Outdated norms 'depriving poor' of housing benefits under 2003 Gujarat Govt GR

By Aseem Mishra*

As per the Housing for All Plan of Action (HFAPoA) of Bhuj, prepared under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) in 2018, out of a total of 13,978 households residing in slums, 83 percent (approximately 11,631) houses were owned and were sited on public land.

PMAY gives Rs 3.5 lakh of government assistance to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) with an annual household income of Rs 3 lakh. Here, the condition is that the piece of land should be in the applicant's name. In the case of Bhuj, 83 percent of households lack land entitlement as they live on public land.

In-Situ Slum Redevelopment, another component of PMAY, is not viable due to G+2 height restrictions, as Kutch is categorised in Zone V in terms of seismic vulnerability, which is a very severe intensity zone for earthquakes; therefore, private developers are not interested in investing in this component. The same issue is with the Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) component of the PMAY.

Considering the technical glitches for availing benefits under PMAY, the Zameen Ane Aawas Adhikar Manch (ZAAAM) was constituted and nurtured under the Homes in the City (HIC) programme, searching for a solution to this blockage. They found the 2003 Revenue Department, Government Resolution (GR) of Government of Gujarat (GoG) No JMN-392003-454-A dated June 6, 2003 that gives authority to the District Collector to allocate land to an individual up to 200 sq metres, having an annual income of Rs. 48,000.

ZAAM disseminated awareness among slum dwellers around this resolution and encouraged them to apply for land allocation. As a result, 58 families living for over 30-40 years on the public land belonging to the state and owned by the District Collector of Kutch applied for the land with all the necessary documents and paid the 1% of jantri price of the land and wished to pay rest of the jantri price of the land, in case land allocated to them.

Most of the applications submitted in 2022 and 2023 were rejected by the Collector's Office as their household income is above Rs 48,000 per annum.

Minaxi Chouhan, convenor of ZAAM, said, “Most of the families have annual income of Rs. 60,000-70,000. Rejecting these applications in 2023-24 based on the income criteria set in 2003 is invalid and does not provide justice to these families. Moreover, Central government schemes such as PMAY, National Food Security Act (NFSA), Aayushmaan Bharat, etc. consider Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) those having up to Rs 3 lakh of annual income."

She added, "It is not understood why this discrimination and inconsistency regarding the annual income criteria for an EWS family is prevalent among different government schemes. Therefore, a letter was sent to the District Collector, copied to the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Additional Chief Secretary, and the Chief Secretary of Gujarat in February 2024 to investigate the matter, and revise the income slab considering other central and state government programmes/schemes as well as inflation in the last 20 years so that these poor families can get land allocations that open access to the PMAY to build their houses.”

As things stand today, there is setback to the promise of Housing for All-2022 made by the government due to poor execution of the GR

On 25th July 2024, Karshan Hirji Bhai Vaghela and Thakarsi Narsibhai Vaghela, residing in Juni Rawalwadi slum settlement, whose applications were rejected by the District Collector Office, visited the Swagat Programme at Gandhinagar (see photo) to update the income slabs in the 2003 GR and were given assurance that the CM office will look into this matter and do the needful.

We think that the 2003 GR is a very progressive step by the State government, but it has not been executed in its true spirit to benefit the poor in small and medium-sized cities of Gujarat. It is the need of the hour to make essential upgradations in this GR, considering the present socio-economic profile of the slum residents residing in the small and medium-sized cities.

The District Collectors should be directed to promptly act on the received application under the GR to facilitate the construction of dwelling units under ambitious PMAY.

As things stand today, there is a setback to the promise of Housing for All-2022 made by the present government due to poor execution of this GR, whereas States like Odisha and Punjab have passed legislations to give lands to the poor and then linking them with PMAY to construct their houses.

The inclusion of the poor to access the public lands ensures equitable distribution of resources in the city, solves the problem of ghettoisation in cities, and makes our cities liveable for all, just not for the rich only.

---

*Programme Director, Homes in the City programme

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project.

Counterview

Search This Blog