CHAPTER-11 SLUM: WORLD AND INDIAN SCENARIO INTRODUCTION DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPT OF SLUM SLUM : WORLD SCENARIO SLUM : INDIAN SCENARIO 29
Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to discuss various definitions and concepts of slum and to provide a historical review of slums and discussions on the existing conditions of slums both in the world and in the Indian context This provides a strong foundation by justifying their relevance and significance for the research on socio-econbmic conditions of slum dwellers It is estimated that 78 2 per cent of city dwellers within developing countries live in slums These slums are often described by their lowstandard housing, overcrowding, acute shortage of basic physical and social services and infrastructure, high environment and health threat, non-compliance to planning regulations, insecurity of tenure, faulty alignment of streets, social composition (especially in relation to migration) and unfavorable socio-economic and living conditions This section presents the definitions and concepts of slum followed by spatial dynamics and the importance of slums in the world and developing countries context, like India Definitions and Concepts of Slum Slum is informal urban settlements and is a relative term Though slums are spread all over the world, yet it is understood differently at different places This is a relative concept in terms of its geographical settings and out lay The concepts and definition of slum vary from one society to another and even from one study to another study conducted in the same society There is no general agreement over the definition of the term, which can be universally accepted an applied to slums of all over the world The term slum has been defined differently by 30
economists, town-planners, social workers, administrators, sociologists, etc, keeping in view their own disciplines and professional backgrounds Moreover, various terms such as 'blight areas', 'deteriorated areas', 'marginal areas', 'transitional areas', 'sub-standard settlement', 'unplanned settlement', 'uncontrolled settlement', 'spontaneous settlement', 'provisional settlement', 'squatter settlement', 'overnight settlement', 'urban villages', etc are very loosely used to denote slums Important definitions of the term 'Slum' are reviewed in the following session Broadly, slum is defined as "congested urban or sub-urban residential district characterized by deteriorating and unsanitary housing, boarding and social disorganization" (Encyclopedia Britanmca, 1978) It follows from this definition that slum areas are backward Further, "a slum may be described as a chaotically occupied, unsystematically developed and generally neglected area, which is over populated by persons and over crowded with ill-repaired and neglected structures" (Indian Conference 1957) They are emerged out of urban development process They are unplanned, unintended settlements ignored in the whole process of urban development Slum is taken to mean hutting areas with squalid surrounding In such areas, huts are created in a haphazard manner without proper access Minimum basic amenities are lacking in these areas The term 'slum' will also include such dwellings which on account of such over crowding, dilapidated, lack of ventilation are detrimental to safety health and social morals (Census of India, 1961-Madras) Such settlements lack basic amenities for human habitation Slum Improvement Clearance Act, (1950) defines "any predominantly 31
residential area, where the dwellings, which by reason of dilapidation over-crowding, faulty arrangement of design lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or any combination of these factors are detrimental to safety, health and morals" (Slum Improvement Clearance Act, 1950) Other definitions of Slum are highlighted below "A slum is a building, a group of building, or area characterized by over crowding, deterioration, unsanitary conditions or absence of facilities or amenities which, because of these conditions or any of them, in danger the health safety or morals of its inhabitant s or the community" (UNESCO Document) It has its own characteristics of backwardness "Slums may be characterized as areas of substandard housing conditions within a city A slum is always an area A single, neglected building even in the worst stage of deterioration does not make a slum" (Bergel 1955) 'The slum is a residential area in which the housing is so deteriorated so substandard, or so unwholesome as to be a menace to the health, safety, morality, or welfare of the occupants" This makes housing too dominant as the cause of slum conditions (Ford 1936) Slums are defined as "areas, where buildings (a) are in any respect unfit for human habitation, (b) are by reason of dilapidation Overcrowding, faulty arrangements and design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, or any combination of these factors are detrimental to safety, health or morals (Slum Clearance Improvement and Clearance, Act, 1956) It is an area with human settlement but lacking basic amenities for human settlement A slum area means any area, where such dwellings predominate, which by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement of street, lack of ventilation, light or 32
sanitation facilities, inadequacy of open spaces and community facilities, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to health, safety or morals" (The Scheme of Environment and Clearance) A slum is (i) an area characterized by inadequate housing, facilities, over-crowding and congestion, faulty arrangements of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, (n) an area characterized by its own way of Life' a subculture with a set of norms and values, and the people in slum area without being fully integrated into the urban community, (m) an area having minimum social organization beyond the level of family (iv) an area consisting of people characterized by strong feeling of marginality, helplessness, sense of resignation, fatalism widespread belief in superstitions, and high level of tolerance, and (v) an area consisting of people earning low wages, suffering from chronic unemployment and under employment and incapable of saving, reducing the possibility of effective participation in the growing economic system" (Thakur and Dhadave 1980) Thus, a slum may be defined as an overcrowded area characterized by sub-standard houses without even essential amenities like water, light, ventilation, drainage, approach roads, latrines, sewer lines, etc which are generally inhabited by the illiterates, poor and intermediates and scheduled caste population forces by the circumstances to lead sub-human and disorganized life Therefore, any urban development plans need to consider development of slum as important component To design a plan for the development of slum, it is essential to diagnose their present socioeconomic conditions Designing, in fact, is process of making decisions before the situation arises, in which decisions are to be carried out It 33
may be called a process of deliberate anticipation directed towards bringing an expected situation under control Design should be methodologically prepared, so that it might be worthy of being evaluated before hand and should render the method of making research decision worthy of being evaluated Research design is the plan structure and strategy of investigation, conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance1 Research design designates as the logical manner, in which individuals or other units are compared and analysed It is the basis for making interpretations of the data in order to ensure that comparison made, is not subject to alternative interpretations2. The research design is more of logical strategy in any scientific investigation in the sense that it deals with the plan developed to answer a question, describe a situation or test a hypotheses It is a strategy of dealing with the rationale by which a specific set of procedures, which includes both data collection and analysis is expected to meet the particular requirement of a study by arranging the conditions for collection and analysis of data in manner which aim at combining relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure 3 SLUM: WORLD SCENARIO Slums in urban area are not only confined to developing countries, instead, it is a world phenomenon It is not a recent one, but a historical phenomenon Of course, recently urbanization and industrialization encouraged people's migration from backward areas to developing centers, made this phenomenon more severe Estimates of today's global slum population approach one billion and, barring major intervention, will swell to three billion in fewer than 50 years (United Nations-Habitat, 2003) Slum is associated with Industrial revolution and 34
slowly it became a part and parcel of urban life and resulted in an influx of migrants into cities in search of lively hood For the people who migrated into city, a place of living become the necessity and finding no proper place, people started living anywhere and everywhere possible and this human struggle for shelter resulted in the growth of slums slum is a harsh reality of urban life and slum living is something painful, inevitable and makes every one cautious that though something is being done to improve it Yet much more needs to be done Slums are generally inhabited by poor people and though not all, many of them live under poverty conditions An earlier pilot survey of 14 cities in developing country reported that slums housed between 32 0 per cent and 85 0 per cent of the urban population (UNCHS-1982) Recently, it is reported that slums make up as much as 32 0 per cent of Sao Paulo, 33 0 per cent of Lima, 34 0 per cent of Caracas, and 59 0 per cent of Bogota in South America, and 44 0 per cent in Maputo, 60 0 per cent in Dar-es-Salaam, 70 0 per cent in Luanda, and 85 0 per cent in Addis Ababa in Africa (UNCHS -1996) and Jenkins (2001) In some countries, slums now constitute the essential characteristic of the urban landscape For instance, the Global Urban Observatory (2003 81) reports the case of Ethiopia (99 4 per cent), Chad (99 lper cent), Afghanistan (98 5 per cent) and Haiti (85 7 per cent) Also, Pugh (2000) estimates that slums grow at a rate of 30-70 0 per cent of the housing stock in most cities in developing countries By the end of the 18th century, people who lived n the towns and cities were estimated at about 3 0 per cent of the world population, but today about 48 per cent of the world's population live in urban areas (United Nation 1998) Long term United Nation projection estimated that 35
the world s population would grow from 5 7 billion in 1997 to probably stabilize at a level between 9 3 and 10 billion between 2150 and 2200 (United Nations, 1999). This increase will occur mostly in the urban areas, which will grow from 2 5 billion people to more than 6 billion people with nearly all of this increase occurring in the developing world In the shorter term, it is estimated that by 2020, the world s population will reach a 57.0 per cent urbanization level, of which almost 80.0 per cent of the increase in the next two decades will occur in the developing courtiers Therefore, within such a shoit period of time as two and a half centuries, relative to nearly five and a half millennia after the development of the first true cities, the population will change from a predominantly rural to a predominantly urban one Developing countries, however, differ markedly in the degree of urbanization achieved On one side, nearly three quarter of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean live in the urban areas, just about the same level of urbanization as in the developed countries On the other side, two thirds of more of the population remain rural in China, India, Indonesia and sub-saharan Africa (Table 2 1) Africa has been the most rapidly urbanizing region during the past four decades With the notable exception of China, where the urban growth has accelerated even while population growth has declined, elsewhere, however, urban growth is slowing down along with population growth Indeed, rates of urbanization and urban growth rates appear to follow an S curve of growth with demographic transition Rates of urban growth in the developing countries during their urban transition are high It is so because the developing countries have experienced higher rates of overall population growth 36
Table 2.1: Some Demographic Indicators Country/Region Total population Annual population growth rates. Urban population annual growth rates (%) 1960-62 1992-00 1960-1992- 1960-62 1992-00 China 1 9 1 0 19 28 3 1 38 India 22 1 8 18 26 34 3.0 Indonesia 2 1 1 5 15 33 47 43 Arab states 26 29 30 50 45 35 Sub Saharan Africa Latin America & the Caribbean Developing countries 62 28 1 8 15 30 50 45 24 1 8 50 73 36 24 23 1 8 22 36 38 32 World 1 9 1 5 34 44 27 26 Source UNDP, Human Development Report 1995 00 Growth of large Cities One of the distinctive features of urbanization in the developing countries has been the emergence of large number of very large cities Most of the growth in large cities of the world is projected to take place in the developing countries By 1950, cities of the size of half a million people were becoming common place and were distributed widely throughout the world's major settlement areas By that year, South and South-East Asia and the 37
Far East had almost as many cities with over one million people as Europe, the Mediterranean and the former Soviet Union combined The growth of cities was shifting from the developed to the developing world By 1980, there were more million cities in the developing world than in the developed world4 India, home to more of the world s income poor than any other country, has a slum population approaching 170 million, a number that surpasses the total population of all but five countries While India achieved overall poverty reduction in the 1980s and 1990s, it accounted for nearly one-seventh of the world s growth in slum dwellers over the same period (Datt and Ravallion, 2002, United Nations-Habitat and Statistics Division, 2001) Despite India's recent economic prowess, India's slums continue to swell Economists and demographers have analyzed slum formation from various angles As Mitra (1994) demonstrates, for India the excess-supplylimited-demand framework explains growing urban poverty and the concomitant growth of slum populations Another catalyst of slum formation is increased land values and rents resulting from the indivisibilities of infrastructure, concentration, and congestion Public policy also does its part to assist urbanization in increasing land values and rents (Mitra, 2003) While these theories present numerous potential causes of slum formation, it is difficult to test them empirically, especially given the dearth of reliable data these countries are China, India itself, Indonesia, Brazil, and the United States (United Nations Population Fund, 2004) From the late 1940s until 1980, India's GDP grew at a rate of 3 8 per cent (Krueger, 2002), dubbed the 38
"Hindu rate of economic growth," it hardly outpaced population growth and in theory accommodated India s slum growth From 1993-1994 to 1999-2000, India s aggregate GDP grew at a rate of 6 7 per cent per annum (Datt and Ravallion, 2002, Mitra (1992) observes the minimal impact of industrial growth on urban poverty Briefly, this framework attributes increasing informal sector employment to the interaction between phenomenal increases in urban populations in absolute terms (because of large initial population bases) and limited demand for unskilled labor in urban economies Given the lack of a rural-urban continuum it is natural for migrants to form groups on the basis of caste, kinship and ethnicity bonds (Banerjee and Bucci, 1994 and Mitra, 2003) In these groups, individuals with relatively higher levels of education may have a better chance of being group leaders and, thus, enter into bargains with the local political party workers There could be an apparent negative association between accessibility to social networks and political contact Average annual Rate of population change and projected change in major cities of the world is given in table-2 2 39
Table-2.2: Average annual Rate of population change and projected change in major cities of the world City 1995 Population (In millions) Average annual growth rate (1975-1995) Tokyo (Japan) 26.8 1 55 0 34 Sao Paulo(Brazil) 164 2 49 1 03 New York (US) 163 0 14 0 37 Mexico City 156 1 94 0 73 Mumbai (India) 15 1 3 96 2 74 Shanghai (China) 15 1 0 86 1 40 Los Angeles (US) 124 1 65 0 68 Beijing (China) 124 1 40 1 60 Kolkata (India) 11 7 2 06 1 86 Seoul (South Korea) 11 6 2 67 0 56 Jakarta (Indonesia) 11 5 291 2 40 Buenos (Argentina) Aries 11 0 1 27 0 80 Tianjin (China) 107 2 12 1 81 Osaka (Japan) 106 0 37 0 80 Lagos (Nigeria) 103 5 68 4 37 Source United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects (1996 revision) Projected annual growth rate Today, the most populous cities are found in Asia and Latin America Of the world's 20 mega cities 11 are in Asia including Mumbai and Delhi The Mumbai metropolitan region is the world's fifth most populous city, with around 18 million people Population of important mega cities are given in table-2 3 40
Table-2.3: Population of the important Mega Cities of the world (Figure in million) City 1975 2003 2015 Population Rank Population Rank Population Rank Tokyo 26 6 1 35 0 1 36 2 1 Mexico city 107 4 187 2 20 6 4 New York 15.9 2 183 3 19 7 6 Sao Paulo 96 6 179 4 20 0 5 Mumbai 73 15 174 5 22 6 2 Delhi 44 25 14 1 6 20 9 3 Source World Urbanization prospects (2003] Most interesting feature to be observed here is that population- wise, Mumbai city was raked at 15th place in 1975, which went up to 5th place in 2003 Further, it is projected to be in the second place by 2015 SLUM: INDIAN SCENARIO Urbanization has been considered as an index of development but in case of developing countries like India, urbanization is not the outcome of merely the growth potential generated by urban settlements It has been largely due to people work relationship in rural areas, in which land is the essential medium and which is right now so critically balanced that even small addition to population is pushing people out of agriculture to non-agriculturai occupations Thus, by and large, in India urbanization is merging as merely a process of transfer of rural poverty to urban environment, which only results in concentration of misery This has resulted in the manufacturing of most of the urban settlements leading to emergence of number of imbalances and 41
problems Thus, most of these settlements suffer from improper and haphazard development, absence of basic infrastructure and services, uncontrolled and unchecked growth of slums, lack of housing high degree of visual and environmental degradation and uncontrolled traffic The cumulative effect of these factors is the degradation and uncontrolled traffic The cumulative effect of these factors is the degradation of quality of life in urban settlements and huge amount of subsidies is required to maintain them These factors are more evident in case of larger cities especially metros and super metros Growth of Slums in India Provisional data relating to slums in the 2001 census throw some interesting light on the slum population Nearly 28 million persons lived in the slums in 1981, accounting for 17 5 per cent of the urban population The estimates for 1991 were 45 7 million slum dwellers accounting for 21 5 per cent of population7 According to the 2001 census, there are 40 6 million persons living in slums in 606 towns/cities, and they account for 22 8 per cent of the population of these cities However, the latest census data also reflect the problems inherent in not having an accepted definition of slums and absence of proper listing of slum settlements in the urban offices concerned with slum improvement and civic amenities The practice of notifying slums under relevant laws is not being followed, especially where the land involved belongs to Government or any of its agencies As a result of these lacunae, these data are not definitive because towns with less than 50,000 population, and slum clusters which are not formally or informally recognized if the population was less than 300 are excluded 42
While demographic data on slum population and on civic amenities to slum dwellers from the census are still awaited, there appears to be no change in the basic level or improvement in the features of slum settlements despite several decades of programmes for the environmental improvement and up gradation of slums There is cause of wonder, whether Cities without Slums' is a slogan about an objective, which, however desirable, is believed to be unreachable, or whether it is serious planning and urban development concern Certainly, the degree of effort to upgrade slums to a more habitable level does not indicate a serious effort in this direction Lack of resources with the local level agencies results in non provision of basic services and accordingly large number of slums grow in cities Percentage of population of slums increases in direct proportion to the population and size of the city of which they from part Larger cities have more proportion of population in slums Growth of slums in India is primarily due to inadequate infrastructures (World Development Report 1994) It further says that though proportion of population living below the poverty line has shown a decline, number of people living in slums have, however, increased Thus, growth of slums cannot be visualized as the product of poverty alone, in fact numbers of other factors are responsible for the growth of slums Government of India has launched a new scheme to prevent the growth of slums in urban areas New scheme provides alternative sites to existing slum dwellers/ews families living in cities with population ranging between 5 to 20 lacs House sites are allotted on a graded scale of 35 sq mts, for cities in population range between 50-10 lacs, 30 sq mts, for population ranges betweens 14-20 lacs However, scheme does not 43
provide for slums in cities dwellers belonging to EWS category with special emphasis on people below poverty line These schemes are operational in few selected towns Growths of slums have become faster over the years and this problem has spread over all the settlement Major problem in solving shelter related issues of EWS or shelter less is the availability of land It is proposed to create a Land Bank for the poor in all the urban areas, which would be funded by various financial institutions like HUDCO and other state level agencies Further, addition would be made to the Land Bank through the mechanism of earmarking 5 0 per cent of total land developed under any scheme for EWS housing which would be transferred to the Land Bank Private colonizers would also contribute to the Land Bank Similarly, all town Development Schemes would earmark 5 0 per cent of area for EWS housing Thus, a large land poor would be created, which can be used for providing shelter to EWS The numbers of population of slums are always on the increase Even many areas, in urban towns, have become so congested and short of basic services, that we can also call them slums The Census data of 2001 reveals several significant facets of urbanization over the last decade Of the 1 02 billion populations, 285 million or 27 8 per cent live in the urban area, which comprises 5161 towns Table-2 4 depicts the proportion of urban population to total population in India 44
Table-2.4: Proportion of Urban Population to Total Population (India) Year Per cent 1961 17.97 1971 19.91 1981 23.34 1991 25.71 2001 27.78 Source Xth Five Year Plan, p 612 Increase in the urban population over the decades in the recent years is clear and in 2001 it was 27 78 per cent of the total population In Indian context, the proportion of urban-tural population is different in different states Growth of urban population is also different in different states, which may be observed from table-2 5 Urban population is highest in Delhi (93 0 per cent), Chandigarh (89 78 per cent) and lowest in Himachala Pradesh (9 79 per cent), Bihar (10 47 per cent), and Sikkim (11 10 per cent) 45
Table-2.5: Rural-Urban distribution of population- India and Sfafes/Union territories (2001) State/union territory Population Urban Male Female Total population (%) India 531277073 495738169 1027015247 27 78 Jammu& Kashmir 5300574 4769343 10069917 24 88 Himachal Pradesh 3085256 2991992 6077248 9 79 Punjab 12963362 11325934 24289296 33 95 Chandigarh 508224 392690 900914 89 78 Uttaranchal 4316401 4163161 8479562 25 59 Haryana 11327658 9755331 21082989 29 0 Delhi j 7570890 6212086 13728976 93.01 Raiasthan 29381657 27091465 56473122 23 38 Uttar Pradesh 87466301 78586558 166052859 20 78 Bihar 43153964 39724832 82878796 10 47 Sikkim 288217 252276 540493 11 10 Arunachai Pradesh 573951 517166 1091117 20 41 Nagaland 1041686 946950 1988636 17 74 Manipur 1207338 1181296 2388634 23 88 Mizoram 459783 431275 89058 49 50 Tripura 1636138 1555030 3191169 17 02 Meghalaya 1167840 1138229 230069 19 63 Assam 13787799 12850608 26638407 12 72 West Bengal 41487694 38733477 80221171 28 03 Jharkhand V' 13861277 13048151 26909428 22 25 Orissa f 18612340 18094580 36706920 14 97 Chhattisgarhfc 10452426 10343530 20795956 20 08 Madhya Pradesh 31456873 28928245 60385118 26 67 Guiarat 26344053 24252939 50596992 37 35 Dam & die 92478 65581 158059 36 26 Dadra & Naga 121731 98720 220451 22 89 Haveli Maharashtra 50334270 46417977 96752247 42 40? Andhra Pradesh 38286811 37440730 75727541 27 08 Karnataka 26856343 25877615 52733958 33 98 Goa 685617 658381 1343998 49 77 Andaman & 192985 163280 356265 32 67 Nicobar Lakshadweep 31118 29477 60595 44 47 Kerala 15468664 16369955 31838619 25 97 Tamil Nadu ' 31268654 30842185 62110839 43 86 Pondicherry 486705 487124 973829 66 57 Source S L Goel et al, 'Slum improvement through Participatory Urban-based Community structure', 2004 46
table-2 6 Slum by states shares and notification status of slum are given in Table-2.6: Slums by states share and Notification status States /UT Percentage share of slums in all India aggregate Proportion of notified slums to total slums* 1993 2002 1993 2002 Andhra Pradesh 11 44 1494 23 18 82 65 Bihar (BH) 4 27 2 57 5 82 26 32 Delhi (DEL) 831 3 57 52 89 9 15 Guiarat (GUJ) 4 60 2 97 47 93 26 94 Jammu & Kashmir - 0 70-60 16 Karnataka (KAR) 10 67 3 8^ 77 99 59 40 Madhya Pradesh 4 98 6 71 51 62 58 62 Maharashtra (MH) 19 90 32 22 42 10 61 15 Orissa (OR) 3 08 0 78 7 67 2 74 Pondicherry (PON) 0 02 041-19 43 Pumab (PUN) 0 94 0 31 41 75 33 33 Raiasthan (RAJ) 1 33 1 69 24 40 1 37 Tamil Nadu (TN) 7 22 6 12 1461 29 39 Uttar Pradesh (UP) 5 47 5 11 34 81 29 32 West Bengal (WB) 13 90 15 72 19 14 35 34 Other States/UT 3 88 3 o4 16 22 44 72 Total/lndia-wide 100 100 36 16 50 62 Coeff of variation 81 13 133 52 62 63 64 10 Notes include both notified and non-notified categories The total number of slums was 56,311 and 51,688 in 1993 and 2002, respectively represents unavailability of data Figures for Chhattisghar in 2002 have been merged with Madhya Pradesh to make them comparable with 1993 Sources 1 Slums in India, National Sample Survey Organisation 49th Round, January - June 1993, Draft Report No 417, NSSO, 1997 2 Condition of Urban Slums, National Sample Survey Organisation 58th Round, July -December 2002, Report No 486, NSSO, 2003 on slums in India However, broad state-level contrasts will yield "a rich source of insights on the interconnections between economic development, public action and social progress" (De'soza and Sen, 2002, p 83} 47
Approximately, 68 8 per cent of the countries slums population is concentrated in the 300 class-1 cities and less than one third of this population resides in the remaining 3300 urban centers Settlement s Problems of urban areas Urban areas have not received much attention in terms of the planning, development and management despite the fact that cities and economic development are inextricably linked Because of high productivity of urban areas, economic development activities get located in cities Accordingly, it is desirable that human settlements are provided with necessary planning and development inputs so that the orderly growth and development is ensured This would also be necessary for ensuring efficient functioning of human settlements for improving their productivity and for providing desirable quality of life to its residents in order to cater to their both economic and physical and metaphysical needs The urban development strategy for any state thus, assumes importance of not only in terms of its economic emancipation but also its physical well being Increasing population and their accumulation in cities is the major problem of underdeveloped countries Population and population density of metros and cities are given in table-2 7 48
Table- 2.7: Population in metros and Cities and population density per Sq.Km Name of the city Population Density (in million) (persq km) Metro City City Mumbai 163 11 9 27231 Kolkata 132 46 24064 Delhi 128 98 N A Chennai 64 42 24137 Bangalore 57 43 19111 Hyderabad 55 34 15668 Source Census 2001 and State Government websites Mumbai has highest population density (27231 per Sq Km) and Hyderabad has the lowest (15668) Number of towns in India is growing, trend of which is presented in table-2 8in India it has increased from 1916 to 5161, during 1901-2001 Table-2.8: Number of towns since 1901 - India Census year 1901 1916 1911 1908 1921 2048 1931 2220 1941 2427 1951 3060 1961 2700 1971 3126 1981 4029 1991 4689 2001 5161 Source Census of India 2001 Number of towns 49
table-2 9 Urban population growth of India during 1901-2001 is furnished in Table-2.9: Urban population growth of India Census year Percentage of urban population to total population 1901 10 85 1911 10 29 1921 11 18 1931 11 99 1941 13 86 1951 17 29 1961 17 97 1971 1991 1981 23 34 1991 25 70 2001 27 78 Source Census of India 2001 Urban population growth rate has increased from 10 85 per cent to 27 78 per cent during this period Role of the Government in Improving Slums Slums exhibit rural characteristic of urban life and no doubt, they are manifestation of socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country, but if no heed is paid to contain them, urban life will become not only miserable but also unbearable A serious policy of urban development, based on sound principles of town planning and efficient 50
administration, committed to the service of the humanity with vast financial resources and authority can only successfully combat the problems of slums Through Five Year Plans various efforts have been made for the development of urban area, more specifically for the development of slum areas The central government schemes such as National Slum Development Programme (NSDP), Swarna Jayanti Shahn Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), VAMBAY, Night shelters, Two Million Housing Scheme, Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP), low-cost sanitation aims at providing a wide range of services to the urban poor including slum-dwellers They include identification of the urban poor, formation of community groups, and involvement of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), self help/thrift and credit activities, training for livelihood, credit and subsidy for economic activities, housing and sanitation, environmental improvement, community assets, wage employment, convergence of services, etc There are also many instances of successful implementation of urban poverty alleviation/slum upgrading and services programmes in the Indian situation The government of India has introduced special central assistance to states for up-gradation of urban slums wuh the following elements The schemes are applicable to all the states and Union Territories having urban population Funds aie allocated to states on the basis of urban slum population The focus is on community infrastructure, provision of shelter, empowerment of urban poor women, training, skill up-gradation and advocacy and involvement of NGOs, Community Based Organizations 51
(CBOs) private institution and other bodies The schemes are applicable to all the states and union territories having urban population At the nation level, Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment is the nodal Ministry to monitor this programme The Planning Commission in the beginning of each financial year allocates funds under this scheme and Department of Expenditure releases Additional central assistance to States/Union Territories In spite of the huge fund allocations and efforts made for the slum improvements, action taken so far for slum improvement seems to be inadequate to its fast growth Re-designing and reconstructing settlements with the participation of residents and assistance from public bodies is a visible option with the least amount of disturbance to the settlers or their livelihood This method, of slum improvement needs to be practiced on a much wider scale The VAMBAY project permits in city upgradation, and it is necessary that an early decision is taken regarding land on which slums are situated in order to facilitate upgradation Local governments like city corporations, city development authorities and the Slum Clearance Board are playing important role in slum improvement Role of urban local government National Slum Policy prescribes the following role for local self government Planning for integration Planning for integration involves the following (a) Modify existing planning framework 52
All existing planning instruments such as master plans, Land use plans etc., should be modified to ensure that slums and informal settlements can be properly integrated into the wider urban areas In order to achieve this objective, it will be necessary to (i) Ensure that all Master Plans and Land use plans allow for high density, mixed use (for micro-enterprise) land occupation in all slums/informal settlements This will ensure that every ULB designates sufficient and more appropriate (higher density lower cost) living and working space of the urban poor within the urban area (n) Master plans and land use plans should also ensure that all new land development schemes make sufficient provision for land to house low income workers as required by such schemes m) All plans and other regulatory instruments must provide sufficient flexibility to modify layouts and building regulations in line with more realistic density/mixed use requirements The powers to implement such changes outline in (i) to (m) above should be vested tin the Urban Local Bodies, within parameters laid down by state governments Integrated Municipal Development Plan All Urban Local Bodies (ULB) are required to work towards the formulation of an Integrated Municipal Development Plan The principle objective of this plan is to ensure that the ULB has an adequate and sustainable level of infrastructure of services for all its residents and that 53
such infrastructure and services and planned and delivered in an equitable manner In order tefachieve this objective it will be necessary to identify the capital and recurrent requirements and cost for the city as a whole (e.g bulk water supply) as well as the specific wards and neighborhood within the city (secondaiy and tertiary water supply) The plan should prioritize ways and means of narrowing the gap between the better serviced and less serviced slums areas of the ULB The Integrated Municipal development Plan process assumes the implementation of the 74th Amendment and embodies the principle of convergence of activities and funds to achieve more efficient and equitable urban development The IMDP will incorporate existing plans and reflect schemes and budget allocations as follows Master Plans/Land use Plans and other statutory instruments Urban Development Plans and Schemes Urban Poverty Alleviation Plans and schemes Development Plans and schemes in the ULB area Dynamic Multi-Year Planning The integrated Municipal development plan outlined above should be undertaken as a dynamic process, which will be updated and reviewed every three years The overall plan should, then, be implemented through Annual Action Plans and budget allocations so that development work can be taken up in a phased manner These annual action plans would reflect plan priorities based on the level of service deprivation or service gaps pertaining in the neighborhood 54
PHD P08/\Jl-T Bottom up planning 0)0125 Bottom up planning emphasizes that Planning should begin at the micro level with each urban poor area drawing up a list of existing services identifying gaps and deficiencies. This activity should be undertaken by the community using participatory planning techniques and each plan should include a clear prioritization of needs and an indication of different stakeholder contributions towards costs Urban Local Bodies will be required to submit evidence of community participation in planning service provision All the efforts for the improvement of the slum Wri,e57&lflferent approaches This may be viewed in terms of their functions, objectives and style of implementation However, all physical upgrading and improvement in informal settlements need to adopt a community based approach with the active involvement of members of the community of every stage of design, implementation, and maintenance of services and assets Community structures and system should reflect local conditions and preferences rather than conform to any uniform pattern Communities have an important role to play at all stages of service delivery in terms of location of the service points, day to day, functioning of the service and guarding against its misuse. Communities should be encouraged to contribute land and resources to help establish community centers and to promote the collection of user charges to contribute to the operation of certain services Among the urban poor, women and child are the most deprived Women being involved both in household works and wage earning employment face problems of slum more intensively Children without 55
proper environments for getting ready strongly for future are made to continue in slum life Therefore, there is a need to target women and children directly in the design and implementation of physical infrastructure and the delivery of social and economic services Infrastructure users, especially the urban poor and women are central to the sustainability of any investment decisions related to infrastructures Further, wherever possible, the delivery of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity need to be provided on an individual household basis and may even precede the granting of full tenure rights Individual connections will improve operations, maintenance, and facilitate recovery of user charges and thus, improve the overall environment With regard to the implementation of slum improvement programmes, wherever possible, works needs be undertaken by communities under appropriate supervision of Urban Local Bodies And it is believed that such works need to be carried out according to departmental norms and procedures Services may also be contracted out, wherever possible to appropriate NGOs and other private companies Solid waste management has already been successfully contracted out by many Urban Local Bodies Similarly, the maintenance of pay and use' toilets has also been contracted out to Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and community based organizations (CBOs) State enactments or procedures dealing with improvement works should be modified to allow the implementation of such works to be undertaken on a contract basis by the community 56
The guiding principle and expected outcomes to be kept in focus while planning and implementing the programmes for the development of infrastructure and services The major infrastructure and services to be provided are water supply, sanitation, roads, drainage, schools, solid waste management, health and other social services Water supply: Quantum, duration, timing and water quality are the four critical factors in planning water supply delivery. Dual and standby systems, such as piped supply supported by local hand pumps should be considered as a means of helping to address these four factors Even where individual water tap connections are provided, it may be desirable to install hand pumps or community storage facilities to offset poor frequency of supply and inadequate storage capacity at individual household level Sanitation: Urban Local Bodies should avoid constructing community latrines within slum/informal settlements as these quickly degenerate on account of poor Operations and Maintenance (O & M) thus, becoming counter productive to public health Where there is insufficient space for individual sanitation options (mostly where on site disposal systems have to be adopted) groups or cluster latrines with clearly demarcated and agree household responsibilities for operation and management may be a suitable alternative option It is vital that any community wide sanitation programme be preceded by an awareness campaign designed to raise demand for the implementation of specific sanitation options This would greatly 57
facilitate all subsequent O&M, activities as would also assist the process of raising financial contributions. Many members of the community, especially male members, do not perceive sanitation, as a clear priority need. This needs to be addressed before embarking upon the installation of sanitation Considering the limitations on improving sanitation in many towns due to absence of underground drainage and sewerage systems, low cost sanitation options, particularly twin pit pour flush latrines may be a more appropriate and cost effective option for slums duly keeping environmental safeguards in mind Efforts should be made to popularize and facilitate the introduction of such systems wherever appropriate The tenurial status and likelihood of a settlement getting relocated at some point in the future should not deter promoting such system since the benefits of such environmental improvement far exceed the initial investment incurred Roads: Paved access for pedestrians and/or vehicles will greatly improve overall accessibility Paved access will encourage investment in the community and promote physical integration with neighboring areas It may also help to improve social integration within between communities Paved access will also greatly facilitate the introduction of other related infrastructure such as storm water drains, underground drainage water supply, electricity and collection/removal or garbage Paving would also help in maintaining a clear environment and help reduce flooding and water stagnation Paved access ways also facilitates the use of such facilities for social activity, extension of household activities and spare for economic activity 58
Drainage: Drains in slums serve the dual purpose of carrying silage water from individual houses as well as draining storm water It is crucial to integrate the outfall of such drains with the city's mam drainage system The planning of slum drainage should be fully integrated into the planning of neighboring systems as well as the city as whole Electricity: Individual house connections will greatly enhance the comfort and safety of living and working conditions for residents The mere provision of street lighting without formal household connections leads to illegal tapping and loss of revenue and at the same time causes unplanned loading of the system of fire hazards Community management system for collection of user charges will facilitate improved revenue recovery and reduce revenue losses Solid Waste collection Sustained awareness campaigns and provision of waste collection receptacles will facilitate a cleaner environment Urban local bodies could orgamzp clean slum competitions' and institute prized to create more awareness and encourage the community groups to maintain a clean environment within their localities At community level, management systems that employ private sweepers by collecting monthly charges may also be adopted Social services: Basic services of health, education and access to credit are crucial for human capital development and reduce the incidence of poverty Improved access to social services would also help building up the capacities of poor and empowering them to improve their own living conditions and quality of life. Effective delivery of these services would also reduce social inequalities and promote integration of people residing in slums into the social and economic networks of the city as a 59
whole, thereby enhancing the overall productivity of the city Various physical infrastructure components such as water supply and sanitation have a direct bearing on improving health conditions in slums This section outlines a number of complementary services where urban local bodies should actively seek to improve access for the urban poor Methods of Slum Improvement There is continuous tug of war between city level authorities and the slum dwellers and the battle line is continuously redrawn in the form of regularization of unauthorized colonies This causes considerable stress on the city administration including law and order problems leading to considerable costs and inconvenience to the city population as a whole in many cases, such unauthorized colonies are demolished or upgraded incurring huge costs They city authorities undertake a sort of fire fighting salvage operation from time to time incurring large expenditure This cost estimated to be many times more than the cost involved in habitatmg them by proper planning by reserving pre planned land for this group of population Past experience indicates that no amount of legal regulatory mechanisms could stop movement of people in search of economic up-liftment In this context the major question appears to our mind Is what, therefore, is there to be done^ More specifically, what our local governments do^ Never in the history have there been such large urban agglomerations Future emphasis must be on working out ways and means for interdependence between national and local units and between local governments with one another It is realized that the solutions to slum dwellers problems can be found together with them 60
It is worthwhile to examine how our governments, specifically the urban local governments are dealing with this situation after five decades The growth of slum population in these growing cities is so prolific that, our local governments have lost control of the deteriorating urban decay In other words, the government organizations have generally found themselves largely ineffective to forge authentic partnership with the urban slum people in solving habitat-related issues Education for Urban Poor It is believed that to achieve the success in the participation approach for the development, people participation is to be enhanced, they need to be educated, convinced, counseled about their backwardness and make them realize to involve and come to the mainstream of the development In this regard, both formal and informal education for the backward people will essentia! Educating the urban slum dwellers about social and economic evils is also essential It is clearly observed that slum dwellers, in spite of earning substantial income, still remain in the depressed poverty A further probing revealed that the slum dwellers are spending a substantial amount of their income on drinking, smoking, gambling, prostitution, etc, and education to stop their interest in these activities is essential Besides, the population growth is very high in slums There is, therefore, a need of sex and population education' to limit family size Hence, providing education for the urban poor is an important component of slum development programmes In this regard, several steps have been undertaken in India, after independence 61
Legislative supports for slum improvement have been provided by the slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Acts adopted by various states'0. The operation of the improvement schemes is made possible by statutory provisions in the slum Act in those states, where it has been passed The Act broadly provides the power to the competent authority to declare an area to be slum area if the buildings in that area are unfit for human inhabitants or are detrimental to the safety of health or morals The Act empowers the competent authority to serve notice upon the owner of building or land in a slum area, to execute the works of improvement Power a acquire land in a slum are to execute the improvement work -protection to tenants in slum areas from eviction Slum improvement boards were to be set up under the Act to organize, supervise the work of slum improvement in the state The legal definition of slum places emphasis only on the physical aspects of slum However, it does not make any mention of ownership of land or legality or illegality of structure (Bapat Meera, 1982) The education of slum areas as enacted in these slum areas, legalization is quite board However, declared slums from only 5 to 15 per cent of the housing stock in major Indian cities Government grants in the environment improvement scheme are channelised only to declared slums The declaration of slum areas in this context assumes greater significance Judicial support is also provided in this regard In a major judgment affecting at least 30 lacs people living in the capital slums, the Supreme 62
Court has asked the authorities concerned to remove their shelter and stop further growth of unauthorized hutments on public land. It also asked the civic authorities to comply with the 10 directives, which are aimed at providing better hygiene, clean environment and ensuring that the capital of the biggest democracy in the world is not branded as being one of the most polluted cities in the world Passing strictures on the civic authorities, the court said, establishment or creating of slums, it seems, appears to be good business and is well organized Large areas of public land, in this way, are usurped for private use free of cost It is difficult to believe that this can happen in the capital without passive or active connivance of the land owing agencies and/or the municipal authorities People participation Although there is a lot of talk about community participation, it is a lot of talk about community participation and it is conspicuously absent in the improvement programmes, where it is most essential The question is who wants improvements At present, it appears that improvements are thrust on people as public works Communities are never motivated to initiate improvement process This makes ail the difference in attitudes of the beneficiaries This is why most of them have come to believe that it is for the public agency to do their jobs The community plays a passive role and contributes only in terms of giving information They are neither informed about, what is to be improved nor the cost of improvement Slum Improvement under the urban community development programme, primarily aims at organizing the community and to 63