68-year-old Pammi Devi can be found in Delhi’s shelter number 177, where she stays at night. This shelter is one of the 197 night shelters of Delhi government meant for the homeless.

Every week Pammi Devi travels 454 kilometre from her village, Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh to the capital to beg and earn money. She has been doing this for the last 13 years to pay her debt. She sits in front of the Hanuman Temple in the busy locality of Chandni Chowk along with many others of her kind. Between Tuesdays and Saturdays Pammi Devi earns somewhere between Rs 300 and Rs 600. On some days it comes to around Rs 50.

Apart from Pammi Devi, over 3,000 homeless people stay in these shelters by the government — some are labourers, some rickshaw pullers, some are housemaids while others beg.