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Synopsis India truely is an anthropological laboratory, because of it social cultural, ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional diversity. Different varied groups of people present a variety of lifestyles and fascinating forms of behaviour. These unique cultural forms and the changes that are taking place in them, are the basis of social science theories. The authors have made a humble effort to study representatives of a group of people which is in itself very diverse. In India it comprises of millions of people, but they all have one thing in common: they spend at least several hours on the pavement or at roadside everyday. An attempt has been made by us to unravel the lifestyle and the special degree of insecurity among permanent and part-time pavement dwellers. The study is based on primary data gathered through informal interviews with permanent and part-time pavement dwellers from Bombay, Delhi and Pune. The authors have provided and action plan for rehabilitation of these pavement dwellers who in numbers are increasing rapidly in major cities of India.