Slums – The Shame Of Every Metro City Name any metro city of India, the first thing which will strike the mind will be its huge population. With the word ‘population’, the first thing a person pictures is the slums. A ‘slum’ is defined as any area that is unfit for human habitation by virtue of lack of proper light and ventilation, lack of basic amenities, over crowding, poor construction, etc., irrespective of the title to the property. In simpler words, a slum is a place where the density of population exceeds the normal limit and the place is a unplanned residential area with less or no proper basic facilities. A ‘slum’ is defined in several ways by different organizations. A slum is identified as an area within a city characterized by unplanned growth, deteriorated buildings, unsanitary conditions, and high population densities. Although their characteristics vary between geographic regions, they are usually inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged people. Most slums lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services. As per UN-HABITAT, a United Nations agency, slum is an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics: inadequate access to safe water; inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding; and insecure residential status. Slums are usually characterized by urban decay, high rates of poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment. Formation of slums and their impacts Urbanization is an integral part of the process of economic growth. As in most countries, India’s towns and cities make a major contribution towards the country’s economy. With less than 1/3 of the population, its urban areas generate over 2/3 of the country’s GDP and account for 90% of government revenues (World Bank Report). Even though India’s Mega-Cities are gigantic entities, they are yet to qualify as the world class cities. Contemporary urban studies made by the social scientists, both Indian and foreign often reflect the critical existence of the urban dwellers in terms of amenities and life-supporting services and call for remedial strategies to forestall degeneration of metropolitan life. Mega-cities face many urban challenges due to a large number of migrants who continue to pour in search of jobs, livelihood and safe living as compared to the country-side. This is due to the marked concentration of economic activities, attracting more people from the country-side as well as from smaller urban centres. This results in the out-growth around the metropolises as well as development of new colonies with unhygienic conditions due to lack of infrastructure facilities. This calls for remedial strategies to forestall further deterioration of the metropolitan life. One of the fall outs of uncontrolled urban growth is the formation of slums. Perhaps, one of the biggest challenges Indian cities face today is solving the problem of slums where millions of Indians continue to live amidst poverty and unhygienic conditions. Every urban centre is prone to this social malady and the ULBs are grappling to find ways and means of eradicating slums from urban agglomerates. Hyderabad, being one of the most preferred locations of commerce, specially the IT industry is subject to more migration hence more slums. Statistically, The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) covers an area of 650 square kilometres and has a population of 6,809,970. There are 1476 slums in Hyderabad out of which 1179 are notified & 297 are non-notified. The total slum area is 80.45 Km2, which is 12% of the total GHMC area. Total slum population is 19, 51,207, which accounts 28.65% of the total population of GHMC. The total number of households in the slums is 4.06 lakhs. Of the total population of the slums, 66% live in 985 slums in the “core” of the city (the part that formed Hyderabad before the April 2007 expansion) and the remaining 34% live in 491 suburban tenements. About 22% of the slum-dwelling households had migrated from different parts of India in the last decade of the 20th century, and 63% claimed to have lived in the slums for more than 10 years. Slums cause massive impacts on the public health due to the absence of basic sanitation facilities. With no proper drainage facilities and no adequate system for garbage disposal, slums are more vulnerable to diseases. Furthermore, the crime rate in slums is much more higher when compared to other areas as they lack proper law enforcement and surveillance. Socially, the weaker sections of the society especially women become targets of physical abuse. What can be doneWhile the slums continue to impact the life of thousands, the steps taken by the governments so far have been temporary and not permanent due to which the slum population continues to rise. One of the most important thing the government, both at center and at the state, needs to do is, enhancing the rural economy. If the rural economy is improved it will decrease the burden of cities as it will curb mass migration. The idea of satellite towns projected by the chief minister of Telangana K. Chandrashekar Rao is a worthwhile one which needs swift implementation. Satellite towns will mean good news for real estateThe immediate impacts of satellite town formation – and the primary advantages – would be at least partial de congestion of the central city and a rise in property valuations in the satellite town. If satellite townships have been meticulously masterminded by the relevant town planning authorities, they will incorporate their own economic drivers such as employment opportunities, social infrastructure and lifestyle quotients. Simply put, such a combination of factors opens up a new growth area for the real estate market. Under suitable circumstances, office, retail and residential property will work in tandem to create a symbiotic growth pattern. Moreover, once such a satellite town is established, it tends to attract various industries specific to the available workforce, further boosting this pattern. The overall effect is one of economic diversification of a possibly congested metro into new directions. This naturally spells nothing but good news for the region’s real estate market. Upgrading existing slumsSlums disappear not through being removed, but by being transformed. Over time, the shack becomes a house, the slum becomes a suburb. This is how citizenship and cities are built. Slum upgrading is a process through which informal areas are gradually improved, formalised and incorporated into the city itself, through extending land, services and citizenship to slum dwellers.It involves providing slum dwellers with the economic, social, institutional and community services available to other citizens. These services include legal (land tenure), physical (infrastructure), social (crime or education, for example) or economic. Slum upgrading is not simply about water or drainage or housing. It is about putting into motion the economic, social, institutional and community activities that are needed to turn around downward trends in an area. These activities should be undertaken cooperatively among all parties involved—residents, community groups, businesses as well as local and national authorities if applicable. The activities tend to include the provision of basic services such as housing, streets, footpaths, drainage, clean water, sanitation, and sewage disposal. Often, access to education and health care are also part of upgrading. In addition to basic services, one of the key elements of slum upgrading is legalising or regularising properties and bringing secure land tenure to residents. Ultimately, upgrading efforts aim to create a dynamic in the community where there is a sense of ownership, entitlement and inward investment in the area. Slum-dwellers need a helpful and supportive environment in which to improve their lives, and that of their fellow residents. Yet, governments spend their energies fighting rather than rewarding and encouraging these processes. Land is not made available, and the poor are either relocated to the margins, or forced to live in dangerous or distant places. Services are not provided, leading to the emergence of parallel markets, middlemen and price gouging.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:05:49 +0000
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