Evicted & unemployed: India's largest community of street performers face extreme hunger. Support them now!

DELHI'S Kathputli Colony is synonymous with street performers weaving their magic. Many of these traditional artistes have represented India in various festivals around the world. One, 66-year-old Puran Bhatt, is a Sangeet Natak Puraskar awardee. Even Salman Rushdie referred to the slum as a “magician’s ghetto” in his award-winning book Midnight’s Children. 

Now the community of puppeteers, musicians, dancers and singers are living a hand-to-mouth existence and forced to take up menial work that is killing their art. 

Evicted from world famous address

The real trouble began when the homes of about 2,000 families, who have lived in the colony for over 50 years and spanning generations, were forcibly evicted as part of a slum redevelopment project three years ago. The ‘transit camp’ in Anand Parbat where they were rehoused has poor sanitation, drainage and water supply.

Besides losing their world famous address and, consequently, employment, when Covid-19 hit India’s biggest street artists community ran out of whatever work they had, money, and then, food. 

How you can help

Our NGO partner Humans For Humanity have been providing food grains and cooked meals to 500-700 hard-up families for the last six months. 

Founder Anurag Chauhan said: “We started serving cooked meals because these artists didn’t even have gas cylinders to cook in their plastic cubicles called homes. The condition of the slum is not liveable and no one cares.”

And now that there seems no end in sight for the pandemic, the support for the community has to continue. The festival season - which is usually a busy one for the Kathputli artists - has yielded little work and added to their woes. 

Help Humans For Humanity continue to provide food and medical assistance to families who have been the flag bearers of India’s rich art and culture in these troubled times. Donate now!