The dominant facet of third world urban growth, comprising a concentration of makeshift dwellings, usually at the edge of the city, on public or private land which is neither owned nor rented by the builders/occupants. Such settlements or shantytowns have emerged because the formal housing market has been unable to cope with the rate of increase of cope with the rate of increase of population and especially immigration to urban areas.

Slum is an area of sub-standard, over-crowed housing occupied by the poor, the unemployed, the unemployable and immigrants, who cannot afford to live elsewhere. Slums are judged by subjective criteria: a sub-culture with a set of norms and values reflected in poor situation, tailing over-priced goods. Socially slums tend to be isolated from the remainder of urban society and exhibit pathological social symptoms (drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, vandalism and other deviant behaviour).

The quality of dwellings in slums is generally rudimentary, initial building using any materials available-wood, cardboard, zinc sheets, etc. There is a severe absence of public services-roads are unpaved, sanitation systems are crude, water supplies, educational and medical services inadequate.

The occupants of slums are usually the urban poor, since they act as reception areas for migrants, whom they assist in adapting to urban life.

The extent of deprivation in slums can be briefly enumerated in the following manner:

1) Dilapidated and poor houses in slums are made of poor design and scrap materials. These are often raised on unauthorised land.

2) High density of population and housing leads to over-crowding and congestion; one room is often used for all practical purposes of domesticating living. In Bombay and in many other big cities, it can be seen that in the slum areas oneroom tenement with 100 sq.f. to 150 sq.f. of space is occupied by more than 10

persons.

3) Lack of public utilities and facilities, such as, drainage, sanitation, water taps, electric light, health centres, common latrines and public parks, etc., are widely observable characteristics of slums.

4) The slum-dwellers are functionally integrated with the mainstream of the city life, yet the high incidence of deviant behaviour such as crime, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, drug use, beggary, illegitimacy, illicit distilling of liquor, gambling and other social evils are associated with slum areas. It does not mean that all those residing in slums are necessarily associated with such deviant behaviour. The slum areas, socially and physically provide greater opportunity for such kinds of deviant behaviour.

5) Slums have a culture of their own, which Marshall Clinard has termed as ‘a way of life’. It is said to be largely a synthesis of the culture of the lower class and of that which Lewis has referred to as the ‘culture of poverty’.

6) Though the slum-dwellers are functionally integrated to the city life, apathy and social isolation characterise a slum. It means that largely slums are subject to neglect and apathy of the larger community. These areas are looked down upon and considered inferior. Such a reaction from the larger community renders slums into social isolation, detached from the city as a whole. Under these circumstances, the slum-dwellers find it almost impossible to improve these conditions through their own efforts.

yet their existence in the city does serve a purpose, especially for the urban poor and migrants coming for some job opportunities in the city. It is in slums that poor people like industrial workers, casual labourers, hawkers, petty shopkeepers, vegetable-sellers and several others offering useful services to the city find a place to stay. These poor people belonging to different castes, religions, regions and languages live together even amidst extreme poor conditions. At times, these slums play a very vital role in orienting the new migrants to the city environment. In other words, the slum-dwellers, byproviding social comfort and support  to the new migrants, help them to adjust to the conditions of city-living and finally integrate themselves with the mainstream of city life.

In India, the slums are usually classified into the following three categories:

(1) the old building which have become dilapidated and deteriorated in course of time;

(2) the slums which are characterised by poor and inadequate housing conditions, constructed legally around mills and factories,

(3) the slums which illegally come up in different parts of the city through unauthorised occupation of open land.

Slums in India

The National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi, has recorded that the emergence of slums is essentially the product of three forces:

a) demographic dynamism of a city attracting more people from the rural areas offering greater potential for employment;

b) its incapacity to meet the rising demand for housing; and

c) the existing urban land policies, which prohibit the access of the poor to the urban land market.

It is further observed that the urban poor are left with no choice but to make or take shelter illegally on any available piece of land. Sometimes a slum is the consequence of blight in the old parts of the city. At times, a slum is inherited in the form of an old village or a haphazardly growing locality within the extended territorial limits of a town.

An attempt has been made for the first time during the Census of India, 2001 to collect detailed data about slum areas of the country particularly in cities/towns having 50,000 population or more based on 1991 census. All the inhabitants of the areas, which have been notified as slums by the state governments under any legal provisions or even recognized by them, have been accordingly considered as slum population for this purpose.

Besides areas in cities/towns, which satisfy the usual criteria for declaring an area as slum have also been included. For the purpose of Census of India, 2001, the slum areas broadly constitute of: -

All specified areas notified as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act;

All areas recognized as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration, which may have not been formally notified as slum under any Act;

A compact area of at least 300 population or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.

The Directorate of Census Operations in consultation with the State Government/Local Authorities were asked to identify slum areas in municipal towns having population of 50,000 or more as per 1991 census. Therefore, the estimates of slum population given below primarily are confined to cities and towns having more than 50,000 populations at the 1991 Census.

Though the criteria adopted for formation of slum was confined to municipal towns having 50,000 population, however, in a few stray cases even the non municipal towns were found to have large number of slum areas, necessitating formation of slum by the local authorities. For instance in National Capital Region of Delhi, eleven Census towns and in Uttar Pradesh one Census town has reported slum population. In addition to these, six towns, one in Bihar, two in Madhya Pradesh, two in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra, could qualify the population criteria of 50,000 after adding population of outgrowths as returned for Census of India, 1991. In case of Shillong, slum areas were notified in the entire urban agglomeration as such slum population has been reported from the Shillong urban agglomeration. Slum population has been reported from 26 States/Union territories. Nine States/Union territories, namely, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep have not reported any slum population in their Class I & II cities/towns.

Census of India 2001 have released data on the number and population of cities/towns reporting slum, total slum population and slum population in 0-6 age group and literate slum population by sex - India & State/Union territory. Similarly data on population, slum population, and slum population in 0-6 age group and literate slum population by sex in million plus cities.

Features of Slum data

As per criteria adopted by Census of India 2001, only those cities/towns, which returned at least 50,000 populations in 1991 Census, were considered for identifying Slum Population. Other criteria included as already mentioned above. Only 607 such towns have reported slums.

Total Slum Population returned as per provisional results of Census of India 2001 was 40,605,418, comprising of 22.76% of the total urban population of the cities/towns reporting slums.

Largest Slum population was registered in Maharashtra (10.64 million).

The largest proportion of slum population in Million plus cities was registered in Greater Mumbai (48.88%) and the lowest in Patna (0.25%).

About 1% of India’s population lives in the slums of Maharashtra.

Around 6% of Maharashtra population lives in slums of Greater Mumbai.

Proportion of Slum Population to total population in Cities/Towns varied form 41.33% to 1.81%, the largest being Meghalaya (41.33%) and the lowest Kerala (1.81%).

Sex ratio, (i.e., number of females per thousand males) of the Slum Population varied from 1032 (Pondicherry) to 707 (Chandigarh). Kerala also returned high sex ratio (1029).

Proportion of Children (0-6) among slum population in Million Plus Cities was found to be highest in Jaipur (18.11%) and lowest in Kolkata (9.35%).

Literacy Rate among Slum population was found to be quite high, varying form 88.08% (Meghalaya) to 55.46% (Chandigarh). The Male Literacy Rate varied from 91.05% (Meghalaya) to 65.59% (Chandigarh). Female Literacy Rate was also found to be high varying from 85.11% (Meghalaya) and Chandigarh (40.09%).

Policy towards slums

Urban development policy initially was oriented to taking measures for slum clearance.

Programmes of slum clearance and construction of new houses

The Constitution gives the fundamental right of the freedom of movement to every citizen of India, but does not guarantee the right of housing to either the urban-dwellers especially the in migrants who suffer with absolute deprivation.

In the face of rapid urban growth, a large section of urban population is living in slums and suffering from acute shortage of houses, water-supply, sanitation and other public facilities. These urban problems have assumed massive proportion, warranting social legislation and special attention in our national planning. Following from these efforts, one of significant programmes is the slum clearance scheme and programme of construction of new houses for the urban poor and the low income groups. Under this scheme low cost houses, equipped with latrine, bathroom, water-tap, sanitation and drainage facilities, are made available to the poor people, who can afford to pay a token amount as rent from their meager earnings. Moreover, under the scheme of slum clearance an entire area inhabitated by economically and socially weaker sections is provided with these common utilities to be shared by all. These programmes under the slum clearance scheme are subsidized by the government. For example, in 1989, the Central government had proposed to provide assistance to the state governments for construction of one crore and 40 lakh new houses at the rate of Rs. 5000 per house for the benefit of the urban poor and low and middle income groups. In addition, the state governments and the local bodies of the cities also provide necessary funds for execution of such projects. It should, however, be noted that the voluntary agencies have still lagged behind in taking up the activities of slum clearance and construction of houses for the poor people.

The following schemes have been executed in several cities with financial and other support from the state governments local bodies for the construction of new houses:

a)         In 1952, a scheme for the construction of houses for the industrial workers came into existence.

b)         A scheme was introduced, in 1954, for the construction of houses for the low- income groups.

c)         Since the implementation of the Second Five Year Plan (1956), the scheme of slum clearance and improvement came into existence on a regular basis.

d)         The life Insurance Corporation of India started giving loans since the Second Five Year Plan to the middle-income groups for the construction of houses.

e)         Since the Fifth Five Year Plan, the programme of building houses for the higher-income groups were taken on hand with the objective that profit earned through such projects will be diverted for the construction of houses for the urban poor and the low-income groups. Special instructions were issued to the Housing Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) in this respect.

However, systematic studies have revealed that most of the advantages of these schemes have been taken away by the middle and high income groups. The plight of the urban-poor has more or less remained the same.

One of the greatest obstacles in effective implementation of the slum-clearance programme has been lack of adequate funds. The issue received significant attention in the Seventh Five Year Plan. It led to the establishment of a National Housing Bank (NHB) with an assistance of Rs. 100 crores from the Central government. It is proposed that the following shall be the objectives of the National Housing Bank:

1)         To provide a national body for financing the programmes only for the construction of houses.

2)         To raise the sources for procuring financing for the construction of houses and make effective use of all such sources.

3)         To raise financial institutions at local and regional levels for advancing loans for purposes of construction of houses.

4)         To establish meaningful links between financial institutions advancing loans for construction of houses and institutions giving loans for other purposes.

All these efforts are made with a hope that conditions of the slum-dwellers and the urban poor can be suitably improved so that they can also lead a fuller urban life free from dirt, disease and pollution.