In Homes, Near Hearths

It’s not winter that kills over 3,000 people in north India every year, it is the inability of the government to provide shelter to the homeless. But this winter has brought some warmth to over 6,000 people who would have otherwise faced the harsh winter on Delhi’s streets. "We are still far from helping all the 1,00,000 homeless in the city. But it is definitely a beginning,’’ says Amod Kanth of Prayaas, one of the nine NGOs working with the government to protect people on the Capital’s streets from the exigencies of the weather. Delhi’s social welfare minister Yoganand Shastri is getting municipalities to open public institutions for the homeless during the bitterly cold nights. The government is also pushing temples, churches and gurudwaras to open their doors.