-TheHoot.org Every winter stories are run about how the homeless need more shelters. During the monsoon and the heat – media silence. On World Homeless Day, BHARAT DOGRA argues for less seasonal coverage The homeless constitute the poorest section of our urban population and they live pretty close to where the media is based.  Some of the highest concentrations of homeless people are within a 10 kms radius of the media hub...

-The Indian Express In the industrial areas of the National Capital Region, life is tied to the assembly line. But even if rarely, workers clear a space for that which seems impossible: thought and contemplation, and even the artistic life. When the whir of engines and the clang of metal against obstinate metal die down, when the neon lights go down in hundreds of sooty factory buildings in Haiderpur, Ashish Kumar opens...

-The Indian Express Share of Muslims in official 3.7 lakh ‘beggar’ population is disproportionately larger than the community’s share in country’s population, show Census data. Mumbai: Muslims make up 14.23% of India’s population. They are, however, nearly 25% of the 3.7 lakh individuals who have been listed as Beggars by the Government of India. Activists claim that the data — released last month — on the religious orientation of those deemed ‘non workers’...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Almost a quarter of India’s 370,000 Beggars are Muslims, newly released data from the 2011 Census show, reinforcing that the community still lags behind on most counts despite the country’s rapid economic growth. Muslims, the largest minority who make up 14.2% of India’s 1.25-billion population, come out pretty much at the bottom of most socio-economic indices, even a decade after a high-level government probe into their historical disadvantages...

-The Hindu Nine days for release, the sole inhabitant fears losing benefits New Delhi: Arvind Singh is not a beggar, but he chooses to be seen as one. For three months now, the 60-year-old with sunken cheeks and arched eyebrows has been the only resident of Delhi government’s shelter for 1,525 Beggars at Lampur, Narela. The single-storied home on 22 acres shares a compound with the Foreigners Detention Centre. There are nearly 70 rooms...