Urban Poverty in India

7/21/2019 Urban Poverty in India

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URBAN POVERTY IN INDIA,SLAMMING THE SLUMS

Published May 2012

Challenges of urban poverty in India are intimately tied with challenges of the

country’s fast development. Indian cities have come to dominate the charts as the

world’s biggest cities for the first time in modern history.

Such high-speed, colossal growth, as impressive as it may be, poses several problems

if not threats: pollution (air, soil, water, and a disproportionate concentration of

poverty, among others. !hose two issues stem directly from the fact that by growing

that fast it ma"es it hard to plan for everything all at once: housing (for a while some

cities grew by a million inhabitant per year and the gigantic urban planning mish-

mash that it presupposes.

Chaotic growth

!he case of urban poverty in India has been e#emplary in terms of mismanaging (or

not managing at all urban growth. Cities have become the best place to foster

poverty and destitution at a scale and e#tent unseen before.

$ural poverty is one thing, but urban poverty in India added a whole new breed of



revolting aspects to it: diseases, violence (more than at the countryside,

disintegration of communities and the social fabric.

%ut building and increasing the si&e of cities obviously costs billions and India was

somewhat short of cash at the time. Conse'uently, it has decided to radically reducethe public services it offers as well as its investment in infrastructure.

ou might thin" )*"ay, but they were bro"e+, but this is where strong political will

ma"es a difference, considering that other countries in the same situation managed

very well their transition despite a few controversies (e.g. China.

The birth of Indian slums

s cities grew, so did the slums, welcoming more rural migrants and creating more

urban poverty in India. ven though people "eep on flowing from the countryside,

the government has persisted in not creating enough housing for everyone. /et0s not

even spea" about affordable housing for the poor.

1owever things are getting better as proportionally spea"ing poverty has been

waning over the past decade or so. mployment generation schemes have been

wor"ing 'uite well. !he apparition of micro-finance has allowed many Indians tostart small businesses and the trend is growing as flows of credit arrive.

The left behind

!his has helped only part of the poor, those not too far below the poverty line. 2or

the rest, the poorest of the poor, no government policy, no pro-poor local

organi&ation has managed to reach them and help them.

!he reasons range from social discrimination (some organi&ations help only people

from their community or social class3caste, to the difficulty to locate the poorest as

they often migrate throughout the city in 'uest of a temporary 4ob.

A tricky poverty line



2inally urban poverty in India is convenient to many local authorities as the higher

cost of living ma"es more people fall above the poverty line (which is the same for

the whole country, urban and rural areas ali"e. s the poor need to survive in more

e#pensive big cities, they technically have more money than rural residents but they

also spend it all very 'uic"ly to feed themselves.

!he Indian poverty line thus shows no consideration of the other aspects of poverty:

homelessness or living in the slums, access to water, electricity, public

transportation, 4ob, etc5 Surprisingly, and what ma"es many say that Indian

officials don’t give a damn about the poor, social housing is still not a very high

priority nationwide (do correct me if you find anything new.

6hat’s more, there is no standard definition of slums and the massive lac" of

research provides no account of the lives of the poor. !his way no one "nows the real

e#tent of urban poverty in India.

THE DEMISE OF THE STATE AND PUBLICSERVICES

Private and public sectors together

6hat a lot of research points out is that, while there0s no doubt that the private

sector is crucial to alleviate poverty, this doesn’t mean that the state should



disappear.

In a country li"e India, on the contrary, the private sector has to be spurred. nd the

state would have been of great help if it had invested in very basic infrastructure

from the beginning...

The lies of the free market ideology

s usual, poverty and state efficiency are conte#t-based and in the case of developing

countries, the government plays a crucial part.

2rom the 7S to the 78, 2rance and 9ermany, from apan to South 8orea and China,

what the neoliberal doctrine of free mar"ets didn0t mention is that all of them have

actively used government intervention and protectionism to develop their economies

(yes, even the 7S, for more details see the economist Chang 1a4oon0s famous

boo" 8ic"ing way the /adder

Social corruption and rivalries

In India as in many other nations, specific social groups lobby for influence and

favors from the government. !his is even more intense in India because of therivalries inherent to the Indian society (i.e. the caste system. nd when politics

eventually meddle in this, it becomes ugly by forming sort of an institutional

segregation in terms of who or which community will receive public and social

services and which one will not.

!ypically things get worse at the local level with huge differences between cities. So

for e#ample ;umbai (%ombay fares < times worse than the capital and Calcutta

over twice worse than =elhi in terms of providing public services, in particular basichealth care and education. 2unnily enough, the rich en4oy much better services and

infrastructure in ;umbai than in the two other cities. >ow where did that money

come from?

Local corruption and embezzlement

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nother issue is that technically spea"ing it’s the central government that finances

the local public services and its infrastructures (from street lights to sewers and if

you 4ust consider that these are completely none#istent in certain parts of town (i.e.

the slums, you reali&e that the government needs to wor" more directly with local

authorities and ma"e sure that the money gets where it’s supposed to go.

URBAN POVERTY IN INDIA: THE SLUMS

aste pickers vs! collectors

/et’s have a loo" at a typical class of wor"ers in the slums that ma"e up one reality of

urban poverty in India: waste pic"ers and collectors, for recycling use. %oth pic"ers

(who pic" up waste from the streets and collectors (who collect from households

are at the very bottom of the social order @ even while their role is crucial for

recycling and the environment @ with the pic"ers at the lowest position, by far.

;ost of them usually came from the countryside and had to settle in the slums

because they had no other choice (read: not enough money. Collectors ma"e enough

to live 4ust around the Indian poverty line, while pic"ers live far below the line.

"iscrimination among the poor

In fact, they don’t come from the same places: the former are from villages around



=elhi, and the latter come from further away provinces where %engali is the main

language. lready, a first form of discrimination - typical of the social structure of

poverty in India - is discernible: the poorest communities stic" together to vie for

resources and the best 4obs.

ven by the standards of urban poverty in India, the living conditions of the pic"ers

are at best appalling (i.e. when they0re not being beaten up or as"ed for bribes. nd

this is despite their invaluable contribution to the environment and the cities’ waste

disposal budget.

So# how do we help them$

!hat’s easy, you need to turn the slums into a normal urban place. 1ah, easier said

than done, right? !here is in fact such program (see end of page, aimed at restoring

basic services in the slums and ma"ing them a real part of town with access to water,

electricity, health care, education, sewers etc.

%ut that’s not enough to help our pic"ers and collectors in the short run. ducation

and training are 4ust as vital, however not as long as they’re denied a chance to find a

4ob.

!herefore, a new challenge arises: creating (appropriate 4obsA and why not for

e#ample use the fact that they’re speciali&ed in the waste recycling business.

Integrating them further up the chain of recycling by ma"ing and or re-selling

recycled goods is one possibility that will considerably raise their income. 6ith the

cra&e about going green, it’s the best time and there’s a great opportunity for each

municipality to help a new section of the private sector grow.

Same old need for infrastructure and institution

!hat is nonetheless at the condition that local governments act upon the lac" of

infrastructure and industries, the limited access to training and 4ob-hunting support.

!here’s everything to bet that once their income and social status are raised, new

opportunities will arise for these people to "eep on improving their lives, see" new



types of 4obs or engage in new business ventures.

Corruption and urban poverty in India

/ast but not least, Indian cities0 pro-poor policies ()pro-poor+ is 4ust a technical

4argon for democratic would have a much better impact if each municipality

wouldn0t be so prude about policing its own civil servants and its own police.

It’s no secret that they are the flagship of Indian corruption and have this irritating

habit to regularly e#tract money from the poor as a strange toll for wor"ing on their

territory. Starting with this alone would represent a great step to directly increase

the income of many of the slums’ residents.

BETTER ANTI-POVERTY POLICIES

The limits of %&'s and local poor organizations

ust how effective policies aimed at urban poverty in India are depends greatly on

how the poor are organi&ed. !heir communities, the social structure can become a

ma4or drive or a tremendous obstacle to the e'uitable distribution of public services

and anti-poverty programs0 money.

In the conte#t of India, you have both cases: social services spread really well within

one community, and at the same time poor communities that are higher on the

social hierarchy often try to "eep as much as possible to themselves and bloc" the

diffusion to poorer communities.

Slums ( pillar of urban poverty in India

nd in slums, the poorest of the poor are unfortunately often not organi&ed into

communities anymore. !his lac" of social fabric ma"es them all the more fragile to

their environment and to any shoc" (rise in food prices, not finding a 4ob for a few

days, etc as they can’t rely on anybody for temporary help. !his means that public

policies should pay e#tra attention to so-called poor organi&ations insofar as they

may represent in fact special interests within the larger )poor community+.



1ence the one thing that local governments lac" to solve urban poverty in India is

ground research. 2inding out who needs what, finding out the right people to target

and try to represent and see" a consensus on everybody’s interests and not only

those who can afford to gang up and promote their interests (although it’s not

entirely wrong eitherB.

)ore* more and more research

Including the poor is obviously important to solve poverty and "now what they need

more precisely. %ut including the poor can be done in different ways ranging from

public consultation and cooperation to household surveys (rather than coming up

with numbers and artificial targets in a top-down manner.

!he advantage of incorporating direct insights from the poor is to gain both in

nuance and thus efficiency regarding the most urgent and effective ways to tac"le

their problems. ;ore research then becomes essential to target the right people,

especially when you consider that the government is generally short of basic

information on the state of urban poverty in India.

!he new governmental plan - the awaharlal >ehru >ational 7rban $enewal

;ission - from DDE has been trying to brea" up with the traditional top-downapproach that overloo"s long term goals, the value of community-building and social

harmony in reducing poverty. s it’s endeavored to restore the provision of basic

services, one thing became obvious: there’s a need for more research. need to

"now which policies wor" and which don’t.

!hat supply is finally pic"ing up, providing vital information on urban poverty in

India, but a substantial amount of it will be necessary to create enough results that

validate or invalidate strategies in different conte#ts (e.g. slums in =elhi will li"ely

re'uire somewhat different solutions than slums in ;umbai.

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru_National_Urban_Renewal_Mission


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30756








• Deprivation and Incidence of Urban Public Services, Fartha

9angopadhyay, Shyam >ath, !he pplied $egional Science Conference

($SC 3 %lac"well Fublishers DDG

• Prospects and Problems of Housin Microfinance in India! "vidence from#$havanashree% Pro&ect in 'erala State, ;ano4 F 8, uropean ournal of

conomics, 2inance and dministrative Sciences DGD

• India, Urban Poverty (eport , by ;inistry of 1ousing and 7rban Foverty

lleviation, !he Indian ournal of Industrial $elations Frogramme DDH

• Poverty )ines and )ives of the Poor! Underestimation of Urban Poverty * the

+ase of India, ;eera %apat, Foverty $eduction in 7rban reas Series 3 II=

DDH

• Proressive Patronae Municipalities, -./s, +$/s and the )imits to Slum

Dellers "mpoerment , oop de6it and rhard %erner, =evelopment and

Change DDH

• aste Pic3ers and +ollectors in Delhi! Poverty and "nvironment in an

Urban Informal Sector, . 1ayami et al., ournal of =evelopment Studies

DD

- See more at: http:33www.poverties.org3urban-poverty-in-india.htmlJsthash.9KbyiGHr.dpuf

The Nature an Cau!e! "# Gr"$%n& S'u( Pr")'e(! %n the Metr"*"'%tan C%t%e! "# In%a+

A slum can be defined as a “compact settlement with a collection of poorly built tenements,

mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking

water facilities in unhygienic conditions.” The growth of metropolitan cities in India has been

largely unplanned and haphazard and this can be seen from the fact that onefourth of total

urban population li!es in slum and squaller settlements.

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The rapid urbanization in con"unction with industrialization and lack of infrastructural and

employment opportunities in rural areas has led to mass ruralurban migration and this has

resulted in the growth of slums.

The proliferation of slums occurs due to many factors such as the shortage of de!eloped

land for housing. The high prices of land beyond the reach of urban poor.

P""r h"u!%n& !ett'e(ent:

All slums and squatters are made of bamboo, straw, low quality wood and tin and plastic

sheets. #opulation density in slums and squatters ranges from $%% to &'(% per acre and a

minimum of four and ma)imum of ten people share a room, which is highly congested and

unhealthy. This poor housing and lifestyle cause a number of problems for the en!ironment

of city like

i. Indoor pollution.

ii. *egradation of air quality with frequent slum fires.

iii. Increase incidence of communicable disease that may spread to city dwellers from the

workplace.

i!. +ack of water supply and sanitation facility They lacks safe drinking water and proper

sewerage ser!ices. As a result, both household waste and human generated wastes go

directly or indirectly into the lowlying lands, open spaces or water bodies of the city and

causes a number of problems.

Cr%(e an Other S"0%a' Pr")'e(!:

It socially slums tend to be isolated from the rest of the urban society, characterized by

urban decay, high rates of po!erty, illiteracy and unemployment, slums are commonly seenas “breeding grounds” for !arious social problems such as crime, drug abuse and

alcoholism.

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Although India is one of the less urbanized countries of the world with only '$.$- per cent of

her population li!ing in urban agglomerationstowns, this country is facing a serious crisis of

urban growth at the present time. /hereas urbanisation has been an instrument of

economic, social and political progress, it has led to serious socioeconomic problems.

The sheer magnitude of the urban population, haphazard and unplanned growth of urban

areas, and a desperate lack of infrastructure are the main causes of such a situation. The

rapid growth of urban population both natural and through migration, has put hea!y

pressure on public utilities like housing, sanitation, transport, water, electricity, health,

education and so on.

#o!erty, unemployment and under employment among the rural immigrants, beggary,

thefts, dacoities, burglaries and other social e!ils are on rampage. 0rban sprawl is rapidly

encroaching the precious agricultural land. The urban population of India had already

crossed the '-1 million mark by '%%(. 2y '%3%, more than 1% per cent of India4s population

is e)pected to li!e in urban areas. 5ollowing problems need to be highlighted.



+! ,rban Sprawl-

0rban sprawl or real e)pansion of the cities, both in population and geographical area, of

rapidly growing cities is the root cause of urban problems. In most cities the economic base

is incapable of dealing with the problems created by their e)cessi!e size. 6assi!e



immigration from rural areas as well as from small towns into big cities has taken place

almost consistently7 thereby adding to the size of cities.

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The first large flow of migration from rural to urban areas was during the

“depression” of late (83%s when people migrated in search of "obs. +ater,

during the decade (8&(1(, another a million persons mo!ed to urban places

in response to wartime industrialisation and partition of the country in (8&$.



*uring (88('%%(, well o!er '% million people migrated to cities. The greatest

pressure of the immigrating population has been felt in the central districts of

the city 9the old city: where the immigrants flock to their relati!es and friends

before they search for housing. #opulation densities beyond the “old city”

decline sharply.

2rush 9(8;-: has referred to this situation in the central parts of the cities as

“urban impulsion” which results from concentration of people in the centre of

the city close to their work and shopping. Incidentally many of the fastest

growing urban centres are large cities.

This is due to the fact that such large cities act as magnets and attract large

number of immigrants by dint of their employment opportunities and modern

way of life. <uch hyperurbanisation leads to pro"ected cities sizes of which

defy imagination. *elhi, 6umbai, =olkata, >hennai, 2angalore, etc. are

e)amples of urban sprawl due to large scale migration of people from the

surrounding areas.

In se!eral big cities wealthy people are constantly mo!ing from the crowded

centres of the cities to the more pleasant suburbs where they can build larger

houses and en"oy the space and pri!acy of a garden around the house. In

some cities, the outskirts are also added to by squatters who build makeshift

shacks of unused land although they ha!e no legal right to the land. The

difficulty of restricting town growth in either case is immense and most towns

and cities are surrounded by wide rings of suburbs.

?istorically suburbs ha!e grown first along the ma"or roads leading into the

town. This type of growth is known as ribbon settlement. <uch sites are first to



be de!eloped because of their location near the road gi!es them greater

accessibility. 2ut soon the demand for suburban homes causes the land

between ribbon settlements to be built and made accessible by constructing

new roads.

This type of de!elopment is known as @infil4. <imultaneously small towns and

!illages within the commuting distance of ma"or cities are also de!eloped for

residential purposes. In this way towns are continuously growing and in some

areas the suburbs of a number of neighbouring towns may be so close

together as to form an almost continuous urban belt which is called

conurbation. 0rban sprawl is taking place at the cost of !aluable agricultural

land.

.! 'vercrowding-

!ercrowding is a situation in which too many people li!e in too little space.

!ercrowding is a logical consequence of o!erpopulation in urban areas. It is

naturally e)pected that cities ha!ing a large size of population squeezed in a

small space must suffer from o!ercrowding. This is well e)hibited by almost all

the big cities of India.



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5or e)ample, 6umbai has onesi)th of an acre open space per thousand

populations though four acre is suggested standard by the 6aster #lan of

Breater 6umbai. 6etropolitan cities of India are o!ercrowded both in

@absolute4 and @relati!e4 terms. Absolute in the sense that these cities ha!e a

real high density of population7 relati!e in the sense that e!en if the densities



are not !ery high the problem of pro!iding ser!ices and other facilities to the

city dwellers makes it so.

*elhi has a population density of 8,3&% persons per sq km 9>ensus '%%(:

which is the highest in India. This is the o!erall population density for the

0nion territory of *elhi. #opulation density in central part of *elhi could be

much higher. This leads to tremendous pressure on infrastructural facilities

like housing, electricity, water, transport, employment, etc. Cfforts to

decongest *elhi by de!eloping ring towns ha!e not met with the required

success.

/! 0ousing-

!ercrowding leads to a chronic problem of shortage of houses in urban

areas. This problem is specifically more acute in those urban areas where

there is large influ) of unemployed or underemployed immigrants who ha!e

no place to li!e in when they enter citiestowns from the surrounding areas.



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An Indian <ample <ur!ey in (818 indicated that && per cent of urban

households 9as compared to 3& per cent of rural families: occupied one room

or less. In larger cities the proportion of families occupying one room or less

was as high as ;$ per cent. 9Doy Turner, (8;':.



6oreo!er, the current rate of housing construction is !ery slow which makes

the problem further complicated. Indian cities require annually about '.1

million new de!ellings but less than (1 per cent of the requirement is being

constructed.

The >ensus of India '%%( concluded the first e!er and the largest sur!ey of

household amenities and assets which points a ne!erbefore profile of

problem relating to housing in India. The outcome is both instructi!e and

amusing. Taking India as whole, there are ($8 million residential houses, i.e.,

about si) people to each house.

Thirtynine per cent of all married couples in India 9about -; million: do not

ha!e an independent room to themsel!es. As many as 31 per cent 9(-.8

million: urban families li!e in oneroom houses.

5or about a third of urban Indian families, a house does not include a kitchen,

a bathroom, a toiletEand in many cases there is no power and water supply.

nly $8 per cent 9&'.; million: urban household li!e in permanent 9pucca:

houses. ;$ per cent 93; million: of the urban houses are owned by the

households while '8 per cent 9(1 million: are rented.

<e!eral factors are responsible for the abo!e mentioned sad state of affairs

with respect to housing problems faced by the urban people. The ma"or

factors are shortage of building materials and financial resources, inadequate

e)pansion of public utilities into suburban areas, po!erty and unemployment

of urban immigrants, strong caste and family ties and lack of adequate

transportation to suburban areas where most of the !acant land for new

construction is located.



1! ,nemployment-

The problem of unemployment is no less serious than the problem of housing

mentioned abo!e. 0rban unemployment in India is estimated at (1 to '1 per

cent of the labour force. This percentage is e!en higher among the educated

people.



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It is estimated that about half of all educated urban unemployed are

concentrated in four metropolitan cities 9*elhi, 6umbai, =olkata, and



>hennai:. 5urthermore, although urban incomes are higher than the rural

incomes, they are appallingly low in !iew of high cost of li!ing in urban areas.

ne of the ma"or causes of urban unemployment is the large scale migration

of people from rural to urban areas. Duralurban migration has been

continuing for a pretty long time but it has not always been as great a problem

as it is today. The general po!erty among the rural people pushes them out to

urban areas to migrate in search of li!elihood and in the hope of a better

li!ing.

2ut the growth of economic opportunities fails to keep pace with the quantum

of immigration. The limited capacity of urban areas could not create enough

employment opportunities and absorb the rapid growth of the urban labour

force. Cfforts made by the central and the state go!ernments to create

employment opportunities in rural areas and to check the large scale rural

urban migration ha!e not met with much success.

2! Slums and S3uatter Settlements-

The natural sequel of unchecked, unplanned and haphazard growth of urban

areas is the growth and spread of slums and squatter settlements which

present a striking feature in the ecological structure of Indian cities, especially

of metropolitan centres.



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The rapid urbanisation in con"unction with industrialisation has resulted in the

growth of slums. The proliferation of slums occurs due to many factors, such



as, the shortage of de!eloped land for housing, the high prices of land beyond

the reach of urban poor, a large influ) of rural migrants to the cities in search

of "obs etc.

In spite of se!eral efforts by the >entral and <tate Bo!ernments to contain the

number of slum dwellers, their growth has been increasing sharply e)erting

tremendous pressure on the e)isting ci!ic amenities and social infrastructure.

In India <lums ha!e been defined under section 3 of <lum Areas

9Impro!ement and >learance: Act (81;. As areas where buildings

9i: Area in any respect unfit for human habitation.

9ii: Area by reason of dilapidation, o!ercrowding, faulty arrangement and

design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of

!entilation, light, sanitation facilities or any combination of these factors, which

are detrimental to safety, health and morals.

The #"''"$%n& 0r%ter%a 0hara0ter%!e! an area a! S'u(:

9i: All areas notified “<lum” by state go!t. under any Act.

9ii: All areas recognised as slum by state go!t. which ha!e not been formally

notified as slum under any Act.

9iii: A compact area of at least 3%% populations or about ;%$% households of

poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic en!ironment usually with

inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water

facilities.



<ocially, slums tend to be isolated from the rest of the urban society and

e)hibit pathological social symptoms 9drug abuse, alcoholism, crime,

!andalism and other de!iant beha!iour:. The lack of integration of slum

inhabitants into urban life reflects both, the lack of ability and cultural barriers.

Thus the slums are not "ust huts and dilapidated buildings but are occupied by

people with comple)ities of socialnetworks, sharp socioeconomic

stratification, dualistic group and segregated spatial structures.

In India, slums are one or tworoom hutments mostly occupying go!ernment

and public lands. The houses in slums are built in mud or brick walls, low roofs

mostly co!ered with corrugated sheets, tins, bamboo mats, polythenes, gunny

bags and thatches, de!oid of windows and !entilators and public utility

ser!ices.

<lums ha!e in!ariably e)treme unhygienic conditions. They ha!e

impo!erished la!atories made by digging shallow pit in between three or four

huts and with sackcloth as a curtain, hanging in front. /hen the pit o!erflows

e)creta gets spread o!er the surrounding area and is rarely cleaned.

The children culti!ate the habit of defecating anywhere in the slum area.

<lums ha!e practically no drains and are marked by cesspools and puddles.

#iped water is not a!ailable to slum dwellers and they mainly depend upon

shallow handpumps for water supply.

<uch handpumps are generally dug in the middle of a stale dirty pool. #eople

wash their clothes and utensils under the handpumps. The entire muck

around the handpump percolates into the ground and contaminates the



ground water. This contaminated ground water is taken out through the

handpump which ad!ersely affects the health of the slum dwellers.

>onsequently people suffer from waterborne diseases like blood dysentery,

diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid, "aundice, etc. These diseases stalk the people all

the year round. >hildren with bloated bellies or famished skeletons, many

suffering from polio, are a common sight. 6ost of the slums are located near

drains 9Fullahs: which contain filthy stagnant water.

2illions of flies and mosquitoes swarming o!er these drains cause infectious

diseases. These drains are used as open la!atories by the inhabitants and are

always choked. <uch drains 9Fullahs: pose serious threat to health of the

people.

<lums are known by different names in different cities. They are called

bustees in =olkata, "huggi "hoparies in *elhi, Ghoparpattis or >hawl in

6umbai and >heri in >hennai.

S3uatter Settlements-

Fo clearcut distinction can be drawn between slums and squatter settlements

in practice e)cept that slums are relati!ely more stable and are located in

older, inner parts of cities compared to squatter settlements which are

relati!ely temporary and are often scattered in all parts of the city, especially

outer zones where urban areas merge with their rural hinterland.

Formally, squatter settlements contain makeshift dwellings constructed

without official permission 9i.e., on unauthorised land:. <uch settlements are

constructed by using any a!ailable material such as cardboards, tin, straw



mats or sacks. <quatter settlements are constructed in an uncontrolled

manner and badly lack essential public ser!ices such as water, light, sewage.

<uch an en!ironment leads to se!eral health problems. *etermining size of

squatter settlement is a difficult "ob. <ome may occur singly or in small groups

of (%'% dwellings while others occur in huge agglomerations of thousands of

houses. They can occur through organised rapid 9almost o!ernight: in!asions

of an area by large number of people or by gradual accretion, family by family.

<quatter settlements ha!e following three characteristics in common.

Physical Characteristics-

*ue to inherent @nonlegal4 status, a squatter settlement has ser!ices and

infrastructure below the adequate minimum le!els. As such water supply,

sanitation, electricity, roads, drainage, schools, health centres, and market

places are either absent or arranged informally.

Social Characteristics-

6ost of the squatter households belong to lower income group. They are

predominantly migrants, but many are also second or third generation

squatters.

Legal Characteristics-

<uch settlements lack land ownership.

5rom the abo!e discussion it is clear that squatter refers to legal position of

the settlement and slum refers to the condition of a settlement.

A distinction has to be drawn between squatter settlements and shanty towns.

Illegality of tenure is the hallmark of the squatter settlement but shanti huts or



mean dwellings are defined by their fabric. <hanty towns result mainly from

massi!e ruralurban migration and from the inability of city authorities to

pro!ide sufficient housing facilities and employment for the !ast influ) of

people from rural to urban areas.

Indian cities abound with slums which ha!e been termed as @eyesores4, a

@rash4 on city landscape, @a blot on ci!ilization4 etc. 2ut actually they are much

more health hazards for its unfortunate po!erty stricken inhabitants and also

for the city as a whole. The most shocking aspect is that slums are growing at

an accelerated rate.

>ensus of India, for the first time in '%%(, came out with detailed data on slum

population in India. According to data released by >ensus of India '%%(, ;%$

towns and cities in '; statesunion territories ha!e reported slum population

9Table (&.-:.

Fo slum population has been reported in the remaining nine statesunion

territories at the time of >ensus '%%(. Andhra #radesh has the largest number

of $; towns reporting slum population. This is followed by 0ttar #radesh 9;1:,

Tamil Fadu 9;3:, 6aharashtra 9;':, /est 2engal 91(:, 6adhya #radesh 9&':

and =arnataka 931:. 5igure (&.; gi!es the distribution of towns with slum

population.

The largest slum population of (%.; million has been reported from

6aharashtra7 followed by Andhra #radesh 91.( million:, 0ttar #radesh 9&.(

million:, /est 2engal 93.- million:, Tamil Fadu 9'.1 million:, 6adhya #radesh

9'.& million: and *elhi 9'.% million:.



+ooking at the percentage of slum population to total population of towns

reporting slum population, 6eghalaya with &(.33 per cent tops the list 9Table

(&.- and 5igure (&.;:. ther states with high percentage of slum population

are ?aryana 933.%;H:, Andhra #radesh 93'.;8H:, 6aharashtra 93(.;1H:,

>hhattisgarh 9'8.'$H: and /est 2engal 9';.-'H:. 0ttar #radesh and rissa

are !ery close to the all India a!erage of ''.1- per cent.



A list of '; million plus cities reporting slum population in '%%( 96unicipal

>orporation: is gi!en in table (&.8. As e)pected, the largest concentration of

slum population is found in four ma"or cities of Breater 6umbai, *elhi

6unicipal >orporation 90rban:, =olkata and >hennai. <o far as percentage of



slum population to total population of the cities 9municipal: is concerned,

Brater

6umbai with &-.-- per cent of its population consisting of slum dwellers is the

worst suffer.

*hara!i slum in >entral 6umbai is the largest slum of Asia. ?ere some of the

side allays and lanes are so narrow that not e!en a bicycle can pass. The

whole neighbourhood consists of tenement buildings, two or three storey high

with rusty iron stairways to the upper part, where a single room is rented by a

whole family, sometimes twel!e or more people. In this place of shadowless,

treeless sunlight, uncontrolled garbage, stagnant pools of foul water, the only

nonhuman creatures are the shining black crows and long gray rats.

*hara!i was an arm of the sea that was filled by waste, largely produced by

the people who ha!e come to li!e there. The other cities with o!er &% per cent

slum population to the total population 96unicipal >orporation: are 5aridabad

and 6eerut. =olkata, Fagpur and Thane ha!e about onethird of their

population as slum population.

The most surprising feature of Table (&.8 is that #atna has reported only %.'1

per cent as slum population. There slums to be some omission in enumerating

the slum population of this otherwise dirty city. According to the report of the

>ensus of India '%%(, the slum population of #atna 6unicipal >orporation is

partial and is being sub"ected to scrutiny.

4! Transport-

/ith traffic bottleneck and traffic congestion, almost all cities and towns of

India are suffering from acute form of transport problem. Transport problems



increase and become more comple) as the town grows in size. /ith its

growth, the town performs !aried and comple) functions and more people

tra!el to work or shop.

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As the town becomes larger, e!en people li!ing within the builtup area ha!e

to tra!el by car or bus to cross the town and outsiders naturally bring their

cars or tra!el by public transport. /here!er, trade is important, commercial



!ehicles such as !ans and trucks will make problem of traffic more

complicated.

<ince most of the commercial acti!ities of the towns are concentrated in the

>entral 2usiness *istrict 9>.2.*.:, the centres are areas of greatest

congestion. ?owe!er, other parts of the town are not free from traffic

congestion.

<uch areas include the roads leading to factories, offices, schools, etc., which

will be thronged with people in morning and e!ening7 minor shopping centres

which grow up in the suburbs7 sporting arenas, entertainment districts which

will be busy at night, roads leading to residential and dormitory towns which

will be busy when commuters flock to the cities in the morning to work and

return home in the e!enings.

<uch congestion becomes greater when the centre is built up in tall

skyscraper blocks whose offices sometimes employ thousands of workers,

because at the end of the office hours e!eryone lea!es the building within a

short space of time to make their way home.

This puts tremendous pressure on public transport and causes "ourneys to

take much longer period than they normally would. In most cities the rush hour

or peak traffic hour lasts for about two hours and during that period buses and

trains are crammed to capacity, roads are o!ercrowded with !ehicles and the

mo!ement of traffic becomes !ery slow.

In other towns, the narrowness of the streets, which were built long before the

motorised transport and lack of parking facilities are the main cause of

congestion. >ars may be parked along the edges of the roads restricting



mo!ement to a narrow lane and the multiplicity of narrow streets, sharp

comers and waits to turn into lanes of traffic may slow down the mo!ement

and thus create e!en greater congestion.

The traffic scenario in almost all the Indian cities presents a pathetic picture

with 6umbai still ha!ing the best city transport system and >hennai,

Ahmedabad and #une being reasonably well ser!ed by local transport

system. In all other cities, if one does not own a personal !ehicle, great

hardship is e)perienced in mo!ing about in the city.

Apart from that, the le!el of incomes and affordability of Indian masses is !ery

low and the citizens are not able to pay an economic fare for use of public

transport system. Therefore, all city bus ser!ices sustain such hea!y losses

that they cannot really e)pand or e!en maintain a fleet adequately to meet the

city needs.

6oreo!er, mi)ture of !ehicles causes uncontrollable chaos on the roads. 5ree

mo!ement of stray cattle and domestic animals on the roads adds to traffic

problem and often cause accidents. ?ea!y traffic and congestion leads to

slow mo!ement of traffic, fuel wastage en!ironmental pollution and loss of

precious time.

A study of traffic problem in *elhi will acquaint us to traffic scenario in the rest

of urban India. Already there are && lakh !ehicles on *elhi roads 9in '%%&:

which will almost double by '%'( when the ne)t 6aster #lan will be

implemented. The road length, howe!er, has not increased proportionately.

The road length per !ehicle was 3 km in (8$( which reduced to ' km in (8-(,

(.3 km in (88(, %.;- km in (88- and %.'3 km in '%%&. 5igure (&.$ depicts



different aspects of transport infrastructure in *elhi. 0rban planners say that

by '%'(, going in a car will take longer time than walking.

The guidelines for *elhi 6aster #lan '%'(, allowing mi)ed land use, multi

storeyed structures and regularisation of '& industrial estates will add to the

city4s already congested roads. *isturbing trends ha!e also been indicated in

the <tatus Deport for *elhi, '%'( prepared by the 0nion 6inistry of

Cn!ironment and 5orests.

#lanning *epartment of *elhi Bo!ernment also <tates that despite roads

occupying '( per cent of the total area of the city, the increase of traffic on

arterial roads is resulting in lower speeds, congestion, intersection delays and

higher pollution le!el during peak hours.

<ome relief is e)pected with the completion of metro rail. 2ut e)perts fear that

by the time the metro rail becomes fully operational, the demand for transport

facilities will outpace the capacity of both road and rail transport.



<imilar conditions pre!ail in most of the Indian cities. In =olkata, metro rail and

i!ekanand <etu were constructed to ease traffic flow. 2ut traffic congestion in

se!eral old localities and near ?aora bridge is almost a daily routine. In

Ahmedabad, the speed of !ehicles comes down to 1 kmhr on Bandhi 6arg

and se!eral other roads due to congestion and o!ercrowding.

5! ater-

/hat is one of the most essential elements of nature to sustain life and right

from the beginning of urban ci!ilisation, sites for settlements ha!e always

been chosen keeping in !iew the a!ailability of water to the inhabitants of the

settlement. ?owe!er, supply of water started falling short of demand as the

cities grew in size and number.



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Today we ha!e reached a stage where practically no city in India gets

sufficient water to meet the needs of city dwellers. In many cities people get

water from the municipal sources for less than half an hour e!ery alternateday. In dry summer season, taps remain dry for days together and people are

denied water supply at a time when they need it the most.



The indi!idual towns require water in larger quantities. 6any small towns ha!e

no main water supply at all and depend on such sources as indi!idual

tubewells, household open wells or e!en ri!ers. Accelerated 0rban /ater

<upply #rogramme 9A0/<#: was launched to pro!ide water to towns with

population of less than '%,%%%.

=eeping in !iew the increased demands for water by the urban population,

>entral #ublic ?ealth and Cn!ironmental Cngineering rganisation

9>#?CC: fi)ed ('1'%% litres of water per head per day for cities with a

population of more than 1%,%%%, (%%('1 litres for population between (%,%%%

and 1%,%%% and $%(%% litres for towns with a population below (%,%%%.

The Jakaria >ommittee recommended the water requirement per head per

day '%& litres for cities with population between 1 lakh and ' million and '$'

litres for cities with population more than ' million. This amount of water is

supposed to be used for drinking, kitchen, bathing, cloth washing, floor and

!ehicle washing and gardening.

<adly ma"ority of the cities and towns do not get the recommended quantity of

water. Bap in demand and supply of water in four metro cities, !iz., 6umbai,

=olkata, *elhi and >hennai !aries from (% to '% per cent. The condition is still

worse in small cities and towns. To meet the growing demand for water, many

cities are trying to tap e)ternal sources of water supply.

6umbai draws water from neighbouring areas and from sources located as far

as ('1 km in the /estern Bhats. >hennai uses water e)press trains to meets

its growing demand for water. 2angalore is located on the plateau and draws



water from >au!ery ri!er at a distance of (%% km. /ater for 2angalore has to

be lifted about $%% metres with help of lifting pumps.

?yderabad depends on Fagar"una <agar located (3$ km away. *elhi meets

large part of its water requirements from Ta"iwala in ?aryana. /ater is also

drawn from Damganga as far as (-% km. 0nder the proposed scheme it will

meet its growing requirements of water from Tehri, Denuka, and =ishau

barrages.

6! Sewerage Problems-

0rban areas in India are almost in!ariably plagued with insufficient and

inefficient sewage facilities. Fot a single city in India is fully sewered.

Desource crunch faced by the municipalities and unauthorised growth of the

cities are two ma"or causes of this pathetic state of affairs.



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According to latest estimates, only 31&% per cent of the urban population has

the pri!ilege of sewage system. 6ost of the cities ha!e old sewerage lines



which are not looked after properly. ften sewerage lines break down or they

are o!erflowing.

6ost cities do not ha!e proper arrangements for treating the sewerage waste

and it is drained into a nearly ri!er 9as in *elhi: or in sea 9as in 6umbai,

=olkata and >hennai:, thereby polluting the water bodies.

In most Indian cities, water pipes run in close pro)imity to sewer lines. Any

leakage leads to contamination of water which results in the spread of se!eral

water borne diseases.

7! Trash "isposal-

As Indian cities grow in number and size the problem of trash disposal is

assuming alarming proportions. ?uge quantities of garbage produced by our

cities pose a serious health problem. 6ost cites do not ha!e proper

arrangements for garbage disposal and the e)isting landfills are full to the

brim. These landfills are hotbeds of disease and innumerable poisons leaking

into their surroundings.



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/astes putrefy in the open in!iting disease carrying flies and rats and a filthy,poisonous liquid, called leachate, which leaks out from below and

contaminates ground water. #eople who li!e near the rotting garbage and raw

sewage fall easy !ictims to se!eral diseases like dysentery, malaria, plague,

"aundice, diarrhoea, typhoid, etc.



+8! ,rban Crimes-

6odem cities present a meeting point of people from different walks of life

ha!ing no affinity with one another. +ike other problems, the problem of crimes

increases with the increase in urbanisation. In fact the increasing trend in

urban crimes tends to disturb peace and tranquility of the cities and make

them unsafe to li!e in particularly for the women.



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Browing materialism, consumerism, competition in e!eryday life, selfishness,

la!ishness, appalling socioeconomic disparities and rising unemployment and

feeling of loneliness in the crowd are some of the primary causes responsible

for alarming trends in urban crime.

Fot only the poor, depri!ed and slum dwellers take to crime7 youngsters from

welltodo families also resort to crime in order to make fast buck and for

meeting requirements of a la!ish life. ccasional failures in life also drag

youngsters to crime.

The problem of urban crime is becoming more complicated in the present day

world because criminals often get protection from politicians, bureaucrats and

elite class of the urban society. <ome of the criminals reach high political

positions by using their money and muscle power.

According to study made by *utt and enugopal 9(8-3:, !iolent urban crimes

like rape, murder, kidnapping, dacoity, robbery, etc. are more pronounced in

the northerncentral parts of the country. C!en the economic crimes 9like theft,

cheating, breach of trust, etc.: are concentrated in the north central region.

#o!erty related crimes are widespread with main concentration in the cities of

#atna, *arbhanga, Baya and 6unger. This may be due to widespread po!erty

pre!ailing in this region.

?owe!er, the latest sur!eys show that 6umbai and *elhi figure in 31 cities

that ha!e high crime rate. As much as 3(.- per cent of citizens in 6umbai and

3%.1 per cent in *elhi ha!e been !ictims of crime. <e)ual assault was higher

in 6umbai 93.1 per cent: as compared to *elhi 9(.$ per cent:. 2oth cities



score poorly in corruption, with ''.8H in 6umbai being e)posed to bribery as

compared to '(H in *elhi.

++! Problem of ,rban Pollution-/ith rapid pace of urbanisation, industries and transport systems grow rather

out of proportion. These de!elopments are primarily responsible for pollution

of en!ironment, particularly the urban en!ironment.



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/e cannot think of strong India, economically, socially and culturally, when our

cities remain squalor, quality of urban life declines and the urban en!ironment



is damaged beyond repair. As a matter of fact, cities comprise the backbone

of economic e)pansion and urbanization is being seen in a positi!e light as an

engine of economic growth and agent of sociopolitical transformation.

The share of urban areas in the total national economic income had been

estimated at ;% per cent and the per capita income was about three times

higher than rural per capita income. 2ut this is not sufficient partly, due to high

cost of li!ing and partly, because of growing economic disparity in urban

areas. Dich are becoming richer and poor are becoming poorer. <e!eral steps

ha!e been initiated to meet the challenges posed by urban crisis but with little

or no success.

Fational >ommission on 0rbanization 9F>0: has, in its policy proposal of

(8--, stressed the need for 9a: the e!olution of a spatial pattern of economic

de!elopment and hierarchies of human settlements, 9b: an optimum

distribution of population between rural and urban settlements, and among

towns and cities of !arious sizes, 9c: distribution of economic acti!ities in smalland mediumsized growth centres, 9d: dispersal of economic acti!ities through

the establishment of countermagnets in the region, and 9e: pro!ision of

minimum le!els of ser!ices in urban and rural areas.

The other ma"or de!elopment programmes include 9i: 0rban 2asic <er!ices

for the #oor 902<#: programme, 9ii: the Cn!ironmental Impro!ement of 0rban

<lums 9CI0<: programme, 9iii: the Integrated *e!elopment of <mall and

6edium Towns 9I*<6T:, 9i!: !arious housing and infrastructure financing

schemes of ?ousing and 0rban *e!elopment >orporation 9?0*>:, 9!: the

6ega >ities #ro"ect, and 9!i: the Integrated 0rban #o!erty Cradication

#rogramme 9I0#C#:.



Almost all the ma"or programmes of urban de!elopment suffer from the

chronic disease of resource crunch. Dight from the beginning of the planning

period, urban de!elopment has been low on the de!elopment agenda with

only 3& per cent of the total plan outlay being allocated to the urban sector.

The Fational >ommission on 0rbanization recommended in (8-- that at least

- per cent of the #lan outlay should be dedicated to urban sector.

Urban Poverty in India

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