Without due legal and formal process of home ownership, many urban poor lack access to basic facilities and face a number of vulnerabilities. One such family is Haseena.
In the foothills of the Aravallis, Haseena and her husband Rujdaar, 60, struggled for life with their three daughters and a youngest son, barely living on the earnings made from the rearing of goats. Rujdaar, at the age of 60, had dedicated his entire life to tending to his livestock, finding solace in the gentle rhythm of his life.
Haseena, a woman of quiet strength, never imagined that her world would crumble in a matter of moments. Her daughters, Sakoonat, Nusraat, and Samsherra, became unwitting witnesses to the sudden upheaval that had befallen their once peaceful abode. With no land to call their own, Haseena and Rujdaar found themselves in the depths of despair as their family’s future hung in precarious balance.
In 2021, the Haryana government enacted landmark legislation, The Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property During Disturbance to Public Order Bill, 2021,” which gave immunity to the government to recover any loss incurred to public properties during protests or a public disorder by damaging a person’s private properties and auctioning them for financial recovery.
As livestock rearers, Rujdar and Haseena had no cash reserves to fall back on. After the demolition of their only home, they didn’t know where to turn. It was then that the couple had a stroke of luck as they learned about the Miles2Smile Foundation’s relief efforts in the area.
Their financial status was mostly unstable. Nor did they have any piece of land to call their own. Miles2Smile helped Hasina with a temporary shelter and her own smile-home, made of bamboo and asbestos sheets. However, Rujdar’s struggles haven’t ended here. As a father of three daughters, he still has his fair share of
