NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 3, 2004: Three bedrooms, ample living space, running water and a car park – these are dream flats in a middle-class heaven in Delhi, but they have few takers, even at a discount. Gaurav Apartments, in Patparganj in east Delhi, boasts of houses that a potential buyer would give his right arm for – were it not for the label of “Dalit.” Built by a group of residents belonging to the Scheduled Castes (as Dalits are known officially) and Scheduled Tribes, the apartment complex is an odd one out in a neighborhood dotted by housing societies of professionals like engineers, journalists, technocrats, doctors and professors. “The lack of demand has plummeted property rates here, yet few people want to buy flats here,” said Ramu (name changed), an employee of the Gaurav Apartment Housing Society.
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