This government I.D. card, which is also important for voting, allows Sunna’s household of five to obtain rations of 10 kilograms of rice and 15 kilograms of wheat per month, but Sunna says it still is not enough. (Image © Aubrey Ann Parker / Circle of Blue)

In Vasant Kunj B5 — one of Delhi’s hundreds of slum villages, this one home to 10,000 people — 20-year-old Sunna lives with his younger brother, Kampulal, along with his wife and two kids. The brothers are both masons, and they each earn about 9,000 rupees (about $US 150) per month, 1,200 rupees ($US 20) of which goes toward renting a brick-and-mortar shack in the squatter village temporarily, while there is work on this side of the city. This means that each member of the family is living on less than $US 2 per day. This government I.D. card, which is also important for voting, allows the family of five to obtain rations of 10 kilograms of rice and 15 kilograms of wheat per month, but Sunna says it still is not enough.