Skip to main content

Govt of India report: Gujarat slums are more untenable than all other states

By Our Representative
In an alarming revelation, a high-powered Government of India committee headed by top scholar Prof Amitabh Kundu has calculated that #Gujarat's 162 slums, of which 130 are notified, have the lowest tenability index than anywhere else in the country. The committee, appointed by the previous UPA government in January 2014, submitted its report recently to the Union ministry housing and urban poverty alleviation to "calculate" which are slums and slum-dwelling households could be regularized.
The report says, a household in a slum is "tenable" if it is situated in a notified slum regardless of the location, it is in an area which is "non-hazardous/non-objectionable” even if it is not in situated in the notified area, and has 10 per cent households with "patta, possession certificate or occupancy rights." Kundu is one of the best known urban experts of India specializing on urban demographic issues.
The reort underlines, "This index indicates the extent to which the state has extended tenure rights on those who are prima facie eligible to make such a claim and have the potential to be recognized and extended such tenure rights."
The report shows that on a scale of 1, Gujarat's slum tenability index (STI) is just 0.21 as against the all-India STI of 0.72. Punjab's STI index is 0.93, followed by Maharashtra's 0.90, Jammu and Kashmir's 0.85, Kerala's 0.84, Andhra Pradesh's Telangana's and Rajasthan's 0.79, Uttar Pradesh's 0.78, and so on.
The report warns, the states with a higher proportion of untenable slum households may lead to a situation where "in the future, states will not grant patta, possession certificate or occupancy rights in such slums" at all, suggesting that eviction in these slums may well become a major reality.
In absolute terms, as against Gujarat's 23,614 slum households in 130 "tenable" slums, just about 4,697 households, or about 19 per cent, have patta or possession certificate or occupation certificate, as against the national average of 54 per cent. The lowest in India, it indicates "failure" of the state government to regularize slum dwellers, hampering their right to legally own a dwelling on being displaced.
The report is significant, as it comes close on heels of the committee's view, reported in sections of media, which said Gujarat's and #Ahmedabad's slum development index, based on the situation of slums in 2011 as against what it was a decade earlier, in 2001, is one of the worst in India.
By "non-tenable slums" -- whose proportion was found to be the highest compared to all Indian states -- the committee means those that "are those that are located in along major transport alignment, along other drains, along raiway lne, along river/ water body tank, along storm water drain/nallah, on river/ water body bed", and "hazardous or objectionable” areas.
The report says, "The index decided by the committee is the number of slum households who have recognized tenure rights, e.g., patta, possession certificate, occupancy right, etc. as a ratio of non-rental slum households that are living in tenable slums, as defined above."
There is, however, a disclaimer -- that the STI, calculated using the validated data from 7,550 slums, should be "considered as a sample drawn from the universe of slums in that state" and not final verdict. "The committee is unable to ascertain the extent to which the sample is representative for that state. The STI should be seen more as a methodological contribution than as an accurate measure of the level of tenability in that state, pending full validation of the data", the report says.

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.