Massive migration is stretching New Delhi’s resources, making basics like housing inaccessible to many.

The capital New Delhi, home to 17 million people, is a symbol of India’s rapid economic growth. This growth has attracted at least half a million Indians from rural areas and other states, who come to New Delhi looking for work every year.

New Delhi benefits greatly from a growing workforce, essential to the city’s transport system, household work and markets. However, this massive migration is stretching the city’s resources, making the basics, like housing, electricity, sanitation and education a luxury inaccessible to many.

The latest census figures show that 32 per cent of Indians living in major cities stay in a single room.

With more people arriving in the city with dreams of a better life, the challenge for New Delhi will be to include everyone rather than the privileged few and to improve the city’s settlement policies.

Al Jazeera’s Prerna Suri reports from New Delhi.