A typical day in my Delhiite life begins with glancing at many such newspaper reports on the daily edition of The Hindu that sits tidily on our coffee table.
“Students From Northeast Complain Of Racism At Kirori Mal College“
“Not just admission, DU students also race for rooms on rent”
“Asked to vacate hostels, racial slurs: Northeast Indians in Delhi deal with daily COVID-19 hatred “
In hopes of pursuing a respectable higher education, every year, lakhs of students muster the courage and sky-high grades to make it to Delhi with timid eagerness and lofty dreams of making it ‘big’ in the world. However, the initial charm soon pales to concerns about accommodation, food and security in a fast-paced city; coworkers are reduced to mere cogs in the machine, friends become acquaintances, and families break down into flatmates.
For these outstation students, life in the city means floods of pamphlets, advertisements for paying guests’ accommodations, and frantic calls to owners and runs to assess the living spaces only to learn of the exorbitantly high prices and meagre services.
Ranging between 10,000-20,000 rupees a month, paying guest accommodations is a flourishing business in the regions of Kamla Nagar, New Gupta Colony, Malka Ganj, and Shakti Nagar in North Campus, University of Delhi. Property owners slice their two-bedroom apartments with wooden panels, and 4-5 students live in these boxed-up cubicles. Get electricity connection and water pipelines, loosely furnish the “rooms”, hire a cook and voila! You’ve got yourself a side hustle. A money minting business that fleeces off students.
“I lived in a PG in my first year of college in Vijayanagar. The food quality was good for the first two months, but slowly it started deteriorating. The PG owners ignored our repeated complaints. We had been informed about robust CCTV surveillance and a security guard at the gates. But in early 2023, my laptop and mobile got stolen from my room while I was asleep. I later learnt that the CCTV was not functioning at all. Following this incident, I left the PG. They didn’t return me the security deposit”, Rohit, a student, shared.*
A Room of My Own?
While the trials and tribulations of PG accommodation are worrisome for all students, some face additional excesses due to the way they look, and where they come from. The North Eastern belt of India has always been a far-flung area of little interest to mainstream media and state apparatus, and while students from the 7 sisters make their way to the National Capital, their journeys loom with fears and inhibitions same as those of any other student but also, more. So much more.
Basis last available data, over 20,000 students from North East India are enrolled in Delhi University. Students are subjected to rampant name calling, racial abuse, slurs and denial of services, especially rental accommodation, on the grounds of food habits and their physical appearance.
Rina*, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, shared her experience of PG hunting in Vijaynagar, Delhi
“In my first year of college, several PGs refused me a room; owners were hesitant and expressed dismay at the kind of food we eat. I am a non vegetarian. The food I ate back home was very different from North Indian mainstream cuisine. The PG owners disallowed me from eating my regional food in the room. Even after I informed them that I could converse well in Hindi, they showed disapproval. ”
Vishal*, a student from Assam living in Malka Ganj, shared,
“The owners of my PG were vegetarians. I had asked them if I could eat non-vegetarian food. They had agreed. But one day, the aunty who used to come and clean the kitchen started scolding me for seeing eggshells in the bin. Paap lagega, she said. Later, I was asked to be evicted during my first semester exams. It was a very discomforting experience.”
North East Indians not only face racial profiling and discrimination in occupational arenas and public places but they are even denied comfort and security in the most private living spaces. Out of the students I interviewed, more than half have moved out of PGs and now live in flats for the relative ease, anonymity and privacy of rented flats. They prefer living with friends from similar regional backgrounds and cooking their own food.
A study commissioned by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) on racial discrimination and hate crimes against people from the northeast States found that “Northeast India seamlessly fits [an] Indian’s imagination of a Chinese person”. Northeasterns don’t look “Indian” enough owing to their Mongoloid physical features, which make them subject to brutal violence and abuse. These widespread derogatory racial attacks have been normalised to the extent that Northeast Indians are conditioned and reduced to being secondary citizens.
Talking about the casual racism around her, Rina shared, “I had hoped I wouldn’t face any catcalling or racial slurs on the college campus, but I was wrong. When I go out with my friends who are ‘normal’, as they say, not from North East India, people don’t remark, but when I go out with my North Eastern cousins or friends, that is when they pass comments like Nepali, Chinki, momo. After the recent assault on the North Eastern student in the New Gupta Colony, I avoided stepping out of my PG; I felt very scared. Even though the mockery, name-calling, and slurs are all a daily occurrence, I will never get used to it. It will always sting, hurt and unnerve me to the core.”
One would imagine that Delhi University, the educational circuit that hosts the maximum influx of students in India, would be a welcoming space, one that respects the vibrance and diversity of all those who make their way to the city. However, the reality is different. From PGs to college campuses, the abuse persists unchecked.
Remorseful Regulation
The reason PGs and other housing setups flagrantly adopt such exclusionary practices is that these accommodations are largely unregulated, and many landlords operate commercial establishments on properties that are registered as residential. They do not have the necessary permissions, lodging capacity, clearances and safety measures. There exists no framework to stipulate the minimum number of rooms in PG accommodation, the minimum size of each room and the threshold area per paying guest in case of a shared room. It is deeply concerning that these private hostels and PGs don’t need any permission from the government as there exists no statutory body so far to regulate and check their operations.
Sudhir Kumar Singh, a civil lawyer practising in Tis Hazari Court, Delhi, said to me, “Formally, a tenant and owner sign a rent agreement which serves to resolve any possible dispute over property ownership and stay duration. However, in most cases, students and PG owners have a verbal agreement because it is hassle-free, easier and doesn’t require any legal expenditure. This widens the possibility of exploitation and renders the tenant vulnerable. ”
In March 2020, the Delhi Police initiated a fresh inquiry to issue licenses to quell the functioning of unauthorised PGs in Delhi.
“The Delhi Police is likely to approve and issue licenses to 700-odd private hostels and paying guest accommodations for college students with new guidelines for how they can operate, formalising a business that has so far operated in a regulatory grey area”, an official aware of the matter shared.
It was revealed that the criteria to award licenses would include the lodging capacity, amenities and clearances for kitchens and lifts by the fire department. Permission would be granted after all the details were verified. No progress in the matter has been shared since.
Delhi has earned the moniker of being a melting pot of myriad cultures, regions and religions. However, the ensuing marginalisation and discrimination of minority students in the city is a nightmare for those robbed of their dignity, security and basic standard of living.
“I wish that PG owners would acknowledge our identity. We are just as Indian as anyone else. Why can’t PG owners accept us without shaming us?” asks Rina.
Voices of many such students echo a jarring sentiment- that of deep hurt, humiliation and, at times, even aloofness. In a nation that boasts a cornerstone based on the principles of ‘unity in diversity’, the reality paints a disturbing picture. What will it take for the state and civic bodies to instate and implement formal guidelines for the regulation of PG establishments? How many students must be turned away, denied a safe place to stay, and isolated because they look different? Doesn’t everyone deserve to live a dignified life with their head held high? A formal-legalistic framework for temporary accommodations is the maiden and most instrumental step towards bringing a conscious change.
*Names have been changed to maintain the anonymity of the students.
Featured image is for representational purposes only.
This story has been written as part of the My City Writers’ Training Program.