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Alternative approaches to shelter for the urban poor in India
Alternative approaches to shelter for the urban poor in India
Abhijit Datta This paper studies various schemes for providing cheap housing for the homeless in India, where in 1981 a quarter of all those living in cities were slum dwellers. Environmental improvements, provision of sites and services, integrated development and a land bank have all had their parts to play. It is concluded that the right policies can improve an apparently desperate situation and that it is therefore urgent that the Indian government formulate an integrated housing policy. The author is Professor of Urban Administration and Development and Municipal Finance at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha Estate, Ring Road, New Delhi - 110002, India.
In India sheltering the urban poor involves provision of cheap housing for the country's slum population concentrated in the larger cities. In 1981 the slum population constituted about a quarter of the total urban population, ie 40 million out of 162 million. The slum population in cities having populations of over 200 000 comes to about 30% ; however, in cities with a population of more than 12 million it averages about 28%. This means that some of the second order cities have a greater concentration of slum population than the metropolitan centres. Official response to shelter for the urban poor has moved from restrictive policies involving efforts to eliminate and rehouse slum populations, on the one hand, since the mid-1950s, to supportive policies covering slum upgrading and provision of site services with aided self help for the economically weaker section (EWS) of the urban population, on the other, since the early 1970s. ~ Various shelter approaches are discernible in different cities and in a variety of locations depending on the specific requirements of a given situation. In this paper we shall start with a discussion of the national schemes for sheltering the urban poor and then discuss their implementation by looking at case studies of different cities. Afterwards some of the general issues in shelter policy will be examined in the light of experience gained so far. The concluding section will summarize the main thrust of the paper and attempt a prognosis towards the national objective of shelter for all by the end of the century.
The national scenario Environmental improvements Slum upgrading through environmental improvements is an element of the national minimum needs programme to provide five basic infrastructure facilities to the slum population:
1For similar approaches see, UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), Survey of Slum and Squatter Settlements, Vol I, Tycooly, Dublin 1982.
0264-2751/87/010035-08503.00
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
community water supply; sewerage; community latrines and baths; storm water drains; and paving, widening and lighting of streets.
© 1987 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd
35
Shelter for the urban poor in India
Within a current per capita ceiling cost of 300 rupees 2 provided by the central government, the shelter project authorities are to adhere to certain guidelines with regard to the choices of slum land, coverage of socially disadvantaged population, adoption of physical standards and planning norms, ease of extending the facilities etc. Although the national scheme has been in operation since 1972, no systematic evaluation of its implementation has been made; nevertheless, some of the major problems encountered are: • • • • • • • •
the right of tenure of the slum dwellers remains unsolved; the state governments are reluctant to support the scheme financially; the available resources are spread too thinly over a large number of towns; there are problems of coordination among various local level functional agencies; the problem of maintenance of the assets created remains unsolved; there is no monitoring of tbe physical achievements by the central government; most of the projects are based on sketchy data on the status of slum dwellers; and there is no attempt to recover costs from the beneficiaries of the scheme .3
Sites and services
The scheme envisages development of serviced house sites and provision of loans in easy instalments up to a ceiling cost of 5 000 rupees to the urban poor with monthly income of up to 700 rupees. The norms for infrastructure have been reduced to cover costs within the loan ceiling. Similarly, the plot sizes are restricted to 25-35m 2. During the Sixth Plan (1980-81 to 1984-85) only about a half of the target could be achieved in terms of dwelling units and the major problems encountered in its operation seem to be ,as follows: • • •
• •
•
• 2£1 was equal to 18.65 rupees on 27 August 1986. 3For details see India (Planning Commission), Shelter for the Urban Poor and Slum Improvement, New Delhi, 1983. 4India (Planning Commission), Seventh Plan Working Group on Housing, New Delhi, 1985 (mimeo).
36
delays in land acquisition and non-availability of vacant sites; inadequate number of eligible persons in some states; steep inflation making adherence to cost ceilings difficult; in the outlying areas where acquisition costs are low, there are not sufficient takers due to lack of transport facilities; state housing agencies preferring construction of full housing units rather than mere development of service sites; coordination among the various local level functional agencies found to be poor; this is compounded by the provision of scheme finance only for on-site improvements; the question of maintenance of the facilities remains to be settled as the municipal authorities do not experience sufficient increases in their tax base; and the rate of default in most cases is very high. 4
Urban basic services
The national programme in India for the urban poor to secure physical environmental improvements through their individual and collective effort is sponsored by U N I C E F . It combines two earlier U N I C E F projects on urban community development and low cest sanitation; in addition, it provides assistance to the central scheme for small and
CITIES February 1987
Shelter for the urban poor ill hldiu
medium towns. The programme's emphasis is on social inputs to complement the physical infrastructure improvements. The social inputs include: 1. 2. 3. 4.
primary health and nutrition; non-formal education; income generation for women; and primary health, water and sanitation.
While physical infrastructure and shelter are not covered under the programme, it is expected that separate plans of actions for each town will integrate such needs with the envisaged social services for comprehensive development of selected slum areas. The programme seeks to build community organization through the voluntary efforts of the beneficiaries. Such beneficiary participation is expected to mobilize necessary manpower and local contributions to support the social and infrastructure components of slum development. The programme stipulates that the project staff will be permanently absorbed by the concerned project authorities and also that the continuation and sustenance of the programme should be guaranteed. Again, the services are to be low cost and affordable, with provision for linkage to the existing formal service network. The involvement of the community groups is to be ensured in programme planning and implementation and the services are to be provided in terms of the specific needs of the target groups. Finally, efforts are to be made by the concerned authorities to bring together all required basic services in the project area. During the Seventh Plan (1985-86 to 1984-90) the programme is to cover 200 towns on a regular basis and it may be too early to judge its efficacy. However, there is a problem in reorienting the local bureaucracy to the approach of limited intervention and the requirement to emphasize community self help.
Integrated development of small and medium towns The centrally sponsored scheme on integrated development of small and medium towns (IDSMT) provides for development of sites and services for the EWS in the selected towns where the scheme is in operation. During its implementation under the Sixth Plan, a number of deficiencies have been noticed including a general disregard for the needs of the urban poor under the centrally financed component and a reluctance on the part of the states to finance projects which are targeted towards them. Due to the overall shortcomings of the implementation of the IDSMT scheme, its EWS component has also suffered a major setback.
Other subsidiary schemes Among the other subsidiary schemes, mention may be made of the national Housing and Urban Development Corporation's ( H U D C O ) experiment with a land bank under which 5% of the total layout area in all H U D C O financed projects is to be developed in convenient locations into plots of 1 000 m z with core infrastructure facilities and handed over to the states free of cost for allotment to 20-25 EWS families with full rights of tenure. The allottees are then to construct their own shelter incrementally with their own resources. Apart from this, H U D C O has also an earmarked EWS component under the sites and services scheme
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Shelter f o r the urban poor in bldia
for which it advances loans to the state and local level housing agencies. A b o u t 30% of the H U D C O loan for the composite housing schemes is to be e a r m a r k e d for construction of the EWS houses. The commercial banks also have a differential rate of interest ( D R I ) scheme for socially disadvantaged communities and artisans with an annual income of less than 3 000 rupees for housing loan up to 5 000 rupees at a low 4% interest rate. The D R I scheme has not been favoured owing to the strict requirement for collaterals and so far its utilization is reported to be tardy.
Case studies We have selected five case studies from five Indian cities illustrating divergent approaches to the provision of shelter to the urban poor. These are squatter relocation (Delhi), slum upgrading (Calcutta), sites and services (Chandigarh), aided self help ( A h m e d a b a d ) and shelter i m p r o v e m e n t ( H y d e r a b a d ) . A brief account of each of these approaches is provided below.
Squatter relocation: Delhi Relocation of squatter settlements in Delhi - known as the JJ (Jhuggi Jhonpri) R e m o v a l Scheme - was initiated in Delhi in 1960 and i m p l e m e n t e d by the Delhi D e v e l o p m e n t Authority ( D D A ) and the two municipal bodies. The scheme initially envisaged allotment of 80 yd 2 of developed plots with a latrine, water tap and a platform to each squatter family on lease for 99 years. The cost of land was subsidized up to 50% for families with a monthly income of 250 rupees. The cost was to be recovered in instalments over ten years. Between 1960 and April 1975 about 53 000 squatter families were relocated in 16 JJ colonies with an expenditure of 130 million rupees. During the national emergency (April 1975 to March 1980) the pace of demolition was considerably stepped up - so much so that in the first two years (1975-76 and 1976-77) as many as 148 000 structures were demolished, mainly by the D D A , and the evicted families were sent to 27 new resettlement colonies developed by the D D A covering an area of 968 ha with a total of 148 000 plots. In two of these colonies land was forcefully occupied without even going through the acquisition process. The D D A spent about 130 million rupees on the relocation scheme out of a total Plan allocation of about 140 million rupees. In spite of this huge expenditure, the level of services and amenities in the relocation colonies left much to be desired. According to the D D A ' s own estimate, an additional amount of about 560 million rupees would be required to remove service deficiencies in these resettlement colonies.
Slum upgrading: Calcutta The bustee (slum) i m p r o v e m e n t p r o g r a m m e in Calcutta was launched by the Calcutta Metropolitan D e v e l o p m e n t Authority ( C M D A ) as a part of its comprehensive urban development of metropolitan Calcutta, assisted by the International D e v e l o p m e n t Association of the World Bank. Between 1971 to 1982 the n u m b e r reached by the p r o g r a m m e exceeded two million slum dwellers at a total cost of 450 million rupees. The basic aim of the p r o g r a m m e was to provide community water supply and environmental sanitation, improved access, health care and
38
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Shelter f o r the urban poor in India
nutrition, primary and adult education facilities, and to support to the economic activities of the slum dwellers.. The most impressive aspect of the p r o g r a m m e is its coverage in terms of spread and reach. The cost of the p r o g r a m m e has been modest: for the first 1.6 million the per capita cost was 150 rupees and subsequently this was raised to 225 rupees. Further cost escalation has been reported in recent years - 350 rupees per capita as against the national norm of 300. The non-physical needs of the slum dwellers have also been taken care of. H o w e v e r , the p r o g r a m m e does not provide for structural i m p r o v e m e n t s directly; but it was assumed that with i m p r o v e m e n t s in the environmental and personal social services there would be sufficient incentives for the hut owners to improve the structures. However, the question of land tenure in the slums has not been solved. The problems faced are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
absence of community involvement in the p r o g r a m m e ; user satisfaction is low; maintenance of facilities poor; inter-agency conflicts between the C M D A and the municipal bodies are endemic; the overall picture of service deficiencies in the slums is not yet satisfactory; and the response from the slum dwellers continues to be passive.
Sites and services: Chandigarh The D a d u Majra site in Chandigarh is located in Sector 38. It was developed to a c c o m m o d a t e the slum dwellers in the city of whom 90% belonged to the socially disadvantaged classes. Of the allottees 87% had a monthly family income of 300 rupees or below and another 13% had an income between 301 and 350 rupees. The project developed about 2 700 sites at a cost of 2 600 rupees each. Each site was provided with a foundation and plinth platform of one 10 m 2 room with a cooking platform, a bathing enclosure and a water closet. Each plot was serviced with water supply, electricity and sewerage connection. The monthly hire purchase instalment was fixed at 19 rupees to be paid over 20 years. Once a site was allotted, the allottee families were to spend about 6 000 rupees for completing the structure; the amount spent varied between 1 500 and 11 000 rupees. The actual construction was carried out under the technical guidelines of the Chandigarh Housing Board the executive agency. The main funding source for construction was the banks which provided 3 000 rupees for each family at a low 4% interest ( D R I ) ; the other sources of finance were personal savings, support from relatives and friends etc. All the families found the infrastructure facilities to be adequate and there was general satisfaction with the project.
Aided self help: Ahmedabad The slum rehabilitation project at Vasna, A h m e d a b a d , was initiated by the municipal corporation to remove the flood affected slum population clustered along the banks of the River Sabarmati. The state government provided a site of 43 acres about seven kilometres outside the city limits and a grant of 700 rupees per family. The project was conceived by a local voluntary organization run by young professionals and O x f a m - a
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Shelter J?~r the urban p o o r in India
British voluntary development agency - supported the project and provided 400 rupees per household to support its social action component; the municipal corporation agreed to extend its infrastructural services outside its legal limits free of cost. In addition, H U D C O agreed to sanction loan assistance to meet a part of the shelter construction cost. The Vasna project consisted of two complementary streams of activities: the first related to building a new township (infrastructure, community services, housing) and the second related to building people (community participation, skill upgradating, community organization and service delivery system). Participation in the construction work was voluntary: only 19% of the families could take part in construction. At Vasna only single storey, low cost, low specification houses have been built. Each family has been provided with a 300 ft 2 land plot. Running water and regular sewer lines are also provided. The houses have asbestos roof with 9 inch brick walls in cement mortar. In addition, interlinking community courtyards have been provided to promote social interaction. The process of building people's own organization continues; meanwhile community workers and other support personnel are involved in training local people to assume more responsibility, in all about 13 000 people have been rehabilitated in the Vasna project. In view of the substantial subsidy mobilized for the project, doubts have been expressed as to its replicability. Issues relating to cost recovery, both direct and indirect, remain to be examined more closely before assessing the success of the project.
Shelter improvement: Hyderabad In Hyderabad the urban community development project was started in 1967 by the municipal corporation with active support by from U N I C E F in terms of both ideas and finance. Within the project there are five main areas of activities: child welfare, women's welfare, youth welfare, housing, and other community activities. All these are multipurpose activities. The housing component includes home improvements, clean house competition, distribution of tenure rights, habitat, brick manufacturing units etc. The Hyderabad project covers the entire slum population of the city totalling over half a million (538 000 in 1981). The project is to function as a part of the municipal corporation and its activities are viewed as a link between the people and the project authorities. The project staff were given the scope to develop activities in terms of the felt needs of the people and were given a mandate to cover activities not normally covered by a municipal body in the country. The Hyderabad project is an example on which other projects are based under the U N I C E F assisted urban basic services programme. It shows that when housing becomes a part of a larger developmental effort, the chances of its success became greater. It also shows that even within a bureaucratic organization it is possible to provide the necessary flexibility, leadership and workers' motivation.
Issues in shelter policy Arising out of the national scenario and the case studies of sheltering the poor in India are a few prominent issues. These are: 1.
40
programme content and coverage;
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Shelter Jor the urban poor in hldia
2. 3. 4. 5.
shelter and the informal economy; affordability and cost recovery; land allocation and security of tenure; and beneficiary participation.
We discuss these issues below. Programme content and coverage It is essential that attempts should be made to cover the entire slum population of a city early so as to upgrade the slum environment and shelter stock as quickly as possible. From this angle, the Hyderabad experiment may be regarded as the ideal whi.ch could be attempted elsewhere. The Hyderabad community development approach combines the physical, social and economic improvement of the slum population instead of approaching these as separate issues to be tackled separately, often by divergent sets of public institutions resulting in interorganizational rivalry and conflict. Support to the informal sector Since the urban poor are basically linked with the informal economic activities within a Third World city, it is imperative that public policy is geared to the strengthening the informal living and livelihood linkages. From this point of view, site location, credit facilities, skill upgrading and transport should be organized so that they benefit the urban poor as much as the formal economic sector of the city. The Vasna project in A h m e d a b a d was particularly sensitive to these aspects, while the squatter relocation in Delhi failed to take care of these essential ingredients. Affordability and cost recovery The questions of affordability and cost recovery are but two sides of the same coin. Unless the affordability issue is settled, there is always the likelihood of missing the target group; while cost recovery prospects are brighter in cases where affordable facilities are provided. From this angle the standards of public services and facilities need to be redesigned in terms of realistic norms from the point of view of the intended beneficiaries; otherwise, there is no escape from depending on perpetual subsidies from the public exchequer. The Dadu Majra sites and services project in Chandigarh met this basic test, while the Vasna project in A h m e d a b a d failed on this count. Land allocation and security of tenure Allocation of developed land in sufficient quantity at the right time, place and price to the urban poor is also a precondition for a successful shelter policy. The Vasna project in Ahmedabad, and to some extent the squatter relocation scheme in Delhi, may be regarded as successful from this point; but considering the meagre coverage of these efforts to tackle the total shelter needs of the urban poor in these cities, these isolated attempts do not provide adequate answers to the total problem at hand: The question of security of tenure is again vitally important to the success of any slum upgrading or sites and services strategy. The Calcutta slum upgrading programme has not been able so far to enthuse the slum dwellers mainly for this reason. On the other hand, the Delhi
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Shelter for the urban poor in India
squatter relocation scheme has achieved some success due to the grant of a long term lease in favour of the allottees. The shelter component of the Hyderabad community development programme also owes its success largely to the grant of land rights to the slum dwellers.
Beneficiary participation Both the Vasna project in Ahmedabad and the Hyderabad urban community development programme have succeeded mainly on account of beneficiary participation in the design and delivery of urban services. The programmes handled by the development authorities in Delhi and Calcutta did not provide for adequate public participation with the result that the problem of maintenance and cost recovery have become acute in these cities. Undoubtedly, it is not always easy to organize adequate beneficiary participation in the absence of established voluntary agencies working among the slum communities; on the other hand, there is an in built resistence by the developmental bureaucracy to dealing with such agencies. The success of the Vasna project in Ahmedabad and the urban community development experiment in Hyderabad may be ascribed largely to the collaborative efforts of the public institutions and the local voluntary organizations involved in these two cities.
Conclusion One factor stands out from the diverse experiences of sheltering the urban poor: while it is necessary to be aware of the complexities of tackling the shelter problem in a poor country like India, there are enough indications that with the right strategy it is possible to make a sufficient dent in the situation so that by the end of the century the provision of universal access to shelter for all could be realized. The Indian government is committed to the objectives of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless in pursuance of the decision taken in the 37th session of the U N General Assembly. Towards this end it is imperative that the divergent strategies of shelter experimented within the various parts of the country be consolidated and an integrated shelter policy for all formulated without delay. In formulating such a policy the various strategies discussed in this paper need harmonization and consolidation. Indian experience recounted so far shows that a shelter policy must be subsumed within a broader approach to improve the living and livelihood of the poorer people in the urban areas of the country. The IYSH objectives should, therefore, be linked with the overall development efforts of the country and not pursued in isolation which is what has happened so far.
42
CITIES February 1987
Abhijit Datta This paper studies various schemes for providing cheap housing for the homeless in India, where in 1981 a quarter of all those living in cities were slum dwellers. Environmental improvements, provision of sites and services, integrated development and a land bank have all had their parts to play. It is concluded that the right policies can improve an apparently desperate situation and that it is therefore urgent that the Indian government formulate an integrated housing policy. The author is Professor of Urban Administration and Development and Municipal Finance at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha Estate, Ring Road, New Delhi - 110002, India.
In India sheltering the urban poor involves provision of cheap housing for the country's slum population concentrated in the larger cities. In 1981 the slum population constituted about a quarter of the total urban population, ie 40 million out of 162 million. The slum population in cities having populations of over 200 000 comes to about 30% ; however, in cities with a population of more than 12 million it averages about 28%. This means that some of the second order cities have a greater concentration of slum population than the metropolitan centres. Official response to shelter for the urban poor has moved from restrictive policies involving efforts to eliminate and rehouse slum populations, on the one hand, since the mid-1950s, to supportive policies covering slum upgrading and provision of site services with aided self help for the economically weaker section (EWS) of the urban population, on the other, since the early 1970s. ~ Various shelter approaches are discernible in different cities and in a variety of locations depending on the specific requirements of a given situation. In this paper we shall start with a discussion of the national schemes for sheltering the urban poor and then discuss their implementation by looking at case studies of different cities. Afterwards some of the general issues in shelter policy will be examined in the light of experience gained so far. The concluding section will summarize the main thrust of the paper and attempt a prognosis towards the national objective of shelter for all by the end of the century.
The national scenario Environmental improvements Slum upgrading through environmental improvements is an element of the national minimum needs programme to provide five basic infrastructure facilities to the slum population:
1For similar approaches see, UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), Survey of Slum and Squatter Settlements, Vol I, Tycooly, Dublin 1982.
0264-2751/87/010035-08503.00
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
community water supply; sewerage; community latrines and baths; storm water drains; and paving, widening and lighting of streets.
© 1987 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd
35
Shelter for the urban poor in India
Within a current per capita ceiling cost of 300 rupees 2 provided by the central government, the shelter project authorities are to adhere to certain guidelines with regard to the choices of slum land, coverage of socially disadvantaged population, adoption of physical standards and planning norms, ease of extending the facilities etc. Although the national scheme has been in operation since 1972, no systematic evaluation of its implementation has been made; nevertheless, some of the major problems encountered are: • • • • • • • •
the right of tenure of the slum dwellers remains unsolved; the state governments are reluctant to support the scheme financially; the available resources are spread too thinly over a large number of towns; there are problems of coordination among various local level functional agencies; the problem of maintenance of the assets created remains unsolved; there is no monitoring of tbe physical achievements by the central government; most of the projects are based on sketchy data on the status of slum dwellers; and there is no attempt to recover costs from the beneficiaries of the scheme .3
Sites and services
The scheme envisages development of serviced house sites and provision of loans in easy instalments up to a ceiling cost of 5 000 rupees to the urban poor with monthly income of up to 700 rupees. The norms for infrastructure have been reduced to cover costs within the loan ceiling. Similarly, the plot sizes are restricted to 25-35m 2. During the Sixth Plan (1980-81 to 1984-85) only about a half of the target could be achieved in terms of dwelling units and the major problems encountered in its operation seem to be ,as follows: • • •
• •
•
• 2£1 was equal to 18.65 rupees on 27 August 1986. 3For details see India (Planning Commission), Shelter for the Urban Poor and Slum Improvement, New Delhi, 1983. 4India (Planning Commission), Seventh Plan Working Group on Housing, New Delhi, 1985 (mimeo).
36
delays in land acquisition and non-availability of vacant sites; inadequate number of eligible persons in some states; steep inflation making adherence to cost ceilings difficult; in the outlying areas where acquisition costs are low, there are not sufficient takers due to lack of transport facilities; state housing agencies preferring construction of full housing units rather than mere development of service sites; coordination among the various local level functional agencies found to be poor; this is compounded by the provision of scheme finance only for on-site improvements; the question of maintenance of the facilities remains to be settled as the municipal authorities do not experience sufficient increases in their tax base; and the rate of default in most cases is very high. 4
Urban basic services
The national programme in India for the urban poor to secure physical environmental improvements through their individual and collective effort is sponsored by U N I C E F . It combines two earlier U N I C E F projects on urban community development and low cest sanitation; in addition, it provides assistance to the central scheme for small and
CITIES February 1987
Shelter for the urban poor ill hldiu
medium towns. The programme's emphasis is on social inputs to complement the physical infrastructure improvements. The social inputs include: 1. 2. 3. 4.
primary health and nutrition; non-formal education; income generation for women; and primary health, water and sanitation.
While physical infrastructure and shelter are not covered under the programme, it is expected that separate plans of actions for each town will integrate such needs with the envisaged social services for comprehensive development of selected slum areas. The programme seeks to build community organization through the voluntary efforts of the beneficiaries. Such beneficiary participation is expected to mobilize necessary manpower and local contributions to support the social and infrastructure components of slum development. The programme stipulates that the project staff will be permanently absorbed by the concerned project authorities and also that the continuation and sustenance of the programme should be guaranteed. Again, the services are to be low cost and affordable, with provision for linkage to the existing formal service network. The involvement of the community groups is to be ensured in programme planning and implementation and the services are to be provided in terms of the specific needs of the target groups. Finally, efforts are to be made by the concerned authorities to bring together all required basic services in the project area. During the Seventh Plan (1985-86 to 1984-90) the programme is to cover 200 towns on a regular basis and it may be too early to judge its efficacy. However, there is a problem in reorienting the local bureaucracy to the approach of limited intervention and the requirement to emphasize community self help.
Integrated development of small and medium towns The centrally sponsored scheme on integrated development of small and medium towns (IDSMT) provides for development of sites and services for the EWS in the selected towns where the scheme is in operation. During its implementation under the Sixth Plan, a number of deficiencies have been noticed including a general disregard for the needs of the urban poor under the centrally financed component and a reluctance on the part of the states to finance projects which are targeted towards them. Due to the overall shortcomings of the implementation of the IDSMT scheme, its EWS component has also suffered a major setback.
Other subsidiary schemes Among the other subsidiary schemes, mention may be made of the national Housing and Urban Development Corporation's ( H U D C O ) experiment with a land bank under which 5% of the total layout area in all H U D C O financed projects is to be developed in convenient locations into plots of 1 000 m z with core infrastructure facilities and handed over to the states free of cost for allotment to 20-25 EWS families with full rights of tenure. The allottees are then to construct their own shelter incrementally with their own resources. Apart from this, H U D C O has also an earmarked EWS component under the sites and services scheme
CITIES February 1987
37
Shelter f o r the urban poor in bldia
for which it advances loans to the state and local level housing agencies. A b o u t 30% of the H U D C O loan for the composite housing schemes is to be e a r m a r k e d for construction of the EWS houses. The commercial banks also have a differential rate of interest ( D R I ) scheme for socially disadvantaged communities and artisans with an annual income of less than 3 000 rupees for housing loan up to 5 000 rupees at a low 4% interest rate. The D R I scheme has not been favoured owing to the strict requirement for collaterals and so far its utilization is reported to be tardy.
Case studies We have selected five case studies from five Indian cities illustrating divergent approaches to the provision of shelter to the urban poor. These are squatter relocation (Delhi), slum upgrading (Calcutta), sites and services (Chandigarh), aided self help ( A h m e d a b a d ) and shelter i m p r o v e m e n t ( H y d e r a b a d ) . A brief account of each of these approaches is provided below.
Squatter relocation: Delhi Relocation of squatter settlements in Delhi - known as the JJ (Jhuggi Jhonpri) R e m o v a l Scheme - was initiated in Delhi in 1960 and i m p l e m e n t e d by the Delhi D e v e l o p m e n t Authority ( D D A ) and the two municipal bodies. The scheme initially envisaged allotment of 80 yd 2 of developed plots with a latrine, water tap and a platform to each squatter family on lease for 99 years. The cost of land was subsidized up to 50% for families with a monthly income of 250 rupees. The cost was to be recovered in instalments over ten years. Between 1960 and April 1975 about 53 000 squatter families were relocated in 16 JJ colonies with an expenditure of 130 million rupees. During the national emergency (April 1975 to March 1980) the pace of demolition was considerably stepped up - so much so that in the first two years (1975-76 and 1976-77) as many as 148 000 structures were demolished, mainly by the D D A , and the evicted families were sent to 27 new resettlement colonies developed by the D D A covering an area of 968 ha with a total of 148 000 plots. In two of these colonies land was forcefully occupied without even going through the acquisition process. The D D A spent about 130 million rupees on the relocation scheme out of a total Plan allocation of about 140 million rupees. In spite of this huge expenditure, the level of services and amenities in the relocation colonies left much to be desired. According to the D D A ' s own estimate, an additional amount of about 560 million rupees would be required to remove service deficiencies in these resettlement colonies.
Slum upgrading: Calcutta The bustee (slum) i m p r o v e m e n t p r o g r a m m e in Calcutta was launched by the Calcutta Metropolitan D e v e l o p m e n t Authority ( C M D A ) as a part of its comprehensive urban development of metropolitan Calcutta, assisted by the International D e v e l o p m e n t Association of the World Bank. Between 1971 to 1982 the n u m b e r reached by the p r o g r a m m e exceeded two million slum dwellers at a total cost of 450 million rupees. The basic aim of the p r o g r a m m e was to provide community water supply and environmental sanitation, improved access, health care and
38
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Shelter f o r the urban poor in India
nutrition, primary and adult education facilities, and to support to the economic activities of the slum dwellers.. The most impressive aspect of the p r o g r a m m e is its coverage in terms of spread and reach. The cost of the p r o g r a m m e has been modest: for the first 1.6 million the per capita cost was 150 rupees and subsequently this was raised to 225 rupees. Further cost escalation has been reported in recent years - 350 rupees per capita as against the national norm of 300. The non-physical needs of the slum dwellers have also been taken care of. H o w e v e r , the p r o g r a m m e does not provide for structural i m p r o v e m e n t s directly; but it was assumed that with i m p r o v e m e n t s in the environmental and personal social services there would be sufficient incentives for the hut owners to improve the structures. However, the question of land tenure in the slums has not been solved. The problems faced are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
absence of community involvement in the p r o g r a m m e ; user satisfaction is low; maintenance of facilities poor; inter-agency conflicts between the C M D A and the municipal bodies are endemic; the overall picture of service deficiencies in the slums is not yet satisfactory; and the response from the slum dwellers continues to be passive.
Sites and services: Chandigarh The D a d u Majra site in Chandigarh is located in Sector 38. It was developed to a c c o m m o d a t e the slum dwellers in the city of whom 90% belonged to the socially disadvantaged classes. Of the allottees 87% had a monthly family income of 300 rupees or below and another 13% had an income between 301 and 350 rupees. The project developed about 2 700 sites at a cost of 2 600 rupees each. Each site was provided with a foundation and plinth platform of one 10 m 2 room with a cooking platform, a bathing enclosure and a water closet. Each plot was serviced with water supply, electricity and sewerage connection. The monthly hire purchase instalment was fixed at 19 rupees to be paid over 20 years. Once a site was allotted, the allottee families were to spend about 6 000 rupees for completing the structure; the amount spent varied between 1 500 and 11 000 rupees. The actual construction was carried out under the technical guidelines of the Chandigarh Housing Board the executive agency. The main funding source for construction was the banks which provided 3 000 rupees for each family at a low 4% interest ( D R I ) ; the other sources of finance were personal savings, support from relatives and friends etc. All the families found the infrastructure facilities to be adequate and there was general satisfaction with the project.
Aided self help: Ahmedabad The slum rehabilitation project at Vasna, A h m e d a b a d , was initiated by the municipal corporation to remove the flood affected slum population clustered along the banks of the River Sabarmati. The state government provided a site of 43 acres about seven kilometres outside the city limits and a grant of 700 rupees per family. The project was conceived by a local voluntary organization run by young professionals and O x f a m - a
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Shelter J?~r the urban p o o r in India
British voluntary development agency - supported the project and provided 400 rupees per household to support its social action component; the municipal corporation agreed to extend its infrastructural services outside its legal limits free of cost. In addition, H U D C O agreed to sanction loan assistance to meet a part of the shelter construction cost. The Vasna project consisted of two complementary streams of activities: the first related to building a new township (infrastructure, community services, housing) and the second related to building people (community participation, skill upgradating, community organization and service delivery system). Participation in the construction work was voluntary: only 19% of the families could take part in construction. At Vasna only single storey, low cost, low specification houses have been built. Each family has been provided with a 300 ft 2 land plot. Running water and regular sewer lines are also provided. The houses have asbestos roof with 9 inch brick walls in cement mortar. In addition, interlinking community courtyards have been provided to promote social interaction. The process of building people's own organization continues; meanwhile community workers and other support personnel are involved in training local people to assume more responsibility, in all about 13 000 people have been rehabilitated in the Vasna project. In view of the substantial subsidy mobilized for the project, doubts have been expressed as to its replicability. Issues relating to cost recovery, both direct and indirect, remain to be examined more closely before assessing the success of the project.
Shelter improvement: Hyderabad In Hyderabad the urban community development project was started in 1967 by the municipal corporation with active support by from U N I C E F in terms of both ideas and finance. Within the project there are five main areas of activities: child welfare, women's welfare, youth welfare, housing, and other community activities. All these are multipurpose activities. The housing component includes home improvements, clean house competition, distribution of tenure rights, habitat, brick manufacturing units etc. The Hyderabad project covers the entire slum population of the city totalling over half a million (538 000 in 1981). The project is to function as a part of the municipal corporation and its activities are viewed as a link between the people and the project authorities. The project staff were given the scope to develop activities in terms of the felt needs of the people and were given a mandate to cover activities not normally covered by a municipal body in the country. The Hyderabad project is an example on which other projects are based under the U N I C E F assisted urban basic services programme. It shows that when housing becomes a part of a larger developmental effort, the chances of its success became greater. It also shows that even within a bureaucratic organization it is possible to provide the necessary flexibility, leadership and workers' motivation.
Issues in shelter policy Arising out of the national scenario and the case studies of sheltering the poor in India are a few prominent issues. These are: 1.
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programme content and coverage;
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Shelter Jor the urban poor in hldia
2. 3. 4. 5.
shelter and the informal economy; affordability and cost recovery; land allocation and security of tenure; and beneficiary participation.
We discuss these issues below. Programme content and coverage It is essential that attempts should be made to cover the entire slum population of a city early so as to upgrade the slum environment and shelter stock as quickly as possible. From this angle, the Hyderabad experiment may be regarded as the ideal whi.ch could be attempted elsewhere. The Hyderabad community development approach combines the physical, social and economic improvement of the slum population instead of approaching these as separate issues to be tackled separately, often by divergent sets of public institutions resulting in interorganizational rivalry and conflict. Support to the informal sector Since the urban poor are basically linked with the informal economic activities within a Third World city, it is imperative that public policy is geared to the strengthening the informal living and livelihood linkages. From this point of view, site location, credit facilities, skill upgrading and transport should be organized so that they benefit the urban poor as much as the formal economic sector of the city. The Vasna project in A h m e d a b a d was particularly sensitive to these aspects, while the squatter relocation in Delhi failed to take care of these essential ingredients. Affordability and cost recovery The questions of affordability and cost recovery are but two sides of the same coin. Unless the affordability issue is settled, there is always the likelihood of missing the target group; while cost recovery prospects are brighter in cases where affordable facilities are provided. From this angle the standards of public services and facilities need to be redesigned in terms of realistic norms from the point of view of the intended beneficiaries; otherwise, there is no escape from depending on perpetual subsidies from the public exchequer. The Dadu Majra sites and services project in Chandigarh met this basic test, while the Vasna project in A h m e d a b a d failed on this count. Land allocation and security of tenure Allocation of developed land in sufficient quantity at the right time, place and price to the urban poor is also a precondition for a successful shelter policy. The Vasna project in Ahmedabad, and to some extent the squatter relocation scheme in Delhi, may be regarded as successful from this point; but considering the meagre coverage of these efforts to tackle the total shelter needs of the urban poor in these cities, these isolated attempts do not provide adequate answers to the total problem at hand: The question of security of tenure is again vitally important to the success of any slum upgrading or sites and services strategy. The Calcutta slum upgrading programme has not been able so far to enthuse the slum dwellers mainly for this reason. On the other hand, the Delhi
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Shelter for the urban poor in India
squatter relocation scheme has achieved some success due to the grant of a long term lease in favour of the allottees. The shelter component of the Hyderabad community development programme also owes its success largely to the grant of land rights to the slum dwellers.
Beneficiary participation Both the Vasna project in Ahmedabad and the Hyderabad urban community development programme have succeeded mainly on account of beneficiary participation in the design and delivery of urban services. The programmes handled by the development authorities in Delhi and Calcutta did not provide for adequate public participation with the result that the problem of maintenance and cost recovery have become acute in these cities. Undoubtedly, it is not always easy to organize adequate beneficiary participation in the absence of established voluntary agencies working among the slum communities; on the other hand, there is an in built resistence by the developmental bureaucracy to dealing with such agencies. The success of the Vasna project in Ahmedabad and the urban community development experiment in Hyderabad may be ascribed largely to the collaborative efforts of the public institutions and the local voluntary organizations involved in these two cities.
Conclusion One factor stands out from the diverse experiences of sheltering the urban poor: while it is necessary to be aware of the complexities of tackling the shelter problem in a poor country like India, there are enough indications that with the right strategy it is possible to make a sufficient dent in the situation so that by the end of the century the provision of universal access to shelter for all could be realized. The Indian government is committed to the objectives of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless in pursuance of the decision taken in the 37th session of the U N General Assembly. Towards this end it is imperative that the divergent strategies of shelter experimented within the various parts of the country be consolidated and an integrated shelter policy for all formulated without delay. In formulating such a policy the various strategies discussed in this paper need harmonization and consolidation. Indian experience recounted so far shows that a shelter policy must be subsumed within a broader approach to improve the living and livelihood of the poorer people in the urban areas of the country. The IYSH objectives should, therefore, be linked with the overall development efforts of the country and not pursued in isolation which is what has happened so far.
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