places for the newly homeless. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
Last month, Indian police stopped a meeting of prominent activists, academics and politicians critical of Modi and his government’s role in hosting the G20 summit and questioning whose interests the summit would serve. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
“I can see the homeless on the streets, ... and now the homeless are not allowed to live on the streets either,” says Rekha Devi, whose home was demolished as part of the makeover. She said authorities refused to consider documents she showed as proof that her family had lived in the same house for nearly 100 years. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
Roadside vendor Shankar Lal says he hasn't opened his stall, where he sells chickpea curry with fried flatbreads, for three months after authorities told him to move away. "The government doesn't know whether we are dying of hunger or not," Lal says. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
“Everyone is behaving as if they are blind," Rekha Devi says. "In the name of the G20 event, the farmers, workers and the poor are suffering.” [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
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India G20 New Delhi's Poor
India is home to 1.4 billion people, and its struggle to end poverty remains daunting, even though a recent government report says 135 million people- almost 10 percent of the population - moved out of so-called multidimensional poverty from 2016 to 2021. The concept takes into consideration not just monetary poverty but also how lack of education, infrastructure and services affect a person’s quality of life. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
Indian authorities have been criticised in the past for clearing away homeless encampments and shantytowns ahead of major events. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
In 2020, the government hastily erected a half-kilometre (1,640-foot) brick wall in the state of Gujarat ahead of a visit by then-President Donald Trump. Critics said it was built to block the view of a slum inhabited by more than 2,000 people. Demolitions were also carried out during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
Vasim, who owns a roadside stall selling sunglasses, waits near his motorbike after being asked to vacate by authorities in preparation for the G20 summit on Saturday and Sunday. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]
India G20 New Delhi's Poor
A worker paints an overhead bridge near the main venue of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo]


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