Question

Read and discuss the following description of the living conditions of workers who come to the labour chowk.
Most workers that we find at the labour chowk cannot afford permanent accommodation and so sleep on pavements near the chowk, or they pay Rs 6 a night for a bed at a nearby shelter run by the Municipal Corporation. To compensate for the lack of security, local tea and cigarette shops function as banks, moneylenders and safety lockers, all rolled into one. Most workers leave their tools at these shops for the night for safekeeping, and pass on extra money to them. The shopkeepers keep the money safely and also offer loans to labourers in need.

Source: Aman Sethi, Hindu On-line

Answer 1

The living conditions of the labourers as presented in the given paragraph put forward a very bleak picture. Most of the labourers who come to the labour chowk do not have permanent accommodation because their incomes do not allow them to afford one. Sleeping on pavements is a desperate measure though not a good and safe option. Since most of these workers would be daily wage earners, they cannot always afford spending Rs 6 per night for sleeping in the night shelter run by the government. Borrowing money from local cigarette and tea shops is not a good option as these would be charging an exorbitant amount of interest for very small sums of money. One can sum up by saying that the given paragraph is successful in showing us the adverse conditions that these labourers survive in order to live their lives one day at a time.

Hence, it is imperative that the government took significant measures to provide these people with proper accommodation and living conditions.