In this blogpost, Komal Rastogi, Student, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, writes about the conditions of slum dwellers, reasons to migrate to urban areas and the schemes to decrease slum areas in Mumbai.

Introduction

In recent years, the population of cities has been growing very fast. India is one of the fastest developing countries which have many metropolitan areas like Pune, Delhi, Bombay, etc. Cities are the center of attraction for the people living in villages. The migration of people from villages to cities affects the city life because there are limited resources. People living in rural areas shift to cities in search of jobs but due to poverty, or poor housing plan, they have to adjust themselves in slum areas. The other reasons to shift in slums are because of increasing urbanization, shortage of developed land, high prices of land or a large influx of rural migrants to urban areas, etc.[1]

 Slum dwellers are the most overlooked section of an Indian Society. 26% of the Indian population are poorest of the poor in urban areas. Few characteristics that describe the word slums in India: 1) population living below poverty line, 2) non-existing sewage system, 3) nil drinking water supply, 4) shortage of living areas, etc. People choose to live in slum areas due to less rent of rooms. Slums can be defined as the by-product of the modern era. Due to the rush in metropolitan areas, the environmental quality and sustainable development have been degraded rapidly. The major problem due to slums in India is transportation, health, safety, and population.

The migration of people to urban areas led to a shortage of food, water, etc., unwarranted unemployment, floods, social class conflicts, pestilence, and caste tensions.[2] “Slums are usually considered to be low-cost habitats of the marginalized people, mostly made up of makeshift shelters, in overcrowded and unhealthy conditions on land “encroached” upon and worsened further by the lack of basic civic amenities.”[3]

The factors that contribute to the growth of slums in India are

Firstly, the employment opportunities are one of the major factors that rural people migrate. The possibility is high because urban areas are the hubs for economic and commercial growth. As a result, skilled as well as unskilled people are attracted towards it and migrate.

Secondly, unemployment and lack of employment opportunities in rural areas due to various agricultural sectors as well as large scale industrial sectors.

Thirdly, due to the lack of secure tenures, the slum dwellers do not maintain their surroundings, and it remains unhygienic.

Fourthly, lack of political will which enables the slum area to be legalized in the fear of more illegal settlements.

The development of slums within the city and outside the city is very important. People living in slums within the cities face scarcity, poor health facility, poor sanitation; living conditions are deplorable; crime rate is high, etc. There is a need for better plans and schemes to rehabilitate the slum peoples. The slums in India is not only the problem of people who are suffering but also a huge hurdle in the country’s development. By solving the problems of slum dwellers, the problems in country’s development will automatically be solved. Hence, there is a need for proper provisions and special laws to decrease the slum areas in our country.

Efforts made by the government of India

The government of India had been making efforts for eradicating slums since the 1880s, but the efforts have grown since 1970s. In the year 1956, Mumbai initiated a programme called Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act which states different provisions to decrease slums. Section 10 of this act states the clearance of slums area on the order of government. For example: if government orders to demolish a building, then within six weeks the building should be vacated. This act gives power to the state to declare slum clearance by surveys. This programme seems to be ineffective because the problem is such which requires more capital to make the programme useful.

In the year 1971, the Slum Improvement Programme was initiated in which state recognizes the resettlement of the slum dwellers who were displaced by the earlier scheme. This act made a major change in the Slum policies. The state recognized that it is a very inadequate step to clear all the slum area, so the state makes sure that the slums are no danger to the health and safety to the people.

Under this act, only a few lands were under the project which provides sanitation, healthy drinking water, etc. This act only improves the conditions of the only handful of land. For a broader perspective, amendments were made to this Act in the year 1973. Slum Improvement Board was set up in the interest of expediting the providing of utilities.[4] This scheme has unintended effects too. After putting this act together with the MRTP, it gives slum dwellers a legal right to encroach on a private land. The court of Maharashtra in the case of State of Maharashtra Vs. Mahadeo Pandharinath Dhole and Ors[5] quashed the order of state government that declared the private land as a slum.

Despite the utilities which were given to the slum people, the state was violating several human rights in the process. In the case of Janata Colony, The Bhabha Atomic Energy Commission gave notice to approximately seventy thousand dwellers to leave the place without any compensation. Fifty thousand people protested against it, but all in vain. The conditions of people in camps were inhumane. The Scheme was not a spectacular success. It did not fulfill most of its promises.

The next initiative was taken in the year 1985 in the form of Slum Upgrading Programme. In this year, Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment in Olga Tellis vs. Bombay Municipal Corporation case.[6] Tellis sued the slum dwellers for illegally occupying his private land. The court was not against the slum dwellers living in private property but ordered them to vacate the land on certain terms and conditions. The resettlement has certain clause which states that:

• “Sites should be provided to residents presented with census cards in 1976;
• Slums in existence for 20 years or more were not to be removed unless land was required for public purposes and, in that case, alternative sites must be provided;
• High priority should be given to resettlement.” [7]

The Slum Upgrading Programme, which was initiated in Mumbai, was funded by World Bank based on the three philosophy i.e. cost recovery, affordability, and replicability. Like every other scheme, this act also has some loopholes. A major problem faced was that middle-income families used this scheme to get accommodation in prime locations at very low or negligible rates.

The Slum Rehabilitation Act 1995 was passed by the Maharashtra government to protect the rights of slum dwellers and also to improve the conditions of slums. Through this act, pavement dwellers were for the first time into the classification of households are entitled to land for relocation.[8]

Some people argued that the scheme is as worst as the previous ones and also criticized it by stating that the scheme needs guidance. Some people argued that there was an improvement from the previous schemes as it was based on the cost recovery scheme. After the research, it was declared that the scheme was miserably failed by rehabilitating only 26,000 households by 2002.

Conclusion

The Slum Rehabilitation Programme is still active in Mumbai. This scheme acts as a single point of contact and decision makers for the slum rehabilitation efforts. There are only certain modifications have done to this scheme otherwise the fundamental model is same. This act is applicable only to the borders of greater Mumbai. The rest of the state’s slum is covered under Slum Redevelopment Scheme (SRD) of 1992. The major difference between Slum Rehabilitation Scheme 1995 and Slum Redevelopment Scheme 1992 remains the 25% cap on the profits made by the developers.[9] In the year 2013, the high court asked the government of Mumbai to develop slums into a township and named the project as cluster development projects. Court also ordered to take consent from 75% of the slum dwellers for this purpose. The concept worked well and had allocated 1,524 slum redevelopment projects, out of which only 197 have yet been completed.

[1] Retrieved on http://www.shortparagraph.com/society/3-reasons-for-the-growth-of-slums-in-urban-areas-india/343

[2] Retrieved on https://www.academia.edu/10920148/Slum_Dwellers_and_Their_Conditions_in_Indian_States?auto=download

[3] Ibid

[4] Retrieved on https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/26620/JAGDALE-MASTERSREPORT-2014.pdf?sequence=1

[5] 1980 AIR (Bom) 348

[6] 1986 AIR 180, 1985 SCR Supl. (2) 51

[7] Supra Note 4

[8] Supra Note 4

[9] Supra Note 4