Elsewhere alert neighbours saved a jobless factory worker, Muhammad Subhan, and his family, foiling his desperate attempt to end their lives. Subhan later said they hadn't had a morsel of food for three days.

As urban joblessness increases, the poor are being driven to tragic limits, particularly in the older, densely-populated industrial centres like Kanpur, once the `Manchester of India'.

Many factories have shut down, some rendered obsolete by technological advances that make them less profitable for owners or closed by court orders on polluting industries, as in Delhi where 168 factories were shut in 1997.

An estimated 50,000 workers suddenly found themselves out of jobs when the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling on a public interest petition, ordered the removal of mills andfactories from the highly polluted capital city.

Although the court also ordered several measures to compensate the out-of-work employees, the owners were quicker to seal off the premises than pay up the money they owed them, leading last year to the tragic, protest immolation by one worker outside parliament.

Nearly 1 lakh blue-collar workers and self-employed persons in the transport sector in Delhi have also lost their livelihoods as a result of pollution control norms relating to emission levels of the older models of vehicles.

Ever since the opening up of the Indian market and the implementation of economic liberalisation policies at the start of the nineties, large numbers of urban Indians who were not poor earlier have been pushed below the poverty line.

Even official data on urban poverty admits that while the percentage of poor has declined, the absolute number of poor has increased. According to the latest figures in the Ninth Plan document, the number of urban poor has increased from 60million in 1973-74 to 76 million in 1993-94, the latest figures.

The workers of the now closed Hindustan General Industries live near the railway crossing in Nangloi, an ugly, overcrowded residential area of West Delhi. Their factory was relocated on the Supreme Court's order and they were asked to report for work at the new site in Rajasthan.

Most stayed on as they were uncertain of the working and living conditions in Rajasthan, and those who moved have reported much reduced earnings because of the availability of cheaper, locally available workers for the employers.

Both sets of workers have been forced to stop the education of their children, in some cases even sending them back to the village from where they migrated out of poverty.

Shakuntala's husband Vidyaram lost his job as a result of the closure of his Delhi factory, and he became ill later. In desperation Shakuntala clings on to a most exploitative job that pays her only Rs 750 rupees a month for a 12-hour day. ``Life is a relentlessgrind,'' she says.

Manchand drove a goods carrier, `tempo', which was forced off the road by anti-pollution policies. He has been forced into becoming a a headload worker to feed his family. He says his earnings have been reduced and the work is very uncertain.

Amarjit Singh was forced to junk his 30-year-old `Ambassador' taxi car under a `Clean Delhi' campaign that targeted taxi drivers. For some months he remained unemployed and became very depressed. ``Then I felt I should do something otherwise I'll go mad sitting idle and without any money to feed my family.''

Taking a desperate gamble, he sold his small flat and purchased a new taxi. Although he has a vehicle that complies with pollution control norms, the loss of his house has made the family's survival in Delhi more precarious than before.

In Raipur and Bhilai towns of central Madhya Pradesh state, nearly 4,000 workers have remained unemployed for a long time since being thrown out of jobs by several local industrialists who wanted to keep outa well organised trade union.

Janak Lal Thakur, prominent leader of the Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha which unionised the exploited and mainly tribal work force of the area, said the ``industrialists use their huge resources to delay justice and keep our workers unemployed and without jobs. How long can they survive like this?''

The government has not considered it important to initiate relief and rehabilitation schemes despite the obvious urgency. Instead there are a number of poverty alleviation programmes, for self-employment, but the budget has not increased.

According to the World Resources Report, 1998-99, quoting UN data, India's urban population is likely to increase from around 20 per cent now to around 39 per cent in 2020.

By 2015, India's business capital of Mumbai on the west coast is likely to have a population of 226 million, while Calcutta and Delhi are 17 million each, and Bangalore, 8 million and Madras, 9 million. Urban poverty will get worse and more desperate.

Inter PressService