Slums are Everywhere, Yet Nowhere - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 26, 2015
Slums are a manifestation of Urban Poverty in our country. There has been a 25% rise in the slum population from 2001 to 2011. 70% of the slum population lives in 6 states with Maharashtra contributing 18% of the total slum population of the country. Slums lack a lot of facilities extended to other parts of urban settlements and that is evident from the data released by the 69th round survey of the NSSO.
Slums are the most visible manifestation of poverty in urban India. Slums are everywhere and yet they are nowhere; everywhere because of rapid urbanization and yet nowhere because they are mostly not notified. These informal settlements occupy one-third of the large city spaces. As per the 2001 census reports, 41.6% of the total slum population resides in cities with over one-million population.
The slum population in the country has increased from 5.23 crore in 2001 to 6.59 crore in 2011. This rapid growth is because of the following among other reasons.
Six states contribute more than 70% of the total slum population in the country as per the 2011 Census.Maharashtra contributes more than 18% of the total slum population followed by Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Madhya Pradesh.
The Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation (MoSPI) released the data for the 69 round survey of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on Urban Slums in India. The data released included some key indicators.
Any 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, provided at least 20 households lived there, is considered a slum. Such a settlement, if not a notified slum, is called a non-notified slum. Both notified slums i.e. areas notified as slums by the concerned municipalities, corporations, local bodies or development authorities and other slums are part of the above figures.
A total of 33,510 slums were estimated to be present in the urban areas of India. About 41% of these were notified and 59% non-notified.
The data included key indicators on land, housing, drinking water, electricity, drainage, latrine, garbage etc.
The Govt. is implementing Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) as a centrally sponsored scheme, for providing houses along with basic civil and social infrastructure for slum dwellers and urban poor. Under the scheme, government provides central assistance to the extent of 50% to 75% with cost upper ceiling depending upon size of city
The erstwhile National Advisory Council has stressed that slum dwellers should be resettled at the spot where they are currently living. The rehabilitation of slum dwellers is under way under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation.
While many of the programs for Slum Dwellers are to be adopted by the state governments and designed to be facilitated by central governments, the reality is completely different. As per a planning commission study, almost 75% of slum households have not received any benefits from any of the governmental programmes designed to alleviate poverty.
The slums are not a manifestation of demographic shifts, but the result of the failure of land and housing policies, and of legal and delivery systems. The urban poor are trapped in an informal and illegal world of slums that are not reflected on maps, where waste is not collected, where taxes are not paid and where public services are not provided. Most of them officially do not exist.
Featured Image: ‎‎​‎Flickr | Thomas Leuthard